Homemade is economical too!
At a time when every dollar counts, you will find you can put meals on the table that taste good and are good for you without breaking your budget. Here are some approximate price comparisons.
A serving of:
- Homemade pea soup $0.51 versus canned at $1.25.
- Homemade chicken quesadilla about $1.71 would be about $5.00 in a restaurant
- Homemade beef, rice and broccoli stir-fry less than $1.00 compared to more than $2.50 from a store.
- Homemade fruit smoothie about $0.65 compared to around $3.00 from a store.
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Do you realize how healthy, easy and economical it is to make your meals homemade?
If you are concerned about things like the amount or type of fat in your food or how much sodium or fiber there is, making meals at home is for you! The amount of control you have over your nutrition can vary greatly. For example:
- When you purchase chicken noodle soup at a restaurant, you will probably not have any reliable nutrition information about what you are eating and how it was prepared.
- If you purchase a can of chicken noodle soup at the grocery store, you will have nutrition facts on the label to give you information, but little control.
- If you make the soup from some convenience items, like canned broth for example, you have a little more control. For example, you can increase the vegetables and decrease the noodles or use your favorite seasonings.
- When you make chicken noodle soup from “scratch” (cooking the chicken for the broth, etc.) you have the most control over the end product. Today, many recipes provide you with the nutrient content for a particular serving size.
Homemade doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming.
Besides, why pay someone else to do what is fun? Cooking is a great, family activity or fun to do with friends! Some feel it is very relaxing and rewarding to do alone. Learning their way around the kitchen is a great skill for children to learn. What better way to learn a family member’s cooking secrets than preparing a meal with them!
 Healthy and homemade can be as easy and quick as putting together ingredients you have on hand. For example you can make an Oriental Chicken Salad with these ingredient ideas in the amounts you want or have:
- Romaine, spinach or other lettuce
- diced cooked chicken
- sliced or diced celery
- water chestnuts or other oriental vegetables
- pineapple or mandarin oranges
- and sliced almonds sprinkled on top
The fruit makes it juicy enough that you can even leave off the salad dressing!
Use these links to find healthy recipes and ideas by the ingredients you like.
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings/
http://recipefinder.nal.usda.gov/
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