How to get the most for your Nutritional Buck

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With the skyrocketing price of food, it is important to squeeze out every morsel of nutritional value for the buck as possible.  Add to this the daunting task of keeping the family meals attractive, while avoiding globs of fats, sodium and sugar, can be a challenge to even the best of cooks. But since the family's health is involved, the effort is certainly necessary. How can you do this without busting the budget?

This post will address getting the most for your budget while not sacrificing your family's nutrition.

Six tips to get the most from your grocery list 

1. For starters, avoid those high sugar, high sodium cereals and prepared highly processed foods like cereals, box prepared items like mac and cheese, corned beef, soups, canned meats and salty snacks.  There is no nutrition in these things.  And, all you get a lot of chemicals and preservatives like MSG in all its various forms.
2. Plan the meals.  Use leftovers and make them colorful with the addition of antioxidant rich, colored veggies, such as carrots, red peppers, squash, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and onions. (These things really work for me!) Stews are great and you can use much less meat with these hearty vegetable ingredients.
3. When you do buy meat products, opt for the organic since animal products concentrate dangerous pesticides much more than vegetables do.  This includes butter, milk and eggs. Also, choose parts like turkey necks, bones and fish heads(for stews) and other less expensive options.
4. The money you save in eliminating the  high priced, nutritionally void processed foods, can go on purchasing locally grown foods which are much higher in nutrition due to the fact that they are not refrigerated and transported which causes them to lose a lot of vitamins and nutrients.
5. Lunch time means packing a brown bag to eliminate the desire to buy fast foods. Use left overs.
6. Buy in bulk where possible.  Not everything needs to be bought in bulk, so make a list of frequently used items that you could purchase this way.  Or, find another family to split the goods with.

Hope these tips help.  If you have furthers suggestions, please feel free to leave comments!  Good health to you and your family.

Source:

"Why is it suddenly cheaper to eat out?" www.mercola.com