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New You New Years Week 4: Eat at Home
In the past few weeks, we have talked about:
Including healthy fats into our diet.
This week we are challenging you to Eat at Home.
To save Money
This challenge won’t only affect your health, but will also affect your wallet.
Have I mentioned that I’m cheap?
One of the first reasons I started cooking when Adam and I got married was because we couldn’t afford to eat out. I was in school and we were both commuting an hour to work and school (in opposite directions). Talk about burning through some cash!
By eating at home and cooking from basic ingredients, we were able to save so much money and would usually be able to eat leftovers for a bonus meal.
Know what is in the food you are eating
Have your ever looked at the ingredient list in a chicken nugget? Sometimes it is hard to find the chicken?
As I became more and more aware of ingredients in processed take out and boxed foods, I began to cook more and more from scratch. This process didn’t happen over night.
This challenge is to first make the decision to cook at home.
Second, take a favorite meal that your family loves and turn it into a whole foods meal.
That way you know exactly what you are eating!
I am pretty much a self-taught cook. I’m no fancy chef. I started with simple Rachel Ray type 30 minute meals which helped me get more and more comfortable cooking.
I’ve learned a few tricks over the years and can throw a meal together without a recipe now. When I started cooking, I was slave to the written recipe. 
Recipes don’t have to limit you, they can be a jumping off board.
Start with a meal you know and see how you can modify it to make it healthier!
Do you have a favorite meal that uses canned cream of soup? Have you looked at the ingredients? MSG is usually one of them… besides hydrogenated yuckiness.
Here is a homemade cream of something soup you can check out!
Stacy Makes Cents shares her homemade cream of soup mix here.
Sometimes I will just sub in yogurt or cream cheese to make a recipe creamy when it calls for a cream of canned soup. I’ll add a few more spices and it usually turns out great. Here is a great example of cream cheese in recipes: Creamy Tomato Mushroom Chicken and Italian Meatballs and Spinach.
By slowly adding more and more whole foods meals into your meal rotation, you will be surprised in a few months how your cooking and your meals have changed.
Stacy shares here how to modify a recipe to your personal diet.
I was making this Turkey Curry on Flatbread for years and just realized it is a perfect Trim Healthy Mama recipe by using Joseph’s Oat Bran and Whole Wheat Flour Pita Bread
I also am in LOVE with pinterest! You can follow me here.
I have a ton of recipes I have found that are whole foods and easy. Remember I’m no fancy chef… easy and fast are also part of if it actually gets made at my house.
Most of my meals are made in less than an hour, or thrown together in a crock pot. I rely on some frozen vegetable staples that I always have handy for side dishes. I’ll steam, saute, or roast them to go along with our main dish.
Most of the time, it is quicker for me to cook than for Adam to go pick up something for take out. Lately, my cooking has been so much better than eating out anyways.
Teach Healthy Eating
By eating at home, you can create a healthy mindset for the whole family. Kids are introduced to healthy foods at home and are encouraged to join in and eat along with mom and dad.
Cooking also allows for more family time with letting the kids help in the preparation and cooking process. What a great life skill to pass on.
Do you have a favorite family meal you want to make healthier? See if you can try to find a whole foods version or experiment for yourself in your kitchen!
Have you modified a recipe already making it a healthy alternative? Tell me what it is!
This post has been linked up to Raising the Barrs
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