Health for life

I have dinosaur hands.

They’re not green or scaled, and they don’t have that weird, hooky claw. Instead, they’re microscopic, pretty close to inoperable, and noticeably out of proportion with the rest of my body. When coupled with my stunning lack of coordination, they make certain tasks a bit tricky, if not extremely frightening.

Up until last year, the scariest of those challenges was operating a knife. I could never secure the right grip or put enough strength behind a chopping motion. Cleaving a piece of meat was an effort, and dicing vegetables took longer than Das Boot. On the rare occasions I cooked, I inevitably got tired and embedded a blade in my thumb.

Abundant blood loss and intense fear of further self-mutilation drove me to seek food elsewhere: the college dining hall, the work cafeteria, Burrito Loco across the street – anywhere but my own home. Finally, when the expenditures started piling up (see this post), I gave in and signed up for a Knife Skills class.

The three-hour session was a revelation. I learned technique and economy of movement. I found out why a big knife is better than a little one, and the difference between a julienne and a chiffonade. I saw how an onion could fall into a million tiny pieces with just three accurate slashes. Yet, these discoveries were nothing compared to the big one.

Turns out, the dread of slicing my fingers into Vienna sausages was representative of a much greater cowardice: essentially, I had been afraid of the kitchen.

What if I picked up a hot pan on the wrong end? What if my knuckles got caught in the cheese grater? What if the dirty dishes became insurmountable? What if I poisoned my parents?

What if I made something, and it was terrible?

I have Conan O’Brien’s commencement speech to the Harvard Class of 2000 hanging on my wall at work. In it, he says (and this is a wee bit paraphrased), “Every failure [is] freeing … Fall down, make a mess, break something occasionally.” Emboldened after Knife Skills, I endeavored to apply this idea to the kitchen.

Now it’s year-and-a-half later, and things are a little different. I’ve cooked some truly vomit-inspiring meals. I’ve washed more plates than God. I can play tic-tac-toe in the burn marks on my wrists. But I’ve also churned out some pretty decent food, an achievement unthinkable to me in 2004. I recognize I’m still not a great cook, but hell – it’s a work in progress.

And maybe that’s one of the secrets to good, inexpensive, nutritionally balanced food: getting over your fears. I’m working on it, dinosaur hands and all.

Ed is a 59-year-old father of three from Queens, New York. Though an avid golfer and fisherman, he struggled with his weight most of his life. Then, in the ‘90s, a complete lifestyle overhaul helped him drop almost 110 pounds, sending him from 287 to his current weight of 179. He’s never joined a gym or a diet program. This is his story.

(Incidentally, for transparency’s sake [and so I will not receive a beating from my mother], I will henceforth er to him as Dad.)

(Also, parts of this interview were edited for length.)

(Also also, thats not his real head in the pictures. But you knew that.)

KRIS: So Dad, when did you weigh the most?

DAD: I weighed 287 pounds in November of 1991.

K: Why do you think you were overweight? What are the reasons?

D: Well, I was always overweight. When I got out of high school I was about 195, and I slowly put on a lot of weight over the years until I got about to 250. It was my steady weight once I was out of the service.

K: And you’re 6-foot-1?

D: I’m 6-foot-1.

K: But you gained more weight after that.

D: I used to smoke. When I was 42, I quit smoking cold turkey and at the time I was about 255. I had trouble once I quit smoking pushing myself away from the dinner table, because there was no cigarette to end the meal. So I would hang around the table and eat just about anything that was left. Whether it was rolls, bread and butter, potatoes, spaghetti, meatballs - anything. And I put on another 32 pounds in that winter of ’91, and wound up at 287.

K: 287 was your top weight.

D: 287 was my top weight.

K: So, you were eating a lot of starches.

D: I was eating everything.

K: Did you have a particular food that you really kind of …

D: All food. I love bread and butters, pastries. Sunday was practically an all-day eating experience. I would go out to the bakery in the morning and pick up a bunch of rolls and pastries and sit down with the paper for an hour-and-a-half or so, eating continually, and then break for a couple of hours and then watch a couple of football games in the afternoon on Sunday and continue eating. So, there was a lot of eating and it was always two large meals, sometimes three.

K: So you’re 42-years-old, you have three wonderful children and a lovely wife. Why do you decide to lose weight at that point? Why do you go on a diet?

D: Well, when I quit smoking I told the doctor I was worried about gaining a lot of weight. And he said, “Don’t worry. If you have the willpower to quit smoking, you can lose weight.” So I kind of took him at his word. And when I got up to 287, I couldn’t fit into most of my clothes anymore. I had outgrown extra large shirts and all my pants. My waistline was between 44 and 46 inches, and I was in XXL shirts. I felt huge. And I decided I had to do something about this, and I started on a diet in early 1992.

K: How did your weight affect your everyday life? Did you have limitations?

D: Well I was still relatively young…

K: Hee. Relatively.

D: Well, when you’re 59, 42 sounds great. I used to work on the car a lot, and it was difficult to get up and down, move around. You lose a lot of agility because you’re carrying this extra person, really. 287 is a good weight for two people. It’s just a huge amount of weight, and you just don’t feel right at all. I still did what I liked. I played some golf. I still went fishing. But everything was an extra burden. It was harder.

K: So what kind of changes did you make in your diet when you decided to start losing weight?

D: Well, I decided I was going to try to get by on 1500 calories a day. So, I was working at [redacted] at the time, and I used to eat practically non-stop all day there. I would come in with a couple of bagels and I’d say, “Well, I don’t have any butter on them, so it’s okay.” And then at break time I’d have something, and then go out for a full lunch. And then I’d have a snack in the afternoon. And then I’d go home and eat a big dinner. I was probably taking in about 5000 calories a day.

K: Wow.

D: I decided I was going to try to cut down to 1500 calories. To do that I cut out my snack in the car on the way to work – I forgot to mention that. And I cut it down to two rice cakes, which comes to 100 calories. And then at break time I’d have two more rice cakes. The caramel kind. Quaker.

K: Delicious.

D: Delicious. As rice cakes go, it doesn’t get much better than that. So, by the time lunch came around, I’d had 200 calories so far for the day. And I’d try to keep lunch between 500 and 600 calories, and then dinner about the same. And at night I’d have 100 calorie snack before I went to bed.

K: What did you have for lunch and dinner?

D: For lunch– maybe if I’d have a hamburger, it would be without cheese. Maybe a couple of hot dogs. No French fries. If I had a sandwich on a bagel, it would be a low-calorie meat like boiled ham. One slice of cheese for flavor, but not loaded up on cheese. Dinner in those days, we always had two vegetables, meat, and usually a piece of bread. And I cut almost all the butter out of my diet. We used to have spaghetti and meatballs every Tuesday night and I’d have two meatballs and some spaghetti, but instead of four or five slices of bread with butter, I cut it down to two slices of Italian bread with no butter. So, cutting back all around.

K: What kind of changes did you make to your exercise plan?

D: I just played golf. I wasn’t into walking for its own sake back then. I lost ten pounds a month for seven months. I went from 287 to 217 in seven months. It felt good.

K: How did you keep track of the calories?

D: I would read the labels on the food, and I also had a little booklet I bought at the checkout at the supermarket. It was a little pocket book that had about 30 or 40 pages, and it had a nice index of foods and calories in it. … Basically I was cutting about 35,000 calories a month out of my diet.

K: That’s a lot.

D: Yeah. Doing the math, I was losing 2-1/2 pounds a week.

K: Hunh.

D: Right. And that’s how I lost the weight. I strictly believe in counting calories and exercising for losing weight. I don’t think there’s any fad diets that work over any length of time.

K: Did you find you were eating less meat or more vegetables? It sounds like you definitely cut out the dairy part of it, but what about those two?

D: Well, I watched the quantities more than the types of food. But one thing I insisted on any diet is I had to have pizza once a week. Any diet I’ve ever been on because I absolutely love pizza. But it would be two slices. My days of three, four, five slices of pizza at a meal are over.

K: So it was a portion control issue.

D: It was portion control. I believe you have to have things you like. You just can’t be continually eating rice cakes. Once in awhile you have to treat yourself.

K: Are there any other big changes you made to your lifestyle? You mentioned you had quit smoking.

D: That was it. It was seven months at ten pounds a month, and it just worked out.

K: At this point, when you were losing 70 pounds, did you ever consider joining a gym or Weight Watchers or anything?

D: No. I’m not a joiner. I don’t like the crowd aspect of joining things. I can’t see myself at a gym.

K: Okay. So you stopped at 217, but you still lost around 40 pounds after that.

D: No. What happened was, over a period of about 12 or 13 years, I slowly put on about 20 pounds. A pound one year, a couple of pounds the next, and when we went on vacation to Spain, when I came back, I was 237.

K: Were you really?

D: Well, I was 217, and over those years I gained 20 pounds. So, I said, “This is not good. I’m well into my 50s, and I’m only 13 pounds from being 250 again.” So I decided it was time to start a diet again. And the first couple of months I lost quit a bit of weight, as you do on most diets. Maybe 15 or 16 pounds. And then I decided … I want to change my lifestyle so I don’t have to constantly be worried about losing all this weight and then putting it back on. … So, I would start losing, get down three pounds a month, two pounds a month. Sometimes there would be something special going on, like a vacation, and I might put on a couple of pounds or only lose a pound or break even that month. But slowly, over the course of a couple of years, I got down to my low weight, which was 179, which is about where I am now.
K: What about your eating habits now?

D: [On] weekends [I eat] two meals a day instead of three. I have brunch and dinner – maybe a light snack during the middle of the day. … And then it’s certainly a more structured environment at the office, and I think it’s easier to lose weight. I bring in some dry cereal in the morning. I like dry cereal because I think you get more flavor out of it, and I think it takes longer to eat. … And then I have a little snack in the middle of the morning. Always 100 calories or less. At lunch I have either a sandwich or soup.

K: But we’re not talking pastrami with mayonnaise.

D: No. … And then in the evening a normal meal. And I have my pizza once a week, and on the weekends I eat two good meals each day. I mean, they’re hearty meals. Sometimes I go for pancakes. Sometimes I go for Polish food. Whatever I feel like – but only two meals. … [Also] I do a lot of walking. I walk about 30, 35 miles a week. So, that helps, too.

K: Whoa.

D: Well, I get off the subway in the morning, about a mile from the office. I leave the house a little earlier to do that. In the afternoon I walk to a different station, and another mile. And then at lunchtime, whenever I can, I walk up to the promenade in Brooklyn, which is almost another mile to and from – a mile each way. So, just in those four things, I’ve already walked four miles for that day. And on the weekend I play golf and I go fishing at night. I always walk a mile or two. And it adds up quickly. It doesn’t have a lot of stress on my joints. At my age, I’m not into – I never was a jogger. I never saw somebody jogging who was smiling, so I figured it can’t be too pleasant an experience. They always look kind of pained. So … it’s kind of a lazy man’s exercise, but what I don’t have in quality, I make up in quantity.

K: Okay. So were your diets difficult to maintain? Did you ever feel deprived or anything?

D: Well … when I’m into a diet, it becomes a way of life. … Once you get used to it, it’s fine. … And this latest one, where I altered my lifestyle and still had big meals when I feel like it - it’s almost a guilty pleasure you don’t have to pay the price for all the time.

K: So it’s easier now.

D: It’s easier in that I kind of changed the way I manage my intake. I don’t go to the bakery and sit at the breakfast table for two hours anymore either. That doesn’t happen. And I don’t eat those massive quantities of pizza. I went from having pizza twice a week to having it once a week. So, it’s definitely a cutback, but that’s okay. I still get my pie.

K: What have been the benefits of the weight loss?

D: Well, I’m a lot more agile. I can, despite my bones starting to creak and stiffen up a little, I can get up and down relatively easily. I have a bad back, and the weight loss certainly helps my agility and my mobility. And of course, with all the walking, I can walk a pretty good distance. I walked to your office tonight from Downtown Brooklyn, which is about four miles. I did that in a little over an hour, so that’s a good pace. Good for someone my age.

K: Okay. So here’s a question: Grandma, your mom, was a big woman.

D: Yes.

K: Did you ever look at her and say to yourself, “That can’t happen to me when I’m that age”? Was that part of it at all?

D: Well, what I did notice – my mother lived to 88.

K: Oh yeah. I missed that.

D: There’s that. But I noticed that you don’t see a lot of big, old fat guys. They tend to die off relatively early. And I’ve been blessed with pretty good blood pressure and a good heart from what I understand, a strong heart. So, I didn’t want to make it any worse. I wanted to have a long, happy, healthy retirement, and part of that was not being overweight.

K: And with Grandma, she lived until 88, but she was not mobile for the last …

D: Listen, if I can get to 83 and suddenly not get too mobile…

K: Good point. So, for the diet and the lifestyle change, what was your support system like? Did anyone help you?

D: No.

K: Oh no.

D: Well, people say positive things. “Oh, you look great.” “Oh, you lost weight.” That’s certainly – that’s supportive. So, it’s a positive thing that you’re doing and people remark on it. And a lot of people have trouble losing weight, [but] you know, I guess for me, it hasn’t been … extremely difficult to do. But for some people it’s a real struggle, and I understand that. Positive feedback is always appreciated.

K: Got it. What are your plans for the future?

D: Retire, fish, golf, sex, drugs, rock and roll. Not necessarily in that order.
~~~

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Every Saturday, we post a piece from the CHG archives. This one comes from March 2009. Enjoy!

Up until a few years ago, the list of foods I loathed was a long one. It included, but wasn’t limited to: spaghetti squash, broccoli, asparagus, red cabbage, ginger ale, cauliflower, radishes, lentils, beans, Brussels sprouts, fennel, eggplant, anise, scallops, figs, and of course, the dreaded mayonnaise. The list goes on (and on), but you get the idea: growing up, I wasn’t exactly a daring eater.

I still hate mayo. I will ALWAYS hate mayo. George Clooney could serve me mayo wrapped in chocolate bacon on a gold-plated re-issue of Who’s Next, and I would throw it back in his face. But my opinion’s changed on most of those other foods. These days, I’ll gladly scarf a floret of cauliflower. Brussels sprouts hold a special place on my dinner table. And eggplant? Well, eggplant is my favorite thing ever, aside from the panda song from Sifl and Olly. (In fact, you could say I’m drunk on eggplant mystery.)

Granted, part of it is just me aging. At 31-years-old, my palate’s matured a little, and my tastes now lean more toward savory than sweet. The other part, though, can be directly attributed to recent changes in my lifestyle.

See, a few years ago, I resolved to learn to cook, to eat healthier, and to better manage my money. As it turned out, vegetables and legumes were vital to making this work, since they’re exponentially cheaper than meat and much more nutritious than most starches. So, I had to confront my fears. I had to expand my produce repertoire beyond corn, carrots, corn, and carrots.

These strategies helped. I learned to tolerate, and even love, a lot of foods I had longstanding issues with. Try ‘em for yourself, and please add your own suggestions to the comment section.

Make it unrecognizable.
Case study: Eggplant
Seedy, mushy, and horrifically purple, eggplant appealed to me about as much as a drug-free colonoscopy. Then, in 1997, my friend H hid it in her homemade tomato sauce. And … revelation. Soon, I was on to eggplant dips, eggplant pastas, and finally, plain ol’ broiled eggplant. The trick was getting the image of the vegetable out of my head, and forcing me to associate it with otherwise good food. I suspect it would work beautifully with any vegetable that could be pureed or furtively included in a sauce (butternut squash, bell peppers, etc.).

Use it in a recipe with foods you love.
Case study: Brussels sprouts
As far as I was concerned, Brussels sprouts were tiny, bitter cabbages that masochists ate when they ran out of bigger bitter cabbages. Little did I know that slathering them in Parmesan would provide a delicious gateway into healthier, simpler preparations. See also: Red Cabbage (ew) with Honey (nice), Apples (yay!), and Bacon (king of cured meats). Its actually quite scrumptious.

Try it in an ethnic dish.
Case study: Broccoli
Broccoli: looks like trees, tastes like butt, right? Yeah, I used to think like that, too. But in high school, Ma ordered Chicken and Broccoli from our local Chinese joint, Da How. Suddenly, it was broccoli: looks like trees, tastes like HEAVEN (with garlic and brown sauce). Sometimes, a food is more appealing when its paired with flavors you’re not necessarily accustomed to. Like bean sprouts on top of Pad Thai. Or peas stuffed in a samosa. Or tomatillo sauce spread across an enchilada. Pick a cuisine and start experimenting.

Cook the best-reviewed recipe you can find featuring that food.
Case study: Cauliflower
Most aggregate recipe sites like Epicurious, Food Network, and All Recipes have sophisticated rating systems with which home cooks can evaluate any dish. If you’re feeling ambitious, plug an ingredient into one of their search engines. Then, prep the recipe with the best overall reviews. For example, Ina Garten has a Cauliflower Gratin that’s received an average of five stars from 132 people (which is outstanding). I’ve tried it myself, and without exaggeration, it changed the way I felt about cauliflower. I just … I just didn’t know it could taste that good. Now, stuff like Roasted Garlic Cauliflower and Curried Cauliflower Soup with Honey are making regular appearances in my mouth.

Understand you don’t have to eat it the way your Ma (or Pa) prepared it.
Case study: Spaghetti Squash
Across the country, millions of Irish-Americans loathe vegetables because growing up, produce was boiled beyond recognition and then forced by threat of death into their reluctant maws. But take heart, my freckled brethren! It doesn’t have to be this way. Did you know carrots can be roasted? And broccoli rabe, sauteed? And spaghetti squash, combined with red sauce, mozzarella, and pine nuts to create something COMPLETELY DELICIOUS? It’s true. So, love your Gaelic Ma. Embrace her. Call her often. Just … try to forget her cooking. It’ll make this whole process much easier.

Try a dish with a subtler incarnation of that food.
Case study: Tarragon
This one’s a little difficult to explain, so here’s an example: I despise anise. Even thinking about its black licorice flavor makes my tongue curl. Recently though, I discovered a White Bean and Tarragon Soup that I quite like. Tarragon, like fennel, possesses traits similar to anise, but it’s much, much subtler. In the soup, it was complemented so well by the other ingredients, I didn’t even taste the hate. Maybe Ill feel the same way about anise someday. Think of this principle like salsa: you start out mild, and work your way up to medium and hot varieties.

Give it just one more shot.
Case study: Beans
For some inexplicable reason, I always assumed I hated beans. As a kid, they looked funny to me. And in my six-year-old brain, funny-looking food = bad food. It wasn’t until I grew up, sacked up, ate one and didn’t throw up, that they became a regular part of my diet. (Okay, hummus helped.)

If you truly hate it, let it go.
Case studies: scallops, figs, radishes, mayo
Scallops will never be my thing, no matter how fresh they are, how well they’ve been prepared, and how many times I try them. Figs, radishes, mayonnaise – still disgusting, as well. (Which, did I mention I hate mayonnaise? I did? Oh, good.) Sometimes, a certain food just won’t do it for you. And it’s okay. Just move on to the next one.

And that’s it. Readers? Suggestions?

~~~

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Every Saturday, we post a piece from the CHG Archives. This number is from February 2008. Those were the days, Edith.

I have a confession: cooking healthily and staying on budget remain constant struggles. Though I’m learning, and hope you’re enjoying the journey, I’m ultimately not an expert chef, dietician, or personal finance guru.

But I am a media professional. And I know a little bit about advertising. And I know that the brass ring of every ad agency in existence is brand loyalty. And I know that brand loyalty can cost a food shopper (you, me, us, etc.) a lot of cash.

Today’s article focuses on that phenomenon. What is brand loyalty? When does it start? Why is it less than great? How can it be tamed? You might find the piece a bit drier than most CHG posts (in which case, pace yourself by periodically checking into Cute Overload), but it could also be the most important one yet.

(Did that sound good? Yeah? Okay, cool. Let’s get started.)

What it is
Simply, brand loyalty occurs when a consumer uses a product or service over and over again, because A) it works for her, B) it’s habitual, and C) she’s hesitant to spend cash on the unfamiliar. For example, when I buy orange juice, it’s Tropicana, and it has been for as long as I can remember. My mom always bought it, and from what I recall, her mom did, too. I rarely purchase other brands, because it’s been imprinted on my brain (through personal experience and tons of advertising) that they won’t taste as good as Tropicana.

When it begins
One of the most eye-opening moments of my professional career occurred about five years ago, when I had a meeting in a room just used by employees of a kids television channel, whose target demographic is children between the ages of 4 and 11. One of their employees left a marketing presentation printout on the conference table. In it, kids (again, ages 4 to 11) were erred to as “consumers.” Yikes.

Like that company, many (if not most) corporations start building consumer brand loyalty from birth. (It would begin at conception if zygotes could read.) Advertisers spend billions of dollars each year to promote directly to toddlers and school-age children through magazines, television shows, movies, clothes, billboards, music, commercials, and … well, you name it. The earlier marketing begins, the more ingrained the product is, and the longer those kids will be customers.

In fact, the National Institute of Media and Family estimates that “Children as young as age three recognize brand logos, with brand loyalty influence starting at age two.” If anyone has a little girl obsessed with Disney Princesses (as many of my mom-friends do), you know what they’re talking about.

Why it costs you more
Once you become loyal to a brand, that company counts on your repeat business throughout the course of your lifetime. As a result, prices can be jacked up because it’s assumed you’ll continue to pay a premium out of allegiance. What’s more, you’ll ignore competing items, no matter what advantages they present. Wikipedia puts it best: “For example, if Joe has brand loyalty to Company A he will purchase Company As products even if Company Bs are cheaper and/or of a higher quality.”

Think of it this way: there are three types of oatmeal on sale - Quaker, McCann’s, and Generi-oats. They contain mostly the same ingredients, and are essentially the same shape, color and consistency. Quaker goes for $3 a box. McCann’s is $2 after a coupon. Generi-oats runs a mere $1.50. Since it’s habit and your dear ol’ Dad always did it, you buy Quaker without thinking twice. You’re down at least $1.50 because of brand loyalty.

Now, multiply that $1.50 by the number of items in your shopping cart. How much does brand loyalty cost you per trip? Per month? Per year?

What does this have to do with the “Healthy” part of “Cheap, Healthy, Good”?
Well, advertisers throw a LOT of resources into marketing processed food, meaning you have a better chance at becoming brand-loyal. Those products are generally less nutritious than whole foods like meats, produce, and dairy, which aren’t pushed as hard in commercials and print ads. So, not only do brand-name processed foods cost more, they can crowd fresher, healthier foods out of your shopping cart.

How to fight it
While advertising and some brand loyalty are nearly impossible to avoid, there are steps you can take to minimize their influence:

EVERYDAY LIFE: Flip off the TV. Mute commercials. Try to minimize advertising found around the home. Don’t prioritize brand names, especially in front of kids. Promote media literacy. Stress variety and try new things.

FOOD: Buy generic. Experiment with brands besides the ones you regularly use. Shop with coupons, which offer savings on a different brand each week. Use the circular, which varies discounts throughout the year. Cook from scratch. Purchase foods found around the perimeter of the supermarket. Cut back on brand-based cookbooks.

A caveat
You know what? Though they’re nearly twice the price, I find Ghirardelli chocolate chips tastier than Nestle. Inarguably, they make my cookies better. I’ve developed a brand loyalty to them. On the same note, I’m highly hesitant to switch my contact lens solution. Other products dry out my eyes, and I have an annoying habit of walking into sharp things when I can’t see.

There’s nothing wrong with brand loyalty if a product works for you, especially if you’ve tried the alternatives. It’s when that devotion is uninformed and automatic there can be an issue.

In the end
Brand loyalty isn’t catastrophic, and it won’t ruin any lives or hopes for the future (like say, smoking or riding the M Train naked). While it can be costly, both nutritionally and wallet…ally, knowing the facts and shopping smart is a stellar way of addressing concerns. If you’re interested in learning more, check out these resources:

• Answers.com provides a deeper explanation of brand loyalty.
• For hardcore shopping statistics, there’s this About.com article, and more from the Grocery Manufacturers of America.
• For lots of somewhat frightening information on kids and advertising, check out the National Institute on Media and Family’s fact sheet.

(Photos courtesy of Global Package Gallery, The Wooden Porch, and Flickr member aqualilflower.)

Every Saturday, we post a piece from the CHG archives. This one comes from June 2009.

Though it might seem intuitive, determining a recipe’s cost and nutritional value can get pretty complicated, pretty quickly. Ingredient prices can add up before you know it, and a combination of fats, meats, and cheeses will take a toll on your calorie count without even registering on your radar. And sometimes, even the most harmless-looking dishes, like All Recipes’ Greek Pasta Salad with Shrimp, Tomatoes, Zucchini, Peppers, and Feta, can run you $2 and 42 grams of fat per serving.

So, how can you tell if a dish is good for you, just by looking at it? How can you avoid the pitfalls of secretly fatty and financially unsound food? How can you err on the side of caution when it comes to cooking?

Look no further, sweet readers. We’ve got you covered. If your recipe source doesn’t give a nutritional breakdown and you’re unsure of the potential cost, these tips will help you decide whether the money/waistline expenditures are worth the trouble. If you have any suggestions, be sure to include them in the comment section.

DO choose your source wisely. Man, I love Paula Deen. Her food looks stupendous and she’s endlessly entertaining – like Yo Gabba Gabba if it was a charmingly cackley southern woman. That said, her concoctions might not be the best choice for those concerned about weight. If you know you’re looking for healthier recipes, sources like Everyday Food, Cooking Light, and Eating Well will generally be more helpful than the Neelys or the Two Fat Ladies. Likewise, reproducing a dish from Grant Achatz’s Alinea cookbook will probably run you a pretty penny compared to the average Cook’s Illustrated meal. Starting your search with a website, cookbook, or blog aimed at your requirements is half the battle.

DO check the number of servings. Once you have a recipe in mind, before you do anything else, check how many people it’s supposed to sate. Fourteen ounces of flank steak does little damage split among eight eaters, but can destroy diets if it’s meant only for two.

DO read the ingredient list caully. After the serving size, the ingredients are the most important determinant of the cost and nutritional value of a recipe. Scan the rundown, look for a few keywords (many of which are listed below), and be extra aware of extravagant or difficult-to-find foods for your area, which will drive up the price.

DO consider recipes with one or two out-of-the-box ingredients. In small doses, odds are it/they won’t break the bank, and you can incorporate new flavors into your repertoire. Lemongrass? Meyer lemons? Lemon basil? Sure, why not?

DON’T dismiss a long list of ingredients outright. Lighter foods like Bon Appetit’s Turkey Chili with Beans frequently require multiple, inexpensive spices and flavorings to make up for the absence of fat. While their sheer number can seem pretty intimidating, don’t fret. Oftentimes, these foods can be found right in your pantry for minimal cost.

DO count the number of ingredients already in-house. Speaking about that pantry, recipes based on dry goods will usually be cheaper than ones requiring a trip to the supermarket. Look for meals that use rice, beans, pasta, and other staples as jump off points, and go from there.

DO opt for whole food ingredients. If it can be found in the outer aisles of your supermarket, it’s probably a good start to a meal. Fresh fruits, veggies, and lean meats give recipes more bang for the buck, and almost guarantee a healthier overall experience. Fewer preservatives and extra-excellent flavor are just bonuses.

DON’T choose recipes made from processed food. The less ingredients are handled by humans, the better. Why? Well, in general, heavily processed and pre-cut edibles are more expensive and worse for you than the aforementioned whole foods. Semi Homemade-style meals may be convenient, but when you’re sacrificing money, nutrition, and taste, is it worth it?

DO watch out for lots of meat and cheese. In moderation, neither of these is anything to fear. But prices and calories rise when a meal centers on multiple cups of frommage or large cuts of beef or pork. Instead, search for recipes where meat and cheese are add-ons instead of the main event. You’ll save all around.

DO calculate about 12 or 13 grams of fat per tablespoon of butter or oil. When doing a cursory scan of any recipe, I take extra care to check the total cooking fat. If there’s a lot, but it can be easily reduced (like in sautés), I keep going. If there’s a lot, but the amount is set in stone (as in some baking), I move along to the next dish.

DON’T rule out all fatty ingredients. Nuts, olives, avocados and certain oils aren’t low-fat foods, but they’re healthy ones because of the vitamins and minerals they offer. Relatively inexpensive and often pivotal to a dish’s overall flavor, they should be incorporated into any diet in moderation.

DO look for words like: baked, roasted, steamed, grilled, or sautéed. These cooking techniques tend to use less fat than others while still producing flavorful foods. Steaming and boiling are good keywords as well.

DON’T choose recipes with the words: fried, au gratin, cream sauce, bisque, bacon-wrapped, or lard. Each of these terms implies one thing: fat. If you’re serious about watching your weight, there are lighter recipes for certain dishes (Spaghetti Carbonara, etc.), but straight-up lobster bisque will do a number on your numbers.

Confusing? Maybe. Do-able? Definitely. With some practice, these rules will get easier to use. And in the end, you’ll have no problem telling the difference between the recipe you really want and the recipe you thought you wanted.

Readers, fire away in the comment section.

~~~

If you liked this article, you might also dig:

• How to Tell if a Recipe is Worth Cooking With Five Easy Questions at Casual Kitchen
• Frugal Food Hacks: 10 Tricks to Simplifying Online Recipe Searches
• The Dos and Don’ts of Buying a Cookbook

Every Saturday, we post a piece from the CHG archives. This one comes from July 2007, meaning it was one of our very first articles. My pantrys changed a lot since then, but its still fun to revisit.

I just moved for the 47,000th time in eight years. While transporting three tons of stuff to a bizarre, unfamiliar locale isn’t exactly my idea of a hootenanny, it’s giving me the opportunity to once again restock my pantry. Whee!

Having a well-stocked pantry doesn’t mean owning an actual pantry, which is a realization that most people have around 2nd grade, but only came to me in apartment #5,233. Instead, it means:

• Always having a few basic, inexpensive, long-lasting goods that will provide the foundation of millions of meals to come,

• Saving precious dough by buying necessities on sale,

• No last-minute runs to the supermarket because you’ve run out of sugar (again),

• Never saying, “There’s nothing to eat at home, dagnammit.”

• Impressing the hell out of your parents, who will thank the good lord that they’ve raised such a prepared, forward-thinking child.

Since there are roughly half a million Plan Your Pantry guides, all aimed at folks of varying socio-economic classes, let’s start with a few good ones for perusal:

• Food Network has a bare-bones compilation.

• Like the magazine itself, the Real Simple pantry is geared toward middle-class couples with kids, but they’re the undisputed high priests of organization, so it’s worth a look.

• AZCentral’s list is a way long, but still fairly realistic.

• AllRecipes doesn’t just have a basic American pantry, but Chinese, Italian, and Japanese ones, as well. Sweet.

• Reluctant Gourmet has a good example of a list that’s crazy thorough, but maybe a bit too expansive/expensive for the average bear. I’m not sure how many folks need to keep clam juice and dried currants in the house. If you do, more power to you.

Though these pantries differ pretty widely, there are a few foods they have in common (rice, beans, etc.). To make life easier, I comped all their contents (minus the Chinese, Japanese, and Italian lists from AllRecipe) into one Master List, then sorted the foods to see which appeared most often.

The following appeared at least three times, which means it’s probably a good idea to have them available:

Beans: White, Black, Kidney
Broths & Stocks
Canned Tomatoes (whole peeled)
Chiles
Dried Fruit
Dried Mushrooms
Herbs & Spices: Basil, Red Pepper, Chili Powder, Paprika, Oregano, Black Pepper
Ketchup
Lentils and/or Split Peas
Olive Oil
Olives
Onions
Pasta
Rice
Salsa
Soy Sauce
Tuna
Vinegar
Worcestershire Sauce

If you’re going for an even better-stocked pantry, each of the following appeared in two lists:

Bread Crumbs
Capers
Chutney
Coconut Milk
Corn Meal
Corn Starch
Crackers
Egg Noodles
Flour
Garlic (fresh)
Herbs & Spices: Bay Leaves, Cinnamon, Rosemary, Thyme
Honey
Hot Sauce
Mayonnaise
Nuts
Pasta Sauce
Peanut Butter
Potatoes
Salt
Sugar: Brown, White
Tapenades
Vanilla Extract

Personally, I would switch sugar, flour, cinnamon, garlic, and OH MY GOD SALT with lentils, dried mushrooms, dried fruits, Worcestershire sauce, and chilies, while banishing mayonnaise to an unmarked galaxy. If you use honey during teatime or hot sauce on everything, go ahead and stick those up in List #1, too. It’s all about personal perence, baby.

When stocking your new, fabulous pantry with all this new, fabulous stuff, there are three things (some would say “tips”) to keep in mind:

• Though most (me) use the word “pantry” to er to dry goods, lots of people/publications expand it to include key frozen foods and vital rigerator items, as well. Eggs, milk, unsalted butter, frozen meat, and frozen fruit are always a plus to have around, and make for colossally healthy meals.

• Don’t be afraid of stocking oils, pestos, and other higher-fat items. Used in moderation, they can lend flavor and substance to food without making it a triple bypass bomb.

• When you see any pantry items on sale, it’s always a good idea to stock up, especially if you use something freakishly often. When penne’s priced at two-for-a-dollar, I buy enough to last until I retire.

Remember, folks: your pantry is your friend. Fill it with food and it will treat you better.

Tuesday evening’s rolled around, and it’s time for some spur-of-the-moment food shopping. You saunter through the sticky sliding glass doors of your local grocery store, pondering what to purchase with the $15.09 you’ve budgeted until Friday. Then you spot it, lying prostrate and unused in a misshapen stack by the shopping carts: the Supermarket Circular.

Cackling like a maniac, you scuttle over to snatch the half-soaked, seven-page spreadsheet. You’re hunched and focused, madly scanning the deli section when it hits you: you have no blessed clue how to read this thing. Sure, there are pretty pictures, and yes, the numbers look tantalizingly low, but do you have to buy seven freakin’ jars of jelly to get the 7-for-$7 discount?

The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind.

Just kidding. The answer is actually “no.” More often than not, that jelly is priced individually. Since this isn’t intuitive knowledge, like breathing or using a pit bull from a man with missing fingers, here are a few decoding tips for the Supermarket Circular, the mightiest of cash-saving weapons.

AT THE STORE:

If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. Lots of circulars advertise sales like “Tuna: 5 cans, 3 bucks” or “10 boxes of Ronzoni pasta for $10.” The majority of the time, each item is individually priced, meaning you don’t have to dogpile ten cartons of penne to get the deal. Buy three and it’ll be $3. Buy six and it’ll be $6. Buy one, it’ll be $1, and you won’t have 144 extra ounces of pasta hanging around your cupboards.

Read the small print. Oftentimes, stores will list purchasing requirements in Lilliputian typeface at the bottom of an ad. You don’t see it until it’s too late, and then you’re stuck paying regular price at the register. Criminals here include caveats like: “With minimum purchase of $25,” “With club card only,” and “Limit one per customer.”

Look out for loss leaders. Normally depicted in giant photos on the front or back covers, loss leaders are priced at rock bottom to lure in shoppers. Frequently they’re perishables, daily menu foods, or other stuff you buy with some regularity - meat, fruit, vegetables, etc. Hands down the best values in the market, according to Womans Day, “if you make those two pages … the base of what you’re going to eat all week, you’ll save about 30 percent.”

Keep in mind not everything in the circular is on sale. As Consumer Reports informs us, “A mere mention of a product in a circular can boost sales by as much as 500 percent, even without a price reduction.” In fact, SmartMoney.com says, “Some stores raise prices on advertised specials.” If those on sale hot dogs still seem pretty expensive to you, they probably are. Keep moving.

Do the math. On smarter blogs, this is called “comparing unit prices,” but either way, it goes for all shopping everywhere. Just because a product is sold in bulk doesn’t mean it’s a better deal, even if it appears in the circular. In other words, if a 32-oz. olive oil is listed in the weekly at $10, and the 16-oz. version of that same item regularly sells for $4, the 32-oz. bottle is a rip-off. They’re tricking you into buying more product for more money. Tricksters.

Use your judgment. When you finally arrive at that bin of $0.01/lb chicken breast, take a good, long look at the quality of the meat. Is it gray? Does it stink? Is it housing a maggot colony? There’s a reason it’s on sale. Chalk it up in the loss column and move on. (Same goes for fruits and veggies.) However, if it’s pinkish, and still a day or two away from going bad? Stellar. Take it home and freeze what you don’t use immediately.

Bring the circular with you as you shop. Last week, I saw a 2-for-$1 deal on Goya beans in the circular at my local Key Food. When I got to the shelf, there was no indication anywhere they were on sale. Still, I picked up six cans, brought ‘em to Checkout, and sure enough, got the discount. I don’t know if a lot of supermarkets purposely obscure sales, but man, what a villainous ploy if they do.

Bring the circular with you to Checkout. Whether the machines register a wrong promotion code, or simple humans make simple errors, you will inevitably pay extra for an item on sale. If you’re using a circular to shop and suspect you’ve been overcharged, show the cashier. Are you correct? Sweet! You can bask in the glorious victory of the righteous. (Are you wrong? Boo! Apologize, smile sheepishly, and back away slowly.)

If you’ve got a coupon for an item in a circular, go ahead and try it. Waffles are on sale for ½ off. You have an additional $0.50 coupon. It’s worth a shot, right?

Try a raincheck. Not all supermarkets do this, but if a circular item’s sold out, you can try obtaining a raincheck for later. Those $0.88/lb green bell peppers will come in handy in September, you know.

OH - AND NEXT TIME, BEFORE YOU GO:

Look online. Circulars are increasingly accessible via la web, and chains are including all sorts of extras to entice you. Instant shopping lists, recipe suggestions, back massagers – whatever. The internet availability makes it much, much easier to compare prices between grocery stores, too.

Check to see if your market will match competitors’ circular prices. Rumor has it that some stores have a lowest-price guarantee, as long as you can prove it using another market’s circular. Print it up and bring it with you on your next shopping trip.

Start a pricebook. Are there products you buy with some regularity? Do they go on sale often? Using the online circular and your last receipt, start keeping track of sale prices. This way, you’ll know when something’s just a nickel off, or 75%. Snazzy!

Plan meals around what’s on sale. See: Loss leaders; Look out for. That $0.79/lb pork shoulder could feed you and/or the Marine Corps for a whole week.

Prepare to shop at the start of a new sales cycle. Lots of circulars go into effect on Fridays, and end the following Thursdays. Generally, the better-quality stuff will be made available at the beginning. Don’t wait.

And that’s our ballgame, folks. I specifically didn’t go into coupons or the Sunday newspaper supplement, since they’ll provide plenty of fodder for a future column. If you’re interested in examining either, I highly suggest CouponMom.com. Stephanie knows the score.

Sources:

• Green, Geoffrey M. and John L Park. “New Insights Into Supermarket Promotions via Scanner Data Analysis: The Case of Milk.” Journal of Food Distribution Research. Volume 29, Number 3. November 1998.
• Kadet, Anne. “10 Things Your Supermarket Won’t Tell You.” SmartMoney.com. August 2001.
• Moran, Gwen. “Hide and Seek Savings.” Womans Day. p. 98. April 2005.
• Nelson, Stephanie. “Grocery Store Savings Secrets.” Couponmom.com. 2006.
• Nelson, Stephanie. “Savings Programs Keep Money in Pocket.” The Augusta Chronicle. P. D02. January 2006.
• “Winning at the Grocery Game: How to Shop Smarter, Cheaper, Faster.” Consumer Reports. October 2006.

Every Saturday, we post a sweet little piece from the CHG archives. This week, we journey back to September 2007...  

Recently, my old roommate R and I had a few friends over for dinner and Game Night. (Apples to Apples! It’s the funnest.) Problem was, we didn’t know what to serve. Here’s why. (This is not a joke.)

• H is a vegetarian, and was pregnant at the time.
  
  
• F is mostly vegetarian, with some exceptions. He hates ginger, cake, and honey.
  
  
• D loathes vegetables, and eats pasta almost exclusively.
  
  
• S won’t touch an endangered animal. (This actually rules out a lot of fish.)
  
  
• R is allergic to dairy and was on Weight Watchers.
  
  
• K (that’s me!) was also on Weight Watchers, and in descending order of disgustingness, will not eat/drink: mayonnaise, anise, figs, scallops, cauliflower, radishes, ginger ale, sloppy joes, or any casserole with crunchy onions on top.
  
  
• J and M are easygoing, normal people who will generally consume anything, up to and including dolphins.

Planning a thrifty, nutritional meal for this crowd was harder than listening to a Yoko Ono album, but we managed using a few hard-learned, easily-executed strategies. From classy dinner parties to impromptu barbecues, here’s how you can too:

IF YOU’RE D.I.Y.

Start with starches. Inexpensive, versatile, and low in fat, pasta, rice, potatoes, and noodles can be the starting point and main component to hundreds and hundreds of dishes. Relatively flavorless, they’re not too scary, either. Make a big, plain pile and give your guests three different sauces/broths to choose from. And on that note …

Sauce it up. Whether it’s penne, pork, or potatoes, sauces make everything infinitely more delicious. Cook a single base food, like chicken, and present your friends with multiple sauce options. Maybe a tomato concoction? Or a low-fat pesto? How about something a little more lemony? Pair it with a starch and a simple veggie, and voila! Victory.

Needless to say, have a buffet. Make five big plates of food, including at least two main dishes. They can be as simple (mashed potatoes, honey-roasted carrots) or as complicated (Basic Beef Stew with Carrots and Mushrooms) as you like, and friends can pick and choose their favorites. Planned caully, it’s a please-everybody healthfest for a nominal price.

Sweat the small stuff. Main course add-ons like bread, olives, cut-up vegetables, and small blocks of cheese can round out a plate and fill guests up without putting a massive dent in your wallet. Since they’re relatively free of seasonings and fancy preparations, finicky diners will be less afraid, too. In fact, if you’re big into finger foods, maybe …

Try a tapas-type meal. Instead of a few large dishes, give a bunch of smaller ones a shot. This way, you can satisfy your cooking jones, appeal to the Choosy Ones, keep several dishes in the Healthy Zone (not unlike the Twilight Zone), and blow as little or as much as you like. Some suggestions: bruschetta (the real stuff), melon wrapped in prosciutto, fruit skewers, finger-sized sandwiches, chicken mini-bites, or slices of turkey or chicken sausages.

Get fruity. Even the pickiest of eaters might go for a banana. Serving melon salad, homemade applesauce, or fruit salsa is a low-risk, high-reward venture, like sleeping or swimming in jello. Buying in season keeps it under budget, and it works wonders for dessert, too.

Set out some soup. One of the easiest, classiest, thriftiest ways of sating a battalion of visitors is ladling soup into their gaping maws. For choosy eaters, keep it simple or provide a selection of two. Butternut squash soup and egg drop soup are just a pair of delectable, low-priced ideas.

Load up on condiments. Ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce, brown sauce, fat-free mayo, relish, soy sauce, wasabi, teriyaki sauce, fat-free dressings, chutneys, honey, honey mustard, peanut butter, hummus, duck sauce, and dipping sauces give guests an inexpensive range of options without forcing them into a decision. Really, it’s like supporting democracy.

Make breakfast. Maybe it’s not the classiest meal option, but a morning-themed dinner could excite less demanding taste buds. Eggs, omelets, healthy muffins, light casseroles, toast, hash browns, turkey bacon, and fruit salad are healthy building blocks of a growing boy/girl/hermaphrodite’s diet. (Nix on the cereal, though. There are limits.)

Tell them it’s BYO (Build Your Own). Whether it’s Sandwich Night, Pizza Night, Salad Night – really, any Night – people like food better when they have a say about what goes in it. Have a Burrito Night and pretend you’re Chipotle. Put out bowls of chopped tomatoes, diced green peppers, shredded lettuce, ried beans, low-fat shredded cheese, crumbly meats, salsa, rice, mole sauce, and let partakers construct their own repast. Everyone will think you’re a genius.

Cook crappy foods differently. “Many picky eaters choose high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and little else,” say experts. If your guests are fans of cheap, fatty foods like pizza, french fries, and hamburgers (see my friend D), try making healthier versions. Baked fries, lean burgers, and coal-oven style pizza are delicious, easy, and frugal.

Win points with creativity. Whether it’s planning a theme (Oscar Night), giving your foods silly names (Dame Judi Dench’s Supporting Rolls), or making a special drink (Roberto Benigni-tini), simple imagination can jazz up a frugal meal and goad finicky company into trying new things. Sound ridiculous? Maybe it is, but what works for kids often works for adults. Check out In Style Parties or Amy Sedaris’ I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence for ideas.

IF YOU DON’T MIND SOME HELP

Try a potluck. Friends and family will bring their favorite foods, and it doesn’t cost you a dime. Make sure to coordinate the menu items though, or you’ll end up with five plates of brownies and no main dish. For a healthy twist, have a make-your-own salad station to go with everything.

Have guests bring the wine. For me anyway, alcohol is fundamental. When Trader Joe’s is closed and you haven’t thought far enough in advance to use Wine.com, there’s no shame in asking attendees to provide the booze. If there’s a concern about health issues, make a non-alcoholic alternative or read this article: Researchers Say Pigments Make Red Wine Helpful to Hearts.

Do a Progressive. Really, this is more of a group effort and significantly easier for folks who live within walking distance, but if each participant hosts a course (appetizer, soup, main course, dessert, etc.) everyone saves cash and eats something they like. Plus, it’s a neat experience and your dish can be as healthy as you want it.

Remember: ordering out is not a sin. In some cases, it defeats the whole purpose of frugality and cooking. In others, it’s a valuable crutch for when you don’t have the time, inclination, or extra ingredients lying around. Go ahead and grab a quart of wonton soup. Don’t fear (the reaper) the pound of edamame. Embrace the take-out naan. As long as it’s within reason, it’s not cheating.

EXTRA TIPS

When in doubt, don’t mention it’s healthy. While the Weight Watchers fans will love you for it, choosier folks automatically equate nutritious food with having a mouth enema. If you can pass off tofu cheesecake, tomato guacamole, or tomato sauce rife with pureed bell peppers, for the love of god, keep quiet.

Look for sales. Devising a group meal around sales in Supermarket Circulars can save you a bundle of cash, and the produce section is particularly helpful for economically-priced seasonal dishes.

Start planning early. Last-minute smorgasbords for selective people are incredibly difficult to pull off without spending a bundle. It tends to be when health concerns go out the window, as well. The sooner you map out a menu, the better. If your company has religious or allergy-related food restrictions, this is a helpful guide from the Butler’s Guild (!).

But don’t go nuts. Picky and special-needs eaters are used to having low-to-zero dining options, so any effort made in their direction will most likely be welcomed. When push comes to shove, your pregnant vegan friend can make do with a fruit salad, and the onion-hating cousin is just fine with roasted sweet potatoes. Making 46,000 different dishes to satisfy an equal number of tastes is expensive overkill. However, remember …

Be frugal without being a cheap bastard. Frugal is passing on the caviar while looking for a deal on the pork. Cheap is buying coal grey meat packaged during the Carter Administration. While saving money is admirable, cutting too many financial corners will have a negative affect on both your food and your friends’ regard for you.

Sources

• “Children and picky eating (adults, too).” Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders. http://www.anred.com/childpick.html.
  
  
• Delp, Valerie. “Sneaky Mama’s Top 9 Tips for Picky Eaters.” Families.com. food.families.com/blog/sneaky-mamas-top-9-tips-for-picky-eaters. August 2006.
  
  
• “Picky Eater Dinner Guests.” Serious Eats. www.seriouseats.com/talk/2007/07/pickyeater-dinner-guests.html. July 2007.

If you’ve been to the supermarket in the last few months, the rising cost of food isn’t exactly an Elliot Spitzer-level surprise. Grain prices are up, dairy products have become a luxury, and meat … well, cheap beef is rarer than a J.D. Salinger sighting these days. CNN, MSNBC, and the newspapers are finally picking up on it, too, with more stories about global grocery shortages and ludicrous shipping expenses. It appears we’re headed for a recession, and it may not get better anytime soon.

Never fear, though – it’s the interweb to the rescue. Lots of wonderfully informed bloggers have been totally on the ball, including Cathy at Chief Family Officer and Blogher’s Alanna Kellogg. They’ve written stellar pieces on combating food inflation, replete with shopping strategies, cooking ideas, and inventive ideas for stretching a budget.

There’s not much more to say after those posts, but I figured I’d jump on the Food/Recession bandwagon anyway. (It’s a nice bandwagon – sage green with mammoth cupholders.) Hopefully, the following suggestions will build on what Cathy and Alanna have to say, and offer a few new strategies along with it.

Don’t panic. It’s not the end of the world. Grocery prices will rise and certain items may become nigh-unattainable, but you will still be able to eat. So will your family. And with a little planning, you might not notice much of a difference.

Stay informed. Information is power. I don’t know who said that (Sophocles? Joan Didion? Cher?), but he/she was right on. As dire as the news may seem sometimes, keeping abreast of the fiscal situation is vital to preparing for sudden changes. So gird your loins and peruse the news, scan some blogs, and watch the occasional Brian Williams broadcast. Be on special lookout for food stories. You’ll be smarter for it.

Take baby steps. Revamping your diet and budget the same day won’t work, and might put you off both forever. Lasting change comes through small actions executed consistently. so take it easy. Start small, with a few simple practices, and work your way up from there.

Set aside one hour per week to plan. During this hour, you can devise a weekly menu, find circular deals online, clip coupons, and map out your shopping trips, all of which could save hundreds of dollars a month. If you were paid $100 for 60 minutes of work, wouldn’t you do it? Would you think twice? (Lawyers and doctors, don’t answer that.) What’s more, it’s much easier to stay on a healthy track when you have a concrete shopping and meal plans. It keeps you from scrounging for last-minute eats.

Write stuff down. Keeping a budget, planning that menu, and creating a grocery list are three time-tested, mother-approved money-saving maneuvers. The last two strategies usually help with weight maintenance, as well. Turns out, there is no greater splurging/gorging deterrent than knowing exactly what you’re splurging/gorging on.

Sign up for savings and perred customer cards. If you haven’t already done this, stop reading and run to your grocer. See, just about every major supermarket has a club program that offers special discounts to regular shoppers. You give them your name and e-mail address in exchange for a dinky little keychain doohickey that magically saves 10%, 20%, or 40% per purchase. As far as I know, there are no reported downsides, except for a very heavy keychain.

Start a price book post haste. Get Rich Slowly has the end-all-be-all post on these, but there’s more at Frugal Upstate, as well as a downloadable template at No Credit Needed. (Incidentally, if you’re in the New York City area and shop at Associated or Key Food, shoot me an e-mail. I keep somewhat anarchic pricebooks for these two stores, and can forward them to you.)

Go to Money Saving Mom immediately. I can’t possibly cover this topic any better than Crystal does on a daily basis. (Brown nosing? Yes. And how!) Essentially, she and a roving gang of coupon-clippin’ ladybloggers have figured out how to score deeply discounted personal effects and non-perishable food from CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and more. We’re talking $133 worth of shampoo, diapers, and toothpaste for $9. And if that’s not enough, there are shopping strategies GALORE, from post to shining post.

When it comes to cookbooks and kitchen equipment, buy only what you absolutely need. If cooking is a hobby, it’s distressingly easy to blow a wad on adorable egg holders. Or a fourth Baoot Contessa volume. Or a hard-anodized 10-piece pot set, because some dude on QVC said you SIMPLY MUST HAVE a sauté pan in every size. Truth is, there are precious few items anyone needs to make a decent meal, and most recipes can be found online nowadays. This Mark Bittman article has more, and these two CHG posts can help you find inexpensive equipment and cookbooks.

Clip coupons and bulk shop, but do it wisely. While both of these tactics might take big bucks off bills, they can also lull folks into buying stuff they don’t need. If you’re going to use coupons, make sure it’s for something you would purchase anyway. And if you’re loading that 128-oz. jar of capers into your elephant-sized CostCo cart, double check to see if it’s really cheaper per unit than a 4-oz. bottle. (While you’re at it, double check to see who on Earth needs eight pounds of capers.)

Cut back on booze, meat, and processed foods. “But Kris,” you might say,“they are the stuff OF LIFE.” And you’d totally be correct. Watching a ballgame without a dirty water dog and bucket-sized Bud Light … it’s unfathomable for some. (Note: me.) However, there’s something to be said for moderation. Eliminating these things from your diet entirely may be a pipe dream (or pipe nightmare), but reducing your consumption will save mad cash AND improve your health. To fill that hole in your stomach …

Eat real food. Pizza rolls, mozzarella sticks, and fries might be convenient, but produce, dairy, meat, legumes, and grain will help you live longer. AND, chosen caully, they’ll cost less in the long run. Always remember to shop in season, from the circular, and around the perimeter of the supermarket, where they keep the whole foods.

Stock up. When frequently-used staple items like flour, beans, and canned tomatoes go on mega-sale, snatch up as much as you possibly can (provided there’s sufficient storage). Not only will they come in handy down the line, but pantry meals can be healthy, filling, and surprisingly delicious. For more information, Motherload’s Amy Clark has an ongoing series on stockpiling.

Go generic. Dont be scared. Its often just as good as the brand name.

D.I.Y. Cook more at home. Cook in bulk. Freeze things. Try gardening. Make your own mixes, dressings, sauces, and marinades. (They taste better, take zero culinary skill, and cost a fraction of the store-bought brands.) With a little time and effort, anything you see in the supermarket or at a restaurant can be accomplished in your own kitchen.

Drink water, but not the bottled kind. No one’s begrudging the occasional Dr. Pepper, but tap water is the superior choice for two reasons: it’s a billion times healthier and 100%, totally, absolutely free-er than free. Bottled water, while not a terrible choice, is a legendary rip-off, like bad chicken or accidentally downloading a Beatles cover band on iTunes.

Brown bag it. Any and every personal finance blog worth its salt has written about this subject 600 times (uh … except this one.), and for good reason. Not only does brown-bagging save me about $1300 per year, but it makes it much, MUCH (much) easier to monitor what I eat. Whether you’re into bento boxes or PB&J, it’s a sure-fire recession beater.

Let’s get this out of the way up front: I eat diet products. I drink Diet Coke, dig low-fat granola bars, and am not ashamed to love No Pudge brownies as if they were my own mother. Moreover, I challenge anyone who insists that their yogurt tastes better than Weight Watchers’ Amaretto Cheesecake brand to an all-out dairy war. (Note: I will win.)

Like most people who’re even slightly concerned about the magnitude of their bum, diet products are a part of my everyday life. I buy them regularly because they let me think that I care about what I eat, without actually having to care about what I eat. And in a world of 770-calorie Strawberry Frappuccinos and Deep-fried Cheesecake, doesn’t that borderline awareness count for something?

As it turns out, maybe not.

A flood of recent studies and articles claim that many diet foods may not be as beneficial as they initially seemed. While they can keep calorie counts down, there’s apparently a link between consumption of certain products and the tendency to be overweight. Some foods have even been found to flat-out promote obesity in animals, as well as high cholesterol and other exciting conditions.

I don’t mean to condemn diet products altogether, but these findings definitely raise some questions: like what, exactly are the problems with them? How do we address those issues? And in the long run, does it even matter? Let’s explore.

THE PROBLEMS

Diet products may cause overeating. This occurs in two ways. The first happens when an individual gorges on a diet food, since she believes it won’t hurt her as much as the full-fat version. (There’s even a name for it: “the SnackWell Syndrome.”) The second cause of overeating, according to Time Magazine’s Alice Park, is that “people are preprogrammed to anticipate sugary, high-calorie fulfillment when drinking a soda or noshing on a sweet-tasting snack. So, the diet versions of these foods may leave them unsatisfied, driving them to eat more to make up the difference.” In other words, you’ve initially tricked your brain into less calories, but your body won’t stand for it later.

Diet products might help people develop tastes for full-fat versions of the same food. One study suggests that this might be especially true of children. Says Sarah Kliff of Newsweek: “when we eat diet foods at a young age we overeat similar-tasting foods later in life, suggesting that low-cal foods disrupt the bodys ability to recognize how many calories an item contains.” Think about it: if you’ve gobbled fat-free hot dogs your whole childhood, doesn’t it make sense that you’d wolf down the full-fat varieties as an adult?

Diet products can cost more. If you’ve ever priced shredded cheese against lower-fat versions of the same brand, this may ring particularly true. It may only be a $0.10 or $0.20 difference, but they add up over time. The most egregious example of this trend, however, is the rise of the 100-Calorie packet. You know, those baseball-sized bags of wafers purchased for $3.99 when three cookies would cost a fraction of the price? According to Morgan Stanley food industry tracker David Adelman, “The irony is, if you take Wheat Thins or Goldfish, buy a large-size box, count out the items and put them in a Ziploc bag, you’d have essentially the same product.” [Peters, NY Times.]

Diet products contain more artificial flavors and preservatives. This is more my own observation than the research (so please take it with a grain of salt), but diet foods seem to have lots more chemicals than their regular counterparts. Compare the ingredients of Lay’s Classic Potato Chips (Potatoes, Corn and/or Cottonseed Oil And Salt) with those of Lay’s Light Original Fat Free Potato Chips (Potatoes, Olestra, Salt, Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Tocopherols, Vitamin K, And Vitamin D). Though I’m sure an abundance of cottonseed oil isn’t spectacular for the heart, isn’t olestra the stuff that “may cause anal leakage”? (Mmm … anal leakage.) Yikes.

THE SOLUTIONS

Shop smart. Nowadays, it’s pretty commonly accepted that the prices of nutritionally sound eats are too high. Yet, with a little planning and some strategic shopping, whole foods are as affordable as a pack of low-fat Twinkies (and they’ll satiate longer, too). Making a plan, drawing up a list, shopping the perimeter, clipping coupons, stockpiling, and ESPECIALLY paying attention to circulars are just some of the brainy strategies available to anyone with healthy ambitions.

Read nutrition labels. If you do buy a processed diet product (and who doesn’t?), take the time to scan the Nutrition Facts and ask some questions: what’s the saturated fat content? How many calories are in a serving? In what order are the ingredients listed? Are you comfortable with all the additives? Once there’s a better understanding of what goes into a product, your perspective on it might change. For help with decoding, here’s the FDA’s guide to food labels.

Eat real food. Straight up, it’s better for you, and there’s an easy guideline to separating the real from the processed: “Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” (Thanks, Michael Pollan [yet again]!)

Cook. Preparing meals at home instills healthy habits, encourages quality time with family, and allows eaters to know exactly what’s going into their dinner. It de-emphasizes diet products and promotes a reliance on whole foods, as well.

Limit portions. Admittedly, I haven’t read French Women Don’t Get Fat, but friends and reviewers sum it up thusly: Gallic chicks eat almost whatever they want, but know when to say when. Conversely, we Americans aren’t raised to savor taste; we gulp our food down, and then look for more. That means one thing: dude, we need to get on the ball. Reasonable quantities are essential to both a balanced lifestyle and weaning ourselves off diet products, and the American Diabetes Association and Mayo Clinic have more.

Drink water. In almost every article I read, diet soda was cited as a main villain in the product studies. Water is free, abundant, crazy-healthy, and can actually be very tasty.

THE CONCLUSION

While I hardly think diet victuals are the devil, this research has helped convince me of something: we gotta try to eat right. That means no (or fewer) shortcuts. That means fruits and vegetables, rice and grains, and lean meats and fish (environmentally sustainable fish, of course). It means cooking and keeping a caul eye on what’s piling up in the pantry. It means indulging intelligently and avoiding chemical-laden science projects that attempt to pass themselves off as actual edibles.

Alas, nobody’s perfect, and being on-point all the time is exhausting. But, if once - just once - I can sub an orange in for that 90-calorie pencil-sized granola bar, at least its a step in the right direction.

FURTHER READING/SOURCES

Can Sugar Substitutes Make You Fat? by Alice Park (Time, 2/08)
Diet Soda No Better for You Than Regular by Marisa McClellan (Slashfood, 7/07)
Do Diet Foods Lead to Weight Gain? by Alice Park (Time, 8/07)
Four Ways Not to Lose Weight by Sarah Kliff (Newsweek, 10/07)
The Oreo, Obesity, and Us by Delroy Alexander (Chicago Sun-Times, 8/05)
Skip the Diet Soda by Lucy Danzinger (SELF, 3/08)
Snack food companies are placing bigger bets on smaller packages by Jeremy W. Peters (New York Times, 7/07)

(Photos courtesy of Things, ecandy, and DK Images.)

Millionaire Mommy Next Door describes Affluenza as an increase in materialism caused by having more money on hand, as well as various self-inflicted and societal pressures (a credit-happy culture, keeping up with the Joneses, etc.)

Back in the day, I had Affluenza, but good. My strain was special, though. It was food-borne.

See, when I first graduated from college, I made just over $20,000/year. In New York dollars, that puts me above Tiny Tim, but well below any of the Friends. I had three (dearly beloved) roommates, didn’t shop or travel, and ate whatever wasn’t A) rotten, B) over a dollar, or C) nailed down.

As my salary increased, so did the demands of my palette. Influenced by my hip, hip surroundings and burgeoning awareness of good food, I started buying finer meats and smooth, stinky cheeses I didn’t fully appreciate yet. I dined out frequently, developed an abiding passion for sushi, and thought nothing of asking for the Good Beer (Magic Hat). Newly stripped of my adolescent metabolism, I also gained enough weight to sink a small cruise liner. When my poundage spiraled out of control, I dieted (successfully), but spent a load of dough doing it, since that’s how I was now used to buying food.

After a few yo-yo years of high-priced, low-fat noshing, I started keeping a budget, the results of which left me gobsmacked: all my cash was being piped directly into my stomach. The food-borne Affluenza had reached a critical point, and in order to stop the flow, I had to take action. I had to buckle down, cowboy up - screw my courage to the sticking point.

Also, I had to stop spending so much damn money.

Desperate, I tried a few different strategies. I changed my outlook, attempted to conquer my fear of homecooking, learned how to buy groceries, and rethought restaurants. And while there’s definitely been some success addressing my leanings (see here), curing the Affluenza is an ongoing battle.

If you’re experiencing symptoms, please keep reading. These tricks helped (and continue to help) me, and they might come in handy for you, too.

FOR MINOR CASES

1. Limit your pop culture consumption. The boom in gourmet magazines, cooking blogs, celebrity chefs, and a certain vittles-based television network has given birth to a mini-nation of Foodies. To some extent, this rules, since folks are increasingly conscious about what they eat. But there’s also a dark side: it’s really easy to overspend when you’re trying to ape Julia Child. Without checking out completely (that would be ludicrous), try reducing your food media intake.

2. Ban yourself from Whole Foods. Sure, upscale supermarkets and corner stores tend to have fresher options than the regular ol’ Key Food around the corner, but that same Key Food will save you about a billion dollars over time. Think of it like you’re an alcoholic: avoiding tempting places is half the battle.

3. Cut back on luxuries. Instead, splurge on a few that will go a long way. Spending a little extra on high-quality condiments, herbs, and add-ons will sate discriminating taste buds without piling on too many calories. Stuff like real parmesan, a tiny bottle of truffle oil, or a bunch of thyme can work magic on a simple meal.

4. Wait to buy pricey foods. It works for electronic equipment, so why not a side of beef? Say you spot a particularly alluring filet mignon while you’re grocery shopping. First, run away. Then, go home and hang out a day or two. If you still want the meat after that, feel free to head on back.

5. Reconsider the restaurant. There’s nothing wrong with visiting eateries for good food, excellent service, and relaxing ambience, but when a caloric abyss like Chili’s becomes a thrice-weekly habit, there’s a problem. Thinking of a restaurant outing as a special experience rather than an accepted routine will help ease the budget blow. Check out this Simple Dollar article for more.

6. Go nuts on special occasions, only. Thanksgiving can’t be every Thursday. (I mean, it would be fantastic if it could, because I’d get to have my mom’s sweet potatoes every week, but…) Constant cash-and-calorie expenditures deplete savings faster than you can say “Lobster thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce garnished with truffle paté, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam.” Making one special side dish per night or experimenting with a traditionally less-expensive meal (like breakfast) might help ease the pain.

7. Cut back on chow-based social activities. Friendly meals make the world go ‘round, but it can’t hurt to slug a movie, softball game, or cornhole marathon in there every now and then. If that doesn’t sound feasible, next time you gang up, do it during the afternoon or late night – times when meals won’t necessarily be part of the equation.

FOR MAJOR CASES

8. Keep a record of all food expenditures. Write down everything you spend on grub, separating it into two categories: Groceries and Dining Out. At the end of the first 30 days, tally up the totals. If it’s reasonable, go back to tip #1. If it’s roughly equal to your rent, continue keeping records and then ...

9. Set a budget, stat. Using the envelope method or whatever else strikes your fancy, set aside a concrete fund for the month’s food. Though it’ll be difficult and it’s okay to make mistakes at first, try not to exceed that amount. Adjust as necessary, and continue tracking all your food payments in the meantime.

10. Seek out a simplified cookbook. Real Simple Food Made Easy, Everyday Food: Great Food Fast and Mark Bittman’s new tome are foodie-minded, health-conscious, and price-wary.

11. Start cooking at home. Now that you have a guide, set aside X nights a week to whip up dinner yourself, OR cook once on Sunday, and have food for the duration. Self-prepared meals conserve money and are generally healthier than restaurants.

12. Commence Operation Brown Bag. A home-packed lunch can be as scrumptious and filling as one you buy in local Japanese joint, and it’ll cost a fifth of the price (which, over a lifetime, can save up to $600,000). Odds are, it’ll be healthier for you, too, since you’re in control of the ingredients.

13. Research cost-cutting strategies. Shopping from the circular, collecting coupons, and signing up for club cards and discounts can be tough at first, but the more you implement new behaviors, the more intuitive they’ll get, and the more motivated you’ll be to seek out new ones. CouponMom, Money Saving Mom, and Chief Family Officer are three solid resources to launch a search.

14. Don’t totally deny yourself. A no-frills, no mercy diet is the surest way to failure, since you’ll recommence craving your … uh, cravings … in no time. Food is one of the great joys of life (also: baseball, The Office, bubble wrap), so don’t forget to indulge every so often.

15. Keep on keeping on. Even if you think you’ve got the Affluenza problem licked, there’s always the possibility it’ll come creeping back into your life. Constant vigilance can stave off the temptation. Keep recording your feasting costs, and don’t scrap that budget. It’ll become easier over time.

In the end, food-borne Affluenza is curable. Whether it’s a chronic illness or a passing bout, recognizing and addressing the symptoms means you’ve already won the most important battle. Happy eating.

Every Saturday, we post a lovely piece from the CHG archives. This weeks comes from April 2009, when we were crazy hyper-literate. Since this, Ive read both Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which was outstanding (read it now!), and Food Matters, which was all right. 

Sweet readers, this week’s a little out of whack with the ant situation. So, instead of today’s regular post, I thought I’d offer up a few of my favorite nonfiction food books. They’re fairly standard reads amongst chowhounds, and don’t concentrate specifically on healthy, low-budget cooking, but all have wonderful qualities nonetheless. I wouldn’t hesitate suggesting them to anyone. (Er, which is why theyre here.)

If you’ve ever perused these guys, or have any ideas for good reads, please go crazy in the comments section. After all, reading is FUN(damental).

In no particular order…

A Cook’s Tour by Anthony Bourdain
I never considered myself a particularly daring eater, or imagined cuisine as a huge part of any vacation. But Bourdain helped change that. Cook’s Tour is about food and culture – namely, how discovering one is key to understanding the other. He describes Vietnamese food in such a way that I can’t believe I’ve never been. There’s a reverence not present in Kitchen Confidential, too, which balances Tony’s occasional bouts with ennui and annoyance.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
On its own, In Defense of Food is a really neat guide for everyday eating. As a companion to the more analytical Omnivore’s Dilemma, it’s invaluable. It counters OD’s occasionally relentless skepticism with optimistic solutions, as well as simple, vital messages. (“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”) Read it first if you can.

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
I plowed through this book years ago, and it’s a tribute to its effectiveness that I’ve rarely stepped into a fast food restaurant since. Having worked at both McDonald’s and Wendy’s, I knew about the food prep and employee relations, but the mass production methods used to keep prices down … great scott. (P.S. If you are parent to a socially concerned teen, this will absolutely rock his/her world.)

Heat by Bill Buford
Buford took a year off to learn how to cook under Mario Batali, Marco Pierre White, and various butchers and pasta-makers all over Europe. The result is Heat, which perfectly captures the fascination, frustration, and triumph facing novice denizens of the kitchen. Dude can really write, too, which helps.

I’m Just Here for the Food by Alton Brown
If you can imagine Good Eats in print, I’m Just Here for the Food is for you. Half cookbook, half science manual, you won’t find better explanations of the physical and chemical processes involved in getting a meal to the table. It’s Wired for foodies, or Cook’s Illustrated for nerds.


Also of note

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
Reichl’s kind of like an eccentric aunt who dresses up, goes to fancy restaurants, and ruminates on their merits for page after page. Funny, warm insiders look at big-city food criticism.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Though it can get a bit dry, OD’s a must-read for those interested in how our food industry can possibly function. Factory farms are scary, scary things.

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Hilarious, hyperbolic behind-the-scenes glimpse into the everyday running of a restaurant, by the man himself.


Reading

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
I’m about halfway through so far. It’s okay. Julie can definitely write, but the book seems more about her crappy apartment than the food. Still, I can relate to the crappy apartment parts. And I WILL be seeing the movie. Meryl Streep as Julia Child, yo.


Would like to read, but haven’t gotten around to yet

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Food Matters by Mark Bittman

How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table by Russ Parsons


What about you guys? What are you reading? What are your opinions on the books mentioned? Do tell.

(Photos courtesty of Chrismasto, NY Bookworm, and Spill.)