My food budget and diet assessment: Focusing on variation vs costs!

Recently I have seen our weekly food bill double (if not more) and it didn’t feel like we had more food in the house. I know with the economy at the moment people have complained about the prices of food and household items going up but because I bought a lot of fresh, un packaged goods such as loose fruit and vegetables I thought I had escaped! I also put this increase in our food costs down to the fact that, due to reading so many health blogs, I have become very aware of the quality of food I was buying. Sure I can spend £25 a week on a food shop and we’ll live off  basics tomato soup, pastas and casseroles but was I making everything nutritionally balanced? Was the cheapest product on the shelf, for example bread, actually full of sugar/ salt etc where as the loaf that is 50p more is much better for you.

So I’ve gone from being a cost scruteniser to a label reader and it may be costing us more but I feel like I am making a difference. I read a quote by Martin Lewis (Money Supermarket Expert) who said “Don’t ask “What’s the cheapest way to get all the goodies I want?”. Instead ask “On my £XYZ budget, what’s the best value I can get with it?”“. I really agree and I realised that when doing my food shop I have been buying some organic produce or better quality where it is important but now I need to assess if there is anything I am buying which I don’t need OR do I need to re-adjust my budget to make sure we are eating the best foods for our bodies.

I’ve also recently been very keen to add more variety to our diet and to take in as many different fruits and vegetables each day as possible. I’ve always had a good balanced lunch of salads or soups made from vegetables and grains etc so I haven’t changed this. For evening meals I have just been making sure to vary the dishes each day and use as many different coloured vegetables as I can each meal. It sounds strange but I used to be very anti variation, I felt it was a waste of time adding extra fruits to things like cereal when I could just chop up a banana which only cost me 10p. I thought an apple and a banana every day would do the trick, but the more I learn and the better I feel I think it’s safe to say that I now want as many fruits as I can afford chopped up on that cereal!

Saying that, breakfast was my weakest meal of the day (even though it was my favourite) so here is how I have been trying to change it -

Breakfast:
Before – Porridge made with water and a handful of dried cranberries mixed in – cheap as chips but bland and not much variety, fibre from the oats though!
Now – Overnight porridge oats made with soya milk, bananas, strawberries, flax seeds and cinnamon – calcium, potassium, vitamin c, magnesium and more.

Before – Fruit Juice – vitamins (depending on the juice)
Now – Smoothie with coconut water, greens and berries – Iron, fiber, vitamins, calcium, riboflavin etc

Before – Fried Egg Sandwich with butter and ketchup
Now – Fried Egg wrap with mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach or scrambled eggs with various toppings

Even Scott has been changing his breakfasts as we both started to feel better for our healthier start to the day. Instead of having a few slices of toast and butter Scott now has a smoothie before work, then he has muesli with yoghurt later on in the morning.

It may physically be more food than we were eating before but it is better quality meals which are more exciting than before. Also I have noticed a big difference in my day from having a better breakfast, I’m not hungry untill much later in the day and I have more energy!

So now to look again at my food budget, I do not want to stop buying all of these lovely fruit and vegetables which are enhancing our diet so instead I have started shopping at the market on a weekly basis. I take along £5- £10 and see what I can get for my money. This is much cheaper than buying at the supermarket, also you get bigger quantities of the produce at the market so often what I buy will last us the whole week.

I have increased the amount I allow myself to spend at the super market on other items but I try to balance buying cheap items such as porridge oats with more expensive items like organic bread. That way your food shop is more under control and will not be too expensive. My weekly budget has gone from £25 to £40 and I have adjusted my “takeaway/ pub” budget accordingly! I know my priorities

If you want to see more tips on cooking within a budget then why not check out the guest post I did over at Foodies 100 – “A Round up of 5 brilliant budget cooking blogs”.

I Can Eat A Rainbow….Or Two!

When you think of a rainbow of food do you think of sprinkles, icing, colourings and sweets or maybe do you think of bright and vibrant vegetables and fruits? It’s not a bad thing if you think of the first option!! But maybe don’t eat a rainbow of those foods on a regular basis. Fruit and Vegetables on the other hand – you should eat a rainbow of these every day!

Different coloured foods have different benefits to them and to make sure your body is getting everything it needs it is important to eat a wide variety of colours. Just like you wouldn’t only eat one food group every meal time then you also shouldn’t only eat one type of vegetable every time.

Now I shop on a budget so I understand that it can be daunting to try to buy tonnes of vegetables which eventually might just go off in the fridge but here is a list of a few fruits and vegetables which I love and find easy to incorporate into my every day diet.

RED: Peppers, Tomatoes, Chillis, Red Onions,  Strawberries, Apples, Rhubarb, Cherries and Watermelon etc.

I have focused on Red Peppers as I love eating them with salads, in stirfries, as crudites with hummus, stuffed with more veggies, roasted and added to pasta, chopped and sprinkled on pizza, added to soups or even blended into a smoothie with other fruits and vegetables.~
They are extremely versatile and will be happy to be cooked in so many different ways. They have high levels of Vitamin C, Vitamin A and Vitamin B6 along side a very long list of other vitamins. They also provide a source of fibre and have hardly any calories!
Best Eaten: Raw in a salad.

ORANGE: Carrots, Butternut Squash, Oranges, Pumpkin, Peaches, Mangoes.

Out of all the orange fruits and vegetables the main vegetable in my fridge every week is the carrot! Again it is so versatile and can be used in soups, stews, sliced thinly into stirfries, grated onto salads or in sandwiches, cut into sticks as a snack with dips, roasted as a side dish, mashed in with your potatoes for a more colourful mash. They contain Carotene (which is turned into Vitamin A), Vitamin B, Vitamin C and they are packed with anti-oxidants and can lower cholesterol.
Best Eaten: Unpeeled and roasted with some spray oil then mashed.

YELLOW: Lemons, Bananas, Yellow Tomatoes, Sweet Corn, Pineapples

I love lemons and use them often in my cooking and also in other meals. For example the other day I had a slice of lemon in a mug with fresh mint and a drizzle of honey with hot water and it was lovely. The zest and juice can add a fresh flavour to meals, it can be roasted or chargrilled for depth of flavour, slices can be added to soups and stews, it can be preserved and added to tagines. It’s lovely for sweets and savouries! It’s a great source of Vitamin C and it is good for your immune system. Also adding lemon juice to an Iron rich source such as spinach will help your body absorb the Iron better.
Best Eaten: Squeezed over some steamed greens.

GREEN: Spinach, Broccoli, Kale, Peas, Limes, Salad leaves, Mange Tout, Apples, Grapes, Asparagus

I think Green vegetables are the easiest to fit into your diet! There are so many options and varieties. My favourite is Spinach and I do think I get through a bag a week easily! With greens you should remember that the darker the leaf the better for you – and Spinach is a very deep green colour! Spinach contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6 etc. You can eat it raw in salads and sandwiches, steamed, stirfried, in soups, stews, pasta, any kind of sauce, as a side dish, in a curry and many more ways.
Best Eaten: In a soup with garlic, lemon and butter beans

PURPLE: Pomegranate, Aubergine, Red Cabbage, Prunes, Figs, Plums, Purple Carrots, Beetroot

I think Aubergine is probably my most eaten “purple” vegetable however I am focusing on Pomegranates here because I have been loving them recently! They have no cholesterol or saturated fat, it is high in fibre and has plenty of that good old Vitamin C. It also has Vitamin B, Calcium and Magnesium. It’s said as well that it can help reduce the risk of prostate cancer. It’s not as versatile as some of the other purple contenders but my favourite way to have a pomegranate is to squeeze all of the juice from the seeds into a jug, add slices of lemon, plenty of ice and sparkling water. It’s a gorgeous pink coloured healthy drink! Much better than fruit squash. You can also pick out the seeds to snack on, add to salads, cous cous or rice etc.
Best Eaten: On a Sunny day.

So there you go, a little inspiration to get some colourful food into your diet x

Web Sources used for this post: Whfoods, Disabled-World, Self Nutrition data, carrot museum, Nutrition and you