Spend Smart. Eat Smart.

One great change in the food that families receive from WIC is vouchers for fruits and vegetables. The amount of the voucher varies, but as I understand it, each child on WIC old enough to eat table food gets a $6 voucher each month. Amanda and I headed to the grocery store last Friday to see what $6 would buy. We were in luck because lots of fruits and vegetables were on sale. 

The first two pictures show a variety of fruits and vegetables purchased for $6. We tried to get the most food we could, but also tried to get a variety of colors in both fresh and frozen foods. Some of the foods were priced by the item—celery, carrots, grapefruit, cucumbers, bell peppers, spinach and frozen vegetables. Other items—bananas, apples and onions—must to be weighed (there is always a scale in the produce department) and you have to take the weight times the price per pound to see how much the item costs. If you have your cell phone, use the calculator on it to do the math for you.

Picture #1
3# bananas  .87
1 celery stalk  .69
2 bell peppers/1 cucumber  3 for $1
2# yellow onions  .58
1# bag baby carrots  .79
3 grapefruits  3 for $1
16 oz bag frozen veggies  .98

TOTAL  $5.90

Picture #2
2# large braeburn apples  1.38
2 bell peppers/1 cucumber   3 for $1
2# bananas   .58
1# bag baby carrots  .79
16 oz bag frozen veggies  .98
Dole Spinach  .99

TOTAL  $5.72

The last four pictures show how the price of fruits and vegetables goes up when you choose specialty products, or the grocery store does some of the food preparation work for you.

Picture #3
Each 12 ounce package of vegetables costs $2.50.  So these two packages together cost $5.  Since the Green Giant vegetables have a butter sauce, they can’t be bought with WIC coupons.

Picture #4
The Green Giant vegetables at the left cost $2.50.  The Birds Eye Vegetables were on special for $1.00.  Both are 12 ounces.  Neither has a sauce.

The frozen vegetables in the first 2 pictures  above are .98 for 16 ounces.

Picture #5
If you want  someone else to chop up your vegetables, you pay dearly for that service.

Picture #6
Same goes for cantaloupe.  You get 2 whole cantaloupes for $6. The cut up bowl would cost $8.22.

-pointers by Peggy

food cost, food preparation, resources color, fruits, variety, vegetables, vouchers, WIC

Last summer, Stacey Krawczyk posted an article on food and health.com called “Salmon is less expensive than hot dogs.” The article focuses on the cost of protein foods since meals usually revolve around protein, and protein foods are a high cost item in meals. Ms. Krawczyk compared the cost per gram of protein in various products. We did the same thing with prices in Ames. The prices are a little different, sometimes because of the type or brands that were used (for example, Krawczyk used kosher hot dogs). Hot dogs seem inexpensive because the cost per pound or package is less, but you have to eat 4 hot dogs to get the same protein in a 3-ounce hamburger.

If you would like to see the protein cost comparisons for Iowa, check out the Spend Smart. Eat Smart. web site. Cost of 1 gram of Protein is posted in the Shopping the Store section, under the meat aisle. We have posted our findings from lowest to highest cost per ounce.

-pointers by Peggy

food cost, resources comparison, cost, hamburger, hot dogs, protein, salmon

Last week I was doing a presentation on the features of our Spend Smart web site. I discovered that we had gotten lots of hits from the more matters® web site which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Further investigation showed the people were being referred to our Spend Smart site from a flyer and other postings called 30 Ways in 30 Days to Stretch Your Fruit and Vegetable Budget. 

The number ONE recommendation was:

Calculate an appropriate Healthy Food Budget for your family, based on USDA’s Low-Cost Food Plan. This easy-to-use calculator, offered by Iowa State University Extension, helps to create a budget for what is a reasonable amount to spend to feed your family healthy meals. 

If you don’t know what a healthy food budget is for your family, you might want to put each family member’s age, gender and number of meals eaten away from home into the calculator.  Then, to compare your spending, you will need to collect receipts for all your grocery spending for a month. Don’t count non-food items such as pet food, paper, cleaning and personal care items that you buy at the store.

-pointers by Peggy  

food cost, resources budget, calculator, fruit, grocery, spending, vegetable

100-calorie snack packs are a temptation when I am trying to keep my calories under control…I’m tempted because they are convenient, but I always balk at the price. Plus, most of them are higher in sugar and fat than I usually eat. There’s a section on our Spend Smart. Eat Smart. web site that discusses the 100-calorie snacks and the University of Arkansas gives ideas for healthy snacks you can portion yourself in 100-Calorie Snacks: 20 Choices.

-pointers by Peggy

food cost, food preparation, resources 100-calorie packs, convenience, cost, portion, snacks

Yes, it costs money and takes some time to eat healthy. But when people who have a large, flavored cappuccino or a 32-ounce soda in their hands tell me that they can’t afford fruits and vegetables, I want to point out how many they could have bought for the same amount as their snack.

Every six months we update the prices on our handout, Fruits and Vegetables-Try for More. The prices this time were less than they were last time we updated. This might be because many of the fruits and vegetables are in season.

When I can buy 9 medium apples for $2.00, I think that is a good deal.

-pointers by Peggy

food cost, resources apples, cost, fruits, prices, vegetables

The overall Consumer Price Index fell 1.5% for the year that ended in August. That’s good news! But the cost of some food categories rose. For example, the cost of food at home dropped 1.6%, but the cost of food away from home increased by 3%.

When we eat away from home, we are trading our money for someone else’s time to prepare the food we eat. In the process, sometimes we trade away nutrition, too.  The Spend Smart. Eat Smart. site has an interesting game which compares the cost and convenience of sample breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner meals. It’s called Fast Food for Busy Families.

-pointers by Peggy

food cost, food preparation, resources Consumer Price Index, convenience, cost of food, fast food, game, nutrition

Last week after a program, I offered to leave some of the sandwich samples for the staff. One of them commented that they had a bunch of other snacks and that the sandwiches might not get eaten. I said, “Well, you can take these home and freeze them for another day.” The look I received was that of total shock. “You can freeze sandwiches?” was the reply. The individual was just sure the bread would be all soggy and the overall quality so bad that you would never want to consider it. But, the quality isn’t diminished. It’s time to use the freezer and save a few dollars…

Sandwiches you make ahead and freeze can save money and time. Just about any sandwich—other than those with a mayonnaise base (such as chopped meat or egg salad)—can be frozen. It’s best to apply condiments such as mayonnaise when ready to use. Some great filling choices include: peanut butter and jelly; deli meat; plain canned tuna; cheese; or cheese along with a meat. Or, you might consider buying a whole roast or chicken, cook it in the slow cooker or oven the day before, and use the meat from that for sandwiches. It will be cheaper than the deli meat and definitely lower in sodium. Dicing these larger meat cuts will make them stretch further. Make the sandwiches and wrap them in plastic wrap or a sandwich bag, put them in a larger freezer-weight plastic bag (being sure to mark the bag with the contents), then pop in the freezer. For more on freezing sandwiches, Nebraska Extension has a great tip sheet.

When you are ready to pack your lunch, just grab one of the sandwiches from the freezer and place in an insulated bag with an ice block. It should be thawed in time for lunch. You could add to this lunch a bag of vegetable sticks (prep several bags and have ready for grabbing from the fridge), fruit, string cheese, and cookie. Fast! Easy! And easily less than $2.00 for lunch.

-Jottings from Jan

food cost, food preparation, resources bread, crock pot, easy, freeze, quality, sandwich, savings

My sisters, dad and I share a garden spot. We try to coordinate so that we all work in the garden at the same time because it is more fun that way, but with our schedules that doesn’t happen very often. This spring when we were planting, a couple of times someone planted over the top of something that was already in the ground (this is why we had peppers growing in the bean rows). I was determined to have some winter squash, so I planted a whole row of seeds about 3” apart and put milk cartons filled with water every foot to mark the row. To make a long story short, I didn’t thin the plants, so the squash took over a corner of the garden and now we have lots of acorn squash. If you have an abundance of winter squash or pumpkins, here are some helps.

Tips to freeze pumpkin and winter squash
Harvesting and Storing Vine Crops

All about squash with pictures of various varieties and directions for roasting the seeds

-pointers by Peggy

food preparation, recipes, resources freezing, garden, harvesting, pumpkin, storing, winter squash

In late July, we asked people signed up for our blog to complete a survey. We then raffled 3-$25 gift cards from the survey participants. Below are some comments from our winners.

Our Perry, Florida winner wrote:

What a nice way to start the day with news of winning a gift card! I have used so many ideas from your web site. Most recently the “Snack Boxes” – what a great idea! I shared this information with parents at one of the Pre-schools I visit and they loved it! Breaking down the cost per serving was a real eye opener for some moms. With a little planning, snacking can be fun and nutritious. Thanks for all your recipes and great ideas…  

Notes from our Pella, Iowa winner:

Thank you for the gift card. I greatly appreciate it! I love the “Spend Smart, Save Smart” e-mails because it informs me of timely information just when I need it i.e., canning and freezing information etc. I feel that the information is very practical and I feel comfortable putting the information to use because it is from a reliable source. I have been surprised by some of the information that I would not have sought on my own – for instance, cost of pickled beets – not always a savings. I would not have taken the time to figure this out so was glad someone else did it for me. I work full time; therefore, I appreciate the efficiency of finding this reliable information on your web site. I was very pleased when I matched my grocery lists to the one on the web site to find out I already am being very economical in my shopping, but it was reassuring to me that it was confirmed… 

Please continue to pass the word along to your friends and relatives about the Spend Smart. Eat Smart. site!

-pointers by Peggy

food cost, food preparation, resources blog, comments, grocery list, pickled beets, snack boxes, survey, winners

Ten pounds of chicken quarters (leg and thigh with a little back bone) are $3.90 this week. What a deal! Leg quarters weigh about a pound, so a 10# bag will have around 10 quarters. Each one weighs 15 to 16 ounces, but since there is a lot of skin and bones, you end up with about 4 ounces of meat. 

When I buy the chicken quarters, I bake or grill a few and then I boil the rest with vegetables and seasonings, creating great broth at the same time. I remove the meat from the bones and then use the chicken in a variety of dishes, or freeze it for a later meal.

USDA has created a flyer on chicken leg quarters with information and some basic recipes. I would like to expand on this and make a handout focusing on how many different meals you could make with 10# of chicken quarters. What would you do with a 10# bag of chicken quarters? If you have ideas or favorite recipes, please put them in the comment section of this blog, or send to me at peggym@iastate.edu. If I use your recipe, I will send you a copy of our 2010 nutrition calendar—which is just out!

-pointers by Peggy

food cost, food preparation, recipes, resources bake, boil, calendar, chicken quarters, grill, recipes