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Is Your Pantry Suffering from Sticker Shock?

• Learn money-saving tips for getting the most out of your grocery store trips.
• Eathing healthfully on a lean budget requires a small investment of time.
• Try our recipes.

Prices for food staples such as wheat, eggs, milk and rice have increased substantially in the last year, leaving many to wonder how to affordably plan their next shopping trip. If you or a loved one has diabetes, you know the importance of stocking a well-balanced pantry and eating healthy foods to maintain good diabetes control.

So how do you plan healthy menus for you and your family without breaking the bank? "It is a common misconception that a healthy diabetes meal plan must be costly and consist of high-priced specialty foods," says Patti B. Geil, RD, CDE, co-author of Diabetes Meals on $7 a Day – or Less!

"Eating healthfully on a lean budget does require a small investment of time to plan meals for the week and cook the foods that match your budget and diabetes nutrition requirements," comments Tami A. Ross, RD, CDE Diabetes Meals on $7 a Day – or Less! co-author. "But the little amount of extra time you spend is an investment that can really make a difference when trying to cut costs."

Patti and Tami offer these tips to save money and help cost-conscious consumers navigate the grocery store shelves:

• Boneless cuts of meat are often better buys, since you are not paying for the weight of the bone. Think of cost per edible serving rather than cost per pound. Turkey has 46% edible meat per pound, while chicken has 41%.
• There is no nutritional difference between brown and white eggs. Choose white eggs since they cost less.
• Vegetables frozen in butter sauce cost twice as much as plain frozen vegetables – and they have more calories.
• Instead of buying small containers of yogurt, buy a quart and separate it into 1-cup servings yourself.
• Avoid individually packaged snacks. Reap significant savings with a do-it-yourself approach.
• Price fruits with an eye on the cost per edible serving. If you are paying by the pound, you will be paying for the inedible seeds and rinds.
• If fresh fruit is too expensive, buy frozen or canned fruit packed in water. If you buy fruit canned in syrup, rinse it before eating.
• Use nonfat dry milk for drinking, cooking and baking. It is inexpensive and has a long shelf life.
• Make your own cooking spray by putting vegetable oil in a spray bottle.
• Cook your own hot cereal to save money. Regular or quick-cooking oats are much less expensive than instant oats.
• Dry beans triple in volume when they are soaked and cooked. A 1-pound bag will make six 1-cup servings.
• When buying fresh greens by weight, be sure to shake off the excess water before you put them in your cart. It is amazing how much water can be hidden in between the leaves.
• The costs of special "dietetic or diabetic" foods are high and not necessary.