Healthy Family Healthy Budget - Summer Edition
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
There are some fabulous healthy bake-at-home<br />
mixes available now too, check out BakeMe<br />
Snacks- I was lucky enough to be sent these to try<br />
and they are delicious! My kids loved making them<br />
as well as eating them too. You can buy a<br />
three pack of BakeMe Snacks Bake at Home Mixes<br />
for $23.90, each pack makes 16 bars, so they work<br />
out at less than 0.50c each which is cheaper than<br />
most store bought muesli bars. My boys absolutely<br />
love them, they are a healthy, tasty and filling<br />
snack. Win/win!<br />
• Get to know your food labels<br />
Try to avoid buying packaged pre-prepared meals.<br />
As with the packaged snacks, they are expensive<br />
and full of preservatives.<br />
There are a few exceptions to the rule, for example<br />
we just love the Birds Eye Whiting crumbed fillets,<br />
they contain no artificial colours, flavours or<br />
preservatives. They are very tasty and I tend to<br />
grab a couple of boxes when on special. A good<br />
reason to get to know your food labels.<br />
• Meat free meals<br />
Have at least one meatless night. Meat is<br />
generally expensive so by not including it on your<br />
meal plan a night or two a week you can save<br />
yourself some money.<br />
A fun meat free idea your kids will just love helping<br />
you make is Rainbow Pizza.<br />
• Check your diary<br />
Look at your week ahead and plan meals<br />
accordingly. You might need to plan a quick and<br />
easy meal for evenings that you have sports with<br />
the kids, or you may like to put more time into<br />
meals on a Sunday when there isn’t the rush.<br />
• Double up<br />
Think about doubling certain ingredients so you can<br />
make double batch and freeze half.<br />
My favourite recipe to do this for is Quinoa Con<br />
Carne as once you have your base you can make it<br />
into so many things. Think nachos, tacos, tortillas,<br />
puff pastry, jacket potatoes, it’s even great on<br />
toast!<br />
• Slow cookers are your friend<br />
Save money by cooking dishes that work well with<br />
cheaper cuts of meat, chuck steak works perfectly<br />
in slow cooked dishes.<br />
This Indian Beef Curry has long been a family<br />
favourite.<br />
• Check for specials<br />
Jump online (or your catalogues) and check the<br />
specials. If meatballs are on the meal plan you may<br />
choose to do chicken rather than beef meatballs if<br />
you see a good special on chicken mince.<br />
Note down any specials for pantry staples you may<br />
wish to stock up on. Dishwasher tablets tend to be<br />
expensive so last time they were half price I bought<br />
five packets and saved $50.<br />
• How to avoid impulse purchases<br />
My most important tip – never, I repeat never shop<br />
on an empty stomach! It can lead to not so healthy<br />
impulse purchases.<br />
• Give yourself a break<br />
Cut yourself some slack. On Friday evenings after<br />
hubby and I have both rushed home from work, the<br />
last thing we felt like doing is spending much time<br />
in the kitchen. One of the best decisions we made<br />
was to make Friday night ‘toastie’ night.<br />
The boys get veges given to them as part of their<br />
lunch at daycare so I have no guilt about not<br />
including them in dinner on Friday nights.<br />
They just love toasties so it’s another win/win for<br />
us, as they get to eat something they love and we<br />
get more time to hang out with them and relax.<br />
You can always jazz up an ordinary dinner by<br />
serving it up to your kids on some fun dinnerware.<br />
Article submitted by Rachel Cassidy from Little<br />
Peeps Eats
Change language