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SPAM meat sales on the rise
Yesterday, I stood listening in complete shock during a conversation with a neighbour who told me how he and his wife had to downgrade every aspect of their lives after both losing their jobs in November 2008.
The recession has hit a lot of people really hard and food shopping has become a real struggle for so many. I’ve been keep track of recession food trends on this site. My goal is to do my best to help people make healthier food choices in any economy, but most importantly during these recession years which, according to some, might last quite a long time.
I read recently that Hormel Foods’ SPAM saw a rise in profits of 49 per cent in its third quarter, despite the fact that many consider it to be “mystery meat”. Since I didn’t know much about the history of SPAM, I decided to do a bit of digging.
>>> More about Hormel’s SPAM canned meat:
SPAM was first introduced back in 1937, at the tail of last century’s Great Depression (which lasted from 1929 to the late 1930s). Since then, several BILLION cans of this canned meat have been made.
There are an estimated 60 million Americans who eat SPAM each year, and a whopping 150 million cans are sold worldwide annually. People from the South Pacific seem to have a particular penchant for SPAM and it tops their list of favourite foods.
There are many Web sites offering ideas about how to prepare SPAM. It can be broiled, fried, battered and deep fried, sautéed with onions, served with eggs or added to pitas, savoury muffins or biscuits, salads, pasta or rice dishes.
During this recession a lot of people are stretching to make ends meet, and for some families, that means SPAM will be served at the dinner table on a regular basis. This doesn’t surprise me, since many people are drastically cutting back on buying more expensive red meat. I would never judge anyone who bought SPAM to feed their family because in many cases people who do so think they have little other options.
However, when it comes to healthy eating, I have to state the obvious — SPAM is not the healthiest of choices. It might be cheap and obviously versatile, as shown from the list above, but it is not healthy.
In general, processed meats should be avoided or kept to a minimum. When I looked at the label from a SPAM can on NutritionData.com, it’s obvious there is an awful lot of saturated fat and salt.
>>>> Take a look for yourself at the nutritional content of SPAM canned meat: Hormel SPAM luncheon meat, pork with ham, minced and canned
One serving (two thin slices) of SPAM contains 30 per cent of your daily saturated fat quota, 31 per cent of your sodium quota, and 13 per cent of your cholesterol quota. These numbers aren’t good at all. Given the obesity crisis in America and the high consumption of fat, sugar and salt, SPAM is not the most nutritional choice.
The human body isn’t designed to consume highly-processed foods on a regular basis — we can’t break down that type of food properly. All the fat and sodium ends up clogging your artery and wreaking havoc on your entire system. Not to mention the preservatives … how many preservatives go into a can of meat that may sit on a grocery store shelf for months?
Hormel has come out with SPAM-Lite, which is made with turkey, but it’s still a processed meat and it’s unclear to me which part of the turkey is being used. As a point of comparison, when I buy grain-fed turkey, it costs about $8.00 for about 1/4 of breast meat.
Again, this post is not meant to put anyone down who eats SPAM; it’s more to call attention to the nutritional value of this processed food.
I’ve never bought SPAM because the nutritional content doesn’t meet my criteria for healthy eating. That said, if you are looking for affordable protein-based foods to feed your family, I suggest you consider the many varieties of beans and legumes, like lentils. Last night I prepared a lentil stew, with leftovers to last me for the week. This dish is quite healthy, quick to prepare and very affordable.
There are thousands of legume and bean recipes on the Internet. Preparing a vegetarian chili and serving it with rice will help your family stay healthy while having little impact on your food budget, since rice and beans are quite cheap (here’s a tip: dried beans hold their shape much better in stews — canned beans tend to turn into unattractive mush). You won’t even have to worry about the sky-rocketing cost of tomatoes during the off-season months since you can use canned tomatoes!
The bottom line is that times are tough and no one knows how long this recession will last, but your health and nutrition should not be compromised. The idea is to look for healthier options … that still fit into your budget!
Here are some other features I’ve written about how the recession is affecting our food-buying power:
1) Recession diet: There might be a recession, but McDonald’s profits keep rising!
2) Is the recession making you fatter?
3) Italian food is popular again!
Photo by dogbomb
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November 1st, 2009 at 14:37
Mom fed us that a lot as kids, maybe this recession is sending us all back to our childhood comfort foods??