Articles
Food Cents
Eating better can save households up to $2000 a year in their food bill and at the same time improve variety and nutrition.
People often perceive that healthy eating is expensive and difficult to achieve on a limited budget. This is not so.
You can eat a better diet by spending less money on extra foods such as cakes, biscuits, pre-prepared and takeaway foods. These foods will also attract GST making them even more expensive.
Food Cents was developed by Ruth Foley, a dietitian with the WA Health Department in Albany in 1991-92. It was so successful that it now runs throughout WA, Queensland and Victoria. It aims to show how to eat better for less.
An example of this simple premise is that muesli bars can cost $20 a kilogram where fresh fruit costs $3 a kilogram. Muesli bars are often high in sugar and expensive in comparison with the amount of nutrition they provide.
The key is that food that has undergone little or no processing and packaging, such as fruit, vegetables, legumes, rice, wholegrain breads and cereals, is usually less expensive and healthier than more processed foods such as biscuits, sugary breakfast cereals and confectionery.
We need the vitamins minerals, antioxidants and fibre from our fruit and vegetables more than we need the fat and sugar from many of the processed foods. A diet based on unprocessed foods is better value for money and better for our health.
The Food Cents model is based on the five food groups and the Australian Nutrition Foundation's healthy diet pyramid.
The aim is to spend as you want to eat. You need to divide your food budget into 10 parts.
Spend one part of your food budget on margarines, oils and extras. Obesity is caused by eating too much energy rich foods so this group is restricted to eating occasionally or in small amounts.
Spend three parts of your budget on lean meat or similar foods, milk or milk foods. We need lean meat, chicken, fish and eggs for protein and body building plus dairy products for bones and teeth. Many people eat more meat than they really need.
Spend the remaining six parts of your budget on fruit, vegetables, bread, and plain cereal foods. These supply most of our energy foods as well as being high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre and are low in fat.
The Food Cents Kilo-Cents Counter addresses the misconception that healthy foods cost more. It is a simple ready reckoner with a grid of prices and weights that allow you to work out the price per kilogram of various foods.
By comparing prices within and between groups of foods you can decide which foods provide value for money. The price and weight of a chosen food item is rounded to the nearest 50¢ and 50g respectively. The price is found at the top of the grid.
By moving down this price column to the square corresponding to the similarly rounded weight, found in the margins, the approximate price per kilogram is shown. For example, an item costing $1 weighing 200g would cost $5 a kg.
Using this as a basis, high fat and salt potato crisps may cost $20 a kilo in comparison to fresh potatoes at $1.50 or less.
The Food Cents program also includes tours of supermarkets to show people how it works. The tour will teach you how to read the nutritional information on a food label and use the Kilo-Cents counter to identify nutritional value for money. Become more aware of the fat, sodium and the fibre content of what you are buying.
For more information about the FOODCents program, and the FOODCents Eat Smart and Shop Smart plans, you can visit the FOODCents website at http://www.foodcentsprogram.com.au/
Recipes
Cabbage Rolls : An inexpensive and a complete meal on its own.
Added to site on : Wednesday, 17 May 2000