With everyone trying to rein in their budget as the cost of living rises, one place to focus is your food budget.
The No Money No Time website aims to save money by planning and preparing meals that you and your family enjoy, which also support your health and wellbeing.
It is common for people to feel as though they don't have enough time or money to eat healthily. This idea is what inspired Professor Clare Collins and her team of nutrition researchers at the University of Newcastle to create the website.
The website aims to motivate and support people to adopt healthy eating habits, help improve overall health and wellbeing at a low cost and with fast recipes. The website also hosts the Healthy Eating Quiz that provides a brief assessment of your diet.
The evidence-based quiz will generate your diet score, compare that to other people your age and give you an assessment of how healthy your diet is, with personalised feedback and suggestions about how to improve your score.
Did you know that households spend an average of $80 a week on energy-dense, nutrient-poor, junk, discretionary, convenience foods? This is mainly on convenience food in the supermarket and takeaway food and drink.
Most people are unaware of just how much money they are spending on convenience and fast food.
When you add up the cost of coffees, bottled water, drinks and snacks for everyone in the household, it can add up to a lot of money.
One of our favourite tips to reduce your food bill is to have a food budget and plan ahead to prepare foods at home, which you can grab to take with you. These simple swaps can be used for planning and preparing food for the meals eaten every day, and the same approach works well for gatherings of family and friends.
As the weather warms up, planning a picnic can be a great way to connect without breaking the budget.
We've pulled together some of our most picnic-friendly recipes and tips to build a healthy grazing plate in a picnic ebook.
You will find inspiration on how to build a healthy picnic spread, including easy recipes that will impress without breaking the budget. Just in time for Father's Day!
Perfect Picnic
Here's a snippet from the ebook, which is titled: Our Guide to the Perfect Picnic.
Have you heard the saying 'if you love me, don't feed me bacon'?
Maybe not, but Professor Clare Collins has written an article with that exact title. Processed meats including bacon, salami, chorizo and ham are preserved with salt, smoke or preservatives. Regular consumption of these small goods increases your chances of bowel cancer significantly.
But on the upside, we have plenty of alternatives that will look just as picture perfect for Instagram. The more colours, the more enticing your grazing platter will look.
Go-to items are: sliced baby qukes; carrot/celery sticks; cherry tomatoes; raspberries/strawberries/blueberries; grapes; dark chocolate; wafer biscuits; rice crackers; dips; dried fruit and nuts; sundried tomatoes/capsicum/olives; antipasto; cheese. The ebook recommends a mature, sharp and crumbly cheese. Soft cheeses, if not kept chilled, can be a common source of food poisoning.
- Hannah McCormick is a dietitian with the No Money No Time team and University of Newcastle.
