I love being able to feed my family fresh vegetables, but sometimes my budget just doesn’t leave room to buy lots of fresh produce.

I have found several ways to feed my family healthy vegetables and still stay within my budget.

I buy lots of frozen fruits and veggies which are as close to fresh as you can get, at a fraction of the cost. Also a lot of times these are put on sale, and matched up with a coupon can be pretty close to free.

I buy produce on the discount rack and freeze it myself. I always get bananas this way, which I peel and either chop up into ice cube sized pieces which are perfect for smoothies, or I mash them up in cup sized bags to be used for breads, desserts, and pancakes. I also but peppers, squash, onions, zucchini and cut up and freeze to be easily added to stir fry or spaghetti.

The best way to give my family a healthy source of veggies is to grow them myself. Now that spring is almost here, this is a good time to start thinking of planting a garden. You can get books from you local library to learn about the different types of gardening. You can also send for seed catalogs which also have garden ideas and tips for free. For even more ideas send for free gardening magazines.

There are so many different ways to keep your family healthy and eating well all while staying within your budget. This works for me and can work for your family too.