calamity_Sal/Flickr
I summarized this list of 17 healthy and cheap food items from the March 2011 issue of ShopSmart, one of my favorite magazines. I put the benefits of each food in parenthesis. How many of these foods do you eat regularly?
1. Cabbage – $.16 per serving (vitamin A and C). I eat cabbage raw as a salad with lemon juice and chopped cilantro, or with broken up Ramen noodles, almonds, tangerines, cooked chicken, and an Asian-style salad dressing.
2. Canned unsweetened pumpkin – $.38 per serving (beta carotene). Use in muffins, breads, and pancakes.
3. Dried plums – $.31 per serving (antioxidants, fiber, potassium). Prunes and other dried fruit is a healthy way to satisfy sugar cravings.
4. Frozen blueberries – $.66 per serving (antioxidants). Mix them into pancakes, muffins, and smoothies.
5. Kale – $.37 per serving (vitamins A, C, and E). Use in soups, stews, and casseroles. I saute Kale in a little water for about 15 minutes, then continue cooking in butter and garlic for another five until tender.
6. Canned tomatoes – $.28 per serving (antioxidants).
7. Plain yogurt – $.70 per serving (calcium, bacteria to aid digestion). Eat with cereal, mix into muffins and breads, or eat with potatoes.
8. Oats – $.28 per serving (fiber). One of my favorite breakfasts and cookie ingredients!
9. Edamame and green peas – $.25 per serving (fiber and protein). I love eating edamame as it is served in sushi joints – with a dash of sea salt.
10. Popcorn – $.12 per serving (fiber). ShopSmart recommends nixing the butter in favor of a squirt of cooking spray (olive, vegetable, or canola oil) and sprinkling with chili powder or oregano. Cooking raw kernels in a pan is easier than you think! I just wish this tasty treat didn’t get stuck in my teeth.
11. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) – $.50 per serving (fiber and protein). Use in place of rice.
12. Whole grain spaghetti – $.23 per serving (fiber). The taste of whole grain spaghetti takes getting used to, but works especially well with flavorful sauces, roasted cauliflower or eggplant.
13. Dried brown lentils – $.27 per serving ( protein, fiber, folic acid). Use lentils instead of pasta or rice.
14. Eggs – $.18 per egg (protein). Toss into salads, boil for a quick snack, or eat for breakfast.
15. Frozen turkey – $1.59 per pound (lean protein).
16. Tofu – $.48 per serving (omega-3s, protein). Marinate for most flavorful results as tofu at its worst is bland. I once made chocolate mousse with tofu and no one discovered my secret ingredient!
17. Peanuts in the shell – $.12 per serving ( protein). Great for snacks and stir frys, or chop finely and dust on fish.
I eat seven of these food regularly, and want to start eating edamame again. It’s so tasty!
February 7th, 2011 at 11:48 am
These are all great. Avocados are another great health food that you can find reasonably priced many times. Right now they’re 73 cents each at my local Wal-mart in Kansas. Also, watch out for pre-packaged health foods, like dried prunes. Many contain artificial ingredients and not so good for you sugars.
February 8th, 2011 at 7:54 am
@Joy Smith Aren’t dried plums and prunes the same thing? Thanks for the tip about extra ingredients – I never thought to check the label for like dried fruit. I will now.
February 8th, 2011 at 11:16 am
BB, I would argue most unprocessed foods are healthy, while some are “power foods” (broccoli, cabbage, blueberries, pomegranate, etc.). (By unprocessed, I mean eating things where they closely resemble how they are grown, e.g., steamed broccoli with olive oil and lemon juice vs. broccoli flavored popsicles!)
Then on the other end of the spectrum, we avoid anything with high fructose corn syrup and anything with partially hydrogenated oils.
You got me thinking…..I shop not in my neighborhood (expensive), but in a near-by lower socio-economic neighborhood (cheaper prices). I’ve noticed that my basket has a lot of stuff from the produce dept and the (sorry, but true) over-weight locals have boxes of fried things from the freezer, heavily processed boxed foods from the middle aisles of the market, which are MORE expensive than a head of cabbage, a pound of broccoli, etc. Makes me crazy when I see it!