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Cutting Grocery Costs without Cutting Nutrition
Simple, healthy, and affordable ways to weather the rising price of food
by Karen Collins, R.D., American Institute of Cancer Research
Grocery prices are projected to increase again in 2008 – that’s following 2007’s highest annual increase in 17 years. But surviving these tough economic times doesn’t have to mean sacrificing good nutrition. Some simple strategies can help you cut food costs and eat more healthfully, too.
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10 Tips for Improving Your Family's Eating Habits
With today’s busy lifestyles, families don’t always eat as healthfully as we would like. But by practicing healthy eating habits at home, you can make it easier for your family to eat right. Try these 10 tips designed to encourage healthy eating habits:
1. Be a good food role model. Telling children to eat nutritious foods is one thing — showing them is better. If you offer nutritious foods regularly — and if they see you eating them — your children likely will learn to like them.
2. Serve a variety of fruits and vegetables daily. In addition to bananas and apples, try something new like kiwi or papaya. Add vegetables to stir fries or casseroles.
3. Schedule a snack time and stick to it. Space snacks at least two to three hours before a meal.
4. Involve kids in meal planning and preparation. Children often will eat foods they help plan and prepare.
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It's tough to run a household, do errands and look after children on a daily basis. On top of it all, we have to cook! Well, we'll try to make it a little easier with some quick and easy recipes and tips that will save you some kitchen time and frustration in the future. If we could only get our kids to wash the dishes every day and our friends and relatives to stop setting up blind dates, then we REALLY would have more time and less frustration!!
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Quick Meals for Less – videos and recipes
by Angie Ketterman
Angie Ketterman creates 10 dishes that save you time and money:
Slow-Cooker Pork, Portobello Burger, Spinach Salad, Spanish Tortilla, Chicken Cacciatore, Chicken Chowder, Falafel, Berry Crumble, Pasta Stir Fry, Bean Salad.
Meet Angie Ketterman
Angie Ketterman has worked on many Food Network shows, in roles ranging from prep cook to culinary producer. When she's not behind the stove, Angie is often behind the mic, moonlighting as a trumpet player and vocalist for several New York indie-rock bands.
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Ice Cream – Get the Scoop on America’s Favorite Treat
Beyond the BowlScooping with Flair
Scoop one kind of ice cream, then midway through the scoop, move to a second flavor and finish the motion. You get one ice cream ball swirled with two flavors.
Tempting Tartufo
Scoop and freeze ice cream until it's nice and hard. Dip the ice cream into lukewarm melted chocolate, then freeze until semi-hard. Roll the chocolate-covered ice cream in chopped pistachios, shredded coconut or chocolate shavings.
Fancy Floats
Cook up nouveau soda fountain creations for dessert. Try peach ice cream with cream soda, mango ice cream with ginger beer or vanilla ice cream with orange soda.
Hot Fudge Sauce
Microwave 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips on HIGH, stirring occasionally, until melted, about 1 ½ to 2 minutes. Stir in 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk, ¼ cup light corn syrup, ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract and a pinch of salt until smooth. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Understanding Ice Cream Labels
As if choosing a flavor isn’t daunting enough, ice cream also comes in an array of qualities and several different calorie levels. We can’t help you choose between triple-chocolate chip and French vanilla, but here is the scoop on what the different labels mean:
• "Premium" ice cream has more fat than the minimum government requirement and often comes in unique and interesting flavors. It is richer, creamier and more expensive than regular ice cream with substantially higher calories and fat. It also weighs more ounce-for-ounce, which can help justify the price.
• "Regular" ice cream is less dense than premium (it contains more air) and usually is sold in the more familiar and standard flavors. Some people prefer the texture — it is less creamy — and it works well in shakes and frozen dessert recipes. It’s good choice when you don't want the ice cream to overpower the rest of the dessert.
• “Light” ice cream means that there is either 50 percent less fat or 33 percent fewer calories than leading brands or the company’s own brand. However, read the labels carefully – you might notice that a premium brand's light ice cream still has more calories than a regular or economy ice cream.
• "Reduced fat" ice cream has 25 percent less fat than comparable leading brands or the company's own brand.
• Gelato is Italian ice cream. The flavors can be very pure and rich as it is denser and contains less butterfat than American ice cream.
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Creating Healthy Eating Habits with Children
Tips from Shirley Fan, RD
Parents play a major role in the development of a child's eating habits and tastes. Our in-house nutritionist, Shirley Fan, RD, put together this list of proven tips to promote healthy eating habits for children:
1. Set a good example
Food attitudes of parents are the strongest predictors of food likes and dislikes for children.
2. Create a regular meal schedule
Kids will snack less when there are set meals.
3. Have sit-down meals together
Designate family dinner nights to encourage connectedness and conversation. Studies also show that family meals promote healthy eating habits and higher consumption of vitamins and minerals.
4. Do not force or bribe children to finish their plates
Stressful situations over food can make kids develop negative feelings around eating.
5. Provide nutritious food
Keep fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk and whole grain crackers around for snacks.
6. Encourage exercise
Children should get around 60 minutes of exercise most days of the week. It helps strengthen muscles and bones and can help ward off weight problems.
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Top Tips for Coping with Fussy Eaters
by Annabel Karmel
Author of SuperFoods For Babies and Children
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• The first thing to do when trying to help your child overcome fussy eating habits is to only buy the foods that you want your child to eat. You should also set an example by eating the right foods yourself.
• If your child doesn't like eating vegetables, try to disguise them by blending them into a tomato sauce for pasta or adding vegetables to a pizza topping. Also, many children who don't like eating cooked vegetables do like eating them raw, so give carrot sticks, cucumber, bell pepper, etc., with a tasty dip.
• Red meat is good for children, as it provides the best source of iron. It is often the texture rather than the taste of meat that children object to. To make meat easier to chew, cook ground meat and puree it in a food processor for a few seconds and then make it into dishes like spaghetti Bolognese, lasagne, or shepherd's pie.
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Cooking With Pasta
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Pasta is easy to prepare, inexpensive, nutritious and can add variety to your family's diet. Learn more about pasta and the many different ways it can be served. Get a few new ideas and recipes, or send in some of your own!
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Family Recipes
At SingleMom.com™, we would like to share holiday traditions and tastes. We also have some traditional and favorite family recipes some of our moms sent in. If you would like to submit your recipes, write to us at Contact@SingleMom.com
• Share your tips, resources and information with other moms
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The Super, Sexy, Single Mom on a Budget
by Renee Rayles
Whether it's time or money, budgeting is part of being a mom...
The book is a quick reference guide designed for the busy, single mom who has little time to read while running the mom taxi, cooking dinner, helping with homework, and trying to fit in a date night every now and then.
Your 5-minute guide to protecting your identity
Here are 20 steps to protect yourself from identity theft -- and seven ways to clean up things if you become a victim.
Thieves may sell your information on the black market or use it to obtain money, credit or even expensive medical procedures. Unless you're vigilant in protecting your records, you'll have to work even harder to repair the damage to your credit.
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Running Low? How Would You Like FREE* Gasoline for One Year?
Ice Cream Tips
Make the easiest dessert even simpler
• Scoop in advance for a crowd. To serve ice cream quickly and in well-shaped spheres, scoop it up to several hours before needed, place balls evenly on a wax-paper lined sheet, cover with plastic wrap and store in the freezer until needed.
• Soften for easy scooping. If the ice cream is too hard for easy scooping, defrost it in the fridge for about 15 minutes or pop it in the microwave for about a minute, then give it a couple more minutes on the counter.
• Treat ice cream with the coldness it deserves. When shopping, make the ice cream freezer your last stop. Bag the ice cream by itself or with other frozen items, go directly home and unpack and put in the freezer as soon as possible. In your home freezer, always store ice cream in the main section, not the door.
• Be creative with serving dishes! Use juice glasses, coffee cups, colorful plastic wine glasses or even halved fresh fruit that's been scooped out. Freeze your serving pieces first to keepo the ice cream firmer.
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Angie's Money-Saving Tips
by Angie Ketterman
• Tough, fatty cuts of meat are best for slow cooking. Buy inexpensive cuts like pork butt, pork spare ribs, beef short ribs and beef shoulder.
• Leftovers can do double-duty — use pork butt in pulled pork sandwiches or shred short ribs to serve with rice and beans.
• Tortillas are a great way to use up leftovers — you can put anything into them.
• Potatoes are inexpensive and make soups and stews more filling. You can also try pasta, beans or grains.
• Homemade soups cost a fraction of the canned version and are usually healthier. Freeze extra in single-serving portions for quick lunches.
• Buy extra sweet corn at the farm stand, cut kernels off the cob and freeze in plastic bags. It's great sautéed with butter or tossed in soups and stews.
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AMERICA'S WORST RESTAURANTS FOR KIDS REVEALED
Eat This, Not That! Authors Grade 43 National Chains; 6 Receive an "F"
New York (August 1, 2008)
Which kids' menus are most likely to make your children fat?
A year-long study of children's meals has revealed vast dietary differences among America's favorite fast-food and sit-down chain restaurants... and discovered that many of America's most popular chain restaurants are nutritional nightmares for America's children.
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Click here to make sure your body has the necessary vitamins and minerals to function optimally.
Cocktail and Dinner Party Menus
There was a day when entertaining a crowd meant making an extra big pot of chile con carne or spaghetti sauce. And while that certainly remains a possibility...
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