Before starting my dietetic internship in a couple of weeks, I have to complete an assignment where I eat for three days with the budget suggested by the USDA Thrifty Meal Plan. Based on my age and the fact that I only cook for myself, that will give me about $19 to stretch for three days. Oh, and I have to attempt to get in all of the suggested amounts of macro and micro nutrients with that money. I'm actually really looking forward to the challenge and have been contemplating various meal combinations over the past few days.
Today I ran across a link to this site, the Environmental Working Group's Good Food on a Tight Budget. While eating for cheap and still getting nutritious food is going to be hard enough on its own, it's interesting to think of the added challenge of also picking foods that have the fewest pesticides or the least amount of added chemicals. Take a look at their lists of good food on a tight budget and see if it inspires you to make a change in the way that you grocery shop. And if you have any suggestions for my three days of eating with a budget, let me know!
Katrina;
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you've already gone through the three day meal plan, but I recently saw a post on Vom Fass' FB page with recipes for Quinoa Salad. Now of course you'll have to switch out the oils to stay within your strict budget, but these do sound good.
https://www.facebook.com/VOMFASSUSA
Also, I'm curious what course of study you took? I'm currently looking at Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Any thoughts?
Thanks for the comment! I'm not a big fan of dried cherries, but otherwise that recipe does look good! Also quinoa was out of my budget this time but I did make some delicious meals using some cheaper staples like black beans, brown rice, tuna, eggs, frozen spinach.
DeleteI'm pursuing the RD tract and am currently in my dietetic internship (the last step before taking the exam). I don't know enough about the type of degree that comes out of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition but I'm sure you'd end up learning a lot of great nutrition information!