Over the year my diet has change considerably. First let me clarify the word diet; for so many people this word has a negative quality because it means to restrict oneself of some kind of food in order to loser weight. In this post, when I talk about diet, I simply refer to the kind of food I eat.

I used to eat for pleasure, indulging on high sugar food and dessert. This type of diet was not good for my body nor my mind. I was often feeling guilty for the food I’ve ate and was stuck in an unhealthy pattern. I’ve also tried to have a diet that kept lean and even tried doing a bodyfitness competition. I had to lower my body fat as much as possible. Lately I’ve been trying to eat food with an environmental consciousness and that why I’ve become a vegetarian. I am also a mother of two young boys and have limited time to cook, so I need simplicity. My partner and I also made a commitment to find new way to eat healthy nourishing food while maintaining our budget. It seems like in the last few years its getting harder to stretch our dollars on food. The price of food has come up a lot and we need to have a plan in place to know spend only so much money on food. It's been estimated that food will go up 5% just in 2017, for most households, grocery is the biggest expense they have. I wanted to share the fews tips I’ve discovered on how to save some money on groceries.

- First tip; try to grow some food during the summer. Some of the essential food that we grow are tomatoes, potatoes, squash, corn, beans, onions, garlic and almost forgot honey. Theses food items are easy to grow and store to eat during the winter. Its also really nice to know that your food will help the environment and are grown without chemical or GMO. Growing food its also a great opportunity to be outdoor with our kids and there are so many discoveries to be made in the process. We currently have the opportunity to rent our neighbour's yard and grow food on half acre. Be aware that there are so many options to grow food even if you don’ have the space to. I believe its one of the best time and health investment you can do for yourself and the mother Earth.

- Second tip; buy bulk food. We like buying bulk food like oatmeal, rice, quinoa, raisins, beans, sunflower seed, popcorn, nutritional yeast, coconut oil. It seems like a lot of money to put up front when you buy such big quantity but you can save so much money on the long run. It can also limit all the trips to the grocery store.

- Third tip; don’t buy processed food, take the time to research some good recipes and plan ahead of time. Making your own meals from scratch is one of the biggest ways you can save money. The more prepared food is, the more it usually costs and its usually pretty unhealthy. Also when you cook, make sure you make too much so you can freeze some, take it for lunch, share it with friend. That will also help you save some excuse to have to go out to buy some food because you are hungry and are running out of time.

I am back to blogging and in the next few post I will write I will share with you some simple recipes I have been playing with lately. To spike your curiosity I’ve got the easy, delicious and filling morning overnight soak oat, the granola bars the kids won’t stop eating (and that you can fed them knowing how healthy they are) and a roasted veggies casserole.

Would love to hear from you
Vero