Eating and Living Healthfully

By: Susan Hickey

I don’t know about you, but as a busy mom of three, I am always balancing our family’s needs for affordable, healthy meals that fit into our schedule. I’ve had a few years of practice, and have devised a plan for how to keep five people happy and healthy while maintaining a food budget. 

The most effective tip is meal planning. Taking a few minutes to sit down at the beginning of the week with the family calendar and scheduling meals on certain days helps save time and money. For example, on dance practice days, I plan a crockpot meal because my husband can feed the boys dinner while I take our daughter to practice right after school. Usually crockpot meals include leftovers, so that fills in another day. On days where the schedule is lighter, I might plan a baked pasta meal with whole wheat pasta and some frozen veggies. That is another meal that is generally good for two nights. The key is having the plan, so that we avoid calling for pizza, which is expensive and not as healthy as making food at home.

That brings me to my second point – eating at home. It’s commonly known that restaurants are notorious for huge portion sizes.  Not only that, the oils and ingredients used might not be the ones you would choose for yourself. At home, you can control the amount of salt added to your meal, which is a huge variable that has a significant impact on your blood pressure. I even make my own salad dressing at home, using a recipe I found on Pinterest and a blender. It takes no more than 10 minutes to make enough to last a few weeks.  I also cut 1/3 of the sugar and I don’t even notice. 

Making my own salad dressing is one way I try to avoid processed foods. Processed foods are definitely convenient!  However, they can contain a lot of hidden fats, preservatives, sugars and other things that are unhealthy. We try to make as much from scratch as possible and keep things simple, using frozen, fresh, or canned vegetables, and minimizing convenient add-ons. Our family isn’t perfect and we do eat Rice-a-Roni everyone once in a while.  However, it’s not the norm. I even avoid bagged salads if I can help it – they have been in the news a lot recently due to bacterial contamination.  I invested in a salad spinner at IKEA for $5 and buy my romaine hearts whole, and I prepare my salad myself. I have estimated that I cut my salad costs in half by cutting and washing my own lettuce in a salad spinner. It’s a simple job that my 8-year-old daughter can handle with a lettuce knife, and it helps her learn to be more helpful in the kitchen.

A last tip is to consider a garden. If your living situation permits it, a garden can be a wonderful way to eat healthfully and inexpensively. We have had our garden for five years and during that time I have learned to can what I grow. We grow green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots typically. I pick up vegetable seeds at Aldi or the dollar store for 25 cents a package.  We also have a strawberry patch that we can count on each June for a large harvest. I have even grown cantaloupe, basil, and edamame. Tending to a garden is great exercise and the benefits are many. We still have canned green beans and tomatoes in our pantry from last summer.

Eating healthful foods on a budget doesn’t have to be challenging. Hopefully these tips can help. The YMCA has a dietitian on staff now who is available for consultations with members. She can be reached at atackett@daytonymca.org . That’s just another way the YMCA is helping you lead a healthier lifestyle!