How You Can Help Feed The Hungry

The Land O'Lakes Foundation recently announced the launch of a strategic initiative – Feeding Our Communities – focused on helping alleviate hunger locally, nationally (in rural America) and globally.

“Recent global economic uncertainty has resulted in an increased demand on hunger-focused programs here at home and around the globe,” Land O'Lakes Foundation Executive Director Lydia Botham said today. “As a farmer-owned food and agricultural cooperative, Land O'Lakes and the Land O'Lakes Foundation are committed to helping address this issue. Feeding Our Communities is intended to apply our resources and expertise in a very focused and strategic way – locally, nationally and globally.”

Local

Twin Cities-based Land O'Lakes, Inc. (www.landolakesinc.com) and the Land O'Lakes Foundation are taking a proactive role in supporting local hunger relief programs. Those efforts include partnering with KARE 11 Television and the United Way.

“We are working through KARE 11's 'Take KARE of Your Community' program,” Botham explained. “Visit the station's Web site (www.KARE11.com), click on the 'Take KARE' and 'of your community' links. Then you'll see the 'Operation Co-operation' link, with its green 'YOU CLICK. WE DONATE.' hot button. For every click, the Land O'Lakes Foundation will donate one dollar, up to $100,000, to local hunger relief programs. We urge area residents to take a few moments to visit the site. The more clicks, the more we donate.”

“Our goal is to generate new funding for local hunger relief efforts,” Botham said. “We believe enhancing our traditional support of community hunger initiatives through Operation Co-operation will not only generate additional funding, but also bring increased visibility and community recognition of the hunger issue.”

Botham added that Land O'Lakes is partnering with General Mills and Cargill to sponsor the Twin Cities Hunger Forum on Nov. 10.

National

On a national level, as part of the Feeding Our Communities initiative, the Land O'Lakes Foundation Board of Directors has approved funding for a program with the potential to generate up to an additional $1 million for hunger-related programs in rural communities – delivered through a combination of direct grants and the Foundation's Member Co-op Match Program.

“There is a tendency to underestimate the impact of hunger in rural communities,” Botham said. “But the fact is, the percentage of rural households that are food insecure matches, or even exceeds, the percentage of urban households. As a farmer-owned cooperative, Land O'Lakes is committed to addressing the quality of life in rural communities.”

“The Feeding Our Communities grant program represents a direct response to the increased need we are seeing in today's challenging economy,” Land O'Lakes Foundation Board Chairman Jim Hager said. “It channels financial resources into the communities where our members live, work, farm and do business. It represents a very focused approach to a very significant, and growing, need. Just as important, it involves member- cooperatives in identifying and addressing needs within their local communities.”

In another national initiative, Land O'Lakes is launching a new “First-Run” program, with a commitment to delivering an additional truckload (approximately 20 tons) of fresh product a month to hunger relief programs over the coming year.

“This program basically makes use of time when our production facilities might otherwise be idle to manufacture product for donation,” Botham said. “A key element in this effort is the involvement of our employees, as well as suppliers, packagers or transportation providers we work with.”

Global

On a global level, Feeding Our Communities includes an ongoing commitment to leadership in the delivery of food aid and economic and agricultural development assistance to nutrition deficit regions and emerging economies,” Botham said. “We do this through our International Development Division, working in collaboration with a host of public and private partners.”

Botham indicated that, in 2009, the Land O'Lakes International Development Division will reach more than 200,000 youngsters through the Global School Nutrition Program and is implementing economic development assistance projects in 28 nations.

Land O'Lakes, Inc. (www.landolakesinc.com) is a national, farmer-owned food and agricultural cooperative with annual sales of $12 billion. Land O'Lakes is a Fortune 300 company which does business in all 50 states and more than 50 countries. It is a leading marketer of a full line of dairy-based consumer, foodservice and food ingredient products across the United States; serves its international customers with a variety of food and animal feed ingredients; and provides farmers and ranchers with an extensive line of agricultural supplies (feed, seed, and crop protection products) and services. Land O'Lakes also provides agricultural assistance and technical training in more than 25 developing nations.

The Land O'Lakes Foundation is committed to improving the quality of life in communities where Land O'Lakes Inc. has members, employees, plants and facilities. Land O'Lakes Foundation proactively helps rural communities prosper and prepare for tomorrow by donating resources that develop and strengthen organizations dedicated to human service, education and youth, civic and art endeavors.

Warning Signs For Alzheimer's

November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, and the recently released World Alzheimer Report declares that more than 35 million people worldwide will have dementia by 2010. CRL Senior Living Communities, an industry innovator with 16 independent living and assisted living and Alzheimer’s/memory care communities in Wisconsin and Illinois, offers the following tips to help people recognize some of the common Alzheimer’s disease warning signs.

1. Difficulty completing usual tasks

2. Memory loss that impairs daily life

3. Difficulty in planning or problem solving

4. Confusion about time or place

5. Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships

6. New problems with words in speaking or writing

7. Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps

8. Decreased or poor judgment

9. Withdrawal from work or social activities

10. Significant changes in mood and personality

More information is available at www.crlcares.com

Tips for eating well on a budget

In a tough economic environment, eating well on a budget can be challenging. Tempting low-cost, high-calorie comfort foods are readily available, but often lack important nutrients that are sacrificed in exchange for convenience. With a few key skills and strategies from TOPS Club Inc. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), the nonprofit weight-loss support organization, it can be relatively easy to create flavorful, well-balanced meals without busting the budget.

Eat In More and Out Less

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service found that spending on food away from home accounted for nearly half of every American food dollar, or $565 billion, in 2008. While they require more planning, home-cooked meals are an excellent way to minimize your grocery bill and they are typically healthier than the options you may find when dining out.

According to Katie Clark, M.P.H., R.D., C.D.E., Assistant Clinical Professor of Nutrition at the University of California - San Francisco and nutrition expert for TOPS, “Eating at home is a great way to save money and create nutritious meals; because you control exactly what goes into your food, you are more likely to avoid excess calories as well.”

To save money while cooking at home, try some of these tips:

* Make at least one meal meatless. Choose recipes that utilize eggs or dried beans – like pinto or northern beans – as the main protein.

* Double your recipes and freeze leftovers or extra amounts of meat, bread, and cooked vegetables. Bring to work for lunch or use the excess ingredients as inspiration for future meals.

* Eat dinner as a family, or consider having a weekly potluck with neighbors to reduce the cost per person of your meals.

* Clip coupons, avoiding “new food” coupon gimmicks that often are low in nutritional value.

* Subscribe to a healthy cooking magazine, or peruse recipe books for healthy ideas.

Plan Meals for the Week in Advance

A meal planning chart or simple shopping list for the week are great tools for the budget-minded, health-conscious consumer. Knowing what you already have in the pantry and what you intend to make ahead of time reduces impulse spending, saves time, and improves the nutritional value of your meal.

* Take part of one day a week to plan the upcoming week’s menu. Search “meal planning charts” on the Internet for a variety of templates and convenient shopping tools.

* Read the supermarket circulars in your local newspaper, or look online for weekly specials that can help guide your meal planning.

* Post meal plans on the refrigerator door where the entire family can see it and refer back to it throughout the week. This also helps avoid the dreaded question, “What’s for dinner?”

Only Shop Once a Week

In addition to shopping at grocery stores, Clark recommends trying local markets and even dollar stores.

“Deals often abound on seasonal items, and you can find a wide variety of quality produce, meat, and fish,” she notes. “Butchers offer occasional fresh or specialty items on sale. When you can select the exact quantity you want, you end up saving more money than you would with larger ‘value’ packs that you may not use or that contribute unnecessarily to your daily caloric budget.”

Some other suggestions include:

* Only shop once a week. This makes it easier to avoid unnecessary purchases and encourages you to stick to your weekly menu.

* Have a snack before you visit the grocery store. Shopping on an empty stomach can lead to impulse buying.

* “Shop the perimeter,” remembering that the least healthy and most overpriced packaged foods are concentrated in the middle aisles.

* If fresh fruits and vegetables are cost-prohibitive, try the frozen or canned versions. Frozen produce is often flash frozen at the source, locking in nutrients. Rinse canned vegetables before cooking to reduce the sodium content.

* Buy generics, which are often less expensive than name-brand items.

* Choose prepared foods with short ingredient lists and minimal additives or artificial ingredients.

Use Unit Pricing to Get the Best Value

Savvy shoppers know that using unit pricing can maximize their purchasing power. Commonly listed in small print below or to the side of the total price and as dollars or cents per unit of weight – such as pounds, ounces, or grams – unit pricing can be a valuable tool that helps you make an informed choice about your purchases.

Grocery stores don’t always post the costs on sale items; bring a calculator with you to the supermarket, or use the calculator on your cell phone.

Buying “economy” or “family size” containers is sometimes, but not always, a better buy. Larger packages that have a lower cost per unit than their smaller counterparts are only going to save you money if you will truly eat all of the food in the package. If it spoils and has to be thrown away, it could just be a waste of your money.

Packaging Gets Downsized

Be cautious of stores’ shrinking food packages and their content while prices stay the same. Common changes include packaging redesign that holds fewer ounces by way of indented container bottoms, cartons that hold 1/4 less of a quart, and boxes that remain the same size but actually have smaller bags of product inside.

“I recommend taking a few extra moments to examine the containers of your potential purchases before you buy,” says Clark. “If you’re not careful, you could be paying the same amount for what used to be one or two more servings, ounces, or pounds per container. Ensure that you are getting the same products that you have purchased in the past.”