thrifty weekly menus
thrifty weekly menus
This spring, Dietetic interns at ISU were asked to develop a menu plan for a week for a low-income rural family with one adult female and three children (one in preschool, two in elementary school). First they had to figure out how much money it would take to feed the family using USDA's Thrifty Food Plan. This is the amount that Food Assistance (formerly Food Stamps) is based on. Then they developed menus, recipes, costs, nutrition analysis, and shared their reflections. The ISU Food and Nutrition Department instructors shared the six best papers with us. Click on the names below to see the edited versions. If you want to know how much your family would spend on the low-cost plan (which is a little higher than the thrifty plan), use our online calculator.
Kathryn Elenewwich
Kelsey Ermels
Caitlin Heaney
Jeannine Lise
Laura A. Merrifield
Mary Jo Schechinger