With our ever faster-paced lifestyles, the easy option often becomes buying the majority of our foods already processed and ready to consume. Canned goods, prepared meals, sugary beverages, reconstituted meats, granola bars, cereals... the list goes on, and it's very detrimental to our health (and our wallet).
The Institut national de santé publique du Québec has even conducted a study revealing that a third of the contents in the Quebecois grocery basket consists of ultra-processed foods...
The price to pay for processed products
Every processed product, whether it's a bag of shredded carrots or a frozen meal, has involved the intervention of a human, a machine, or both, to end up on the grocery store shelves. This intervention obviously comes with a cost in terms of time and materials, which is why we end up paying much more for processed products.
In addition to being much more cost-effective, preparing and transforming the foods we buy daily allows us to reduce the additives and preservatives that are often (if not always) present in pre-packaged products.
3 tips to recognize processed products
- The first 3 ingredients in the product are: salt, sugar, or fat
- Several ingredient names are unknown or difficult to read
- The list of ingredients is endless
Do it Yourself: Equally Delicious and Much Less Expensive
Many foods frequently appear in our grocery basket and are used in the majority of our recipes, so why not try cooking them yourself at home?
Here, we offer you 5 simple and incredibly flavorful recipes that will help you save money and consume more healthily:
Homemade Broth: usually between $1.77 and $5.00 in grocery stores
In addition to being free, homemade broth allows you to reduce food waste and make use of what we would normally throw in the garbage or compost.
Find a recipe for chicken, vegetable, and beef broth, as well as tips for proper storage here!
Pesto: usually between $4.49 and $7.49 in grocery stores
With a basil plant at home that we grow in the summer, eating pesto all year round is much more accessible than we think!
Find a nut-free pesto recipe that you can incorporate into your favorite dishes here.
Tomato Sauce: usually between $1.19 and $6.99 in grocery stores
When you think of tomato sauce, you think of pizzas, soups, pasta, and more! It's always worth making a large batch to have reserves and never run out.
Find a recipe that takes only 20 minutes here!
Mayonnaise: usually between $4.44 and $5.99 in grocery stores
Did you know that canola oil is an oil to avoid? It's the main ingredient in almost all processed mayonnaises. Mayonnaise is one of those foods we don't think of making ourselves, but it's so much better and more economical! Moreover, it requires ingredients that we always have in our pantry and fridge.
Find a homemade mayonnaise recipe ready in just 1 minute here.
Psst! By adding herbs, spices, or a spicy sauce to your basic mayonnaise, you can easily transform it into Asian mayo for Poké Bowls, Mexican mayo for tacos, or BBQ-style mayo for sandwiches! The possibilities are endless!
Breadcrumbs: usually between $3.49 and $3.79 in grocery stores
You don't even need a recipe to make homemade breadcrumbs! All you need is some dried bread, which you can grind in a food processor. Nothing is more cost-effective and quicker.
Want to discover more tips to reduce your monthly grocery bill and eat more healthily? Check it out here!
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