Back to Basics: Some Great Tips to Save Money Buying Your Fruits and Vegetables
In this economy, stretching the food dollar to put healthy meals on the table is quite a challenge. And, if you’re trying to lose weight, you really need to eat 5 to 7 servings on a daily basis to get all the nutrients and fiber your body requires. Here are some great tips on ways to save money and get in all the nutrition you need.
1. Cut out the high carbohydrate, junk food snacks you keep around the house such as chips, store bought cookies, pop and candy. They are fat and calorie dense. You can put that money toward your fruits and veggies and lose weight in the process.
2. Buy your produce at your local fruit stand or farmer’s markets. You can pick up your whole weeks’ needs for not only fruits and vegetables but you can get great deals from the local producers for eggs, honey and butter. What I’ve noticed is that at the farmer’s markets, if you go an hour before the venders are packing up to leave they are often offering their products at reduced costs or are willing to negotiate. They would rather have a reduced sale than to pack everything up to take home.
3. Buy seasonal fruits and vegetables. September and October are the times that the crops are in for apples, blueberries, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cantaloupe, carrots, squash, tomatoes and potatoes just to name a few. If you have a freezer, many of the fruits and vegetables you buy at this time can be frozen for later use. They will retain their nutrients as well as your dollars.
4. Unless you have a freezer to store extra produce, buy just what you can use in one week. A ‘good deal’ in buying in quantity is not a deal if much of it spoils and has to be thrown out.
5. Ok, so you went ahead and bought too many bananas and peaches and they are starting to get too ripe. What do you do? Here’s what I do; I cut up the bananas or what ever fruit I have and put it on a flat tray and freeze it. After it is solidly frozen I put the pieces in a freezer bag. I throw a half cup of the frozen fruit into my nutritional shakes to make a cold, tasty treat. Yum!
6. Shop the specials. If you find a good price on frozen fruits or vegetables, snap them up. Frozen produce retains its nutrients. Just read the label first to make sure there are no added chemicals or sugar. Some vegetable brands put food coloring into their green vegetables and you really don’t need that.
7. Plant a garden. Good grief! Your kids will really grow up well adjusted if they participate in one or two athletic activities instead of four. Put your foot down and create some time to plant a garden and have everyone pitch in on ‘garden day’, especially the kids. One of the more exciting things for kids to see are seeds coming up and plants producing something you can eat. One of my most enjoyable times as a kid was running out to the garden to see what green beans were ripe for picking. The best treat was not eating a cookie but pulling a warm, sun ripened tomato off the vine, salting it and taking that first remarkable bite.
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