‘Thinking Outside the Box’: Commissaries offer healthy, economic meal solutions

Courtesy Photo | Preparing nutritious food at home does not have to be difficult or expensive. With “Thinking Outside the Box” recipes, your commissary continually offers meal solutions that are quick, healthy and economical with ingredients typically offered at enhanced savings to our customers.  

FORT LEE, VA, UNITED STATES

09.15.2021

Courtesy Story

Defense Commissary Agency

By Kathy Milley, DeCA Corporate Communications


FORT LEE, Va. – Preparing nutritious food at home does not have to be difficult or expensive. With “Thinking Outside the Box” recipes, your commissary continually offers meal solutions that are quick, healthy and economical with ingredients typically offered at enhanced savings to our customers.

“One of my goals as the DeCA dietitian is to equip our customers with tools that make the health promoting choice of cooking nutritious meals at home, the easy choice,” said Deborah Harris, DeCA’s dietitian and health and wellness manager, MPH, RD, CDCES.* “Thinking Outside the Box is a perfect example of one of these tools.”

Every two weeks, a new “Thinking Outside the Box” recipe is featured in the commissary sales flyer highlighting specially priced ingredients in your store. These recipes feature a key nutrient and always align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans so you can be sure they are healthy and economical.

To make it even easier for our customers shopping online, all the ingredients for the featured “Thinking Outside the Box” recipe can be added to their online shopping basket with one click.

“Thinking Outside the Box recipes (https://commissaries.com/healthy-living/healthy-eats) are always accessible on commissaries.com under the “Healthy Living” tab. This library features all these quick and easy, dietitian-approved recipes for appetizers, entrees, salads, side dishes and even desserts. While choosing your recipes for the week, visit the Healthy Habits (https://commissaries.com/healthy-living/healthy-habits) and Resources (https://commissaries.com/healthy-living/resources) tabs to learn about meal nutrition, stretching your food dollar, using leftovers and setting nutrition goals.

“The best way to improve the nutrition quality of your diet is to cook more meals at home and to limit the amount of processed foods.” said Harris. “Incorporating ‘Thinking Outside the Box’ recipes along with the other dietitian-approved recipes featured on commissaries.com to your weekly menu plan will have positive effects on your waistline and your wallet.”


*Harris has a Masters of Public Health degree, and is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes care and education specialist.

-DeCA-


About DeCA: The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Commissaries provide a military benefit, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars annually on their purchases compared to similar products at commercial retailers. The discounted prices include a 5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of building new commissaries and modernizing existing ones. A core military family support element, and a valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life for America’s military and their families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their country.

• Date Taken: 09.15.2021
• Date Posted: 09.15.2021 14:26
• Story ID: 405335
• Location: FORT LEE, VA, US