Fruits and vegetables are vital to a healthful diet, and they can be affordable, too. Stock your pantry with canned foods as they go on sale at your local grocery store. Fresh fruits and vegetables also are available at reasonable prices, especially when they are in season.
Whip up a nutritious dinner the whole family can enjoy? No sweat, say most moms — when they have a pantry that isn't filled with odds and ends and the funds to prepare a good meal.
"The economy seems to be having a significant effect on what people look for when buying food," said Marianne Smith Edge, a registered dietitian and senior vice president of food safety and nutrition at the International Food Information Council Foundation. "While Americans will almost always choose foods that taste good first, they're certainly looking for affordable, healthful foods as well."
What people need is knowledge on how to incorporate ingredients into a meal that they wouldn't normally use together, according to a Rutgers University study conducted by its Nutritional Sciences department.
The study — funded by the Canned Food Alliance and published in the May 2009 issue of "Forum for Family and Consumer Issues" — found that one-third of Americans decide what to make for dinner at the last minute.
Selections come about because they require little or no planning, researchers found.
"Previous research showed that there is a disconnect between what families are keeping on hand and what they're actually turning into meals," said Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, Ph.D., registered dietitian and lead researcher. "This study reinforced the idea that moms need help putting nutritious meals on the table, and after evaluating the data, Rutgers researchers developed educational tools to help moms be the family nutrition hero that they desire to be."
Meatloaf is an economical family meal. It can be made with ground beef, bison, turkey or lamb.Those tools can be found at mealtime.org, which also offers an online tool that generates recipes when a consumer types in the ingredients he has handy.
Jessica Carter of Jackson has no trouble coming up with ways to feed her family using ingredients she finds in her kitchen.
"People really get caught up into reading different recipes and get hung up on recipes," Carter said, but that's not necessary if you save leftovers and think creatively. Most importantly, it saves money.
Carter adds a few ingredients and a half-cup of water to jarred spaghetti sauce to stretch it and makes her own Alfredo sauces for quick and easy pasta meals.
"I can (inexpensively) make any kind of pasta bake with a red sauce, because spaghetti is really cheap. I just add a can of tomato sauce, a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt," Carter said. She then adds the water and a half pound of ground beef.
"Use this red sauce base for any kind of soup base," Carter said. "And here's another way that someone can save if they are making something that calls for milk. I replace some of the milk with a half-cup of water. Milk can be expensive, with four kids especially."
Carter does this with her own skillet-style macaroni and cheese recipe.
"It makes the milk go further, and it doesn't really change the taste," she said.
She stressed that the tip on adding water to milk doesn't apply to baking.
Carter's method for making a roux: "Use an equal amount of butter and flour and cook together. Add a little bit of water and stir until it thickens. Salt and pepper that, and you have a base that can be used for Alfredo" if you add Parmesan cheese or Gruyere and pepper.
Just pour the mixture over cooked noodles, she said.
Roberta L. Duyff, a registered dietitian and consultant for the national Canned Food Alliance, calls these skills "kitchen essentials."
"Consumer skills have declined. Society has shifted. And the economic downturn has forced consumers to put unprecedented scrutiny on how they run their homes — particularly their kitchens," Duyff wrote in her presentation, "Home Economics to Family and Consumer Sciences: Reinvented for Today's Consumer."
Duyff's "Food, Nutrition & Wellness" published in 2010, and she wrote the "American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide."
Recession is "forcing Americans to be more value-conscious at the supermarket ... yet, today cooking skills are limited — and so are family food budgets. ... When people lack food-related skills, it's harder to use food dollars wisely, to eat for health, to prepare nourishing meals that families enjoy and even to know how to use foods they keep on hand in their pantries."
The study findings led researchers to provide tips on meal planning, shopping and food storage. When a sample group implemented those tips, parents reported cooking more nutritional meals while saving time and reorganizing their kitchens, freezers and pantries by type or category.
Cathy McCullough of Medina makes a lamb meatloaf recipe every week to two weeks that helps her family to eat better and saves on food costs.
"I had used every form of ground beef that I could find, and the leaner and more organic I go, the better it tastes," but eating organic beef that often can get expensive, she said.
McCullough saw lamb for sale at the West Tennessee Farmers Market from J&J Farms and decided to try it.
"The ground lamb was only $3.50 a pound, and organic ground beef (bison) is $5 to $6 a pound," she said. "I can make a pan like that for a family of four and get three meals out of it — and that's for healthy eaters — then why not?"
McCullough also has used ground bison and organic ground beef mixed with ground turkey for the meatloaf recipe, using half of each.
She then fills a sandwich bag about three-fourths full of Japanese rice crackers and pulverizes them into tiny crumbs using a glass jar.
McCullough uses the crumbs to stretch the recipe, adding seasonings, marinara sauce and other basics.
"It's wonderful; it just has a wonderful, juicy, flavorful taste. Half of it will be gone at one meal, and the other half will be gone by lunchtime the next day, she said, adding that her husband likes it so much that he takes it to work in a sandwich with whole-grain wheat bread.
"Man, does he live on that!" she laughed.
The recipe comes together as quickly as any other meatloaf, McCullough said.
"I'm not much of a cook, so when I find a simple, quick recipe, I'll do it every time," she said. "And you feed your family on next to nothing this way."
The altered meatloaf recipe matches the philosophy the U.S. Department of Agriculture hopes to see become a trend in America.
Its 2010 advisory committee on dietary guidelines has taken steps to help Americans make a significant shift in eating patterns, according to "Food Insight," an online nutrition newsletter created by the International Food Information Council Foundation.
That shift includes eating "a diet that emphasizes more vegetables, cooked dried beans, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds. In addition, increase seafood and fat-free and low-fat milk and milk products and consume only moderate amounts of lean meats, poultry and eggs."
"Moms are always looking for creative and affordable ways to get their kids to eat healthy meals and snacks, and they love to share their ideas with others online," said Erin Chase, author of "The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook: 200 Recipes for Quick, Delicious and Nourishing Meals."
Chase said she adds a can of peas or tomatoes to a soup or favorite weekly dish to get more nutrients into her children's food while saving money.
The "Just Add One" contest on Allrecipes.com, sponsored by the Canned Food Alliance and endorsed by Chase, garnered more than 100 different canned food ideas, the most popular including corn, cream of mushroom soup, canned tomatoes and black beans.
Chase shares advice on creating healthful and satisfying yet affordable meals on her 5dollardinners.com website.
The Rutgers study researchers developed these tips from their findings:
# Instead of making a stop at the grocery store to stock up on nutrition, use the foods that are already in the pantry. Canned fruits and vegetables retain nutrients for up to two years. Consider resources such as Mealtime.org for hundreds of recipes that use canned foods.
# Garnish a salad with canned beets, and partner fiber-rich, whole-grain foods with vegetables or beans (legumes) in salads, soups and stews. Switch to a sweet-potato salad instead of the traditional kind, and purée canned vegetables to make low-fat cream sauces.
# Make mealtime a family affair, starting with the way you stock up for good health. Get the entire family involved in planning nutritious meals and snacks, preparing the shopping list, helping in the kitchen and spending quality time together at the dinner table.
# Keep the following items in the pantry: White and brown rice, couscous, pasta, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, condensed milk, evaporated milk, all-purpose flour, white, sugar and healthy oils.
Recipe by Cathy McCullough, Medina
# 2 pounds ground lamb
# Japanese rice crackers
# 2 eggs
# 1 cup chopped green pepper
# 1 cup chopped onion
# Bertolli Basil, Olive Oil and Garlic spaghetti sauce
# Spike organic seasoning
# 1 T. Himalayan pink salt
# Cracked black peppercorn, to taste
Add the lamb to a large bowl. Fill a sandwich bag three-fourths full of rice crackers, and use a glass jar to crush the crackers to fine crumbs. Add the crumbs to the lamb. Beat two eggs in a separate bowl and add to the meat mixture. Add green pepper, onion, spaghetti sauce and Spike seasoning. Knead mixture and press into a 9-by-13 glass dish coated with olive oil cooking spray until it is evenly distributed and flattened. Cover the top with ketchup. Cook for 60 minutes at 325 degrees F. Sprinkle Parmesan or Romano shredded cheese over the top — 5 to 8 ounces depending on your preference.
Cook's note:Any white shredded cheese is good. Instead of ketchup, try using Flippen's apple barbecue sauce, which can sometimes be found at the farmers market. Himalayan pink salt can be purchased at Natural Effects health food store. Garlic or onion salt can be added, but the pink salt is preferred, and fresh onions take care of the onion flavor.
Recipe by the Canned Food Alliance
# 2 T. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
# 1 large onion, finely chopped
# 3 cloves garlic, minced
# 1 can (14.5 ounces) no-salt-added chopped, spinach, drained and squeezed dry
# 1/2 cup diced, canned red bell peppers (pimentos)
# 12 large black olives, chopped (optional)
# Pinch crushed red pepper
# 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
# Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
# 1 pound frozen pizza dough, thawed
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until tender, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and stir 30 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in spinach, peppers, olives, crushed pepper, 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
Roll out pizza dough into a 12-inch round, using just enough flour on the work surface and dough to keep it from sticking. Brush off excess flour and transfer the dough to a baking sheet. Sprinkle remaining Parmesan over the center and mound the spinach mixture on one side of the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border of exposed dough at the edge. Brush the exposed edge with water, and fold the other side of the dough over top, stretching it so that it completely encases the filling. Firmly pinch the edges together sealing the filling inside. Cut four slits in the top and brush with remaining olive oil. Bake until crisp and brown, about 20 minutes; cool 10 minutes before serving. Cut in six wedges.
Serves 6.
Nutritional information: 350 calories; 10 g total fat; 1.5 g saturated fat; 5 mg cholesterol; 780 mg sodium; 50 g total carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 12 g protein; 40 percent daily value vitamin A; 35 percent daily value vitamin C; 15 percent daily value calcium; 20 percent daily value iron
source: jacksonsun
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