Dietary Guidelines for Americans

• Eat a variety of foods
• Maintain healthy weight
• Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol
• Choose a diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, and grain products
• Use sugars only in moderation
• Use salt and sodium only in moderation
• If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation

The first two guidelines form the framework for your eating patterns: "Eat a variety of foods" and "Maintain healthy weight." The next two guidelines stress the need for many Americans to change their diets to be lower in fat, especially saturated fat, and higher in complex carbohydrates such as starches found in pasta, breads, cereals, dry beans and potatoes. The last three guidelines suggest only moderate use of sugars, salt and alcoholic beverages.

Getting Ready to Cook for One or Two

If you're like most North Dakotans, you're not interested in making a career out of meal planning and preparation -- and you don't have to if you invest a little time up front to organize and prepare. Take a few minutes each week to decide what you want to eat during the coming week. Try to keep your meal strategies simple and easy.

Do you sometimes go to the store with a growling stomach and then come home with foods you didn't really need? A plan you've made can help you take advantage of specials, if you check your newspaper for sales and coupons that fit your budget and menu. A plan can help you cut down on impulse buying and help you avoid waste because you'll know the right kind of food and package size to fit your needs. And lastly, a plan can save you time because you won't have to go back to the store for items you forgot.

While a plan is important, you'll have more success if you allow yourself flexibility. And, be sure to plan a few quick and easy stand-by meals that can be simply heated for those times when you're too rushed or tired to cook. If you're prepared, you'll be far less likely to resort to grabbing less healthy foods on the run. Let's look at the basics you'll need to get started.

Surveying Your Kitchen

An adequately stocked kitchen will make it easier to whip up an impromptu supper for guests or to prepare a quick bite before an important meeting. You don't need a gourmet kitchen to cook and eat well. Just make sure you have the basics.

Kitchen Basics

• Non-stick skillet for stir-frying or pan broiling with little fat.
• Vegetable steamer.
• Two saucepans -- a small one for soups and a larger one for cooking pasta or steaming vegetables.
• Knives -- a paring knife for chopping and dicing, a larger one for cutting meats, and a serrated knife.
• Wooden or plastic spoons that won't damage your non-stick skillet.
• Measuring cups and measuring spoons.
• Colander/strainer.
• Wire whisk.
• Grater with assorted grating surfaces.
• Hand or small electric mixer.
• Plastic cutting board.
• Vegetable peeler.
• Can and bottle opener.
• Slotted spoon, ladle, non-metal pancake turner, two-tined fork.
• Loaf pan, cookie sheet, roasting pan, muffin tin, cake pan.
• Small casserole dishes.
• Toaster/broiler oven -- saves energy for small meals
• Microwave and microwave cookware -- a good investment if you use it for more than warming up coffee
• Small coffee maker
• You may want other appliances that save time and effort such as a blender, small food processor, electric skillet, wok, slow cooker or pressure cooker.

Your cabinets don't have to be bulging with exotic ingredients either. Just make sure you have the basics on hand:

• An assortment of herbs, spices and extracts such as garlic powder, minced onion, pepper, oregano, basil, bay leaf, chili powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla. Read labels to avoid seasonings with high sodium content such as lemon pepper, seasoning salt and salad seasoning.
• Vegetable oil for cooking and salad dressings.
• Low-sodium bouillon.
• Nonfat dry milk for recipes that call for milk.
• Flour, sugar, baking soda, cornstarch, baking powder, salt.
• Condiments such as vinegar, mustard, catsup and jellies.
• Rice and pasta.
• Dry beans and lentils.
• Canned tomatoes and sauce.
• Canned tuna.

You may have other staples to add to this list like coffee or peanut butter.

Shopping for One Or Two

The variety of foods found in today's grocery stores can make it difficult to shop wisely and easily, and shopping for one or two poses several additional challenges:

• How can you purchase small enough quantities, especially when buying fresh foods?
• What do you do when your favorite foods come only in family-size packages?
• How do you get the best value for your money?
• Frozen microwave dinners are quick, but how do you choose the healthiest ones?

The answers may be easier than you think!

Several rules of thumb can increase your speed and efficiency when shopping.

RULE #1. Organize Your Shopping List

If your shopping list is organized in the same order as the grocery store layout, then you'll spend less time retracing your steps to pick up items you overlooked on the list. If your list is random, your shopping will be too.

RULE #2. Shop Off-Hours

If possible, shop at off-hours -- later evenings, and Sunday through Wednesday during the day. There will be less congestion in the aisles and fewer people at the checkout to wait behind.

RULE #3. Never Shop When You Are Hungry

Studies have shown that hungry shoppers not only purchase more than they had planned to, but they also spend more time exploring aisles they do not normally frequent.

Now that we've taken a quick look at the Dietary Guidelines for Americans using the Food Guide Pyramid, we need to answer some of the questions we raised at the beginning of this section.

To Buy or Not To Buy In Bulk

Prepackaged, individual-serving items tend to be more expensive than larger packages or bulk quantities. At times you may prefer the convenience of individual portions, while at other times you may want to save money by buying in bulk. For example, when time is at a premium and money isn't a big issue, you may opt for a package of skinned, ready-to-cook chicken breasts. When your schedule is less busy and you want to save money, buy a whole chicken, cut it up yourself and freeze in meal-size servings.

Avoiding waste may be another reason to keep small-quantity items on hand. Opening a large can of fruit and throwing half of it away because it spoiled is no way to save money!

You will need to decide for yourself what is most important in each situation: time-savings? convenience? saving money? storage space? flavor? nutrition? a combination of needs? Take a little time and think about what needs are most important to you and how you will meet those needs.

How Do You Decide What is a Good Value for Your Money?

The Frozen Microwave Dinner Debate

Frozen microwave dinners make quick and easy meals, but be sure to read the nutrition information carefully. Some dinners may be relatively low in calories but supply a high percentage of those calories from fat. Remember that your average intake of total dietary fat should be no more than 30 percent of your total calories. An easy rule of thumb is to choose, most of the time, microwave dinners with no more than 3 grams of fat per 100 calories. This does not mean that you should never eat foods containing higher percentages of fat, but over a period of a week or so, lowfat foods should balance out the higher fat dishes.

Check the label for the dinner's sodium content. Although sodium is essential to healthy bodies, too much may contribute to high blood pressure in some people. Salt is only one source of sodium and many processed foods contain a variety of other sodium compounds such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), sodium benzoate, sodium caseinate and others. Try to select frozen dinners with 1,000 or less milligrams of sodium.

Cooking for One or Two

Once you have the basic strategies down, and shopping under control, cooking can be a simple process. Again, you are faced with challenges: perhaps a tight budget, a crowded schedule or loneliness at meal time. Take heart! Whatever your circumstances, you can meet these challenges with success. Here are some ways to make cooking for one or two easy and fun.

• Stir-fry prechopped vegetables from the grocery produce section and serve with rice and beans.
• If you have a crockpot, put diced chicken, vegetables, liquid and spices into it in the morning and come home to ready-to-eat stew.
• Make super spuds by topping them with nonfat yogurt, barbecue sauce, lowfat cottage cheese and chives, sauteed onions and vegetables or chili.
• When making an oven meal, bake potatoes, muffins or rice at the same time and freeze for later use. Heat in a microwave, toaster oven or oven for a quick meal accompaniment.
• Prepare a week's supply of sandwiches and freeze them. Peanut butter, chicken, turkey, ham and lowfat cheese make good fillings. Avoid using very moist fillings with mayonnaise or salad dressing which separate when frozen (you can add these when you eat the sandwich). Use the frozen sandwiches within two weeks.
• Make a favorite family-size casserole, line several one-portion casserole dishes with foil, fill with the casserole, cover with foil and place in the freezer. When it is frozen solid, lift the wrapped food from the dish and return food to freezer. When you are ready to heat the casserole just place the foil container in the dish again and heat.

Convenience foods are the salvation of many singles, but they often lack the nutritional quality, texture and flavor of home-cooked foods. You can boost nutrition and enhance the flavor of these foods by adding your favorite spices, vegetables or meat. Try the following ideas.

• Add fresh onions, mushrooms and peppers to canned spaghetti sauce.
• Top frozen pizza with tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms.
• Mix yellow squash, green peas and grated carrots with a prepared rice mix.
• Add fresh onions, peppers, beans and tomato sauce to cooked rice.
• Add chopped green onion, celery, and a touch of garlic powder to spice up canned tomato soup.
• Add broccoli florets, mushrooms and a bit of grated than cheese to a microwave-baked potato.
• Try a breakfast of frozen waffles. They're more expensive making your own, but they're quick. Top them with fresh or frozen fruit, hot applesauce or fruited lowfat yogurt.
• Serve fruit and vegetables as side dishes to frozen microwave dinners.

Cutting Recipes

What about cutting recipes that make more than one or two portions? There's no simple answer as to whether a recipe can be cut successfully. It often takes some experimentation to get satisfactory results, but here are a few suggestions.

• Use a recipe with quantities that are easy to divide to make arithmetic easier.
• Add seasonings a little at at time. The recipe may need more than half.
• Use smaller dishes and pans for smaller quantities.
• To halve 3 eggs, use two and decrease the liquid by 2 to 3 tablespoons.
• Check doneness for halved cake, casserole, meat loaf and other dishes at least 5 to 10 minutes before the original recipe's suggested time.
• Keep notes about what works and what doesn't.

No matter how carefully meals are planned, left-overs are bound to occur. Fortunately, it is not difficult to put most of them to use.

Fruit

• Canned or fresh fruit can be added to salads, pureed and used as pancake sauce or on toast, or placed on top of roasted chicken.
• Fruit juice can be frozen in ice cube trays and used for flavoring and chilling fruit drinks.
• Canned or fresh fruit can be added to muffin, quick bread or pancake batter.

Vegetables

• Cooked vegetables can be used in an omelette, in a casserole, in soups, or marinated in a nonfat Italian salad dressing for a quick cold salad.
• Chopped raw onions, celery or green peppers can be frozen in freezer bags or containers for use in soups, stews or casseroles.

Breads and cereals

• Make crumbs for topping or breading for chicken or fish.
• Use for French toast.
• Make melba toast -- remove crust, roll thinly and bake at 150 degrees F until crisp.
• Add cooked macaroni to a casserole or soup, or use cold in salads.
• Stir-fry cooked rice with chopped vegetables, add leftover meat or poultry at the last minute and serve with low sodium soy sauce.
• Add cooked rice to puddings or casseroles.

Meals on the Run

Sometimes it is much easier to stop by a fast food drive-through or send out for food, rather than make it yourself. Carry-out meals pose a challenge, but you can still enjoy healthful eating using the following tips.

Carrying Out

Until recently, the only choices at fast food restaurants were fat-laden hamburgers, fries and shakes. But times are changing and now there are broiled chicken sandwiches, lowfat milk and an array of salads available. Some of the best carry-out meals come from delis and restaurants that prepare sandwiches while you wait. That way you can specify exactly what you want.

Ordering In

Pizza used to be about the only prepared food you could count on for home delivery. Now, sometimes even in small cities, you can have Chinese food, Italian food or a variety of sandwiches delivered to your door. Frozen, home-delivered food is available, even in rural areas. To round out your home-delivered meal, add fruit, vegetables and milk.

If pizza is your choice, choose a thin-crust, vegetable-topped pizza with a single order of cheese. For Chinese carry-out select a pork, chicken, seafood or lean beef entree with assorted vegetables.

When eating at a fast food restaurant, pick up the printed nutrition information available. If you don't see nutrition brochures or posters, just ask a manager for the information. For additional help with making carry-out, fast food and order-in choices, use the Guide to Meals on the Run.

Sometimes eating alone is a welcome time of privacy and quiet. At other times it can seem lonely. If you would prefer to have mealtime company more often, look around for others in the same situation. Find one or two neighbors, co-workers or friends and invite each other for dinner once a week. For those times when you are happy to eat alone, create a pleasant setting for yourself. Set the table, add flowers, candles or other table decorations and play soft, soothing music. Eat slowly and savor each bite. Pamper yourself as you would a guest -- you deserve it!

Guide to Meals on the Run

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	CHOOSE MORE OFTEN		CHOOSE LESS OFTEN
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FAST 	Broiled or grilled chicken 	Breaded, fried chicken sandwich 
FOOD	sandwich			or chicken nuggets

	Single hamburger		Double hamburger; cheeseburger

	Toppings: mustard, onions, 	Toppings: mayonnaise, tartar 
	tomatoes, peppers		sauce

	Baked potatoes stuffed with 	French fries or hashbrowns
	veggies (hold the butter, sour	
	cream and cheese sauce)

	Submarine sandwiches with lean 	High-fat dressings like olive
	poultry or meat and		oil and mayonnaise, sausage
	fresh vegetables		and cheese fillings

	Bagel with egg and ham		Biscuits with sausage and gravy

	Pancakes with moderate amounts 	French toast
	of syrup and margarine	

	Plain English muffins		High-fat muffins

	Fruit juice			High-fat shakes or malts
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SALAD 	Fresh vegetables		Marinated vegetables
BAR	
	Fresh fruit			Fruit in heavy syrups

	Chickpeas (garbanzo) or 	Lots of cheese
	kidney beans	

	Low-calorie or oil and vinegar 	High-fat creamy dressings
	dressings (in moderate servings)	
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DELI 	Sliced turkey sandwich with 	Pastrami or salami sandwich
FOOD	tomato	

	Sliced chicken with mustard	Chicken salad or tuna salad 
					sandwich

	Lean roast beef sandwich	Ham and cheese sandwich, 
					hot dog

	Whole grain breads or buns, 	Croissants, high-fat muffins
	bagels	
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ITALIAN Pasta in tomato sauce, red 	Spaghetti with meatballs; 
FOOD	clam sauce or marinara		pasta with pesto or alfredo 
					(cream) sauce

	Minestrone soup			Antipasto

	Steamed or poached foods 	Breaded or fried foods
	(affogato)	

	Chicken cacciatore		Veal parmigiana
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CHINESE	Steamed dumplings, clear soups 	Fried won ton, eggrolls, 
FOOD	(won ton, hot and sour)		crispy noodles

	Stir-fried tofu, chicken, 	Crispy, batter-dipped foods 
	lean pork and beef or seafood 	such as shrimp or chicken; 
	with vegetables			spare ribs

	Steamed rice			Fried rice
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MEXICAN Fajitas				Toppings: sour cream, guacamole, 
FOOD					con queso (cheese)

	Gazpacho			Fried tortillas, chimichangas 
					and dips

	Chili verde			Chorizo (sausages)
	Chili
	Arroz con pollo (chicken with rice)
	Red or green salsa
	Mexican salad (hold the shell)	
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HE-516, February 1993
Reviewed and reprinted July 1994