Be Nourished

Oatmeal with fruit, granola and nuts
Make Every Bite Count

Fruits, vegetables, grains, protein and dairy make up the five food groups that provide essential nutrients to support growth, give us energy and good health. It is important to our health to eat a variety of foods from all five food groups every day. Learn more.

Budget & Save Money

The first step to saving money when buying food is to set a budget. Why? Setting a budget helps you make more mindful purchasing decisions. Once you have your budget in place, plan your meals, then buy only what you need to save money and cut down on food waste. If you like to use apps to plan, check out your local grocery store app or some of our favorites:

  • AnyList AnyList helps you organize your personal recipes and allows you to easily add recipes from other sources, like email messages and popular websites and blogs. We like that it syncs with Google Calendar so we can see all of our activities, appointments, and meals in one place.
  • Listonic Listonic is a smart grocery shopping list app designed to make shopping faster, easier, and more efficient. Its mission is to help you plan shopping, reduce food waste, and stay organized—whether you’re at home or in the store. We like to use the total cost calculator while shopping.
Family at Magicland Farmers Market
Eat Seasonally

Eating seasonally means our food tastes better and helps save money. The benefits of eating locally grown fruits and vegetables are many. They are bursting with flavor and have more nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Locally grown fruits and vegetables are picked at peak ripeness, and studies have shown that fruits and vegetables contain more nutrients when allowed to ripen fully.

For example, when we buy foods that are out of season, they are harvested early so they can be shipped to our stores, which means they are less flavorful, less nutritious, and the shipping costs get passed on to us. While buying foods out of season is handy when we crave a tomato in February, most of us know how much better they taste when they are pulled ripe off the vine. Buying locally grown food also means we are supporting our local farmers and the local economy where we live.

Check out our favorite seasonal recipes and recipe websites. Learn more.

family cooking together

In the Kitchen

Cooking at home is a great way to make sure we are eating healthy and saving money. Making meals with our family members or housemates is a fun way to engage with one another, create traditions, memories, and promote healthy eating. We can also prepare meals according to our own tastes, dietary needs, and preferences, and experiment with different recipes, ingredients, and flavors. And, we also control the ingredients in our meals, especially the amount of salt, sugar, and fats. Simply put, home cooking is good for our health. Learn more.

Double Up Food Bucks

When you use your SNAP/EBT/Bridge Card, Double Up matches your fruit and vegetable purchases dollar for dollar, up to $20 a day. That means you and your family get twice the fresh fruits and veggies.. Learn more.

Weekly Farm Box

Michigan Farm to Family: CSA is for SNAP/EBT/Bridge Card users to purchase a weekly farm box filled with healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers at a great price. Learn more.

Farmers Markets

Michigan is home to farms and orchards filled with good food that can help you bring the seasonal bounty to your table. Use this Find a Farmers Market tool to find a market near you. Learn more.

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