Plan or Pay!

I did not remember my lunch today. I decided to pick something up while running errands. It looks like one of my favorite cafes has taken a hit due to the recession, this is the third time that I have gone by there to eat and they were closed. What to do?

I could go to a fast food restaurant but I try to avoid them, as a nutritionist I try to live up to what I preach. I decided to try a little experiment, just how hard is it to get something to eat, that is healthy, tasty and doesn't cost a fortune. I mean this is what people are expected to do right? We are not supposed to eat fast food all of the time, we are to use it as a treat, at least that is what I tell people during my lessons. Here is what I purchased and what it cost me:

6 Triscuits + .36
1 4oz. yogurt + .67
1 oz. sliced turkey + 1.16
carrot pack with dip + 1.00
1 large apple + 1.00
= 4.19

Now this lunch met the criteria for healthy although it was a little high in sodium to me, I generally don't eat luncheon meat for a variety of reasons, sodium is just one of them. The sliced turkey had 410mg sodium, the Triscuits 180mg, the yogurt 65mg, the carrots & dip 180mg (I didn't eat much of the dip, I hate ranch so the total sodium is probably a little lower)and there is practically no sodium in the apple. Total sodium added up to 835mg which is a little over a third of the 2300mg maximum you should shoot to stay under each day.

As far as tasty goes it was all right, maybe a little bland.

Now the $4.19 is the cost of what I ate for lunch, not bad. I had to put out a little over $15.00 to purchase everything up front, but I still have 9 servings of triscuits left, 5 servings of yogurt, 2 servings of turkey and two servings of carrots and dip.

The lesson is this is planning. I could have had these items on hand and brought them for my lunch (it would have saved me some time), I could have even jazzed it up a bit to make it more interesting. I came so close to just grabbing something quick (fast food) because I was hungry and if you are hungry enough you don't care what you eat and that costs you in nutrition and/or money.

Eat Your Fruit and Veggies!

Gen 1:29 God said "I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. These will be yours for food."