27 // Who eats the raspberries in your house?
Who eats the raspberries in your house?
How to stretch your food budget on coveted foods like fresh berries.
I think it was at least five years into motherhood that I ate a raspberry, and that wasn't because I hadn't been buying them. Rather, knowing that a $3 pint barely satisfied a single child, it seemed like something I better "save" for my kids to enjoy.
However, as fresh berries come into season and become a bit more accessible for families to enjoy, I am sharing three tips to stretch your food budget so the whole family can enjoy more of the coveted foods in your cart, like berries. You will find how you can incorporate fresh berries in more affordable ways so that there are enough for everyone!
Listen to this episode of The Veggies & Virtue Podcast now!
Full Episode Transcription
Please note this a raw transcription. If something doesn’t read correctly, toggle to that timestamp in the show so that you can listen in on what was actually being said!
[00:00:00] Mama, are you struggling with how to feed your kids? Right? Do you wish that there was a way to help your child try new foods? Do you look at a pantry cluttered with pirate, booty and a fridge full of the same food every week and wonder how you're going to get your family's meals off the hot mess express.
[00:00:16] I know what it feels like to scroll through all the feeding accounts on Instagram and to see a bunch of Fuji food that my family would never get. And I too have pinned all the healthy recipes with good intentions, but zero execution. I understand as a busy mom of three, that it can feel really unattainable, especially on the days I'm exhausted.
[00:00:34] I have a short fuse. He really disliked an easy button and the date way. Well, that's where these meals made easy episode ideas come from with everyday ingredients that you already have on hand, I give you one meal or snack idea week that's dietician, mom approved, and is going to fit in your family's busy life.
[00:00:52] So get ready to press, add to cart and to make meals and snacks ed again. Hey, and welcome back to another meals made easy Monday episode. Want to go ahead and talk about summer berries? So good, but I feel like Jennifer from kids Eaton Keller, I remember she's always shared this and it was something that always really resonated with me is how I've never, I hadn't eaten raspberries in like seven years as a mom.
[00:01:21] Until I realized, you know what? I can eat the raspberries too. And I feel like raspberries are so representative of motherhood because they're that expensive produce that if your kids love them, there's just not enough for mama. That's at least how it often feels. And I'm sure if you're like, Jennifer, I, you can relate with us on that because berries are so good and yet they can be so expensive.
[00:01:42] And as we look at increasing food prices, they can feel even less exciting. With you know, feeding a family, particularly if your kids are like my kids, they can down an entire Costco, pint individually, and with three kids and a husband and myself that can get really expensive really quick. So as we talk about snack ideas today, I wanted to talk about specifically the seasonal produce and how we can make things like berries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and all that delicious summer program.
[00:02:16] More affordable, especially in times where prices are rising. And so I'm going to share with you three ways that I think you can stretch your food dollar with expensive items like seasonal, fresh berries. So tip number one, I want you to think about how can you make berries take longer. A very simple, easy way to do this is you can freeze them.
[00:02:43] You can really easily wash them, flash, freeze them, just lie them out, flat on a cookie sheet and freeze them for say like 30 minutes. And each individual Berry will freeze. This just takes the kids a little longer to chew. It's kind of like how you would do like a frozen grape again, noting choking hazards for kids under four, but if you wanted to freeze them, that makes it a really cool, refreshing option for summer school.
[00:03:06] But it also takes them a little bit longer to eat. That's it? And it's like most simplistic sense. What I often will do with summer berries is have the kids participate in making something like a fruit salad or skewering fruit kabobs. So they're skewering, these fruits that they love, like seasonal berries on a kebab, but maybe we're putting some other things on them too.
[00:03:28] And this is one of my husband's pet peeve. When you go places and get a fruit snack. He does not like what he calls filler fruit, but from an economical perspective and stretching that food dollar get into that filler fruit things like cantaloupe, bananas, oranges, apples, any produce or fruit that is on sale.
[00:03:47] You can skewer alternating with these berries, or you can toss into a fruit salad so that you're still getting that delicious summer Berry, but it's not exclusively the Berry. So that a pint last, you all have one. And disappears and you know, less than two minutes. So think about how you can make it take longer to eat and make it a little bit more of an involved process so that they last a little bit longer piggybacking onto this.
[00:04:13] I want you to think about how you can make it more filling with an example, like a kebab. You might be adding cheese cubes or a little Turkey. Roll-ups. Or you might also be thinking about things like if you want to make overnight Oak cups and you're putting some of the berries in those, but you're making it more filling so that the snack is not exclusively berries, which while completely delicious and a fine snack.
[00:04:37] If you're not wanting or needing something to fill your child up for very long there's fiber, but there's not a lot of that fat and protein that we need to help keep. Satiated for longer. And so I want you to think about how you can make berries more filling for your kid. By adding into those things like overnight notes or putting it on top of a yogurt or a Greek yogurt, you can also make things like bars or muffins with.
[00:05:03] Berries to leverage those foods as a Levitt food. If your kid loves those, go with those as your flavor profile for making some new recipes that are going to have added ingredients and thus nutrition to help make it a more well-rounded snack and ultimately to fill your child up on more nutrition than just the nutrition that they're getting from the.
[00:05:24] Dis additionally, I want you to think about how you can make them less expensive in general. I know this sounds like a little bit of a pipe dream here, but watch for sales in the summer, because sometimes what will happen is they will, especially if like a produce department over ordered on their berries and then they need to get rid of them before they go bad.
[00:05:44] There are so many opportunities in the summer. If you look around to the places that you might shop and you might find them for a dollar, a punt, okay. Anytime I see this, I will buy it. Not even kidding at minimum 10 tights, because again, going back to some of those ideas that I already mentioned, I know I can freeze them.
[00:06:03] I can flash freeze them and I can save them for when they go back to being $3. Or I can go ahead and whip up some muffins or some oatmeal bars, and we can either enjoy those and enjoy some fresh, or I can go ahead and freeze those for a later time using those berries that I know we love. So keep your eyes out for when they're less expensive shop sales price, compare.
[00:06:28] It can be a huge difference because when you think of something as small as a pint of raspy, They can easily be $4 a pint, but they can also often this time of year be a dollar, a pint. So keep your eyes out. And if you know that these are options that your family really enjoys, but it can feel a little inaccessible to afford on a regular basis, especially with food prices being on the rise, keep an eye out for ones that you can buy in bulk when they're on sale and that you can freeze for that.
[00:06:59] The other side of this, which doesn't tend to be as great of sales in the summer, but you can also always buy these frozen. You may actually get better deals on buying fresh and freezing them yourself. This time of year, my almost 98 year old grandmother does this with blueberries. She stocks up on blueberries in the summer and she freezes them for herself to eat all year.
[00:07:20] But in a similar principle, applies that if you do find. That berries per pound, particularly like with blueberries, they may be less expensive per pound to buy a big bag at Costco. I just had some this morning in my oatmeal and they were amazing, perfectly slash frozen at their peak ripeness. So the nutrition has not decreased at all by being frozen, but you can also buy frozen and then either thaw or using all these ideas that we already talked about as a frozen option instead of.
[00:07:49] During those times that the fresh Berry just seems much more expensive and you're not finding those sale prices. So go enjoy your summer berries, let your kids enjoy them. They're a delightful part of. But my gosh, they can be expensive, especially with kids who plowed through a pie faster than I think any adult ever has given themselves permission to.
[00:08:11] So I hope that these three little tips help you to stretch your food dollar with fresh fruit, like berries this spring and summer. At these meals made easy ideas are helping you in any way, or this show is encouraging you and the messes and the mealtimes of motherhood. I would love to hear about it. All you need to do is scroll down on all apple podcasts and tap, write a review.
[00:08:33] I check each and every one of these and they truly blessed need to read. And to know how this show is helping shape your family's relationship with food so that I can continue to create content that serves you. That's. Thank you. For taking the time to leave me a review. And I look forward to seeing you back here next time.
