< Previous30 Save time and reduce stress Planning meals in advance can save you time as you can prepare ingredients and cook meals ahead of time. It can make mealtime more enjoyable, too, since you don’t have to worry about what to make for dinner at the last minute. MEAL PLANNING BENEFITS & TIPS Save money Planning meals in advance can help you save money by reducing food waste and avoiding impulse purchases at the grocery store. Research shows that the total annual cost of wasted food was estimated to be $240 billion or $1,866 per household. That’s $155.50 of wasted food EACH MONTH! Meal planning and using a grocery list can help you assess what food you already have and can help prevent over-purchasing at the store. Improve nutrition Meal planning allows you to make healthier food choices by ensuring that you have a variety of nutrient-dense foods on hand. It helps you plan meals and snacks centered around nourishing fruits and veggies, which we often fall short on. CHELSEA LEBLANC @chelsealeblancrdn WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF MEAL PLANNING? As a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, I always look for quick and easy recipes to help make meal planning and prep a little easier. I love to cook, but after a long day of work, the last thing I want to do is spend hours in the kitchen. Spending a little time at the start of each week to meal plan can be such a time saver and has a whole slew of other benefits.Planning snacks that include a fruit or veggie Do you consider certain foods scary or do they cause you anxiety? Ask yourself “What would happen if I eat this?” The first step to heal our relationship with food is by identifying what foods are fear-provoking. Self-awareness is essential during this process. By becoming self-aware of our food fears, we can focus on creating behavioral change. It is perfectly fine to want and enjoy foods that are not necessarily considered nutrient-dense. Food is not just meant to nourish our bodies - as I like to say, food is meant to be good for the soul too. Remind yourself that it is healthier to have a positive and low-stress relationship with food than the impact eating a single food has in your body and health. MEAL PLANNING TIPS TO INCLUDE MORE FRUIT AND VEGGIES Fill half your plate with veggies Your body tells you it needs energy by sending you hunger cues. Self-awareness allows us to know whether we are eating for pleasure, or in response to situational, emotional, or environmental cues. Listen to hunger and satiety cues when eating. Slow down and tune in with your body and what it is telling you—is it full or still hungry? Luckily, you can still enjoy your favorite fruits and vegetables year-round thanks to the latest innovative greenhouse technology that allows Pure Flavor® to grow the highest quality produce in every season. Like tomatoes! Their Cloud 9® Bite-Sized Fruity Tomatoes are just as healthy as they are sweet, making them the perfect addition to this sheet pan salmon. Each tomato is packed with vitamins and nutrients like Vitamin C, lycopene, and iron to help create a nutrient-packed dinner. SHEET PAN SALMON & ROASTED TOMATOES 30 mineasy4 SEE RECIPE 3132 Our Pure Flavor® Adopt-A-School partners help us encourage kids to become lifelong veggie lovers! Mel Brown, Principal at James L. Dunn Elementary School, shares some insight as to how the students at her school like to use Pure Flavor® veggies beyond snack time as part of their “You’re the Chef” student cooking program! ADOPT-A-SCHOOL PROGRAM Recently, one of our Kindergarten teachers was teaching students about healthy eating and getting students to try new foods. Our youngest learners were surprised to find out that there were vegetables in many of the things they liked to eat. Mme. Graziano decided to make homemade pasta sauce with our students using the Pure Flavor® Juno® Bites Red Grape Tomatoes. Students learned that you could roast tomatoes, as well as onions and garlic, in the oven giving the veggies an even sweeter taste! They also cut up some fresh tomatoes with plastic knives, which were then blended with the roasted tomatoes for a delicious full flavor. Students were amazed at how delicious their pasta sauce tasted and were excited to share samples with our James L. Dunn staff! STUDENT CHEFS AT JAMES L. DUNN ELEMENTARY POCO AURORA33 It was such a success that our Kindergarten students were excited to try out other recipes, making homemade tomato soup with fresh basil and a fresh bruschetta spread that they tried on toasted bread. Not only were students excited to try new foods, but they also shared their love of vegetables with some very pleased parents! Our school has been a long-time participant in Pure Flavor®’s “Adopt a School” donation program, and our students have come to expect Mini Munchies® Snack Packs with snacking tomatoes, Mini Cucumbers, and Aurora Bites Mini Sweet Peppers every morning. One of the goals of our Ontario Student Nutrition Program is to expose students to new foods and encourage them to try them. The combination of Pure Flavor®’s Mini Munchies® Snack Packs and the opportunity for our students to try these ingredients in new and creative ways has been a tremendous asset to achieving this goal! Our youngest learners were surprised to find out that there were vegetables in many of the things they liked to eat. JUNO BUMBLE ORIANAPure Hothouse Foods Inc. | PO Box 607 | Leamington, ON | N8H 3X4 | PURE-FLAVOR.COMNext >