Tuesday Megalinks

In a stunning twist, Super Bowl Week doesn’t generally foster a cornucopia of posts about saving money on healthy food. Subsequently, the links are somewhat abbreviated today. (Meaning there are less than a million.) Behold!

CNN: Tough choices for America's hungry
This fact kicks off the story highlights, and it’s maybe the most sobering part of the whole article: “More than 1 in 10 Americans are part of the federal food assistance program.” While I’m not sure we’re in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn territory yet, we’re in trouble, aren’t we?

Consumerist: Exercise Science Shocker: Regular Exercise and Diet Are the Best Ways to Lose Weight
Hold the phone – WHAT? And here I thought colonics and buttfat-sucking aliens did the trick.

Consumerist: Watch Out for Supermarket Price Hikes
Always, always read labels before buying food. You could be paying twice as much for the same ol’ can of soup. Boo.

Generation X Finance: How to Prepare a Salad to Last All Week for Just a Few Dollars
Great step-by-step instructions for a seven-day salad. Remember: dry the lettuce as well as you possibly can, and it’ll last twice as long. To paraphrase Zoolander, moisture is the essence of wetness ... and thus, the enemy of freshness.

Get Rich Slowly: The GRS Garden Project Update – January 2009
JD and Kris detail their early-stage planning for this year’s garden. Fruit trees are involved.

Jezebel: 100 Calorie Packs Turn Women Into Crazy, Screaming Lunatics
We’re women! EEEEEEE! And we’re so addled by our own weight obsessions, we will go BEATLES-LEVEL INSANE when a 100-calorie pack truck overturns. EEEEEE! Barf. (Bitter? Not me.)

The Kitchn: February is Soup Month
YEAH it is! Spoons at the ready!

The Kitchn: Good Question – Healthy Chip Substitute?
Really nice list of things to eat instead of Doritos. Included: kale chips, plantains, and regrettably, celery sticks.

The Kitchn: School Lunch – What Are Your Memories?
Leave your lunchboxes home and take a stroll down Taco Tuesday/Pizza Friday lane in this fun comment thread.

New York Magazine: Pop - The Question
Governor Paterson recently proposed an obesity tax on soda in New York State. Chefs and restaurateurs responded with all the “No way, Jose” you’d expect. Neat perspective on the Are-We-Smart-Enough-to-Determine-Our-Own-Diet debate.

New York Times: New Look at Food Safety After Peanut Tainting
Boy, that was a debacle, wasn’t it? Word has it that President Obama is reassessing the FDA in response. If that actually happens – tremendous.

New York Times: His Stage, the Street; His Rapier, a Peeler
Joe Ades’ passing is all over the food blogosphere today, and with good reason. The guy was a New York institution, and his story is fascinating. If you get the chance, read and learn how far a good spiel and a few potato peelers will take you.

Oregon Live: Update Your Pantry
Thorough, extensive exploration of pantry necessities is much more detailed than the usual posts of its type. Good read. (Thanks to Slashfood for the link.)

Serious Eats: Favorite Cheap Homemade Meal
Woo hoo! Ideas aplenty!

The Simple Dollar: The Frugal Magic of the Five Ingredient Crock Pot Meal
Good suggestions abound, but the Breakfast Apple Cobbler looks particularly delicious. And for advanced slow cookers, don’t forget the A Year of Crockpotting blog – especially Stephanie’s January 12th post, The Crockpot Diet. Excellent stuff.

Zen Habits: 10 Reasons Eating Raw is Healthier for You and the Planet
Guest blogger Jonathan Mead expounds on the benefits of uncooked produce and the like. I gotta admit, I never even considered a raw diet to be remotely feasible, but this makes it sound like a vacation.

(Photos courtesy of NBC India, Dragon Cuisine, and Flickr member Daniel A. Norman.)