The Meal Deal: Healthy Meals Under $10
A little chicken here.
Some salad and veggies there.
Ring it all up at the grocery store and you think to yourself, no way that’s not possible!
These days every penny counts and spending $50 plus dollars every time you make a visit to the grocery store can be costly and detrimental to anyone’s wallet.
Thanks to Health.com here are four healthy meals under $10, your stomach and wallet will thank you for it!
Baked Rigatoni
You’ll need:
Rigatoni or penne pasta (16-ounce box from Barilla): $1.59
Lean ground beef (1 pound): $3.99
28-ounce can plum tomatoes: $2.49
Onion: 99 cents
Garlic (for the entire head): 75 cents
Total: $9.81
Do this:
Cook beef in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned; stir to crumble. Drain well. Combine beef, cooked rigatoni, tomatoes, and onion and garlic to taste. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated. If you have some in your fridge, you can add mozzarella or parmesan cheese on top.
Black Bean Chili
You’ll need:
Onion: 99 cents
Garlic (for the entire head): 75 cents
Bell pepper: $1.64
15.5-ounce can low-sodium black beans: $1.09
14.5-ounce can chicken broth: $1.09
14.5-ounce can stewed tomatoes: $1.49
Ground turkey (1/2 pound): $2.40
Total: $9.45
Do this:
Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add first 3 ingredients and turkey; cook for 6 minutes or until turkey is done, stirring frequently to crumble. Rinse and drain the canned beans. Stir in beans, tomatoes, and half of the can of chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
Potato Broccoli Casserole
You’ll need:
Red potatoes (1 pound): $1.29
Frozen broccoli (Birds Eye, 10 ounces): $1.59
Low-fat milk ($2.99 for 1/2 gallon): $2.39
Shredded low-fat cheddar (Richfood, 8 ounces): $2.79
15-ounce can bread crumbs: $2.19
Total: $10.25 (only 25 cents over, not bad!)
Do this:
Preheat oven to 375°.
Place potatoes in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes or until tender. Drain potatoes in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Return potatoes and liquid to pan; mash with a potato masher until slightly chunky. Steam 1 cup of broccoli, according to packaging instructions. Add broccoli and milk to pan; stir well. Spoon potato mixture into an 11×7 baking dish coated with cooking spray; bake at 375° for 35 minutes. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and bread crumbs; bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese melts.
Vegetarian Tacos
You’ll need:
15.5-ounce can low-sodium kidney beans: $1.09
Taco shells: $1.29
Salsa (12 ounces): $2.59
Romaine lettuce (1 head): $1.99
Shredded Mexican blend cheese: $2.79
Total: $9.75
Do this:
You don’t really need a recipe for this one. Just rinse the beans and heat them in a pan with a few shakes of ground chipotle pepper. Heat the taco shells in the oven, then fill with the beans, salsa, lettuce, and cheese.
There you have it, four recipes that just trimmed the fat off of your grocery bills. Now get cooking!
Urban Girl Fitness Quote of the Day:
You’ve got bad eating habits if you use a grocery cart in 7-Eleven ok? ~Dennis Miller
Enjoy this site? Please subscribe via Email to have diet, fitness and fashion tips sent directly to you. Also check us out on Twitter
Snack Attack: Healthy Snacks
What to do when hunger strikes?
Grab a snack of course.
It’s hard not to reach for that salty bag of crunchy goodness known as potato chips or say Ahoy! to Chips Ahoy. But what to do?
Here are some healthy alternatives from Self magazine that will curb the salty and sweet cravings..
Salty Samba
1/4 cup hummus, 3 carrot sticks: 80 calories
1 bag Baked! Cheetos 100 Calorie Mini Bites: 100 calories
1 cup unshelled edamame: 120 calories
1/4 cup Trader Joe’s Chili con Queso, 18 baked tortilla chips: 140 calories
2 oz Applegate Honey and Maple Turkey Breast wrapped around 2 bread-and-butter pickles: 80 calories
5 olives (any kind): 45 calories
1 Laughing Cow Light Swiss Original wedge, 3 pieces Kavli Crispy Thin: 85 calories
1 oz buffalo mozzarella, 1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes: 94 calories
1 Subway Turkey Breast Wrap: 190 calories
One 1-oz package of Planters NUT-trition almonds: 130 calories
Sweet Tooth
2 tbsp Better ‘n Peanut Butter, 4 stalks celery: 124 calories
One 100-calorie Balance Bar: 100 calories
1/2 banana rolled in 1 tbsp frozen semisweet chocolate chips: 123 calories
Half of a 1.08-oz container of M&M’s Minis mixed with 1/3 cup lowfat granola: 145 calories
1 bag Orville Redenbacher’s Smart Pop Butter Mini Bags topped with a spritz of butter spray and 1 tsp sugar: 126 calories
1 Jelly Belly 100-calorie pack: 100 calories
1 McDonald’s Fruit ‘n Yogurt Parfait: 160 calories
24 Annie’s Chocolate Chip Bunny Graham cookies: 140 calories
1 package Original Apple Nature Valley Fruit Crisps: 50 calories
1 Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino bar: 120 calories
Urban Girl Fitness Quote of the Day:
I like vending machines, because snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at the store, oftentimes I will drop it so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. ~Mitch Hedberg
Enjoy this site? Please subscribe via Email to have diet, fitness and fashion tips sent directly to you. Also check us out on Twitter
Face and Food Lift
Are you eating right?
Is your refrigerator full of fruits and veggies?
Have you eliminated all the junk food of pesky preservatives and additives?
If the answer is yes than your skin is in for quite the treat. Eating right is as great for your complexion as it is for your body.
Thanks to Women’s Health magazine, here are the top foods your skin should crave..
Amazing Almonds: If you need to cover those blemishes or rough patches, forget pacing the aisles of the pharmacy and pace the aisles of the grocery store in search of these crunchy treats. Almonds will help your skin cells both inside and out! Almonds are actually seeds stuffed with vitamin E, a potent sun blocker. Volunteers who consumed roughly 20 almonds per day and then were exposed to UV light sunburned less than those who took none.
Dibs on Dark Chocolate: Flavonols, the antioxidants in dark chocolate, reduce roughness in the skin and protect against sun damage. In a recent study, women who drank cocoa equal to a standard Hershey’s Special Dark bar had better skin texture and more resistance to UV rays than those who drank cocoa containing just a small amount of the antioxidant. Forget the chocolate guilt ladies!
Fabulous Flaxseeds: These teeny-tiny seeds contain omega-3 fatty acids, which erase spots and iron out fine lines. Studies have proved that participants who increased flaxseed intake experienced significantly less irritation and redness, along with better-hydrated skin. Start sprinkling seeds on oatmeal or veggies and your skin will love you for it.
Going Gaga Over Green Tea: Green tea is the bionic tea when it comes to health with proven anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. Add this to the list, drinking two to six cups a day not only helps prevent skin cancer but may reverse the effects of sun damage by neutralizing the changes that appear in sun-exposed skin.
Soak Up Safflower Oil: The omega-6 fatty acids found in safflower oil can be the ultimate moisturizer for people who suffer from painfully dry, flaky, itchy skin. Aim for an amount that gives you 5 to 10 percent of your daily calories.
Popeye Was Right..Spinach!: The folate in these veggies may help repair and maintain DNA, bolstering cells’ ability to renew themselves reducing the likelihood of cancer-cell growth. As if that wasn’t enough, the water in greens penetrates cell membranes meaning say hello plumper and less wrinkled skin.
Sweet! Sweet Potatoes: These yams are yummy and even yummier loaded with vitamin C, the crucial vitamin for smoothing out wrinkles. Vitamin C is known as being an essential ingredient for collagen production. If you are craving fruit, try strawberries for Vitamin C factors as well.
Too Good Tomatoes: Lycopene, the phytochemical that makes tomatoes red, helps eliminate skin-aging free radicals caused by ultraviolet rays. Helpful Hint: Your body gains the most sun-shielding nutrients when the vegetable is heated.
Don’t Can Canned Tuna: Tuna in a can has a great little secret called selenium. This nutrient helps preserve elastin, a protein that keeps your skin smooth and tight. It also helps protect skin from the sun.
Urban Girl Fitness Quote of the Day:
Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That, or a kick-ass red lipstick. ~Gwyneth Paltrow
Enjoy this site? Please subscribe via Email to have diet, fitness and fashion tips sent directly to you. Also check us out on Twitter
Eat Healthier..Not Tomorrow, Not Next Week, Today!
I will try that diet tip out tomorrow.
Tomorrow rolls around and suddenly I’ll try it out next Monday, after the weekend of course.
Alright how about the beginning next month?
It’s a vicious cycle, yet time and time again there’s always some reason to avoid eating healthier.
With the following simple steps from Self Magazine there are no excuses..
If you can’t grow it..don’t eat it. Sure a potato comes from the ground and an orange from a tree, but where did that Oreo come from? If only there were Oreo trees but sadly enough there aren’t. Try to stay away from processed foods and focus on unprocessed, whole foods.
If it crunches..it’s better. Crunch! Snacks that offer a big crunch like apples, snap peas, celery and nuts (so sorry no chips!) keep your mouth busy. The more you chew, the slower you eat. Simple.
Out of sight..out of mind. Watching television and then it hits you, that craving for Cheetos. You look around and you don’t have any in sight. Be realistic are you really going to miss an episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8 to head to the store. Chances are no, so don’t keep an emergency stash in your house. You are better off without!
Do judge by the cover. When you have to make your way through layers of packaging and plastic to get to your meal, it likely to be unhealthy. Research also indicates that perfluorochemicals in food containers may lower fertility.
Work it girl. Yes you can inhale your dinner straight from the McDonald’s bag but if you are aiming for something healthy you need to work for it. I’m talking a little chopping, sauteeing, grilling, rinsing. When you prepare your own meals you can enjoy every bite knowing exactly what is going into your meal and you can make conscious choices of what to include.
Urban Girl Fitness Quote of the Day:
Chemicals, n: Noxious substances from which modern foods are made. ~Author Unknown
Cereal Killers
It’s lurking in the cabinet.
The dangerous box peeking out from the darkness.
Those two words echo throughout your kitchen, saying eat me! Eat me!
It’s a cereal killer, a massacre of the most essential meal of the day. Breakfast.
As we get older, sure we dump the pop tarts and Lucky Charms to the wayside, however, cereal has been and will always be a main staple in the world of breakfast foods. It’s fast, convenient, easy and in the words of Tony the Tiger “they’re gr-r-reat!”
According to Women’s Health Magazine, here are some cereal killers and cereals that come to the rescue..
Cereal Killer: General Mills Basic 4. Basic 4’s partially hydrogenated oil (trans fat) increases your risk of cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.
The Rescue: Make the switch to Kashi Heart to Heart Oat Flakes and Wild Blueberry Clusters. No trans fat and just 0.5 gram of saturated fat per generous 1 1/4-cup serving.
Cereal Killer: Kellogg’s Raisin Bran. It has raisins so it must be healthy, not! It would be healthy if it weren’t for high-fructose corn syrup, which jacks the sugar content up to 19 grams, landing Raisin Bran alongside Lucky Charms. Yikes!
The Rescue: Make the switch to Whole Foods Market 365 Everyday Value Raisin Bran. There’s no extra bad stuff, plus fewer calories, sugar and sodium. And the healthy protein remains. Whew!
Cereal Killer: Post Fruity Pebbles. Even the fiber’s fake with this one containing polydextrose, which is mostly sugar and keeps the pebbles from crumbling. Not to mention it contains hydrogenated oils and artificial ingredients. Yabba dabba eww!
The Rescue: Make the switch to Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats. The whole grain fills you up and the frosted side satisfies your sweet tooth. Each 200 calorie, 24-biscuit serving also provides a quarter of your fiber RDA and 6 grams of hunger-fighting protein. This happens to be a favorite of mine, try the blueberry muffin flavor. Yum!
Cereal Killer: General Mills Honey Nut Clusters. This is simply a quick fix for hunger. Your body’s enzymes don’t have to spend much time breaking down this lightweight cereal, you will be hungry in no time!
The Rescue: Make the switch to Health Valley Real Oat Bran Almond Crunch. This crispy heavyweight packs five grams of fiber and six grams of protein to keep you full all morning.
Urban Girl Fitness Quote of the Day:
I won’t eat any cereal that doesn’t turn the milk purple. ~Bill Watterson
Oh Sugar, Sugar!
According to Shape Magazine, sugar consumption in the U.S. is up 28 percent since 1983. The average American consumes an astounding two to three pounds of sugar each week, which is not surprising considering that highly refined sugars in the forms of sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar) and high-fructose corn syrup are being processed into so many foods we love.
Here’s where it gets sticky. Following you will find more reasons for this sweet tooth sugar increase.
Portion Control: 43 percent of our sugar intake comes from beverages! Think again before you reach for that big slurp soda at the gas station.
Label Pro: Read your labels. Most of the sugar we consume is hidden, so next time you reach for your favorite sports bar or box of cereal look at the label. All of these terms prove to be added sweeteners: sucrose, glucose, dextrose, maltose, fructose, molasses, barley malt, honey, raw, invert or brown sugar and maple, fruit or corn syrup. Try to stay away from these culprits.
Fat-Free Foe: Fat-free foods may not be the solution for fellow diet followers. Unfortunately, they have a role in this dramatic sugar increase. Why the constant sweet tooth? Since sugar is fat-free we think it’s perfectly okay to add among our fat-free diets (most marketers love using this word since we eat it up–literally!). It may be fat-free but it’s certainly not calorie free.
Not So Sweet: USDA data shows that people whose diets are high in sugar eat less protein, fiber, calcium, iron, folate and many other crucial diet necessities. Sweetened foods are taking away from healthier and wholesome diet choices.
Urban Girl Fitness Quote of the Day:
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat. ~Alex Levin
Ready, Set, Eat, Run
The stomach butterflies kick in as I lace up my sneakers and pin my race number on my running shorts. The last thing on my mind is what to eat for breakfast. It may not seem important at the moment but eating a healthy, substantial meal prior to a race can make all the difference in the world.
Carb It Up!..Make sure to eat a diet high in carbohydrates. Eek carbs? Aren’t we supposed to limit those? Yes and no. Carbs are an essential element in producing energy. A training diet should include 60% carbs, 20-30% proteins and 10-20% fats. Healthy high carb foods include pasta, bread, rice, cereals, couscous, fruits and veggies. Also, pay attention to complex carbs, foods like barley, oatmeal, bran and buckwheat.
Watch Your Consumption..Limit your alcohol and fat consumption. Beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks will dehydrate. Fatty foods fill your stomach fast and leave muscles with no fuel.
Breakfast of Champions..Eat a normal breakfast before a race, one to three hours before it begins. Eat familiar foods, don’t try something new before your race.
Drink, Drink, Drink..Drink plenty of fluids before and during the race. Typically you want to drink fluids every 15 minutes (make sure to hit up each and every water station). Also, sodium depletion can be an issue with runners so you can also drink a sports beverage for refueling. Gatorade is a great option.
Urban Girl Fitness Quote of the Day:
Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, ‘Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?’ ~Peter Maher
