Cooking Healthy, on a Dime, with Little Time. Chef Jerry Craft

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2 Cooking Healthy, on a Dime, with Little Time Chef Jerry Craft

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4 What s the difference between a convenience food and fresh food? Convenience Foods Sodium content!!! Sugar content!!!! Preservatives Unknown ingredients you don t know. Fresh Foods You control what is added. You know what is in it. If it s a carrot, it is nothing more than a carrot.

5 Can Convenience foods and fresh foods work together? Of Course!!!

6 Be a reader! Check nutrition fact and ingredients regularly! Look for convenience foods with few ingredients in them. Especially words you recognize! Some prepackaged foods are exactly what they say they are. Read labels even on pre-cut items like chopped garlic.

7 Cheap food can be easy to work with! Get rid of the unhealthy parts like flavor packets or packets with dehydrated fruits or vegetables. Replace these items with things you know or make fresh veggies, your own stock Be careful of the pitfalls of Low Fat, Fat Free, Lite. Be aware of how the particular product is made! Think about whole grains, brown rice, and dressing up regular foods like premade salads, pizza, nachos, or even omelets! Join a website for great cheap eats and recipes!

8 Pre-Made Salad: An Example Avoid the traditional iceberg lettuce or romaine salad kits. Try the kale mixes. Toss out the given dressing, and make your own! Add fresh veggies like avocado, tomato, or cucumber Bake chicken or turkey cutlets to add a protein element.

9 Organic/Natural versus Conventional Organic/nature Industry is regulated by the USDA Carful of the labelling! Not all organics are created equal. Just because it s labelled organic doesn t mean it s good for you! Conventional Food grown the usual way. Regulation, but not as tight as in Organics. Just because it s not labelled, doesn't mean it s bad for you!

10 To Organic or Not Organic? That is the question. Depends on the food, your budget, and the label. For the budget conscientious, think more about protein products then veggies. Read the label! The organic symbol is really the only way you know if the food is truly organic. The phrases, Naturally Grown or farm to table don t mean anything!

11 Want more information? Information on organic labelling: nic-101-what-the-usda-organic-labelmeans/ Definitions of organic and who is certified: p Facts on pesticides in produce:

12 It s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about? Henry David Thoreau Managing your time wisely helps you have your cake and eat it too! Eating better with no time is manageable. Remember, you are worth it!

13 Eating better with no time. Purchase fresh pre-cut fruits and vegetables. Avoid the canned stuff! Too much sugar, and even more preservatives! Think about frozen fruits and vegetables. Purchase pre-cut meats like chicken thighs or eight-way chicken.

14 Eating better with no time. Have a plan! Plan your shopping trips by aisle to save time. Use the grocery stores app to determine where things are and create your list using the appropriate aisle. Sit down at least once a week and plan a menu. Invest in a few fool-proof cook books like Ina Garten for simple, delicious food, or Gourmet for when you have time to have a little fun. Don t forget Julia Child, the Mother of modern day American food!

15 Eating better with no time. Cook on your day off! Think about making two dishes a week in large quantities. Transform each dish into three different meals for the week. For example, take regular deli rotisserie chicken and steam vegetables. Transform the dish the next day into a chicken salad that be eaten in an open faced sandwich or alone. For the third day, take the left over salad and place it atop pasta for a hearty pasta dish.

16 Eating better with no time. Have a party! The goal is to meet weekly to cook together. Use the party to each make a different dish that you each get to take home for the week. Create stocks with your frozen chicken or beef bones. Using the party to create stocks or sauces that take time allow you to socialize with your friends and get the prep done!

17 Eating better with no time. Invest in a vacuum sealer! They actually work and help preserve your food for longer than you expect. That includes leafy greens like spinach, meat for freezing, or other cooked entrees. Freezing these vacuum sealed packages keeps them fresh for months! Refrigerating vacuum sealed packages retains the items as fresh for a couple extra WEEKS!

18 What s a pantry and why do I need one?

19 What s a food pantry? A food pantry is a place to store food that won t go bad easily and that is used often. Remember, a pantry is not a dumping ground for things that you will only use once! If the expire by date on your food is more than two years, and it s not a spice, don t buy it in the first place!

20 What do I store in a pantry? AP Flour Sugar Dried Pasta Olive Oil Panko Bread Crumbs Tomato Sauce Tuna Crackers Vinegars Granola Bars Cereal Nuts Apples

21 What about the refrigerator? Butter Eggs Milk Remember, things come in smaller sizes today! Check expiration dates! While quantity is cheaper, if over half of the product goes bad, did you really save any money?

22 Pantry Rules Keep things in your pantry that are convenient to have on hand for your lifestyle. Don t over-buy just because you have the space! Contrary to popular believe, cookies and potato chips are NOT pantry items.

23 Spices! The unsung hero of cooking

24 The Basics Garlic (fresh is best, but must be refrigerated! Use powder in a pinch.) Oregano Onion Salt Cayenne Pepper Cumin Thyme Cinnamon Nutmeg

25 Tarragon Goes nicely with chicken, lemons, some fish Has a liquorish type flavor

26 Gets a bad wrap! Salt When used in moderation, salt is fine. Enhances the flavor of food. If you taste it, you ve added too much. While it s a bad idea to salt prepared items, you MUST salt the food you make. Salt is a preservative that is over-used in manufacturing

27 Pepper Be careful of the white pepper phenomenon! White pepper is the spicy inner part of the black pepper. The black pepper has the flavor, while the white pepper has the heat. Different colors have different flavors. Green pepper corns are immature peppercorns, usually preserved in a brine. Cayenne pepper is a great secret ingredient to cut through the richness of butter, mayonnaise, or cream based sauces, giving the food a non-spicy, but layered flavor profile.

28 Spices, the general 411 Don t go crazy! Spices are meant to enhance flavor, not overpower it Spices can have heat with flavor. Spices can define an entire regional cuisine, giving it the true taste of the region.

29 Fast Food: The good, the bad, and the ugly

30 What if I still have to eat out at McDonald s? Be careful! If you must, make sure you know what you are getting into by checking the product information at the companies web-site. Even your daily coffee may be a challenge! Remember, even salad s aren t great with 1000 Islands dressing smeared all over it!

31 What if I still have to eat out at McDonald s? Think of alternatives. Breading-less Chicken Sandwiches Dressing-less Salads Apples instead of fries Sweet or unsweet tea instead of the chemical make-up of Coke or the like.

32 Fast Food doesn t always mean Bad Food Think about alternatives to the usual Subway, the grocery store deli, Panera, Pei Wei, etc., are all still cheap, and usually have healthier items on their menus. Beware! Healthier doesn t mean healthy!

33 Truth in labeling The FDA has mandated that by the December 1, 2016 that most fast food and sit down restaurants disclose the calories in each entrée. Some chains like Starbucks, McDonald s, and Panera already are in compliance. /ucm htm

34 The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one. Erma Bombeck How Do I Shop?

35 Look at your grocery store s weekly circular. Plan your menus around what s on sale. Use the circular to your advantage by using the coupons and looking for recipes. Many times, all of the items featured in a recipe are on sale. Shopping Hints

36 Shopping Hints Coupon! Digital coupons have made this much easier. Many stores now embrace digital coupons by allowing you to set up an account and pull coupons into it that are accessible at the register right through your phone.

37 Shopping Hints Think about joining a shopping club Be careful! While the products are cheaper, there is a lot more of it. Think about it your can really use 6 pounds of pork. If you have ample freezer space, this type of shopping may work out for you.

38 Finally! A few notes to remember

39 In summary Plan! Plan! Plan! Make it fun, or you ll never do it! Check labels! Know what you are putting into your body! Learn which organics are best for you, your palette, and your body. Build a pantry! Invest in quality cookware that will last a lifetime and not just a few years. You often get what you pay for.

40 Shopping Hints Again, read the labels and know what you are buying. It is a good idea to recheck the labels every 6 months. Ingredients do change. Learn your store! Especially if you do not have time to go from store to store. Learning your aisle locations helps save you hours of time in the store and helps you arrange your shopping list accordingly.