A little over a week ago I wrote about the steps I take to plan a 7 day diet menu. I wanted to give you some tips and resources to make the process a little easier should you decide to plan your own menu. I also promised to begin sharing the results of my menu soon. Well it’s taken me a bit longer than I would have liked but life got in the way and gave me some extra challenges.
I’m getting back on track now, however, before I share Day 1 of the 7-day menu I’d like to tell you about some of the important observations I made along the way. My main goal was to have a nutritionally balanced 7-Day – 1200 calorie daily menu for one person (with suggestions on how to increase the calorie count for a 1300, 1400, or 1500 calorie diet). I also wanted a plan that would not require too much time and effort to prepare. And I wanted to keep the cost down.
My previous article (Planning a 7 Day Diet Menu) goes into the details of how I designed the diet. Today I’m covering the grocery shopping. To minimize costs I decided to shop at a Wal-Mart superstore. I don’t normally shop at Wal-Mart and I discovered this to be something of a challenge because this store seems to be more geared to selling large amounts/volume than small packages for one person.
I came up with options that worked but I had to do some creative thinking for certain products. For example, with the yogurt I had planned on using the 6 oz. containers of Stonyfield Farm low fat yogurt for meals and snacks. However, Wal-Mart only carried 32 oz. containers and only two flavors, plain and vanilla yogurt. I selected the 32 oz. fat free French Vanilla made with nonfat milk and the added benefit of NO artificial sweeteners! This turned out to be cheaper per ounce but I had to forgo the variety of flavors. Fortunately, the calorie count per ounce is close.
Here’s a simple sketch of the foods I used to prepare the menus (both purchased items and what I had on hand):
I bought a number of items that you might already have in your kitchen. At the time, it seemed like a good idea to assume that someone might not have any of the foods in their “pantry”. So I bought things like coffee and tea along with everything else. I thought I had purchased just about everything I would need for the week.
I then realized there were some ingredients for certain recipes I planned on using that I already had at home. I didn’t want to buy additional refrigerated items that I might not use up in time. This included mixed salad greens and a carton of orange juice. I had a couple of potatoes that I needed to use anyway. I also had plenty of frozen chopped onions because I use them so often. And I already own a full range of herbs and spices.
I believe everything else for the 7 Day 1200 Calorie Menu was accounted for with my purchases.
[Sometime I’ll share my thoughts on what to keep on hand for a well stocked, nutritious, and low calorie pantry. But that's getting ahead of myself. If you'd like some ideas now I would encourage you to read the well-written and informative articles of a Twitter friend of mine Darya Pino (How to Get Started Eating Healthy: Stock Your Pantry). ]
I bought a fresh whole chicken, whole wheat bread (sandwich thins) by Arnold, oatmeal, raisins, almonds, reduced fat Mexican blend cheese by Sargento, milk, yogurt, Babybel lite cheese, oranges, tomatoes, celery, Gala apples, 2 lemons, broccoli, a bell pepper, cucumbers, an avocado, half a carton of fresh eggs, canned black beans, can of green chilies, canned diced tomatoes, and a bag of Tostitos tortilla chips.
I spent $52.40 cents. However, at some point in the coming weeks I will calculate what I actually used to get a more accurate idea of the cost for the week. Some of the items, for example, the coffee and tea, I only used a small amount of the package. So there are leftovers. On the other hand, I need to estimate the cost of items I already had at home and add it to the total.
I learned that I could purchase a whole chicken at a significant savings over an already cooked rotisserie chicken. The rotisserie chickens at Wal-Mart are low priced but you can do better. The added benefit is that you will likely reduce the fat and sodium as well by preparing your own chicken. But the cost savings is only true if you’re not particular about the brand. The chicken I bought weighed in at about 5 pounds for a total cost of $5.00. However, had I chosen to purchase an organic, free-range chicken which I would have preferred, the cost would have been two to three dollars higher or more.
I had imagined buying whole wheat tortillas and then crisping a few in the oven to make my own tortilla chips. However, I learned that I was not going to save much if anything either in cost or calories so I purchased whole grain Tostitos (that contain “some” whole grain but it’s not clear how much. See Whole Grains are a Weight Loss Winner).
[Update April 16, 2009: I want to point out that Tostitos tortilla chips are not the best choice. I just now remembered that I had purchased Plocky's Three Grain Tortilla Chips from our local Midwest Hy-Vee grocery store. If you can find Plocky's give it a try. It has fewer calories per ounce (129 calories vs. 150 for Tostitos). It also has 84% whole grain. The whole grain content for Tostitos is not clear and not likely to be very much or they would let you know. Also, Plocky's has 0 grams of saturated fat and trans fat. Tostitos has 1 gram of saturated fat and 0 grams of trans fat.]
I ditched the idea of making my own hummus for this project. I do like my recipe for homemade hummus but I didn’t think I would save anything on the cost and I do value my time. I purchased a sweet red pepper flavored hummus by Tribe (a new brand to me) and it turned out to be quite good (8 oz. for $1.98).
When buying fresh produce it pays to do comparisons. I discovered the Gala apples, which I prefer anyway, were substantially cheaper ($1.00/lb) than the Red Rome, Delicious, Fuji, and Granny Smith ($1.49/lb.). Medium-sized individual potatoes were not available at Wal-Mart but I already had a couple at home. They did have large potatoes (very large!) so I guess I could have purchased a large potato and then cut it in half (and refrigerated the second half till ready to use).
In the end result what I am particularly pleased about is the way I was be able to use up most if not all of the food purchased for my menu plan without any waste or going over the calorie limit. Most people who decide to go on a 1200 calorie diet actually need somewhat more then they might think so be sure to check (Read 1200 Calorie Diet: Getting Started! to determine your need.)
I need about 1400 calories when I’m not dieting or exercising. Yes, you read that right. I’m petite and getting older so my needs are minimal. But I exercise most of the time and that means getting enough calories to cover the energy cost of exercise. Right now I need more than usual. I’m actually training to run in a half-marathon (this may turn out to be a bad idea at my age, we’ll see!) So I need significantly more than the 1200 calories I was testing. But it worked for me; I just supplemented my diet with additional healthy food to increase the calorie count.
[The training for the half-marathon has been one of my challenges recently. I seem to have hurt my back a little, which may change my plans for continuing. Sigh... But I’m pleased to say that at age 54 I’ve succeeded so far in running six miles without stopping. If I can’t continue with the training, I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished!]
Coming soon (Really!): Day One of the plan.
Till next time, watch those calories and eat healthy food!
