In February, I was asked to speak for 5-10 minutes during a
our ward Relief Society activity. My topic? Healthy Food That Saves You
Money. Below are photos of my PowerPoint presentation.
When I first started thinking about my upcoming presentation, I really wasn't sure what direction I wanted to take. One day as I was sitting at work everything came to me and I quickly scribbled everything down on a sticky note.When I arrived home that night and looked over the things I had written down, I realized that I follow a process in regards to obtaining and using food. This is my process...
Before I start acquiring food I organize my fridge and cupboards to see what I have. Then I make a list of the things that I need. If you don't know what you have, chances are you won't use it.
A lot goes into acquiring food but it is designed to save you money while making memories at the same time.
By glean I mean talk to people you know. Often times others have gardens and fruit trees that produce more food than they know what to do with and they are more than happy to let you come pick the extra crops. My pantry has several jars of canned pears that came off of my co-workers pear tree.
When I was growing up my Dad taught me to shop by price per ounce, you get the most bang for your buck this way.
Buy bread when it is on sale or at the day old bakery. Throw the extra bread in the freezer and pull a loaf out as you need it. I have found that if I pull a loaf of bread out of the freezer before I go to bed, it is ready to be used in the morning.
We eat a lot of fresh fruit and drink a lot smoothies. If we can't eat all of the fruit before it will go bad we like to freeze it and throw it in our smoothies or pancakes. Andy likes to eat a bowl full of thawed berries instead of ice cream. By quick freezing your fruit, it will have fewer ice crystals on it.
When we make soup we often make more than the two of us can eat. We like to vacuum pack our soups and throw them in the freezer so we can eat them at a later date. Vacuuming packing your food increases its shelf life in the freezer.
Another thing we like to do is dehydrate fruits and veggies. Andy likes crunchy things and this is a way to make healthy chips. We have found that our garden tends to produce more tomatoes than I can eat (Andy doesn't like fresh tomatoes) so we dehydrate them and season them and he loves them.
And the process just repeats itself.
*These photos are not my own so I cannot take credit for them. Andy found them from various places online. If you know who took the original photos please let me know. I would like to give credit where credit is due.
By glean I mean talk to people you know. Often times others have gardens and fruit trees that produce more food than they know what to do with and they are more than happy to let you come pick the extra crops. My pantry has several jars of canned pears that came off of my co-workers pear tree.
When I was growing up my Dad taught me to shop by price per ounce, you get the most bang for your buck this way.
Buy bread when it is on sale or at the day old bakery. Throw the extra bread in the freezer and pull a loaf out as you need it. I have found that if I pull a loaf of bread out of the freezer before I go to bed, it is ready to be used in the morning.
We eat a lot of fresh fruit and drink a lot smoothies. If we can't eat all of the fruit before it will go bad we like to freeze it and throw it in our smoothies or pancakes. Andy likes to eat a bowl full of thawed berries instead of ice cream. By quick freezing your fruit, it will have fewer ice crystals on it.
When we make soup we often make more than the two of us can eat. We like to vacuum pack our soups and throw them in the freezer so we can eat them at a later date. Vacuuming packing your food increases its shelf life in the freezer.
Another thing we like to do is dehydrate fruits and veggies. Andy likes crunchy things and this is a way to make healthy chips. We have found that our garden tends to produce more tomatoes than I can eat (Andy doesn't like fresh tomatoes) so we dehydrate them and season them and he loves them.
And the process just repeats itself.
*These photos are not my own so I cannot take credit for them. Andy found them from various places online. If you know who took the original photos please let me know. I would like to give credit where credit is due.
