Eating healthy while sticking to a weekly budget for the whole family is a hard task for parents. Most parents need to monitor food costs and manage their budget while still prioritizing food what's good for their family. But before giving up on buying fresh produce, here are some ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle without emptying the pockets.
1. Choose frozen
Contrary to popular belief that frozen food is unhealthy, according to TODAY Food, frozen food nowadays use the IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) technique where each piece of frozen vegetable of fruit goes into a conveyor belt and blast freezer and are quickly frozen while still at their peak. Through IQF, the food is preserved and do not degrade through time.
Buying frozen foods is also perfect for busy parents who try to balance their hectic schedules while still cooking healthy for the kids in a daily basis. Buying IQF goods also saves you dollars as it gives you a longer timeframe to cook them before going bad.
2. Plan, plan, plan!
Eatforhealth suggests that before grabbing a grocery cart, you must have a plan on what to buy and stick to it. Plan your meals and snack for the weeks while investing most of your money on the five food groups. Also, avoid shopping with an empty stomach as this may lead to unplanned, spontaneous purchases.
As parents, it's also hard not to serve kids discretionary foods, which, most of the time, are their favorites. Discretionary do not belong to the five food groups and are usually high in saturated fat or added sugars (e.g., junk food, sweets, soft drinks, processed meat). Before purchasing these items, think hard if you really need it.
3. Buy in bulk
Today Food notes that buying food in bulk when they're on sale does not only help your health but also your pocket. It's important for parents to stick to a weekly budget, so when an item that your household needs is on sale, buying and storing/freezing it saves you money without sacrificing your family's nutritional needs.
4. Organize
Sometimes, while coping up with hectic schedules, parents just stock up the food they have bought in the fridge without noticing that there are still some uncooked items from last week. To avoid throwing out your hard-earned money, allot a time to organize everything.
To help you organize the contents of your fridge, TODAY Food suggests using clear containers for quick scanning of leftovers as well as rotating your stock every two days. Also, marking how long an item has been on your fridge, especially those who do not come with a use-by date like cheese, will help you know if an item is still usable or not.
Through these simple steps, serving kids healthy meals every day will not be a hard task for busy, budget-conscious parents.
