Good Cheap Food Formula
Good cheap food is not hard to
find in America. The trick is knowing which are healthiest and how to
combine them. Potatoes, beans, rice, pasta, tomatoes, eggs, non fat dry
milk and fruits are all low cost nutritious foods that can be bought to
make many, many delicious meals. Thousands and thousands of recipes
readily available for free on the Internet, have been devised by clever
chefs and nutrition experts to make brilliant use of items from the
famous five food groups in a vast variety of tasty combinations. With a
click of the mouse one can access tons of them.
In the famous Food Pyramid chart
published by the United States Government we are taught that good
nutrition requires the use of foods from all of the five food groups.
The five food groups are Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Meats & Beans ,
Oils, and Milk. To get good nutrition eat at least one item from each
group each day. And you don't have to spend tons of money to do so.
So what does the five food groups
have to do with cheap? Well, food prices are based largely on
popularity. There are other factors that affect price, like
transportation costs and seasonal availability, and size of supply,
which is often artificially controlled, but basically, the food that
gets bought the most cost the most. The less popular foods cost less.
Since all foods from the same food groups have pretty much the same
levels of nutrition, it is safe, and smart, to buy the ones that cost
less. Why not?
Grains:
Items
such as wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, and barley are low cost grains.
Any of them can be used in a wide variety of recipes for a wide variety
of tasty nutritious foods. Brown rice, for example, can be combined with
any kind of beans and many kinds of sauces, such as tomato sauce with
herbs, to make many different low cost dishes. Plain, low fat all
natural yogurt can also be transformed into many different kinds of
sauces for rice or gravy for potatoes, with many different kinds of
beans or vegetables. Thick cream soups can also be combined with brown
rice. Rice can be combined with cream of mushroom soup and frozen peas
and Parmesan cheese for a tasty side dish. And little bits of chicken
can be added as well, stretching the meat budget. Some people like to
add ground beef and its gravy to rice, thus stretching the meat into a
healthier meal. Beans and bean sauces also work very well and beans are
one of the cheapest items in the grocery store, and one of the most
nutritious. It is important to note that any grain is much better for
you in its whole grain state. Bleached down processed white versions of
rice and flour offer much less in terms of nutrition. Foods low in
nutrition are far less filling so we eat more serving of them and spend
much more money in the long run than when we eat the more nutritious
whole versions of any food.
Vegetables:
Vegetables
come in several colors, red, green, orange, and yellow. Red and orange
vegetables are keep your eyes strong with beta carotene and help your
body fight off disease and dark green vegetables strengthen bones and
teeth with calcium and iron. Following is a break down of the benefits
of the colors of the fruits and vegetables and which is the cheapest.
Red Fruits and Vegetables
Containing nutrients such as lycopene, ellagic acid,
Quercetin, and Hesperidin these nutrients reduce the risk of prostate
cancer, reduce blood pressure and join tissue together, among other
things. Price wise, apples are usually the cheapest and come in many
varieties. They can be made into pies and smaller similar dishes and can
be grated down with a potato grated into quick servings of apple sauce.
They can also be cut up in bits and mixed into oatmeal, another healthy
low cost food, for flavoring and additional nutritional benefit. They
can be turned into spreads for breads and crackers and pancakes. Let a
small quantity of chopped up apple flavor your tea. Remove them after
they soak in the hot tea briefly. Add cinnamon.Orange And Yellow Fruits And Vegetables
Contain beta-carotene, potassium, and vitamin C. They reduce age-related degeneration and the risk of prostate cancer, lower LDL cholesterol and blood pressure, promote collagen formation and healthy joints, encourage alkaline balance, and with magnesium and calcium build healthy bones. Oranges, carrots and sweet potatoes are the cheapest.
Green vegetables and Fruit
Green vegetables contain chlorophyll, fiber, lutein, zeaxanthin, calcium, folate, vitamin C, calcium, and Beta-carotene. These these vegetables reduce cancer risks, lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol levels, normalize digestion time, support retinal health and vision, fight harmful free-radicals, and boost immune system activity. Cabbage, green peas, and celery. Pears are the cheapest green friut
Blue and purple fruits and vegetables
Contain nutrients which include lutein, zeaxanthin, vitamin C, fiber, flavonoids, ellagic acid, and quercetin. These nutrients support retinal health, lower LDL cholesterol, and support healthy digestion. Grapes are usually the cheapest purple fruit. Cheaper when in season you might consider plums. Raisins are dried grapes.
White Vegetables.
The lowest costing white vegetable is potatoes. They can be bought for pennies a pound all year long and can be prepared and combined in hundreds of different way. They come is several varieties, each best for a number of dishes.
The Good Cheap Food Formula
combines grains, pastas, beans, tomato and other sauces, and potatoes
into some of thousands of possible favorite combinations. And from the
fruits and vegetables category we simply pick the cheapest items in
season from the color groups. That is all there is to it.
Serving Size
To
get 1800 calories a day, the amount needed by a high metabolism 9 year
old child, eat the following number of servings from the 5 good groups.
Grains-6 servings
Vegetables-5 servings
Fruits-5 servings
Milk-3 servings
Meat & Beans-5 ounces
Here is a list of example items from the 5 food groups
Grains:
1 slice whole-wheat toast = 1 serving
½ cup cooked brown rice = 1 serving
½ cup cooked pasta = 1 serving
3 cups lowfat popcorn = 1 serving
Vegetables:
1 small baked sweet potato = 1 serving
6 baby carrots = 1 serving
1 large ear of corn = 1 serving
1 medium baked potato = 1 serving
1 cup cooked greens = 1 serving
3 spears broccoli = 1 serving
1 cup chopped lettuce = 1 serving
Fruits:
1 small apple = 1 serving
1 large orange= 1 serving
½ cup 100 % orange juice= 1 serving
1 small box raisins = 1 serving
1 large plum = 1 serving
Milk
1 snack sized fat-free yogurt = 1 serving
2 ounces fat-free American cheese = 1 serving
1 cup fat-free milk = 1 serving
1 ½ ounces light ice cream
1 ½ ounces low-fat cheddar cheese
Meat & Beans
¼ cup cooked beans
1 chicken breast (3 ounces) = 1 serving
1 tablespoon peanut butter = 1 serving
1 hard boiled egg = 1 serving
1 small lean hamburger (3 ounces) = 1 serving
½ ounce nuts = 1 serving
Good Cheap Foods List
Which are the good cheap foods specifically. Again, Pasta is
one. It is among the cheapest foods available. It comes in both
bleached and whole wheat form. Whole wheat is more nutritious if you are
not allergic to wheat and tastes different than the bleached form,
which also contains many nutrients. When used regularly it cuts food
cost a lot.
Another good cheap food is potatoes.
They contain carbohydrates, potassium, and other nutrients the body has
to have, especially the carbohydrates which are not available in other
food groups. They can be prepared in hundreds of different ways, have a
good shelf life and cost less than a dollar per pound. Store them in a
cool dark place safely for several weeks.
Rice is also very, very low cost. It is from the grain group which provides lots of fiber and stores safely for months.
Beans are
very cheap, especially dry beans, come in hundreds of varieties, can be
stored safely for months, provide loads of nutrition, including tons
of protein, which make them a good meat substitute when combined with
grains, and can be prepare in an endless variety of ways.
Tomatoes and Tomato Sauce work
well with beans and rice, and potatoes too, and have the benefits of
vegetables and fruit, and are healthy choice from the reds group. They
are not low cost per pound but when stretched by being mixed with other
foods pay for themselves in health and cost benefits.
Eggs
are regularly low cost and very versatile meal wise. Egg dishes have
been designed for any meal time and are useful for making cakes and
breads as well. They can be combined with potatoes, for example, to make
tasty and healthy potato salad, and can spread on bread for egg salad
sandwiches. Any combo of vegetables can be mixed with them in owlets and
souffles.
The cheapest fruits depend
largely on the season. Generally oranges, apples and bananas are the
cheapest. Together they represent the orange, red and yellow fruit
groups, and can be mixed to form tasty fruit salads. They can also be
blended down and added to yogurt or ice cream for smoothies or heated
on the stove as puddings. They can be spread on bread, fill baked
deserts, and added to oatmeal for breakfast.
Other
good cheap items are grains such as oatmeal, for breakfast, barley and
cornmeal. All these can be made into breads and used for pancakes and
waffles and cakes and fruit filled pastries.
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Because
all foods in the five food groups are about the same nutrition wise it
is safe, and smart, to buy the cheapest ones. That can change from
season to season, but there are cheap choices all year around, so we
choose those. That's all there is to the good cheap food formula. I hope
you find it useful.
Here is a good cookbook on healthy affordable food and preparing it.
Here is a good cookbook on healthy affordable food and preparing it.
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