Five New Years’ Resolutions for Foodies
Do you have a New Year’s resolution to eat more healthily? Save money and reduce waste? Give back to the community? Read on to find out how to make your resolutions stick.
While New Year’s resolutions often focus on food – like eating less of it, eating more healthily, or cutting out sugar, you might like to consider these ideas for more positive outcomes around food. It’s known that for a goal or resolution to have a chance of being attained, it must be SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based. So a broad resolution like “eat more healthily” won’t cut it, but a resolution such as “I will include eat fresh fruit with Greek yoghurt for breakfast 4 days a week for during summer” will have a much greater chance of being achieved, and make a real difference to your health.
Here are some more ideas:
1. Cut down on food waste by meal planning each week
Commit to planning your meals for the week, on a given day each week. Not only will you save time, money and angst each night wondering what to cook, you’ll cut down on food waste. Meal planning requires you to keep an eye on what you have in the fridge and pantry (so no more doubling-up when grocery shopping). If you include a resolution to clean out your fridge once a week and use the leftovers in a meal such as soup or a casserole, you’ll definitely be reducing waste and meeting this resolution with ease.
Read more about the benefits of meal planning here:
Budget and Time Poor? Try Meal Planning
How to plan meals and save you time, money and make life easier
2. Cook a vegetarian meal once a week for 3, 6 or 12 months
Whether your motives are ethically, environmentally, or health-orientated, many of us are trying to eat a more plant-based diet. If a complete change to a non-meat diet is too difficult to maintain, try committing to cooking a vegetarian meal once a week for 3, 6 or 12 months and see how you go.
You can read about the benefits of a plant-based diet, and the appeal of a flexitarian diet here:
Powered by plants…why 2.5 million Australians are choosing a plant-based diet
3. Volunteer with a food charity once a month/next Christmas/over winter
In Tasmania there are many volunteering opportunities available for people to help others in need, and specifically in relation to helping them access healthy food. Hill Street partners with Loaves and Fishes, a not-for-profit organisation which gathers surplus food bound for landfill, transforms it into ready-to-eat meals and delivers it state-wide through more than 250 partner agencies such as St Vincent de Paul, the Salvos and Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania.
Loaves and Fishes also provides employment opportunities, training, work experience and other practical support for disadvantaged Tasmanians, and partners with School Food Matters to deliver approximately 6000 free hot school lunches per week to 30 Government schools across Tasmania through the School Lunch Project. Through partner agencies Loaves and Fishes feeds 15,000 Tasmanians each week and also supports more than 60 Tasmanian School Breakfast Programs. Loaves and Fishes encourages volunteers, so hop on board at loavesandfishestasmania.org.au/get-involved/ to find out more.
Other ideas where you can make a real difference by getting food to Tasmanians needing a hand include Loui’s Van as well as other opportunities through Volunteering Tasmania.
4. Broaden your culinary repertoire by cooking a meal from a different culture one a week/month
We all get stuck in a rut when it comes to cooking, relying on our tried-and-true recipes on repeat. How about mixing it up a little by choosing a different cuisine once a week or once a month?
Get the kids involved, spin the globe, choose a country, get them to do a little research about the country and their meal of choice, write the shopping list and help with the cooking, and you just might have a new family favourite or two by the end of the year. Enchiladas anyone?
Check out our recipe for Speedy Chicken Enchiladas here!
5. Limit your takeaways to once a week – or none!
We are all rushed for time and too tired to cook sometimes. Takeaways are a lifesaver but can be expensive and sometimes not the healthiest choices. Commit to limiting yourself to one – or zero – takeaway nights per week/month – whatever you think is achievable for you or your family.
Read about six alternatives to takeaways which will save your sanity on those too-tired-to-cook nights, and save you money, here: Six alternatives to take-away…that will save you money
