grocery

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Starting your own garden, so growing your own food will have many advantages and it is a healthy hobby.

1.Saves Money
Yes, you read it correctly; by growing your own food you can save money. Your grocery expenses can be reduced to a significant extent. We all spend hundreds of dollars in grocery supplies that are not really fresh and nutritious. Spending time in the garden can be an outdoor activity, a good exercise and an exciting way of growing plants.

A packet of seeds will be the initial cost for all your harvests. This means that you spend less than a dollar for home-grown vegetables. You can get seeds from fruits and vegetables and dry them so that they can be used for the next season. Preserving vegetables can lengthen food shelf life after harvest periods.

2.Learn More about What You Eat
By cultivating food in your garden, you can learn more about the gardening process. You will be the one to plant, nurture, fertilize and water your plants. In the case of food bought from grocery stores, you cannot find out how they were grown. There may be harmful chemicals used to maximize their yield.

There are other risks like salmonella and E. coli outbreaks in supermarket foods as they might be grown in poor sanitation. You can avoid these illnesses and enjoy healthier food by having a garden. Remember, you should also practice good hygiene and sanitation in your garden especially when you grow edible plants.

3.Avoid Chemicals on Your Food
Most of the approved pesticides nowadays were registered before detailed research was done on their connection to diseases. Various types of cancers are linked to pesticides use. As pesticides are meant to kill living organisms like pests and insects, they can also affect human health.

When you grow your own food you will have complete knowledge about the nature of pesticides that you use and stay away from potential health issues.

4.Mindful Gardening
You may feel that your life is in a new dimension when you start a garden, since you should wait patiently for harvest and have to be careful in pruning. Growing and taking care of your garden can offer excellent stress relief and meditative benefits.

5.Gratification Time
It will be a gratifying moment to see vegetables from your own garden to your table. If you are growing your own food, it implies that your family will get proper nourishment and stay healthy. Taking care of your garden is a wonderful sense of accomplishment, especially when blossoms turn into fruits.

Soon you will realize that your grocery needs will be reduced and you will have control over what you consume. Your gardening knowledge will increase as the days pass by and can even be carried over to your children and friends.

If you grow your own food, what are your currently growing in your garden?

One of the best ways to practice healthy eating is to surround yourself with a variety of nutritious foods.Making smart choices in the grocery store really is the key to good nutrition, at least when eating at home.Picking up a few simple shopping tips, however, can make your trip to the market much healthier.

Make a Meal Plan for the Week and Shop from a List…Before heading out to the supermarket, plan ahead, and take stock of what ingredients you need to prepare healthy meals and snacks for the week. You can keep a paper shopping list or keep a running list on your phone so you know you won’t forget it.
Read the Ingredients…When you can’t decide on which product to buy, check out the ingredients rather than the nutrition label. A quick tip—short ingredient lists that contain familiar ingredients are usually the better option. It’s important to know exactly what’s going into your body! And that means no hydrogenated oils.
Choose Frozen Vegetables, Not Frozen Meals…The convenience of a frozen dinner will probably lure you in especially if you live a busy lifestyle. They attract you with words like healthy, quick and easy, ready-made that all sound attractive but dig deeper and you’ll find what it actually contains might not be the healthiest choice.Fill your cart with healthy choices and spend an afternoon making meals for the entire week that you can take out of the freezer, pop in the oven and enjoy. You will have the satisfaction and peace of mind knowing exactly what ingredients went into that meal. Make sure to pick up frozen vegetables but leave the frozen meals on the shelves where they belong.
Do Not Shop Hungry…Grab a quick snack such as a Rx bar before you start shopping. Going to the grocery store hungry makes it more tempting to make unhealthy choices and pick up items you may not need.
Make Room For A Treat…I am not a fan of deprivation, so I do think it’s ok to buy and enjoy an occasional treat. If you are buying a treat food for the family, follow the rule of ONE: bring one fun food into the house at a time. Want to splurge on ice cream? Stick to just one flavor. The more flavors you have around the house, the more you will end up eating. Stick to a portion-controlled amount and choose a splurge you love. And, there are certain foods you may not want to even bring into the house if you know you will be tempted to overeat.

Enjoy! If you have any Shopping tips to add to this list. Please leave them in the comments. 🙂

Kimberley E. Leonia

Did you know that the benefits of growing your own food are numerous?

Tips To Make Your Grocery Shopping Healthier