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One way of helping in the environment is to buy less packaged and processed foods. Processing these products wastes energy, uses preservatives and other bad ingredients, and is just plain wrong for the human body. Here are a couple of suggestions* to help us avoid these processed foods and use more healthier options in our food.

Bread

Bake your own bread. It doesn’t matter what kind: wheat, whole wheat, or white. But the best bread to hit two birds with one stone is a fruit and/or veggie bread. You can put in carrots, zucchini, corn, potatoes, apples, berries (any kind), oranges, pineapples–the list is endless. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

Muffins

Muffins, not cupcakes. Muffins are more similar to bread while cupcakes are basically mini-cakes that can be too sweet. And with muffins, you can add fruits or vegetables, too. See Bread above for a list of fruits and vegetables you can put in there.

Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls

All you need are the wrappers, an array of veggies and peanut sauce for dipping. You can use carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, bean sprouts, mushrooms, spinach, lettuce, kale and lots of other green, leafy vegetable.

Pasta

Cook some pasta, white sauce (or red, if you prefer) and add in different kinds of vegetables, like mushrooms, peas, broccoli and other veggies you’d like to cook in there.

Homemade Ketchup

Kids (and adults, too) like ketchup. But the amount of corn syrup and sugar in it makes it impossible to love. So why not make your own? This way, you get to add more tomatoes and lessen the sugar and corn syrup, making it healthier for you and everyone in your household.

What do you think?

*tips courtesy of Yahoo! Shine.