One of the first things you want to do when you are trying to lose weight is to start eating low-fat meals. The problem is that, after a lifetime of cooking foods without giving a thought about the fat content, we aren’t sure how to cook, so we go to the grocery store and purchase pre-made low-fat frozen meal.

The problem with purchasing your low-fat meals is that it gets quite expensive. The most affordable way to stay on a low-fat diet is to learn how to cook your own low-fat meals. It really isn’t hard; it just requires that you change a few of your habits.

Preparing Meat

Just because you’re trying to eliminate the fat from your diet doesn’t mean that you have to give up eating homemade soup. All you have to do is plan ahead. Two days before you actually make the soup, you should boil your meat.

After the meat has been in your refrigerator for two days, you will be able to use a rubber spatula to scrape the gelatinous fat that has risen to the top of the meat. Pre-boiling your meat is a good idea whenever you are about to make a dish that uses beef, lamb, pork, or chicken.

When you are at the butcher’s counter, you want to buy cuts of meat that are lean. If you don’t know what the leanest cuts of a particular type of meat are, you can ask your butcher. In addition to selecting cuts that are typically lean, you should ask the butcher to trim any excess bits of fat from the meat. Whenever possible, you should avoid buying ground meats like hamburger or sausage. You should read the label and select the package that has the lowest fat content.

Remove the skin from your poultry and trim the visible fat from your meat before you start to cook it. When you have finished cooking your meat, drain all of the drippings.

Condiments

One of the best ways to eliminate the fat from your diet is to watch your use of condiments. Only use a low-fat cooking spray. Instead of using fatty salad dressings, you should use olive oil to flavor your salads. Make sure you are using low-fat sour cream, butter, and cheeses.