The Rite Bite Blog

Today makes it two days in a row. Two days in a row that I have had clients at The Rite Bite tell me that it costs so much more to eat healthy. I know a lot of people feel this way, especially when they are making changes to their diet. I understand that it may seem like it costs so much more to buy those healthy foods that you planned into your weekly menus. But, if you added up all of your food expenses, from every fast food stop, to drug store candy, to vending machine snack, would the dollar amount really be all that different? Or does it just seem to be since one larger grocery bill to cover all those meals and snacks now becomes one lump sum paid out as opposed to several smaller payments throughout the week. If anybody wants to add it up and let me know, I’d love to hear from you.

For now, though, I do have one healthy and very affordable lunch option to share with you. It will take a little bit of work, but it is worth it! Last week, I made a delicious soup with fresh ingredients (mostly from the produce aisle). The recipe I used was from the cookbook, Mr. Food Every Day’s a Holiday Diabetic Cooking by Art Ginsburg. I made the Veggie Patch Soup recipe, but made a couple of small changes. I added cooked chicken breast for one thing and low-sodium chicken broth in place of the water. The recipe called for potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, onion, garlic, green bell peppers, and carrots. I used organic carrots and potatoes because I usually do not see organic potatoes and carrots at the grocery store, but on shopping day there they were. This recipe is very easy. All you do is add about 6-8 cups of low-sodium chicken broth to a large stockpot. Wash and chop up all the veggies and add to the water. Cook the chicken breasts separately, shred with a knife and fork and then add to the pot. Once everything is in the pot, bring it to a boil. Once it is boiling, reduce the heat to simmer for one hour.

I ate this soup for dinner and then stored the remaining in individual containers for lunches during the next week. I put 5 in the freezer and 5 in the fridge. It took a little bit of time to cook and prep all those veggies the first day, but the time I have saved since then is huge. Now, I just grab a cup of this soup from the fridge or freezer and off to work I go! For variety and added calcium, you can top the soup with reduced-fat parmesan or pepper jack cheese. Per cup (without cheese), this soup provides about 275 calories, 45 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of fiber, 15 grams of protein, and 1 gram of fat. There are zero grams of saturated and trans fat (the types that hurt your heart). And, you’ll all like this: the cost per serving of this soup is $2.08. That is healthy eating that costs less than a fast-food meal!