Healthy Frugal Snacking

Since becoming vegan/ mostly raw, I find that I am often hungry between meals. It has been hard for me to break the habit of not eating between meals, since for most my life that is one of the ways that I controlled my weight. But now that most every thing I eat is raw and all of it is plant based, I find the need to eat far more frequently. Actually, I eat all day long...

Today I started out with my early morning green drink, (which is 1 1/2- 2 frozen bananas, 1 heaping tsp. barley green, 1 level tsp. Erin's Super Green Drink powder and 8 oz. of water blended in a personal sized bullet blender), then a small mountain of fruit: apples, clementines, bananas, kiwi, mango,  and pineapple. After that I had my Beet the Blues Detox drink and went on about my morning. After watering all the seedlings and transplants, and doing the household chores I found myself peckish again around 10 a.m. Snacking can be expensive if it is a full time job, so I am always trying to find healthful, frugal snacks to eat between meals.

Since I was out in the garden when hunger struck, I picked a bunch of greens, including Blue Curly Kale, Wild Kale Mix, and Bright Lights Swiss Chard. The kale is trying to go to seed, but I am encouraging it to last a week or two longer by cutting off the flower stalks as soon as they appear, (BTW the kale flower stalks taste just like broccoli). Once inside I rummaged around in the freezer and found some berries from last year's harvest that I had frozen. I decided to make a green smoothie with the kale and the blueberries.
Here is the recipe:



Kale Berry Smoothie
2 frozen bananas
2 cups of mixed blueberries and blackberries frozen or fresh
1 bunch kale or other deep green leafy 
1 healthy handful of fresh lemon balm, (spearmint will also do, but I really like the citrus-y taste of the lemon balm) or the juice of 1/2 a lemon and a tsp. agave.
Water to aid in blending, and to obtain desired consistency, about 2 cups ( you can also use organic 100% fruit juice if you like).

Put 1 cup of water and the greens in the blender and blend. Then add the frozen bananas, the blueberries, and the lemon balm, (or its alternative), and blend. Add more water, (or juice) to make the drink to the thickness of your liking.

The smoothie is thick, cold and refreshing, but will have a slightly different texture than many smoothies, since it has fresh greens in it. It is delicious, and will probably hold me for another couple of hours, until I can make myself some lunch. The total cost of my mid morning snack was about 40 cents, since the blueberries, greens and lemon balm all came out of the garden, the only thing I included that had a cost was two organic bananas, which cost about 20 cents a piece.

I am always looking for a way to cut grocery costs, especially if we are paying the premium price of organic food. Growing a garden is one way that I can afford to eat the way I need to and not break the bank. The other part of that is to find ways to use what we grow in as many meals and snacks as possible. For every head of lettuce I pick from the garden, every batch of fruit I freeze, I am saving money. If I think about what we have growing when I plan my meals; I can use what is coming out of the garden first and then add other things that have to be purchased to round out the meals.

I know that there are many people who do not have the luxury of land to grow in, and for those people I am going to be writing a series of blog posts on how to grow your own food when you have no space for a garden. I also will be giving tips and thoughts on the most inexpensive and practical ways to buy the foods that you can't grow. So please check back and find out how you can be frugal and eat well at the same time.

Until next time! Elle

Blog Hops this post is linked to:
Frugal Days Sustainable Ways #69
Farm Girl Fest #30