Saving Money - Stretching The Food Budget - ENJOYING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Now that you know that adding more fruits and vegetables (see previous post: http://asklaurie.blogspot.com/2009/07/money-stretching-food-budget.html ) to your diet can cut your cost of groceries, how in the world do you add fruits and vegetables so that you will enjoy them?

I like to look for more information on line about a food by going to a site like http://www.wikipedia.org/
Once you arrive at the site, do the following:

1. Pick the language (I picked English) you need in the box to the right under the illustration.
2. Type in the fruit or vegetable or food you are exploring in the box to the left of the language box (example: type in something like: rhubarb).
3. Press either the arrow to the far right of the boxes you just filled in or press your enter key on your keyboard.
4. Now you should be in the information page on the food item you are learning about. If you picked rhubarb, you will find much information on rhubarb including pictures, nutritional information, species, description, cultivation, historical cultivation, uses, cooking, medicine, toxic effects, and references.
   

Now comes the fun part, searching for recipes of this new fruit or vegetable. How can you pick a recipe that you think you or your family may like. Once again, let's use the internet.

I like to use recipe sites that not only give recipes but have reviews or rates listed along with the recipe. These reviews or rates are important to help you make an evaluation of how to use the recipe and whether you would even want to use it. Here is an example of how to check out a recipe site. For illustration purposes, I will use http://allrecipes.com/
Once you arrive at the site, do the following:

1. Type in the word - rhubarb - in the search box at the top of the page.
2. Click on the "search" button to the right of the box or press the "enter" key on your keyboard.
3. Now you will see multiple recipes for the use of rhubarb. Some recipes have one or two rates while others have over fifty rates. You can read the recipes and the rates and decide which recipe you might like to try.
   

Other sites for recipes may be:

1. http://www.recipezaar.com/
2. http://www.epicurious.com/
3. http://www.cooking.com/Recipes-And-More/

Once you have found a recipe or two that you would like to try, make a paper copy of the recipe.
If the recipe was a winner, try making your own recipe book. For complete instructions see: http://asklaurie.blogspot.com/2009/07/money-stretching-food-budget-make-your.html