Posted on 07/05/2007 6:00:55 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
For students living on ramen noodles or people in low-wage, time-consuming jobs, folks who are down on their luck or living on fixed incomes, healthy eating may seem too expensive.
Nutritionists say, however, that's a false perception. Healthy eating, in fact, is cheaper. The cost of expensive eating often isn't the food, it's the bells and whistles of trendy packaging.
"You pay for convenience," says Amy Moore, a dietitian at St. Louis University. "What it takes is planning and sometimes a little investment."
That means eating more fresh food from low-cost stores and farmers markets, watching store sales and using store coupons. The nutrition gurus, from the United States Department of Agriculture to the American Dietetic Association, say healthy diets should be built around vegetables, grains and fruits, not meat and prepared foods — the biggest expense on grocery bills.
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, lived on $3 a day (to prove a point about food stamps) for a week and ended up eating mostly salads and lentil soup. She repeated that planning was the key.
"I learned how to shop. It gives you great insight on what it is to live on a fixed budget for your food," she said. "Most people who get food stamps are working poor."
She spent 2 1/2 hours planning and shopping at one store for the food for a week, which included reading grocery store ads for bargains.
"As one who doesn't eat a lot of carbs, I found it difficult to live on $3 a day," she said. "You can buy fresh fruits and vegetables, but you have to know how to cook."
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE
Dorian Jones, dietitian and counselor for People's Health Centers, says low-income families must learn to use money wisely.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Sounds like a wonderful soup! I am a big soup guy - love em! Well, I love ‘em in the winter & fall mostly - nothing hits the spot like soup on a cooler day.
Of course I am in Las Vegas so that means a blustery 55 degrees!
I love a breakfast that includes eggs, a veggie like a few stalks of asparagus and fried RED tomatoes. Fried red tomatoes are a regular breakfast food in Scotland.
I simply fry without any coating...not much longer than to heat and soften. The outer skin then comes off easily - one should never eat tomato skins...they will plaster themselves to the lining of your gut and stay there for eons, collecting toxic waste under them. Cooked or warmed, they are tougher than plastic.
For any other recipe, even for salads, I skin them first - by simply dipping them for about 30 seconds in boiling water and then plunging them into cold water. The skin all but falls off.
Fried while grain rice with scrambled egg, onion and mushrooms mixed in is delicious for breakfast to - with a side of fried red tomatoes, of course.
For meats, especially red meat, I get organic and it is NOT more expensive if you eat healthy. For example, I have red meat only 2-3 times a month and I eat it in the healthy portion size of ‘palm of hand’.
Also, by chewing slowly and thoroughly, something most of us have gotten out of the habit of due to our rush-a-day world, has enormous benefits. If you chew each bite of food until it’s the consistency, almost, of water, you digestive system has a much easier time of digesting. In addition, but eating slowly, your brain will get the message that you aren’t starving long before you have gulped down more food than you should = We are an overeating nation largely because we eat so fast that the brain still things we’re at risk of starving - long after we’ve actually eaten enough.
for lunch today, I had a good big bowl of beet greens, flavored with organic vinegar, a dab of my own ghee mix (clarified butter halved with olive oil) s & p. and that was it. Perked me right up and was ready to go for the afternoon. We do not have to have meat, potatoes and veggies to make a meal.
I learned to cook from my granny and my mama when I was a kid. I consider it the best skill I ever learned - once you get the basics down (not too hard), you’re all set.
Cooking is great - it’s seldom as difficult as some folks like to whine about, and you get the satisfaction of enjoying it when you are done. Women love it, of course - it’s macho!
Poor folks have poor ways...
I agree.
Probably so. This was a few years ago but don’t know if the methods have changed at all.
Almost makes me want to publish my (somewhat lengthy) recipe for "Lowfat Portuguese Kale Soup) -- but that's a winter dish.
BTW -- FReepMail for you...
Yep...as the old saying goes, "Hotter than a broccoli fart"
Keep him away from my In-N-Out!
Confine your shopping to the produce, meat and dairy sections. You’ll eat healthily and cheaply.
One of my 9 year old's seemingly constant lament is "Mom, we're out of Cheerios." There is also always some kind of sugary cereal in the house, but she loves Cheerios and also oatmeal, and not the instant package kind, the real stuff. Thankfully daddy has taught her how to make it because to me oatmeal belongs in cookies or bread, not in a bowl.
She was helping me put our grocery list together today, she likes being the one to write it, the first 2 itemson the list were carrots and celery -- I never mentioned either. So when she adds chocolate syrup to the list I'm not going to complain.
Mmmmm... I love bean soup, but that recipe really sounds extra good. Now where did I put that cornbread?
I love rice.
Well, there is a difference between carbs such as starches and fiber and pure sugar. Yes, they may have the same amount of total carbohydrates, but they’re not the same types of carbs. I was just citing an example off the top of my head (may not have been the best one), I could have easily listed much more sugary breakfast cereals straight down the list.
Like I said, I’m also an advocate of plenty of fruits and vegetables.
.
I’m told illegal aliens in this area get multiple IDs - sometimes 8-15 each
Go to different towns to use them and pass as American citizens with food stamps, WIC (esp. in NY state where they advertise on TV to non-citizens to come in for more food for women & childre - WIC!)
I love rice, too. I bought a small, $10 rice cooker a while back - makes an easy thing to prepare even easier.
Funny you should mention that. A few days ago I was working and there was a little girl in there with her mother and they were walking by the candy aisle, and we had some extra-ripe bananas by the counter.
The little girl asks her mother for the bananas. I was impressed.
Honest to God, I don’t see how anyone can go hungry in this country. The grocery stores are full of cheap, healthy food: canned and fresh vegetables are super cheap, beans of every kind are practically free, and eggs can be had for not much more. (I do insist on fresh-baked tortillas, but the mass-produced kind are just as nutritious and a little cheaper.) Hominy, tuna fish, noodles —all are inexpensive and good for you if you choose with care, and properly spiced are delicious as well. As long as you don’t buy luxury foods (lobster, caviar, etc.) or packaged junk food, it’s possible to eat well for very little in the good old USA.
My own diet is very simple. Since I work from home, I eat at home: locally-produced yogurt for breakfast (or instant grits, in wintertime); a plain cheese taco (cheese+tortilla) or leftovers for lunch; then a big salad or a bowl of homemade soup for supper. If I have to pull a late-nighter at the desk I sometimes have a light snack (cup noodles or something) at two a.m., but other than that I don’t eat after sundown. On Saturdays the Chan Clan gets up late and goes to our local mom-and-pop diner for brunch, then we plan our menu for the following week. On Sundays after mass, Mrs Chan, the baby and I go to another local mom-and-pop diner for a big, juicy burger (which mommy and I split) and some fries, then do the shopping for the week. (By planning your menus, you can shop for seasonal vegetables and other items that are cheaper, thus cutting food costs.) I drink two pints of beer on Sunday nights at our local bar along with my business partner. And that’s it.
(NB: My dad is an avid gardener, and we are blessed to be on the receiving end of his harvest bounty each season. He and my mom "put up" quart after quart of the most delicious fresh garden vegetables year-'round, and you better believe we eat 'em. His Noonday onions are particularly superb.)
Good food is good for you. Fast food is what will kill you. I try never to eat at any place that has a drive-thru (unless we’re traveling or otherwise have no real alternative). As a treat every now and then a fast-food burger is fine, but eating that rich, greasy schieße every day will ruin your health. We are not going to allow Baby Chan to ever get addicted to the stuff like his mother and I were. Fresh, locally-grown food in season — that’s for us.
I’ll give you rice. Rice is good. Oats are only slightly ok. Wheat is the devil’s weed. : )
A man after my heart!!!!
but I will leave you in peace because I'm lucky enough that my husband is a good cook and does enjoy it. Over the years some of our best moments have been while we were working together in the kitchen. Our daughter is now making the times even better because she is following in both our footsteps --she loves being in the kitchen and helping.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.