Kelly Rossiter
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I have a confession to make. When I was a kid my favourite dinner was comprised of chicken breasts cooked in Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup with Minute Rice (covered in the sauce, of course) and frozen green peas on the side. According to the Globe and Mail, Campbell's soups, Spam, Jello, Lipton Sidekicks are all experiencing a big surge as families are cooking at home more and looking to save money. Don't do it.
We should be moving away from processed foods as we cook at home. I'm not a dietian or a nutritionist, but some quick checking of nutritional labels on the internet came up with some figures to think about before you reach for that can or packet. To recreate my childhood delight reveals the following:
- 1 cup of chicken breast, with skin is 258 calories, 93 of those calories are from fat
- 1/2 cup of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup has 102 calories with 63 of those calories from fat. Total fat - 11%. There is a whopping 32% sodium
- 1/2 cup of Minute Rice is 200 calories and takes up 90% of your carbohydrate needs for the day
I'm suggesting you could make this sauce with chicken stock and a small amount of half and half cream. If you were to make it my way without processed ingredients, here's what you would have:
- 1 cup of chicken breast, no skin is 231 calories, 45 of those calories are from fat
- 1 cup of white rice is 242 calories and taking up 18% of your carbohydrate needs for the day
I can't tell you what the fat content of my chicken stock is, but I can tell you that it has 0% sodium because I don't salt my stock, I salt my soup when I make it and I don't use nearly enough to take up 32% of my daily requirement. You could also use vegetable stock. If you used 1 cup of canned chicken broth it has 38 calories, 12 of those from fat. Total fat 2%. We're back to the whopping 32% sodium.
- 1 oz half and half cream is 39 calories, 31 from fat. Total fat 5%. Sodium 1%
It's always important to check the serving size, otherwise you have no frame of reference. The calorie count for the mushroom soup is based on 1/2 cup, but don't most people open the can and pour the whole 10 ounces on? The white rice looks higher in calories than the Minute rice until you realize that it is for 1 cup serving, while the Minute Rice is for 1/2 cup.
Just doing a quick tally reveals that my make at home version is roughly 2/3 the amount of calories. The amount of carbohydrates and especially sodium is significantly reduced. This is one meal. Think about this magnified over the week. I don't believe it takes more than a few minutes extra to make my version of this meal.
Of course, the other issue is cost. The Globe and Mail article points out that grocery stores are promoting these items and discounting them to take advantage of the changing lifestyles and incomes of their shoppers. They quote one mother of four saying "If I buy four litres of milk it's costing me almost $7.00 but if I can go buy two-litre bottles of Coca Cola, it's going to cost me two and change. That's a problem that I have... ." Personally, I don't have any dilemma here at all. Buy the milk and save the money somewhere else. If your kids fire through the milk too fast, limit them to the amount they need per day and then give them tap water to drink. Giving them soda pop to drink is simply giving them a glass of sugar and cafeine.
Saving time and money buy using these products is false economy. As Michael Pollan points out in his book In Defense of Food, Americans spend roughly the same percentage of their income of food and health care as they did twenty years ago. However, they used to spend more on food and less on health care and now they spend less on food and more on health care. It isn't a coincidence. For every dollar you save now by using cheap processed food you will end up spending many times that to treat the obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease they cause down the road.
Sources:
The Daily Plate
Calorie Count
The Calorie Counter
Related Posts:
Teach Your Children to Cook
Check Out This New Food Web Site
Cooking Basics: Stocking Your Kitchen
Eat Like Michael Pollan
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