(ARA) - Food prices are up, way up. The overall cost of weekly groceries today is nearly six percent more than last year – higher than the inflation rate. As food prices continue to rise, shoppers are on the hunt for easy ways to save money on groceries.

“The key to cutting the grocery bill is not about changing the way you eat, but about changing the way you buy the foods that you like to eat,” says Stephanie Nelson of www.CouponMom.com. She offers three simple principles to help everyday grocery shoppers become “strategic shoppers” who can save big at the checkout.

Know How to Get Low Prices: Strategic shoppers learn the price ranges of their most common grocery items by starting a “price book” and stocking up when favorite items hit the lowest prices. By taking this approach, shoppers can save an average of 50 to 70 percent off of these items.

Store loyalty cards are another key strategy for saving at the grocery store. Some loyalty programs send extra coupons in the mail and even offer discounts on the food bill once a certain dollar amount is spent in the store.

Know How to Use Coupons: When it comes to coupons, it’s important to know when to use them, where to use them and where to find them. As a strategic shopper, be sure to recognize when favorite brand name items hit their lowest prices and use the coupons at that point to save the most money on the grocery bill.

Many grocery stores offer shoppers even more savings through “bonus” coupon programs. This means that these stores will double or triple coupons up to a certain amount, such as 50 cents.

Know Where to Find Coupons: Strategic shoppers seek out coupons from traditional sources, like your local newspaper, as well as from online coupon Web sites. A few coupon-collecting strategies include:

* Buy more than one copy of the newspaper when it is a high-coupon week.

* Sign up for store loyalty cards to receive special coupon mailings and coupons at checkout.

* Use free online coupons that can be linked to loyalty cards.

* Review the weekly ads for local grocery stores for extra savings coupons and specials.

* Look out for coupons in the store: red coupon shelf boxes, tear off pads on store displays, at the customer service counter and on product packages.

For you folks in the US, log on to http://www.Shortcuts.com for a free e-book called “Shortcuts and The Coupon Mom System Show You How to Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half.” Full of tips to help shoppers take full advantage of coupons, this e-book offers tips that can help anyone see significant savings on their receipt, every time they shop for groceries.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Japanese food and culture is many ways different from other food cultures.

Besides different ways of preparing food, cooking (or not cooking) and eating the freshest food in its raw state.

The main difference that is accentuates Japan cuisine I think is the portion of food servings- la nouvelle cuisines. Small is considered satisfying. Hence a traditional meal is often made up of a variety of little portions.
Just as distinct as that of the French gourmet cuisine.

Portions of food are usually cut-up and served in bite-sized proportions, small enough to be picked up with a pair of chopsticks and right into your mouth.

The Japanese food culture is one that pays great attention to presentation of food and its appearance. Often, they resembles little pieces of art, to be ” good enough to eat“. A visual treat is paramount, to the effect of “what is pleasing to the eye should be as it is to the taste is to the tongue”. As with different food cultures, the Japanese have a different system to culinary aesthetics.

Color of food must be artfully contrasting. For example, a pink tuna sashimi ought to be contrasted with the light green of wasabi. (horseradish). The way food is placed in relation to the surface area and shape of the dish itself . There is a general law of opposites. Foods that have a roundish shape are served in dishes with straight lines. Square-sliced vegetables, blocks of tofu are always served in round dishes.y

Japanese has a unique attitude towards food. Food is introduced and eaten in varying degrees of rawness.
I’m pretty sure the first dish that would come to mind is sushi.

Nothing is overcooked. There are a whole set of ritual on how to prepare sushi (a seventeen step process!) presentation, freshness and natural way of preparing food.

Eat these 5 hues every day to get all the age-fighting antioxidants you need.

The secret to youthful skin, healthy bones, sharp memory, and disease prevention can be found in your fridge. The more colorful your diet, the more antioxidants you get. These compounds reduce overall cellular damage and prevent the hardening of the arteries that can lead to , stroke, even memory loss. “Every hue–green, yellow, orange, red, purple, and even white–signifies a different class of nutrients, each of which offers a unique benefit,” explains USDA research chemist Ronald Prior, PhD, who was among the first researchers to measure the antioxidants in food that protect us as we age. For instance:

1. Yellow/Orange
Sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, mango, corn, and melon all contain a variety of carotenoids, which reduce the risk of developing cancer.

2. Green
Vegetables such as spinach and broccoli are high in lutein, which keeps your vision sharp and clear.

3. Blue/Purple
Blueberries and blackberries are chock-full of anthocyanins, which prevent tumors from forming and suppress their growth.

4. Red
Tomatoes and watermelon are loaded with lycopene, which may protect against cancer and heart disease.

5. White
Cauliflower offers the same cancer-fighting benefits as broccoli, its cruciferous cousin, and potatoes are a good source of vitamin C. There’s also some evidence that the sulfur compounds in garlic and onions may ward off stomach and colon cancers. Other white foods, like poached chicken, seafood, reduced-fat cheeses, eggs, and tofu, provide all-important protein. For a true age-defying eating plan, mix and match these colors to ensure variety at every meal. Research indicates that antioxidants can work together like a team, each boosting the other’s effects. For a head start, try one of these delicious recipes, which have a minimum of two colors each–most have three.

See recipe for green curry chicken.

I love to mix colors and variety in my cooking.
Especially when preparing curries and soups. Its hard to go wrong with them.

Also for benefits of health. For example: Tomatoes contain Lycopene, Carrots with beta carotene, both help to prevent muscular degeneration of the eyes as we age. So eat more of them if you want to have a better view!

The nutrients we need are the substances that give food their distinctive colors. There are just too many possibilities to keep track of. So just infuse more natural color in your meals, the better. EASY!
For more information, see Colors of health

So think broccoli and red cabbage, eggplant and tomatoes and red and yellow and green peppers and..

As long as you keep colors as basic ingredients in your kitchen cabinet, You can prepare any meal or dish that is tasty easily. Some prepared paste and sauces are good to have.

p align=”left”>For this dish, the green curry paste is great and is so easy to prepare.

For this meal all you need are garden vegetables, onion, garlic, 1 can of 400ml coconut and the green curry paste.

When grocery shopping, try to get a mix of colors in your vegetable basket.

Here I mixed and the main vegetables, to give it a really visual treat and nutritious meal.

Ingredients:

• 200g sliced chicken breast
• 1/2 cup diced Carrots -Orange
• 1/2 cup diced Tomatoes -Red
• 1/2 cup diced Potatoes -Yellow
• 1/2 cup diced Onions -White or Red
• 1/2 cup chopped Long beans -Green
• 2 tsbp Green curry paste
• 2 tsbp of vegetable oil
• 1 can of 400ml Coconut water

Fry green curry paste till fragrant. Add chicken slices and coat evenly. Add coconut water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add carrots and potato and simmer for 10 mins. Add rest of the vegetables and simmer another 5 mins.

Add basil to garnish and serve with rice. Enjoy!!!