Cooking Cheap and Healthy

I used to be able to get a block of organic, non-GMO tofu for under $1.50.  Add a salad, some stir fried veggies and we'd have an inexpensive, healthy meal for four.  On sale, tofu is now up around $2.50 for a block and the really good stuff from local producers is over $4.00 a pound.  Tofu is only one food item, when you multiply that $1.00 increase by all the food items you usually buy...well I just won't go there.  Our food bill has jumped dramatically in the past few years with our salary not keeping pace. 

We're not alone.  Many families are in the same boat. This new economy is forcing people to reconsider quality of food in exchange for money saving.  What they don't realize is they don't need to sacrifice good healthy food for cheaper choices.  You can cook cheap and healthy!  It just takes a bit of planning, cooperation, and elbow grease. 

Here are some quick tips for lowering your food bill:

1. Meat, whether it's beef, chicken, pork or fish can be expensive. Don't worry I'm not going to suggest you go vegetarian! However, I will give you a hint on how to save money on meat.  Many stores put their meat on discount if it's a day or two before the "best before" date.  Find out what day your grocery store's meat department checks these dates and puts their meat on a further discount.  Many times I have purchased a family pack of drumsticks for $1.50 because they were on sale and discounted.  I buy them all and freeze them. 

2. Okay, maybe I'm going to suggest a bit about the vegetarian thing! Beans are an inexpensive and readily available source of protein.  By substituting beans for meat you can save money.  A bean casserole can cost less than $0.49 a serving, a meat dish usually costs over $1.00 per serving.  That can add up...fast.

3. Sale flyers make good reading!  Especially if you plan your week's worth of menus around the sales.  I do my meal planning on Sundays.  I go online to three grocery stores that are within biking distance of each other and chart the sale items our family usually consumes.  Then I plan my menu for the week using the sale items as a base.

4. Cut down on waste. How many times have you gone in to your fridge and found a container of moldy soup in the depths? That's like finding out you flushed money down the drain. Leftovers make great lunches!  Retrain your family to look in the fridge for leftovers before they make something new for lunch or dinner. This tip alone can save you hundreds of dollars a month.  If you don't like leftovers, cut down on how much food you prepare.

5. Buy produce in season.  Peaches in the winter come from South America and cost about $2-3.00 each! In the summer when they are from local orchards

they cost less than $0.50 each.  That's a huge difference in price.  When you buy in season you save money!  If you want peaches in the winter learn how to can.  I have a shed full of canned peaches, pears, applesauce, salsa, relish and tomato sauce that dramatically cut our grocery bill.  Preserving food is not difficult and when you do it with a friend it can be great fun. All you need for dehydrating fruit, herbs and vegetables is a $60.00 dehydrator or your oven and you can make your own fruit leather and herbal and vegetable soup mixes.

6. Know what foods are best bought organic!  If you don't need to buy organic avocados...don't!  The reason we buy organic is to minimize exposure to chemicals.  Some produce items have less residue than others.  For instance, an organic avocado can cost upwards of $3.00 and a non-organic one for around $1.00.  The Environmental Working Group tests non-organic avocados and found that they had little residue on them.  In other words, it's safe to buy non-organic avocados.  Strawberries are a different story.  Non-organic berries had some of the worst and most residue, so it would pay to buy organic strawberries. Check out the Shopping Guide atwww.ewg.org and find out what foods are safer than others.

7. Finally, I want to introduce a little math to you as some people are resistant to saving small amounts of money.  Right now my savings account is making me less than .5% of interest a month.  When I save $0.20 on a $2.00 jar of artichokes I am saving 10%.  That is like getting a 10% return on my investment.  What I'm saying is that saving $0.20 may seem like a very small drop in large bucket but when you add it up over the month and figure out the percentage you saved it's like money in the bank!  You are creating your own form of interest generation!  Take that banks!

As I am constantly playing with food here's a cheap, easy and delicious recipe to whip up for your family.  It makes great left overs!