Saving money and Eating healthy during a pandemic
While the global economic is alarmingly disrupted by COVID-19, the suspended factories and businesses leave people jobless, according to the UN’s labour body, 195 million jobs worldwide were wiped out. Such unforeseen circumstances remain a long-term struggle.
Ever since schools are closed, kids start doing distance learning, then the state of emergency is in place, our family rarely go out for meals, home cooking for every single meal is the only solution to keep ourselves safe but it drives me crazy at the beginning, food preparing, cooking then washing repeatedly for sure are not fun. More family times mean we spend more time to talk about different aspects of lives, we watch the news together and lecture the kids how lucky they were that Daddy has a secure job.
On the other hand, the news reported that the Italian and French have gained weight around 2-2.5kg during the 2-month lockdown. Totally understandable. Lack of exercise is the cause.
As a full-time mother, I truly take the responsibility to safeguard the health of my family. How to prepare low budget meals while control weight gain and eat healthy? (Of course, the weight gain part does not imply on the kids as they are growing, if there are concerns over the rate of kids’ weight gain, the growth chart is a very helpful tool.)
Here are a few tips:
1. Plant-based protein – Consider getting your protein from plants, like soybean and beans more often. They cost less than meat and have very low-fat content (using healthy cooking methods). Try replacing 50% of meat intake with plant-based, high proteins food.
2. Canned foods – Some canned foods are not necessarily bad for health such as tuna, baked beans, kernel corn, tomato, mushroom, peas etc. Check the nutritional label and ingredients to make sure there is no added salt and sugar.
3. Frozen veggies – Frozen veggies cost much lesser than the fresh veggies, and in fact they do not differ significantly from fresh veggies in terms of nutritional value. They are usually frozen within hours of being picked, and when thawed, they are very close to fresh in taste and texture.
4. Explore healthy recipes – Get the basic ingredients from the supermarket (if you could find flour and yeast) and have fun cooking! You will be surprised how economic it is to make commercial food ranging from Japanese fluffy pancakes, pizza crust to Chinese steamed buns at home!
5. Go grocery shopping on a full stomach – Never go shopping with an empty stomach. People tend to crave for high-calorie food when they are hungry, resulting in excessive buying, especially the junk food. Write a list of food that you need and shop from it, get a basket rather than a cart at the supermarket.
6. Behavioral modification – this is a huge topic, there are so many ways to control your eating habit to avoid over consumption.
a.
Drink 1 cup of water before each meal
b.
Use smaller plates / bowls / glasses at meals
c.
Eat slowly and drink water between each bite
d.
Only eat at a designated area eg. Dining table,
kitchen island
e.
Keep tempting food out of sight
f.
Weigh yourself once a week, weight can fluctuate
a lot in a day
Last but not least, remember to exercise regularly, stretching, yoga, HIIT, you name it, there are tons of videos on youtube!
