1. Meal plan. It seems tedious at first until you realize how much of a headache you save wondering what you’re going to eat for dinner every day or trying to make a lunch out of a moldy bagel and a carrot. Trust me, we’ve all been there.  With a weekly meal plan, you’ll cook better food less often AND save money on eating out less.

3. Try shopping more often. When you come home with fresh food, you feel more inspired to turn it into something delicious.  You also tend less to overbuy and let food spoil before you can eat it.

5. Always, always store leftovers in clear containers, so you can see what you have to eat every time you open the door. Also, label your leftovers with the name and date. This was a habit I picked up working in kitchens and it makes the food soo much more appetizing when you know what it is. I truly believe a roll of masking tape and a Sharpie pen could save Americans hundreds of dollars a year in wasted food.

11. Peel and freeze browning bananas for banana bread, pancakes or to put in your smoothies. The starch turns to sugar as they ripen so the brown ones are much sweeter and tastier.  

Photo below shows ViVerde “cuadrada” bananas. They are very square shaped, with fruit taste and consistency something between sweet bananas and starchy plantain.  Locals cook them and eat them fresh.  We have a freezer full of frozen bananas from our property.  So handy.

Try our ViVerde banana bread recipe:

For one loaf, mix together in a large bowl:  2 C flour (one C white and one C whole wheat or some other interesting flour), 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon.

In another bowl mix together 2 beaten eggs, 4 ripe mashed bananas, 1/4 C oil + 1/4 C melted butter, 1/2 C sugar.

Mix the moist ingredients into the dry, add chopped nuts, raisins, craisins, etc —  do not overmix!  Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for approximately one hour until the top is golden brown and the sides are pulling away from the pan.  Enjoy!