This is a question I often get when teaching healthy eating to budget-minded individuals.\u00a0 It\u2019s true that some healthy foods will cost more than some less healthy foods.\u00a0 But, there\u2019s a wealth of low cost recipes that are easy to prepare and packed with nutrients.\u00a0 Most importantly, they taste great!<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at a convenience meal versus an easy home-cooked meal in terms of cost and nutrition.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at a typical meal from McDonalds \u2013 specifically a Big Mac, a medium Coke, medium French Fries, and a few packets of ketchup.<\/p>\n
This will run you $4.23 and provides a whopping 51 grams of fat \u2013 14 grams of which are saturated.\u00a0 The meal also provides 1190 calories.\u00a0 The average adult needs approximately 2000 calories for the entire day.<\/p>\n
Now, look at an easy recipe you can make at home \u2013 specifically Vegetable Rice Skillet served with a glass of skim milk and an apple for dessert.<\/p>\n
This home-cooked meal will run you just $1.75!\u00a0 This saves you $2.48 compared to going to McDonald\u2019s.\u00a0 If you have a family of four, the savings is $9.92.\u00a0 More importantly, the home-cooked meal is low fat \u2013 providing just 5 grams of fat with only 1 gram of saturated fat.\u00a0 It provides 570 calories which is a healthy amount when balancing the calories from breakfast, lunch and snacks to equal approximately 2000 calories.<\/p>\n
Now the best part \u2013 besides the major cost savings – is the nutrients the meal provides.\u00a0 The home-cooked meal provides you more than 100% of the vitamin A and vitamin C you need in a day.\u00a0 The McDonald\u2019s meal provides you with only 10% of vitamin A and 15% of vitamin C.\u00a0 The home-cooked meal also provides 40% of the calcium you need and more than 2 \u00bd cups of fruits and vegetables.\u00a0 The McDonald\u2019s meal provides very little calcium and a measly lettuce leaf and tomato slice.<\/p>\n
To summarize, healthy eating can actually save you money.\u00a0 Give this recipe a try and let us know what you think.<\/p>\n
Vegetable Rice Skillet
\n4 servings<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0In a large pot, stir together beans, canned tomatoes, vegetables, water, rice, thyme or dill weed.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0Bring to a boil.\u00a0 Reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until the rice is tender.\u00a0 Stir a few times while cooking.\u00a0 Add more water if mixture becomes too dry.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0Stir in tomato soup.\u00a0 Bring to a boil.\u00a0 Let simmer for 2 to 3 minutes more.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0Serve with hot sauce and shredded cheese, if desired.<\/p>\n
Nutrition Information per Serving: Calories 400, Total Fat 4.5 g (7% DV), Saturated Fat 1 g (4% DV), Cholesterol 0 mg (0% DV), Sodium 1290 mg (54% DV), Total Carbohydrate 79 g (26% DV), Dietary Fiber 10 g (41% DV), Sugars 6 g, Protein 14 g, Vitamin A 100%, Vitamin C 110%, Calcium 10%, Iron 30%.<\/p>\n
Total Cost:\u00a0 ~ $3.60\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cost per Serving:\u00a0 ~ $0.90\u00a0\u00a0 (Prices calculated November 6, 2006.)<\/p>\n
Source of Recipe: The Cook\u2019s Helper, 2nd Edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a question I often get when teaching healthy eating to budget-minded individuals.\u00a0 It\u2019s true that some healthy foods will cost more than some less healthy foods.\u00a0 But, there\u2019s a wealth of low cost recipes that are easy to prepare and packed with nutrients.\u00a0 Most importantly, they taste great! Let\u2019s take a look at a convenience meal versus an Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[780],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nutrition-2","cat-780-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/familymeal-300x193.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8941,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519\/revisions\/8941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}