| Frugal, Healthy Cooking Will Help You Save Money and Truly Nourish Your Body |
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Frugal, Healthy Cooking Will Help You Save Money and Truly Nourish Your Body
Frugal, healthy cooking is not only a great way to give you the energy you need for a successful homestead, it also gives a boost to your budget. Cutting back on food expenses is the easiest way to save money and get out of debt. But limiting yourself to boxed macaroni or other cheap foods isn't the wisest of choices. A lot of cheap food has been highly processed. It's full of chemicals and low on nutrition.
It may seem like a good deal at the time, but such choices are costly in the long run. Deprived of the proper nutrients it needs, your body becomes less resistant to disease. Also, studies have shown that highly processed food is a significant contributor to obesity. If you have a weight problem, it may not be because you over eat. Rather, you are eating the wrong types of food.
Does High Quality Mean High Cost? The good news is, you don't have to spend a lot of money to obtain high quality food. But you do have to make a time commitment. Things like brown rice, beans and grains are not "instant foods." They take time to prepare. But once you taste the difference, I'm sure you'll agree, these delicious foods are worth the extra time.
Rethink Ground Beef Many people consider hamburger meat to be a staple of the American diet. The problem with this is, unless you're raising a steer on your back 40 acres, you're going to be consuming a lot of extra things that may not be good for you. Recently, I watched a documentary called "King Corn," in which two young men had a DNA sample taken of their hair. They were shocked to discover that despite their fast-food diet, they were made primarily of corn. They decided to rent a corn patch, grow some feed corn and trace where it ends up. It turns out that most farmer in the farm belt are raising feed corn.
Feed corn tastes awful and has little nutritional value. But that doesn't matter because it's fed to cattle anyway. Problem with this is, cattle are not meant to eat corn. They're designed to eat grass. If they're given a strict corn diet, and no grass, a cow will die within six months. They just can't digest the corn. It makes them sick. Yet, that's all these cattle eat. Furthermore, they're crammed into feedlots where they can barely move.
Naturally, they get sick, so they're pumped full of antibiotics to keep them from dying prematurely. So when you buy ground beef at the store, you're buying the meat of an animal that was probably sick, stressed out and crammed with steroids. Suddenly, that burger doesn't look so good, does it?
Lentils, Wonderful Lentils Fortunately, there is a wonderful, healthy, low-cost substitute for that ground beef. It's the lentil, an often overlooked, unappreciated member of the legume family. This wonderful little bean can be cooked quickly without pre-soaking (20 minutes generally) and can be used as a substitute for ground beef in tacos, chile and any casserole calling for beef.
Brown Rice - And We're Not Talking Instant Another important staple that should be on your shelf is brown rice. Not the processed stuff that can be prepared in ten minutes, but real whole grain brown rice. It takes 45 minutes to prepare and is worth every second. One of the main reasons people get colon cancer is because they don't have enough fiber in their diet.
White rice is nothing but starch. Brown rice on the other hand provides not only fiber, but wonderful nutrients your body needs. Brown rice with butter and sugar makes a delicious breakfast food. Plus, brown rice can be added to any casserole for both texture and flavor.
Whole Grains Buying a loaf of whole wheat bread at the store isn't really the answer to including whole grains in your diet. Unfortunately, several brands of commercially prepared bread has a chemical called potassium bromate. Sometimes it is called "dough enhancer." This chemical is used to give the flour a finer texture and kill bugs.
It's the "kill bugs" part that should have you alarmed. Researchers found a link between consuming bromate and developing cancer. Want a really radical way to include whole grains in your diet?
The Miracle of the Grain Mill A few months back I took the plunge and bought a grain mill. The difference has been huge. Breads made from freshly ground flour taste fabulous. I was amazed at the amount of energy I had after I began eating bread made from flour I ground fresh.
Even my gravies and sauces taste better. I often bake bread for my mom, and she prefers the bleached white flour. Recently I was out of my own fresh ground flour and in a hurry, so I borrowed some of hers. The sauce I made was awful! I could taste the chemicals in it. Once you start using your own freshly ground flour, you won't want to go back.
Sue Merriam is author of the website, Organic Gardening and Homesteading. http://www.organic-gardening-and-homesteading.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sue_Merriam
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