Food and Nutrition Tips

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Food and Nutrition Tips 〰️

Healthy Eating Habits

  • Prepare meals in bulk and freeze them – for example, casseroles and soups. You could even do some cooking and freezing before your baby arrives.

  • Use frozen vegetables when you don’t have time to prepare fresh vegetables.

  • Keep your fruit basket full.

  • Have yogurt, nuts, vegetable sticks and hummus on hand for healthy snacks during the day.

  • Buy prewashed salad mixes or bags of prechopped vegetables.

  • Make meals that can be eaten hot or cold and at any time of day – for example, frittatas, sandwiches or wraps.

  • Shop online and use grocery delivery services.

  • Accept offers of meals from friends and family.

Meal Prepping

Meal prepping is straightforward and quick; it only takes a few minutes to plan and typically less than an hour each week to prepare all the food. Here are some tips that have significantly improved meal prep in my household and for my clients.

Whether you’re a single dad or prepping with a partner, the task of prepping meals for the week takes less time than you think and is an excellent way to put hours back into your already hectic schedule. It also enables you to spend more time enjoying meals with your child and family and less time cooking/cleaning.

Step 1 - Plan You can plan your meals easily by taking one hour a week and sitting down with your partner or yourself and formulating a plan for each weeks meals. Sites like BudgetBytes are excellent sources for information and quick, easy recipes.

Step 2 - Shop Shop each week on a schedule, same time and day every week or create a shopping list in Instacart or other delivery service and order same time every week. Routine is your friend

Step 3 - Prep I prepare meals same day every week. It takes far less time to prep multiple meals that are sharing ingredients and when cooking in bulk than traditional meals prepared every breakfast, lunch and dinner. Find a time when the child(ren) are busy or asleep and you can knock out an entire week in less than an hour sometimes.

Step 4 - Snacks Don’t forget to make a healthy selection of snacks. Not only are the calories great for those early mornings or late nights, they’re much cheaper than store bought chips, candy or crackers and healthier to boot.

Saving $$$

Plan, Plan, Plan Here’s the deal guys. If you’re not willing to invest in time spent planning your meals/groceries, you’re going to constantly find yourself over budget. Period. End of story. Set time aside to plan

Bulk is Best While I realize not every family can shop Costco and leave with a van full of good, meal planning and prepping can stretch those precious dollars further and more effectively than constant trips to McDonald’s or the nearest grocery store. Purchasing bulk items at extended intervals is far preferable to bleeding dollars constantly.

Execute the Plan Once you’ve planned the meal, shop the items. Discount grocers or salvage food markets are great ways to save money on bulk purchases. Off brand foods seldom taste worse than name brand, especially when you’re dealing with healthier varieties of products.

Coupons, Etc Always scan the newspaper for coupons that you can use to cut down on eating expenditures. You can also utilize rebate apps like ibotta to receive rebates on food you purchase and put cash right back into your pocket. Most store apps have digital coupons you can access immediately.

To Shop or Order, That is the Question I can’t answer this question for you but it behooves you to do the math. Are you making more working than you would cutting out for a few hours and driving to the store? Don’t forget costs like gas, child care, etc when calculating this. I found that tipping $20 or so to have my shopping done and delivered allows me to make more and be more productive, spend more time at home and still get the chore done. Do the math for yourself.

Other Tips -

Buy store brands

Avoid premade meals

Drop soda, premade juice and store bought beverages. Water is free and homemade juice is always cheaper and healthier

Use hand towels not paper towels

Freeze leftovers if you’re not eating them immediately.

Buy extra when on sale, save on the next trip for nonperishable goods. Think ahead.

dry goods (beans, pasta, etc) are always cheaper than prepared or canned varieties

Organic or no? Touchy topic. While the organic does tend to be more nutritious (marginally) and more ethical (depending on your viewpoint) if you’re squeezing pennies, drop the guilt.