This is a wonderful article from the Huffington Post by Dr Tim Harlan, M.D. that dispels the myth that eating at McDonalds is cheaper than cooking a healthy meal - pass this information on to everyone!! Thanks to in.gredients great website for bringing it to our attention!!

I get a lot of questions during lectures from people wanting to know how they can eat better when eating healthy is so expensive. They base their questions on claims that unhealthy choices are cheaper. For instance, I saw a recent news story where the reporter walked around Walmart and looked at the value of foods based on the measure of calories per dollar. This is really nothing more than a cute parlor game to say that one dollar will purchase close to 1,000 calories of candy bars but only a single large apple, because it doesn't tell us anything about what we get for our money. Calories are certainly an important part of our diet and weight control, but it is the quality of those calories that matters to our health.

The conclusion often from studies and news reports is that the subsidies on more calorie-dense foods are the culprit Because our government provides funding to farmers growing calorie-dense products like corn (which is processed into sugars) and beef, the typical fast food menu can be advertised as being "cheap, cheap, cheap," and candy bars can be sold for 33 cents each.

This is, however, one of the great myths about healthy eating -- ranking right up there with the fallacy that eating healthy doesn't taste good. I believe it's more economical to cook a fresh, healthy meal than to eat junk food.

The argument I hear most often is that it's cheaper to eat at McDonald's. After going to McDonald's recently and putting together a typical meal for four (mom, dad and two kids), I came up with a total of about $14.00 (I didn't actually buy anything, though). For that money, you get almost nothing of nutritive value, but bland white bread, greasy burgers and fries with a sugary soda.

That same $14.00 will purchase two pounds of lean ground beef, a pack of eight whole wheat buns, lettuce, tomato and enough potatoes to make oven-baked french fries and salad ingredients with money left over for some fresh fruit. The best part is that this is twice as much food as at McDonald's, so there's plenty for leftovers later. Better food at half the price: that's pretty simple. I'll allow that there's no soda included in the home cooked meal, but no one should drink soda anyway and a full pitcher of iced tea costs pennies to make.

At KFC, they sell $5.00 "complete" meals. I say "complete," but they really aren't since there's far too much refined carbohydrates and the only vegetables are deep fried potatoes.

These meals serve one person and generally include two pieces of chicken with fries and a biscuit (no veggies) and a soda. That comes to $20.00 for the same family of four, and for that you can purchase a whole chicken for roasting, four ears of corn on the cob, makings for a side vegetable or a salad and have money left over for fruit for dessert. Sure, the KFC meal is right at 1,000 calories, which makes it 200 calories per dollar, but there's also only 2 grams of fiber in the meal, more than a teaspoon of salt and 16 teaspoons of sugar. In the long run, those poor quality calories end up costing a lot.

The same home cooked meal with one roasted chicken breast, one roasted chicken thigh, a side salad, corn on the cob and an apple comes in at around 600 calories with about a quarter teaspoon salt. There's 11 grams of fiber and half the sugar, but the sugars are from natural sources and not table sugar or high fructose corn syrup. It's a healthy meal for less than KFC.

Sure, if you count this as calories per dollar you come out behind, but not all that much -- and the food is far, far better. The home cooked meal costs 120 calories per dollar, but these are great quality calories: low in sodium and added sugars, high in fiber, much more satisfying and, in my opinion, much tastier than KFC.

I spend a lot of time in grocery stores and it's amazing how much convenience food I see. Take the Healthy Choice penne in tomato sauce frozen meal. For the same family of four that it would take five of these (or maybe even more, considering the amount of calories that each member of the family might need).

At $2.80 per serving, that's a minimum of $14.00. That same 14 bucks will buy a box of whole wheat penne, onions, tomatoes and cheese with money left over for salad and fruit -- and it'll make six servings.

I do get people who want to argue that there's no time to cook, but this is also a myth. Putting a chicken in the oven to roast takes one minute to season and 5 seconds to put in the oven. Same with roasting the corn on the cob. Making a salad dressing and prepping the veggies takes all of about 10 minutes. That's less than 15 minutes work time to make a fantastic dinner. You might stand in line that long at the fast food joint.

There are so many recipes available online that are quick, easy and family friendly. They are inexpensive and delicious, but even those requiring more expensive ingredients are still cheaper than eating out -- and they're so much better for you. These are difficult economic times. One of the best ways to save money and get healthier (which also saves money) is to cook your own meals.

The myth that eating junk food is cheaper is just that: a myth.

To see this article by Dr Tim Harlan, M.D. and more related to healthy eating go here.

I found the greatest healthy food website from the United States www.weelicious.com and along with great recipes, they are brilliant at helping us encourage our children to eat healthy food! We can all use all the help we can get even if our kids are great eaters, we can expand our kids current food repetoire! How these tips are helpful - give them a go!

Inspiring Kids to Eat

Everyday I get frustrated emails from Mom’s at the end of their rope. I hear comments like “How do I get my kids to eat? They hate fruits and veggies! All they want is junk”! And so on…
I’m not saying these are the only ways or that they’ll work on your strong willed little one, but it’s definately a good start.

1. Shop with your little one. I know this sounds like a dreadful activity, but it works. My favorite place to go is the farmers market because there are tons of other kids there and the free samples are endless. My son, Kenya, usually will have a piece of corn, strawberries and apple slices in his hand all at one time. I’ve never seen him say no to any food he’s eaten there.

2. If you don’t live near a farmers market try the grocery. Go to the fruit and veggie aisle and come up with some fun recipe and cooking ideas together. Say “hmm, what should we do with this sweet potato? Could we mash them and add some pineapple or raisins?” Kids want to participate and helping them be creative will open up a whole array of culinary possibilities that they will enjoy cooking and eating.

3. Cook with your kids. Since my son was old enough to hold a spoon I’ve had him in the kitchen with me. He loves peeling bananas and pouring frozen fruit and rice milk into the blender for a smoothie HE made. Any time you’re cooking a recipe, even if it’s something you’ve made 100 times, think of a task your little one can do like shelling beans, stirring, pushing the button on the food processor, ANYTHING!)

4. Talk as you’re cooking. Tell your child what you’re doing and why. Make it like a story. I let Kenya hold fruits and veggies or give him samples as I’m cooking involving him in the process. He has a high chair and a little table (from Ikea) in the kitchen where he can play, look at books and snack on the foods I’m working with.

5. Eat as a family. Its tough, especially with so many schedules, but if kids see you eating broccoli and how much you’re enjoying it, then hopefully they will too. I heard the best story today. A Mother told me that her daughter won’t eat anything but noodles with butter (a frequent trap food for parents). For some reason, though, her Grandmother, a rawist (go figure) taught this 6 year old how to make kale, lettuce, fruit, flax smoothies that she has for breakfast every morning. A little girl that hates everything drinks kale smoothies? The fact that “Nana juice” is her favorite breakfast sure shows me that kids want to emulated those around them. If Daddy loves steamed fish with peas, then maybe his kids will too.

Let us know how you get your little one to try new and healthy foods!

I've been hearing more and more about community gardens and how brilliant they are especially when kids are involved.

What could be more simplistic then getting back to basics, no matter where you live and involving your kids. Community gardens are a brilliant way of connecting with your peers and showing your kids first hand where fruit and vegetables come from. My son was never interested in green beans, until we started growing them. Now, they don't grow fast enough as he eats them the second he finds them on the vine! We're now trying strawberries, snow peas and cherry tomatoes!

A friend of mine in the US is part of a coop organic farm where they pay a small annual fee ie US$400 and then each week they are allowed a certain allocation of produce. If they have the time and the patience each week they can also pick their own items that are ready and the kids just love it. Shopping has become a major adventure each week and the kids beg their parents to go with them!

Community gardens are brilliant for anyone that doesn't have their own garden and wants to go beyond the window box. Even if you have a garden, you can still be part of a community garden, especially if you want to learn more about growing specific foods. Better yet you get to interact with like minded people and get back to basics.

I found a brilliant site to give you a step by step of how to start your own community garden that makes it so easy and do-able! And there's a great one here in Australia complete with a book Growing Community that will give you even more detailed assistance from a local perspective.

If we can teach our children where food comes from and how the life cycle works they will be that much more inclined to eat it or at least try it. You can then send cherry tomatoes and beans in their school lunch box (Fridge-to-go bag of course!) and know they'll be showing these to their friends explaining how they grew them all by themselves! Like my son and beans. His current favourite is edamames (soybeans) served warm in the japanese style - I wonder how hard those will be to grow!

This community garden concept is a brilliant one that will only encourage us to slow down and appreciate the food we eat and feed our families. The education for all is something kids especially will appreciate and hold with them well into adulthood. Let's get our children to help us save the planet one small bean plant at a time!

PIZZA PINWHEELS - a kid favourite!

I recently got a recipe from Aussie Farmers Direct (who i love and have mentioned before!) for Pizza Pinwheels.

The kids can even help you make these adding their favourite ingredients and this only increases the chance of them eating them too!

Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (thawed)
1 tbsp pizza sauce
1/2 red capsicum (finely chopped)
1/2 cup ham or bacon (chopped)
1/2 cup shredded tasty cheese

Method:

1. Spread puff pastry with pizza sauce.
2. Sprinkle sauce evenly with capsicum, ham and cheese.
3. Roll pastry up like a swiss roll and slice into 1.5 cm slices.
4. Arrange on a lined baking tray.
5. Bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes or until golden.
6. Cool on a wre rack and serve.

Of course you can change the ingredients and be creative depending on what your little ones love to eat (or you can hide all those wonderful shredded veggies without their knowledge!).

Perfect the following day in a Fridge-to-go lunch bag to take to school or out and about!!

Share your creative ideas too on our Facebook FridgetogoOz page and win for a limited time!

National Recycling Week

This week Monday November 8th to Friday November 13th is National Recycling Week so let's take action, one small step at a time!!

My theory is that with 2 children under 5, they really are the future and let's brainwash them into saving the planet for all of us!! By default we'll follow suit. My partner is much more likely to listen to my 4 year old tell him he's put his can in the rubbish bin by mistake instead of the yellow plastic/glass recycling bin without sounding like a nag - my son likes rules so it's quite easy to keep the boundaries black and white (who better to express this to the whole family).

This song, Reduce Re-use Recycle is brilliant for kids and not only educates them but gets them moving and grooving - check it out yourself and explain the concept to your entire family and start making a difference now, just one small change at a time! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP9ZYMN-q0s.

Reduce - Many people forget to try and plan ahead and bring your own water with you instead of having to buy it and contribute to the growing landfill of water bottles!
Re-use - My son loves to hold the re-usable bags for the grocery store and it's amazing how many people still use plastic. Such a small thing but when I explain to my son how a turtle might eat one of these plastic bags and die, he gets it!
Recycle - Unfortately so much packaging is used on much of our food, but don't forget to look for the recycling symbol on many things, ie the plastic strawberry punnet, and watch your waste drastically reduce each week.

We love promoting the Nude Lunch that many schools now make part of their curriculum and kids aren't allowed to bring any plastic or packaging that isn't environmentally friendly - brilliant!

We're learning all the time little ways to make a difference and how to better pack the ultimate eco-lunch. Apparently many plastic containers contain chemicals so you're better off going for stainless steel or items that say they are BPA-free - try and educate yourself and we'll all contribute in our own way.

Enjoy the song!

Noelle

A new use for that Fridge-to-go panel - take it to bed!

I had the most delightful use for Fridge-to-go panels sent to me recently from Tanya. This is one use I had NEVER heard before and knew would be of interest to everyone as summer approaches!!

On those REALLY hot and sticky summer nights, Tanya's 5 year old takes a frozen panel to bed with him wrapped in a cloth nappy to help him get to sleep! Forget cuddling with a teddy bear - the panel should last well into the night until the cool of the morning when you probably don't want something cold next to you in bed anyway!! The panel has a dual purpose as of course her son also uses it for his lunch. If you're thinking of trying this method at home, ensure you've got a spare panel so there one is always one frozen in the freezer and ready to go. Now that Tanya has twins and they're older she'll need to stock up on panels for the whole family!!

Don't forget about the NEW Fridge-to-go CoolPad as well over the hot summer months. Now these are designed to stay cool up to 2 hours so would be great to get the little ones to sleep in the heat. They have an adjustable strap and soft fabric side that goes against the skin making them comfortable and the 2 panels contour to the forehead. Remember that these are totally different from the Fridge-to-go lunch bag panels that stay cold up to 8 hours (the panels are larger and have more liquid inside) that are VERY cold. The CoolPad is designed to be cool in a more subtle way so they soothe a headache or fever (or the heat of summer!!) and shouldn't be so cold that it's uncomfortable for a baby/child.

As we head to the silly season, an adult has been known to use these CoolPads rather effectively too after a wee too much cheer!

I'm also going to get my 4 year old to test drive taking a frozen lunch panel to bed when the heat gets unbearable! Thanks Tanya!

Breastfeeding on the go made SOOOooooo easy!

It's hard enough to express with your breast pump outside the comfort of your own home - I recall pumping in the women's toilet at work, you do what you must!

Of course to feed your child is the most important thing and if you're able to breast feed and choose to do so once you've returned to work any helping hand is welcome.

I found taking the Small Lunch bag with me to work with my manual Avent breast pump was pretty simple and discreet - keyword DISCREET. The odd day I didn't express my breasts were in such pain and got so hard it wasn't worth it! Also I was always paranoid my breast pad would shift and leave those beautiful wet patches over my nipples for all to see, now that's class!! Who hasn't tried drying those patches with the hand dryer in the toilet?? I made sure to always wear supportive bras as the weight was unbelievable and not something I was normally used to! No one wants to flash their breast milk around the office especially as every sacred drop is precious. I kept the bag under my desk in a larger bag and just took this to the toilet and no one suspected a thing! I could express and fit the whole pump and bottle with lid in the bag and knew it would stay cold and fresh until I got home. I know that often no one was aware of my secret mission to the toilet!

Luckily I didn't experience anyone using my breast milk in their 3pm cuppa, although that would have been interesting!