New You New Years Week 4: Eat at Home
In the past few weeks, we have talked about:
Increasing our water
Cutting the sugar and
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. read more
