As part of my job, I supervise a program called "Food $ense Nutrition Program." You can learn more about it here, if you are interested. I was recently asked to take part in a challenge to buy food/groceries within the food stamp limits--basically $4 a person per day for four days (a rough figure--not all food stamp recipients get that much). That would be $32 for four days for our household.I looked back at my meticulous tracking of our dollars spent at grocery stores since January of this year and figured out that we have spent $788 over the last 3 1/2 months. That comes out to be $3.28 per person per day--$.72 under the $4 per person per day for food stamps. We're already in the habit of the challenge. (NOTE: this does include non-food items, like toilet paper, lotion, toothpaste, etc. It also includes long-term food storage supplies. So, the amount we spend on food is actually less)
I decided to share with you some ways we eat healthy--following the My Pyramid Guidelines--and for relatively "cheap."
- We rarely eat out. Either we eat at home for all meals, including lunch, or we pack food to take with us. We save eating out for special occasions.
- A typical breakfast for us consists of minimal cold cereals. We more often eat oatmeal or other hot cereals (and NOT the pre-packaged, pre-flavored kind) with added spices, honey, nuts or dried fruit, waffles or pancakes made from scratch, or eggs and homemade bread toasted.
- We almost always have 1/2 a grapefruilt, a banana, and a cup of milk to go with breakfast. Snacks include items liks: non-fat, low-sugar yogurt, pretzels, chips & salsa, veggies and hummus, fruit, whole-grain granola bars, homemade granola, popcorn, and occasionally homemade treats like cookies and brownies.
- We most often drink water, then milk. Only occasionally juice and rarely, if ever, soda pop.
- We avoid convenience foods—including pre-made canned spaghetti sauce, and instead opt to make it ourselves using canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, onions, and seasonings. We also rarely, if ever, buy pre-packaged goods like chips (other than tortilla chips), cookies and candy; and avoid microwave-ready freezer meals from the freezer section.
- We grind our own wheat for flour.
- We buy little meat, and what we do buy we extend. If a recipe calls for 1 pound of ground meat, we usually use ¼ - ½ pound if we use it at all. Other times we substitute meat for a variety of beans and/or plumped whole wheat kernals.
- We buy many fruits and veggies, but generally only those on sale or in season. We almost always have on hand: bananas, apples, celery, carrots, potatoes, broccoli (all fresh). In season, we have oranges and grapefruit. Our freezer has a variety of frozen veggies, such as green beans, peas, spinach, broccoli, and corn, as well as frozen fruit, such as strawberries and blueberries. Our cupboards have cans of beans, corn, tomatoes, green beans, and applesauce and other fruits, as well as dried fruit such as apricots, raisins, and crasins.
- We purchase the cheapest item available, generally. This includes the generic brands, and items that are on sale. We watch prices regularly, because sometimes what is in the ad is not really the best deal.
We find it cheaper for us to eat healthy foods and meals, and if anything is considered an inconvenience (like grinding our own wheat flour), it is something we've just adopted and we do it--it's not an inconvenience for us.
- We rarely eat out. Either we eat at home for all meals, including lunch, or we pack food to take with us. We save eating out for special occasions.
- A typical breakfast for us consists of minimal cold cereals. We more often eat oatmeal or other hot cereals (and NOT the pre-packaged, pre-flavored kind) with added spices, honey, nuts or dried fruit, waffles or pancakes made from scratch, or eggs and homemade bread toasted.
- We almost always have 1/2 a grapefruilt, a banana, and a cup of milk to go with breakfast. Snacks include items liks: non-fat, low-sugar yogurt, pretzels, chips & salsa, veggies and hummus, fruit, whole-grain granola bars, homemade granola, popcorn, and occasionally homemade treats like cookies and brownies.
- We most often drink water, then milk. Only occasionally juice and rarely, if ever, soda pop.
- We avoid convenience foods—including pre-made canned spaghetti sauce, and instead opt to make it ourselves using canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, onions, and seasonings. We also rarely, if ever, buy pre-packaged goods like chips (other than tortilla chips), cookies and candy; and avoid microwave-ready freezer meals from the freezer section.
- We grind our own wheat for flour.
- We buy little meat, and what we do buy we extend. If a recipe calls for 1 pound of ground meat, we usually use ¼ - ½ pound if we use it at all. Other times we substitute meat for a variety of beans and/or plumped whole wheat kernals.
- We buy many fruits and veggies, but generally only those on sale or in season. We almost always have on hand: bananas, apples, celery, carrots, potatoes, broccoli (all fresh). In season, we have oranges and grapefruit. Our freezer has a variety of frozen veggies, such as green beans, peas, spinach, broccoli, and corn, as well as frozen fruit, such as strawberries and blueberries. Our cupboards have cans of beans, corn, tomatoes, green beans, and applesauce and other fruits, as well as dried fruit such as apricots, raisins, and crasins.
- We purchase the cheapest item available, generally. This includes the generic brands, and items that are on sale. We watch prices regularly, because sometimes what is in the ad is not really the best deal.
We find it cheaper for us to eat healthy foods and meals, and if anything is considered an inconvenience (like grinding our own wheat flour), it is something we've just adopted and we do it--it's not an inconvenience for us.
We feel like we have a balanced diet, and have great health as a result.
3 comments:
That sounds like my kind of diet. Love it! Way to be Mel. :)
This is great. Now how do we get the rest of the country to follow suit? If we could it would be goodbye obesity!
Melanie- you really are an inspiration to me!! Not just in the your groceries and eating but in so many ways. You are awesome!
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