Low Sodium Supermarket Dining: The Refrigerated Foods Aisle -- Part 1

Just as a reminder, the goal of this series of posts is to find ways to create a truly low sodium diet using regular grocery store products, including convenience & processed foods. Together we’ll “visit” the different aisles of a typical grocery store and discover how easily available items can be used and modified to fit a low sodium diet. This stop, Refrigerated Foods:

Cheese Spreads

Some flavored cheese spreads are actually lower in sodium content than plain cream cheese (plain block cream cheese can have anywhere from 90 – 110 mg. per oz.). Several of the spreads from the Alouette brand, for example, are around 70-80 mg. sodium per ounce. The Spinach Artichoke spread is 70 mg. for 2 tbsp., and the Light Garlic & Herbs is only 60 mg. However, the Boursin and Rondele brands have a lot more sodium. Again, you have to read the labels carefully.

You can lessen the sodium content of a cheese spread a bit by blending in some heavy cream or sour cream. Doing this will make it easier to spread too. Or you could add up to ¼ cup of softened unsalted butter to the cheese spread. Let the cheese spread soften a bit, though, before trying to blend it with anything else. You could also combine equal parts plain cream cheese and the cheese spread to bring down the sodium content somewhat. Use whipped cream cheese because it has less sodium per serving. As always, be sure to watch your portions and serve the spread with something super low in sodium, like unsalted crackers. On the other hand, you might be better off just making your own cheese spread. Combine softened plain whipped cream cheese with some garlic powder, dried minced onions, and your favorite fresh or dried herbs.

Dips

Refrigerated dips are easy to deal with: simply add some plain sour cream. Find the brand with the lowest sodium content and then blend in at least ½ cup of sour cream. If you find the flavor too bland, sprinkle in a spice blend that compliments the dip’s flavors and add a couple of squirts of lemon/lime juice or Worcestershire Sauce. Chill for at least an hour and you’re set.

Refrigerated Dough Products

Unfortunately, there’s not much good news in this section. Most of the dough products, like refrigerated biscuits, are way too high in sodium content. The lowest I’ve seen is Pillsbury Original Crescent Rolls with 220 mg. sodium per roll. The problem? You’d have to limit yourself to just one roll.

Refrigerated Meats

This can be another problem section. Many grocery stores do not carry low sodium prepared meat products... But you just might get lucky.

Bacon

Be sure to look for lower sodium bacon. Some supermarkets, like Safeway, carry their own store brand, and Oscar Mayer has come out with a lower sodium version too (170 mg./2 slices). Costco also carries low sodium bacon in three pack bundles. If you can find it, buy several packages and freeze them. Cook up an entire package at a time. I bake the slices in the oven or use my large George Foreman Grill. Then I package up 2 slice portions in plastic wrap and freeze in a large freezer bag. Whenever I want to add some pizzazz to cooked vegetables, salads, soups, or sandwiches, I pull out a couple of slices. You can also save the bacon grease.

Fresh Sausage

There are no really easy solutions when using prepared fresh sausage like Jimmy Dean’s breakfast sausage. The regular sausage has a whopping 520 mg. for a 2 oz. serving. However, the Jimmy Dean Light version has only 350 mg. for the same 2 oz. serving. The Bold, Italian, and Extra Mild sausages have even lower sodium contents. Different varieties and other brands may be higher in sodium content. Link type breakfast sausages are so high in sodium that you’d have to limit yourself to just one link. Again, read the labels carefully.

Nevertheless, the chub packages offer you a bit of flexibility. For example, if you wanted to use the sausage crumbled, you could mix equal portions sausage and unseasoned ground pork, turkey, or chicken (squish everything together, like you would with meatloaf mix). Fry the meats up together in a sauté pan. You’d get some of the sausage flavor but not as much salt. The resulting sausage/ground meat combo could be used for pizza, spaghetti, omelets, and casseroles – all kinds of things. This idea works well with bulk breakfast sausage and also bulk or fat links of Italian sausage. Just remove the link sausage from the casings and combine with the unseasoned ground meat before using. You could do the same kind of thing to make homemade sausage patties.

So there are ways of dealing with items from your grocer's refrigerated foods case. You just have to be vigilant regarding reading labels and watching portion sizes. Also, you have to be willing to do a little extra work in order to meet your low sodium requirements.