Food I Need to Keep on Hand
One of the main reasons people tend to eat poorly is a lack of quick and convenient healthy choices. (Grabbing a banana and juice puree at the health food store next to my apartment is one choice that meets both of these criteria.) To that end, I need to remember to keep the following packaged food on hand at all times.
- Cans of soup (Cambells or Healthy Choice low sodium)
- Crackers
- Apple Juice and/or Orange Juice
- Whole grain cereal
- Annies Mac & Cheese
- Tuna
- Frozen vegetables
- Cous-Cous
- Microwave popcorn (Keeps me from purchasing other less nutitious salty snacks)
- Voila Meals
- French Fries (Not so healthy but these can be used sparingly)
Because my schedule can be hectic, I’ve hesitated to purchase alot of fresh vegetables and fruits. They always seem to go bad on me. Usually what happens is that I’ll have a stretch of really busy time where I’ll have to eat out alot and I forget that there is a bunch of broccoli or half-used squash gathering moss in my refridgerator. What I’m wondering is that maybe it’s ok to just plan on purchasing a few staple vegetables to have on hand, whether you use them or not? What’s frustrated me in the past is the lack of consistency in my cooking habits. It was like a rollercoaster: Purchase alot of vegetables, cook a nice meal or two and then not cook for two weeks. I felt like I was wasting all this food and wasting all this money. Perhaps it was the extremes I was going to that was the problem. I think I need to reframe it so that these staple items are a part of my monthly purchases whether or not I use them. The trick here is to make it small. Always have fresh lettuce on hand. Know that lettuce in the spinner lasts about 2 weeks if you don’t use it and be prepared to buy more lettuce every two weeks. Maybe do the same with Zuchinni, or something small. The concept is that by planning on these small expenses, you avoid the bigger expenses of A.) Eating out and B.)Putting bad food in your body. The same has held true in the past for milk. It’s good to just plan on buying milk once a week, whether you use it or not. Even if you only use it twice all month, the 4 dollars you invest purchasing it each week (and thus always having fresh milk on hand) might keep you from choosing a McDonalds Crappy Meal, or a 10 dinner someplace else because you had milk to cook mac & cheese, or to use in a recipe, or for breakfast cereal. Rather than thinking of this as wasted food if you don’t use it, it’s better to think of this as insurance against eating improperly. My guess is that I’ll end up cooking more if I have food on hand consistently.
Financially for one month it comes out roughly to this:
- Lettuce, twice a month – $4 dollars
- Broccoli, 2-3 times a month – $4
- Zucchini, twice a month – $3
- Milk, one litre carton a week- $4
- Bread, 2 loaves a month – $4
- Apples, one month supply – $6
- Onions, one month supply – $3
Total: $28 a month
Those are the bare essentials that I’ve succesfully used in the past. $28 dollars a month insurance against bad eating habits and expensive meals. We’ll see how it goes.