Food
Best Buy Meals
A
healthy shopping guide for low-income households,
“Good Food on a Tight Budget,” has been written
by The Environmental Working Group, a not-for-
profit organization that marshals the power of information
to protect human health and the environment. The book was
done in collaboration with Share Our Strength’s Cooking
Matters, an organization that teaches families at risk of
hunger how to get more food for their money and better
nourishment from those foods.
The guide contains lists of “best buys” that pack the most
nutrition for the lowest cost in each food group. These
include bananas, watermelons, broccoli, raisins, romaine
lettuce, barley, tuna, lentils/beans, eggs, turkey and cottage
cheese. Price was the primary concern for the group’s
choices but experts then screened out foods that contain a
lot of chemicals, like pesticides, or whose production cre-
ates greenhouse gases. Your food choice is one of the most
powerful choices that you make every day that affects your
environment. Some of the guide's top tips include buying
grains in bulk, cooking dried beans to save money, mixing
your own cooking sprays and substituting yogurt for cream
in recipes. Researchers based the weekly plan on the gov-
ernment's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
budget of $5 to $6 a day. Healthy food is affordable, but it's
definitely a different style of eating, It's a back-to-basics
style of eating. There's not a lot of room for extras. It's chal-
lenging
W Fresh Salad
Leafy Greens
mixed greens
romaine lettuce
spinach
a mix of what you have on hand
Select veggies
broccoli
carrots
red cabbage
snow peas
Tasty Toppings
sliced almonds and tangerine slices
avocado and cooked red beans
leftover chicken, sliced resh cranberries and toasted sun-
flower seeds
diced pear and walnuts
cooked garbanzo beans and homemade whole-wheat crou-
tons— cut up and toast stale bread
Preparation:
1. Rinse, drain and chop 4 cups of leafy greens.
Put in a bowl.
2. Rinse and chop ½ cup of each of the vegetables
and add to the bowl.
3. Add ½ cup salad dressing (recipe below).
4. Finish with ½ cup of the optional tasty toppings.
SALAD DRESSING:
Oil
olive
sunflower
whatever you have
Olive oil mixed with a low cost oil to add lots of flavor for
little money.
Citrus or vinegar
lemon, lime or orange juice
or mix 1 tsp Dijon mustard and vinegar
Seasoning
salt, pepper, garlic, fresh
or dry herbs: parsley, rosemary, thyme, etc.
Preparation:
1. Mix 2 parts oil with 1 part citrus or your choice of vine-
gar. 2 servings is 5 Tbsp oil plus 2 ½ Tbsp of vinegar.
2. Flavor with your choice of seasonings, to taste.
Page 8 The Portland Skanner
September 19, 2012