Eating well costs you less!
Excerpts from Sophie Gray's article
It seems people think it takes too long to prepare a recipe from scratch or they're not confident enough to try something new or they're just stuck in a rut and cooking the same things year round regardless of the season.
How we eat now
In total less than 2% of the average weekly household spend goes
towards fresh produce, and a whopping $36.80 p/wk is being spent on
ready-to-eat foods and meals away from home. In a few short
decades ready-made meals have become firmly established here.
An average household is likely to operate on a selection of around 11 recipes. Plan and stock the cupboards for those 11 recipes.
Time - plan!
Deciding what to cook is usually what takes the most
time. If you've planned what you want to cook half the job is
done. All the Activate recipes can be prepared and cooked in
45 minutes so try a different recipe each day - then you won't have
to think too hard for 15 days!
Get the rest of your family to help prepare the dish, also make
extra that can be frozen for another day when you know you're going
to be busy.
Don't be afraid to try new recipes, at first it might be daunting but after you've cooked it a couple of times you'll know the drill. Give yourself some time when you make a new recipe the first time. If it doesn't turn out quite what you expected, give it another go. Remember the only difference between a confident and an unconfident cook is practice!
Cost
Often you'll look at a recipe and think it's really expensive but
once you've bought the expensive sauce that you're using only 1
tablespoon of, it will work out cheaper for the next 50
recipes.
Also try to keep to seasonal vegetables, eg; Avocados can be 10c or
$2.50 depending on when you buy them. You can substitute vegetables
in your recipes for ones that are in season (and therefore
cheaper).
Budget food doesn't mean bland and boring - often it's
international. The least expensive goods tend to be those derived
from "peasant" styles of cookery: Mexican, Italian, Indian, Asian
and Mediterranean meals based around a carbohydrate such as beans,
bread, pasta, noodles and rice, with plenty of seasonal produce and
some protein. The seasoning, which defines the culinary
style, is usually the least expensive part of the dish.
So in one week you could be eating satay vegetables and rice,
tortillas, curry and risotto.
Generally ready-to-eat meals and ready-packaged meal kits are more expensive; and often don't supply the whole meal. You may need to add vegetables or rice and often it's cheaper to buy all the individual ingredients separately - use the internet to find your own recipes.
In no time at all your healthier yummier meal is ready because
you:
- Have the basic stocks in your cupboard
- Looked at your plan for meals - you know on Wednesday you're going to make the Activate Stuffed Kumara!
- Used your supply of recipes you printed out when you were surfing the net planning meals.
