Site Links -- Please pardon the dust, I am playing with the theme options

It often feels really challenging to eat healthy on a budget. For the past 14 months I've kept very detailed track of where my money goes and that's really helped me bring down my food cost from as high as $200 a week to a much more reasonable $50-75. Even this price range may seem high since I'm cooking for one these days, and it is high -- much higher than if I didn't try and buy healthy and environmentally responsible foods and products. Budgeting requires a prioritization of desires, as does dieting, so these two projects actually go together well even if they often have an inverse relationship.

I don't diet in the traditional sense, but I really like the approach that's laid out in The Full Plate Diet. One of the first important things to know about this plan, is that the eBook is available for free from their website. They also have a pretty cool mailing list with recipes, short stories and ideas for success. I don't think their approach revolutionary, in fact why I like it is that it jives with most of the other ideas in which I believe. Eat mostly plants, some meat, but everything in moderation (note: Americans eat an average of 8oz of meat per day -- which is double the global average). Eat carbohydrates that are providing you with plenty of fiber (they recommend 40g per day) and not that much sugar. Never get hungry, never get full.

The best way for me to eat healthy AND cheap is to have a plan. As much as I love making elaborate meals they often require one-off ingredients and I'll eat more than I should since it's really challenging to make single portion meals from scratch. So I've settled into a routine the past few weeks that hasn't helped with my blogging goals, but will hopefully help with my health and budget goals!

One of my very favorite bloggers ever is Ms. Bitchcakes. I have learned so much more from her than I ever did from actually attending Weight Watchers. If you check her out, you'll see why I see her as partial inspiration for this style of post.

 

Breakfast

Kashi GOLEAN Crips! Toasted Berry Crumble  

I've really been able to embrace Kashi cereal since they introduced this one with some freaking sweetener. This cereal is actually a case where budgeting helps me be healthy. Kashi retails for $3.75 in Tampa and I only want to buy one box per week. Left to my own devices I would fill my cereal bowl to the point where I got 4 servings out of a box. But to keep to one box a week I make each bowl slightly smaller and tada! a week's worth of breakfast.

My Serving: 288 cal / 5.6g fat / 56g carbs / 12.8g dietary fiber / 14.4g protein

 

Publix Organic 2% Milk

While all private brand organic milk currently gets two cows from the Cornucopia Institute due to lack of survey response, Publix has my price point of $5.49/gal figure out. Plus, much like Google, Publix has totally suckered me into loving and trusting their brand.

My Serving: 130 cal / 5g fat / 13g carbs / 9g protein

 

The Fiber Splurge: In-season blueberries are two pints for $5, which comes out to about 3g fiber per $1. Sure, the Kashi is 17g per $1 but considering how sweet and crisp and delicious these little suckers are, it's totally a good value. Blueberries also come packed with lots of other health benefits. And did I mention delicious? With about 2oz of blueberries on top of my cereal I feel like I'm eating dessert for breakfast.

My Serving: 21 cal / 0g fat/ 5.25g carbs / 1g fiber / 0g protein

 

Total Breakfast Cost (per serving): $1.60

Nutritional Value (per serving): 440 cal / 10.6g fat / 75g carbs / 14 g fiber / 23 g protein

 

 

 

PoP: Look at me posting on the right day. Way to go, me! Sarah hasn't posted yet tonight, which hopefully means it was a full house at the lodge tonight. CiaoSlacker has a computer virus so I'll give her a slight pass, but she needs to get her butt in gear. PUBLISH OR PERISH!!!

     

It's a Monday. The weekend was great, but I never made it to the store. Anything for breakfast? Nope, out of everything. So what's a girl to do?

Dining in the drive-through is a perilous task. If I'm eating breakfast on the run, but favorite is a bagel or smoothie shop, but these places rarely have a drive-through. I think slow(ish) food is great, but if I'm so pressed for time I can't make breakfast at home then I also can't wait 20 minutes with the parking and the queuing and the unparking.

I tried McDonalds this morning, since it's one of the closest things to my house, and only a slight detour on my way. Last time I was in a breakfast pinch I tried Starbucks' Reduced-Fat Turkey Bacon with Egg Whites on English Muffin. It beat out water and tofu as blandest food on earth. At 340 calories it still packs quite the punch (10 g Fat, 47g Carbs [3g Fiber] and 22g Protein) but healthy or no I don't want to pay $5 for shoe leather.

After scanning the menu at MacDo I settled on the Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait as my best bet. I added it to a Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit (later to find this is the WORST thing on the menu...but I am a sucker for their biscuits!) and it was only a $1. That was a good start. I opened it up, sprinkled in the tiny packet of Nature's Valley granola and stirred. I did a double-take on the first bite. I usually buy vanilla yogurt, so I'm no stranger to sweet, but this stuff tasted like a thinned out version of canned cake frosting. Some of the berries in the mix tasted like pancake topping (meaning they'd been macerated in sugar syrup) though the blueberries felt fresh. Wow. No wonder they categorize it as a dessert option in their nutritional profile.

I wanted to take a look at see how this parfait stacks up against other commercial varieties, as well as against what you could make at home. Here is what I found:

My first question mark is why the Fruit 'n Yogurt is listed as 7oz but the serving size is 5.3oz. The McDonalds nutrition facts doesn't say how many servings per container...so which is it? 7 or 5.3? 5.3 ounces in a 7ounce container? It just doesn't make sense. Each parfait has different components, but if you're heading to Panera be aware that it looks like they're using full fat yogurt. The Dannon product comes in pretty trim, probably because people can eyeball the facts BEFORE they buy, unlike at most fast food establishments. The Kashi parfait (which is what I'm most likely to make at home) compares nicely but why so much sodium?!

It's hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison because the amounts on the labels get rounded up and down, or will increase in different proportions based on which part of the ingredients you add more of (more yogurt is more protein, but also more fat; more fruit is more fiber, but more sugar as well). With that caveat, here are the facts at the 1 oz level.

So it turns out that I probably made a good choice going to McDonalds for a parfait, rather than Starbucks. It actually compares rather favorably to the Kashi parfait as well. I get less fiber, but also fewer calories and lot less sodium. I still can't help feeling it wasn't a healthy breakfast though. There is something intuitive in my body that feels like real fresh fruit and more crunchy, fibrous bits would have made my breakfast more well-rounded. I'll hit the store after work tonight and try for better breakfasts the rest of this week.

SIMILAR ARTICLES:
Serious Eats: Fast-Food Yogurt Parfaits
The Tippy Toe Diet: Food Fight! Yogurt Parfaits

SOURCES:
http://www.kashi.com/recipes/192
http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/starbucks/fruit-and-yogurt-parfait/
http://www.peertrainer.com/DFcaloriecounterB.aspx?id=8347
http://www.peertrainer.com/DFcaloriecounterB.aspx?id=6887
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fast-foods-generic/9407/2
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/nutrition_choices.html
http://www.panerabread.com/pdf/nutr-guide.pdf

PUBLISH OR PERISH:
Sarah is probably in the car on the way back home, but she's been doing really well publishing on non-Mondays, so I think she deserves a slide. Or she might be her normal amazing self and pull it off before midnight. On the other hand, I think Catherine has probably forgotten it's Monday so I will need to be on her her to publish. OR PERISH!

It often feels really challenging to eat healthy on a budget. For the past 14 months I've kept very detailed track of where my money goes and that's really helped me bring down my food cost from as high as $200 a week to a much more reasonable $50-75. Even this price range may seem high since I'm cooking for one these days, and it is high -- much higher than if I didn't try and buy healthy and environmentally responsible foods and products. Budgeting requires a prioritization of desires, as does dieting, so these two projects actually go together well even if they often have an inverse relationship.

I don't diet in the traditional sense, but I really like the approach that's laid out in The Full Plate Diet. One of the first important things to know about this plan, is that the eBook is available for free from their website. They also have a pretty cool mailing list with recipes, short stories and ideas for success. I don't think their approach revolutionary, in fact why I like it is that it jives with most of the other ideas in which I believe. Eat mostly plants, some meat, but everything in moderation (note: Americans eat an average of 8oz of meat per day -- which is double the global average). Eat carbohydrates that are providing you with plenty of fiber (they recommend 40g per day) and not that much sugar. Never get hungry, never get full.

The best way for me to eat healthy AND cheap is to have a plan. As much as I love making elaborate meals they often require one-off ingredients and I'll eat more than I should since it's really challenging to make single portion meals from scratch. So I've settled into a routine the past few weeks that hasn't helped with my blogging goals, but will hopefully help with my health and budget goals!

One of my very favorite bloggers ever is Ms. Bitchcakes. I have learned so much more from her than I ever did from actually attending Weight Watchers. If you check her out, you'll see why I see her as partial inspiration for this style of post.

 

Breakfast

Kashi GOLEAN Crips! Toasted Berry Crumble  

I've really been able to embrace Kashi cereal since they introduced this one with some freaking sweetener. This cereal is actually a case where budgeting helps me be healthy. Kashi retails for $3.75 in Tampa and I only want to buy one box per week. Left to my own devices I would fill my cereal bowl to the point where I got 4 servings out of a box. But to keep to one box a week I make each bowl slightly smaller and tada! a week's worth of breakfast.

My Serving: 288 cal / 5.6g fat / 56g carbs / 12.8g dietary fiber / 14.4g protein

 

Publix Organic 2% Milk

While all private brand organic milk currently gets two cows from the Cornucopia Institute due to lack of survey response, Publix has my price point of $5.49/gal figure out. Plus, much like Google, Publix has totally suckered me into loving and trusting their brand.

My Serving: 130 cal / 5g fat / 13g carbs / 9g protein

 

The Fiber Splurge: In-season blueberries are two pints for $5, which comes out to about 3g fiber per $1. Sure, the Kashi is 17g per $1 but considering how sweet and crisp and delicious these little suckers are, it's totally a good value. Blueberries also come packed with lots of other health benefits. And did I mention delicious? With about 2oz of blueberries on top of my cereal I feel like I'm eating dessert for breakfast.

My Serving: 21 cal / 0g fat/ 5.25g carbs / 1g fiber / 0g protein

 

Total Breakfast Cost (per serving): $1.60

Nutritional Value (per serving): 440 cal / 10.6g fat / 75g carbs / 14 g fiber / 23 g protein

 

 

 

PoP: Look at me posting on the right day. Way to go, me! Sarah hasn't posted yet tonight, which hopefully means it was a full house at the lodge tonight. CiaoSlacker has a computer virus so I'll give her a slight pass, but she needs to get her butt in gear. PUBLISH OR PERISH!!!

     

It's a Monday. The weekend was great, but I never made it to the store. Anything for breakfast? Nope, out of everything. So what's a girl to do?

Dining in the drive-through is a perilous task. If I'm eating breakfast on the run, but favorite is a bagel or smoothie shop, but these places rarely have a drive-through. I think slow(ish) food is great, but if I'm so pressed for time I can't make breakfast at home then I also can't wait 20 minutes with the parking and the queuing and the unparking.

I tried McDonalds this morning, since it's one of the closest things to my house, and only a slight detour on my way. Last time I was in a breakfast pinch I tried Starbucks' Reduced-Fat Turkey Bacon with Egg Whites on English Muffin. It beat out water and tofu as blandest food on earth. At 340 calories it still packs quite the punch (10 g Fat, 47g Carbs [3g Fiber] and 22g Protein) but healthy or no I don't want to pay $5 for shoe leather.

After scanning the menu at MacDo I settled on the Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait as my best bet. I added it to a Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit (later to find this is the WORST thing on the menu...but I am a sucker for their biscuits!) and it was only a $1. That was a good start. I opened it up, sprinkled in the tiny packet of Nature's Valley granola and stirred. I did a double-take on the first bite. I usually buy vanilla yogurt, so I'm no stranger to sweet, but this stuff tasted like a thinned out version of canned cake frosting. Some of the berries in the mix tasted like pancake topping (meaning they'd been macerated in sugar syrup) though the blueberries felt fresh. Wow. No wonder they categorize it as a dessert option in their nutritional profile.

I wanted to take a look at see how this parfait stacks up against other commercial varieties, as well as against what you could make at home. Here is what I found:

My first question mark is why the Fruit 'n Yogurt is listed as 7oz but the serving size is 5.3oz. The McDonalds nutrition facts doesn't say how many servings per container...so which is it? 7 or 5.3? 5.3 ounces in a 7ounce container? It just doesn't make sense. Each parfait has different components, but if you're heading to Panera be aware that it looks like they're using full fat yogurt. The Dannon product comes in pretty trim, probably because people can eyeball the facts BEFORE they buy, unlike at most fast food establishments. The Kashi parfait (which is what I'm most likely to make at home) compares nicely but why so much sodium?!

It's hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison because the amounts on the labels get rounded up and down, or will increase in different proportions based on which part of the ingredients you add more of (more yogurt is more protein, but also more fat; more fruit is more fiber, but more sugar as well). With that caveat, here are the facts at the 1 oz level.

So it turns out that I probably made a good choice going to McDonalds for a parfait, rather than Starbucks. It actually compares rather favorably to the Kashi parfait as well. I get less fiber, but also fewer calories and lot less sodium. I still can't help feeling it wasn't a healthy breakfast though. There is something intuitive in my body that feels like real fresh fruit and more crunchy, fibrous bits would have made my breakfast more well-rounded. I'll hit the store after work tonight and try for better breakfasts the rest of this week.

SIMILAR ARTICLES:
Serious Eats: Fast-Food Yogurt Parfaits
The Tippy Toe Diet: Food Fight! Yogurt Parfaits

SOURCES:
http://www.kashi.com/recipes/192
http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/starbucks/fruit-and-yogurt-parfait/
http://www.peertrainer.com/DFcaloriecounterB.aspx?id=8347
http://www.peertrainer.com/DFcaloriecounterB.aspx?id=6887
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fast-foods-generic/9407/2
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/nutrition_choices.html
http://www.panerabread.com/pdf/nutr-guide.pdf

PUBLISH OR PERISH:
Sarah is probably in the car on the way back home, but she's been doing really well publishing on non-Mondays, so I think she deserves a slide. Or she might be her normal amazing self and pull it off before midnight. On the other hand, I think Catherine has probably forgotten it's Monday so I will need to be on her her to publish. OR PERISH!