Thursday, October 18, 2018

Plan, Shop (& Drink Smoothies)

Blend all the ingredients in the blender.

Plan & Shop was the theme of this week's nutrition class with Laureen from USU's Food $ense course. Over the next few weeks Laureen will be engaging us in thinking about our food choices and their impact on our health and budgets. (Click here to read more about this course.)

You Do The Math

Laureen showed us several examples about the impact of our choices on our food budgets. 

Here were two examples:

Example 1Store-brand brown rice in a bag costs 5 cents per ounce. The rice in the microwavable pouch cost 18 cents per ounce. Which one is best for your budget? 


Image result for smithsbrown rice
Store-brand brown rice was 79 cents* for a 16-ounce bag.
Total price was 5 cents per ounce.
(Prices based on web search on 10/18/18.)
OR


Image result for smiths rice in pouch microwavable price
Rice in a pouch was $1.50 for 8.5 ounces.
Total price was 18 cents per ounce.



Example 2Store-brand low-sodium chicken broth costs 4 cents per ounce. Chicken-flavored cubes (stir 1 cube into 1 cup of hot water to make 8 ounces of chicken broth) cost 2 cents per ounce. Which one is best for your budget? 


Image result for kroger canned chicken broth price
Store-brand low-sodium chicken broth was 50 cents for 14 ounces. Total price was 4 cents per ounce.

OR

Chicken-flavored cubes was $3.19 for 3.25 ounces (or 25 cubes or 25 cups of broth). Total price was 2 cents per ounce. 

Food Choices Matter

While Laureen presented us with these choices "to do the math," she never told us what which products we should buy. Her point was that sometimes, depending on the budget, we have other needs and concerns that need to be addressed. In which case, we may want to buy the more expensive item. 

Laureen's point was that we needed to think about our options before we make purchases to be sure we are getting the most for our food dollars.

Delicious (but inexpensive) Smoothie

Laureen  finished our session with Pumpkin Smoothies. Everyone who tried them agreed that they were great! Thank you, Laureen, for showing us this treat.

Here's the recipe. You try it. 

Pumpkin Smoothie
1 cup almond milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (use the brand with pumpkin spices or add your own spices)
2 cups fat-free frozen vanilla yogurt
1 cup ice 
a dash of nutmeg

Put all four ingredients in the blender. Blend. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

Tell us what you think.

1 comment:

preeta said...

Very good information in simplest way any body can easy understand.