Spend Smart. Eat Smart.

Apparently, sandwiches were invented in the 18th century when the Earl of Sandwich asked for his meat to be served between slices of bread, to avoid interrupting a gambling game or getting his cards greasy. If the Earl were alive today he probably would have invented sandwiches so he could eat while driving, or to avoid getting his cell phone dirty!

I love sandwiches because they are so versatile and convenient. Sometimes I make sandwiches ahead and freeze them. It saves time and is a great way to use those bits of leftovers. 

Half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a great snack for me. When I have a couple of slices of whole wheat bread at the end of the loaf, I spread a little peanut butter on both sides of the bread and put the jelly in the middle. This assembly method will help reduce sogginess.

Summer is coming! Consider adding frozen sandwiches to a cooler to keep everything colder longer.

University of Nebraska has a useful tip sheet for Freezing Sandwiches.

-pointers by Peggy

food preparation, resources freezing, peanut butter & jelly, sandwich, snack, summer, whole wheat

I recently went grocery shopping with my daughter. She needed shredded cheddar cheese and planned to buy the brick of cheddar cheese and shred it herself. As we looked at cheese prices, we discovered that the shredded cheese was not any more expensive than the brick cheese. Here are the cheese prices we found for a store brand cheese:

8 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese = $1.78 = $.222 per ounce
16 ounces (1 pound)  of shredded cheddar = $3.94 = $.246 per ounce

16 ounce (1 pound) brick of cheddar = $4.18 = $.261 per ounce
32 ounce (2 pounds) brick of cheddar = $7.18 = $.224 per ounce

We were surprised to discover that the smallest package (8 ounces) of shredded cheese was actually the cheapest when you looked at the unit price. I guess you might say we “busted two shopping myths.”

Myth 1: Pre-shredded cheese is more expensive. You can save money by shredding it yourself.

BUSTED! My daughter saved time and money by buying the pre-shredded.

Myth 2: Buying in bulk is less expensive.

BUSTED! In this case, the larger quantity of the pre-shredded cheese was more expensive. The larger quantity of the brick cheese was less…but still not quite as cheap as the 8-ounce package of shredded (which was the quantity my daughter wanted).

Bottom line: Don’t make assumptions! Check the unit prices to really find the best deal!

Find more dairy shopping tips on the Spend Smart. Eat Smart. Web site.

-contributed by Renee Sweers

food cost, food preparation cheese, dairy, myth, unit pricing

Pat Anderson, one of our nutrition specialists from Council Bluffs, sent me this message:

Have you seen the Limits to Leftovers sheet developed by Fight BAC.org? It begins with:  Americans are economizing and stretching every dollar.  As many consumers make their dollar go farther by preparing more meals at home and saving leftovers, it is essential they follow safe food handling practices.

I think the key to using leftovers successfully is thinking about when you will be eating the food and making the decision whether to put the leftovers in the refrigerator or the freezer? If I am not going to eat it in the next 3 days, I need to freeze it. Many foods can be successfully frozen, but it doesn’t work to put leftovers in the refrigerator, then find them 4 days later and freeze them.

-pointers by Peggy

food cost, food preparation, resources Fight BAC, food safety, freezer, leftovers, refrigerator

As the weather warms, my mind turns to gardening and all those great, fresh fruits and vegetables I’ll soon be enjoying! I’ve discovered a useful handout, Spring Produce, written by Catherine Burlage, Purdue University. It provides tips for selecting, preparing, and storing those seasonal fruits and vegetables soon to be found in abundance at farmers markets, roadside stands, and groceries. The handout even includes healthy and delicious recipes for Strawberry Spinach Salad, Broccoli Stir-Fry, and Spring Vegetable Saute. What’s your favorite spring fruit or vegetable, and how do you prepare it?

Other publications in the Purdue series include Summer Produce and Autumn Produce.

-contributed by Peggy Martin

food preparation, recipes, resources broccoli, fruits, spinach, springtime, strawberries, vegetables

Recently, I wrote about checking on cereal prices at the grocery store (see Cereal Cost Comparison). One of the stores I visited has the unit prices posted on the shelves. The store unit price for cereal was figured per ounce, but I discovered this may not be the best way to figure unit pricing for cereal. Here is an example:

The name brand toasted oat cereal was $3.12 for 18 ounces, so that equals $.173 per ounce. The Nutrition Facts label told me that a serving was 1 cup and that the box had 18 servings. For this cereal, 1 ounce was equal to 1 cup, so the price per ounce and per cup were the same–about 17 cents per cup and ounce.

Raisin bran type cereal was completely different. The name brand was $2.98 for a 20-ounce box, so that equals $.149 per ounce. The Nutrition Facts label told me that a serving was 1 cup, but the 20-ounce box contained only 10 one-cup servings. So the price per cup was $.298–twice as much as the price per ounce. If I just look at the price per ounce listed for these two cereals on the store shelf, it appears that the raisin bran is the less expensive cereal. But because raisin bran is a heavier cereal, you get fewer cups for the weight. It turns out then that a 1 cup bowl of name brand raisin bran was about 30 cents–actually more expensive than a one cup bowl of the toasted oat cereal. 

Some may argue that you would eat less of the heavier type cereals (bran, granola, etc) because they would be more filling.  For myself, I think I eat about the same 1 cup serving for most cereals.

If you figure unit prices as you make cereal choices, I recommend that you look at the Nutrition Facts label to find the number of servings per box. Most cereals have a serving size of about 1 cup. Figure the prices per number of cups/servings rather than the cost per ounce. See unit pricing on the Spend Smart. Eat Smart. site for more information.

 -contributed by Renee Sweers

food cost, resources cereal, cost comparison, unit pricing

I usually have ready-to-eat cereal for breakfast. In fact, my family eats a lot of cereal. We not only have it for breakfast but also for between meal snacks, bedtime snacks and when we are really lazy, we eat it for supper. Over the years it has been my most common response to my children’s complaint of “I’m hungry, what’s to eat around here?”

I’ve always considered cereal to be an economical choice, but cereal prices have been going up, so I thought I’d actually check and see what a bowl of cereal costs. I checked prices on whole grain oat cereal. (I usually try to eat whole grain cereal for breakfast—it’s the main way I meet the recommendation to eat some whole grains every day.) 

Here’s what I found out:

I don’t like spending over $3.00 for a box of cereal, but in this case, the larger 18-ounce box is less expensive per cup, so worth forking out the money. The generic brand is the best deal at 11 cents per cup. Unfortunately, my family only likes the name brand of this particular cereal.  (Yes, I’ve tried putting the off brand in the name brand box—it didn’t work!)

What about oatmeal? It is also a whole grain cereal and a favorite of my 15-year-old son. The larger containers of oatmeal are 42 ounces and they make 31 one-cup servings of cooked oatmeal.

Here’s the cost breakdown:

So, cooked oatmeal is about 7–10 cents per 1 cup bowl, an even better deal than the ready to eat cereal.  (Fortunately my family is fine with the off brand oatmeal!)

Lastly, I decided to look at prices of the instant oatmeal that comes in the individual packets:

Note that the packets only make ½ cup of cooked oatmeal. (Check out our recipe for Make Your Own Instant Oatmeal Packets…kids love to make them and they will save you money.)

Even though prices have gone up, I still think cereal is a good deal. Oatmeal is the most economical choice, so I’m glad my family likes it.

-contributed by Renee Sweers

[Updated April 17, 2009
See also: Don’t be ‘trixed’ in the cereal aisle…]

food cost, recipes cereal, cost comparison, generic, oatmeal, whole grain

I saw a recipe recently that called for goat cheese. WOW! I know cheese can be expensive, but I thought this was really high. A 4-ounce portion cost almost $5.00! I went ahead and bought it, tried the recipe and found it to be quite tasty. As I was straightening the kitchen, I read the Nutrition Facts label and realized there really wasn’t much “IN” the goat cheese. So I pulled a package of reduced fat cream cheese out of the fridge to compare labels. Know what? NO real difference! And the cream cheese was only $.99 for 8 ounces. I made the recipe again substituting cream cheese for goat cheese. Was there a significant flavor change? Apparently not. I had 30 child care providers sample both products and they really preferred the cream cheese!

So, will I spend $5.00 for goat cheese or $ .50 for cream cheese? Not too hard to figure the answer to THAT one.

-contributed by Jan Temple

food cost, food preparation cost, cream cheese, goat cheese, substitution

For many, Easter is a time to decorate eggs for the egg hunt. I remember gathering around the kitchen table with my siblings decorating eggs by writing names and sticking on the decals. The next morning my parents hid the eggs the first time, then after the first kids got up and found the eggs, we re-hid them for the next group.

My own children and nieces and nephews continue this fun family tradition. Eggs are still relatively inexpensive and the basic dye kit only costs around $2. We have fun dyeing the eggs as well as hunting for them. These days, however, you do need to pay attention to food safety principles. The inside of an egg, once considered sterile, is now known to occasionally harbor Salmonella. Salmonella can cause an intestinal infection, so it is important to cook eggs to inactivate the bacteria, and then keep them cold.

The Egg Board recommends this method: place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan; add tap water to cover at least 1 inch above eggs; cover pan, place on burner and bring to a boil. Upon boiling, remove the pan from the burner; allow large eggs to set for 15 minutes (12 minutes for medium eggs, 18 minutes for extra large eggs); then place in ice cold water until completely cooled. This last step prevents the yolks from turning green by keeping the sulfur produced during the cooking process from adhering to the iron in the yolk and forming a green deposit.

Hard-cooked eggs can also be contaminated after cooking. The following steps will help keep hard-cooked eggs safe when coloring and hiding them. Don’t color or hide cracked eggs. If you plan to eat colored eggs, be sure to use food coloring or specially made food-grade egg dyes. Once eggs are colored, remember to keep them refrigerated in their cartons. Eggs out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours should be discarded. When hiding eggs, carefully place them in areas safe from contact with pets, wild animals, birds, reptiles, insects or lawn chemicals.

-pointers by Peggy

food cost, food preparation, resources Easter, Egg Board, hard-cooked eggs, safety, Salmonella

The “green bags” are designed for fruits and vegetables that ripen by the production of the plant hormone, ethylene. Ethylene gas is produced in copious quantities by certain fruits, most notably bananas. As the concentration of ethylene gas increases in an enclosed environment, the fruit ripens faster. Removal of ethylene helps keep fruits from over-ripening quickly. The green bags are made of a polymer that allows the escape of the gas while keeping others, and some of them actually use additives to the film to absorb other gases that promote ripening or deterioration. 

The green bags do work for certain types of produce. Some caveats–the shelf life is extended as long as the product is very dry (mold growth appears to be a problem in damp produce). Also, the bags have a shelf life and can only be reused 10 times. If you intend to eat a product quickly, say strawberries, it might not make economic sense to use the green bag when normal plastic film would work.   

-contributed by Sam Beattie, ISU Food Safety Extension Specialist

food cost, resources ethylene gas, fruits, green bags, ripening, vegetables