Here are some basic foodstuffs that give you the most bang foryour buck. They're all nutritious and can easily become part of asatisfying meal. (I've omitted really basic ingredients like flour,vegetable oil or dried milk.)
The price I quote for each item is based on what I've found inmy local supermarket; the price may be higher or lower in yours.Some prices are given as a range because sales vary week to week;bananas, for example, can cost anywhere from 29 cents to 59 cents apound.
Bananas: 10 to 20 cents a serving. Bananas satisfy a sweettooth and cost a lot less than commercial baked goods. They're agood source of potassium. Mashed, ripe bananas can be used in placeof part of the fat in cakes, breads and muffins.
Beans: less than 10 cents a serving. To save money, buy driedbeans, lentils or peas instead of meat. They provide iron, as wellas a wealth of other nutrients. They're great as fillings fortortillas, mixed with rice or pasta in a salad, turned into a heartysoup, or just baked Boston style and served as a main course withcornbread.
Cabbage: 15 to 25 cents a serving. Roll it around rice and topwith a tomato sauce. Shred it into slaw. Cook it with tomatoes,vinegar and sugar for a nutritious soup. Stir-fry it with a tiny bitof meat. Cabbage is a good source of vitamin C.
Carrots: 10 cents a serving. One carrot provides more than 200percent of the U.S. RDA for beta-carotene (vitamin A). Besides beingcut into sticks for lunches or steamed and served as a sidevegetable, carrots also can be grated into sauces (they're especiallynice in tomato-based spaghetti sauces), mixed with cabbage in a slaw,pureed with onions and spices for a quick soup, or used to addmoistness and nutrients to cakes and breads.
Chicken drumsticks and thighs: 35 to 50 cents a serving. Nowthat chicken breasts are so popular, the other parts of the chickenare often available at bargain-basement prices. They're not as leanas breasts, of course, but if you remove the skin and yellow stripsof fat, thighs and drumsticks are fairly lean.
Baste with a homemade barbecue sauce, bake or pan-fry them andtop with salsa, spaghetti sauce or chutney, or poach them and use thecut-up meat in rice or pasta salads.
Eggs: 5 to 8 cents a serving. Eggs frequently go on sale, buteven at full price they're a bargain. Eggs have gotten a bad rap inrecent years, but they pack a lot of protein and other nutrients(such as vitamin B12 and folacin) into that compact shell (most ofthe nutrients are in the yolk). They're not overly high in fat,about 5 grams an egg, and they cook quickly. Chop up a hard-cookedegg or two and add to plenty of potatoes and other vegetables for amain-course salad. Scrambled eggs aren't just for breakfast -accompany with potatoes and a green vegetable for a quick dinner.
Greens (for cooking): 15 to 20 cents a serving. Dark, leafygreens - kale, turnip, mustard, collard - are good sources of calciumand beta-carotene. They're easy to cook and almost always cheap.Besides slow-cooking them with pork, try tearing them into smallpieces and putting them in soups and pasta dishes.
Oats: 10 to 15 cents a serving. Compare the price of oats - orfor that matter, just about any hot cereal, from grits to cornmeal -with the price of packaged cold cereals. The difference - due mostlyto the advertising and packaging poured into cold cereals - is quitean eye-opener. Oats are nutritious, loaded with fiber and easy tocook. Besides being a good breakfast cereal, they can be used incookies and muffins, and even tossed into soup to thicken it.
Pasta: 10 to 15 cents a serving. What can't you do with it?Toss it with cheese for macaroni and cheese. Cook it in broth withbeans, carrots and celery for a soup. Top it with tomato sauce.Just toss it with garlic, onion, oil or margarine, and leftovervegetables or meats for a quick dinner. Ironically, imported Italianpastas tend to be cheaper than the American brands - maybe becausethey don't have the advertising budgets.
Potatoes: 30 to 70 cents a serving. Although they're usuallymore expensive this time of year than they are in the fall, potatoesare always a good buy. They're a rich source of vitamin C andpotassium, and very versatile. Cut into dice and browned in askillet with whatever meat and vegetable scraps you have on hand,they're good for a quick dinner. They can be mashed, seasoned andused as a filling for tortillas. Turn a baked potato into anutritious meal by topping it with vegetarian chili and a little cheese.
Rice: 10 cents a serving. It expands to three times its sizeand provides a perfect foil for all sorts of vegetables, meats andanything else you feel like adding to it. Leftover cooked rice canbe turned into rice pudding, stir-fried with vegetables, used tostuff peppers, or combined with chopped carrots, celery, onion, tunaand a vinaigrette-type salad dressing for rice salad.
Tomatoes (canned) and tomato paste: 10 to 25 cents a serving.If you have a couple of cans of tomatoes and some tomato paste in thehouse, you can make just about any sauce you like.
Add garlic and herbs to tomatoes and a bit of tomato paste fora meatless spaghetti sauce. Zip up a side dish of rice by addingchopped tomatoes and spices. Combine tomatoes with beans, onions andgarlic and use as a filling for tortillas. Mix some chopped tomatoesand tomato paste with brown sugar, vinegar and hot sauce for a simple, inexpensive barbecue sauce. Cook tomatoeswith beans, carrots, garlic, onions and lots of spice for avegetarian chili.
Tortillas: 10 cents or less a serving. Tortillas can be wrappedaround beans, potatoes, chicken or rice; cut into wedges and baked tomake nonfat tortilla chips; or layered, lasagna-style, in a bakingdish, with a bean or potato filling and cheese between them, to makea hearty casserole. Corn tortillas generally taste fresher and haveless fat than flour ones, which are made with shortening or lard.
Tuna (canned): 30 to 45 cents a serving (based on two servingsin a 6 1/8-ounce can). You can't beat tuna for convenience. Itmakes a good sandwich filling, of course. Or, toss it with pasta andbeans and dress with oil and vinegar for a simple salad, stuff intopita bread or tortillas, or just toss with some freshly cooked pastaand peas.
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