Man Meal “Yawp” and Veggie Buys on a Budget.

I got some great deals on veggies this week. You have to stick to what’s in season, but you can usually find some fruits and veggies to fit into your meal plan every week at your usual grocery store. I’m on co-op veggie hiatus (I love buying locally grown organic produce, but it’s more labor intensive requiring and extra errand each week to pick up, and its dirtier requiring more washing, and I found myself stressing about using up all the produce during this harried work period). Green beans, yellow and zucchini squash, tomatoes and broccoli crowns were all less than a dollar a pound. None of that was organic of course. Strawberries were $1.50 a pint and organic baby carrots were. $.99. That’s just $7 for 10 different fruit and veggie servings for 4. That is el cheapo for whole food!

Not sure what is nutrient dense? Here is a list of 50 nutritious foods to keep in mind when making your shopping list. If something on this list is in season or on sale, pick some up and work it into your meal plan.

Meal plan this week:

Sunday: Man Meal (ick-see below for details)

Monday: Pasta with chicken, green beans, olives, cherry tomatoes (so good, I ate entirely too much)

Tuesday: Roasted Broccoli/Onions, oven fries and broiled steak

Wednesday: Purple cabbage and pork stir fry over rice.

Thursday: Pan seared fish, squash sautéed with onions and tomato (starch-maybe cornbread?)

Friday: Hubby and I are going out and boys are dining with Nana.

I usually prefer to do my shopping sans hubby, so I have one less person influencing the shopping list, but this weekend we all went together. Sometimes we split up and have a race, seeing which team can get done with their list the fastest. As was the case this week, Little Boo and I had produce duty and as I was picking out some fresh veg on sale I could hear the product demo lady selling her deal to passers by.

It was one of those specials where you buy one costly item and receive several other products free. I almost never buy those deals because the products are usually some combination of processed meat and junk. Free junk has no value to me. I say no to high cholesterol, constipation, heart disease, over weight and rotten teeth. The demo lady’s spiel was “A microwave dinner for four only $6.99, a better deal than McDonalds." McDonalds was a fair comparison as far as nutrition goes since the offer was a container of precooked microwavable bar-b-cue meat plus free chips, soda, bag of cabbage (ok, at least there are some veggies in there), hamburger buns and a reusable shopping bag (a few bonus points for being green). Last time I checked, white buns and potato chips don't really count as a starchy side.

As I selected my veggies, I thought about how ridiculous it is that most specials at a grocery store are of low nutritional quality, and how hard the abundance and low cost of readily available convenience food is to resist. I admit, I was feeling pretty righteous about how many nutrient dense meals my family routinely eats and pretty thankful we have enough food budget that we don't have to resort to these deals to feed our family. According to a Time Magazine’s June 23 double issue “Our Super-Sized Kids,” the rise in the price of fruits and vegetables between 1989 and 2005 is 74.6%. During the same period the price of fats fell by 26.5%. With those figures it’s predictable what people on a budget will buy.

So guess what I saw in Hubby and Big Boo’s basket when we met up again in the store?

Apparently he changed his boy’s night dinner of something on the grill to the nearly nutritionally void chips, soda, slaw, meat in a bucket meal the sample lady was pushing. I restrained myself (a lot) by not scolding hubby on his dinner choice. After all, if I want the privilege to have dinner with a girlfriend, I have to zip it when it comes the choice of man meal hubby prepares in my absence. I should mention though, he impressed me by making a home-made slaw dressing, complete with internet recipe and minced onions!

On the way home he and the boys were chanting, “Man meal, hoo wah! Man meal, hoo wah!” His enthusiasm is endearing.

What does your hubby make (or you if it's hubby who usually cooks) when you're out?