Making each penny count!

With the rising costs of everything essential to our daily lives, people are trying to make every penny stretch a little further. It seems that every time I turn the corner, the prices to my necessary items are getting higher and higher.  With gas prices now over $4.00 a gallon and the price of tuition climbing, shouldn’t we be concerned about how much money we spend on keeping our stomachs happy? I have heard many arguments from my peers about the rising price of supermarket food and how fast food is the only option to eat cheap. This can’t be true, can it? If you consider all of the options of a fast food dollar menu this does seem feasible.  After researching, I concluded that if you consider the calorie amount of food versus the weight of the food, fast food will always win. Could my peers be right? Does this mean that eating fast food will always provide more food? Being a nutrition student, something did not seem to add up correctly. It is obvious that fast food will provide a high calorie per weight meal but I’ve never met someone who wants to eat a meal with the highest calorie count. Most people want to eat nutrient dense food that provides the most nutrients per calorie. Thus, basing your meals off of the highest calorie count is a very poor way to decide what should be eaten. Instead, if an individual can learn to cook a simple recipe that offers fruits, vegetables, whole grains, or dairy, they will be saving money in the long run. One website explained that a meal that can feed four to six people of roasted chicken, fresh steamed vegetables, an effortless salad, and milk will cost roughly $14.00. This meal is full of nutrient dense food and if you break it down, it costs roughly $2.33 to $3.50 per person. In conclusion, after a little research if a person learns how to prepare easy meals they will be able to stretch their pennies and eat healthy.