Balancing Food Choices on a Budget

Managing a household budget, particularly your family’s grocery allocations, can be a challenge regardless of income levels. A moderate level of discipline, including tracking expenses and managing portions sizes at meals, can be the key to success.

Pizza is a classic, budget-friendly meal, so we’re bringing a growing array of globally inspired flavors and on-trend ingredients to the frozen pizza aisle. Lean on these new products to support your quest to bring a new level of excitement to pizza night:

DIGIORNO^® pizza with no GMO ingredients

This new line of DIGIORNO Ultra Thin Pizzas delivers an authentic DIGIORNO experience with no GMO ingredients.

CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN^® pizza made with organic flour

Two new crispy thin crust pizzas made with organic flour. Check out the Five Cheese and Tomato or Mushroom and Green Onion variety made with organic tomatoes and mushrooms, respectively.

CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN Crispy Thin Crust pizza

New varieties available including Roasted Garlic Chicken, The Works and Hawaiian Recipe, all on a crispy thin crust. For a limited time, check out the Jamaican Recipe Jerk Chicken and California Style BLT varieties.

Below are noteworthy nuggets to help you make sure shoppers get the most nutrition for their buck:

Shopper Solutions

• Plan ahead. Planning your meals in advance helps streamline your purchases and ensures that the food and beverages you buy don’t go to waste.
• Write it down! Translate your weekly meal plan into a shopping list and don’t stray from it. This will help you stay on budget.
• Reuse ingredients through the week. Select recipes that make use of similar ingredients to help reduce the size of your shopping list and eliminate waste from half-used ingredients.
• Buy in bulk, when it makes sense. Purchasing bulk quantities of foods you buy often and choosing family-sized servings of favorite frozen prepared meals can save you valuable dollars. Try your hand at this Garden Tuna Pasta Salad recipe featuring BUITONI^® family-size pasta.
• Buy in season. When balancing your plate with fresh produce, choose what’s in season. It can be fresher and is usually less expensive. Bring the flavors of the season to your plate this summer by incorporating watermelon, berries, tomatoes and corn into your meals and snacks.
• Stock up on frozen produce. Frozen fruits and vegetables are picked at the peak of freshness to lock in flavor and nutrients, and they may have higher levels of certain vitamins and antioxidants compared to their fresh counterparts.¹
• Add nutrition and flavor with pumpkin! LIBBY’S^® canned pumpkin is a good source of fiber and an excellent source of Vitamin A per serving, and can be added to a variety of recipes throughout the year to contribute extra flavor while cutting down on fat and sodium. Try this Pumpkin Confetti Rice recipe using frozen vegetables, all for minimal cost!
• Be smart with leftovers. Take leftovers for lunch. It’s easiest to pack lunches after dinner for the next day, so you’re ready to go in the morning. These Spicy Lentils taste even better a day later.
• A cut above the rest. Every dollar counts when you’re on a budget, so grab your chef’s knife and cutting board and avoid the upcharges you can spend for pre-cut produce.

Smart Soundbites

• Find your healthy eating style with the click of a mouse. USDA’s ChooseMyPlate.gov is an endless fountain of resources. Check out the “For Professionals” section of “Eating On A Budget.”
• Your Academy is working for you. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics publishes timely, consumer-friendly resources tailored for different ages, stages and lifestyles. Case in point: this piece on stretching your grocery dollar.
• Take the guesswork out of food storage. Jointly developed by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), Cornell University and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the FoodKeeper smartphone app and database tells users how to store food and beverages to maximize their freshness and quality. The app offers advice on nearly 500 food and beverage items, including baby food, dairy products, eggs, meat, poultry, produce and seafood.
• Be penny-wise with frozen food. Frozen prepared foods can fit into the grocery budget and reduce food waste. Shoppers can build balanced meals for a family of four that meet U.S. Dietary Guidelines by combining their favorite Nestlé frozen meals with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and dairy for less than $180 a week.² This equates to $1,200 in savings per year, compared to what an average family spends.³ For more on the value of frozen prepared foods, download our Balance Your Plate “Fresh Facts About Frozen” brochure.

Tweetworthy

• Choosing a sensible portion — it sounds simple, but the science behind ‘dietary control’ is fascinating: http://bit.ly/2eY0L9s
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• Take some time to explore the bacteria in your gut which help keep you healthy: http://bit.ly/2oRCN4J
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• Cool research: could the food you eat today matter for your grandchildren’s health in the future? http://bit.ly/1HxQKrP
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• A quick look at the movement towards plant-based nutrition, courtesy of @NestleUSA: http://bit.ly/2oFurxb
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Recipes

Garden Tuna Pasta Salad

Broccoli, tomatoes and crisp greens add fresh accents to this Garden Pasta Salad.

Pumpkin Confetti Rice

Add some new appeal to your typical weeknight dinner with this easy-to-make Pumpkin Confetti Rice side dish. The pumpkin easily blends in with the brown rice and vegetables for additional nutrition, moistness and eye-appeal.

Spicy Lentils

This classic favorite gets a bit of sweet and spicy with the addition of jalapeños and sweet potatoes.