Eat Healthy and Stay on a Budget? Part II

As promised, here are a few cooking ideas and recipes to get you started on your journey to preparing your own preservative-free meals.

RUBS: Explore various spice rubs on meat. This is a simple, healthy way to flavor your meat for cooking. Rubs work exceptionally well for meat that will be grilled, but baked meat also works well. Avoid the temptation to buy pre-mixed rubs. If you mix your own, you'll know exactly what is going into them! A simple mix of fresh ground black pepper, sea salt, garlic, and paprika can add life to an otherwise plain chicken breast or pork chop. Many more combinations and creations can be tried, based on your preferences.

CHICKEN BROTH: Have you ever considered making your own chicken broth? When you boil chicken for a recipe, keep the broth that you create. Pour into jars and seal or freeze. This is a great healthy alternative to what you would find on the store shelves.

CREAM SOUP: Ever looked at the ingredient label on cream soup? Hello MSG! Unfortunately, I didn't want to give up cream soups because they add so much possibility to casseroles at our house. After some searching, I came across several different recipes for a similar homemade sauce and combined them to make one that we like. Now, you wouldn't want to use this substitute when craving a bowl of cream soup (that takes a little more effort!) but it works well when combined with other ingredients, and it's quick and easy.
Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a saucepan. Mix in 2 Tbsp. flour. Add 1 1/2 cups milk OR add 1 1/4 cups milk and 1/4 cup chicken broth. Stir constantly over low heat until thickened. Will thicken more as it cools.


These are just a few of the methods I have learned to use in the kitchen when wanting to keep things homemade and preservative-free. What tricks do you have up your sleeve?