ARTICLES / General /Clever
Cooking in a Tough Economy /
Other ArticlesBy Helen Hunter, ACSW, LSW, GCM
Families throughout the country are increasingly
being challenged in finding creative solutions to eating
healthy in spite of rising prices. The following are
clever cooking strategies, which can assist today’s
family in providing healthy daily meals without breaking
the bank.
COOK EVERY MEAL
Make your own meals from scratch and you’ll save money
since frozen and prepared meals, as well as eating out,
are more expensive. Meals from scratch are usually made
with fresh ingredients and you’ll have an opportunity to
eliminate adding salt or sugar. This will result in a
healthier meal for you and your family.
JOIN A DINNER CLUB
Many families are pulling together to cook for each
other, thus saving money for cooking every night.
Families are usually assigned one or two nights a week
and they are responsible for cooking for the group.
These families enjoy the fellowship with each other, and
they are able to experience a variety of different
foods. The best part, participants say, is that they
don’t have to cook every night!!
MAKE SEVERAL MEALS AT ONE TIME
Many people cook on the weekend and freeze meals for the
upcoming week. This can be especially helpful for those
who are cooking for one or two, or who might have a very
busy work week schedule, and don’t have the time during
the week to prepare a meal from scratch. The sky is the
limit as to the variety of different meals that can be
prepared. For example, cooking a roast chicken on Sunday
can result in having soup, fajitas, chicken salad, a
chicken and vegetable stir-fry, a chicken casserole and
a chicken over pasta dish later in the week.
GET CREATIVE
Use your imagination in creating exciting and healthy
dishes from one main staple. In buying a whole chicken,
for example, creative cooks can use the breast meat, the
legs and thighs, and the bones to make several meals. As
my grandmother always said “Waste not, want not”. She
believed in using every scrap of food, and not throwing
anything away! She was a creative cook!!
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