Lena B Katz saw Sally selling seashells by the seashore and told us
all about it on Tue, 6 Jan 2004 19:38:49 -0500 (EST):
>Just looking for some tips...
>
>1. How much should i feed someone at supper?
>2. What kinds of food should a poor shopper mix together?
>3. How do I balance everything?
>
>//I'm no longer the big meat eater I was at home... where every meal was
>chicken and sidedish with salad. I'm just looking for some help on how to
>come up with appropriate everyday meals..
What makes a 'meal' is different to everyone. To most people that
means a large serve of protein (generally meat, but it could be eggs,
cheese, legumes, tofu etc.), some starch (potato or rice or pasta or
bread), and one to three vegetables cooked in whatever fashion you
like.
As a whole starch and vegetables are cheap and protein is expensive.
But you can't live on starch alone (which is why a plate of mashed
potatoes is NOT dinner) Starch and carbohydrates go into the
bloodstream too quickly and provide quick energy but they run out.
They also trigger insulin release which locks the extra energy away
into your cells for use at some unspecified future date (which is why
they tend to make you fat) Adding protein to the starch slows down the
energy processing and makes the meal last longer (at least in my
experience) The more protein you can add to the meal the longer you
will remain satisfied before you get hungry again. And the third part
of the meal, the vegies, is to add extra flavours and provide vitamins
and minerals.
IMO a plate of iceberg lettuce has no food value whatsoever and is a
waste of time to eat... but a plate of mixed salad greens, carrot,
celery, cucumber etc is worth the bother. btw, the more 'bitter' a
salad vegie is, the more useful nutrients it contains.
I'd suggest you go find a 'menu planner' website and look at the sort
of things they include in a week's meals. I try to have one meal a
week based on pasta and one meal on rice (or two rice OR two pasta)
but no more. Sometimes we have homemade or bought pizza, and it counts
as a 'starch'-based meal too... the other four or five meals in the
week are based on meat and vegies and may or may not contain potato or
rice as a minor ingredient. eg.'frypan casserole' with mashed
potatoes, grilled chicken and steamed vegetables, hamburgers and
steamed vegetables, chicken risotto (heavy on the vegetables), roast
beef, etc.
Stir-fries make a little meat go a long way. So can flavoursome
curries. If you like tofu, it's a relatively cheap form of nonmeat
protein, and it goes very well in stirfries.
~Karen AKA Kajikit
Nobody outstubborns a cat...
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