Being single, I rarely cook with only one meal in mind. It's much easier to know what your second or third meal will be, than trying to think of what to make with your leftovers.

I'm a salad eater, so I always chop, dice and slice all of my weekly salad makings at one time. I bag each food item in an air tight plastic bag, then store in my refrigerator until I need them. Not only, does this make it easier and faster for me to get my meals ready, it lets me know if I am in need of other ingredients, and if so, I list it on my shopping list so I wont forget it on my next grocery shopping trip.

Choosing one main category for your evening meals also helps in keeping your food budget in check.

If you choose to have a roasted chicken for Sunday dinner, make plans to have a Hot Open Faced Chicken Sandwich for Tuesday's dinner followed by Chicken Soup with rice on Friday. All of these meals can be made for a family of four, using one 3-4 pound roasting chicken.

For Sunday's meal you will use the 2 breast, for the adults and the 2 legs for the children. The meat from the thighs can be used for the open faced sandwiches, leaving the wings and bones for the soup.

If you are single, like me, you can have the chicken cut in half by the grocery store meat cutter, then use it in the same manner. Cut the other half into parts, place each one in an air tight freezer plastic bag and store in your freezer for future meals.

Getting the best savings at the grocery store, always starts in our homes. Reading the weekly grocery ads, from the local newspapers and choosing items that fit our budget is a wise move. The next step is to make a shopping list and stick to it once we get to the store.

Don't forget to take your coupons with you. If possible, choose a store that doubles or triples your coupons. Most grocery stores do it at least one day a week. That is the day you want to do the bulk of your shopping.

Making menus, shopping lists and sticking to your planned food budget will help keep the other categories in your home budget in line and you on track for your future.

I invite you to visit my site http://www.hassieskitchentable.com/ for more Tips, Ideas and Recipes for living on less with a smile.

Faylee James is a Life Coach/Writer/Speaker from Northeast Tennessee, who has an above average interest in people, cooking and living life to the fullest.

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In these days of bank closures, foreclosures and greater than 10% unemployment, it is not easy to buy foods that are healthy for us. Foods that are listed as organic or have some healthy additive are usually priced 2 or more times higher than the same non-healthy items. The paranoid in me wants to say that is the conspiracy - large quantities of cheap unhealthy food that debilitate us and make us sick so we can have expensive procedures in hospitals and buy massive amounts of drugs that don't make us any better and some times sicker. But anyway...

Healthy foods don't always have to be expensive and out of reach of a normal budget. Some easy things to do are buy large quantities of in-season fruits and vegetables and freeze the excess. Frozen fruits and vegetables are nutritionally as good as fresh as long as they are frozen as soon as possible after harvesting. Use them out of season in soups and smoothies when they are more expensive or unavailable.

If you have a sunny window, you can grow herbs in pots and use them as you need them. Herbs like basil and parsley taste much better fresh than dried and are much cheaper. Always be on the look out for product coupons (especially on-line coupon sites) and sales at stores for healthy foods and again preserve (freeze) the excess. If you are unsure how to preserve different items, the Ball and Ball co. (makers of those glass canning jars) sell a book called the Ball Blue Book. This book has instructions on how to preserve almost any food you can think of, using many methods including freezing and drying. Also, you can get some good values at bulk stores, like Costco, Sam's or BJ's.

Here are 5 tips on foods that are healthier for you, improve your holistic wellness but won't break the bank:

1. Grains

Grains like like oatmeal, barley and quinoa (keen-wa) have fiber, protein and other nutrients. The fiber helps to regulate blood sugar and remove fats from your system. The protein helps maintain muscle mass. You can use the oatmeal as a healthy and filling breakfast and barley is good in soups and stews while the quinoa makes a very tasty and high fiber substitute for rice.

2. Beans

Also high in fiber and protein, beans can be a part of lunch and dinner for any household. There are many varieties available, red, black, navy, garbanzo and kidney beans. The most inexpensive are the dried varieties. When cooking them use a healthy oil like olive or canola oil and if you use meat make it low fat and low salt meat.

3. Eggs

A great source of high quality protein, eggs are an inexpensive choice over meat. They also contain antioxidants, lutein and zeaxanthin, which help keep eyes healthy. If you have high cholesterol, keep it down to one or two eggs per day.

4. Fish

Canned fish like tuna, salmon and anchovies are a great source of omega 3 fats which have been shown to improve heart health and arthritis, reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's, reduce depression and lower blood pressure. All three fishes mentioned if packed in olive oil or spring water provide a high amount of protein and omega-3 fats without adding unwanted fats or salt to you diet.

5. Milk

Low fat milk, low fat cottage cheese, and low fat plain yogurt are all high in protein, calcium and vitamins notably vitamin d. New research is showing low levels of vitamin D may be linked to several diseases, such as high blood pressure, cancer, periodontal disease, chronic pain, seasonal affective disorder, elevated VLDL triglycerides, peripheral artery disease, and several autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes. Buy the bulk quantities of cottage cheese and yogurt. Make sure you get the plain variety, the flavored types are high in unnecessary and unhealthy sugar and high fructose corn syrup. If the plain flavors aren't tasty to you cut up and add fruits like strawberries or peaches to liven it up and improve your health and wellness.

There are many ways you can eat healthy and still not spend a lot of extra money. The Internet is a great place to do the necessary research for this. There are plenty of blogs out there offering information and ideas to help you, Dr. Weil, Jorge Cruz and Cary Ellis are just a few of the many. Look them up, be healthy and...

Be well.

Hi! Just another internet entrepreneur trying to make a dollar or maybe some yuan. Hope you find the article useful.

http://northof50.us

http://www.northof50.us/holistic-wellness/change-your-life-your-way

What is this page all about? Well, not all of us are lucky enough to be able to go to all the high-class supermarkets and buy all the expensive products. But are they really nutritious? are they really good value for money? Could you feed your family for half the cost of someone using the likes of Asda or Sainsbury's? Let's find out shall we.

Cooking on a budget is very important to many families in today's economic climate. The biggest part of the family budget goes to buying food - but that does not prevent you from buying good nutritious, healthy food for the family. Cheap meals does not mean unhealthy meals. Fresh fruit and vegetables are not expensive and some can be totally free simply by growing them yourself. You don't even need a garden or allotment to grow your vegetables, or herbs. We will show you how later in the section.

You can make a lot of things from scratch and in bulk and either freeze it or bottle it for future use. A few simple techniques like shopping in the markets just before closing time - especially on a Saturday, brings exceptionally good deals. The stall-holders don't want to be stuck with fruit and veg that will not be fresh on Monday morning. So what do they do - they sell it off cheap to get rid of it. Try it out for yourself. Visit the market an hour before closing time and see for yourself. A few bags of cheap fruit and veg can feed your family one way or another for weeks - if you use it correctly. Budget cooking or cooking on a budget can be so easy. Budget cooking is not a science. A few Bags of vegetables and a bag of dried beans and pulses - barley, dried peas, lentils provide all and body and additional nutrition to those vitamins & nutrients already present in the fresh vegetables, providing a healthy and filling meal for all the family. You can freeze what you don't use in plastic bags and this provides additional meals at a later date. We will give you all the recipes you will need for all types of nutritious, healthy soups using vegetables and pulses - without the additives and 'E' numbers to provide the taste and flavour that have been lost during processing. Budget cooking is not difficult. It just needs a bit of thought and forward planning.

Tomato Soup is a great example of how to use up a few ripe tomatoes, an onion and a handful of herbs and spices. all the recipes for this and other vegetable based soups are available to you simply by clicking on the links to these recipe pages. Always remember, budget recipes are not cheap recipes - they are recipes based on good quality but cheap ingredients. There is nothing cheap about the quality or nutritional value of the resulting product.

Salads In summer, we all love salads. They are naturally healthy because of the vegetables used, but you can easily turn a salad into a filling and healthy meal by simply adding pasta, meat or seafood. We will show you how.

Desserts There are dozens of gorgeous desserts that can be made for next to nothing. Don't throw away your old bread - turn it into a bread and butter pudding by simply adding milk and egg and maybe a handful of sultanas or dried apricots.. It's so easy.

Main Courses You don't have to invest in a Roast of beef or loin of pork to give the family meat for dinner. Use minced beef or minced pork. There are hundreds of recipes for using mincemeat. Use cheaper cuts of beef and cook it long and slow to tenderise it. You can do so much without breaking the bank to get meat onto the table

If you want to know more, or need recipes for cooking cheap and easy (but healthy and nourishing) meals, visit us at Bill and Sheila's Cookbook.

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