When you’re trying to save money on food, buying in bulk can be your friend. It’s not universally true for all ingredients. Let’s look at how it works best and how to work with what you’ve bought.
Cooking from Bulk
Make Brown Rice a Pantry Staple
Rice is the epitome of a pantry staple. It’s a basic, inexpensive ingredient, with a long shelf life, that’s easy-to-use in a variety of ways. In fact, rice is a main staple in over 100 countries worldwide. By keeping this sure-to-please grain on hand, you’re well on your way to creating a delicious dish. For this month’s Nutritious Nudge, I want to share some reasons why brown rice is worthy of staple status in your pantry.
Cooking from Sales
Cooking from sales is a skill I was brought up with. In my adult life, my need to use it has come and gone, but it’s always been my preferred way to cook. I find that constraints keep the routine task of cooking interesting. Whether you shop sales out of genuine need or another reason, here are a few tips to help the process go more smoothly.
Overfed, Undernourished
The foods we choose throughout the day play a significant role in determining how hungry or full we will be. Honoring hunger and nourishing our bodies with the “right” calories is a balancing act. Sure, a low-calorie beverage makes a lot of sense but, a low-calorie snack may not be the smartest choice. Choose a low-quality calorie option, and you’ll be hungry again soon (which means more calories). Choose a high-quality calorie, and you’ll be fuller longer. This means you’re less likely to eat more than you should over the course of a day. Finally, here’s the conundrum for calorie watchers: sometimes we need to eat more calories in the moment to ultimately eat fewer in the day (yup, you read that right).
Nutritious Cooking for All Budgets
Great nutrition and tight budgets do not need to be at odds. If you struggle to feed your family well on a dime, there’s help to be had. We’ll talk today about some resources for finding food support and some shopping approaches to help stretch your food dollars. During the rest of the month, we’ll talk about cooking techniques to work with what you’ve found.
Canned Vegetables
Canned vegetables are budget-friendly, convenient, and can be a great source of nutrients. They are certainly worthy of their proverbial moment in the sun on the Guiding Stars blog. (To extend shelf life, be sure to store them in a cool, clean and dry place.) Believe it or not, though, many canned vegetables do not earn Guiding Stars.
Grab-n-Go Lunch for Self-Care
Running around for do holiday errands on top of your normal workload? Finding time for lunch can be tough. Here are a few ideas that to make in advance. They travel well and taste great. Best of all? You can relish the nutrition they’re providing as you munch.
Shopping the Center of the Store
One of my favorite things about the Guiding Stars program is that it refutes the myth that you must only shop the perimeter of the grocery store in order to find nutritious foods. Before I joined the Guiding Stars team, I worked in community nutrition education for low-income families. Like most shoppers, price was an important factor in my clients’ grocery shopping decisions, along with healthy foods that their family would enjoy. I led healthy shopping tours at stores with Guiding Stars and would use the program to highlight how you can find nutritious foods that fit your budget throughout the store. From this experience I learned that the center of the store is where Guiding Stars really shines. Let me explain why.