Now that fall is on its way, the fresh summer bounty is dwindling down; but the truth is your diet doesn’t have to hibernate for the winter. You can get lots of great foods in the canned and frozen food aisles that are full of nutrition at a price that will have you dancing to the cash register. In this post, I’ll share some of my favorite picks and recipe ideas.
Canned beans
Not just the “musical fruit,” beans provide complex carbohydrates, protein, and fiber. In fact, a one-cup serving provides one-third of your day’s protein needs, half your fiber needs, and 65% of your folate needs (an important B-complex vitamin that helps prevent osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, anemia, and homocysteine buildup in the blood). For less than a dollar a can, you can-not go wrong! Try cannelini beans, black beans, kidney beans, lentils and black-eyed peas. You can buy them with no salt added, low sodium, or rinse them before use to remove about half the salt.
Recipe ideas: add to salads, home-made bean dip, three bean chili, and breakfast burritos.
September 24th, 2009
by Rebecca
Tags: beans, canned goods, fish, frozen foods, fruits, grocery shopping, healthy eating, Recipes, vegetables, weight loss
Posted in Diets in Review
So, you’ve got a busy life. Classes, work, errands, a few kids thrown in the mixture that have this annoying habit of wanting to eat on a regular schedule. What’s a busy mom to do? Well, wait – scratch that. A busy mom might not think twice about hitting the drive-thru a few times a week. That’s not great for your wallet, and it definitely plays havoc on your health. I’m trying to focus more on the healthy side of the balance, though, and fast-food drive-ins don’t play well. So here’s a list of items that I keep on hand all the time to make a quick, healthy meal on the fly.
1 – Canned Beans. HUGE amounts of flavor, fiber and protein, and low in both fat and calories.
2- Whole Grain Pasta. Quick cooking and high in protein, you can make virtually anything – pasta salad, serve it with sauce, mix it with beans.
3- Frozen Vegetables and Fruits. Flash frozen straight from the field, they have a surprisingly high vitamin content and you can add them to tomato sauce to help fill little tummies. Frozen fruits make excellent smoothies, perfect for a fast breakfast.
Are you stocking up your cabinet with canned goods, prepping for the impending world economic apocalypse? Well, if the doom doesn’t come, you’ll still need to eat the food that’s taking up all that space. Just don’t think you can sit on canned goods until the end of time. Contrary to popular belief, they don’t last forever.
Commercially prepared canned food has a long shelf life. But like all good things, they eventually come to an end. The ending date just depends on the kind of food you’re talking about. This is how it works, according to the Department of Agriculture:
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