How to eat healthy amid lack of federal funding for food
If your family has been impacted by the loss of SNAP benefits or the rising cost of food, you are looking for any help you can get.
There are ways, however, to stretch what you have without sacrificing the healthy side of eating.
The key is "extenders" like rice or pasta and planning a cook-once-eat-twice-or-more approach to easily feed a family of four for under $10.
Bank on breakfast foods
"In general, breakfast foods cost less money," according to nutritionist and founder of Active Eating Advice, Leslie Bonci, who says don't hesitate to add things in, and have breakfast for dinner.
"If you do those eggs and you're adding in some other vegetables to it that you maybe had in the freezer, or maybe there's a little bit of leftover ham or cheese, this is the 'kitchen sink' approach. Or, we do the pancake type of thing, or a French toast type of thing," Bonci added.
For dinners, think about cooking up a batch for today and beyond.
"That's the beauty of things like soups, stews, and chili, because typically, we make a lot of them, and we could even repurpose them in a different way," Bonci says.
Chili can be just that, with crackers, or become the heart of tacos, or combine it with an extender like rice or pasta.
In the grocery store, Bonci suggests shopping the center of the store, looking at the canned, boxed, and frozen sections.
"If we buy fresh and we don't use it, and we have to throw it, that is also money down the drain," Bonci said.
She said that everything in the frozen foods is fresh when frozen.
"We can use what we need (then it goes) back in the freezer. Honestly, it ends up being far, far more economical to do it that way."
Bonci is a real believer in adding protein and volume with canned beans.
"If you don't want to see [beans], mash them up. If you don't mind seeing them, put them in there," she said.
Beans can even stretch mac and cheese.
"Adding that non-fat milk to add some extra protein, and this is my X-Factor: cannellini beans. These are white kidney beans. Puree them because it's creamy. They're inexpensive. They bring the protein in the fiber. Forty-nine cents a can. That is worth it. And then you could add a little bit more cheese," Bonci explained.
Bonci says the beans have little flavor but add a much-needed nutritional aspect. You can also add things to ground beef to stretch burgers, like beans, bread crumbs, an egg, or A.1. Sauce.
Differences between store brand and name brand goods
Bonci says there is hardly any difference once the food is cooked. She would recommend store brands every time because they can save consumers much more money.