We talk about shopping on a budget but not everyone has the space, time or the will to grow their own food – for those who cannot afford fresh vegetables – or to prepare meals using whole wheat pasta, fresh meat and fish.
The cheaper alternative will come to the fore, but just how much salt is found in the canned and packaged foods which make for quick meals that we enjoy so much?
Investing the little extra money may save you loads of cash later such as that doctor bill.
Think of the packaged noodles with the seasoning, the ramen noodles in varying flavours, macaroni and cheese dinners, and canned meats such as corned beef, luncheon meat and tuna in oil, water or brine.
Think also of the canned vegetables, baked beans, mixed vegetables and different types of cooked and ready to use peas and beans such as kidney beans, black-eyed and green pigeon peas.
How many of us read the labels on food?
The National Commission for Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCCNCD) recently launched a campaign to get consumers to read food labels. The commission has been stressing that there was no need to add salt to the food during cooking as there was already salt added during processing.
Sheena Warner, project manager with the NCCNCD, explained that the recommended sodium intake was less than 2 300 milligrams per day for the regular population but no more than 1 500 milligrams for hypertensive people.
Shoppers were advised they should buy products with labels showing the sodium content was no higher than 10 per cent of the percent daily values (PDVs).
Warner added that salt was listed with many different names other than sodium, so shoppers were asked to check on the package not just for the sodium content but the sodium as preservatives in the form of sodium nitrate and sodium phosphate.
Additionally, how many of us eat the recommended serving amounts? Tuna in oil contains 270 mg sodium in a 60 gram serving. A 120g tin of tuna has two servings. When you eat the entire tin of tuna in one sitting, you are consuming 540 mg of sodium before any condiments are added.
A 397g bottle of Ragu Pizza Sauce contains 250 mg sodium per serving and is 10 per cent of PDVs. Though this fits the recommended amount for a single product, consumers would have to use the 63g or ¼ cup recommended.
From just two tablespoons of peanut butter you consume 150 mg of salt or 6 per cent of the PDVs – consider how many of you eat just two tablespoons of peanut butter in one sitting.
Canned vegetables, including mixed vegetables, corn and kidney beans, have salt added during preparation and packaging. One tin of processed red kidney beans contains 380 mg of sodium per ½ cup serving and represents 16 per cent of the PDVs. It is therefore recommended that tinned foods be rinsed in water before use, but only where possible.
Worrisome though are the pasta meals such as macaroni and cheese dinners and ramen which are a favourite with children. Macaroni and cheese dinners can make up to three servings, and each serving contains 580 mg of sodium, before preparation.
According to the label, this represents 24 per cent of the PDVs but taking into account preparation and the inclusion of margarine and milk, the sodium content moves up to 30 per cent. Children love them.
Who can eat half package of noodles? Each 85g package can make two servings at 910 mg of sodium per serving when prepared with the seasoning mix.
One package contains a whopping 1 820 mg of sodium if prepared with only the seasoning mix included in the package, yet some people admit to eating two packets of these noodles which are not very filling. Eat that and you will be hungry in a few hours.
The National Commission for Chronic and Non-Communicable Diseases host a seminar tomorrow under the theme On The Benefits Of Reducing Sodium For Producers, Manufacturers And The Community to work with manufacturers and distributors to either reduce the amount of salt they use in production or the products they import.
The seminar will highlight where in the foods salt may be found, how it affects the development and management of chronic non-communicable diseases and also a nutritionist’s view on how to reduce the amount of salt used in food preparations.
Warner said since the commission started running TV ads more people have been reading labels and they were not only looking for the main items they normally would but were also checking the salt content.