Cut Down Your Grocery Bill

Most of us have a love-hate relationship with the grocery store. Some coupon-savvy families squeak by on less than $300 a month, while others jam-pack their carts to the tune of $300 a week.

So who’s right?

It depends. We recommend spending 5–15% of your take-home pay on food, which includes groceries and meals out. But even if your food budget falls within that healthy range, maybe you’d still like to see it come down a few notches. Check out these five easy ways to change your grocery shopping habits for the better—without clipping coupons.

1. Redefine Dinner

If the word dinner conjures up a big homemade meal with a nice cut of meat, two steaming sides, a crusty French loaf and a chocolaty finish, cut yourself some slack! This isn’t the 1950s and weeknight suppers don’t have to be a big production.

Your kids and spouse will survive on BLTs, omelets or a nice salad several times a week. So don’t be afraid to plan simple, one-item-only meals. Reduce your guilt andyour budget by redefining the most expensive meal of the day.

2. Buy the Store Brands Already!

You know generic pasta is cheaper, but you’re still not convinced it won’t ruin your great-grandmother’s lasagna recipe. In a 2009 Consumer Reports study, 29 brand-name foods went up against their generic counterparts. Of the 29 pairings, 19 scored “equally good” in the blind taste test. In other words, your less-expensive lasagna will taste just as delicious.

Still not sold? According to a 2014 academic study, when chefs bought staples like salt, sugar and baking soda, they were much more likely to buy the generic than were non-chefs. And they’re the food experts! The study concluded that if more of us purchased store brands, we could save roughly $44 billion collectively. It pays to be brand un-loyal.

3. Change Up Your Grocery Stores

What made you pick your current grocery store? Is it the friendliest? How about the most convenient? Maybe you just know where everything is? Don’t let a comfortable routine cost you money.You may even find that two grocery stores are your best bet—one for meats and bulk items and another for everything else.

If you’re still not sure which grocery stores are worth checking into, ask around. People love talking about getting a good deal, and the ones who are getting the best deals will gladly gush about their favorite spots. Figuring out a new grocery store may be frustrating at first, but it’s worth learning a new layout to keep that extra $20 in your wallet.

4. Make a Detailed List

A list is simply a plan. You must plan out what you’ll make for breakfasts, lunches and dinners for the next week and then write out each ingredient you’ll need for those meals (plus a few snacks, of course).

When you arrive at the store, remember to buy only what’s on your list. This is key to staying on budget! And if you go shopping as a family, let your kids help plan the meals on the front end so they know this trip isn’t a junk food free-for-all. It’s much easier to stay on budget when you’re shopping with a plan and working as a team.

5. Always Use Cash

The best way to stick to a lower food budget is to pay with cash. When you enter the grocery store with cash in hand, you know exactly how much you can spend. Plus, you’ll stick to the meat-and-potatoes necessities of your budget rather than your ice cream-and-cookie impulse buys.

If you still find you’re eating high on the hog at the beginning of the month and then scraping by on tuna fish by the end, make a cash run every two weeks, instead of every month. This way, you’ll have a better picture of how much you can actually afford to spend each week, versus for the entire month.

Better Habits, Better Budget

By simply starting a few new habits, you can lower your monthly food budget and meet your money goals even faster. That means more cash to pay down debts, invest for the future, or save up for something fun—like a babysitter and a nice meal out where someone else cooks and cleans up.

Read Full Post »

Rainbow cupcakes

Simple but ever so pretty, these multi-coloured cupcakes are topped with sprinkles and a glacé cherry. Perfect for Red Nose Day bake sales.

Less than 30 minspreparation time

10 to 30 minscooking time

Makes 24

Equipment and preparation: for this recipe you will need two 12-hole muffin tins and a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.

Ingredients

For the rainbow cupcakes

• 240g/8½oz plain flour

• 240g/8½oz golden caster sugar

• 3 tsp baking powder

• pinch of salt

• 80g/2¾oz unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 240ml/8½fl oz whole milk

• 2 medium free-range eggs

• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract

• 4 food colourings of your choice (such as red, yellow, green and blue)

For the vanilla buttercream

• 250g/9oz unsalted butter, room temperature

• 500g/1lb 2oz icing sugar

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

To decorate

• multi-coloured hundred and thousands

• 24 glacé cherries

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/160C Fan/Gas 3. Line two 12-hole cupcake trays with cupcake cases.
2. For the cupcakes, beat the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter together in a freestanding mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk). Mix in half the milk until it is just incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, vanilla extract and remaining milk together. Pour into the flour mixture and beat until the mixture is smooth.
4. Divide the batter equally between four bowls and colour each one with food colouring, so you end up with four brightly coloured bowls of cake mixture.
5. Now layer the coloured mixtures in the cupcake cases. Starting with one colour, divide the mixture equally between the cupcake cases and smooth it out so you have a layer at the bottom. Continue with all the other colours in the same way, evenly spreading each layer out and being careful not to mi the colours together, so that you end up with distinct layers of mixture.
6. Carefully transfer to the oven and bake for 20–25 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back when touched and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
8. For the vanilla buttercream, beat the butter with a handheld electric mixer until soft. Sift in the icing sugar and incorporate to make a smooth icing. Add the vanilla extract and beat the icing for a further few minutes until light and fluffy. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
9. When the cupcakes are cold, pipe the vanilla buttercream on top of the cakes and decorate with the hundreds and thousands. To finish, top each cupcake with a glacé cherry to resemble a red nose.

Read Full Post »

6 Daily Habits That Make You Gain Weight

welcome to Envogue magazine

Many times, we know what not to
do or what to do in order to shed
weight. But what about unconscious habits that have taken over our lifestyle. No matter how hard you try, if you do not put these in check, weight loss becomes an uphill task.
It is even no longer about weight
loss anymore, it is cultivating very
healthy lifestyle in order to be fit and avoiding unnecessary hospital
visits.

Taking Big Bites
Avoid spooning very large portions
of food into your mouth. Cut your
food into smaller pieces, use a
smaller fork or spoon. You increase
enjoyment and take longer to eat,
which increases your satisfaction.
Research has shown that people
who took large bites of food
consumed 52% more calories in one sitting than those who took small bites and chewed longer!

Not Getting Enough Sleep
You don’t even need to be conscious to work…

View original post 257 more words

Read Full Post »

The benefits of Yakult

Yakult is a delicious probiotic drink that helps improve digestion and helps build Immunity. Yakult contains 6.5 billion beneficial bacteria (Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota) that reach our intestines alive and restore the balance of the beneficial or friendly bacteria in the gut. Daily consumption of Yakult improves intestinal health and builds immunity.
Over 30 million people in more than 30 countries including India trust Yakult and drink it every day!

Ingredients

Skimmed Milk Powder, Sugar, Glucose, Natural and Natural Identical Flavour, Water and 6.5 billion Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota.

Nutritional Information (per 65ml)

Energy

: 50kcal

Protein

: 0.8 g

Carbohydrates

: 12 g

Fat

: < 0.1 g

 

Benefits of Yakult

The strain of bacteria in Yakult, Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota was discovered by Dr. Minoru Shirota, a Japanese scientist in 1930. It has more than 80 years of research to back its safety and efficacy. It is scientifically proven to

• Improve bowel movement and aid digestion
• Maintain balance of good and bad bacteria
• Reduce toxins in our body
• Help build the immune system (reduce risk of infections)

Read Full Post »

Funny Pancake Day Poem for Kids

You perhaps know it as pancake day, but the day that falls before Ash Wednesday is really called Shrove Tuesday. It is the day on which people shrived, in order to prepare for the fasting that occurred during Lent. Shriving isn’t very common actability these days, but it meant eating up all the things in the cupboard that weren’t allowed to be eaten during Lent. One of the popular items made using these soon to be forbidden ingredients was pancakes, and thus in time the day became known a pancake day.

 

I must confess that I don’t really like pancakes, which may explain why we have such a limited offering of funny pancake day poems on the menu. If you don’t enjoy Pancake Day, Pancake Day, there’s only bread and water as an alternative.

 

Pancake Day Pancake Day

by Patrick

 

Pancake Day, Pancake Day

The pan’s getting hotter

The butter has melted

I’ve poured in the batter

 

Pancake Day, Pancake Day

The pancake is sizzling

A flick of the wrist

And its stuck to the ceiling

 

Pancake Day, Pancake Day

I’ve not seen mum crosser

So which did she call me

‘A champion tosser’

 

Oh, I hope I remembered to warn you that some adults will consider this poem rather rude!

Read Full Post »

One In Two Of Us Will Get IT

 Foods To Lower Your Risk

New stats reveal that half of the UK population will develop cancer at some point in their lives, but as well as calls for earlier diagnosis and better treatment, there are some lifestyle changes you can make to reduce your risk

Cancer is a ‘disease of old age’, say experts, who have predicted that half of us will suffer from some form of the illness in our lifetimes.

The stat is a shocking one, up from the ‘one in three’ number we’ve been told for years. But it’s not just a terrifying rise in cancer rates, it’s also to do with our increasing life expectancy. And we’ve never been so likely to survive the diagnosis.A healthy diet can reduce your risk of cancer 

In 1960, life expectancy was around 60 years, but now we’re likely to live into our eighties – so that’s an extra 20 years where things can go wrong.

But though we all have to age, it’s not all out of our control. Experts reckon four in 10 cancer cases are preventable with lifestyle changes – diet, exercise and taking precautions such as wearing sun cream.

Key preventative measures include not smoking, staying active, eating lots of fibre, fruit and vegetables, keeping your weight down and avoiding too much alcohol, salt and red or processed meat.

But there are also some foods that have been found to have protective, cancer-fighting properties that can lower your risk of certain preventable cancers. So it’s definitely worth adding them to your diet.

Cancer-Busting Foods

Here are some key cancer-fighting foods to get on your shopping list:Beautiful broccoli (Flickr/steffenz)

Broccoli: Love it or hate it, there’s no denying these little trees are packed with goodness. A great source of fibre, which helps keep your digestive tract healthy to reduce the risk of colon and bowel cancer, broccoli also contains phytochemicals, which are thought to have anti-cancer properties.Nuts: Also a mood-booster 

Nuts: Nuts and nut butters contain fibre, protein, vitamins (particularly E) and good fats so they’re a great complete snack. Walnuts in particular have been found in studies to reduce mortality rates for those who eat them regularly. This is thought to be because they contain high levels of alpha-linoleic acid and phytochemicals.

Other highly nutritious nuts include Brazil, almond, pecan and pine nuts. Whole food nut butters are also great to add to your diet.

Orange foods: Vegetables such as carrots and sweet potatoes contain beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant. This has been linked to a reduction in cases of lung, colon, and stomach cancer, and one study has linked regular consumption to a 50 per cent reduction in breast cancer risk.Raspberries are a great healthy choice 

Berries: These contain those cancer-busting phytochemicals once more, are highly antioxidant and have a lower fructose (natural fruit sugar) content than other fruits so are a great choice.

Linseeds (Flax): Ground linseeds (also know as flax) are packed with omega-3s and keep you regular (that all important fibre aspect) so add a sprinkling to yoghurt or salads.Ginger also boosts your immune system 

Turmeric & Ginger: Some spices have been used for centuries for their healing properties, and two of the most powerful are tumeric and ginger. Tumeric is an anti-inflammatory that’s part of the ginger family. It contains a chemical called curcumin, that has been shown in experiments to kill or prevent cancer cells.

Ginger has also been found to target cancer cells. It’s a natural painkiller and antibiotic, as well as reducing harmful inflammation in the body.

Green Tea: Japanese green tea is the highest in antioxidant and detoxifying elements of any teas and activates enzymes in the liver that help fight cancer.Wild salmon 

Wild Salmon: This oily fish is important for the diet to help with brain health and because it contains astaxanthin (which gives it its pink colour), it’s also a powerful antioxidant.

Not The Only Answer

It’s important to remember though, that ‘any single food on its own is unlikely to have a major impact on cancer risk’ (Cancer Research UK), so it’s all about incorporating these into an already healthy diet.

David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, writig on Prevention.com suggests eating one or ‘preferably two’ of these ‘superfoods’ with each (healthy) meal.

[Why Avocado Is The Queen Of All Fruits]
[Fizzy Drinks: Increase Breast Cancer In Girls]

Read Full Post »