Showing posts with label tfp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tfp. Show all posts

Monday, June 6, 2011

Gardening: Growing Your Own Food

The most obvious way to save money on groceries is to buy the cheapest stuff available. Around here, that means potatoes and flour for carbohydrates, cabbage for greens, carrots and turnips for roots, chicken scraps for meat, and milk for dairy. But who wants to eat that every day? Coupons and deals help, but you're at the mercy of the supermarket for those.

A cheap and easy way to get the fresh vegetables you want is to grow your own -



















You can get a young tomato plant for $3, stick it in a hole in your yard, and get up to 20 pounds of vine-ripened tomatoes (currently going for $2.49 a pound at Wegmans) in a year... as long as you don't let it die.

Don't worry, gardening isn't as hard as it sounds. While it's a lot of work to maximize yield, it doesn't take too much to get productive plants. One easy way to get started is to grow plants in containers or bags. The cheapest way to get started this way is to buy a bag of topsoil and plant directly in the bag. All you have to do is lay the bag on its side in a place where it can get lots of sun outside, then cut holes or slits in the top side to plant your seedlings or seeds in (make sure you follow the instructions that came with your plants!), then poke holes along the bottom to let water drain. After that, just check your bag every day to make sure that the soil is damp without being muddy, and add water as needed. Don't worry about pesticides or fertilizer to start with - blemishes on vegetables and holes in your greens won't hurt you, and your bag of topsoil will have enough nutrients for one year. I don't use any chemicals in my garden, so I'm getting homegrown organic produce for bargain prices! Yum!

Do beware of larger pests like rabbits, groundhogs, and deer. While insects won't eat everything (unless it's a swarm of locusts), these evil mammals can eat entire plants in one go. If these guys show up, you can either move the container to a sunny porch (and hope that they aren't so daring as to come right up to your front door!) or you can put in a fence. Throwing rocks work if you catch them in the act too.

So what should you grow? Whatever you want to eat, of course! Some vegetables are harder to grow than others, but you can figure it out just by reading the instructions that come with the plants. Common garden vegetables that are recommended for beginners with containers are tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash, bush beans, and peas. Other plants like leaf lettuce and radishes are also good growers, but I don't recommend them because they're already so cheap from the market anyway. Google is your friend for ideas here.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Change In Plans

Has it been almost 3 months? Ouch.

I've been thinking on what to do with this blog. In January, it became obvious that eating "healthy and cheap" was actually very easy - buy the cheapest groceries in each category, measure everything out, cook it, and eat.

The problem is that it isn't very fun.

Surprisingly, it's not the food itself that is depressing - it actually tastes pretty good. The annoying thing of it all is having to precisely measure and record how much you're putting in to everything, especially when the recipe itself is flexible (like for stews and soups). I was spending more time measuring and recording everything than I was actually preparing the food.

Another problem was the repetition. When you buy the cheapest groceries all the time, you end up working with the same ingredients every day, and you end up just making the same dishes over and over...

...oh, that's why my mom always served the same Chinese dishes every week! (blogger has a Duh! moment)

Anyway, making the same stuff over and over does not make for an interesting blogging experience, both for the writer and the readers.

So I've been thinking on how to change things up. I'm going to start by relaxing the restrictions on food amounts and quantities - as long as I get the MINIMUMS, I'm not going to worry too much about the maximums. I'm also not going to worry about exact weights and quantities anymore either.

Also, instead of posting entire meals, I'm going to focus on individual dishes and recipes. I also plan on doing the "Theme Weeks" that I had mentioned in the sidebar.

Feedback will be GREATLY appreciated!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Meal Planning Exercise

I'm recovering from a bout of stomach flu, so I couldn't eat anything other than rice porridge all week.

In lieu of posting what I bought this week for groceries, I am posting what I plan to eat this week, how much it will cost, and how I plan on cooking everything for the week.

Here is the allotment for a male adult:



































From this, I plan on the following (prices from Wegmans):
Total: 40.0 lbs = $29.98
   Grains: 4.9 lbs = $6.79
      Whole Grain: Brown Rice - 2.4 lbs @ $1.20 per lb = $2.88
      Whole Grain Cereal: Honey and Nut Toasted Oats - 0.9 lbs @ $2.59 per lb = $2.33
      Non-Whole Grain: White Rice - 1.6 lbs @ $0.99 per lb = $1.58
   Vegetables: 9.0 lbs = $7.36
      Potatoes: Whole White Potatoes - 2.5 lbs @ $0.40 per lb = $1.00
      Dark-Green Vegetables: Bulk Spinach - 1.25 lbs @ $1.69 per lb = $2.11
      Orange Vegetables: Baby Cut Carrots - 1 lbs @ $0.99 per lb = $0.99
      Canned Beans: Cut Green Beans - (2) 14.5 oz can (1.8 lbs) @ $0.39 per can = $0.78
      Other Vegetables: Turnips - 2.5 lbs @ $0.99 per lb = $2.48
   Fruits: 8.75 lbs = $5.43
      Whole Fruits: Oranges - 7 lbs @ $0.62 per lb = $4.34
      Fruit Juices: Orange Juice - 1.75 lbs @ $0.62 per lb = $1.09
   Milk Products: 11.4 lbs = $2.51
      Low Fat Milk: 1% Lowfat Milk - 11.4 lbs @ $0.22 per lb = $2.51
   Meat and Beans: 4.0 lbs = $4.39
      Pork: Boneless Center Cut Pork Chops - 0.5 lbs @ $2.69 per lb = $1.35
      Chicken: Chicken Quarters - 2.5 lbs @ $0.49 per lb = $1.23
      Fish: Frozen Whiting Fillets - 0.25 lbs @ $2.50 per lb = $0.63
      Nuts: Honey Roasted Peanuts - 0.25 lbs @ $2.99 per lb = $0.75
      Eggs: Large Eggs - 0.5 lbs @ $0.86 per lb = $0.43
   Other: up to 2 lbs = up to $3.50
      Table Oils: Wegmans Vegetable Oil - up to 1 lbs @ $0.80 per lb = up to $0.80
      Sauces: Kikkoman Soy Sauce - up to 1 lbs @ $2.70 per lb = up to $2.70
      Seasonings: Sugar, Salt, etc sparingly

Weekly Meal Plan:
   Bowl of Cereal w/ Milk (x7)
   Sunny-Side-Up Egg (x5)
   Chicken and Vegetables (2 batches)
   Greens and Stir-Fried Pork (1 batch)
   Pan-Fried Whiting Fillet (1 batch)
   Turnip Soup (1 pot)
   Mugs of Milk as required
   Oranges as required
   Cups of Orange Juice as required
   Nuts as required

I will post recipes throughout the week. Look forward to them!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Seafood Sunday (and Eggs, lots of them)

Today is the first day that I actually cooked something while trying to follow the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP). It was interesting to try and cook like I normally would, while also trying to keep in mind the weekly limits for the different categories. For example, I have already pretty much used up my weekly limit for eggs (4) today.

Breakfast:
Cereal in milk: 2 oz cereal, 13 oz milk (cost - $0.49)
Eggs over easy (2): 3 oz (cost - $0.23)

Lunch:
















Crab fried rice: 3 oz brown rice, 2 oz white rice, 1.7 oz carrots, 1 oz Bok Choy, 1 oz spinach, 2.7 oz crab, 1.4 oz egg, 0.7 oz oil (cost - $1.79)

Dinner:
Roasted Vegetables and Stir-Fry (for the whole family, not just what I ate!)
















Rice: 2 oz brown rice, 1 oz white rice (cost - $0.21)
Roasted vegetables: 8.5 oz squash, 5.7 oz potatoes, 2.8 oz onions, 0.4 oz olive oil (cost - $0.84)
Stir-fry imitation crab and greens: 1.2 oz Bok Choy, 1.2 oz spinach, 1.6 oz imitation crab (cost - $0.81)

Fruits:
Clementines: 15 oz (cost - $1.13)
Orange juice: 4 oz (cost - $0.12)

Milk: 13 oz (cost - $0.17)
Tea: 4 oz (cost - you don't want to know)


Summary:

Total cost of food: $5.79 ignoring tea

Total eaten / Total daily allowance:  91.9 oz / 91.1 oz
Grains eaten / Grains daily allowance: 10 oz / 10.4 oz
Vegetables eaten / Vegetable daily allowance: 23.1 oz / 21.2 oz
Fruits eaten / Fruits daily allowance: 19 oz / 19.2 oz
Milk Products eaten / Milk Products daily allowance: 26 oz / 26 oz
Meat and Beans eaten / Meat and Beans daily allowance: 8.7 oz / 9.1 oz
Other eaten / Other daily allowance: 5.1 oz / 5.2 oz


Lessons learned:

- Planning meals is HARD! I had no idea what to make today - my wife "suggested" that I make what I made today.
- Not everyone likes eggs over easy with runny yolks.
- Remember to turn on the ventilation hood when frying at high heat, or suffer the wrath of your wife (rumor is that Chinese, Japanese, and Korean housewives are particularly wrathful).
- Splash guards are your friend when frying at high heat (see above).
- Crab fried rice is good.
- Carrots need to go into the pot (or pan) first, since they take longer to cook.
- No one cares if carrots are a little undercooked, because crunchy carrots are awesome, while mushy ones are not.
- "Basting oil" = olive oil.
- Onions don't do well in the oven when everything else is in chunks, because onions peel off into smaller layers and burn up before the other chunks are done.
- Imitation crab meat (which comes in a lump) does not stir-fry well, while real crab meat (which comes in shreds) does.
- Winter squash (which are like pumpkins) has high wastage by weight, since you can't eat the skin.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Grocery Shopping and Unit Prices

Now that I FINALLY finished the leftovers, I did the grocery shopping for the week. I tried to buy the cheapest items in each Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) category:
















Here's the receipt:




The unit prices for the groceries today:
Eggs: $1.20 per pound
Cereal: $2.59 per pound
Canned green beans: $0.43 per pound
Canned sweet peas: $0.52 per pound
Pork shoulder: $1.29 per pound
Chicken quarters (wings and thighs): $0.49 per pound
Imitation crab meat: $3.49 per pound
Squash: $0.99 per pound
Carrots: $0.99 per pound

I also bought 20 pounds of rice (5 pounds brown rice, 15 pounds white rice):
















The unit prices for the rice was:
Brown rice: $1.20 per pound
White rice: $0.99 per pound

I bought more than usual today because my wife is in town for the week, so I'm buying for two people. The TFP calls for 73.37 pounds for the two of us this week. I didn't buy any dark green vegetables, potatoes, fruit, juice, or milk because I still have some in the fridge.

The current unit prices for these items (thank you, wegmans.com!) are:
Dark green vegetables:
- Baby bok choy: $2.99 per pound
- Spinach $3.20 per pound
Potatoes: $0.40 per pound
Onions: $1.00 per pound
Fruit:
- Apples: $1.99 per pound
- Clementines: $1.20 per pound
Milk: $1.79 per gallon (about $0.21 per pound)
Orange Juice: $3.98 per gallon (about $0.47 per pound)
Apple Juice: $3.98 per gallon (about $0.47 per pound)

There's also a 1-lb container of crab meat ($4.99 per pound) in the fridge.

Some things I noticed today:
- Some items cost a lot less when frozen or canned instead of fresh. Fresh green beans were selling at $2.99 per pound, while the canned ones were only $0.43 per pound.
- Some items cost a lot less FRESH. Fresh milk is $1.79 per gallon, but a box of powdered milk (not baby formula!) that makes 2 gallons is $6.99, or $3.50 a gallon.
- Cereal (even the store brands) is a rip-off. Just get oatmeal ($1.48 per pound) or make rice porridge (yum!)

Some other thoughts:
- It's a waste of money to buy something that you don't like and will never eat. Flour sells for $0.20 per pound ($0.66 per pound for whole grain flour), but I don't bake (yet!), so it doesn't make sense for me to buy flour when I won't eat it. Rice is more expensive, but I love the stuff, so I'm willing to spend a little more for it. The same goes for the imitation crab meat (which is made out of fish); I could get canned tuna for less, but I don't like the stuff, so why buy it when I won't eat it?
-- On the other hand, if it's all you can afford, then I guess you don't have a choice... but that will be for another blog post.

I start cooking tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Cleaning Out The Larder: Day 3

Mabo Tofu Massacre!


Cereal in Milk:
















Weight: 15 oz (2 oz cereal, 13 oz milk).

Ham and Radish Soup:
















Weight: 4 oz (3 oz radish, 1 oz ham) + 12 oz of water in soup.

Mabo Tofu Rice Bowl #1:
















Weight: 14 oz (3 oz mixed veggies, 4 oz tofu, 3 oz ground beef, 4 oz brown rice) + 4 oz water in rice.

Mabo Tofu Rice Bowl #2:
















Weight: 18 oz (5 oz mixed veggies, 5 oz tofu, 5 oz ground beef, 3 oz brown rice) + 3 oz water in rice.

Clementines: 10 oz
Apple Juice: 9 oz
Milk: 13 oz


Summary:
Total eaten / Total daily allowance: 83 oz / 91.1 oz
Grains eaten / Grains daily allowance: 9 oz / 10.4 oz
Vegetables eaten / Vegetable daily allowance: 20 oz / 21.2 oz
Fruits eaten / Fruits daily allowance: 19 oz / 19.2 oz
Milk Products eaten / Milk Products daily allowance: 26 oz / 26 oz
Meat and Beans eaten / Meat and Beans daily allowance: 9 oz / 9.1 oz
Other eaten / Other daily allowance: 0 oz / 5.2 oz


Some thoughts:

Not very hungry today. I'm glad that I finally finished off the Mabo Tofu and the leftover rice.

According to this calorie calculator, I should be eating anywhere from 2100 to 3400 kcal per day, depending on activity level. I haven't been doing too much lately, so I guess I shouldn't be eating so much anyway.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Cleaning Out The Larder: Day 2

Still cleaning out the leftovers, but there are a few new items today.

Breakfast: Cereal in Milk:
















Weight: 17 oz (2 oz cereal, 15 oz milk).

Lunch: Mabo Tofu (with some rice underneath):
















Weight: 15 oz (3 oz mixed veggies, 4 oz tofu, 3 oz ground beef, 5 oz brown rice) + 5 oz water in rice.

Dinner:
Ham and Radish Soup:
















Weight: 4 oz (3 oz radish, 1 oz ham) + 12 oz of water in soup.


More Mabo Tofu (with some rice underneath):
















Weight: 13 oz (3 oz mixed veggies, 4 oz tofu, 3 oz ground beef, 3 oz brown rice) + 3 oz water in rice.

Oven-Baked Mixed Veggies with Beef Roast:
















Weight: 10 oz (7 oz mixed veggies, 3 oz beef)

Other:
Apples:


















Weight: 10 oz 

Orange Juice: 9 oz
Milk: 11 oz

Summary:
Total eaten / Total daily allowance: 89 oz / 91.1 oz
Grains eaten / Grains daily allowance: 10 oz / 10.4 oz
Vegetables eaten / Vegetable daily allowance: 24 oz / 21.2 oz
Fruits eaten / Fruits daily allowance: 19 oz / 19.2 oz
Milk Products eaten / Milk Products daily allowance: 26 oz / 26 oz
Meat and Beans eaten / Meat and Beans daily allowance: 10 oz / 9.1 oz
Other eaten / Other daily allowance: 0 oz / 5.2 oz


Some thoughts:

Made up the veggie deficit today, but ate a bit too much meat. Oh well.

Breakfast helped a lot with the milk requirement. It's a lot easier on my stomach to take milk in smaller doses, as one lactase pill sometimes doesn't cut it when you drink too much at once, and you never realize it until it's too late to correct the problem.

I feel a lot more full than I usually do after dinner. I should pack more for lunch so I'm not trying to get all my allowances in at dinner.

Not sure what I should do about the "Other" category. It already feels like I'm eating too much.

I also wonder how many calories are in all of this food... I should also look up how many calories is appropriate for my height, weight, and activity level. My wife mentioned that she only needs about 1200 kcal a day because she's only about 5'2" and slim, but the MyPyramid breakdown for females in her age group in the Thrifty Food Plan recommends almost 2000 kcal a day, so if she ate what was recommended then she would gain around 0.2 pounds a day (assuming all excess calories are metabolized, then saved as fat).

Would I actually gain weight under the Thrifty Food Plan? I'll look that up later.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Cleaning Out The Larder: Day 1 Dinner

Hi all!

My wife made dinner using stuff that was left in the fridge. Yum!

Ham and Radish Soup:
















Weight: 3 oz (2 oz radish, 1 oz ham). 15 oz of water in the soup don't count!

Mabo Tofu (with some rice underneath):
















Weight: 12 oz (3 oz mixed veggies, 4 oz tofu, 3 oz ground beef, ONLY 2 oz brown rice *cries*)

Keeping in mind that I still need to eat fruit today, some clementines for dessert:
















Weight: 10 oz.

I also drank 2 full mugs of lowfat milk (26 oz) to get my milk allowance for the day.


So far today I have eaten:
Total eaten / Total daily allowance: 88 oz / 91.1 oz
Grains eaten / Grains daily allowance: 10 oz / 10.4 oz
Vegetables eaten / Vegetable daily allowance: 18 oz / 21.2 oz
Fruits eaten / Fruits daily allowance: 19 oz / 19.2 oz
Milk Products eaten / Milk Products daily allowance: 26 oz / 26 oz
Meat and Beans eaten / Meat and Beans daily allowance: 9 oz / 9.1 oz
Other eaten / Other daily allowance: 6 oz / 5.2 oz


Some thoughts:

I'm surprised how close I came to meeting the requirements "naturally". I guess I have to thank my parents and my wife for instilling good eating habits. The only things I had to consciously do was:
- Eat less rice. Boo.
- Eat more fruit.
- Drink more milk.

I'm 3 oz short on veggies. I just looked in the fridge, and the only things I found were bok choy and onions... nothing that can really be eaten raw. I guess I'll have to make up the difference tomorrow.

I'll have to remember to eat breakfast tomorrow - cereal in milk will take care of that pesky milk requirement.

I blew the "Other" limit with my cup of hot tea this morning. I'll have to ration it properly next time...

I just realized that I have been not measuring the amount of rice that I have been eating correctly. Rice absorbs about its own volume in water when it is cooked, so my rice weights so far probably are too high. I will have to remember to measure the rice weight before it is cooked.

...the fact that this allows me to eat more rice is pure coincidence, I assure you...

Cleaning Out The Larder: Day 1 Lunch

First real meal of the day (6 oz of tea this morning at breakfast)!

I had holiday leftovers for lunch.

First up is some Chinese sticky rice:

















The box weighs in at 12 oz. I estimate that 8 oz is sticky rice (grains), with 2 oz of mixed vegetables (veggies) and 2 oz of Chinese sausage (meats and beans).

I also had some hotpot leftovers:

















This one weighs about 10 oz. Estimate 4 oz daikon radishes (veggies), 3 oz tofu (veggies - soybeans are listed in Veggies instead of Meats and Beans), 3 oz lamb meat (meats and beans).

I also drank 9 oz of apple juice.

So far today I have eaten:
Total eaten / Total daily allowance: 37 oz / 91.1 oz
Grains eaten / Grains daily allowance: 8 oz / 10.4 oz
Vegetables eaten / Vegetable daily allowance: 9 oz / 21.2 oz
Fruits eaten / Fruits daily allowance: 9 oz / 19.2 oz
Milk Products eaten / Milk Products daily allowance: 0 oz / 26 oz
Meat and Beans eaten / Meat and Beans daily allowance: 5 oz / 9.1 oz
Other eaten / Other daily allowance: 6 oz / 5.2 oz


Some thoughts:

I have never given much thought to how much of each category I ate. Just from this lunch, it looks like I have been hitting the grains too hard. I guess it makes sense, since I am a big rice eater. I'll have to increase the amount of veggies I eat... I'll probably eat more potatoes to replace the rice.

The funny thing is that potatoes (starchy!) are listed under Vegetables (with their own subcategory - 1.5 pounds a day allowance!) while rice (also starchy!) is stuck under Grains. I would love to replace the potatoes with rice so I can keep wolfing down the rice, but I guess that would cheating. Boo.

I'll also have to drastically increase the amount of milk product I eat. The problem is that I am a little lactose-intolerant, so I'll have to pop some lactase pills to help digestion. Oh well.

Friday, December 31, 2010

The Thrifty Food Plan

I will using the Male, 19-50 years category in the Thrifty Food Plan:

By Weight:
Total Pounds per Week: 39.86 lbs
- Grains:                          4.55 lbs
- Vegetables:                   9.27 lbs
- Fruits:                           8.41 lbs
- Milk Products:              11.37 lbs
- Meat and Beans:           3.99 lbs
- Other Foods:                2.26 lbs

By USDA MyPyramid Amounts:
Total Energy per day:      2925 kcal
- Grains:                         10.50 oz equivalents
- Vegetables:                  3.68 cups
- Fruits:                          2.62 cups
- Milk Products:             3.15 cups
- Meat and Beans:          7.35 oz equivalents
- Oils:                             37.80 grams
- Discretionary:               411.16 kcal

See the detailed breakdown of the categories, allowances, and definitions in the actual document.

The Spark

I was reading about Poverty In the United States, and the article mentioned that the original definition of "poverty" in the US was based on the original Economy Food Plan designed by the US Department of Agriculture. Since the Economy Food Plan was "the least costly of four nutritionally adequate food plans designed by the Department of Agriculture", I first want to see what the US Government thinks is the minimum required for healthy living, then I want to see what is possible under those constraints.

Set Up!

Welcome to my blog, where I explore what is possible under the US Department of Agriculture Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion's Thrifty Food Plan. This will be a continuous process, where I explore recipes, cooking methods, and other ways to save a buck while still eating well and having fun :-)

Rules of the Game:
- Buy groceries, sticking to the weight and USDA MyPyramid amounts of food allowances every week.
- Take pictures of the groceries and list their cost.
- Cook meals for the week, take pictures, and store in the refrigerator and freezer.
- Anything edible that is bought and consumed that week gets tallied and added.
- Post everything online.
- ???
- Profit!

I plan to shop and cook for the week during the weekends, with posts right after. "Snack attacks" will be posted the day they get eaten.