A Year of Living Frugally-Eating Better

Not long ago, I committed myself to eating better. I am trying to cut out all the junk food and eat more whole grains, more vegetables, and less red meat. I talked this lifestyle change over with my boyfriend and verbally, he said was on board, but his plate said otherwise. I noticed he would either not take any vegetables, or take them and only eat a bite or two or just pick at them. I noticed this with cabbage, with broccoli, green beans, asparagus. I finally asked him, what vegetable I could make that he would eat. He said corn. Yes, corn is a vegetable, but not what I had in mind with my ideas of eating healthy.

Last year I saw an Oprah show with guest Jessica Seinfeld. She wrote a cookbook on how to trick your kids into eating vegetables. She pureed it, grated it, and basically snuck the vegetables in so that they were invisible to the naked eye. Ok, granted, my Doug is not a kid, still, I could see the value of her plan. So instead of making meals where the meat and vegetable were two separate items, I started incorporating the veggies into one pot dishes. Soups that were chock full of things like celery, onions, tomatoes, green beans and carrots. I did stir fry and curries that were brimming with veggies and flavor. When I cooked brown rice, I added onion and a cup of frozen veggies to my rice cooker. I notice, now, when I cook his veggies this way, he eats them.  We are slowly, but surely, changing our eating habits for the better. Sure, we still have our Friday Night Pizza, but if we are eating better for the rest of the week, I can live with that.

The added benefit, is that we are actually saving money. Junk food dinners cost more overall, than healthy dinners. Who knew? Well, now I do, and you do too.