Healthy Cooking 101

Victoria Ferrante

Senior Nutrition Student

Greater Boston Food Bank

Healthy Shopping

• Healthy Cooking starts with shopping

• The Gatekeeper- the person in the household that controls what foods go into the home

Simple Shopping Tip: Watch out for Sodium

• Sodium– Experts recommend not eating more than

1500 mg of sodium per day– Canned foods, processed foods such as Mac

N’ Cheese, Ramen Noodles, frozen pizzas…

• Aim for less than 300 mg of Sodium per 1 serving

Healthy Cooking

• There are many easy ways to make meals healthier for you and your family!– Even simple, and small changes go a long

way!

• What are some changes you think you could do?

Small, Simple Changes

• Add a vegetable and/or fruit– Fresh, frozen or canned

• Rinse all canned vegetables with water before eating

– What fruits or vegetables would you add to:• Mac N’ cheese• Frozen or homemade pizza• Ramen Noodles• Ice cream or yogurt

Small, Simple Changes

• Reduce Fat– Try switching from whole milk to 2% or 1%

• Or from 2% to 1% or skim in recipes

– Mac N’ Cheese or Ramen Noodles• Try cutting back ¼ -½ the packet• Lowers calories, fat and sodium

Small, Simple Changes

• Replace or Switch– Chips and Dip

• Replace chips for carrots, celery, broccoli or any of your favorite vegetables

• Dip: choose low fat dip or make your own with low fat sour cream or low fat yogurt

– This lowers calories, fat, sodium while increasing nutrients like protein and fiber

Small, Simple Changes

• Cut back on the “Pack”– Seasoning and sauce packets contain a lot of

calories, fat and sodium– Cut down on the seasoning or sauce packets

• Mac N’ Cheese• Ramen Noodles-

– If you cut back ½ the packet, you save 900 mg of sodium, about 2/3 of what experts recommend

• Lean Cuisines or any other TV dinners with sauces

Small, Simple Changes

• Add a lean protein– Fresh, frozen, or canned– Chicken– Fish (limit to 2 times per week)

• Choose canned fish packed in water

– Beans• Rinse all canned beans before eating

Juice• Try to use juice with

100% fruit juices• Juices contain a lot of

extra calories that you don’t need– Try diluting or mixing juice

with water to lower calories and make juice last longer

• Start with ¼ water and ¾ juice or ½ water and ½ juice

Healthy Cooking: Shake the Salt

• Salt contains a lot of sodium– 1 tsp of salt = 2400 mg of sodium

• Cook without salt

• Try using herbs or seasonings for different flavors– Lemon/ lime juice– Dried, fresh peppers– Onions

Cheers to Healthy Cooking

• There are many small changes to make meals healthy– Pick only a few small

changes that you can make or want to make

• What changes do you think you are willing to make?

Questions?

Thank you for you time!