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I'm on a limited budget at the moment and thought I'd see how well I could eat without embracing any extreme principles. I've always had a shopping list I called Bare Cupboard Basics, the items I thought I needed on hand to be able to cook basic meals. There are a couple different versions of that list, primarily "with refrigeration" and "without refrigeration". Now I'm engaged in refining that list to bring it down to the lowest cost items. I'm also trying to create nutritious and interesting menus full of my favorite comfort foods from these ingredients. Luckily, things like Hoppin' John are childhood memories, not deprivations. My nutrition goals are to have calories balanced equally across the macronutrients (carbs, protein, fats), since my body turns carbs into fat like crazy. I used the Harris-Benedict model to decide calorie levels, and have a minimum protein level each day based on lean body mass at my optimal weight with 20% body fat. I'll share what I learn as I go in this item, and start the next one for everyone to add commentary.
43 responses total.
I must confess that, because herbs and spices go a long way to making simple food versatile, my "bare" cupboard contains a lot more than the average over-the-stove shelf. I buy all of these at the 4th Ave Coop for the dried versions. Bulk spices at the Coop turn over quickly. I can buy small amounts, based on my use-rates, and always have fresh stock in my pantry. One of the worst things about cooking in not-Ann Arbor is being able to afford a good selection of herbs that you use infrequently. I end up paying too much, buying more than I can use, and throwing out the dusty remnants when I can't stand it any longer. In the spring, I spend about $25 on seedlings at the Farmers' Market, and plant them in window boxes. Here is my current window box inventory of living herbs: basil, chives, cilantro, dill, mint, parsley, rosemary, tarragon, thyme, nasturtium, marigold. Nasturtium and marigold petals add lively visual interest to salads, and the leaves of the nasturtium also have a peppery flavor. My kitchen is tiny, almost 9 by almost 6 ft, and has two counter top areas, one 18" x 20", and the other 24" x 27". In the first shelf above the smaller work area, I have my spices. There are about 45 Spice Island jars in use as herb/spice containers, but I've whittled it down to 26 essential ones for Cheap Eats. Allspice, basil, bay leaf, caraway seeds, celery seeds, chili powder, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, curry powder, dry mustard, dry ginger, marjoram, mint, mustard seeds, nutmeg, oregano, paprika, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, black peppercorns, rosemary, sage, sesame seeds, tarragon, thyme. Fresh ginger, fresh garlic, vanilla extract, and Worcestershire sauce round out the flavorings.
The next set is the beans/grains group gives me so much frustration. I'd love to rely on it for a vegetarian-leaning diet. But to get my daily protein needs, I'd have to eat so many calories that I'd be taking in nearly twice my caloric needs. This list has brown rice, cornmeal, lentils, navy beans, oatmeal, pinto beans, popcorn, and split peas.
Fresh vegetables are here. The list is limited to those I can usually buy for less than $1.00 a pound, plus the garlic and ginger for flavor. Cabbage, onion, potato, and tomatoes.
This list is the baking and cooking basics: Baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, whole wheat flour, unbleached white flour, salt, and sugar. I buy some brown sugar because it's ver difficult to add the proper amount of molasses to white sugar to recreate it.
I buy a fair amount of manufactured foods: Catsup, cider vinegar, lemon juice, evaporated milk, molasses, raisins, shoyu, walnuts, and Worchestershire sauce. I also buy some pantry items like canned green beans, green chili peppers, pineapple, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and whole tomatoes.
For my protein requirements, I use eggs, chicken, skim milk, and tuna. The tuna is on a "maybe" status, because I'm not sure the $/gm of protein calculation will put it very high on my list. Milk, too needs to be evaluated against dried and canned versions. Tuna is also high in mercury, so I want to stay below 4 cans a month.
I was surprised by the variety of fats I wanted handy. Again, much of the flavor of foods is carried by the fat content, so even though I don't use much each day, the differences are important to me. Bacon, butter, lard, mayonnaise, olive oil. The mayonnaise is one of those items that it is actually more cost effective to buy than to make. Hellman's is the only brand I'll purchase; if it's not available at a reasonable cost, I make my own. Several years ago, I adjusted my pie dough recipes to use lard instead of shortening. I'd rather do without butter and pie crusts than use margarine or shortening. The bacon is under scrutiny; I use it as a flavoring for many things, and often substitute it for smoked pork hocks and salt pork. It's difficult to recreate traditional bean recipes like Boston baked beans and red beans and rice without them.
Beverages are the final list. I buy Bustello coffee, and use it in a stove-top expresso maker for my morning cup of cafe con leche. I also use tea bags to make a gallon of weak tea that is my usualy thirst quencher. One bag steeped for 5 minutes in a gallon of boiling water, makes a day or two supply that can be iced and minted any time I'm thirsty. During the winter, I often warm it over the day for hot water (I can't in any good conscience call it tea). And that's it. Those 50 items are what I will be building menus and meals around.
You sound like you generally have a pretty well stocked kitchen.
Yeah, I cook with wild abandon, and once I start a dish, hate to have to go to the grocery store to buy something. The beans choices were made with prices from the past two weeks at the coop, Meijer, and Kroger. Here's the source, and the price per cooked 1/2 cup serving for all beans: Beans, split pea 0.038 Beans, lentils 0.040 Beans, navy 0.067 Beans, black-eyes 0.073 Beans, black 0.074 Rice, brown 0.079 Beans, pinto 0.081 Beans, garbanzo 0.085 Beans, kidney 0.093 Beans, lima 0.107 Best prices were Coop: split peas, lentils, black-eyes, black, pinto, garbanzo Meijer: navy, brown rice, kidney, lima
The vegetable selection is somewhat different on this list than on my usual list. Although organics are often out of my budget range, I usually have a set of "hot" veges that I buy organic, and settle for conventionally grown for everything else. Based on toxicity of residue, or sheer volume of toxic residue, my normal "only buy these if you can find organic" fruits and veges are: apples, apricots, bell pepper, cantaloupe, cherries, cucumbers, grapes (including raisins), green beans, peaches, potato, spinach, and strawberries. wheat and soybeans also have high levels of pesticide residue when grown conventionally, so they are on my Top 15 Organics list. However, for this exercise, I'm using the "under $1 per pound" rule for fruits and veges. I'll be able to buy seasonal vegetables and fruits to add some variety.
We buy bulk beans and grains through a local buying club, with prices about half those the coop charges, and thus organic is affordable. Flour is about 1/3 as much. 25-50 lb bags. There is protein in nearly everything you eat, not just the beans. Take a look at Diet for a Small Planet. Animal products contain B12 but you can take pills or eat nutritional yeast. If you have freezer space you can get real deals at the Farmer's Market at closing time and freeze for the winter. One farmer sells us crates of corn for $3, another lets us pick through the unsellable (slightly imperfect) tomatoes peppers eggplants for $2. We get boxes of slightly spotted squash for $2. I feed two of us for $100/month much of which is luxuries such as sunflower seeds, peanuts, and olive oil, and things from MiddleEastern or Asian stores. If you have garden space there is no need to buy vegetables from June through November. We collect apples free and even know of pear, apricot, cherry and sour cherry trees to pick from (with permission). Save your seeds. I saved seeds from bought squash and started them indoors and had plenty to share.
My protein needs are calculated based on my lean body mass, and my
activity level. I want enough to prevent muscle loss, but don't want to
overload my budget with expensive meats.
Activity Level Gms protein
Sedentary 0.5
Moderate 2-3x 20-30 mins 0.6
Active 3-5x 30 mins 0.7
Very Active 5x 1 hr 0.8
Athletic 0.9
The prices I used in the following calculations are sale prices over the
past few weeks at Meijer, Kroger, and Buschs. Each of these stores has
an online version of their print sales flyer, so I can quickly find the
best deals for the week while drinking my coffee on Monday morning.
I run the ad prices through a little spreadsheet program that converts
the price per pound of raw meat to the price for a day's supply of
protein from that source. This takes care of two comparisons: a)
different yields of various cuts, and the problem of comparing a dozen
eggs to a pound of meat and b) different amounts of protein in an ounce
of the cooked item.
Item Price Cost for
per pound 1 day protein
Tuna (6 oz can) 1.33 0.68
Chicken, thigh, raw, bone in 0.79 0.70
Egg 1.24 per dozen 0.94 0.85
Chicken, thigh, raw, boneless 1.49 0.94
Chicken, leg quarters 0.99 1.00
Pork, ham, without bone 1.59 1.02
Pork, shoulder, bone in 1.19 1.08
Chicken, whole, raw, bone in 1.00 1.17
Cheese, cheddar 2.67 1.23
Pork, loin roast, without bone, free of fat 1.99 1.25
Egg white 1.42 1.49
Chicken, breast, raw, boneless 2.99 1.52
Tuna (12 oz can) 3.03 1.55
Turkey, boneless, with skin, natural proportion 1.88 1.75
Salmon (14.7 oz can) 2.32 1.87
Pork, ribs, bone in 1.69 2.12
To my surprise, a large can of tuna was a more expensive source than a
small can. And the ham, which I never buy because I thought it was too
expensive, is actually reasonably priced.
With this little spreadsheet I was able to buy a month's supply of meat
for less than $20. I still check prices every week, because items move
around on this list dramatically, and my menu options expand with each
loss-leader the stores advertise.
Sindi, I live in an extremely small apartment. I have no room to store bulk purchases of anything. My protein intake is calculated every day based on the USDA Nutritive value of foods data base, so I include even the small amounts of protein that come in vegetables. I cannot reach my needed protein levels eating beans since the calories per gram of protein are way too high. Diet For A Small Planet has been a reference for me since the 60s. But I cannot meet my nutritional needs without eating proteins from sources that are more nutrient dense. My freezer space is a small top freezer in an apartment sized refrigerator. Again, I do not choose to pay more rent to store food in a larger apartment with large, family sized appliances. Garden space is the same issue. I do not choose to invest in a larger living space so that I can have land to grow food. Not cost effective. I have also noticed that you and Jim harvest many of your "free" items from plants along the margins of heavily traveled roads. The excess toxins in those plants is more than I'm willing to take in. Pills plus beans are more expensive than meat. Again, I am using a different set of decision rules than you do. I have different nutritional needs than you do. I am at least as well informed about how to meet my needs as you are. My daily menus are recorded and analyzed at a level that is tedious in its detail. Every item in my data base is taken from the USDA data base, and then included in my daily calculations. This item is meant to offer a glimpse into a different way of eating well without spending much cash. Your lifestyle is extremely well documented, but it is not a useful set of guidelines for most other people here. This is a different set of guidelines, and a different conversation.
Comparing apples and oranges is a difficult task. I could not come up with any nutritional measures that were universal enough to allow such a comparison. So my fallback position is the American Dietetic Association exchange lists. For fruits, the size of a portion varies from 2 tablespoons of raisins to 1 cup of strawberries. I start with the cost per pound at the grocery store, and end up with the cost per exchange serving on my plate. Peaches, size 64 60 3.04 Cantaloupe 15 (40 oz) 0.81 Kiwi fruit 0.26 I only did the fruits on sale this week. Next step is to gather prices for canned and frozen versions of the fruits as I did for vegetables.
Comparing raw and cooked vegetables was somewhat easier than fruits. For vegetables, 1 cup of raw or 1/2 cup of cooked is 1 exchange. Vegetables are therefor compared on the cost of 1/2 cup of the cooked vegetable or 1 cup of the vegetable prepared for a salad or raw. These prices include the sale prices over the past few weeks. It is a dynamic list, since, for example, it includes a 50 cents a can sale at Kroger for some of these items. I left green pepper and celery out for this first approximation, because I use them only as ingredients in other dishes, not as stand-alone vegetables. Cabbage, green, cooked 0.071 Cabbage, green, fresh 0.111 Tomato, canned, diced 0.147 Carrots, cooked 0.163 Green beans, frozen 0.172 Green beans, canned 0.200 Onions, fresh 0.202 Tomato, canned, whole 0.205 Broccoli, frozen 0.208 Green beans, canned, whole 0.218 Green beans, fresh, whole 0.225 Carrots, raw 0.250 Green beans, canned, French 0.278 Broccoli, fresh, cooked 0.292 Tomato, fresh, whole 0.521 Broccoli, fresh, raw 0.608 Peppers, green chiles, fresh 0.874 Peppers, green chiles, canned 0.992
My original Bare Cupboard Basics list always contained canned milk, under the assumption that it was less expensive than whole milk. I sometimes buy dry milk, especially to keep on hand for yogurt making, again, assuming it was less expensive than fresh milk. To make the comparison, I calculated the cost of 1 fluid ounce of milk, ready to drink or use in a recipe. Here's the numbers: Item Price per fluid ounce Milk, fresh 0.016 Milk, dried 0.016 Milk, dried 0.020 Milk, fresh 0.021 Milk, dried 0.021 Milk, canned 0.033 The various package sizes of dried milk are all less expensive than canned evaporated milk, but fresh milk is cheapest of all.
Evaporated milk was a pretty expensive milk substitute, but it turned out to be just the ticket as a cream substitute for things like quiche and puddings. It can even be whipped as a topping, so back it went on the list Item Cost per fluid ounce Milk, evaporated 0.066 Cream, half and half 0.074 Cream, light 0.181 Cream, heavy 0.199
Calculating Protein and Calorie needs Most people limit their caloric intake because they are overweight and want to lose some of the fat pounds that have accumulated. A budgetary reason is that I don't want to pay for calories I don't need to remain healthy. So I set out find out exactly what that number was. First stop was finding out my BMI, Body Mass Index, which is often used to assess levels of obesity, but can also help you if you are underweight. It calculates a lean-body-mass based on your height, and an estimation of how much of your body weight is muscle and bone, and how much is fat. Tape measures and calipers are the quick solution; some people go to the trouble of being immersed in water to find out their density. From the measurements, I found that I have a lean body mass of 106 pounds, and at my ideal % body fat (20% for me -- it varies mostly by sex), I should weigh 127 pounds. Since that was within 3 pounds of my weight the summer I was 18 and swimming a mile a day, it seemed like a reasonable estimate. Using my ideal weight, we calculated the BMR, basal metabolism rate, using the Harris-Benedict model, which is a well tested and well respected public health algorithm for estimating caloric needs. Here's the formula if you want to try it for yourself: Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years ) Men: Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year ) My BMR is 1239 calories, what it would take to keep me from losing weight lying in bed all day. Of course, I don't lie in bed, so we use the following formula to figure out my caloric needs based on my activity level: Activity Level Calories/lb (Harris Benedict model) Sedentary 1.2 Moderate 2-3x 20-30 mins 1.375 Active 3-5x 30+ mins 1.55 Very Active 5x 1 hr 1.725 Athletic 1.9 You multiply your ideal weight by the factor associated with your activity level to find your daily caloric needs. Mine is 1487. Since I am slightly above my ideal weight, we rounded it down, and came up with a daily caloric limit of 1200 to 1400 calories. Protein needs are calculated in a similar fashion, multiplying your ideal (or current) weight by a factor based on activity level, and your need to rebuild muscle. Activity Level Protein gms/lb Sedentary 0.5 Moderate 2-3x 20-30 mins 0.6 Active 3-5x 30+ mins 0.7 Very Active 5x 1 hr 0.8 Athletic 0.9 I need between 63 and 76 grams of protein a day to avoid losing muscle mass. So that was how I arrived at my food needs. As long as I'm getting 63+ grams of protein each day, and approximatly 1300 calories, I should regain my ideal weight by slowing working off the excess fat without losing muscle along with the fat. Anything above 1400 calories is simply excess, and it is food I don't need to buy or eat.
Spreading Those Calories Around What to do with 63 grams of protein and 1300 calories? For medical reasons, my doctor limits my carbohydrate intake to 100 grams a day, or approximately 33% of my calories. My daily plan has about 400 calories each from protein, carbohydrates, and fats. There are two main ways to track this. I use a fairly precise method I first ran across in a Euell Gibbons book which allows me to include foraged foods as well as supermarket foods. For every ingredient, I record the grams of protein, carbohydrates, and fat in a 100 gm portion. I subtract the fiber from the carbohydrate grams for a more accurate "available carbohydrate" estimate. The protein values are left as analyzed, without worrying about protein combining. My diet contains a sufficient variety of grains, seeds, beans, dairy, and meat products that I am almost certainly reaping full value from the protein from vegetable sources. The data come from the USDA data base, Nutritive Value Of Foods, which is awesome in its detail. Google it, and check out your favorite foods. For each recipe, or each food, I record the values, and then a multiplier based on how much I ate. A simple spreadsheet program does all the arithmetic, and lets me know total amounts of each nutrient, plus the % that nutrient has contributed to my current calories. The simple method is to use the ADA Food Exchange lists. It has the advantage of being much easier to calculate, and information for many recipes is readily available in places like Weight Watcher cookbooks, and even some computerized cookbooks like Betty Crocker. Under the Exchange system, I get 3 starch, 3 vegetable, 1 fruit, 8 meat, 2 milk and 8 fat choices. Because I use beans as a meat alternative, it really works out to 1 starch, 3 veges, 1 fruit, and 6 additional meat choices. Because I eat relatively low fat foods, I sometimes have to add in walnuts at the end of the day to bring the percentages into balance. Many people prepare menus that balance out the macro-nutrients at each meal, but personally, it's too much trouble. I just keep an eye on the running total, and snack as I feel the need between meals.
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Lets try this again. Activity Level Calories per lb Sedentary 1.2 Moderate (20-30 mins 2-3x 1.375 Active 30+ mins 2-5x 1.55 Very Active 1 hr 5 x 1.725 Athletic 1.9
Red Beans and Rice One of the menus this week was Creole Red Beans and Rice. The folklore around this dish is that the hambone left from Sunday's dinner was thrown in with red beans and seasonings to simmer all day Monday while the wash was being done. At the end of the day, dinner was ready without the housewife having to cook. This is a Creole recipe, not Cajun, so the spicing is not necessarily as hot, although it's almost always served with a handy bottle of Tabasco sauce. Simple Red Beans and Rice 4 servings Kidney Beans, dry 8 oz Onion 1/2 C Green Pepper 1/2 C Celery 1/2 C Garlic 4 cloves Ham 6 oz Thyme 1/2 tsp Bay Leaf 1 Worstershire sauce 1 tsp Cayenne pepper 1/2 tsp Black pepper 1/2 tsp Salt Soak the beans over night. Drain and add fresh water. Boil for 45-60 minutes, and drain. Chop the vegetables very fine, so that they can melt into the beans. Saute them until the onions are translucent. Add the finely chopped garlic, and saute for 2 more minutes. Put the drained beans and vegetables into a crock pot. Add ham, thyme, bay leaf, red pepper, black pepper and salt. Simmer for 4 hours on low. Near serving time, make rice. Serve in bowls by ladling creamy beans over the fluffy hot rice. Personally, I like the beans better the second day so I often make it one day, and serve it the next. The changes I made: kidney beans instead of Louisiana red beans. Cooked them for 20 minutes in a pressure cooker. Left out Tabasco, and beefed up the cayenne. I served these with Southern Green Beans Green Beans 4 C Bacon 4 slices Onions 1 C Chop bacon fine, and cook until crisp. Remove from fat and set aside. Saute finely chopped onions in remaining bacon fat. When translucent, turn up the heat and add the green beans. Stir fry quickly, and serve when beans are bright green and still slightly crunchy. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon. Actually, this is NOT Southern Green Beans. True southern green beans are boiled to death with a piece of salt pork, until they are limp and wrinkled, then drained and served with slices of the boiled salt pork.
Carolina BBQ Chicken One menu this week was Carolina BBQ chicken, served with cornbread, and summer squash. Since I know this point needs to be made: This is North Carolina BBQ, not South Carolina. North Carolina has a vinegar based sauce; the favorite along the coast, especially in South Carolina is mustard based. Carolina BBQ Chicken Chicken Thighs 3 lb Cider Vinegar 1 C Water 2 Tbsp Butter 1 Tbsp Red Pepper flakes 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp Garlic cloves 4 Simmer vinegar, water, butter, red pepper, salt, and garlic for 10 minutes. Let cool, and marinate chicken for 1 hour. Broil chicken for 20 minutes, basting every 7-8 minutes with the marinade. The summer squash was on special this week, and I had a recipe in mind where I saute them with tomatoes. But when I saw the pretty yellow and green slices on the cutting board, I decided to serve them raw with a dipping sauce. I arranged the slices, alternating colors, and starting from the center of a small plate in a circular pattern. The dipping sauce is a simple combination of mayonnaise and mustard. This works best with a good Dijon, but it's ok even with regular yellow mustard. Proprotions are approximately 1/2 mustard, 1/2 mayonnaise. Let this sit overnight or for several hours in the refrigerator. No fancy serving here, just pick up a slice, dip it in the sauce and eat it. For more refined dining you can drizzle the sauce over the plate of slices in an elegant pattern. Simple Cornbread Cornmeal 1 C WW Flour 1 C Sugar 2 Tbsp Baking powder 4 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Egg 1 Milk 1 C Lard 1/4 C Sift the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Cut in shortening until size of fine grain. Add egg and milk, and beat until smooth. Bake in greased 8 in square pan at 425F for 20-25 minutes. What I changed: Used whole wheat flour instead of white, made dry milk into liquid using leftover water from steaming vegetables the day before. The fat can be anything: lard, oil, drippings from roast chicken, bacon, etc. Use the same fat to grease the pan before baking. I use a toaster oven to bake this, or you can make corn muffins (makes 12) or corn sticks (pour into sizzling cast iron cornstick pan). During the winter, I use a cast iron frying pan, and preheat it in the oven, along with a tablespoon or two of bacon drippings. Swirl the hot fat around just before pouring in the batter, and you have the traditional brown crispy crust on the bottom of your cornbread.
Here's this week's really good meat deals, in cost/gm of protein order: Chicken leg quarters at $.59/lb Skinless, boneless chicken thighs $9.96/8 lb [Eggs, and 6 oz can tuna at regular price] Skinless, boneless chicken breasts $1.99 lb. Fruit, in cost/exchange order Peaches .88/lb Plums $5/3 lb Veges, in cost/serving order Nothing on sale beats the normal price for fresh carrots and cabbage, or canned tomatoes.
I've been trying to make more vegetables that don't require cooking, just assembly. The summer squash/zuchinni/mustard dip got me thinking about other easy to do combinations that get those vegetables into my eating patterns. Here's a couple using tomatoes and carrots. Salsa Fria Tomatoes 4 C Onions 3/4 C Green chiles 2 Tbsp Oil 1 1/2 Tbsp Salt 3/4 tsp Vinegar 1 1/2 Tbsp Cilantro 2 Tbsp Chop the tomatoes coarsely. Chop onion and chiles very fine, combine with tomatoes, oil, salt, pepper, cilantro, and vinegar in large bowl. Cover, chill for at least 2 hours. The next one is a favorite French recipe that I got from a hotsy-totsy restaurant in New York. Very simple, easy to create in bulk for parties and picnics, especially with a food processor to shred the carrots. Carrot Parsley Salad 1 C shredded carrots 1 clove garlic 1/2 C chopped parsley 1 tsp olive oil 1 Tbsp cider vinegar 1/4 tsp salt pinch freshly ground pepper Mash the garlic clove and stick a toothpick into it. Mix the carrots and parsley, pour olive oil and vinegar over them. Sprinkle salt and pepper, then stir to coat the carrots well. Taste for seasoning, adding more if desired. Bury the mashed garlic clove in the salad, and chill for at least 2 hours. Stir several times while chilling. Remove clove before serving. 1 cup shredded carrots is 1 serving. Measurements: a pinch is 1/16 teaspoon.
The mangos from a week ago ripened last week, so I turned them into salsa to serve with grilled chicken. Simple Mango Salsa 1 ripe mango 1/4 C bell peppers, chopped 1/2 C onions, chopped 2 Tbsp cilantro 1/4 C chives 1 Tbsp jalepeno, chopped 1/4 tsp coriander 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp dried red pepper 1 tsp cumin 1 Tbsp lime juice Peel and cube the mango. Coarsely chop onions, bell peppers, and cilantro. Finely mince jalepeno and chives. Grind coriander, cumin, salt and red pepper flakes in a mortar. Mix mango, onions, bell peppers, cilantro, jalepeno, and chives. Stir in ground coriander, cumin, salt and red pepper flakes. Add lime juice and stir gently. Refrigerate for an hour or so to mix the flavor. What I changed: substituted chives for green onion tops, and green bell peppers for red ones. Also substituted yellow onion for red onion. What I'd do differently: The reds from the peppers and/or the onions would have made this more visually appealing. Also, big chunks of green onion tops would have looked better than the skimpy little chives.
A conversation at the Grex Happy Hour last week led me to put together my Cheap Eats basic shopping sources. For each item on my list, I've compared the usual price at the Coop, Meijers, Kroger, and Buschs. Here's where I buy things if I can't wait for the sale price to replenish my pantry. Any place: Cabbage, ginger, garlic Busch: butter, dark brown sugar Coop: lentils, pinto beans, split peas, cornmeal, cornstarch, molasses, rolled oats, shoyu, walnuts, yeast. Kroger: baking powder, catsup, whole wheat flour, olive oil, pineapple (canned), salt, tomato paste. Either Kroger or Meijer: baking soda, green chilies (canned), unbleached flour, frozen green beans, lemon juice, milk. Meijer: navy beans, carrots, celery, coffee, eggs, green beans (canned), green pepper, lard, mayonnaise, dry milk, evaporated milk, onion, peanut butter, popcorn, raisins, brown rice, Italian sausage, sugar, black tea, tomato sauce, whole or diced tomato (canned), tuna, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce.
This week's best deals I've included some non-sale price comparisons so you can get the feel of the savings. The meat prices are for 1 oz of cooked meat. 3.5 oz is the usual meal amount (often visualized as 'the size of a deck of cards'). Meat, in order of $/oz of cooked meat/meat equivalent .040 Peanut butter (1 Tbsp) Busch 1.29/18 oz .103 Large eggs (1 egg) (regular price) .126 Split chicken breast Meijer 1.29/lb .137 Tuna (regular price) .143 Pork spare ribs, or shoulder roast Meijer 1.19/lb .149 Ground round Meijer 1.79/lb .161 Boneless skinless chicken breast Busch 1.87/lb .183 Split fryer Busch 1.29/lb .222 Ground sirloin Busch 2.69/lb .271 Cheese (cheddar, etc) Meijer 2.89/lb Fruit cost/serving this is for a 1/2 C serving. .164 plums Meijer .176 pineapple (canned) (regular price) .258 peaches Meijer .312 blueberries Kroger .338 raisins (regular price) .366 nectarines Kroger Vegetables cost/serving This is 1/2 cup serving .038 cabbage (regular price) .072 tomato paste (regular price) .086 carrots, shredded (regular price) .146 tomato sauce Busch $.99/29 oz can .146 tomatoes, dice (regular price) .164 onions (regular price) .170 green beans, frozen $.99/lb Busch .266 avocado 1/$1 Meijer .346 green pepper (regular price) Stock up the pantry time Walnuts $4.59/lb Meijer Sugar $1.99/5 lb Meijer Butter $1.99/lb Busch Peanut Butter $1.29/18 oz Busch Tomato sauce $ .99/29 oz Busch
Here's something interesting to do with the plums that are on sale this week. FRAU ROSSMANN'S KUCHEN Janet McGee Yeast 1 cake Milk, warm 1 C Sugar 2 tsp Flour 1/4 C Milk 1/2 C Salt 1/2 tsp Shortening 1/4 C Egg 1 Sugar 1/2 C Plums, halved 4 C Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix together yeast, milk, sugar and flour. Let rise about 1 hour, then stir down. Mix milk, salt, shortening well. Add egg and sugar, mix well. Stir in yeast mixture. Add enough flour to make a stiff dough. Grease two 9 x 11 baking pans. Pat dough into pans. Place fruit on top, cut side down. One layer only. Let rise. Bake 15 minutes, lower oven temperature to 350 and bake 10 minutes more.
Serving Sizes Part 1: The Federal Government The American obesity epidemic has raised concerns about "portion creep". The claim is that "serving sizes" are getting larger, especially at fast-food restaurants where "biggie" and "supersize" are standard. I first got interested in this phenomenon when we hosted a 7th grade exchange students from Japan. Each year's cultural briefing included a short section on portion sizes, and warned us that the Japanese students would eat much smaller amounts than we would think were "normal". So, what is this mythical "normal" portion size? I needed the information for my nutrition analysis, so that my spreadsheets could run the numbers for my own eating patterns. First, I found that the USDA means several different things when it talks about "a serving of vegetables" in its myriad information handouts. It may mean the familiar Food Pyramid (Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005). It may mean the day care (child and adult) guidelines (2001). It may mean school lunch guidelines, which I didn't find useful. In addition to the USDA, there are a number of public health organizations that promulgate eating patterns and suggested serving sizes. The USDA suggests the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension). The American Diabetic Association has its famous Exchange Lists. And if you want to do your own analysis, the USDA maintains a huge database of the nutritional analysis of thousands of foods (USDA Nutrative Value of Foods). I compared the three government lists with the ADA Exchange lists, looking for "normal".
Marvelous 4th of July meal! A friend brought over venison backstraps, which are the deer equivalent of sirloin. We marinated them in a red-wine, rosemary, garlic, and juniper berry mixture, then grilled the medallions. Served fried potatoes and Armenian green beens with them. Green beans, fresh 1 pound Onions 2 C Olive oil 1 tsp Allspice 1/4 tsp Parsley 1/4 C Green peppers 1/4 C Garlic clove 1 Mint. fresh 1 tsp Tomato sauce 1 C Finely chop the onion, saute in oil with the allspice. Finely chop the parsley, green peppers, and garlic. Add to onions and saute. Finely chop the mint. Add to the onions along with the tomato sauce. Bring to a simmer, add beans, and simmer until tender. What I did: Used canned beans instead of fresh. The *mint* makes all the difference. Use a pinch of dried mint if you don't have fresh.
Serving Sizes Part 2
The USDA Food Pyramid
In my quest for finding out what a "normal" portion is, I looked first
at the USDA/DHHS guidelines.
The best known is the famous "Food Pyramid", or the Dietary Guidelines
For Americans.
The USDA "Dietary Guidelines For Americans" has been published every 5
years since 1980. The latest, 2005 version holds "serving size" steady,
but then suggests different numbers of servings based on caloric needs.
Children are not differentiated, but are given 1000 (minimum for
sedentary 2 and 3 year olds), 1200, or 1400 calorie patterns.
Food is broken down into six subgroups, with serving sizes set once, for
everyone.
Fruits: 1/2 C (1/4 C dry, 1 medium fruit)
Vegetables: 1/2 C (1 C leafy)
Grains: 1 ounce (or equivalent)
Meat and Beans: 1 ounce (or equivalent)
Milk: 1 C
Oils: 1 tsp
For the Milk Group, a serving is 1 C milk or yogurt,or 1 1/2 oz cheese,
Vegetables include legumes and starchy vegetables like potatos, peas,
and corn. A serving is 1/2 cup.
Fruits: 1 serving = 1/2 C
Grains: 1 serving = 1/2 C cooked cereal, pasta or rice; 1 slice bread.
Meat and Beans: 1 serving = 1 oz meat, 1 egg, 1/4 C cooked beans, 1 Tbsp
peanut butter
Oils: The Food Pyramid explicitly includes oils in addition to the
amounts in milk, meat, and other foods. The suggestion is to include
non-transfat oils, not solid fats.
In this guideline, a Grain serving is 1 slice of bread and the Milk
Group explicitly includes yogurt and cheese.
Cheap Eats basic shopping sources: Revised I've added Save A Lot into the list of food sources if I can't wait for a sale. It changed things substantially. (Thanks, Debbie!) SaveALot: Baking soda, navy beans, pinto beans, butter, cabbage, catsup, frozen green beans, green pepper, lard, peanut butter, potato, raisins, salt, tea, tomato paste, tomato sauce, tuna, and cider vinegar Some interesting things that I couldn't buy there: cornmeal, molasses, unbleached or whole wheat flour, and popcorn. Popcorn is available in microwave bags only. Cornmeal is available in Jiffy Mix or self rising style. Flour is only available bleached. Molasses is not to be found. As I surmised, they are good for emergencies, but can routinely be bettered by shopping sales. For example peanut butter is 1.39 for 18 ounces (1.24/pound). This week Meijer has PB on sale for 1.33 for 18 ounces (1.18/lb) and Kroger has an even better deal, 1.66 for 28 ounces, or .95 a pound. Pasta is .59/pound, but both Kroger and Meijer frequently have .50/pound sales. And even Busch with its 1.99/lb butter can sometimes be a better deal. The new additon to the shopping list this week is tahini. Huh, isn't that an expensive, exotic luxury??? That's what I thought. But 2 tablespoons is equal to 1 oz of meat (nuts are much higher protein than beans, so you don't need much). And 2 tablespoons cost less per serving than several sale items this week: split chicken breasts at 1.29 lb, ground chuck at 1.59/lb, and whole chickens at .88/lb. Looking at cost per gram of protein, it's even better. The only things that beat it this week are Kroger's peanut butter, Save's chicken leg quarters, and Kroger's eggs. I buy mine for 2.99 a pound at the little halal market at Plymouth and Murfin/Upland Drive. You can get it for the same price at the Middle Eastern grocery on Packard near Two Wheel Tango (Packard/Platt area). There's a great recipe for Spicy Noodles, very similar to Glenda's recipe, but using tahini, that I'll post.
Serving Sizes Part 3
But There's More: USDA Adult Care Portion Sizes
In addition to the Food Pyramid, the USDA sets guidelines for school and
care-center meals.
If you run an adult- or child-care center, and want to be reimbursed for
part of your food costs, you must use the guidelines put out by the
USDA. But the Food Pyramid won't do. They have 4 different patterns,
all using different "serving sizes": "The Child and Adult Care Food
Program", a "Summer Food Service Program", the "National School Lunch
Program" and the "School Breakfast Program".
There are two ways of meeting their nutrition requirements under these
patterns, but the one of interest is an age-adjusted pattern that
**changes serving sizes** based on five age groups: below age 2, age 3
and 4, age 5 through 8, age 9 through 12, and over 12.
For example. lunch and supper must follow this pattern:
1 serving Milk, 2 servings Vegetable or Fruit, 1 serving Grains/Breads,
1 serving Meat/Meat Alternative.
There are no guidelines for oils or fats, and the serving *size* varies
instead of the number of servings. You use exactly the same number of
servings no matter what the age of the diners.
Adult Serving Sizes
Milk: 8 oz fluid milk.
Vegetable/Fruit: 1/2 C.
Grains/Breads: 2 slice bread, 1 C cooked rice, cereal, or pasta
Meat/Meat Alternative: 2 oz cooked meat, 2 oz cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 C
cooked beans, 4 Tbsp peanut butter, 1 C yogurt.
A 4 year old would get 6 ozs of Milk, 1/2 C Fruits and Vegetables, 1/2
slice of bread or 1/4 C rice, pasta, and 1 1/2 oz meat, or 3/8 C beans,
or 3 Tbsp peanut butter.
Notice that 1 Grain serving is 2 slices of bread for an adult, but 1/2
slice for a 4-year old. Also, cheese and yogurt are in the Meat group,
not the Milk group.
Serving Sizes Part 4 The DASH diet The USDA also suggests that people might follow the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating pattern: Fruit, Vegetable, Grain, Meat, Oil, Sweets. The pattern varies the number of servings in each group based on desired calorie level. In this instance, the Oil group is like the Food Pyramid in that it explicitly lists oils as a food group to be included in each day's eating patterns. The Sweets group includes about 2 teaspoons a day of sugar, or about 5 tablespoons a week. There is also a minor difference in how nuts are counted: the Food Pyramid counts 1 ounce of nuts as a meat alternative, the DASH diet limits that to 1/2 ounce per serving. For comparison, 1 Grain serving is 1 slice of bread for everyone, and cheese and yogurt are included in the Milk Group.
Serving Sizes Part 5 The ADA Exchange Lists In the 1950s the American Diabetes Association worked with the US Public Health service to create the exchange diet. They tried to put foods into groups in a way that allowed you to freely substitute within groups. An exchange group includes foods in amounts that provide approximately the same amount of carbohydrates, protein, fat, and calories for each serving. Today this way of thinking about food is standard for most therapeutic eating plans. The weight loss company Weight Watchers even adopted it as one way for its members to track food intake and used this metric in its cookbook. Now even general public cookbooks like Betty Crocker give you nutritional analysis of recipes based on the ADA exchange lists. In the past 5 years, some diabetics have been encouraged to switch to carbohydrate counting to better control their blood sugar swings. However, exchange lists remain a much simpler way to "count" without getting into too much detail. 1950s Versions of the Exchange Lists One early version had three vegetable groups: Veg A that included beets, brussels sprouts, collards, onions, parsnips, pumpkin, winter squash. Veg B: Peas, beans, lentils, limas, corn, potato, and yam. Within this group you might have a 1/4 cup serving (pease, beans, lentils, potato) a 1/3 cup serving (limas and yams) or a 1/2 cup serving (peas, corn). Veg C: All other vegetables. 1/2 cup cooked, 1 cup raw. They also began moving people toward a lower-fat diet, by allowing 1 milk exchange for 1 cup of skim milk or yogurt. If you had whole milk, you had to also use up one of your fat exchanges for the day. They similarly sorted meats into three groups. You could have two ounces of clams, cod, oysters, perch, shrimp, trout, or cottage cheese as one exchange. One ounce of chicken, herring, sardines, tuna, and turkey counted as one exchange. Beef, eggs, mackerel, pork, and salmon were limited to no more than 3 ounces a week. Fruits were also portioned in different ways: Often the serving size was in a fraction of a small, medium, or large fruit: 6-inch cantaloupe 1/2, small grapefruit 1/2, small apple 1, small nectarines 2. Other fruits were listed in cups: strawberries 1 cup, sliced bananas 1/3 cup, raisins 1/8 cup. Exchange Lists Today Today the Exchange Lists include starch exchanges, fruit, vegetable, very-lean meat (no additional fat exchanges required), lean meat (+1 fat exchange), medium, high, and very-high fat meat exchanges, fat, and milk (non-fat, very low fat, low fat, and whole) exchanges that carry additional fat exchanges like the meat does. Fat exchanges today are separated into mono- and poly-unsaturated, and saturated fats. Starches include exchange groups for bread, cereal and grain, starchy vegetables, crackers and snacks, dried beans and peas (requiring an additional meat exchange), high-fat starchy foods (requiring an additional fat exchange) and very high-fat starchy foods (like tortilla chips). 1 slice of bread is 1 Starch exchange, and cheese is in the High Fat Meat Group, while yogurt and milk are in the Milk Group.
Serving Sizes Part 6 Colleen's Analysis So What *Is* A "Normal" Serving of Baked Beans? Like so much in life, it depends. It might be a starch, and you could have 1/2 cup per serving, as long as you also deduct 1 very-lean meat exchange (ADA Exchanges, 2006). It might be a vegetable, and you could have 1/2 cup (USDA Dietary Guidelines For Americans, 2005) It might be a meat alternative, and you could have 1/4 cup (USDA Adult Care Guidelines, 2001). I did my initial cost comparisons using some of the above criteria, and some of my own: Meats and meat alternatives: cost per gram of protein. My own, based on USDA Nutritive Value Of Foods database. Fruits: cost per serving. ADA exchange portion sizes. Vegetables: cost per portion. USDA Food Pyramid 1 cup raw or 1/2 cup cooked. Fats: cost per 100 calories. My own, using USDA Nutritive Value of Foods Grains: cost for 1/2 cup cooked serving. USDA Adult Care Guidelines At the beginning I went back to menu spreadsheets I'd created a number of years ago that minutely tracked the carbohydrate, protein, and fat of each food. This is tedious, and as Lynne said, I was putting a lot of effort into my diet. I've gotten comfortable with my intuition being calibrated again, so I'm moving more toward the half-cup here, half-a-peach there eyeballing. I can now quickly plan a week's menus using a cute little color-coded array that shows me the number of exchanges in each group for each day. It's fast and simple to pencil in the week's specials, and then see what's missing that I need to fill in.
Here's a great soup that had been sitting in my gotta-try-it file for years. Should have tried it sooner. All ingredients on the Cheap Eats list. Broth Bones 1 qt Onion 1/4 C Carrot 1/4 C Celery 1/4 C (optional) Vinegar 1/2 tsp (or lemon juice) Bay leaf 1/2 Pepper 1/8 tsp Salt 1/4 tsp If you save the bones from cooked chicken, you will be able to make the broth and the soup in one pot. I stick the bones in a ziplock bag in the freezer, one by one, until I've got about a quart bag full. Fill a 1 or 1 1/2 qt crockpot with bones. Add onion, carrot, and optional celery. Add vinegar, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Fill pot with water, approximately 3 1/2 cups. Simmer for 3-4 hours or more on low. Drain liquid through a colander, and return to crockpot. Carrot Peanut Soup Chicken broth 3 C Carrots 8 oz Onions 1/2 C Garlic 1 clove Peanut butter 2 Tbsp Curry powder 1 Tbsp Slice carrots very thinly, mince onions, and crush garlic. Add to chicken broth. Stir in peanut butter and curry powder. Simmer 2-3 hours on low until carrots are soft. Strain broth, and puree the vegetables. Return vegetables to soup and simmer another hour or so. Makes 2-3 hearty servings of soup.
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- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss