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The Healthy Budget Shopping Presentation Kit
New Resources for Nutrition Educators CURRICULA The Healthy Budget Shopping Presentation Kit. McDonald L. 2008, SupermarketSavvy.com. CD Rom, $79.00. This PowerPoint presentation kit explores ways to save money through savvy shopping decisions and healthful meal planning. Topics covered include Planning Healthy Meals, Preparing Shopping Lists, Coupons and Reward Cards, Store Brands vs. National Brands, Buying in Bulk, Comparing Unit Prices, Label Logic, Smart Shopping Strategies, and Preventing Food Waste. Handy presenter tools and participant handouts are included. In tough economic times, we can choose to give up some things, but food is not one of them! Making better decisions at the grocery store can help us to stretch our budgets and to eat more healthfully, too. Supermarket Savvy’s ‘‘Shopping on a Budget Presentation Kit’’ provides guidance for community nutritionists and educators to help consumers save money and to purchase more healthful food at the grocery store. The kit includes a 30-slide PowerPoint presentation, speaker notes, and 6 copy-ready tip sheets. The PowerPoint and accompanying notes describe 10 budget shopping tips and then reviews 6 aisles of the supermarket using the MyPyramid categories. The tips center on planning menus and making lists; using coupons and rewards cards; purchasing store brands, sale items, and bulk items; comparing products using unit prices and food labels; shopping the perimeter of the store; paying attention to seasonal and local options; minding food safety and minimizing waste; and confirming prices are as expected
at checkout. Highlights from the Food Marketing Institute’s 2008 Trends Survey, quotes from dietitians, and examples of budget-minded initiatives offered by specific grocery chains are cited. The PowerPoint provides an appropriate starting point for working with a variety of audiences. The most limiting component of the kit is that the speaker notes are lacking in content and in some cases redundant from slide to slide. Several abbreviations are used in the speaker notes without definition. The notes are heavy on ‘‘nice to know’’ information and would be strengthened by the incorporation of more practice, ‘‘how to’’ examples to share with consumers. The kit could be enhanced with specification of instructional/learner objectives and the addition of skill-building activities to engage learners in practical application for improved shopping on a budget. The tip sheets are succinct and attractively presented, however, not all are directly relevant to the presentation material. For example, there is no such reference in the slides or notes to connect the list of kitchen equipment and food for a well-stocked kitchen
to the shopping on a budget topic. Two of the tip sheets do a nice job of comparing cost savings (one on a per food item basis for different forms and quantities of foods and the other for a thrifty vs regular meal plan) and could be used as a springboard for problem-solving activities and discussion of food purchasing based on cost, convenience, taste, and so on. The MyPyramid tip sheet serves the dual purpose of promoting the purchase of healthful options for each food category with space to track daily consumption. The most pertinent tip sheet is the one that includes 10 tips for shopping on a budget with an aisleby-aisle listing of the most economical food section. Conceptually, the framework for the kit is sound and the materials are attractively designed, however, its weaknesses may be a barrier for those looking for more cost effective and affordable education materials. There are many other less expensive or free resources for healthful food shopping on a budget that provide similar information for nutritionists and educators working in community settings. Stephanie Anne Taylor-Davis, PhD, RD, LDN, 911 Ackerman Drive, Room 106, Department of Food and Nutrition, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705 doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2010.03.167
Cite this article as Taylor-Davis SA. The Healthy Budget Shopping Presentation Kit [New Resources for Nutrition Educators]. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2010;42:290.e3.
Inclusion of any material in this section does not imply endorsement by the Society for Nutrition Education. Evaluative comments contained in the reviews reflect the views of the authors. Review abstracts are either prepared by the reviewer or extracted from the product literature. Prices quoted are those provided by the publishers at the time materials were submitted. They may not be current when the review is published. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2010;42:290.e3 Ó2010 SOCIETY FOR NUTRITION EDUCATION
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior Volume 42, Number 4, 2010
290.e3
at checkout. Highlights from the Food Marketing Institute’s 2008 Trends Survey, quotes from dietitians, and examples of budget-minded initiatives offered by specific grocery chains are cited. The PowerPoint provides an appropriate starting point for working with a variety of audiences. The most limiting component of the kit is that the speaker notes are lacking in content and in some cases redundant from slide to slide. Several abbreviations are used in the speaker notes without definition. The notes are heavy on ‘‘nice to know’’ information and would be strengthened by the incorporation of more practice, ‘‘how to’’ examples to share with consumers. The kit could be enhanced with specification of instructional/learner objectives and the addition of skill-building activities to engage learners in practical application for improved shopping on a budget. The tip sheets are succinct and attractively presented, however, not all are directly relevant to the presentation material. For example, there is no such reference in the slides or notes to connect the list of kitchen equipment and food for a well-stocked kitchen
to the shopping on a budget topic. Two of the tip sheets do a nice job of comparing cost savings (one on a per food item basis for different forms and quantities of foods and the other for a thrifty vs regular meal plan) and could be used as a springboard for problem-solving activities and discussion of food purchasing based on cost, convenience, taste, and so on. The MyPyramid tip sheet serves the dual purpose of promoting the purchase of healthful options for each food category with space to track daily consumption. The most pertinent tip sheet is the one that includes 10 tips for shopping on a budget with an aisleby-aisle listing of the most economical food section. Conceptually, the framework for the kit is sound and the materials are attractively designed, however, its weaknesses may be a barrier for those looking for more cost effective and affordable education materials. There are many other less expensive or free resources for healthful food shopping on a budget that provide similar information for nutritionists and educators working in community settings. Stephanie Anne Taylor-Davis, PhD, RD, LDN, 911 Ackerman Drive, Room 106, Department of Food and Nutrition, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705 doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2010.03.167
Cite this article as Taylor-Davis SA. The Healthy Budget Shopping Presentation Kit [New Resources for Nutrition Educators]. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2010;42:290.e3.
Inclusion of any material in this section does not imply endorsement by the Society for Nutrition Education. Evaluative comments contained in the reviews reflect the views of the authors. Review abstracts are either prepared by the reviewer or extracted from the product literature. Prices quoted are those provided by the publishers at the time materials were submitted. They may not be current when the review is published. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2010;42:290.e3 Ó2010 SOCIETY FOR NUTRITION EDUCATION
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior Volume 42, Number 4, 2010
290.e3