Veggies ??

[Bryan87]

Hey Dave or anyone else that wants to comment, I am still new to cooking, I wanted to know what do you guys use for veggies, do you use canned, frozen or fresh and whats cost effective and what do you find to taste the best ?

[scourtney7]

I stick to fresh veggies when possible, straight off the shelf. As Dave would say, "what's in fresh broccoli....fresh broccoli." one ingredient = healthy and clean. That is not to say I never buy canned or frozen. Canned can get ya with the sodium content so read the label carefully. Frozen are okay too. They are more cost-effective up front than fresh, but again read the label and make sure that there are as few additives in the ingredient list as possible. As far as seasoning veggies, you can flavor em up pretty easily by reaching for spices in the cabinet. Season them to your palate whatever tastes good to you. I put organic salsa on my broccoli many times, and I also add veggies to whole wheat pasta & chicken along with a tbsp of extra light olive oil. I also enjoy fresh asparagus baked in the oven with extra light olive oil. very easy and quick to prepare (7 minutes in oven and voila).

Shannon

[Dave]

I stick to fresh veggies when possible, straight off the shelf. As Dave would say, "what's in fresh broccoli....fresh broccoli." one ingredient = healthy and clean. That is not to say I never buy canned or frozen. Canned can get ya with the sodium content so read the label carefully. Frozen are okay too. They are more cost-effective up front than fresh, but again read the label and make sure that there are as few additives in the ingredient list as possible. As far as seasoning veggies, you can flavor em up pretty easily by reaching for spices in the cabinet. Season them to your palate whatever tastes good to you. I put organic salsa on my broccoli many times, and I also add veggies to whole wheat pasta & chicken along with a tbsp of extra light olive oil. I also enjoy fresh asparagus baked in the oven with extra light olive oil. very easy and quick to prepare (7 minutes in oven and voila).

Shannon

Couldn't have said it better myself. Pass on the added "ingredients" to your veggies. You might check out http://www.localharvest.org/, and see if there is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in your area. We get a huge bag of veggies and fresh eggs for $25 every week. It is all locally grown certified organic foods that are super healthy.

Dave

[FitRunner]

I usually keep a few vetted cans of veggies in the cupboard for life disorganization moments. Or some frozen 'backup' veggies. Since they keep basically forever, it's something to fall back on when it's dinnertime and you open the fridge to see that you're out of fresh veggies. (Life happens!) Since I don't eat them all the time it's not too much trouble to read the labels.

But I agree with Dave and Shannon, fresh is tastiest and easiest. (no label reading, you breeze by and throw it in your cart and move on.) What you can do to offset cost, if that's a problem (it is for me right now), is to make sure you stick to in-season veggies (a CSA box is a good way to go on that one). (No fresh strawberries in February!) If you really need something that's wildly out of season, you get to decide whether you want to shell out the dough for fresh or settle for frozen or canned.

[Bryan87]

Hey Guys thanks for the reposts and soooo quick too :) Fresh I am sure will ALWAYS taste better but will go sourer faster so theres a sense of urgency to use them quickly and I saw something about the CSA in my area and being a member ??? and buying a full share is like 550 bucks ?? and the pick up points ? What the heck is that ?? Doesnt seem like theres much explanation at all!!

[Bryan87]

Also how do you guys use olive oil, BRAND SPANKING NEW TO IT! I know thats a fat that can be used ???

[FitRunner]

Re: using them up, it takes some planning ahead. If you plan to make 14 lunches and dinners in a week and each of them uses a unique veggie, your costs will skyrocket. Not only are odds good some of them are expensive, if you only eat each veggie once you're likely to have lots of abandoned veggies going bad in the fridge. (Ok, extreme example, but still.) Find dishes that use the same veggies to make sure you use them all up before they go bad.

For example, lettuce of any sort can substitute for another. No, they're not all the same. No, they don't even taste the same. But it's better than buying 5 kinds of leafy greens there is no way you'll eat up in time. Maybe you can make all your salads with Romaine as a base and toss in some leaves of another sort from time to time, or only in some salads. Maybe you can steam broccoli as a side dish one night and add broccoli florets to a salad the next day. Or maybe you LOVE spinach and can both make scrambles and salads based on it. I keep lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and green beans around at all times because I know so many ways to eat them that I know they will be gone before they go bad. I hesitate before buying something I only have one recipe for (like hearts of palm, some P90X recipe calls for it but I left it out - I'll never eat them all in time if I buy them.)

Re CSA boxes: A CSA box is pretty much paying a farmer for a harvest season's worth of one box full of veggies (and sometimes eggs) a week. You shell out the $500-$600 dollars in spring and then the boxes either arrive at your door until late fall or you go pick them up somewhere once a week. Some CSAs sell half shares, so you pay half but only get half a box a week. A CSA box will require you to be a little more active in finding recipes, since you don't control which veggies you get every week. That's a good and a bad thing. It forces you to try new things, but you do need to find out how you want the new veggies served! But it's the easiest way to get really fresh veggies for cheap.

Re olive oil: I use olive oil for pretty much all my cooking except for where sesame oil is required for flavor. I buy light-tasting regular olive oil for sauteeing and pan-frying (not virgin) and keep a small bottle of extra virgin olive oil around for salads and other cold uses. Virgin olive oil shouldn't be heated, that's why I have two bottles for two different uses. (The heating ruins the good fats.) I buy the light tasting oil so that I can cook Asian as well as Western food with it. Olive oil is not suitable for deep-frying, but I consider that a non-issue since I'm scared to death of having vats of boiling oil in my kitchen regardless of what kind of oil it is. If you heat olive oil up to where it smokes, it is burned and now unhealthy. Pour it out and start over. Otherwise... I don't think there is much to know.

[Bryan87]

Thanks Fitrunner I appreciate your insight, yea I think for right now as far as finances go, I will probably do frozen veggies and find the ones that have under like 5 ingredients, lol because I would rather focus on becoming financially independent REALLY FAST and then worry about spending MORE money on food. And as far as salads go I have been eating bagged salads, not sure how you feel about that, but my success coach has taught me (FOR ME, my personality type) tends to just get the best quickest result instead of spending hours and days and contemplating and reevaluating to think about making a decision, LMAO! So I think I will just to limit my confusion and cut down on cost I will do the bagged salad, and as dar as the olive oil I just picked up a generic brand at my local super walmart, and I havent really cooked anything that I think will use the olive oil , what do u think ?( hamburgers, spaghetti,and grilled chix breasts ?? Thanks for all you do :D Love ya, ALL OF YOU

[scourtney7]

Fit Runner is dead on. Nothing much to add. She hit all the points that I left out. Just follow the guidelines she outlined and play around w various recipes til u find ones u enjoy. I tend to do ad she does w fresh veggies. I eat basically the same veggies and meals too thru out each week. It may seem boring initially. but when u power thru ur workouts and start seeing results u will not question it. I know I sure don't! I love living this way! Never felt better!

Shannon

[scourtney7]

Fit Runner is dead on. Nothing much to add. She hit all the points that I left out. Just follow the guidelines she outlined and play around w various recipes til u find ones u enjoy. I tend to do ad she does w fresh veggies. I eat basically the same veggies and meals too thru out each week. It may seem boring initially. but when u power thru ur workouts and start seeing results u will not question it. I know I sure don't! I love living this way! Never felt better!

Shannon

[FitRunner]

Sounds good - you need to find a way to live you're comfortable with. Sometimes you just need to dive into the deep end and accept the possibility of some water in your nose while you learn :)