Conference rocks::weight_control

    Andrea,
    
    I am in the same situation.  I don't eat alot of cheeze because I
    understand that it contains alot of fat.  I do live on pasta, rice,
    chicken, salad stuff, rice cakes, ect.......  I have found theses to be
    quite satisfing as well as inexpensive.  I am a single parent and was
    very concerened with my dietary habbits effecting my sons development. 
    His doctor said with enough veriety, he should be fine.
    
    
    I don't know if this helps, it has worked for me so far.
    
    
    Virginia

    Hi Andrea,
    
    Pasta is really inexpensive.  Instead of buying the jars of sauce, buy
    the Hunts ready made sauce, then add your own ingredients to it, like
    ground turkey or fresh veggies.  The large cans of Hunts are only about
    .99 to 1.19 per can.
    
    Ground turkey is inexpensive, as is turkey sausage or turkey kielbasa,
    and both are a lot lower in fat than ground beef.  Even make your own
    pizza can be cheap when you add your own low fat toppings.
    
    Popcorn is dirt cheap and makes a good snack if you pop it yourself in
    an air popper.  I usually make it in a large saucepan with just a bit
    of olive oil on the bottom, and haven't gained weight from it yet.
    
    Whole grain breads, cereals, potatos and such are also healthy and
    relatively inexpensive.
    
    Good luck!
    
    -Roberta
    

    I eat a lot of rice, beans, lentils and other grains such as bulgher
    and millet.  These are very cheap esp. if bought in bulk.  a 16 oz can
    of beans can serve 1-2 for dinner for about $1.10.  Beans are even
    cheaper if you cook them yourself, but of course that is time
    consuming.  (Make large batches and freeze them and it isn't too bad.)
    Mix beans with rice or other grain for a complete protein.
    In the "main dish" note I listed some serving suggestions.
    
    D!

    Oh also try getting "second" vegetables from farm stands and the racks
    in supermarkets.  Great if you are going to use them the same day or
    freeze them.
    
    Potatoes are cheap, easy, versatile and healthy.
    
    D!

    re:.0
    
    Here are some of my el-cheapo favorites.
    
    Pasta with tomato sauce.  You can get 1lb of pasta and a 27oz can
    of Hunt's Light sauce for about $2.  That's at least 2 good-sized
    meals, even for me.
    
    Pizza.  I can make a very-low-fat small pizza for the price of a
    pound of dough (read the ingredients - avoid dough with shortening)
    and about 1/3rd of a 28oz can of tomato sauce.  Total cost per pizza
    is about $1.
    
    Soup.  You can make approx 64oz of soup for about $3.  See 538.5.

    Chili.  You can make a HUGE pot of chili for about $5-$6.  See 4.36.

    There are all kinds of excellent low-budget recipes throughout. A
    couple of hints I've picked up when shopping:
    
    Plan your menu for the week, make out your list and stick to it. Shop
    the middle of the store first (canned goods, breads, etc) then move to
    the outer area for milk and produce.  Buy only what you need.  You wil
    also find when menu planning there are things that you can make ahead
    and freeze (chili, muffins, pasta).  Don't be quick to pick up those
    "on sale" items.  Read those labels, I found that even if it said low
    fat, the salt/or sugar (trose) content was very high.
    
    Doing this I find I buy only what I need and don't have to make repeat
    trips to the store, after work to pick something up.  Those were very
    dangerous trips.
    
    I eat three balanced meals a day and 3 snacks.  I have also changed my
    plate size, it looks incredibly small, it's about 3" x 51/2/6".  When
    I'm out, I order just what I want, if there's too much I eat only half
    and take the rest.
    
    I also stop to eat.  If I'm doing anything else I forget I've eaten and
    go back for more.
    
    I have a sample "low-budget", high carbo/low fat menu, if you would
    like a copy let me know.
    
    One very important thing for me that worked, I slowly withdrew from the
    sweets, chips and caffeine, just kept cutting back 'til now there are
    none.
    
    Good luck, I know if you keep reading this file you'll find a wealth of
    information and like me there is a plan that will work for you.
    
    Pauline

	
	Refer to the "low calorie main dishes" note.

	I just put one in for pasta and peas, and I'm about to put
	one in for lentils.

	Karen

    cut meat and prepared foods out and just about everything else is
    inexpensive.  look at asian and mexican dishes for low cost - low fat. 

         Thanks for the encouragement, suggestions and pointers.  I've just
    started reading this file, so I know there's lots to learn!
    
         At least I don't have children to feed, just my animals, my
    husband and myself.  And we do have a few things - veggies from the
    gardens and eggs from the chickens - that are free, so that helps a
    *lot*.  
    
         Now off to read some more, here and in COOKS.  Thanks again!
    
    					- Andrea

    Andrea --
    
    You can make low fat Kraft macaroni and cheese.  I do this for a quick
    cheap meal.  Instead of the 1/4 C. butter/margarine and 1/4 C. milk that 
    the directions suggest, use just a *tiny* bit of butter/margarine and
    make up the difference with skim milk.  I've tried it with no butter at
    all, but it doesn;t mix quite right.  But using just skim milk and
    about 1/2 tsp of butter makes this a really low fat, high-protein meal.
    
    -e
    

    Re. .10:
    
         What a good idea!  Thanks!
    
    					- Andrea

    Not so fast.
    
    What's the fat content of the cheese mix?

    
    By the way, speaking of cheese.
    
    Looking through a variety low fat cheeses in Roche Bros, I saw
    Mozzarella style NO FAT, LOW CHOLESTEROL.
    
    On the other side it says 0 fat, 5 gm cholesterol.
    
    In the Ingredients, nothing like oil, skim milk, so 0 fat might 
    be true. But where cholesterol comes from?  
    
    liza

    Cholesterol and fat are very different.
    
    Cholesterol is not fat, fat is not cholesterol.  (see 725.9)
    
    Cholesterol can come from any food with an animal origin, regardless of
    its fat content.  Cheese is an animal product.  I hope the label said 5
    mg, not 5 gm ...

    
    Oh, I see. Thanks, Mike.
    It's about time to get a good chemisty textbook and educate myself. 
    As for 5 mg or 5gm, I will go back and check the label..   

    I find a Low Fat diet can actually be cheeper that eating fatty foods. 
    Chicken and turkey are less expensive that red meats, I save money by
    not eating butter or cheeses, mustard is no fat,  Rice and Pasta is
    very inexpensive and I even make my own red sauce.  For special dinners
    I make Chicken or turkey with No Fat mozteralla(sp) cheese.  Theres
    even a No Fat ricotta.  All these products are no more expensive as
    other brand name items.  Look at the money you can save by not buying
    junk foods.  I find the key for me is looking at labels, if the label
    has no listings I move on.

    I noticed that a lot of the "store brands" have no labels.  Like Shop n
    Save or Market Basket, etc.  I was shopping last night and noticed that
    some of them don't have a breakdown of content.  So even if they are
    cheaper, you can't tell if they're better.
    
    K.

    My motto : when in doubt, assume the worst.
    
    If it has no nutritional label, I figure they don't want me to know how
    bad it really is ...