We all know how important it is to eat a healthy diet, but there are many people who say they can’t because they don’t think they can’t afford healthy food. In reality, one could actually save money by switching to a healthy diet, and they don’t have to sacrifice flavor either. Here are a few tips you could use to save money while improving your health.

• Cut down on protein or buy cheaper versions. You only need one gram of protein for every pound you weigh if you want to build and maintain muscle, but if you are simply trying to be healthy, you don’t need nearly that much. You can either decide to buy less meat that is higher quality, or buy eggs, milk, whey, frozen chicken breasts, cottage cheese, or other low cost proteins to fill your diet.

• Use frozen fruits and veggies when they are less expensive than fresh. They will last much longer and all you have to do is defrost them. Frozen produce will also hold their nutritional value if they are flash frozen (frozen right after they are picked), so you don’t have to sacrifice nutrition for savings.

• Find promotions and coupons to save you money whenever possible. It’s difficult to find coupons for fresh produce, but when you do, use them. Stock up on other healthy foods when you can save money on them, but only if they will keep in the pantry or the freezer for a while.

• Buy produce when it is in season. Fruits and veggies get more expensive when they aren’t in season, so try to use root vegetables in the winter, apples and different kinds of squash in the fall, and asparagus and berries in the summer.

• Drink water from your tap. If you don’t like tap water, get a pitcher that will filter the water for you. It’s much cheaper to use your own bottled water than to buy it from a store, and water is much better for you than juice or soda filled with sugar.

• Avoid impulse purchases. You may not realize you are doing this, but when you are able to recognize the strategies stores use to get you to buy specific items you can avoid spending money on something you don’t need. Many stores put expensive candy bars, snacks, and sodas by their registers. This is because the store owners know that you will have to stop and wait in line to make your purchase. As you wait, you will look around at all the delicious or useful small items around you and think “I could use that.” The fact is that if you were to go look for that same item elsewhere in the store, it would be a lot less expensive based on the unit price. There are many other ways stores get customers to buy more (i.e. small aisles forcing customers to stop and wait for other customers, big sale signs over items that have a very small or no discount at all, etc.). Make sure you do your homework and avoid these tricks.

• Eat out less often. This one is very obvious, but it deserves to be mentioned. While you may think that buying a salad at a restaurant may be good for you, the fact is that it may have less nutrition and more calories than a cheeseburger. When you do go out to eat, make sure you know the nutritional facts first, but if you make the effort to make your own meals, you can control exactly what you put into your body.

• Start your own garden. When you grow your own produce, you can control what chemicals are on the food you eat. While this may take a little time, it will save you a lot of money in the long run.

Occasionally I allow guest bloggers to share their knowledge with my readers.  These posts are not sponsored and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this blog.  However, I take pains to make sure that only informative content appears on this blog.  As always, I appreciate your feedback.  If you are interested in submitting a guest post, let me know via the contact form.  Guest post pitches that are overly salesly or do not offer value to my readers will be ignored.

The above is a guest article from Vanessa Lang, an author who writes guest posts on the topics of business, marketing, credit cards, and personal finance. Additionally, she works for a website that focuses on educating readers about payday loans.

Last week I was contacted to see if I might like to try a free sample from Yahoo!’s Shine, because they’re releasing a fitness Get It Guide. You have probably seen some of their other guides.  The toys guide was my favorite, as I never know what to buy anyone else’s kids.

The Shine rep told me I could choose from these products.

All in all, I’m pretty impressed with the Zumba kit, and since I really only do Pilates and run, it’s difficult to impress me with a DVD workout.  The Zumba kit was fun, worked up a sweat, and wasn’t difficult to keep up with. Here’s my youngest giving it a try.

Giveway

Yahoo! Shine was also cool enough to let me give away a Zumba Fitness DVD Set, so the first comment or tweet or Facebook status update (or whatever), that I see gets the set. Considering that the Zumba kit is valued at $49.95 on Amazon, I’d say that’s a pretty sweet deal.

If you love soup as much as I do, no matter what time of year it is, this recipe is sure to be a hit. Buying prepared, processed soup can get expensive! I try to avoid all processed foods as much as I can, but I’m not perfect, I have to admit there are times that picking up a can of soup simply is easier than making a batch in my kitchen. My children love this soup, and I am hoping yours will too. There is nothing more satisfying than watching my children (or any child) enjoy what they are eating and knowing that is healthy for them.

This recipe is made in an 8 or 10 quart stock pot. You will need to adapt it if you are not making a large pot of soup. I have two versions of this soup, one is less expensive than the other one due the type of meat used, and the remainder of the recipe is exactly the same.

Depending upon what type of meat you use:

Brown 5 pounds ground beef in a skillet and drain. Add to stock pot.

Add approximately 4 pounds beef chunks to your stock pot and cover with water. Boil until the beef is soft and tender.

While the meat is cooking, dice up one onion and four to five stalks celery. Peel and cube potatoes. I typically use a 3 lb. bag of potatoes because my children love them in this soup. Add all ingredients to stock pot once meat has been added.

Pour in 2 containers of beef stock, or use homemade beef stock. Open four large cans of whole peeled tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in half and add to the stock pot. Add the juice from the canned tomatoes to the stock pot as well – this makes your broth.

Add one or two large bags of frozen mixed vegetables. The amount of vegetable will depend upon your preference.

Season with: Season salt, garlic powder, and bay leaves. If you are in the mood for a little spice add Cajun to your preference. Boil until the potatoes are done. Season to taste as you go. You may need to add more seasoning as the potatoes cook. I like to add sea salt to mine. Serve while hot. I serve this soup with dinner rolls.

Sloppy joes have been a long time favorite comfort food for many. If you don’t like purchasing processed sloppy joe sauce at the grocery store, don’t fret; you can make sloppy joes from scratch in your kitchen. I know this may sound nasty, but trust me it isn’t. If you have children who don’t like veggies or rice, this is a great way to sneak them into their food. I have made this recipe for years, and not one child has ever complained about the hidden goodies in it.

This recipe makes a large batch of sloppy joes.

5 pounds ground beef

3 cans Chicken Gumbo soup

1 large bottle Ketchup

1 Tablespoon mustard

Brown sugar

1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar

Brown 5 pounds of ground beef. Drain the grease. Add three cans of Chicken Gumbo soup directly to the ground beef. Do not drain the soup. Add a big bottle of ketchup. Stir and simmer for approximately two minutes. Add around a Tablespoon of mustard. Stir again. Add 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Finally, add brown sugar to taste. I typically add somewhere between ½ to ¾ cup of brown sugar. Allow to cook  for approximately 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with hamburger buns and sides of your choice. I typically serve these with coleslaw and either tator tots or French fries.

If you want to prepare this dish ahead of time, brown the ground beef and add all the ingredients in a Crockpot. Simmer on medium for a few hours, and then turn to low. This recipe is a no-fuss, hassle-free way of sneaking veggies into your children’s diet, and watching their food disappear!

If you have leftovers your family cannot eat, or you wish to make enough to freeze for a later date, this recipe freezes well. Once frozen simply place the sloppy joe mixture in your Crockpot on low and stir occasionally until heated.

Occasionally I allow guest bloggers to share their knowledge with my readers.  These posts are not sponsored and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this blog.  However, I take pains to make sure that only informative content appears on this blog.  As always, I appreciate your feedback.  If you are interested in submitting a guest post, let me know via the contact form.  Guest post pitches that are overly salesly or do not offer value to my readers will be ignored.

The below is a guest article from Izzy Woods, a freelance writer.

When my son was a little he was a very fussy eater. A few friends’ children were just the same. It seemed to me that this must be learned, not innate behavior, and that consequently we should, collectively, be able to come up with a solution. I had a lot to learn…

Hiding Healthy Foods

There was much debate about whether this was a good idea or not. On the plus side, our fussy little eaters would be getting the nutrition they needed without realizing it and putting up a fight. On the minus side, if they were never introduced to vegetables in their natural form then progress would be slow in getting them moved on from hidden foods. My solution was to do a bit of both. I became super sneaky and, in retrospect, a little obsessed. There was a job to do, and there was no way I was going to fail. All my frustrated management career skills came into play. This was nothing short of a campaign.

My thinking was that familiar foods, such as meatloaf, or pie, could be given a subtly different taste, which would accustom my child to tasting a dish that was not entirely as they expected it to be. I began with a simple technique of adding grated carrot to dishes, which disappear in a trice during cooking and are virtually undetectable. For really inexpensive foods they are a great way of adding vitamins to a meal, and great for bulking up mince, for example. Carrot was particularly good in this regard, as it only sweetened the dish.

If I was adding an ingredient that I knew was going to change the flavor a little, I would announce that we were having ‘Special Fish Pie’ tonight, and ask if my son could guess why it was special, but only when they had finished. It would be sufficiently familiar for them to thoroughly enjoy the food, and be surprised to find that a different vegetable had been included. This broke down a fair degree of resistance to trying new foods.

Sometimes my cunning was such that I would add a new ingredient, and a familiar ingredient just to fool my toddler. When they guessed ‘sweetcorn’ was the ‘secret’ ingredient, as it was not usually in their pie, I would triumphantly agree and say ‘And also THIS!’ producing a sweet potato or a tomato with the flourish of a magician producing a rabbit out of a hat. My sense of achievement was as intense as I felt when I had just won a sales pitch. Fortunately my child found this game hilarious, and soon the ‘Guess What’s In It’ competition was a regular fixture. I was beginning to win the battle.

It Hurts When Your Child Won’t Eat

Although I can see now that the lengths I went seem extreme, behind these efforts was a sense of frustration and hurt about my child rejecting the food I had lovingly prepared for him. As mothers we spend so much time thinking about the best way to care for our children and usually the love and care is welcomed. But when it is rejected it is painful, and it was after months of battling and talking to other mothers who were down about it that my ‘Stealthy Eating Campaign’ really took hold.

Moving On

After a few weeks of hiding food in other food I got frustrated. It was one thing to hide foods, and quite another to have my son eat them in a regular manner with the rest of the family. I decided the ‘Guess What’s In It’ game had to move on. Again, beginning with the humble carrot, I made sure I prepared some slivers of cooked carrot while my son was eating. When I revealed carrot as the secret ingredient, I casually said “Here, try some, can you taste the sugar?” and took a saucer over to the table, munching away enthusiastically, and helping myself. Children love to copy, as we know, and miraculously my vegetable-averse son tucked in. He noted how sweet they were, and I explained that vegetables often had sugars in them, which is why many of them taste sweet. I know, I know. Shameless, but it is true.

He was intrigued, so the next time I prepared home-made French fries I added in some ‘Sweet chips’. Sweet potato became a hit in an instant, with ‘sweet chips’ top amongst his requests, followed by chunks added to a stew. Peas were another win. Now he was not frightened of trying things anymore he became keen to find more ‘sweet’ vegetables. We had parsnip chips and roasted parsnips, and then some mange tout and petit pois. I even caramelized down some onions and leeks one day. We made ‘sweet vegetable soup’ out of our ingredients.

Not All Vegetables Are Sweet

I broke this news to my son after a few weeks, and he looked crestfallen. But we soon discovered together that even though some foods were not sweet they were still delicious. We made “Liquid Pizza” – a tomato soup with fresh basil and bread croutons. Liquid Pizza was his idea. From the familiar to the inventive. Child’s play!

Conclusion

What struck me throughout this experiment was the power that presentation has in how a child receives what you say, and how you frame new experiences for them. Today my technique is called ‘Gamification’ and is known by marketing moguls to be a sure fire way to change consumer behavior. ‘Gamifying’ food fussiness took time, and if my son rejected a vegetable along the way, I just smiled and shrugged and said ‘You don’t have to like everything’. Food has to be fun and pleasure focused, not scary or a chore. We all know that children are programmed to play all the time, so why not give meal times the same sense of adventure and experimentation that the child’s brain is hard-wired to receive? It turned my fussy eater into a food lover in just over four months. Give it a go. You never know where it will lead. Liquid Pizza anyone?

Liquid Pizza!

We homeschool our four kids (aged 6-13) and computers were a real hurdle for us. How do we make sure everyone gets enough time, but not too much time?  How do we keep an eye on them?  (both solved here)  How do we corral all the stuff that one inevitably collects as a computer user?  (err, not solved yet)

For several years our kids got our old machines, which meant they were slow but more than adequate. Sure, they complained but we reminded them that there are many homeschool families that share one machine or don’t even have one at all.

I’ve always worked online so I’ve never had to share a machine with anyone.  I had the first laptop of my very own in 1997, but I do realize that we are very much not the norm.

Last year we had a windfall, and my husband spent some time on TigerDirect and Craigslist scoping out the best deals.  We ended up getting an inexpensive computer for each kid.  We now have two mac minis and two desktop PCs, all with flat screen monitors that we bought used on Craigslist for $50 total (yes, $50 for all 4 monitors).

The chairs are from Ikea as are the two tables that are butted up against each other.  The tabletops were $20 each and the legs were $4 each.  The chairs cost us $25 each.  The whole setup was less than $1k, and obviously most of the cost is in the computers themselves.

While I know this isn’t a normal setup, it’s much more convenient this way.  They can all chat and play computer games together, and during their computer times I often see the older ones helping the younger ones (great).  Of course, sitting this closely also causes arguments at times (not great).

I do find that my son is constantly sending me emails and chat messages when he’s supposed to be studying, so sometimes I have to gently remind him to stay on task, but overall this has been a perfect solution for us.  We have a mini computer lab in our house!

Now I know many of you will think this is outrageous, but it works for us.

It’s really past my bedtime and yet again I’m waiting on little ones to bed down. I’m sure you’ve been there. You’re tired, your spouse is tired, and the babies aren’t sleepy at all.

Most nights we win this battle, but some nights, like tonight, I can only eat tons of chocolate and attempt to convince myself that I’m not a failure as a mother.

When I do win the bedtime game, I analyse what I’ve done so I can do it again with similar results. In case you’re wondering, this is what Type A moms do… They can’t just relax after a big win, they must pick it apart and create a bulleted list for future reference. ::sigh:: But, that’s another topic. Here are a few strategies I’ve found that seem to work.

Put them to bed at the same time

Make sure each kid knows exactly when the bedtime is.  Warn about 15 minutes ahead of time and again every 5 minutes.

Stagger bedtimes

Don’t try putting all of your kids to bed at the same time.  This has never worked for us.  We find that the youngest is the one we usually catch sneaking out of bed, and if she’s still awake she disturbs the others.  She goes to bed a full hour before the others and is sound asleep before the older kids start their own bedtimes.  For your reference, my 6 year old goes to bed at 8:00, the 8 year old at 9:00, the 10 year old at 9:30 and the 13 year old at 10:00.

Be firm about bedtime (don’t give in)

Don’t be tempted to give them more than a 5 minute grace period.  If they think you’ll cave they’ll ask every night.  Be firm and make bedtimes concrete.  Every time we end up with a bedtime disaster, it’s on a night that we’ve given in to a later bedtime.

Make a bedtime ritual

Bedtime should be comforting and regular.  Make a routine that your kids can expect and somewhat look forward to.  Our routine is a glass of milk, pajamas they love and helped pick out, a good toothbrushing and a trip to the potty.  The little one gets a book read to her each night and the older ones are allowed to read for 30 minutes.

They love this quiet time and it helps them relax into bedtime-mode.

Ensure they get enough activity during the day

The only days that there is NO argument on bedtime is days when they have swam or played all day.  Summer bedtime woes for our family are rare because, like us, they’re completely tuckered out by the end of the day.

Lights out!

No lamps past reading time.  Lamps and bright lights just encourage my kids to get up and play.  A night light is what works for us, and it also offers up something to take away if they are caught misbehaving. Win-win

White Noise

We’re from the south, so we grew up sleeping with a fan on us at night.  If you’ve ever slept in a room that’s 100F you know exactly what I mean!  Our kids have always had their own fan in their room both for the breeze and the noise.  If you worry about the cold, you could also use a noise machine for white noise.  This is the one we use at my MIL’s home when we visit:  Conair Noise Machine

Warning, these are addictive.  Once you get used to having white noise in your room it’s almost impossible to sleep without it.

Bedtime rewards

For particularly young children a bedtime chart can be a good way to reward bedtime achievements.  Any coloring sheet will do, just draw 1-10 in order around the picture and ‘connect the dots’ around the picture each night that your child stays in bed.  Once the chart is complete, give a simple reward (ice cream, cookie, small toy).  After you’ve run through a chart 3-4 times, and created the routine, you can do away with it.

Be forewarned that giving a reward for an expected behavior may cause problems when you take the reward away.  It wasn’t difficult for us because I just sat down and explained the situation to my child, but I have heard that some moms have a hard time getting rid of reward charts.

I’m still up so you can see these strategies don’t work all the time, but for the most part, they do wonders for us. Hope they help you!

In our house, veggies and fruits are just part of our daily habit.  I know that parents struggle with making sure that their kids get enough of these important anti-oxidant-filled goodies though, so I thought I’d share a few strategies that we use to tempt our kids with fruits and vegetables.

Offer Fruits Often

When children are playing they just want to grab a quick bite and go back to the fun.  I’m home with the kids all day, so when I get up, after fixing breakfast, I put fruit and popcorn on the kitchen table.  I leave it out for a few hours each morning before lunch.  When we eat lunch, I put it back in the refrigerator.  Around 2pm, I bring the fruit back out until supper.  What you’re seeing above is on our kitchen table all day long, save meals.  We go through 4 lbs of grapes, 2 lbs of baby carrots, 4 lbs strawberries, 2 lbs blueberries, 12 oranges, and 24 apples each week, just from snacks.  Because they’re full of fruits and veggies, they rarely ask for the bad snacks that their friends are eating.

Pair Fruits with Salty Snacks

Whole wheat goldfish, tortilla chips, toasted almonds, and popcorn are nice and salty, and they encourage you to eat something wet as an accompaniment.  Whenever we serve these, we usually offer up fruit.  I’d still suggest you look for low salt options, because they’re still salty enough to cause you to yearn for a high-water content pairing.

Dips Aren’t Always Bad

For really picky eaters, try pairing the fruit or veggies with yummy dips.  Apples and celery are perfect pairings to peanut butter.  Strawberries, peaches and blueberries are yummy alone, but add Lite Cool Whip to dip and you’ve got a delicious dessert.  Sugar free chocolate pudding is so yummy with bananas, and the vanilla pudding or yogurt goes great with any fruit.  Ranch dressing and veggies are a particular favorite of my children.  Guacamole and carrots are to die for!

Smoothies

If all else fails, smoothies are a favorite of most children.  My fav smoothie is similar to the Jamba Juice ‘Peach Perfection’.  I put about 1/2 bag frozen peaches and 4-6 frozen strawberries in the blender.  Add enough orange juice to cover half-way, and fill the rest of the way (to almost cover fruit) with water.  Blend and serve.  Makes 4 small servings or two monster adult portions.

Another good smoothie is merely vanilla yogurt+your favorite fruit.  Add a banana to any smoothie if you like them thick and creamy.  Smoothies are super easy and nutritious.  They can be a tad expensive though, so feel free to read how I save money on fruit and yogurt.

Over the years I’ve struggled to keep up with a grocery list.  I’ve used fancy bound grocery list pads, Excel spreadsheets, post-it notes, and the back of envelopes, but I never have any of them when I remember that we’re almost out of toilet paper.  But what I do always have with me is my iPhone (TMI?).  It’s either buried deep in my purse or stuck in my back pocket at all times.

Using an app obviously makes sense for me, but there are hundreds of grocery list apps out there, not even including the plethora of multi-purpose To Do lists, so which one is best?  I still haven’t answered that one, but for now I’m using Grocery iQ.  It comes pretty close to doing everything I want a grocery list to do.

Grocery iQ - Grocery List iPhone App

Grocery iQ lets you put in custom items (like the Grace Fruit Juice item in the screenshot which is a reminder to buy the fruit juice that Grace likes), but also prompts you when you are typing to choose from a pre-populated list, including the generic name and brand names.  Choosing from the list means it groups it automatically in the correct aisle.  Custom items must be grouped in a separate step, if you want them grouped.

Choosing brand names often gives you options for coupons for those brand names.  I haven’t tried to use them because most brand names we buy, we buy from Amazon (Subscribe and Save option saves you 15% and delivers automatically), but they look like they’d be a selling point if you are a couponer.

The major reason I chose Grocery iQ is because it allows you to share your list with someone else, including those on the Android platform, like my husband.  If you have an iPad, it will sync to that too.  If the person you’re sharing with doesn’t use the app, you can email the list to him as well.  Of course, you can also login online if you happen to be away from your mobile.

Super organized folks will love that the app supports multiple stores, multiple lists, and lists per store.  If you need a full list of items, the online version also gives you a loooong list to help jog your memory.

You can click the blue arrow next to the item’s name and add quantity, size, and any notes.  This is where you add any pricing info if you, like me, like to keep up with that kind of stuff.  Honestly, it’s super helpful to know that the average cost for strawberries is $4.00 a pound so that when you see them on sale for $2 a pound you can stock up and save money on your fruits and veggies.

If you happen to carry your phone everywhere, like I do, you’ll also love the bar code feature.  On many items you won’t even have to type in the item.  You can simply point your phone’s camera at the UPC code and snap a pic.  The item will be added to your list.

Clicking the checkout button clears the items in the list, but still retains them in your history which makes making your next list super, super easy.  I love this feature!

We practice once a month cooking, with rotating monthly menu plans, and I’m writing a series of eBooks that offers up our menus, recipes, cooking and freezing plan, and the shopping lists.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to use Grocery iQ for that, but the list sharing feature may or may not come in handy there.  Either way, I do have each month’s grocery list saved as a favorite and that has been a lifesaver.

The app is free, it’s obviously supported by those coupons, so don’t be ashamed to use them (your usage means more financial support for the app developers).  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Saving Money on Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and veggies are a staple around our house, so we are always looking for ways to save money on them.

Buy Frozen

There’s very little difference in frozen fruits and veggies versus fresh.  In fact, because they are flash frozen, they’ve usually got more vitamins/minerals/antioxidants than the ‘fresh’ ones that have been sitting on a truck and in your grocer’s deli for several days.  I buy 20 bags of any of our favorite frozen fruit every time they are a dollar a bag.

If you don’t have a deep freezer, or two like we have (4 kids, remember), look for a used one on Craigslist for about $50.  Yes, you can end up paying a bit more for electricity if you buy used, but remember that you can always trade up once you know you’ll use it.

CSAs

Consider joining a Coop or CSA.  For about $30 a week, you can have a bucket (think laundry basket sized) of assorted fruit and veggies for your family.  CSAs help you by giving you (usually) organic produce at a significant savings and allow you to try new things.  CSAs help your community by providing income for local farmers, many of whom practice sustainable growing practices.  Look for a CSA to cut your food costs.  If you’re lucky, you’ll get to come help out at the farm once or twice a season, exposing your kids to farming which may help them love fruits and veggies, and will give them valuable insight into where food begins.

Farmer’s Markets and Grocery Store Sales

Fruit in season is always cheaper.  Look for peaches, melons, plums and berries in the summer.  Grapes, dates, and limes are cheaper in winter months.  Apples are usually a good price in Autumn, but honestly, they’re inexpensive all the time so make those a year-round staple.  When you find an exceptional price on something like a flat of berries or a bushel of peaches, wash and freeze on a baking sheet.  Once hard, dump them in a gallon freezer bag and store in the freezer.

Prioritize Waning Fruit

Remind your children to eat the fruit that is on it’s way out.  When your apples are getting soft, make apple pancakes or apple sauce.  When your bananas are too soft, whip up a quick batch of banana bread.  Brown bananas can also be frozen (sans peel) and used for future smoothies.  Use peaches, plums, and berries that are getting soft in smoothies or yogurt.  And, most important, don’t be afraid to eat the rest of the bag if you find one bad berry or grape (ie molded).  Just remove the bad one and any around it, and discard.  The rest are perfectly fine.  Don’t be a food waster!

Use Fruit as a Centerpiece

This really isn’t about saving money on fruit, but saving money all around.  I used to decorate our tables with expensive fresh flowers.  Now I have bowls of fruit everywhere, and we still have beautiful fresh colors without any waste.