The Lloydminster Public School Division has recently held another event as part of the Division’s wellness priority.
A short seminar took place last Wednesday, March 16th, at the College Park School auditorium to discuss Healthy Eating on a Budget. Local business owner and teacher, Crystal Nicholson, led the talk, which focused largely on meal-planning. It was Nicholson’s first talk she’s done on the subject, but she’s no stranger to the topic.
“Our talk tonight was to start a conversation about how you can eat more healthy and do so on a budget. I talked a lot about meal-planning and the importance of meal-planning. When you do meal-plan, you save money, you save time, it promotes nutrition, and it enables people to really think about what they’re eat,” says Nicholson.
“Healthy eating is absolutely doable on a budget, it just takes some practice of meal-planning, and being purposeful about your eating.”
Nicholson swears by meal-planning and preparing healthy meals for herself and her family. She recommends trying new recipes and substitutes and giving yourself leeway and time to get the hang of a new lifestyle.
“When we meal-plan, we think about looking for meat-less meal ideas… and leftovers! Using your leftovers, and creating leftovers, so larger batches of things that will spread farther to help us save money,” says Nicholson.
To save money, Nicholson also recommends always going to the store with a specific list or menu.
“When you grocery shop without a list and without a menu, you spend 23% more. So when we’re thinking about our wallets these days and how we’re going to stretch our dollars, it’s really important to make a list and stick to it, and go with a plan,” she instructs.
Nicholson also says never to buy an item at the store purely because it’s “on sale.” Only go for it if it’s on the list or you use it frequently.