You Can Have a Healthy Kitchen and a Healthy Purse

Staying healthy on a budget is a difficult thing for most of us to do. Anyone can go out and get some hot dogs and noodles and stay in a tight budget. That is easy. But that is also incredibly unhealthy. On a diet like that you are missing out on vitamins and minerals that are vital to your well being. You may not feel ill, but eventually a lifestyle like this will cause complications. Type two diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and many other conditions are possible outcomes that you face if you live on this type of diet. If you have children, you are also risking their health.

Keeping your body and the bodies of your family members healthy AND your wallet healthy is a huge issue among so many of us. So how can you do this without losing your mind?

Being organized is the best thing that you can do when it comes to having a healthy kitchen and a healthy refrigerator. Menu planning and grocery lists are the only way that you can achieve the goal set out before you. Unfortunately, this sounds impossible and time consuming to most people. So they take their own approaches, which are usually uneducated and unhealthy.

Many people think that they have to go to many different stores to find the best prices and take an entire day to shop. By the end of that day, these people are drained and they have spent enough in gas money to cover what they just saved in groceries. When their budget does not look different and they have been working so hard they get discouraged and give up.

There is also the group of people that think if they are thin their nutrition means little because they are thin. A thin body does not equal a healthy body. These people are referred to as the "skinny fat" people. They earned this name because they often suffer from the same medical conditions as overweight people but it is not obvious because they "look" healthy.

What about the mothers whom are so overwhelmed during the week that they take one day a week to cook and freeze everything? This may be a great solution when you are pressed for time, but these meals are usually loaded with calories and carbohydrates. There are healthy and delicious meals that can be prepared quickly anytime!

Then you have the families that allow their children to pick their meals just to keep the peace in the home. I can assure you that the last thing on the kids' minds is fat, calories, and their overall health! Giving your children the power to choose their meals can be a good thing. Manage what they can choose from and show them they can enjoy making healthy choices.

After going over all of these common mistakes you may feel overwhelmed, and if you recognize yourself in one of these scenarios, you may be feeling upset. The good news, I have the answers you are looking for. I can help you have a healthy kitchen and a healthy purse in a timely and do-able way!

Like I said above, the first step is to be organized. One of the best websites you can visit for healthy recipes is www.dlife.com. Though this is a site for people with diabetes, everyone can benefit from the advice and recipes offered on this site. Another site that has some wonderful recipes as well as organizational tips is http://orgjunkie.com. There are links to other sites and blogs of people, most of them mothers, which have had struggles of everyday life and want to share the solutions that they have found to work. Check the circular for your favorite local grocery store and see what the sales are and match them with the recipes for the week.

Once you have found a list of recipes that works for you and your family, start to build a menu. Making a menu for dinners only is not enough. You have to eat six times a day to maintain health and metabolism. Plan your breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner, and an evening snack for a week. Have one item on the menu that you can have an unlimited amount of. The best item for this is sugar free jell-o. It is fun and filling, and a source of hydration.

Once you have the menu planned for the week, start your grocery list. This can be time consuming and tedious. You can take a day or two to do this in small intervals or make the list over a weekend breakfast or while the kids are playing in the bathtub. Do what works for you. Prepare your coupons and circular and place them, with the list, in your purse. Some people use a large binder for their coupons and lists, some use coupon holders. I got a .10 cent zippered pencil holder and place it in my purse. Again, use whatever works for you.

Make your trip to ONE store and go up and down every aisle checking your list. People with children are looking at that sentence and falling off of their chairs laughing right now! But you can do this! Kids love to be part of the shopping experience. Have them hold the list, push the cart, check things off the list, even place the items in the cart. This will keep the peace and be enjoyable for you and your kids! The only time that is a good idea to shop at more than one location is when there is local produce at a farmers market for you to purchase. Make your trip there before you go to the grocery store, they usually have more than fresh fruit and vegetables available. Honey is one of my favorite things to get at the farmers market. There are many health benefits to it and it makes a wonderful sweetener.

Check back soon for a sample of my weekly menu and other tips you can use!!