Enjoy home-cooked meals.
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Busy people seek convenience, which, when it comes to meals, is prepackaged and shrink wrapped. But convenience has its price, too—prepared meals, whether at restaurants or boxed, bagged, or frozen at the grocery store, cost much more than the ingredients for a home-cooked meal and come loaded with salt and preservatives. Chef Laura Stec, author of the environmental cookbook Cool Cuisine, says fresh, nutritious food paired with simple seasonings can help novice cooks learn to prepare delicious meals. Packing a lunch of leftovers can save you more than $100 each month.
