Affordable ways to eat healthy

[tuulen]

Let me just say that this could be one of the best threads that I have ever seen on FF.

Healthy eating is one of my top priorities.

Ja kiitos!

[Rip]

If you have that kind of market Cory was referring to near your home or commuting route, use that. Otherwise, most of the time Lidl has cheapeast prices for most products, but the local K and S market practically always have a few fees vegetables or fruits on offer (fresh fish or meat fairly often too) check the add in local newspaper (or online).

[tuulen]

It's the local greenhouses which sell their "too old/odd shapen for the shops produce" in the market square.

Get a big, tall pot, 11+ liter, and then make a soup/stew of those veggies, and then add a little fish or meat.

Then serve yourself that soup/stew over a big bowl/plate of cooked brown rice.

That combination works extremely well for me, economical and very healthy food. Mmm!

A big pot full like that could last for a week or more, but remember to bring it to a boil every day.

And DO NOT add salt, but do add black pepper and whatever other seasonings could taste good to you.

[Flossy1978]

You boil the whole pot of soup stuff every single day? You don't just take out a portion and heat it up?

I never knew you could do that. I always heat up leftover individually if I know it'll last more than two meals. If only two meals, then I heat it up just as one big pot.

Well, you learn something new everyday.

[CH]

I don't think he meant to take the whole 10l pot out of the fridge and boil the whole pot every day! What would the sense in that be? Talk about overcooking the veg! Ensuring a good boil for the individual servings means making sure the bacteria are killed off.

Well, there are those that do boil the whole pot every day, and add stuff to it as it gets topped off: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questi ... ually-safe

Yeah... not a good idea. And I don't quite get the money saving aspect, either. Make a big pot, freeze in whatever portions you like. Make a new big pot... In what way would the "never ending soup" be more economical? Certainly not if you manage to get yourself a really good food poisoning. Oh, and I've also heard of old-timey "never ending sauce" kind of cooking, where there is some sauce pot that is always boiling on the stove (this from the Internet... not in Finland).

Anyway, if one makes a big batch of whatever I would suggest to rather freeze most of it than have it in the fridge for a week. Why eat a whole week the same thing? Just remember to also use what you have in the freezer (I tend to love squirreling away food in the freezer, and then forgetting what I have there).

My biggest money saving tip is to not buy too much food so that it expires before you have time to eat it. Be aware of the exiration dates, and freeze it (either as is, or as a dish) if it looks like you won't eat it in time. Food thrown away is money thrown in the garbage bin. I have also noticed that I use about the same amount of money each time I go to the store, so I just go once a week and buy for the whole next week... saves a lot of time, too.

[Oombongo]

boiled vegetables with macaroni are quite cheap and healthy.
Not to mention exercises and cardio workout is also mandatory.

[Flossy1978]

I am moving to Turku. Bloody cheap.

Even in the Lidl where I live, there's nothing cheap like that. Sometimes you can get some vegies for 99c a packet. Like I bought a 6 pack of tomatoes the other week for 99c.

And there aren't any cheap fruit and vegie markets in summer where I live. You can buy fruits like berries, then potatoes etc. But they aren't cheap. The potatoes, yes. But the fruits are freaking expensive. And there's no vegie markets with tomatoes, capsicum etc.

City Market and S-Market where I live are crap. Their fruit is often so old. It's overpriced and yuck. The vegies often aren't any better. Sometimes they're ok, but they're rather expensive compared to Lidl. I don't shop in those stores much. Just Lidl normally.

[rider1000]

Cory, are those sellers in the market square most days? Or is it just a couple days a week? I need to get over there and check it out!

[Rosamunda]

The "markets" in Helsinki (the Tori, Wanha Satama and Hakaniemi) are expensive.
We've pretty much used up all our own veg. A few beans in the freezer and maybe a couple of kilos of carrots in the maakellari and still a few kilos of onions, a few jars of pickled beetroot, but that's about it. Ran out of potatoes weeks ago.

[tuulen]

You boil the whole pot of soup stuff every single day? You don't just take out a portion and heat it up?

I never knew you could do that. I always heat up leftover individually if I know it'll last more than two meals. If only two meals, then I heat it up just as one big pot.

Well, you learn something new everyday.

Yeah, the idea is to make a big pot full of healthy veggies + a little meat, to be served over brown rice.

Make sure that the pot has plenty of water in it, too.

Then the pot full gets left on the stove, unrefrigerated, day after day.

So the way to keep that unrefrigerated food from spoiling is to bring it to a gentle boil once a day.

And the moment it gets to a boil then shut the heat off, immediately!

No need for a refrigerator!

BTW, I always add a few spoonfuls of vegetable oil too, olive oil, peanut oil or whatever vegetable oil.

Feel free to experiment! Purchase veggies at low cost and then add whatever your choice of seasonings could be.

[tkf]

does anybody have any insights on what could be used as an alternitive to butter?

I don't imagine it would be chead here but in the ideal situation something like almond butter.

I never buy sauces and my seasoning is low salt, although I do use pesto quite alot and I have no idea if this is good or bad?

[CH]

Then the pot full gets left on the stove, unrefrigerated, day after day.

You might want to add a warning that they are risking their health and lives.

So the way to keep that unrefrigerated food from spoiling is to bring it to a gentle boil once a day.

And the moment it gets to a boil then shut the heat off, immediately!

This is not enough to kill off all the bacteria, and will of course do nothing if you happen to be lucky enough to have bacteria in there that has produced heat stable toxins.

A pretty good article on food safety:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/dinin ... afety.html

Yes, many will do the above forever and live to tell the tale. And have grandparents who did it. But you are playing a russian roulette. We have refridgerators today, there is absolutely no reason to just leave food out for days. My mom grew up eating moldy bread and is still here to tell the tale... I rather not risk that.

[CH]

does anybody have any insights on what could be used as an alternitive to butter?

Depends on for what use. For cooking and baking... vegetable oils. For spreading on bread... just leave it out.

I don't imagine it would be chead here but in the ideal situation something like almond butter.

I have never seen almond butter sold here. But you can make your own pretty easily with a food processor. It's essentially just throwing a bunch of roasted or unroasted almonds (or nuts) in the food processor, and chopping it up until it's of desired consistensy. (I've never done it myself, though.) For instance here is a good description with nice pictures: http://heathereatsalmondbutter.com/reci ... ut-butter/

[tuulen]

does anybody have any insights on what could be used as an alternitive to butter?

I don't imagine it would be chead here but in the ideal situation something like almond butter.

I never buy sauces and my seasoning is low salt, although I do use pesto quite alot and I have no idea if this is good or bad?

As an alternative to butter use a vegetable oil, and olive oil is my favorite! Mmm!

And just like you, I never add salt to my food and otherwise keep my sodium (salt) consumption to a minimum.

[tuulen]

Then the pot full gets left on the stove, unrefrigerated, day after day.

You might want to add a warning that they are risking their health and lives.

So the way to keep that unrefrigerated food from spoiling is to bring it to a gentle boil once a day.

And the moment it gets to a boil then shut the heat off, immediately!

This is not enough to kill off all the bacteria, and will of course do nothing if you happen to be lucky enough to have bacteria in there that has produced heat stable toxins.

A pretty good article on food safety:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/dinin ... afety.html

Yes, many will do the above forever and live to tell the tale. And have grandparents who did it. But you are playing a russian roulette. We have refridgerators today, there is absolutely no reason to just leave food out for days. My mom grew up eating moldy bread and is still here to tell the tale... I rather not risk that.

What do you know? Honestly, what do you know?

I have been doing just as I wrote, as above, for many years, and it works perfectly well.

Bringing a pot of soup/stew to a gentile boil once a day prevents spoilage, without any need to refrigerate.

And after all of these years of my doing just that, you could tell me that I should be dead of poisoning by now?

But good food is one of my top priorities, and my doctor says that I have the physical condition of a teenager.