Why Burn Money on these Foods when You Can Make them at Home?

Let’s face it, not all of us have the money to walk into a supermarket and buy virtually everything that catches our eye. The average person works on a really tight budget and with the economy taking a nosedive, it has only become tighter. The amount of planning, strategizing, budgeting, and choosing that goes into meeting your family’s food requirements is nothing short of amazing. As a result, if there is any way you can save money on unnecessary expenses, I’m sure you’d like to know. In this article, let’s look at some of the more common packaged vegetable we tend to buy and see why exactly you shouldn’t drop them into your shopping cart from now on.

Microwave Sandwiches

Pre-made sandwiches are a huge waste of money. In fact, you only end up paying hard earned money for a whole lot of fat, sodium, preservatives, and additives, not to mention fancy packing. For the cost at which you buy one sandwich – usually around $3.00 to $3.50 – you could easily make bigger, better, and definitely healthier sandwiches at home…that too with very little effort.

Powdered/Gourmet Iced Tea

Oh, for Pete’s sake, how long does it take you to make iced tea? Boil the water, throw in some teabags, squeeze some lemon, add generous amounts of sweetener, and leave it to cool! There, you’re done! Packaged ice tea is loaded with high fructose corn syrup, artificial sugars, flavoring, and preservatives. The final product might taste yummy but it isn’t all that great for your health, or for that matter, your wallet either. With the variety of teas available in the market these days, you can make any number of interesting iced tea with their very own unique flavor.

Spice mixes

Spice mixes such as rib rubs or grill seasoning always seem like a good buy because…well, because they contain a whole lot of spices in there. However, if you were to check the ingredients on that packet, you’d notice that most of the spices mentioned on it are already there in your larder. So, why waste money picking them up anyway? Besides, you could just as easily get the recipe of spice mixes from a cookbook and make them in a big batch on one of your days off. Not only does this save you a whole lot of money, but you also get to create your very own custom combos for that unique dash of flavor to your dishes.

Trail Mixes

They are healthy, they are tasty, but heavens…are they EXPENSIVE or what? Lighten the burden on your wallet and make your own trail mixes. It is easy enough to be child’s play. All you have to do is add together a portion each of your favorite nuts, seeds, raisins, dried fruit, and chocolates. This way, you get to customize your nut mix to include only what you like. For long term use, keep it in an airtight glass/plastic container. This will last your for up to 2-3 weeks, by which time you will be ready to mix together another batch of healthy nut mix…that too at a fraction of the cost.