Can You Eat Healthy for $1 a Meal?
I am a big advocate of eating organic fruits and vegetables
as well as animal products like meat, eggs and cheese that are organic and
pasture raised all while doing your best to source these foods as close to home
from small farmers when possible. I realize this is a lot to ask largely because this type of
food is more expensive than the mass-produced and conventionally grown/raised
foods.
While I will argue we pay less in the long-term because when
you eat locally/organically you are likely healthier thus greatly minimizing
health care costs, boosting the local economy and reducing your carbon
footprint (lower shipping costs and small farming practices are more efficient
and environmentally friendly) but I will stick with the immediate impact on your
pocketbook.
Is it possible to eat nutritious food and do it on a tight
budget?
The real inspiration behind this article is a documentary
film called Food Stamped.
In the documentary filmmakers attempt to eat a healthy diet
on a food-stamp budget, which amounts to $1 per person, per meal. With a great
deal of planning and preparation, the filmmakers were able to succeed on the
food stamp budget for one week, but in the end they were incapable of getting
enough calories and would have likely lost weight and become malnourished had
the diet continued (which neither of them needed to do).
The film makes it easy to see why many Americans with tight
budgets and limited access to fresh produce opt for the cheapest, most filling
options for food, like white bread, fast-food hamburgers and noodles, but also
makes it clear the devastating toll this type of diet takes on your
health. Many of you may remember
the documentary Super-Size Me in
which the filmmaker undertook a similar challenge by choosing to eat
exclusively fast food and the implications this had on his health (not good!).
While some Americans may opt for fast-food or junk food
because it’s actually the only way they can afford a meal, many others – the
majority – purchase it by choice, as junk food is convenient, for the most part
affordable and also created to appeal to your taste buds. I think we all know that quick service
food is not the best option regardless of the cost. But less well known is if people are willing to spend 7
dollars a pound for pasture raised chicken versus 3-4 dollars a pound for the
conventional alternative?
At one time I was young struggling reporter but I understood
the importance of eating nutritious food so I made it a priority. I didn’t go to movies, eat out or stop
at Starbucks; most of my discretionary income was devoted to purchasing
nutritious food. I skimped in
other areas but not on the quality of my food. This is probably the most important advice I can give you if
money is tight but you still want to eat healthy. If your prioritize it you can make it happen.
That said I am going to dig a little deeper and provide a
few practical tips that will allow you to stretch your food dollars a little
father.
1.
Identify a Person to Prepare Meals. Someone has
to invest some time in the kitchen. It will be necessary for you, your spouse,
or perhaps someone in your family (kids?) to prepare the meals.
2.
Become resourceful: This is an area where your
parents or grandparents can be a wealth of information, as how to use up every
morsel of food and stretch out a good meal was common knowledge to generations
past. Seek to get back to the basics of cooking – using the bones from a roast
chicken to make stock for a pot of soup, extending a Sunday roast to use for
weekday dinners, learning how to make hearty stews from inexpensive cuts of
meat, using up leftovers and so on.
3.
Plan your meals: If you fail to plan you are
planning to fail. This is essential, as you will need to be prepared for
mealtimes in advance to be successful. Ideally this will involve scouting out
your local farmer's markets for in-season produce that is priced to sell, and
planning your meals accordingly, but you can also use this same premise with
supermarket sales. You can
generally plan a week of meals at a time, make sure you have all ingredients
necessary on hand, and then do any prep work you can ahead of time so that
dinner is easy to prepare if you're short on time in the evenings. It is no
mystery that you will be eating lunch around noon every day so rather than rely
on fast food at work, before you go to bed make a plan as to what you are going
to take to work the next day. This is simple strategy that will let you eat
healthier, especially if you take healthy food from home in to work.
4.
Avoid food waste: According to a study published
in the journal PloS One, [1] Americans waste an estimated 1,400 calories of
food per person, each and every day. The two steps above will help you to
mitigate food waste in your home.
5.
Buy organic animal foods. The most important
foods to buy organic are animal, not vegetable, products (meat, eggs, butter,
etc.), because animal foods tend to concentrate pesticides in higher amounts.
If you cannot afford to buy all of your food organic, opt for organic animal
foods first.
6.
Keep costs down on grass-fed beef.
Pasture-finished beef is far healthier than grain-fed beef. To keep costs down,
look for inexpensive roasts or ground meat. You may also save money by buying
an entire side of beef (or splitting one with two or three other families), if
you have enough freezer space to store it.
7.
Buy in bulk when non-perishable items go on
sale. If you are fortunate to live near a buyer's club or a co-op, you may also
be able to take advantage of buying by the pound from bins, saving both you and
the supplier the cost of expensive packaging.
8.
Make going to the farmer's market a priority.
You may be surprised to find out that by going directly to the source you can
get amazingly healthy, locally grown, organic food for less than you can find
at your supermarket. This gives you the best of both worlds: food that is grown
near to you, cutting down on its carbon footprint and giving you optimal
freshness, as well as grown without chemicals, genetically modified seeds, and
other potential toxins.
Above I noted that buying organic is more important for
animal products than produce. But
there are certain fruits and vegetables that I highly recommend you buy
organically. On the flip side
there are certain conventionally grown fruits and vegetables that are
considered clean to eat. You can
access these lists at the below link:
http://nowforeverfit.blogspot.com/2012/10/watch-out-for-dirty-dozenfood.html
Another factor in stretching your food dollars is learning
the fine art of extending the life of your fresh produce. Many fruits and
vegetables produce ethylene gas, a colorless, odorless gas, as they begin to
ripen. Some foods aren't affected much by ethylene gas, while others are
extremely sensitive to it.
When these sensitive fruits and vegetables come in contact
with ethylene gas, they began to ripen at a much faster rate than normal. This
leads to premature rotting and a shorter shelf life. This is why you should
never store salad staples like mushrooms and peppers with lettuce. The ethylene
from the mushrooms and peppers will rot the lettuce faster.
But with some strategic storage, you can extend the shelf
life of your fresh fruits and vegetables. The ethylene-producing foods below
should never be stored in the same basket, drawer, or shelf as the
ethylene-sensitive foods listed. Store foods on the top list separate from
foods on the bottom list to help your fresh food last longer.
Ethylene-Producing
Produce
|
apples
apricots
avocados
bananas
blueberries
cantaloupes
citrus fruit
cranberries
figs
guavas
|
grapes
green onions
honeydew
kiwi
mangoes
melons
mushrooms
nectarines
okra
papayas
|
passion fruit
peaches
pears
peppers
persimmons
pineapple
plantains
plums/prunes
tomatoes
watermelons
|
Ethylene-Sensitive
Produce
|
asparagus
broccoli
brussel sprouts
cabbage
carrots
cauliflower
chard
cucumbers
|
eggplant
endives
escarole
green beans
kale
lettuce
parsley
peas
|
potatoes
romaine
spinach
squash
sweet potatoes
watercress
yams
|
Food for Thought
While doing research for this article I ran across a program
that Wal-Mart is featuring in the state of Maryland. Wal-Mart associates, will help shoppers learn to compare
unit prices, purchase fruits and vegetables on a budget, read food labels, and
pick out whole grains. After the tour, participants will apply the skills
they’ve learned to buy ingredients to make a healthy meal for a family of four,
for under $10. I thought this was
a pretty interesting idea and could serve as a fun challenge to try in your
home. Who can make the best
tasting and most nutritious meal for under $10?
Scary Thought
A recent report from
financial services firm Rabobank estimated that consumer spending on food away
from home will overtake spending on food at home by 2018, with quick serves
being one of the primary beneficiaries. [2]
Extra Credit
14 ways to save money on groceries:
Reference:
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