These days there are stories almost every day on the TV news and in the newspapers about food that has been recalled because of ecoli or some other contamination. This has spurred many of us to shop and cook more carefully for our families. If you want to take a step beyond buying just safe ingredients for your familie's cooking, then you'll investigate truly healthy cooking with organics.
When I talk about organics, some people think that I'm just talking just about produce. That's not true; there are now organic versions of many animal products available also.
I advocate switching to organic ingredients for your cooking because most produce is sprayed with pesticides and grown with chemical fertilizers, Animal foods can contain growth hormones and antibiotics.
The hormones can cause premature maturing of children. Also, it's a fact that bacteria are increasingly becoming resistant to antibiotics. Scientists say that one of the reasons that bacteriia have become so resistant to antibiotics is because of all the antibiotics in our food.
Before buying organic ingredients, it's normal for people to ask one or more of the following questions;
1) How can I replace my whole menu with organic ingredients overnight?
Won't I pay a premium for organic ingredients?
How can I determine that an ingredient that I'm looking at is a genuine organic?
The short answer to question #1 is, "you don't have to". I recently read a book by Kevin Trudeau called," Natural Cures (they don't want you to know about)". In it, Kevin recommends changing one ingredient of your meals at a time to organic until eventually all of your cooking is with organic ingredients. I experimeted with this technique and discovered that the my family made the transition to organics a lot more easily then I expected. So far, everything that I eat for breakfast is organic and my other meals are made up of more than half organic ingrediants.
The answer to question #2 is that unfortunately, organic ingredients usually will cost more. The number of people that buy organic products has increased, but the numbers haven't increased enough to cause economies of scale in the production and sale of of organic ingredients.
Organic ingredients generally go for more than non-organics, but if you are willing to do some leg work, you'll pay less than you may expect.
A good way to save money is to do as much shopping as possible at a farmer's market. Farmer's markets can be found in just about every small town in the Spring and Summer. Some big cities even have a year round farmer's market. Prices are lower because you are buying directly from the farmer. Usually, you can only buy fruits, vegetables, spices and eggs at these markets, but you should be able to beat the non- organic prices in the supermarkets.
Another way to get your costs down is to shop at discount chains because many of them now have organic departments. Even the big guys like Wal-Mart have jumped on the organic bandwagon.
Another sure way to cut costs of your healthy cooking is to scratch cook more often. A good example is soup. Canned soup in the store usually has a lot of salt and other non- organic ingredients. Don't buy the package of chicken thighs. Purchase the whole chicken ( organic, of course ) and then proceed to do the honors yourself. Don't buy the salad in the bag. Whenever possible, don't cook your vegebles, instead steam them if you have a recipe that says that they should be cooked. Steaming them will leave in more of the vitamins and minerals than high heat cooking.
Remember, every time someone touches your food, it will cost more.
To find the answer to question #3, all we have to do is look at the label on the package in front of us. To know if an ingredient you're looking at is organic look for the label that says, " USDA organic ". This means that the food has been certified by the USDA as being organic in origin.
This article has been meant to show you the logical starting point in your quest to provide healthy cooking for yourself and your family. In follow up articles I shall talk about such things as more reasons why you should buy organic ingredients and how to get refined sugar out of your cooking.
Home chefs have turned to healthier methods of preparing meals and using healthy cooking appliances in that effort. While still incorporating the use of pots and fry pans to prepare certain dishes, other meals are possible when home cooks change over to using smaller home appliances to cook foods for the family. For more detail go to: www.bread-machine-cookbook.com. Some families have grown closer because healthy cooking appliances are easy to operate by many members of the family.
Foods cook quicker with the healthy cooking appliances in the home. Families no longer have to worry about grease splattering because the healthy cooking appliances do not require oils or any type of cooking grease to release foods from cooking surfaces. The non-stick surfaces in many healthy cooking appliances have allowed home cooks to prepare beautiful dishes because the non-stick coatings allow the foods to brown evenly.
With the introduction of cooking oil sprays, all foods prepared with healthy cooking appliances are noticeably less greasy than meals cooked with oils. These sprays have been proven effective when cooks decide to cook outdoors. All meat types cook thoroughly and evenly on a metal grid and with the cooking sprays in place; families no longer have to worry about any type of meat sticking to the surface. Baking in the oven turns out perfect every time when non-stick sprays are used in the pan and healthy cooking appliances such as toaster ovens will reduce electrical costs.
Whichever cooking method home chefs decide to use, there are healthy cooking appliances that will turn out superb meals every time. Many home appliances are designed with vented cooking surfaces that allow fats from foods to fall through. For more detail go to: www.delicious-sandwich-recipes.com. Foods are healthier when they are not allowed to cook in natural grease but some home chefs continue to use this cooking method because of the flavor these greases add to food products when they are finished cooking.
Cooking time has been significantly reduced with the aid of healthy cooking appliances. Table top grills allow home chefs to cook both sides of meat at one time and the cooking time saved is allotted to creating other healthy food items for the family to eat. A complete meal can be produced in less than an hour with the healthy choices in cooking appliances sold in stores across the United States. Families can incorporate the use of crock pots to cook while nobody is home to watch them because these healthy cooking appliances require no stirring.
Certain home appliances took the early lead in preparing healthy meals for the entire family. Microwave ovens are healthy cooking appliances because they require no oils to cook meals and fat can be easily drained from foods when cooks place paper towels underneath. These healthy cooking appliances cook foods faster than any other appliance and allow every member of the family the opportunity to prepare certain foods that will be served at a gathering.
Both Craig Stanford & Premamitkumarsahni are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Craig Stanford has sinced written about articles on various topics from Property Agents, Fishing and Ski. Craig Stanford suffered a stroke in 1994. This event has caused him to research how he can achieve better health. He has put some of his research into the Healthy Cooking Guide. To read the Guide and read about other kinds of cooking, check out his websit. Craig Stanford's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.