Weekly Menu Planning: A great way to eat healthy on a budget

As a foodie and aficionado cook, I used to follow my cravings when it comes to cooking and eating, which can be satisfying in the short term but not always good for your pocket or your health in the long term. When shopping for groceries, I would end up buying a lot of things I thought I might want to eat, a lot of vegetables with no specific idea of what I was going to use them for, and I'd stock up on a lot of carbs thinking that they are easy fixes when you don't have time to cook. This seemed like a good idea initially, but then I'd find myself making pasta a few times a week, and using a few of the vegetables while others would lay in the back of the fridge, forgotten, to rot away. What a waste!

One day looking through my many cook books I decided to widen my "repertoire" and try my hand at making new delicious dishes. I wrote down a list of ingredients I needed for that week, and shopped for items to create those dishes. 

My husband and I realized that we were spending less money and wasting less food by having a "menu plan" for the week. Plus it gave me a chance to try new dishes from my books and magazines!

Menu plans not only save money - you buy what you need only-  and time - no need to go to the supermarket every day - but also improve family's nutrition. By planning ahead you can add a variety of healthy side dishes and make sure you get all of your food groups for the week. 

I make sure that I add lean protein, carbs/starches, vegetables, dairy and grains to the week's menu, never repeating the same protein twice in a row (to make it less boring) but possibly twice a week (to save $$)

This is a sample of what I would do:

Monday: Chicken with sauteed veggies (broccoli, carrots, corn) and a side of rice

Tuesday: Pasta with tomato sauce and green salad (lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, onions)

Wednesday: shrimp with cous cous and slaw (cabbage, onion, green apple)

Thursday: Beef with seasonal veggies and salad (parsnips, squash, potato)

Friday: fish with potatoes or quinoa and  salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber)

Saturday: beans and veggie rice with fresh salsa (tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime)

Sunday: chicken soup with Asian veggies and soba noodles (snow peas, broccoli, cabbage)

Of course these are not the specific dishes I make but the main ingredients in them. As you can see, by making chicken twice in one week I can buy a whole chicken and use, say, the thighs for one day and the breast for another and make soup with it. 

And by making veggies or salad every day I can make sure that I don't waste any vegetables because I use a specific group of veggies in different ways throughout the week. (broccoli, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber, etc)

You can also make your meal plan more specific by assigning specific types of meals to a day for example:

Monday is vegetarian day

Friday is fish day

Sunday is crock pot/ slow cooker day

And why not make it fun like Friday pizza day! And you can make different varieties of pizza every week, experimenting with a new combination of ingredients and even dough!

If you don't know how to start or don't think you have the energy and time to sit down and plan a menu for the week, there are may resources out there to help you

Here are a couple of websites:

http://www.e-mealz.com/

http://www.mealsmatter.org/

http://www.dinnerplanner.com/

http://lds.about.com/od/visualmusicalaids/a/meal_planning.htm

I actually find it enjoyable to sit down once a week with my many cook books and magazines and create my own personal menu, and of course I cook international foods as well!

Comunity Gardens: A solution for gardening in the city

What if I love in a tiny studio apartment with no garden and no balcony? Or what if I can't afford to shop at Wholefoods?

That is why Community Gardens exist. I recently stumbled upon the website for The American Community Gardening Association and I'd like to quote them here: "Community gardening improves people’s quality of life by providing a catalyst for neighborhood and community development, stimulating social interaction, encouraging self-reliance, beautifying neighborhoods, producing nutritious food, reducing family food budgets, conserving resources and creating opportunities for recreation, exercise, therapy and education". If you don't have the space at home or if you just have no idea hoe to to grow your own veggies, community gardens are perfect for you. 

The website has every tool you need to either find a community garden near you or start one in your own neighborhood.  

This is what I mean when I talk about sustainable living and how it can be done easier than most people think. 

I would like to thank the ACGA for their amazing job at trying to make a difference in how people eat and view their food. Please visit their website to learn more about how to get involved in your neighborhood. This is a great legacy to live to our children.

Vegetable gardens: Good for body and soul

This past spring/ summer, my husband and I decided to start our first garden and a small 8x4 space in the back yard of the house we are renting. It was my very first garden. All I knew about vegetable gardening was from what I read in Better Homes and gardens magazine or other gardening magazines. And of course, from my own "Martha Stewart Living" fantasy.

I discovered quickly that it was a lot less romantic than I imagined. Nothing like preparing the soil with worm manure or preparing the dirt while tiny spiders appear every time you dig. I am and have always been a "city girl" after all. But that wasn't going to stop me. We planted all kinds of herbs: dill, basil, oregano, chives, rosemary, thyme, etc and also some summer vegetables like tomatoes, onions, peppers, arugula, radish and sugar snap peas. 

I quickly learned that vegetable gardening is a process of trial and error. We planted the tomatoes and peppers a little too late, we didn't know how to trim them so the plants grew out of control. We planted radishes too close together, etc. But we did what we could and what we knew to keep the garden weed free and the soil moist. The result was an endless supply of delicious herbs with which we cooked amazing meals from. We also had tomatoes for half of the summer and didn't have to spend any money buying waxed covered tomatoes at the supermarket. We ate freshly picked radishes and made peppery arugula salads.  Not only this was good for our bodies and our pockets, but also for our souls. There is something so special and rewarding when eating food you grew yourself. It makes you love your food so much more when you are involved in the process  from the beginning. It even TASTES better! and not only because the flavors are fresh and pesticide free, but because of the satisfaction that comes from knowing that the tomato sauce on your spaghetti is there because of you.

Welcome to the Wholesome Epicure

Growing up in South America and Europe I was exposed to a vast array of food culture, wholesome and full of flavor. My mother taught me how to cook when I was a young teenager and always stressed the importance of cooking with love and with respect for the ingredients you cook with.

I moved to the United States eight years ago and at first I was fascinated by all the “quick fixes” and “fast” food available in supermarkets and all around me. It’s hard not to get sucked into it at first but then I opened my eyes and realized that it was the opposite of what my mother had taught me through the years.

For too long now I have witnessed the decline of food culture in America due to factory farming and highly processed food and their effect on peoples health. I’ve never wanted to take the easy way out and preferred to cook my meals from scratch, I find it so pleasurable to pick my ingredients, know where they come from, and watch them become a delicious and wholesome meal.

Now that I am a mother this is even more important for me. The statistics on childhood obesity as well as sugar and energy drink-addicted youth scare me. I keep reading about the disgusting ways that many products that on our supermarket shelves are made. I see how terribly unhealthy meals are in public schools. I have had enough of just reading and watching in disgust. So I decided to finally do something about it and that is how The Wholesome Epicure was born. This is my attempt to educate people about: the importance of organic, sustainable food, the importance of knowing where your food comes from and the pleasure of making and eating meals made from scratch. There are no valid excuses for not eating healthy. You do not have to be Julia Child to cook great meals. You do not have to be rich to eat a real tomato grown by a local farmer rather than eating tomatoes from a jar, full of high-fructose corn syrup and sodium. 

It’s time people start taking action, and taking responsibility for their bodies, even if it’s one small step at a time.