Eating Healthy on a Budget

Kyla Kurczewski
NFS 3380 Nutrition Education and Counseling
Dr. Karen Schmitz

Subject:
Eating healthy on a budget:
Many people believe cheap, convenient, and/or processed food is the
least expensive and easiest way to eat. In reality, these are very poor
habits, and there are many different tips and techniques to stay
healthy without burning a hole in your wallet or time.
Audience:
The target audience will be young adults, many of whom are in college
and living on their own or with a roommate/spouse. Incomes are very
minimal and college is expensive.
Goal:
For young adults to understand how money-saving techniques such as
buying in bulk, meal prepping, and eating in can be healthy, cheap,
and super delicious!
Objectives:
1. Given a recipe/meal and the prices of the ingredients, be able to
calculate the price per serving of the prepared meal 100% of the time.
2. Given the necessary ingredients, produce a portion of trail mix.
3. Given a chart of 3 meals, 3 prices, and 3 calorie counts, identify
which meals match the other criteria with at least 77% accuracy (7/9).
Pre-Assessment Questions:
1. How many times per week do you eat out?

2. How often does the convenience or price of processed or prepackaged food effect your purchasing decisions?
Outline:
I.

II.

Introduction
a. Introduce self
b. Introduce topic of eating healthy on a budget
i. Explain objectives
ii. Show example of trail mix that students will be
making
c. Pre-assessment questions
PowerPoint lecture
a. Restaurant meals vs. made at home
b. Buying in bulk
c. Utilizing the freezer
d. Pre-packaged food
i. Tip about soaking apple slices in lemon juice (show
sliced apple)
e. Coffee comparison
f. How to calculate cost per serving
i. Pass out worksheet, meal cards, take-home brochure,
& evaluation sheet
ii. Activity 1: Have students try with the sample meal

g.
h.
i.
j.

card with prices they received, individually

1. Can use phones as calculators
Sample breakfasts
Sample lunches/dinners
i. Show pack of chicken salad mentioned
Sample on-the-go meals, meal prep
Sample snacks
i. Show Costco hummus pack mentioned
ii. Activity 2: Have students form a line to each make a
serving of trail mix (Chex cereal, almonds, dried

cranberries, chocolate chips)

k. Quick tips
i. Show refillable water bottle

III.

Have students complete matching activity (#3) individually &

IV.

fill out evaluation anonymously

Questions?
a. Show answers to activities (on slide), collect worksheets
and evaluations

Resources/Materials:

Assembled PowerPoint
Example of apple slices soaked in water with lemon juice
One prepared trail mix
Trail mix ingredients
o Almonds
o Dried cranberries
o Chocolate chips
o Chex cereal
o Plastic bags
o 1 and 2 TB scoop, 1/3 c. scoop, c. scoop
Calculators (or phones)
Meal cards with ingredients & prices for calculation
Worksheet with matching activity (3 meals, 3 prices, 3 calorie

counts) and answer section for Activity #1

Evaluation sheet

Take home brochures

(to show): refillable water bottle, hummus pack, chicken salad

Evaluation techniques:
During my presentation, I felt that I covered all the material I had
planned to. For Activity #1, eight of the nine students calculated the
correct answer. I was aiming for 100%, and I think that given another
shot, I would thoroughly go through an example calculation. While
observing the students making their portion of trail mix in the second
activity, they each successfully completed the task. They also seemed
to really love the trail mix! For the third evaluation, the matching in
Activity #3, the goal was for each student to correctly match at least
seven of the nine items. One student received 7/9, and all of the others
matched every item correctly. I was very pleased with this result, and I
believe the multiple examples of meals, prices, and calorie counts in
the PowerPoint attributed to the success. Lastly, on the anonymous
evaluation, all questions referring to the presentation (kept me
interested, sequence made sense, enjoyed it) received very high
remarks, averaging over 9 out of 10. I will be able to apply what I

learned also had an average rating of over 9 out of 10, so I believe I

was successful in conveying the knowledge I aimed to educate the
students with.

Evaluation of Instructor:
Students were given an evaluation form including two questions
specifically pertaining to the instructor and two more that referred to
both the presentation and the instructor. These were filled out
anonymously, rating each criterion 1 (worst) to 10 (best). Instructor
spoke loudly and clearly averaged about 8.5 out of 10, and
Instructors knowledge of the subject received almost all 10s. I have
a tendency to speak softly, but I tried to make sure I spoke loud and
clear. I am content with a score of 8.5 out of 10 in that category, and
am pleased with the score about knowledge. The criterion referring to
both the instructor and the presentation (Presentation kept me
interested and I enjoyed the presentation) averaged scores of about
9 out of 10. This tells me that I was successful in keeping the students

attention and didnt give a boring presentation. The main thing I could
do differently is to keep working on speaking up.

References
Holli, B., & Beto, J. (2014). Nutrition Counseling and Education Skills for
Dietetics

Professionals (6th ed., pp. 273-400). Baltimore, Maryland:

Wolters Kluwer

Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Magee, E. (2012, December 1). 15 Healthy Foods for About $2.

Retrieved November

9, 2015, from http://www.webmd.com/food-

recipes/cheap-healthy-15-

nutritious-foods-about-2-dollars

Penner, E. (2015, October 26). How Far $10 Goes for Snack Food.
Retrieved

November 9, 2015, from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/how-

far-10-goes-for-

snack-food/

Name: _______________________________
Activity #1: Calculations
Meal Card #________

Cost Per Serving: _____________________

Activity #3: Matching

Write the letter and number that correspond to the correct meal.
Meal
Panera Bread
ham&swiss sandwich on
rye, cup of broccoli
cheddar soup, baguette
4 oz. frozen chicken breast,
1 c. frozen broccoli, 1
medium sweet potato, 1
TB nut butter
Stouffers chicken
fettuccini alfredo with
broccoli meal
Panera Bread
ham&swiss sandwich on
rye, cup of broccoli
cheddar soup, baguette
4 oz. frozen chicken breast,
1 c. frozen broccoli, 1
medium sweet potato, 1
TB nut butter
Stouffers chicken
fettuccini alfredo with
broccoli meal

Price Per
Serving

Calorie
Count

A. $7.18
B. $2.89
C. $1.40

1. 350
calories
2. 710
calories
3. 570
calories

Meal Card #1:

Meal:
2
1
1
1
6

slices whole grain bread

TB peanut butter
TB jelly
apple
oz. greek yogurt

Prices:
20 slice loaf bread: $2.99
86 TB jar PB: $4.50
25 TB jar jelly: $1.79
3 lb. apples (about 15):
$3.99
32 oz. greek yogurt:
$2.99

Meal Card #2:

Meal:
2 hard boiled eggs
1 whole grain English
muffin
2 TB jelly
1 banana
2 slices turkey bacon

Prices:
1 dozen eggs: $3.09
18 english muffins: $4.49
25 TB jar jelly: $1.79
1.9 lb. (5): $1.05
22 pk. turkey bacon: $2.67