Stretching food budget takes a healthly commitment

As a single mother of modest means, I've long thought that eating healthfully is practically impossible on a limited budget. If you've got $20 to spend on groceries and you need after-school snacks (I've insisted to anyone who would listen), you're going for the $1 bag of cookies, not the $5 bag of apples.

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I'm not a health nut by any stretch of the imagination, but I figure that it's sad when my kids wonder what the occasion is when I bring home a cantaloupe.

I decided to explore one question: Can a family eat healthfully on a tight budget?

The short answer is yes, but it takes time and forethought -- a lot of both.

I do plan ahead, because I have to. I take inventory of what I have in my kitchen and freezer and write down what I have.

When I'm doing this, I sit down and make a monthly menu and a grocery list, based on what I already have. Good meal planning can take me about an hour. Then I have to shop. Therefore, grocery shopping takes up more of a Saturday than I really like to devote to it.

I never assign meals to specific days. My life is too hectic for that. What I have is a list, stuck to the side of my refrigerator, of dishes I am equipped to make. I scratch things off the list as the ingredients disappear.

The quick meals get made first, and the things that take awhile, such as meatloaf, drop to the bottom, waiting for a day when I'm not so busy.

Because it's rare that I'm not busy, things such as meatloaf become a treat. When I do make it, I make double portions and freeze some for another busy night.

I've learned that eating healthfully on a strict budget takes commitment. It takes time to clip coupons, match them with sales papers and wait for the sales.

It also takes time to boil chicken tonight for a casserole tomorrow night. Frankly, I get busy with other things, such as tackling Mount Washmore, and forget to do it until it's too close to bedtime.

I'd love to say that what I've learned by talking to Liz Nelson, Karen Green and Candace Stapleton (stories above) will have a lasting effect on the eating habits of the Kaylor household, but I can't.

Perhaps I was looking for fairy dust that would help me magically find money in my grocery budget to buy more apples, but I will still probably resort to a cheesy tuna casserole on those nights I don't feel like cooking.

Next time, though, I will leave out the salt.