TRIPLE (yes, triple!) Green Tip ;-)

I'm really excited about this month's Double Green Tip!! This one is not only good for your earth and your wallet, but your health. :) (thus, the "triple" green part- it's good for life!)  Today I wanna talk about lunchmeat.  First off, "brownbagging" your lunches for school or work are such a no-brainer money+earth saver that it's hardly worth mentioning.  We've all heard it a thousand times.  But, as I look through the lunchmeat options at the store, I find myself disappointed.  They're all more or less high-sodium (except the rare low-salt honey-ham, which the hubby hates... figures.).  The pre-packaged kind wastes $$ and kills freshness with the plastic packaging, and the fresh sliced deli kind is more expensive and still highly processed.  And the price, regardless of sales, really isn't that great.  Unless you like bologna. (ugh!- I ate WAY too many fried bologna sandwiches as a kid!)
So, I decided to do something different.I bought a whole turkey- a 6 lb Butterball.  The average sodium content for an uncooked whole turkey is usually around 250 mg a serving (source: Butterball.com).  Compared to the average packaged turkey that has about 775, that's fantastic (source: Livestrong.com)! WAY better for your heart and arteries!  And here's my personal favorite part- a small frozen turkey averages about $1-$1.50 a lb, while lunch meat averages $3 a lb!! and if you cook it at home and store it in re-usable containers, you are cutting down on packaging that hurts Mother Earth.
I'll admit, it seems a bit overwhelming to cook a whole turkey (especially when you're a new housewife like me!).  However, by simply following the thawing and cooking times on the package, seasoning it (inside and out) with "No-Salt" and sodium-free cajun seasoning, and "tenting" it with foil once it was out of the oven (to increase moisture), it turned out perfect! After it was cooked, I let it cool down for a good bit (30-45 minutes), then peeled the skin off and carved it.  Freeze portions of the meat in containers, and you've got delicious, healthy, cheap lunchmeat for a month!  And heck, if you want to save even more money, you could do this with a whole frozen chicken, which averages at or below $1 a pound!
How do you save money on your lunches? Let me know!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Jess