How many times a week do you eat out?
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Cost Of Eating Out
Eating out can be one of the most expensive things you do in terms of cost of the food and the cost to your health. I understand that people lead busy lives with kids, work, and additional activities. Let’s face it! Stopping and getting food just makes time easier to manage! People these days are more busy and always in a hurry. Picking up food for the family while they are out is definitely easier than making meals but can costs you more than you may realize.
Eating out one meal per person, per week can run $5 (I am going on the cheap side). $5 a week isn’t bad but when you multiply by a family of 4 it suddenly becomes $20. This cost keeps multiplying for added days and added people. Meals this cheap pretty much guarantees you are eating fast food. This also makes you susceptible to high calories, sodium, processed food, and high fat foods which can hurt your circulatory system and weight. Many times people don’t always realize the monetary and health cost of these quick, out to eat meals.
Don’t Have Time?
Managing time better is not always an option in an already busy lifestyle. Well you ask, “If I can’t find more time, how can I choose a cheaper, more health alternative for my family?” The answer is meal prepping! Time being a factor in many peoples’ lives can lead people to not want to cook especially when time is tight! Not to worry! The trend for many people with time constraints centers around meals that can be prepared before time. All meals that can be prepared and then refrigerated until you are ready to cook it. Another great benefit of meal prepping is the option for meals to be prepared while they are at work in a Crockpot. This gives people the choice to have the meal fully cooked and ready to eat when they get home. Tah Dah!
Check out Emeals for 14 days FREE by clicking here! They charge a reasonable rate for quick, easy, healthy, cheap and delicious recipes! Best of all, prepping all your food at the same time will cut down on clean up time!
Emeals allows the customer to pick the recipes they want per week, what meals they’d like to enjoy, combines all items from those recipes into a grocery list, and all can be prepared early and in a reasonable amount of time. The categories of the recipes listed are Budget Friendly, 30 Minute Meals, Vegan, Slow Cooker, Kid Friendly, Classics, Gluten Free, Vegetarian, Heart Healthy, Diabetic, and Mediterranean. They do also offer breakfast and lunch plans! You can get everything you need in one place!
Finding time to visit the grocery store is another aspect of some people not cooking. Luckily, the internet and fierce store competition between the different giant box stores has also made this easier. Now Emeals also works in conjunction with retailers like AmazonFresh, Walmart Grocery, Kroger ClickList or Instacart which takes grocery shopping out of the equation! Pick your meals, transfer your list to your preferred retailer, and sit back and wait for your groceries to come to you!
The Facts
Who reading this can say “I’m happy with my weight”? Almost everyone can say they would like to lose at least a few pounds. In fact, statistics show over 70% of Americans claim they are not happy with their appearance. This may also be a shocker but did you know that weight loss is comprised of 75% diet and 25% exercise? This means walking all those miles at night may not help as much as saying no to that extra portion of Sloppy Joes’. I reference to the word diet, I MEAN EATING! NOT eating is NOT a diet! Not eating is the most terrible thing you can do to your system when trying to lose weight. Eating smart choices, in the correct portions is the key to weight loss.
Making your own food allows you to see what ingredients the food contains. This is not an option when someone else is preparing the meals. Not all ingredients are healthy and when you cook the meal you are able to use other ingredients. If you choose, their are better choice ingredients that you can use, not the high fat, high sugar, and high sodium ones for which a recipe may use. There are even a lot of substitute ingredients that can be used for desserts to make them healthier without changing the taste! Ingredients like using black beans in a chocolate cake! (It doesn’t sound appetizing but it is actually pretty good! Using these substitute ingredients can take a once unhealthy recipe and turn it into something healthy you can feed your family.
Is This The Only Site?
There are many other recipe sites that are out there that allow you to choose what you want. These sites allow you to save the recipes, pull them up for later use, give nutritional facts, and rate the recipes. With these helpful items you can minimize meal prep time, grocery shopping time, and clean up time. This will also grant you added time with the family, and can help you in your journey to creating a healthier, happier you!
What I Do
I almost think of cooking as a game and since I enjoy cooking, I like to see how healthy and tasty I can make recipes. Finding other recipes, healthy yet tasty, or my own concoctions allow me to experiment with what I like or try new foods. There is nothing better than finding a great tasting, time saving, healthy recipe and knowing it is good for you and your journey.
On Sundays I do my grocery shopping and prep all my meals for the week. This includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and my weekly snacks. Usually Sundays are my day where there isn’t too much happening. This allows me to spend an hour or two prepping these meals for the upcoming week. This is not difficult but I think it’s more the idea and the mess that people don’t enjoy.
What Meal Prepping Does
Prepping meals is helpful in reducing waste. How does it do this? Meal prepping requires a list and reduces over buying at the grocery store. If you stick to the list, all groceries should be used at the end of each week. This can keep you from spending extra money at the store on products you may or may not use and keeps you from throwing them in the trash if you don’t use them.
I have been meal prepping for 10 years now. It does everything I mentioned in this article.
- Saves cleanup time
- Saves Money
- Healthier alternatives
- Weight loss possibilities
- Saves time grocery shopping
- Tasty!
Teaching Is Believing
Parents teaching their children healthy eating habits throughout their lives can help their children become healthy adults. Adults that make unhealthy choices have children who make unhealthy choices and the trend will continue to the next generation. Give this option a shot! See what it does for you and your family! Move your schedule around a little, get help from a spouse, and give yourself and your family a chance to live a healthier, happier lifestyle!
