Surry Living

Northern Rehabilitation

Meal Planning: Not Just a Job for Mom

Carmen Long
Simply Delicious

Meal planning doesn’t have to be a stressful, daunting task reserved just for Mom. When planning meals, involve your family and turn it into an activity. Family meal planning ensures dietary needs are considered and reduces the likelihood that your food dollars will be wasted. Here are some ideas to get the entire family involved in the meal planning process:

  1. Clip pictures of meals from grocery store advertisements, newspapers, or magazines. Collect the photos and create a “Meal Inspiration Vision Board” for current and future meals. 
  2. Center meal creation around pantry items, noodles, rice, or other staples, and brainstorm what can be created.
  3. Assign categories of meals such as vegetarian, soup, pasta, quick preparation, etc. to days of the week and get creative!
  4. Who can create the most appetizing meal while sticking to a certain dollar amount? This activity may involve using printed or online sale advertisements and calculators.
  5. Assign each member one of the following: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack/dessert or a food group: protein, dairy, vegetables, fruit, and grains. Once complete, share and combine for your weekly menu!

More In My Basket offers a Versatile Pantry session that focuses on creating a stocked pantry, developing a three-day food supply, and creating meals from common pantry staples. To learn more about this opportunity, contact the Surry County Center of NC Cooperative Extension at 336-401-8025.

For questions about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or to receive application assistance, contact the More In My Basket staff:

Visit: morefood.org

English Toll Free: 1-855-240-1451

Spanish Toll Free: 1-888-382-7105

May brings Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, spring flowers and the start to our garden produce. One of my favorite things about May is strawberry season. There is nothing better than fresh strawberries – eaten just by themselves straight from the patch or used in some of our favorite recipes. 

Strawberries not only taste good, they are also good for us. One half cup of strawberries provides 80 percent of the Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamin C and 2 grams of dietary fiber. That is as much fiber as a slice of whole wheat bread. All of this for only 27 calories and 6 grams of total carbohydrates for ½ cup. (Source: USDA SNAP-Ed Harvest of the Month)

If you have access to more berries than what you and your family can eat at one time or while they are in season, why not freeze some for later use. Freezing is a quick and easy method of food preservation. Frozen berries are especially delicious in baked goods, smoothies, yogurt parfaits and fruit salsa.

How to Prepare Frozen Strawberries

  1. Select fully ripe, firm berries with a deep color. Discard immature and defective fruit. Wash and remove caps if necessary and pat dry.
  2. Spread a single layer of prepared fruit on shallow trays and freeze.
  3. When frozen, promptly package in freezer bags or containers and return to the freezer.
  4. The fruit pieces remain loose and can be poured from the container and the package re-closed and placed back in the freezer.

Tips:

  • A dry pack is good for small whole fruits, such as berries, which create a good quality product without added sugar.
  • A tray pack makes the fruit easier to remove from the container.
  • Be sure to package the fruit as soon as it is frozen, to prevent freezer burn.

For more information on Home Food Preservation, contact the Extension Office at 336-401-8025.

Visit the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension’s National Center for Home Food Preservation at https://nchfp.uga.edu for a wealth of on-line resources. 

Fruit Salsa

Makes 8 servings

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries or 1 (10 oz.) package frozen strawberries
  • 1 apple, cored and chopped
  • 2 kiwis, peeled and chopped
  • ½ cup crushed pineapple, drained
  • 2 Tablespoons pineapple juice

DIRECTIONS

  1. Chop strawberries, apple and kiwi.
  2. Add drained crushed pineapple and 2 Tablespoons pineapple juice to chopped fruit. Chill.
  3. Serve with cinnamon graham crackers, honey grahams or make homemade cinnamon sugar tortilla chips. 

Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Chips

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 (8 in) whole wheat tortillas
  • 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • Cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Lay tortillas on a baking sheet. Lightly spray each tortilla with cooking spray. 
  3. Mix cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle over each tortilla.
  4. Cut each tortilla into 8 pieces but leave pieces together in a circle. (A pizza cutter works great.) 
  5. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until lightly brown. 
  6. Remove from oven to cool.  Serve with fruit salsa.