1. Spices have nutritional value! For example, cardamom has a ton of Vitamin A.
2. Adding whole grain bread to a meal can take it from okay to excellent nutritionally, even if the meal already includes carb sources like potatoes. It also helps to stretch your cost per meal.
3. Sesame seeds are an excellent source of calcium.
4. Popcorn counts as whole grain! But not sweet corn. Popcorn is made from field corn, which has a lot more fiber than sweet corn. Sweet corn has pretty minimal nutrition, for a vegetable.
5. Don't put squash rind in the garbage disposal.
6. Frozen produce generally offers better preservation of nutrition than canned. It may even be better than fresh produce, because fruits and vegetables start losing nutrition as soon as they are picked and it can take a long time for fresh produce to reach your table. But freezing Vitamin C causes about a 30% loss, versus only 5% for other vitamins and minerals.
7. Stock your freezer with fresh produce like sweet red peppers and strawberries in the summer when they're cheap.
