Shopping Matters…

I wrote for a grant for work, through Share our Strength called Shopping Matters. It is a small grant, but it is something I really believe in and love…. Teaching low income families how to shop healthy on a budget. The object of this grant to educate low income families at the grocery store how to buy healthy food on a budget to me this sounded easy and right up my alley. Shopping Matters provides a small reusable shopping bag, a book, full of tips and healthy recipes and a little calculator to each person. There is also a $10.00 challenge, I will tell you more about that later. So I took a small group of woman with my colleague to Tops on Niagara Street. I wanted to take them to Price rite on Elmwood because I think things are a little cheaper there but one lady in the group complained about Price rite. I take shopping for granted. I do have a budget as I do live on a budget and I do not make great money at my job. Although most people do or should have a budget when doing anything…. I came from a family who always had a pantry full of food on hand and so did my grandparents. I always stock up when things are on sale. I usually do no pay full price for meat. I also have a car and I can go to different stores at different times to buy what they have on sale when I want to… So my three keys issues are that I do have enough money to stock up on items and I can drive to different stores to buy items at different stores. I also can afford to get the Sunday Paper or go on line to get the newspaper. These things all make a difference when making trying to save money. The other thing is time and you have to want to put time and energy in wanting to save money. So now to the $10.00 challenge, I gave each person a $10.00 gift card to buy at least one item from the following food groups; fruit, vegetable, whole grain, dairy and lean protein. This challenge wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. I was thinking that a meal could be purchased with challenge… All of traditional lean protein was at least $5.00 or more. Some of the proteins the women purchased were eggs, dried beans and tuna and lentils, which are all great items- but most low income folks that I know and work with are meat eaters. Even buying a loaf of bread for between $3.00 and $5.00, the woman bought things such whole wheat taco shells and whole wheat pasta. Overall the group loved the challenge and it was a lot of fun. As for me I learned a lot- I take my budget for granted and it is a lot harder then I often think. For example buying the big packs of meat is a lot cheaper, but you need to have the money to buy the large pack to save money and some people just do not have the extra money to buy the club size and large packs of items even though it one of the best ways to save money. It would be great to have a loan program for low income families to give them a jump start to be able to buy bulk items and save money in the long run. The following week I went shopping at Save a lot and was able to but a meal with dessert together for four people for $2.60 a person. Then I did a food demo with the group. We made sugar free jello with bananas ( fruit) and Chicken Stir Fry with Chicken and vegetables over brown rice .

Chicken Sir Fry over Brown Rice

2 boneless skinless Chicken Breast – fat cut off and cut up in small bite size cubes

2 packs of frozen stir fry vegetables or any vegetables of your choice

1 onion – cut up in small pieces

2 garlic cloves- minced

Soy Sauce ( 3 tablespoons) – more in needed

Worcester sauce (3 tablespoons – More if needed)

Olive Oil (about 2 tablespoons)

Cooked Brown Rice

Pour Olive oil in pan let heat up for about a minute, then add onions and cook until clear and then add garlic and cook for about more minutes. Add Chicken and lightly brown on each side- add ½ of the soy sauce and Worchester sauce stir in with meat. Then add frozen vegetables and stir the rest of the sauce. Cook until the vegetables are done. Pour over cooked brown rice.

If you are using instant brown rice, you can cook the rice while you are cooking the stir fry. If you are making regular brown rice – make sure the rice is cooked a head of time before you start the stir fry.

You can use one package of vegetables, I use to because we like lot of veggies. If you do not have fresh garlic you can use garlic powdered or minced garlic.