Good morning! In lieu of today’s regular post, I have a great guest post for you guys from Heather from Hungry for Balance—enjoy!
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A big thanks to Jess for letting me share some thoughts with you guys. Her blog is such a great source of inspiration for healthy eating and healthy recipes!
My name is Heather and I write a healthy lifestyle blog over at www.hungryforbalance.com. I teach BODYPUMP, am a free-lance writer, and a mama to a toddler. We are always on the go, but we also always try to make healthy eating a priority. Today, I want to share 5 tips with you on how to make Healthy eating easier on you AND your budget, especially where produce is concerned.
- Plan, plan, plan!
I take the time to plan out exactly what we are going to have for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks. I know exactly how much of everything that I need to buy and nothing is wasted.
- Be flexible with your meal plan and buy what’s on sale
When I am headed out for my weekly shopping trip, I always like to scope out what’s on sale. If a recipe calls for eggplant, but zucchini is on sale, then I buy zucchini. I also love the discount produce bins for things like overripe bananas. They are perfect in smoothies or in banana soft serve for a sweet and healthy treat.
- Take time to prep your meals
I cannot stress this enough. I like to do it the same day that I go grocery shopping. I take a look at what is on our meal plan for the week. I wash and chop the vegetables for my different recipes and put them in zip top bags in my fridge. It makes dinner prep so much easier. I also use this time to chop the zucchini I use in my smoothies and other raw veggies like peppers, broccoli, or mushrooms for salads and snacking. This only takes me an hour or so, but it save me many hours of headache throughout the week.
- Batch cook! The crockpot is perfect for this.
Do not fear leftovers! I like to make enough dinner for more than one meal and stick it in the freezer for later. Or repurpose leftovers. If we have baked chicken one night, we use the leftovers to make chicken fajitas or chicken salads.
- Use your freezer
If I make a loaf of homemade bread, I use the slice and freeze trick to keep it fresh. When some of our favorite fruits are on sale during the summer, I slice and freeze so we can enjoy them in the coming week.
Eating healthy can and should be attainable for everyone. Taking just a little time each week to plan out your meals helps you feed yourself and your family something healthy and delicious all week long, even on the busiest days.