Tom Gloger's Reduced Sodium Page

Tom Gloger's Reduced Sodium Page
No, I'm not a doctor, but I am a patient.

Nobody likes to be told they have to go on a diet, but look at it this way: Don't you want to live long enough to see your grandkids grow up?

This page is NOT about low sodium food, because strictly speaking, I'm not on a low sodium diet. But I do want to watch my blood pressure. So given a choice, and assuming I'm one of the many people for whom sodium increases blood pressure, I try to look for ways to reduce my sodium intake. Some of my favorite foods are low in sodium. Others are not. It was a sad thing to find the very foods I thought were good for me may have been stabbing me in the back all this time. So my advice, if you want to reduce your sodium, is to learn to appreciate flavors that are pastel versions of their former selves. And read the labels - it's the only way to be sure.

You have to watch the prepared and canned foods you buy. Some of them that make some healthy-sounding statement ("33% Less Sodium!") are the same or higher in sodium than other ordinary brands. For that matter, the sliced ham in the green package may be just as high in fat and sodium as a brand with a word like "butter" in its name. (Why am I shopping for sliced ham? It makes a great garnish, if used with discretion.)

Canned foods are often cited as being high in sodium. Frozen vegetables are generally lower in sodium than regular canned, but "no salt added" canned vegetables may be even lower than the frozen kind. Some frozen foods, especially entrees and dinners, can deliver a whole day's sodium in one meal, so watch out.

Frozen vegetables in bags (I'm not talking about cooking pouches here.) can be used one serving at a time, if needs be.

Legumes, rice, and pasta (all low in sodium in their natural state) are a good way to "stretch" a flavor and dilute its associated sodium. Some canned beans are much lower in sodium than others, but dried beans, prepared without salt, are even lower. Cooked beans can be frozen in a plastic bag, kept for months, and be ready to eat in minutes in any serving size you want. Here's how:

Start with a one-pound bag of dried beans. After sorting, cleaning, soaking, and cooking per package instructions (Try one to be sure they're cooked!), drain the freshly cooked beans thoroughly, put them in a two-gallon freezer bag, and spread them out on a cookie sheet. Leave the bag open for a while to let them cool off some, then seal the bag, and put the whole thing, cookie sheet and all, in the freezer. Remove the cookie sheet after the beans freeze. Stored that way, the sheet of frozen beans can be broken into usable chunks.

Chick peas can be done the same way.

Don't overlook 5-minute instant rice if you are cooking small quantities for yourself. Put half a cup of water in a microwave-safe cereal bowl, microwave on high 2 minutes or until the water boils, add half a cup of instant rice and cover with a saucer. If, five minutes later, there's still water in the bottom, cook it some more and let it stand another minute.

Spices can add a lot to your cooking, but there are a few which contain salt.

Obviously, Onion Salt and Garlic Salt can be replaced with Onion Powder and Garlic Powder, but what about Celery Salt?

Celery Salt is ground celery seed and salt, and Celery Seed is sold separately.

Chili Powder is a mixture of Ground chili pepper, oregano, cumin, salt, and a few other spices. You can buy ground chili powder at ethnic grocery stores.

Here's a few brand name food products I've found that are lower in sodium than usual. Forgive me if I've left off the proper trademark notation in my haste to extol your virtues.

Campbell's Low Sodium Soups. I'm not talking the "Healthy Request" line, although those are better than the regular. These have the words Low Sodium in a green bar above the picture, and they are sold ready to eat; you get one serving and you don't add water. Not all stores carry all varieties; you may have to shop some of the larger independent stores to find some of them. Varieties I have found include:
- Chicken Broth. OK by itself, or as a base for other soups. Throw in a handful of pasta, a few peas, some thinly sliced baby carrots, a pinch of thyme, maybe a few snips from the top of that onion that sprouted when you weren't looking, simmer (covered) the time specified on the pasta box, and you've got a cup of good fresh soup ready in minutes, and thyme on your hands. Sorry, couldn't resist. It can also be used with flour, garlic powder, onion powder, and poultry seasoning to make a reduced-sodium gravy.
- Split Pea. OK by itself, if you don't mind a little artificial smoke flavor. If you feel like living dangerously, throw in one chopped up slice of sandwich ham.
- Cream of Mushroom. I've used this in cooking. It's a little different in flavor from their regular Cream of Mushroom, but I'm not sure how.
- Beef Vegetable. Very hard to find, but that's OK with me because I only like it once in a while.
- Chicken Noodle. There's some flavor in here that isn't in their regular chicken noodle, and I don't care for it. Maybe you will.
These soups are seriously low in sodium, so don't expect them to taste "normal."
President's Choice^TM (PC^TM) Salsa. (Jewel Food Stores) They've changed the recipe on this, and the sodium is twice what it was when they called it La Elección Del Presidente^TM, but it's still much lower in sodium than any other brand I've found, and I don't taste the difference. It comes in four degrees of "hot:"
1. Mild: Not spicy at all.
2. Medium: Plenty hot, as far as I'm concerned.
3. Hot: I can eat it, but only very slowly.
4. Volcano: Never tried it. Don't care to.
Azteca® Unsalted Tortilla Chips. There's other brands names that make unsalted chips, but these are easier to chew than the other brands I've found. Another major manufacturer in the tortilla chip business used to have an unsalted baked (low fat!) chip on the market, but dropped that variety in favor of different shapes and sizes of their regular chips.
Chilli Man Turkey Chili. It's lower in fat and sodium (570mg per serving) than their other varieties, and I think it tastes fine with a sprinkling of ground cumin stirred in. OK, OK, chili is not a low sodium food, but I use chili to make red beans and rice, thereby stretching one can over three or more meals. What chili I don't use I put in a freezer bag, seal it, fold it in half, and freeze it. Why fold in half? So I have two small lumps of frozen chili for next time, instead of one big one. As of 2002, I have been having a hard time finding this product, and have had to use Safeway Select instead.
Health Valley Soups. A line of mostly vegetable soups with a sensible amount of sodium per serving.
Shredded Wheat. Much lower in sodium than most other ready-to-eat cereals. The best way I've found to overcome their basic blandness is to add Craisins, which are also pretty low in sodium.
Low Sodium Triscuit. I can't tell them from the regular ones.
Simply Jif Peanut Butter. It also lacks sugar, I think.
Some brands of sardines are much lower than others, 70 vs. 400 mg. per serving.

I'm sure there's a lot of other low-sodium brands out there, I just thought of these. On other products, it pays to look to see if they have a variety with a "no salt added" label, but don't stock up until you're sure you like it.

Here's a link I should have told you about sooner: Other low salt recipes from other people.

Here's a couple recipes I've been working on. I like 'em. Maybe they'll sound good to you.

Low Sodium Goup #3 - as of 4/22/99 OK, the name needs work. This is an attempt to re-discover an old family recipe that was simplicity in itself: Brown one pound ground beef, drain, add one can condensed cream of mushroom soup and one can VanCamps New Orleans Style Kidney Beans. Stir until the sauce is a uniform color, and serve over buttered white toast. That was the old recipe, and most people who tried it liked it.

I haven't seen the VanCamps New Orleans Style Kidney Beans on a store shelf in years, hence all the extra spices. I'm not entirely satisfied with the spices. Suggestions would be welcomed.

Low Sodium Goup #3 - as of 4/22/99

¹/8 tsp. Black Pepper
¼ tsp. Chili Powder (optional)
¼ tsp. Garlic Powder
1½ tsp. Onion Powder (not to be confused with Onion Salt!)
½ tsp. Dried Mustard
Mix spices well in a large microwave-safe bowl, then add

1 can Campbell's Low Sodium Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 tsp. Molasses
Mix well. Add

1 cup (½ can) kidney beans, drained & rinsed
¼ to ½ cup browned ground beef
Heat on medium (40%) until bubbling hot, serve over toast. If toast has too much sodium for you, add some five-minute instant rice before heating.

Here's another, with a Spanish Rice kind of flavor. Actually, I’ve never measured any of this, except the rice, when I had to cook it. This dates from the time when there was no "medium hot" available in this salsa.

Chick-pea Chicken Stuff

¼ cup cooked white rice
¼ cup chick peas garbanzos
¼ cup frozen yellow corn
One chicken drumstick, cooked. Left over is fine.
½ cup Jewel La Elección Del Presidente^TM (PC^TM) Mild Salsa Picante.
Jewel La Elección Del Presidente^TM (PC^TM) Hot Salsa Picante to taste.
Green pepper and green onion to taste.
Cilantro, add to taste.
Skin and bone the drumstick, dice or shred the meat. Combine all ingredients. Put four flour tortillas in the warmer and cook the mixture for 5-7 minutes on 60%, or until the corn is done. Serve with tortillas.

Speaking of tortillas, I've been working on a Chicken Fajita recipe that doesn't use salt. (Most recipe-specific spice mixes include salt. Why do they have to include salt? Most people already have salt on hand. If I want salt, I'll add salt! Why can't they just tell people to add salt if they want salt? Or is that too complicated? ...where was I?) I use onion powder, garlic powder, hot sauce*, cumin, and a little paprika.
Slice some fresh green (and red, if you're feeling affluent) peppers into a hot frying pan with a little oil. If you're using frozen peppers, add them with the onions, below. Add some raw thinly sliced chicken breast and the spices. Keep stirring. Add more hot sauce*. When the chicken starts to brown, add some quartered and sliced onion (and the frozen peppers, if that's what you're using) and some cilantro. Continue cooking until the chicken is well browned, then add a splash of lime juice. Serve sizzling with warm flour tortillas close at hand.

*The kind that comes in those tall, thin, bottles. Hey, if I can't taste my food, I at least want to be able to feel it.

Click here to go to Tom Gloger's Home Page.
Click here to send mail to Tom Gloger.