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Stretching the Food Dollar
By Patrice Powers-Barker, OSU Extension, Lucas County
The Truth Contributors
Is healthy eating more expensive? It really depends on many
different factors. If you think about it, eating
unhealthy can also be expensive. What are some ways to
stretch the food dollar and keep New Year’s goal to eat
healthy?
The first step for eating healthy and keeping a budget is to
plan. Plan the meals you will eat this week or month. What
foods do you like for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks?
Where do you eat those meals? Do you pack some of your
food when you are at work or do you frequent restaurants?
Plan your meals and make your shopping list. Making a
shopping list can help keep down food costs.
Shop your kitchen when making the shopping list. What food
do you already have in the kitchen? Check the cupboards and
freezer to help with the meal plans and the grocery list.
Before you even go to the grocery store you can check online
or paper ads from the mail to see the prices of food for
this week. What is usually the most expensive item on your
grocery list? Look for sales on these items. For many
people, meat is often an expensive grocery item. Shop the
sales and consider other alternatives for protein like dried
beans, nuts, nut butters and eggs.
When I hear “buy in season” I often think of when fresh
produce is ripe from the farms. In Ohio, in January there
are not as many local fresh fruit and vegetable options
compared to the summertime. Although there are options of
fresh produce at the Toledo Farmers’ Winter Market on
Saturday mornings like root vegetables, apples and fresh
greens from indoors, fresh fruit and vegetables are not the
only options for healthy meals.
This is a good time of year to compare prices of canned
foods and frozen foods. February is National Canned Food
Month and January is a great time to enjoy selections from
the frozen food aisle. Canned and frozen food stores well,
can be delicious and nutritious! For canned food and frozen
foods with sauces, check the sodium content and look for
low-sodium options. For canned vegetables, rinse with water
before preparing if they are not a low-sodium variety.
Planning and preparing your own meals is usually less costly
than eating all your meals out at restaurants. When you do
eat out, plan to save money and make healthy choices at
restaurants too. Go out for lunch instead of dinner or
share an entrée, appetizer or dessert instead of eating it
all yourself. Many restaurant portions are more than one
serving. Order water to drink as a way to save money as
well as refresh your healthy body.
I read a great flyer by Lucas County public health students
called “staying healthy on a budget.” They gave an example
of looking at the weekly grocery advertisements to compare
and contrast some standard grocery items with healthier
options. Of course, this depends on what is on sale each
week at the grocery stores but here is one example from last
month. For about $15.00 you could buy a box of shells and
cheese, Italian sausage, a gallon of ice cream and a 12 pack
of cola. For the same amount of $15.00, other options would
be center cut pork loin chops, a bagged salad blend,
avocados, fresh raspberries and Greek yogurt. The second
healthier option had fruits and vegetables unlike the first
choice and the first choice was heavy with high fat and high
sugar options. In that example, healthy eating was the same
cost!
In 2015 Ohio State University Extension will offer a new
online email challenge that will help participants focus on
financial wellbeing. When you start thinking about a New
Year Resolution, consider this offer. OSU Extension Family
and Consumer Sciences is offering an online email challenge
that will help you focus on your financial wellbeing.
The Manage Your Money Email Challenge will run from
January12-February 28, 2015. Similar to Live Healthy Live
Well online challenge, participants receive two weekly
e-mails for six weeks. Learn more about saving, credit,
debt, budgeting, organizing financial records and
calculating net worth. Sign-up online at
http://go.osu.edu/mymluc or email questions to
powers-barker.1@osu.edu.
This online challenge is about a general budget and
not specific to stretching the food dollars but healthy
eating is an important topic to consider as part of the
entire household budget.
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