Note: Did you know that June is National Dairy Month? To celebrate National Dairy Month, we are working with the NFRA (a non-profit organization) and our friends at Resourceful Mommy. While this post was sponsored by the NFRA, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Do you keep certain things in the fridge for those nights you just don't feel like cooking? I will be completely honest with everyone – I do. As part of my efforts to lose weight, I have been trying hard to have healthy options in the fridge. Keeping fast meals in the house makes eating at home more feasible on those hard work days, and keeps us from eating the biggest diet killer ever – fast food. For me, the hardest thing was finding the right foods, ones that could be prepared quickly, but didn't leave me feeling guilty later when it was time to get on the scale. Best of all, most of my quick ingredients can easily be found in the refrigerated dairy aisle .
If you looked in my fridge, you would see that it is filled with a variety of fruits, vegetables, juices, and different types of milk and milk products. Like most families, we have certain staples that we can't go without, such as milk, almond milk, half and half, and even cheese. Yet, very few people take advantage of the other amazing foods found in the refrigerated dairy aisle. As someone who strongly supports natural eating, I am always looking for new quick foods and ingredients, such as tortillas, pizza dough, and even Greek yogurt. While these ingredients may seem simple in nature, they can come together to make wonderful dishes which, when paired with the right vegetables, are far better than what you could even find in most high-end restaurants. Great dishes like my Chicken Enchiladas Recipe and Homemade Buttermilk Pancakes!
The hard part can sometimes be finding the right recipes for the job. While I love going through Pinterest for recipes, I have also found that the National Frozen & Refrigerated Food Associated(NFRA) has wonderful tips and recipes for staying healthy. As part of June Dairy Month, they have been reaching out to teach others about making healthy choices when it comes to food. Through their blogs, The Dish Dairy Tumblr and Easy Home Meals, you can find recipes that not only look amazing, but were designed with your health in mind. Many of the recipes on their photo blog were created by Aida Mollenkamp, a professional chef and culinary expert.
To find fun recipes and learn more about cooking with real, simple, farm-grown ingredients, make sure to check out the Easy Home Meals Pinterest Page, Easy Home Meals Twitter, and Easy Home Meals Facebook Page. Just be warned, if you are like me and love to cook, you may very well be spending a weekend making new recipes.
As part of June Dairy Month, we are also happy to be working with Resourceful Mommy to teach others about healthy eating. To making healthy eating from the refrigerated aisle more fun, they are throwing a Twitter Party, where you have a chance to win a bunch of fun prizes, including a $100 Gift Card! Want to RSVP? Here is everything you know!
Easy Home Meals Twitter Party (RSVP HERE)
When: Thursday June 27 from 8 PM – 9 PM ET
Where: #DairyBeyondCool
How: Follow sponsor @EasyHomeMeals, host @ResourcefulMom, chef @AidaMollenkamp and tweet in the event tag #dairybeyondcool
Prizes: Grand Prize – $100 Gift Card, 1 – $50 Gift Card, 4- $25 Gift Cards
Never been to a Twitter party? Don't worry, it's easy and fun! Twitter Parties are a great way to meet other interesting people and win great stuff! To learn more, check out this great Twitter Party Tutorial. Either way, I hope to see you at the Easy Home Meals Twitter Party on Thursday!
Disclosure: Budget Earth received monetary compensation for this post and its topic, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. This post is in no way associated with Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, or Google +.
About Susan Bewley
Susan Bewley is a professional writer who has been writing content online & in print format for over 10 years. As well, she is an alumni of the University of Louisville with a Masters Degree in Special Education. When not working as an online business consultant or ghost writing, she can be found writing on Budget Earth, on her own novel, or working with various entities in the pet industry.
Thank you so much for pointing out the many items that can be found in the refrigerated aisle of the supermarket. I guess I am guilty of just buying the milk/cheese/egg and not looking at the other choices.
Interesting and some good sounding reciepes
sounds like some really great recipes
As a college kid I am all for saving time and money on food!
I’ve been there, done that! Food is so expensive and its so hard to eat healthy, especially with studying, class, and job. I lived off this aisle in college, and the frozen food section (especially frozen veggies)
I too am just starting to fill my fridge with healthy foods. I feel if I keep fresh fruits and veg. and lean meats in plain sight and throw all the rest out. I got to figure out something healthy.lol
Aw man, I missed this party! 🙁 Thanks for the information provided in this post, though. I'm a frozen food kind of gal. 🙂
you had some very interesting things and ideas here thank you for sharing them with us!!!!
Thank You for all the tips. With a family of four we are always trying to find ways to save money and eat helthier. This will prevent lots of trips to the fast food joints.
looks like a great recipe i will try to make for my family i think they will like it
It's easy and wonderful to do the "semi-homemade" thing. We often use refrigerated cookie dough as our base to make more "gourmet" treats. Crescent rolls are another good base for many options.
I have never visited the l=blog The Dish Diary and now I shall go there to look for new recipes. I find semi-homemade acan be just as nutritious if you know what you are doing.
Milk and cheese is just about all I have in the fridge. Well, that and a pudding cup.
I ALWAYS have a couple of tubs of non-fat Greek yogurt in my fridge, and find that it is so useful in many recipes, even when I haven't planned (as I know I should!).
wow great ideas I will keep this as a refrence! thank you!!!
Thank you for this post! I can't wait to try the chicken enchilada recipe and I had never heard of the National Frozen & Refrigerated Food Associated (NFRA) before now. Unlike you I do not like to cook. I tend to eat a lot of frozen dinners. I stick to lean cuisines or smart ones because I know they are lower in calories. When I do cook I usually make things that I can double or triple the recipe so I can freeze some for later. I have medical issues that make it hard to stand for very long and I have to consider the amount of clean up that will be involved too.
I'm glad I found your blog. Thank you
I hope you like the recipe Anastasia! Its one of my favorite quick recipes. I haven’t tried it myself (they never last long enough in my house) but I know one of my other readers told me they freeze very well!
I always have frozen bread dough in my fridge – You can make almost anything, from bread to pizza to pretzels with it!
Thank you for those tips! I am always looking for a quick meal, especially when my husband is deployed for me and my 2 girls. WE just dont eat that much and if I can save time and money, all the better! I will definately spend more time actually looking in the dairy isle
Thanks for posting on this! I will be using this as a resource for healthier eating!!
I might have been too late to this party but I totally know what you mean! I bring lunch to work every single day for hubs and myself. Very often, I fall back on fridge staples (for me), like eggs, silken tofu, leftover dinners and quick cooking veggies. It feels great eating homecooked food and very friendly to the wallet too.
We are pretty good about checking all sections of the store, to look for sales and items that we can use our coupons on. The hard part is coming up with healthy choices that are also quick for dinner and easy-to-fix for lunch. Thanks for the links to recipe sites.
Yes to healthy living! Thanks for sharing recipes. 🙂
This is so cool.Much better and cheaper than fast food.
I keep healthy meals in the fridge…leftovers! We try to do leftover night once a week. Cheddar cheese, milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, cream cheese…So many great dairy products that make meals better!
I love Ezekiel sprouted grain tortillas. They're perfect for burritos!
As a college kid I need simple go-to meals like this, thanks!
I keep fresh fruit/veggies and yogurt for easy and cool snacks. It's hot where we are so I also will make meals in bulk then put in the freezer so they can reheated in the microwave or our solar oven.
Thank you for sharing such great links! I love to find yummy recipes and have my hubby make them. He is the cook. Not me. I make eggs bounce. He can make homemade sauses out of thin air! I just love supplying him with healthy recipes! Losing weight is a daily battle for me food wise. Having yummy healthy alternates to junk food is so important in the battle to lose weight. Thanks again!
I do try to find different ideas for cooking with a large family. And I do rely on the refrigerated section on a lot of this to stay healthy with my choices.
These days there is a great healthy selection of ready to go meals in the refrigerated aisle- saves so much time!
thank you for this post.. its always harder to eat healthy on the go. the drive thru is so convienent lol