HONOLULU (KHON2) — As the federal decision over SNAP benefits continues to change, thousands of local residents struggle for stability when it comes to securing food and other essential items.
Kylie Sakaida is a popular content creator born and raised in Hawaiʻi, known for her low-cost, easy-to-make recipes. As a registered dietitian, her focus is on making nutrition “simple and approachable for every-day life.”
She shared several tips and recipes that will help you eat healthy, while sticking to a tight budget.
“Everyone deserves support and access and until our systems reflect that, we do what we can with what we have and that is more than enough.”
Kylie Sakaida
Cooking tips
Sakaida suggested the following tips:
- Cook large batches of dishes, like soup, that can be frozen and heated up.
- Use beans and lentils–great, affordable sources of protein and fiber–in tacos, wraps, stir-fry and bowls.
- Frozen produce is just as, if not more nutritious than fresh produce, so don’t be afraid to opt for those instead.
“There’s zero shame in choosing convenience foods, or low-cost foods, because healthy eating isn’t about perfection or organic produce or cooking every single meal from scratch, it’s really about finding what’s realistic and what’s doable,” Sakaida said.
For meals, she suggested soups–her preference is black bean tortilla soup and chicken bean rice soup–and chili, which can be canned or homemade with beans, over rice.
Sakaida also likes making burritos and pasta dishes with beans and frozen vegetables that can be cooked into the meal.
Local grindz
For local-inspired meals, she recommended “any sort of stir fry, fried rice or yakisoba with some sort of convenient protein so like tofu, edamame, eggs–if that’s something people can afford,” since eggs can be expensive in Hawaii.
These proteins can also be added to food like instant ramen.
“Everyone deserves support and access and until our systems reflect that, we do what we can with what we have and that is more than enough,” she said.
Tofu meals are good for protein and can be eaten with a mix of sauces. She likes to create a sauce from “shoyu, sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, rice vinegar and honey” that can be poured over tofu.
Rice cooker meals can be made with any of these canned proteins, like salmon, edamame and tofu, Sakaida said. She also suggested cooking shoyu chicken and kalua chicken, that can use fewer ingredients than a typical dish, which is water, salt and liquid smoke.
Sakaida’s recipes: Soup, pasta and rice
Southwestern Black Bean Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
- 16 oz can black beans
- 15 oz can corn
- 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, fire-roasted
- 4 oz can diced green chiles
- 1 taco seasoning packet
- 32 oz vegetable broth
Instructions:
- Drain and rinse black beans and corn.
- Add beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, taco seasoning (start with 1/2 and add more to taste) and vegetable broth to a pot.
- Stir and bring to a simmer.
- Cook for 10 minutes, until flavors come together.
Pesto Pasta with Chickpeas, Roasted Peppers and Corn Recipe
Ingredients (serves about four people):
- 12 oz dry rotini pasta (about 3/4 of a 16 oz box)
- 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 (15 oz) can corn, drained (~1/2 cup)
- 1 (12 oz) jar roasted bell peppers, drained and sliced
- 1/3 cup pesto
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon jarred minced garlic
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- Red pepper flakes (optional, for heat)
Instructions:
- Cook the pasta
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Add the rotini and cook according to package directions until al dente.
- Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of pasta water. Set pasta aside.
- Sauté the veggies
- In a large pan over medium heat, add olive oil and minced garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add the chickpeas, half the can of corn, and sliced roasted bell peppers. Sauté for 3–5 minutes until everything is heated through.
- Toss it together
- Add the cooked pasta and pesto to the pan. Toss until everything is well coated, adding a splash of reserved pasta water if needed to loosen the sauce.
- Season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes if desired.
- Serve and finish
- Divide into bowls and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.
High-Protein, High-Fiber “Rice” Recipe
Ingredients (serves about three people):
- 1 cup short-grain white rice
- ½ cup quinoa
- 1 cup frozen shelled edamame
- ½ cup cooked pinto beans
- 2½ cups water (or bone broth for more flavor and protein)
Instructions:
- Add rice and quinoa to your rice cooker.
- Rinse well, then drain.
- Add edamame, pinto beans, and water (or broth).
- Close lid, press start, and let the rice cooker do its thing.
- Fluff and serve as you would white rice.
More recipes are available on her website and in her New York Times best-selling cookbook “So Easy So Good.”