Budget Cooking: Budget Cooking For A Crowd

Budget Meal Planning

Budget cooking is a great way to save on grocery expenses and still eat well. There are many healthy foods that can feed your family for a fraction of the cost of the usual fare. This is a great way to feed groups of people also.

What do I mean by “usual fare”? Many people feel that a balanced diet is eating a starch, meat, and a vegetable with each meal.

For an example, the typical American meal may be cubed steak, side of mashed potatoes and gravy and some kind of steamed vegetable; or beef or pork roast with all of the trimmings.

While these foods may be balanced, there are even better foods for your health and far better on the budget.

Budget Cooking With Whole Foods

They are much healthier than the packaged processed product. The biggest difference is you will have to spend some time in the kitchen cooking the food, but cooking can actually be a lot of fun.

Cooking is fun when you put more importance into the process of cooking. Cooking can be an enjoyable and creative endeavor. The grocery shopper and cook of the household is in charge of everyone’s health in the household.

Take this responsibility with love and give love to yourself and to your family with wholesome, healthy preparations.

Budget Cooking With Brown Rice

In fact, brown rice can be cooked three or four times a week and prepared a different way each time for variety.

Nutritionally speaking whole rice is excellent for your health compared to white rice. Whole rice still has the bran attached which makes it higher in fiber and minerals, but with the same amount of calories as white rice.

Brown rice, as well as other whole grains should be made a staple in your diet if you want to be healthy.

Budget Cooking With Beans and Legumes

Health-wise eating beans and legumes a couple of times a week is excellent for your health and also a great food for budget cooking. If you have an attitude about eating beans, then you are missing out on some wonderful health properties of beans and legumes.

Beans are easy to cook. There are several different varieties of beans to use for super nutritious meals. Before cooking beans be sure to rinse and sort out any dirt and rocks and then soak overnight with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, which is said to make the beans easier to digest.

Rinse beans again and cook for two to three hours depending on the variety of bean you are cooking. Add onions, garlic, tomatoes, and fresh herbs to your beans for flavor.

Navy beans and cornbread, with a dark green salad on the side, is a wholesome and nutritious meal that offers lots of protein, fiber, and calcium. Chili made with pinto or white beans is also a very wholesome meal, which you can make with ground turkey for a leaner version.

Refried beans made with black beans or pinto beans are great as a dip for tortilla chips or wrapped up inside whole wheat or corn tortillas. Black-eyed peas, which are actually beans, make great baked beans for a side dish to any meal.