Food

Save Money When Buying Organic Foods By Knowing Which Ones Are Totally Organic

Knowing where to spend your dollar when it comes to buying organic foods will help to keep your food budget under control. 

Simply seeing the word "organic" on the package doesn't mean the product is any better for you than a similar non-organic product. 

Organic foods are products that aren't chemically processed.  Unfortunately, often times with prepackaged goods the initial ingredients were grown organically (hence the organic label) but when it came to processing and packaging, the ability to maintain that chemical-free state went out the window. 

You should concentrate on buying fresh organic foods such as meat, milk and eggs, as well as certain fruits and vegetables. 

Beware of such terms as "free range," "natural," or "cage free." Those phrases have nothing to do with being organic. 

Fun Ways To Slice And Prepare Bananas

Bananas are my favorite fruit. 

They're good tasting, good for you, and they come pre-packaged by Mother Nature in a neat disposable biodegradable handy wrapper.

You can do so much with bananas:

• Strawberry-banana smoothies
• Banana buttermilk pancakes (made from scratch)
• Sliced banana that won't turn all brown before you eat them

With bananas being so popular, you better know how to store bananas so they don't get bruised, or you'll be making a lot of banana bread!

You can even mess with your kids' mind by giving them a pre-sliced banana that is still enclosed in its wrapper. It's like magic!

How Accurate Is The Use By Date On Dry Goods & Canned Foods?

Use buy dates, sell by dates, expired dates, exactly what is the shelf life of foods after all?

Obviously when fresh meat changes from a bright red to a dull brown, you've waited too long. 

What about canned goods, and dry boxed products?  Does this mean on the date marked on the package, food becomes spoiled and dangerous?

Fact is the dates on most food products merely suggest an optimal  point in time when the product may start to lose some of its quality.  Unopened canned goods will remain usable for years beyond that time.

The key to long term food storage is using good food storage techniques and containers. Stockpiling food is a good habit to get into.  Natural disasters, a faltering economy, even a family crisis can unexpectedly interrupt your ability to purchase groceries. Having a 3-month supply on hand is not going overboard by any means. 

Vegetarian Faux Meats Exposed - Better Check The Ingredients!

Vegetarians don't eat meat, right? So why is it so many vegetarian-friendly products are produced to impersonate various meat products? 

Veggie burgers, veggie hot dogs, even veggie breakfast sausage are all foods that are trying to be something they're not. 

The ingredients listed on many of these "mock meats" should be enough to scare you off.  Sometimes what they put in the product to make it taste something like meat is almost unbelievable.

The word vegetarian alone should indicate that a person eats vegetables and other plant-related foods.  Why eat "pretend meat" at all?

Vegetarians who are pregnant should be extremely cautious, because without meat in their diet they need to make sure to get enough protein.  Vitamin supplements should be considered as well.

Food Safety Tips For Fall Family Picnics & Fall Cookouts

It's not too late for a fall cookout or picnic.  The Southern states are still ripe with color in the woods. 

Why not load up the picnic basket and head out this weekend and enjoy an outing before Old Man Winter comes rolling in?

Observe good food safety practices when you pack up your basket: 

• Keep the cold stuff cold and the hot stuff hot. 
• Don't let uncooked meat cross contaminate your fruits and vegetables. 
• A good plan is to use 2 coolers, so you can keep meat separate from the rest of your food.

If you find your picnic basket isn't big enough, the world's largest picnic basket might be what you need.  Like Yogi would say, be smarter than the average bear and pack a big picnic basket!

Pumpkin Seeds Recipes & Other Fun Uses For Leftover Halloween Pumpkins

Throughout the fall season one vegetable stands out among the rest. 

The bright orange pumpkin comes out for Halloween and stays out through Thanksgiving. 

All to often, beyond doing duty as a seasonal decoration, the pumpkin is ignored as a tasty food.  Sure you can make pumpkin pie, but that seems so unoriginal. 

The pumpkin is really a versatile ingredient. 

Pumpkin seeds make a darn healthy snack.  Seasoned in many different ways they are both satisfying and tasty. Plus pumpkin seeds are high protein and low fat, so when they're roasted and flavored you've got something really special.

There are lots of creative pumpkin recipes that will make use of the pumpkin meat, as well.  Pie is good, but you can also make pumpkin bars, cookies, even pumpkin pancakes.

Don't let that Jack-o-Lantern go to waste, there is a lot of good flavor just waiting to be made into something good for you to eat!