Tuesday, March 23, 2010

How to eat healthy on a budget.(draft)

Trying to eat healthy on a tight budget seems impossible for some or most families who lives on a low-income.Making budget friendly choices and changing some of our shopping and food preparation techniques can lower our spending on expensive food and eliminating us from spending too much on fast food.There are many ways to eat healthy without going beyond our means or over spending.The first way is cook your own food at home,the second way is to make up a shopping list,and the third way is to grow a small vegetable garden.

Cooking our own food at home is cheaper and better for our health,rather than going out to eat at a restaurant.According to market researcher NPD group,restaurant outings fell three percent in 2008.Also according to the New york times,Institute of Culinary Education in New York saw a 32 percent increase in September and followed a 17 percent increase in October.These increase is showing family are really trying to cut back on spending alot of money going out to eat and spending time in the kitchen.Using a cook book to get recipe is also a good idea for new creations in the kitchen,the learning experience will have your food looking and tasting as good as the food in the restaurant maybe even better and healthier because your the one preparing the food and knowing that your using the best ingredients thats suitable for your family.Also cooking big meals and making extra to put in the refridgerator to use for later in the week for lunches and snacks for the children to carry to school.

Making a weekly shopping list is more convienent for us,so you don't over spend and buy things we don't need.Clipping out coupons out the of the weekly circular and magazines can save us alot on money on food, it might not seems that way but when you look at the receipt and see the savings after the deductions from the coupons you will be amazed.Choosing sale items and buying store brand instead of national brands like kraft,heinz,kellogs,etc is also a big money saver.You can also shop at cheaper supermarkets and compare prices.Also buying canned food and going to costco's to buy in bulk help saves money and less visit to the grocery stores,you can also buy whole food rather than packages that are ready cut which cost more.

You can cut your food bill by planting our own vegetable garden.Research shows that family with vegetable garden spends just $70 a year on it and grows an estimated $600 worth of vegetables.Gardening can be hard work, but the the outcome is great.Growing your own garden is healthy for your family, it's natural,fertilizer and pesticide free,with all the chemical that are used in our food it's better to grow your own food.

In conclusion eating healthy on a tight budget is not impossible , it can be done you just have to put your mind to it,try to make more time for the kitchen and planning your meals for the week to make life easier.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Facts about the food we eat.

I always wonder why $3 can give you meal at Mcdonalds but $3 can't buy a stem of brocolli at the supermarket. After watching Food Inc,it changed my mind on the whole fast food industry.I was raised in Jamaica where food is grown naturally without pesticides are fertilizer.Food Inc showed me how beef and chicken are being raised and processed.Cows are being fed corn and not grass to get fat in weeks instead of months to maintain these fast food restaurants,such as mcdonald's, burger king and wendy's etc.Cows are been slaughtered and process to make meat even if they are sick with E-coli. E-coli is a very dangerous disease that killed a two year old boy in July 2001.The way these factories process beef, makes it very unhealthy for us.

Chickens are being raised in a non-ventilated house that don't get cleaned on a daily basis they are also being fed corn and given antibiotics so their breast could be huge.After getting fed all these fertilizers they get so fat,it becomes difficult for them to carry their own weight they explode and die.The average of chicken that is being slaughtered per day is 32,000.

These big industries like Tyson and IBP sets up bus companies in mexico to transport these innocent people to work for them to pay them little money,and after working for these companies for 10 years or more these illeagal immigrants would get deported back home.So it makes wonder if slavery is still around?