How to Buy the USDA Recommended 4.5 Cups of Fruits and Vegetables for $2.50 Per Day

As part of its 2010 dietary guidelines released on January 31, the USDA recommended that the average American eat approximately 4.5 cups of produce per day. Broken down a bit more, that’s 2.5 cups of vegetables, and 2 cups of fruit. In a study released days later by the USDA’s Economic Research Service, researchers concluded all 4.5 cups could be purchased for between $2 and $2.50 per day.

Reactions on one major food blog ranged from supportive (“[I] like that they are promoting the fact that eating healthy doesn't have to expensive.”) to skeptical (“Where the hell are they shopping?”) to outright critical (“God, the USDA is full of such bull****”).

While I think the ERS researchers are correct with their $2.50 number (more on that in a minute), some of the skepticism is merited, for three big reasons:

1. They used food prices from 2008. A certain economic meltdown makes those numbers highly suspect today.
2. Among the vegetables counted towards the $2.50 total are white potatoes and corn, starchy foods not exactly known for their vitamins and minerals. Also included is iceberg lettuce, which has the rough nutritional value of licking a rock.
3. Juice is counted as produce, though the USDA itself admits, “Although 100% fruit juice can be part of a healthful diet, it lacks dietary fiber and when consumed in excess can contribute extra calories.”

With that in mind, for the huge majority of us who don’t live in food deserts, is it still feasible to pay $2.50 for 4.5 cups of produce per day? How? And going one step further, is it possible to purchase a variety thereof? Because anyone can buy seven bananas for $2, but cramming in spinach, yams, berries, and pluots gets a little harder.

My answer to each question is a resounding, “Heck yeah, but you have to do some legwork, first.” To that end, here are some suggestions to keep costs down, and nutrition way, way up.

Buy in season and on sale. These two occurrences frequently coincide, since supermarkets have to move surpluses of in-season fruits and vegetables before they rot. So, pay attention to produce calendars, hunt for bargains at farmer’s markets, and look out for circular sales in larger grocery stores. To wit: I recently scored a 5-lb. bag of gigantic navel oranges (13 in all) for $4.97 at my local Foodtown. That’s $0.38 per orange, which comes out to more than 1 cup of fruit.

Buy whole. Not cut up, drenched in cheese, or (sorry) pulped into juice. Whole fruits and vegetables are almost always cheaper and higher in nutrients than those that have been doctored. The perfect example? The humble carrot. A pound of whole carrots at my old supermarket was $0.89. ($0.66 on sale.) A pound of baby carrots, which are actually regular-sized carrots run through a peeling/whacking machine, cost $1.50. Prep them anyway you like once you’re home, but buy ‘em big before then.

Buy generic, or with coupons if you can nail a better price. While this might not apply to fresh fruits and vegetables, generic frozen and canned produce is generally a big bargain. In studies, many shoppers can't tell the difference between house and name brands, and frequently, the foods are cut and packaged in the same buildings. HOWEVER: if you have dynamite coupons, or can pair coupons with sales, name brands could be the bigger bargain. Do the math and see where you end up.

Buy fresh or frozen first, then canned. Then juice, I guess. While the USDA claims there’s no consistent price advantage of one over the other, I find A) (tomatoes excepted) fresh and frozen produce tastes better than canned, B) fresh and frozen produce is often sold/frozen at the height of growing season, giving it a bigger nutritional impact, and C) canned mushrooms are the devil. (Seriously. You can tell a good pizza joint by whether or not their mushrooms are fresh.) As for dried fruits, try purchasing them in a bulk food store or ethnic market, since they're ludicrously expensive in many big chains. If juice is a necessity (you have children, for example), buying 100% fruit juice is best, and even then, not if you have to sacrifice other means of packing in the produce.

Find a happy medium between big nutrition and big savings. Though tasty and inexpensive, potatoes are somewhat lacking in the nutrient department. On the flip side, berries are powerhouses of vitamins and minerals, but often prohibitively pricey. Don’t forgo either extreme entirely (since a world without blueberries isn’t a world worth living in), but concentrate most of your cash on the guys in the middle. Cruciferae, leafy greens, root vegetables, citrus fruits, stone fruits, and melons are among the many options, and compromise is the name of the game.

Buy from the secret bin. Shoppers will often shy away from lightly bruised fruit, slightly limp broccoli, or salad close to its sell-by date. Their loss becomes your gain, since supermarkets will sell these products at a steep discount. Hidden at the back of many grocery stores is that shelf, which can be summed up thusly: Looks Iffy, Tastes Fine.  Go to it. Learn it. Love it. (Of course, don't buy rotted produce from it. That's silly.)

Buy from multiple markets if you can swing it. Supermarkets within the same general area will frequently offer competing deals to lure customers in the door. In my old neighborhood ("Back in St. Olaf…"), one store would offer a 3/$5 deal on berries, while the place down the street promoted stone fruit for $0.99/lb. Purchasing from both promised variety, as well as big savings. Even if there's not a second market near you, the occasional trip to Trader Joe's or CostCo. (which rarely have sales, but keep their prices consistently reasonable), can mean more produce at a lesser cost.

Before you finish up this article with a, “Harrumph! I knew all this already, and I still can’t afford 4.5 cups of produce on $2.50 per day,” check out the edible cup equivalents in the ERS study. These numbers, averaged across the nation, probably figure more importantly than retail price per pound, since they don’t include inedible parts of produce (corn husks, plum pits, etc.). Here are some examples - mean costs per cup, according to their 2/11 study:

Carrots - $0.25

Navel oranges - $0.34

Pears – $0.42

Sweet potatoes - $0.43

Kale - $0.60

Broccoli - $0.63

Tomatoes - $0.75

So, 4.5 cups - a cup each of kale, sweet potatoes, navel orange, and pears, plus a half-cup of tomatoes – can be purchased for a grand total of $2.16. As mentioned, these prices have probably gone up since 2008, but A) please note we still saved $0.34, and B) some careful shopping should net you much better deals.

Honestly, everything I just wrote/everything you need to know can be found in two documents, both of which merit further study:

• The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010
• How Much Do Fruits and Vegetables Cost?

Readers, did I miss anything? Do you think it's possible to get 4.5 cups of produce for $2.50 a day? Any tips? Let 'er rip.

~~~

If this article interested you, you might also enjoy:

• 10 Cheap Ways to Simplify Food Shopping
• The 10 Cheapest, Healthiest Foods Money Can Buy
• 10 Foods You Should Always Splurge On

Guest Post: Sweet Potato Soup with Chipotle

Erin joins us from Hot Dinner Happy Home, where she chronicles her adventures feeding a hungry husband and a hungry self.

As (relatively) intelligent beings, we take the advice of those around us who are wiser and more experienced in order to avoid undesirable consequences. We wear seatbelts. We say “No!” to drugs. We steer clear of young children at the mall wearing Heelys. But sometimes we just need to learn lessons for ourselves.

For me, pureeing hot soup in a blender was a life lesson that fell squarely in the second category.

The husband and I crowded into our postage stamp kitchen with a few friends to whip up a batch of Sweet Potato and Chipotle Soup. Everything was going swimmingly. The soup was nearing completion, and everyone was laughing and joking. More importantly, all our digits were still attached and no one had sustained major burns.

Then I read this step in the recipe, “Let soup cool slightly. Working in batches, transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth. (Use caution when blending hot liquids).”

Well, did I mention I was starving? Overconfident? And also impatient?

I loaded that blender to the tippy-top, slammed on the lid, and switched it on with a flick of my wrist and a cocky gleam in my eye.

And sweet potato soup exploded all over my kitchen.

So, when you make this soup (because you really ought to; it’s delicious), I implore you, take caution. When the recipe says to puree in batches, it ain’t kidding. Cover the lid of your blender with a towel and hold on for dear life.

Or, just do what I did and put an immersion blender on your birthday list. Because I’m still starving, overconfident, and impatient. I guess I’ll never learn…

~~~

If this looks good, imagine the following:

• Curried Sweet Potato Stew
• Molasses Whipped Sweet Potatoes
• Sweet Potato and Swiss Chard Soup

~~~

Sweet Potato and Chipotle Soup
Serves 8.
Adapted from Everyday Food.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 medium sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds total), peeled and cut into 1” chunks
1 chipotle chile in adobo, chopped, plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
7 cups low-sodium chicken broth (feel free to use a bit more or less until the soup is the desired consistency)
Sour cream, for serving

1) In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion to pot and season with salt and pepper. Cook onion, stirring as needed, until softened and golden brown at the edges, about 7 minutes. Add cumin and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2) Stir in sweet potatoes, 6 cups chicken broth, chipotle chile, and adobo sauce. Bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to low, partially cover, and simmer until sweet potatoes are very tender, about 25 minutes.

3) Allow soup to cool slightly. Transfer soup to your blender in batches, being cautious not to fill blender to the top, and holding lid on tightly, and puree until smooth. Return pureed soup to Dutch oven. (Alternatively, puree using an immersion blender.) If the soup is too thick, add last 1 cup chicken broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. At medium-low temperature, heat soup until it is warmed through. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

NOTE (from Kris): For a vegan/vegetarian version of this soup, simply replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth, and leave out the sour cream.

Ask the Internet: What's Not Worth Doing Home-made?

Today's question comes from Laura and Karen L., who brought it up in the comment section of last Wednesday's Triangle of Compromise post. It's a really solid one.

Q: There are something that are just *not* worth the time. For me, that includes homemade noodles and gnocchi. Homemade bread is a treat. Perhaps and interesting ask-the-audience: What is not worth doing home-made?

From Cyclone Bill

A: Loooove this one. Here's what I do:

Worth it: marinades, rubs, spice mixes, salad dressings and vinaigrette, all baked goods, most dips, soup, gnocchi. (That last one is subjective, but I love the stuff, you can make a ton at once, and it keeps forever in the fridge.)

Not worth it: pasta, crackers, bread (We don't eat bread fast enough, and crackers and pasta take soooo long.)

Up for grabs: pasta sauce, chicken stock, salsa (I make them all from scratch when I can, but we use them so frequently, I usually just buy pre-assembled.)

Readers, what about you? What do you make from scratch? What just isn't worth the effort?

Want to ask the interweb a question? Post one in the comment section, or write to Cheaphealthygood@gmail.com. Then, tune in next Tuesday for an answer/several answers from the good people of the World Wide Net.

A 14-Carrot Valentine's Day Recipe: Marinated Celery and Carrots, Chinese Style

For Valentine's Day, my cat bit me in the face. I like to think he was going for, like, a weirdo human-kitty show of affection, and got overzealous. Or maybe that my face is actually quite delicious, and its secrets should be marketed to professional flavorers as some kind of replacement for corn syrup. More likely, he's a psychopath with a brain the size of a walnut, and my face got in the way of his biteyness.

(Note: It wasn't bad at all, and he barely broke skin. It's just weird to be injured in the face if you're not in a vampire movie or shooting birds with Dick Cheney.)

(Ha! My cultural references are the timeliest!)

Anyway, HOTUS made me feel better with a lovely Middle Eastern-style dinner, as well as my very own label maker. I never thought the day would come when I'd be all, "Sweet Bea Arthur, a LABEL MAKER! WOOOOO!" as if it was front-row tickets to a U2 concert. But it's here. And I am going to label the everloving hell out of my house. (Cat included.)

I bestowed upon HOTUS a Kindle cover, as well as these Chinese-Style Marinated Celery and Carrots from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. It's an Asian-style twist on veggie sticks, and a nice changeup to regular ol' ranch dressing. After one bite, I was all, "Hm. Okay." Ten sticks later, I would have bitten a cat's face off for another bowlful.

The one negative: The marinade begins to funkify after 48 hours, meaning the dish doesn’t keep for more than two or three days. So serve it quickly, carrot lovers!

~~~

If this looks tasty, you’ll quite like:

• Carrots and Zucchini with Garlic and Ginger
• Gingered Carrot Soup with Lime and Cilantro
• Honey-Glazed Roasted Carrots

~~~

Marinated Celery and Carrots, Chinese Style
Serves 4
From Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything.

1/2 pound carrots
1/2 pound celery stalks
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil (not toasted)
2 teaspoons rice vinegar or cider vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced

1) Chop carrots and celery into 2-inch sticks. They should be bigger than a julienne, but smaller than the average crudité dipper. Stick them in a bowl and mix with salt. Let stand at least 10 minutes, and up to 1 hour. Rinse thoroughly, drain, and dry.

2) Meanwhile, mix sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, and garlic in a large bowl with a pretty flat bottom. (You can use a regular bowl. It just works better this way.) Add carrots and celery and stir thoroughly. You can eat immediately, or let marinate for at least 1 hour. I prefer to let it marinate. Store for up to 2 days in the fridge. (After that, it starts getting weird.)

Note: For a more salad-like side dish, chop the veggies into 1-inch sticks.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Price Per Serving
108 calories, 7.1 g fat, 2.6 g fiber, 1.5 g protein, $0.62

Calculations
1/2 pound carrots: 93 calories, 0.5 g fat, 6.4 g fiber, 2.1 g protein, $0.44
1/2 pound celery stalks: 32 calories, 0.5 g fat, 3.6 g fiber, 1.6 g protein, $0.84
1 teaspoon salt: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.01
1 tablespoon sugar: 46 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.01
2 tablespoons soy sauce: 17 calories, 0 g fat, 0.3 g fiber, 2 g protein, $0.19
2 tablespoons sesame oil (not toasted): 239 calories, 27 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.81
2 teaspoons rice vinegar or cider vinegar: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.15
1 garlic clove, minced: 4 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0.2 g protein, $0.04
TOTALS: 431 calories, 28.3 g fat, 10.3 g fiber, 5.9 g protein, $2.49
PER SERVING (TOTALS/4): 108 calories, 7.1 g fat, 2.6 g fiber, 1.5 g protein, $0.62

Kid Friendly Picadillo with Brown Rice

I've been wanting to make this recipe for quite some time. Ever since I saw it on one of my favorite blogs, Mr. and Mrs. P  and it reminded me of a wonderful dish a good friend of mine with Cuban roots made for us several years ago that I loved. It's funny how you can love a dish so much and never attempt to re-create it at home. What's even funnier is that this dish is one of the easiest I've ever made. Ever. I guess that for the most part, my mind  is not on meals that include beef, and this one is all about the beef. Well, maybe not entirely, but it's defiantly the main ingredient.

What makes a beef errrr, un-enthusiast like me want to make a Cuban ground beef dinner like Picadillo?
Flavor. Simplicity. Organic, All-Natural ground beef. and the fact that everyone else in my house loves beef.
No arguing, compromising, yelling or crying tonight for dinner folks!  Now that, is something isn't it?

It's absolutely amazing how much better Organic, 'Free Range' beef tastes. Tons I tell you. It must be due to the fact that the cows aren't sad and cooped up in a crowded stall spending all day standing knee deep in their own filth and fed a diet that goes against nature. Repeat after me " Cows don't naturally eat corn." Period. They eat grass. Their digestive systems weren't meant to handle diets of corn and fillers and who knows what. Now we have cows with messed up digestive systems and immune systems, hence all the ecoli contaminated beef 'outbreaks'. Their bodies aren't coping with the filth and the hormones and the antibiotics because they are eating a GMO corn/science experiment.





Organic is more expensive.
I decided that we would eat meat less often so I could afford to pay a little more for
beef, chicken, milk and eggs that were responsibly raised and better for us.

I'm sorry. I'm done. Promise.



Sooooo, in all fairness, and because their recipe is so wonderful and authentic which is what drew me to it in the first place, I thought I'd just go ahead and post the original recipe from Mr. and Mrs. P's blog and then give you my little changes or additions in ( ). Mostly, my changes were because of ingredients I already had in my pantry and my additions were to sneak more veggies in and make it more kid friendly. My kids love green beans and corn made it a bit sweeter. This was fantastic! I hope you try it too.


Recipe slightly adapted from Mr. and Mrs. P

TIME  15 MINUTES        SERVES  6
Ingredients:


1 pound of ground beef (I used Organic, lean ground beef)

1 tbsp. of vegetable oil

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 of a green pepper, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Salt and pepper (I added 1or 2 teaspoons ground cumin, just a pinch of salt and a lotta fresh cracked pepper)

8 oz. can of tomato sauce (I used a 14 oz can diced tomatoes cuz that's all I had)

1/2 cup of white wine (I used red)

1 teaspoon of vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

1/3 cup raisins (I used golden)

1/4 cup of green olives, sliced

1 tbsp. of sugar (I used brown sugar)

I added about a 1/3 cup of frozen sweet corn and about 1/2 cup of green beans I had in my fridge to make it kid friendly.  O.K., and yes, I apparently can't make anything without adding veggies.



Directions:


Heat the oil over medium heat in a deep skillet. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and season with salt and pepper. When the onions are soft, add the peppers and garlic. Cook, while stirring, about 2-3 minutes until the "sofrito" is tender. Next, add the ground beef. Cook until the meat is brown. Add the wine while scraping bottom of pan with a broad wooden spoon to deglaze. Add the tomato sauce and vinegar. Simmer for a few minutes, then add the corn and green beans if using, raisins, olives and sugar. Cover and simmer on low for about 10 minutes. Serve over white rice (I used Brown rice). 

This post is linked to

Saturday Throwback: On Splurging

Every week, we post a piece from the CHG archives (located in our nation's capitol, right next to the Ark of the Covenant). This comes from February 2009.

My Pa is my idol. He’s a funny guy, with the patience of Gandhi and the work ethic of an Iditarod sled dog. Even on bad days, he makes Atticus Finch look like an angry slacker. And last week, he turned 60. This is significant for many reasons:

1. Senior discounts galore. (Hello, IHOP!)
2. He’s halfway through his quest to become the world’s oldest man.
3. Sandals! Over black socks! No one gives a damn anymore!
4. He’s the same age as Sean Connery in Hunt for Red October, Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and, er, Harrison Ford in K-19: The Widowmaker. Barring that last one, that’s pretty cool.
5. I wasn’t around to celebrate. Instead (with his blessing, but still), I was oogling mountains in the Pacific Northwest.

To make up for my absence, I needed an extraordinarily special gift: something better than anything he’d ever received, or could even dream up. For obvious reasons, gold-plated golf clubs were out of the question, as was a warm, fuzzy hug from Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, who once sparked this conversation between the two of us:

PA: Did you see Jeter's catch last night? It was just like Willie Mays. He ran 50 feet into the outfield and caught it with his back turned. And THEN he nails the guy at second. It was great. Great catch.

ME: If you ever left Mom for a man, I'm pretty sure it would be Jeter.

PA: (thoughtful pause) … You think he'd have me?

That left one other option: Le Bernardin.

You need to know: Pa is a seafood fanatic. He inhales shrimp, and once, I witnessed him down two-dozen Maryland blue crabs in a single sitting. (To compare, I had four. Ma had eight.) Le Bernardin seemed like a good choice.

LB is Eric Ripert’s phenomenal seafood restaurant on the north end of Midtown Manhattan. It’s has four stars from the New York Times since 1986, and is one of only a trio of Big Apple eateries to boast three Michelin stars. Calling it a good place for fish is like saying the Pope only kind of digs Jesus. It’s a TEMPLE to fish, and Pa and I were eager to pay our respects. So, we chose a random Wednesday (coincidentally, the same night Ripert appeared on Top Chef), donned our best snow boots, and got subway-ing.

(SIDE NOTE #1: I worked in Midtown for nine years, on the SAME EXACT STREET as the restaurant, and never knew it was there. This is partially because the whole gorgeous, warm, wooden room is tucked modestly away in the first floor of a ginormous skyscraper. There’s a sign outside, but it’s easy to miss among Times Square’s shiny bustle. Also, I’m not very observant.)

Once we arrived and our coats were checked, the host ushered us to a neat, crisp table with more silverware than I've ever seen for two people. We settled in, and the meal began with an amuse-bouche, a tiny pre-appetizer that psyches your palette up for the rest of dinner. In this case, it was lobster cappuccino. Lobster. Cappuccino. Oh, it sounds bizarre and gross, but understand this: if God had come down from heaven and offered to rub my mouth with diamonds, I still would have opted for the shellfish coffee.

Next up was a choice between 14,000 different types of bread, served to us by one of our 17,000 suited waiters. On the side: butter, presumably churned from a cow they kept behind the bar. I’d never had fresher dairy, and Pa practically spread it on his tongue. So far, so good.

(SIDE NOTE #2: It was around this time we spilled a drop of … something [I forget what] … on the tablecloth. Like quicksilver, a waiter was over to brush it away, smooth the offending wrinkles, and hide the faint remaining stain with a snow-white linen napkin. Pa and I looked wide-eyed at each other: “Well, this beats the crap out of Olive Garden.”)

Soon enough, our sommelier (a lady!) visited the table, bearing our half-bottle of German white wine. She taste-tested the vino before pouring it, and finding it unpoisoned, gave us generous sloshes for the meals to come.

Which? Holla!

What followed were three courses of fish prepared in a variety of heart-stopping, face-melting ways. Organic raw salmon with green apple? Check. White tuna lightly poached in olive oil with dime-sized potato chips adorning each piece? Check. Crispy bass that dismantled our taste buds, rearranged them, and then built them back up into newer, better taste buds? Oh god, check.

And to top everything off, dessert. I had an architecturally stunning dark chocolate ganache with sweet potato sorbet. Pa had a hazelnut and banana combination that … I just openly drooled on my chest. Who discovered the hazelnut, and how can I give him my life’s savings? If anyone can answer this, please call me. Collect.

(SIDE NOTE #3: In the bathroom? Free tampons. Pa was not as impressed at this as me.)

In the end, we walked out full, dazzled, and with the understanding that this was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. Calories didn’t matter. Time didn’t matter. Money didn’t matter.

Oh, and about that bill.

Woof. It was big. A good portion of my monthly rent.

But it was also for Pa, and that made every cent worth it. Yeah, I save and scrimp and regularly frugalize my pants off, but I’d do Le Bernardin again tomorrow if I could. We value good food. We love trying new restaurants. We both knew we probably wouldn’t have that kind of opportunity again. And hell, you only turn 60 once.

And that’s when splurging is okay.

(Photos courtesy of Confessions of a She-Fan.)

Top Ten Links of the Week: 2/4/11 - 2/10/11

It’s a rough week for working moms, a good week for buying food cheaply, and a terrible week for heavy wine bottles and weak shelving. Read on for the magic.

1) Wise Bread
5 Things Other Grocery Stores Should Steal from Trader Joe's
Best Money Tips - Eat Healthy for Under $5 a Day
Best Money Tips – How to Get Groceries for Free
Sex Up Your Sandwich – Ideas for Budget Conscious Brown Baggers
Not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR way relevant posts from the fine folks at Wise Bread this week. Read ‘em and … well, don’t weep. But enjoy them thoroughly. That’s what they’re there for.

2) The Kitchn
How to Cook Moist and Tender Chicken Breasts
How to Start a Food Storage Plan on $10 a Week
On Cooking Through Your Pantry – Using Up Odds and Ends
Coming in a close second, this trio of super-useful Kitchn posts.

3) Culinate: Eating like monsters - 12 ways to get kids to eat well
Ooo! Dig these creative suggestions for feeding kids, which are so much more constructive than, “Puree vegetables and stick 'em in tastier foods.” I want to live in Laura Grace Weldon’s house at dinnertime.

4) Squawkfox: 1 Chicken, 22 Meals, 49 Bucks
Loved this post, which uses a humanely-raised, all-natural chicken for an experiment similar to CHG’s 1 Chicken, 17 Healthy Meals, $26 Bucks, No Mayo. It can be done healthfully! Includes pictures and a grocery list.

5) Serious Eats: New USDA Report Says You Can Eat Right for $2.50 a Day
While it’s definitely possible to get enough USDA-recommended produce for $2.50 per day, author Leah Douglas raises good points on some missing details in the recent nutrition report. One thing is clear: While progress is being made on what the government considers to be a healthy diet, there’s still a ways to go.

6) Hunter Angler Gardener Cook: Why Salt Matters
Excellent tutorial on artisanal salts accompanied by gorgeous pictures of the same. Read it, then print it out and staple it to your wall.

7) Businessweek: The More Mom Works, the Heavier Her Kids Get - Study
Let’s ignore the fact that men weren’t mentioned until the very end of this article, as if they have little obligation to feed their children. (ANGRY LATENT FEMINIST HULK SMASH!) Instead, we will say that the weight gain coincided with hours worked, as opposed to employment itself, which is somewhat comforting. I guess.

8) Time: Toddlers Junk Food Diet May Lead to Lower IQ
Bad foods consumed at age three can have an adverse effect on intelligence by age eight, a new study finds. The IQ drop isn’t gigantic, but why take the risk? After all, an apple a day keeps your brain ... uh ... very ... yay?

9) Consumerist: Should Restaurant Refund Me For Edamame Appetizer With Free Giant Worm?
Yes. But wait! There’s more!

10) Epicurious: Budget Boosters – 35 Ways to Stretch Your Food Dollars
There is a slim possibility I’ve linked to this before, but I can’t seem to find it, and it’s good enough to deserve a double-mention anyway. It’s a great primer and not a slideshow, so – bonus.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Kalyn’s Kitchen: Five Fun Things on a Friday and My Family Rocks
Love the first craft idea.

Salon: Charting anti-obesity progress
A look back at the year in MObama’s food initiatives.

Salon: Regrets of a Stay-at-Home Mom
Well, this doesn’t terrify me at all. (*enrolls in medical school*)

AND ALSO

Urlesque: Watch 100 Wine Bottles Crash to the Floor
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!



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