Helpful tips to eating healthy without spending a fortune
BY SANDY THORN CLARK September 13, 2011 8:18PM
Italian cooking greens can be used to jazz up a dish of sausage and beans. | File photo
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Updated: November 27, 2011 1:20PM
Just because you are on a limited food budget doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice nutrition and your health.
It’s a matter of changing your eating, preparation and spending habits.
“The key is shopping smart,” declares registered dietitian Kelly Kleckner who advises patients — many of whom are on food stamps and fighting obesity — at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Dawn Jackson Blatner, a Chicago dietitian who counsels consumers with limited food dollars — whether they be working class families struggling with a loss of income or a tightening economy, individuals on public assistance or senior citizens on fixed incomes — agrees that, contrary to recently published reports and a common perception, it is possible to eat healthfully while pinching pennies.
Blatner, who performs food budget makeovers for nationally-published magazines, initially encourages clients to face reality by taking a serious look at their spending habits. She asks them to save receipts for one month for all food and drinks purchased from vending machines, coffee shops, doughnut shops, gas stations, convenience stores, supermarkets, farmers markets, take-outs, restaurants, fast-food drive-thrus, and bars as a way of determining where they can cut spending while improving their eating habits.
“You’ll soon become aware of what you forgot about: the 75 cents you spent on your afternoon snack of cookies from the vending machine, the $5 you spent weekdays at the coffee shop. Suddenly, that apple you thought was so expensive at 75 cents — that apple that provides good nutrition — seems more affordable,” Blatner reasons.
Both dietitians agree that cooking from scratch and eating at home are preferable — both economically and nutritionally— to fast-food, take-outs, drive-thrus and restaurants. Both also favor concentrating on plant-based protein (beans, brown rice, oatmeal, whole grains, nuts) rather than more expensive animal-based protein (meat, chicken).
The experts nix sugary drinks (especially soda pop), snacks such as potato chips, and desserts such as pre-packaged cakes and cookies, noting they provide little fuel for the body while spiking a grocery bill. They recommend drinking tap water (not bottled water) instead of sugary drinks and pricey coffees and teas.
Both insist portion control is paramount to a slimmer waistline and trimmer budget. “It’s time to learn to read labels, especially the number of servings per package,” Kleckner reminds.
Kleckner teaches that wise shopping can be as simple as replacing name brands with store brands; taking advantage of sales; buying the largest quantity; comparing per-ounce costs; choosing canned or frozen fruits and vegetables to avoid waste; substituting canned salmon or tuna (packed in water) for pricier fresh fish, and avoiding more expensive convenience and pre-packaged foods often loaded with sugar, sodium, fat, and calories.
Blatner suggests focusing on food at the supermarket (“rather than toiletries and miscellaneous that drive up your bill”), shopping when you are relaxed and aren’t hungry (“to avoid throwing a bunch of unnecessary items in your cart”), buying seasonal produce when it’s least expensive and at the peak of freshness and flavor, and getting “the biggest nutritional bang for your buck” (for example, 8 ounces of 100 percent orange juice equals two fruit servings and ½ cup of garbanzo or black beans contains one-third the recommended daily fiber requirement).
Blatner’s cost-effective tips also include:
† Do the prep work yourself — clean and cut up vegetables and fruit.
† Portion your own mini-packs of fruits, vegetables and snacks from less expensive larger portions.
† Season and spice yourself. Rather than buying pre-seasoned chicken strips, add your own oregano or cumin while cooking the chicken; instead of buying pricier microwave-popcorn, air-pop corn and lightly mist it with canola oil before sprinkling on chili powder or cinnamon. Add spices and flavors to home-brewed coffee and tea.
† Batch cook to save time and money. Pre-cook whole wheat pasta, chicken, brown rice, boiled eggs, etc., and pre-package in grab-and-go bags for lunch as an option to fast-food.
† Cook once, eat twice. Create a bento-box type lunch of leftovers (for example, small leftover portions of chicken, rice, pasta, salad, fruit) or use leftovers in a salad “as a less expensive option to the $12 lunch salad.”
† Watch out for waste, especially rotted produce. Keep time-sensitive produce at eye level in your refrigerator “rather than having it rest in peace in your crisper drawer.” Include leftovers in your week’s meal planning.
† Be imaginative.“Rather than serving a banana plain, place it under a broiler until it caramelizes and top it with walnut pieces or grill a fresh peach and top it with a dollop of low-fat yogurt.”
“All of us can learn a new habit, especially when we’re saving real money, losing weight, and feeling better. It becomes a habit when it’s something we want to do — and not have to do,” Blatner convincingly adds.
Sandy Thorn Clark is a local free-lance writer.
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