Posts Tagged ‘eating’

Recession Food:  Get the most out of your food!

Although the times are tight it doesn’t have to mean that your belly has to suffer!  There are five main foods that you should have in your cupboards and wardrobes that will help you whip up tasty treats in no time at all - and they’re cheap!

Cabbage

There may be a sniff of school dinners about this friendly vegetable but trust me, if you have this in your kitchen you will be better off!  Cabbage is packed with freshness and our healthy old pals the antioxidants perfect for  your body.

Cabbage is versatile and can be thrown together with loads of different options which makes it such a good kitchen companion.  Chuck some cabbage into your salads, soups and sautés and get the goodness of the leaves and the familiar sweetness they produce.

Eggs

If there was ever a food stuff that could find its way into the plate of any meal then the egg would be it!  Throw ‘em on your chips, in your salad or even scramble them and put them on your morning toast - what can’t you do with them?

The thing with eggs is that they will last for weeks and weeks which is helpful if you’re a bit scatty with your food and you tend to find bits leftover from the previous month in the back of the fridge.  What’s even better about eggs is that they’re crammed with protein, selenium and vitamins A, B and E keeping your immune system happy and healthy.

Pasta

While you might be told that pasta is a stodgy mess that should be banished from your kitchen if you want to lose any weight but seeing as we give little thought to our weight when we’re worried about a recession then go out and buy some pasta.

Pasta is incredibly filling and surprisingly cheap - mix it together with a beautiful sauce and you’re away with the fairies…and tomorrow you can just mix it with a different sauce…

Sweet Potatoes

Normal potatoes are all right but they don’t take eating to that next level that we’re looking for.  Normal potato’s cousin, the sweet potato, does manage to bring the potato experience to the level we’re looking for and so we need to welcome it with open arms to our dinner table.

Sweet potatoes are packed with vitamins A and C and are sweet (surprise, surprise) so they work well with the more savoury delights life has to offer.  Bye bye normal boring potatoes…

Mince Meat

As meats go, mince meat is a cheap way of getting protein in tasty portions.  There is so much you can do with mince meat and if you have too much then you can just freeze it to have again in a few days.  Mince meat will fill you up right when you want it to…

What’s in your kitchen?

Do you fall back on these kitchen necessities?  Have you found your food shopping habits change through the recession?  Leave us a comment and let us know…

Surprise: White bread isn’t good!

Taste

For a start there is a difference in taste – after all if brown bread and white bread tasted the same then we’d probably all choose the healthier option for breakfast.  Brown bread can be quite an interesting taste experience if you’ve spent the last 3 decades chewing on the white stuff.

A good idea if you are thinking of making the exchange from white to brown is to take it slowly.  If you make a sudden move for the brown you might be put off but if you work your way through the steps, stopping at all the breads in between white and brown, then you should find that brown bread is actually the way forward.  Give light rye a try and work from there…

No Nutritional Value

White bread is made from wheat flour and is bran and germ free – as you can imagine these are the nutritional bits that you won’t be getting with your morning egg soldiers.

White bread falls short when it comes to the likes of zinc, thiamine, fibre, niacin, and trace elements and not to mention our old favourites the “good” fats and oils that we need in our daily diet.

Bleached

So what’s left in the white bread?  Flour of course…but don’t get on your high horse just yet!  The flour that’s left in the bread is bleached using oxidising agents that could actually kill you if you were to swallow them, inhale them or rub them on your skin – you’re eating it!

The people at the bakery will be throwing in anything from Potassium Salt, Bromic Acid, Potassium Bromate, Benzoyl Peroxide or Chlorine Dioxide – a cocktail of hazardous chemicals that you would stick your nose up at if you saw at your local Asda.

Brown doesn’t mean brown!

So you might be thinking that you are one of the good guys munching on your ‘brown bread’ – well don’t be tricked…just because it says ‘brown bread’ doesn’t necessarily mean it is any different to white bread!

Real brown bread is whole wheat or wholemeal.  Check out the ingredients on the side of the packet and make sure you know exactly what you’re putting into your mouth.  If you see enriched/wheat flour then forget it – this is exactly the same stuff they chuck into white bread so you won’t be getting all the added benefits of the wholemeal goodness!

As a basic rule of thumb the few ingredients the better so keep that in mind the next time you’re out shopping for bread.

White or Brown?

What do you choose when you have a sandwich?  Do you reach for the white or do you go down the healthier route and go wholemeal?  Leave us a comment and let us know…

Five a day keeps you healthy and happy!

Have you ever really thought about how you are supposed to get your five a day?  It can be pretty scary when you think about it too much…five a day – that’s like veg every couple of hours.  Isn’t that a lot?

You need to relax and not make such a big deal about it…don’t see it as a challenge but instead as a helpful guideline that you should stick to if you want to live a healthier lifestyle.

So how can you do it?  It’s not as hard as you might think…keep these tips in mind;

Spread It Out

If you think that you have to have five fruits or vegetables in the day you will panic and stuff your face and never want to look at another apple again.  Don’t do this!  Instead work them into your meals – introduce a couple of berries in with your breakfast, some vegetables in with lunch and have a banana as a snack in between lunch and dinner – before you know it you’re had your fill!

Mix It Up

You might think that you’re on the right track by munching on the same five fruit and veg every day, but you’re not – you’re going to get bored fast and you’ll put yourself off the whole thing.  Not only that but you also need to remember to try as much fruit and veg as possible as each portion has something different to give you on a nutritional level.

Try Something New

We don’t live in 1940s Britain anymore – we can get more than oranges and apples now.  Have you seen the range of fruits and veg around the country?  You won’t have a clue how each one tastes without actually trying them so get out and try something new – you might find your favourite vegetable or fruit from a country on the other side of the globe…the point is you won’t know without trying!

Enjoy

You won’t stick at anything for long unless you are truly enjoying it.  Don’t force a banana down your neck if you’re going to live in misery every minute of the day counting down the time until your next mouthful.  Try something else and keep testing out other things until you have found something you are comfortable with.  Don’t be scared of the five a day but embrace it as a new way of living that is going to do great things for your body and your health.  You’re doing it for yourself so enjoy it!

What about you?

Do you give much thought to your five a day?  Can you not live without your fruit and vegetables?  Can you even remember the last time a piece of fruit touched your lips?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think…

Be healthy – get a blender…

Everyone wants to be healthy – being a slobby, unfit couch potato is soon to be a thing of the past as people are turning to shots of grass water and liquid vitamins – one of the best ways of staying healthy is by chucking a load of fruit into a blender and having a drink of a smoothie.

Smoothies have gone from strength to strength over the last decade and more and more of us are turning to our blenders to provide us with healthy alternatives to mid-day snacks.  You probably have one in your kitchen right now…

But why smoothies?  There are massive benefits from smoothies, much more than simple juice – if you buy a bottle of orange juice from the shops you won’t be getting the whole fruit, meanwhile in a smoothie you know that the whole apple that you are putting into the blender is what you are going to be putting down your neck!

Where do we start?

So where do we start with smoothies?  Unfortunately it mostly isn’t just a case of chucking in some fruit and hoping for the best – smoothies are liquid based so they can actually be drunk.

To make a smoothie drinkable we need to add a liquid base like fruit juice, milk, yoghurt or ice cream.  If you want to steer clear of dairy products then you can experiment with the likes of Soy milk or Rice…have a go at each base until you find one you like.

So you have your base, no pick your fruit.  The great thing about smoothies is that you are completely in control – long gone are the days of having to stick to a single fruit juice like apple of orange.  Get adventurous – strawberrys, blackberrys and apples?  Orange, pineapple and kiwi?  Who knows – give them all a go.

Don’t forget to prep…

Don’t forget to peel the fruit if necessary as if you would if you were munching on the fruit on its own.  Once the fruit is ready then add it to your liquid base and away you go!  You might want to add ice to the smoothie to cool yourself down on that hot summer’s day?

Another alternative to using ice is to actually freeze the fruit before you use it – this is not only a great way to keep the drink naturally chilly but the smoothie will actually turned out to be a thicker, and often more satisfying, texture.

Keep your eye on the thickness of the smoothie and keep applying your liquid base if you need to.  If you have found you’ve gone over board with the base and it’s now to thin then slap in some more fruit – it’s easy and it’s going to taste great!

What about you?

Are you a smoothie fan?  Are you a health fanatic?  Did you find our smoothie advice helpful?  Are you going to rush out to buy a blender?  Leave us a comment and let us know…