Shopping and Cooking on a Budget

Session Overview

In this session, participants will learn about the Thrifty Meal Plan and ways to save money when purchasing food. An educator will provide information on how to identify fast and healthy recipes as well as time-saving tips to prepare family meals. Participants willuse the NetworkEveryday Healthy Meals cookbook as a resource for fast and healthy meals and will choose one recipe to prepare at home within the next week.

Target Audience: English and Spanish speaking adults

Group Size: 5-30 participants

Time Needed: 30 – 45 minutes

Behavioral Objectives:

After the session participants will be able to:

1)List three practical shopping tips that help families buy more nutritious foods for less money.

2)Describe two ways to prepare quick and easy healthy meals.

3)Identify simple and healthy recipes.

Key Message:

Families can prepare healthy meals on a limited budget by participating in food assistance programs, applyingpractical shopping tips and using time-saving cooking methods.

Materials Needed for Session:

  • Shopping and Cooking on a Budget presentation outline and Power Point presentation
  • Primary handouts:USDA Official USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food (Thrifty Meal Plan) handout; USDA Loving Your Family guidebook; USDASmart Shopping for Fruits & Vegetablestip sheet; USDA Family Meals: Easy, Tasty & Healthy handout and WIC Where to Find Help handout or other food assistance handouts
  • Optional handout: WIC Smart Shopping Tipshandout
  • WIC posters: Be a Smart Shopper When Using Coupons and Unit Price
  • Network “Everyday Healthy Meals” cookbook

Outline of 45-minute session(30-minute session in italics):

  • Welcome introduction (2 min)(1 min)
  • Activity 1: Your Food Budget(7 min)(5 min)
  • Activity 2:Smart Shopping Tips (15 min)(10 min)
  • Activity3: Quick and Easy Meals(7min)(5 min)
  • Activity 4: Fast and Healthy Recipes (6 min)(4 min)
  • Group Activity: Everyday Healthy Meals cookbook (6 min)(4 min)
  • Conclusion and Evaluation (2 min)(1 min)

Welcome to “Shopping and Cooking on a Budget”

  1. Introduce the class topic and distribute theCost of Food handout, Loving Your Family guidebook, Smart Shopping for Fruits and Vegetables tip sheetand Family Meals handout.
  2. Review the class objectives and the key message.

Activity 1: Your Food Budget

Distribute the Cost of Food handout. Explain there are four levels – Thrifty Plan, Low-cost Plan, Moderate-cost plan and Liberal plan.

  1. Thrifty Meal Plan

The Thrifty meal Plan is used to determine the amount of CalFresh/SNAP benefits; it is very basic and does not include eating out. Look at the “Thrifty Plan” column and ask the participants to find the following:

  • Weekly cost of food for one female adult 19-50 years(answer = $36.20*)
  • Weekly cost of food for one child 4-5 years(answer = $23.70*)
  • Monthly cost of food for their family(answer will vary based on family size*)

* Subject to change

  1. Food Assistance

Refer to Where to Find Help or other food assistance handouts

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  • 2-1-1 OC Referral Line
  • CalFresh (Food Stamps)
  • WIC
  • CSFP
  • School Lunch / Summer Lunch
  • Food Banks

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Activity 2: Smart Shopping Tips

What do you do to save money at the grocery store? Possible answers:

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  • Only buy what is on shopping list
  • Look at grocery store ads
  • Use coupons
  • Compare the unit price of foods
  • Buy “get one free” items

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Today we are going to talk about smart shopping and cooking tips to save you time and money.

Refer to pages 29-30 in the “Loving Your Family” guidebook; review the following tips:

  1. Before You Shop:
  2. Plan your meals usingMyPlate
  3. See what foods you already have on hand
  4. Make a shopping list
  5. Read food ads and clip coupons – Refer to Coupon poster
  6. Do not shop when hungry (eat a snack before hand)
  7. At the Store:
  8. Where do you shop?
  9. Large & chain stores: Non-perishable foods may be less expensive at these locations
  10. Smaller markets: Produce and perishable items may be less expensive at these locations
  11. How do you shop?
  12. Shop the perimeter; avoid checkout stand items
  13. Unit price – use to compare similar items –Refer toUnit Price poster
  14. Check the food package
  15. Size and # of servings

-Are 2 small packages cheaper than one large?

-# of servings in the package

  1. Expiration dates:

-Dairy, eggs, meat, poultry, other foods

  1. Ingredients:

-Unprocessed grains (whole wheat, oatmeal, brown rice, etc.)

-Sodium

-Added sugar

  • Ways to save money:
  • Buy what is in season: Fruits and vegetables, holiday meats
  • Look for sale & clearance items: Canned goods, non-perishables
  • Bulk foods: Rice, dried beans, meat (freeze some for later use)
  • Larger items may beless expensive: Milk, cereal (check unit price)
  • Lower cost protein sources: Beans, canned fish, eggs
  1. At Your Home
  2. Divide large packages and freeze for future use.
  3. Limited storage space? Buy bulk items with a friend and split contents.
  4. Ask: “How can you use these foods bought in bulk?”
  5. 10 pounds of potatoes
  6. 2 pounds of carrots (not baby carrots)
  7. 3 pounds of hamburger

Activity 3: Quick and Easy Meals

Save time and provide good nutrition. Refer to page 30 in the “Loving Your Family” guidebook. Tell the participants these are some meal preparation tips they can read later then discuss the following:

  1. Make no-cook meals and snacks – Sandwiches, salads w/ canned beans or tuna, veggies & dip
  2. Make one-dish meals – Chili, casseroles, turkey/zucchini sauté (crock pot)
  3. Batch cooking
  • Double recipes to save time & money; freeze extra portions (soups, stews, casseroles)
  • Double parts of the recipe and freeze or use for another dish (grate cheese, brown hamburger, make sauce)
  • Freeze in single portions or share with a friend
  1. “Breakfast” for dinner
  2. Convenience Foods – Take the help when you can get it – however, consider cost and nutrition
  3. Examples: Canned and frozen vegetables; cooked whole chicken; bagged salad; frozen foods; pasta sauce; canned soup; pre-shredded cheese
  4. Better choices: Broth, pasta sauce, frozen or canned fruits and vegetables
  5. Choose less often: Frozen dinners, salad kits, pre-shredded cheese, boxed casserole dinner kits, vegetables or fish in sauces (Processed foods usually more expensive; can be higher in sodium, saturated fat and lower in nutrients.)

-Add fresh and extra ingredients for better nutrition and flavor (frozen vegetables to soups; spinach or shredded carrots to spaghetti sauce; seasonings)

  1. Drive Through and then Home – Making Meals Healthier
  • Pizza plus……salad, canned fruit, juice or water at home
  • Hamburgers – skip fries, soda; replace with apple, carrot sticks, milk at home
  • Look at portion sizes – no need to “super size” unless you share

What’s for Dinner? - Examples of quick and easy meals (From USDA Family Meals handout)

  • Hearty soup: Add frozen or canned vegetables to soup
  • Pasta dish: Mix tuna and cooked vegetables into noodles (serve hot or cold)
  • Chili Combo: Serve homemade or canned chili over a baked potato
  • Others…

Activity 4: Simple and Healthy Recipes

How to identify a recipe that is fast and healthy; look for:

  • Short ingredient list; basic ingredients and equipment
  • Few preparation steps
  • Include vegetables and/or fruit
  • Use herbs and spices instead of salt
  • Use vegetable oils instead of butter or margarine

Group Activity:

Refer to the Everyday Healthy Meals cookbook. Ask participants to:

  1. Turn to page 4: How many cups of fruits and vegetables do you need each day?
  2. Turn to page 6: How many tablespoons are in 1 cup?
  3. Find a recipe with cabbage as an ingredient.

Tell participants this cookbook is a great resource and most of the recipes have all of the elements of simple and healthy recipes.

Home Activity:

Ask participants to pick one recipe out of the “Everyday Healthy Meals” cookbook to prepare at home. After they have chosen a recipe, ask how their kids might be able to help with the shopping or preparation of this recipe.

Conclusion and Evaluation:

  • Ask participants if they have any questions.
  • Distribute evaluation forms or conduct verbally. Collect forms and use results to improve future presentations.

Shopping and Cooking on a Budget

After attending this class I feel confident that I can:

Agree Very Much / Agree / I Am
Not Sure / Disagree / Disagree
Very Much
  1. List 3 practical shopping tips that help families buy more nutritious foods for less money.

  1. Describe 2 ways to prepare quick and easy healthy family meals.

  1. Identify simple and healthy recipes.

  1. Comments:

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