Buying Whole Food Ingredients with Chef Ze!
So far in this series, we’ve looked at five inflation-busting tips, planning meals in advance and now I want to discuss buying whole food ingredients and how this can save you money. When you hear the term whole food, don’t think of the famous grocery store chain, but think of basic ingredients that are used to make meals.
A perfect example of a whole food ingredient would be heavy cream. While it is seen as an additive to sauces it can also be used to make butter. There are a lot of benefits to using whole food ingredients. The benefits are endless but here are my three favorites:
- Whole food ingredients are less expensive.
- Can be used in multiple meals.
- Are better for your health
The easiest way to incorporate whole food ingredients into your meals is staying away from the center aisles and shopping the outer aisles of your grocery store and staying away from mixes, and flavoring sauces. Sure, using whole food ingredients is more time consuming but the health benefits and the potential amount of money you will be saving is more than worth it in the end. Here are a few whole food ingredients and the dishes
- Oranges- jam, marinade, citrus salad, the juice can also be used as sweetener for teas and other drinks.
- Flour- sure you can make homemade bread, biscuits, cakes, and can also be used as a breading when frying and a thickener for homemade sauces and gravy.
- Tomatoes- ripe tomatoes can be used to make sauces, and are the perfect base for vegetable juice blends and of course salads.
While this is a brief list of whole food ingredients and their uses, the list goes on. I suggest going through your cabinets and looking at the ingredients in your prepackaged meals and mixes and make an effort to buy the ingredients separately.
In our next article, we’ll review the importance of understanding your food groups. I hope you’re finding ways to incorporate these ideas into your own family’s budget, and, as always, thanks for reading.