WELLTH WEDNESDAY // SMART SPENDING

Wellth Wednesday — I have said before that my wellth truly is measured in health and happiness rather than finances. This means that health and wellness are what I work diligently and persistently to earn AND what I invest my time and money into.

This week’s Wellth Wednesday’s post is all about smart spending and saving in the kitchen. I often hear people quickly write off organic and health food as being out of their price range, but it’s not as black and white as it might seem. Read on for some of my favorite, valuable, easy to apply pointers about buying the healthiest most nutrient-rich food and making the best use out of that food.

I may sound like a broken record, but seasonal eating is the way to go if you are looking for monetary and dietary value. Low transportation and delivery costs keep local and seasonal produce prices down AND minimal time from farm to table keeps nutritional value high (vitamin content and flavor rapidly decreases after harvest, so eat seasonally to pay less for more nutrients and richer taste!)

Start an herb garden. Herbs add fresh flavor to all of your recipes without adding any fat, but buying just a tiny amount of herbs for each recipe can be expensive. An herb garden is a great project for those new to gardening, it can be done in the smallest homes and apartments and it’s a super money saver that will make you a better chef.

If you aren’t yet familiar with the Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15. These references are basically quick lists of which produce items have the most pesticide residues and which have the least — if your budget only allows for you to buy some items organic this is a great tool to help you prioritize your shopping list.

Once you have stocked up on beautiful fruits don’t let them go to waste. I love to freeze extra ripe veggies and fruits before they go bad. These frozen fruits are like magic ice cubes for your smoothies because they chill and thicken without diluting! (Sometimes I just go ahead and buy seasonal fruit on sale to pop straight into the freezer — honestly this fresh frozen fruit makes the most FLAVORFUL smoothies.)

Nose-to-tail and root-to-stem eating. Most of us know that after you cook up a beautiful whole chicken or turkey (if you live with a carnivorous crowd) it is a good idea to use the carcass to prepare some homemade stock.  It is the perfect way to save money, make full use out of the animal and control quality. This concept can be applied to so many other food — with a little research I found a tasty recipe for roasted cauliflower leaves and a very interesting use for lentil cooking liquid. 

Investing a bit of time before buying and before tossing your produce is essential if you want to maximize your monetary investments. Do you have any smart tips that you apply when food shopping? Let me know!

 

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