Food Pyramid? Food Plate Guide? Magic Food Bowl-Thing?

I know this is old news, but I only just managed to wander over to the USDA site and see what they wanted me to eat and how.

Back forever ago (like, last month, give or take a couple weeks) there was the food pyramid. You ate the stuff on it, or tried to, or pretended to, though most peoples ended up looking like some kinda deformed hourglass-piles of "grain" and "meat", no veggies or fruit, and a top seriously over-packed with sugar and oil and salt (and whatever else they tossed up there that tastes good and is totally bad for you). Me, too--snacks are better than fruit!

So now they've got this new "plate" plan. Which looks like, s'prize! A plate. With a cup.

Which, if you eat a normal omni-kinda diet, or in an American diet kinda way, probably works. I like that they've changed "meat" to "protein", but they still call the calcium part of the meal "dairy" which is silly--calcium comes from places other than animals (like tofu and collard greens, yum).

It works for the SAD because each "type" of food gets a spot on the plate. Like those sectioned plates I like eating off of, each type of food has an area with an amount of space in it to fill. Fruit and veg gets half, with veg taking up about 2/3's of the side. Protein and grain gets the other half, with grains taking up the bigger chunk there. And "dairy", of course, off to the side.

When dinner is steak, potato, broccoli, and sliced tomatoes with baked spiced apples for desert, that works great. (Let me know if you can't figure out how to bake spicy apples--it's freakishly easy, only the timing really matters...)

When dinner is pizza, it gets a bit tougher. And if dinner is a tasty bowl of yumminess? Who knows how you're supposed to judge then. Don't even try to figure it out if your meal contains both calcium-rich veggies and beans (both fit in at least 2 categories).

So I thought I'd draw my own food map. Or two. I know not everyone prefers to eat out of a bowl.

The protein is probably a bit small, I admit. But the bowl shows about how I eat. When I'm stuffing my face on healthy stuff, I pretty much follow this--anyone who's followed along as I scarfed down bowl after bowl of fried rice should recognise the approximate design there. I just pile it all in, mix it up, and eat. Works best with things that should be eaten together, by the way--like pasta with super-veggie sauce and some pan-seared tofu.

Not so good for stuff that wants to stay separate--steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, and salad would look gross served this way. Stirfry? Tastiness.

For those of you who eat more "normal" food. If you played with this, it's probably a bit more than half veggies. Then some grain and "extras" and protein tacked on there in the bottom. The only time I really eat anything that would be broken down like this is if I'm eating left-overs, at a restaurant, or hard-core craving food that doesn't "bowl" well. Like sammiches. Oh, or if I have to eat with other people who think it's odd to fill a serving bowl with a day's worth of food and just re-heat as needed.

Now, I admit, this is in no way scientific. And it looks really nothing like their plate. But it works for me.

Also, I played around with the "meal plan" generator. It's... interesting. I'm underweight (BMI-wise, kinda) and a slug, so it gave me a choice of "maintain weight" or "slowly gain weight"--1800 or 2200 kcals a day.

Um... I'm averaging about 1900 a day right now and (pretty totally sedentary) I'm losing about a pound a month at this point. I think... Could be more. They didn't have an option for me to lose weight though. Looking at the suggestions (6oz protein, 7oz grain, 3c veg, 1.5-ish fruit) I can *see* that it's not enough. Sure, I'd feel full. 3 cups of veggies will do that to a girl. And I think that was the 2200 calorie choice. It's really not a lot of food. Actually, I'm not sure where they're getting their numbers from--7oz grain is 700cals, 6oz protein is maybe another 700, veggies are mostly calorie free... Was it all coming from dairy and fruit? That's crazy.

Anyway, just like the BSC food pyramid, I think the new plate system is screwed up. But maybe it'll help people who think a burger and fries is a balanced meal.

Nah, those people are lost forever.

4th of July Means BBQ!

Now, some stuff people barbecue is less expensive (um, hot dogs, loss-leader ground beef burgers) but most of it is pretty spendy. I'm sure, if I'd thought of it in advance, I could have asked Mom for her top cheap meat grilling tips, but I didn't.

Luckily, I already know her top "meaty" tip, which is cheap chicken. Not healthy, not good for the chickens, but you can get chicken quarters pretty much anywhere (um, in the US, anyway) for less than a dollar a pound. If you watch carefully and live in a cheap area you can scoop them up for 25 cents a pound (sometimes less).

So that's great, you've got chicken. But what if you don't like chicken, or like me you're veggie? Things get a bit more interesting here. You see, a BBQ or snazzy grill is not just for char-broiled hunks of animal. You can make *all kinds* of stuff on a grill. And today I'm gonna share a couple of those things with you ('cause veggie burgers and dogs *really* don't grill well).

1st! Grilled veggies-

This is probably the best, most flexible option. And if you have a garden (that doesn't get slaughtered by hail just before harvest every year) it's even nearly free. If you use veggies that can be sliced into slabs or wide-ish strips you don't need anything fancy, they can just go right on the grill. Smaller stuff (like cherry tom's, bits of broccoli,green onions, or (yum) Brussels sprouts) works best with a veggie grill pan. I *really* like the flavor eggplant gets when you peel, slice, oil, and salt it before tossing it over coals. You can also poke holes in a whole eggplant, brush oil over it, and grill it that way for a smaller clean-up, smokier Baba Ganoush(sp). Most veggies are great with just a spray or drizzle or brushing of oil/ salt. You can get grilled veggies at Whole Foods for something like $8 a pound, so doing your own is totally cheaper. Then you can put them together in sammiches.

Indeed, grilled eggplant, onion, zucchini on lightly toasted bread with either vegan or cow cheese melted into the top is one of my most favoritest sammiches ever.

You can also use the grill to make amazing salsa. There's a whole vegetarian grilling cookbook or two out there, and they're totally worth a look. They have them at libraries in Wyoming and South Carolina, so you should be able to get your hands on one *somewhere* for free.

Salsa!

Anyway, for amazing salsa, cut a white or red onion into slabs (so width-wise into rings through the center, not top to bottom), grab a couple fresh (homegrown or heirloom if possible) tomatoes, a chili or two, some green onion if you feel like it, maybe an ear of corn. Brush everything with oil (or toss in oil if you don't have a brush/ sprayer) and toss on the grill. Jalapenos might fall through the cracks, so maybe put them on a piece of foil or in a veggie pan. Grill everything until it's done--soft with dark/ crispy/ browned "skin" on the outside. They won't cook at the same speed, so don't expect that. Pull them as they finish, and toss them in a blender, food processor, or stick blender cup. Blend just enough to make a nice tasty dip/ sauce. It won't be chunky (oh, yeah, add corn at the end, for texture and stuff), but it's great for dipping veggies and other stuff.

Finally, Pizza.

I know, I know. Anyway, for pizza you just use a normal dough, though maybe a bit stiffer than usual--you want it to sit on top of the grating, not slip through it. If your dough is too soft, add a sheet of foil to the grill-top before adding your pizzas. You need all your toppings ready to go when you put your dough on--it only takes a couple minutes on the first side--just enough to get it started cooking.

Then you flip the dough, cover the top with whatever you want (those roasted veggies go great here), close the lid if you've got one (to melt "cheese"), and cook long enough for the dough to be done, crispy and browned on the bottom, and the toppings to be melted/ hot/ bubbly/ whatever they're supposed to be. Even on gas grills this gets some flavor, but it's really win on charcoal BBQ's.

And don't forget--a bbq is really just a way of adding heat. If you want soup or pasta with your other grilled stuff and don't feel like heating up the kitchen, just fill a pot (one without plastic handle, trust me on this one) with water or whatever, and toss it on there. Timing and temps might take a bit of practice, but it totally beats a hot kitchen, right?

Day 340- Gourmet Food, Super Budget Style

When my family first moved to Charleston, they had a place called Trader Joe's. I was *so* excited. For most of the rest of the country (like California, which we'd just moved from) Trader Joe's is the magic kinda-discounted super grocer to the crunchy types (that'd be me, in case you were wondering).

In Charleston, I was disappointed to learn, it's a cheap-o furniture shop.

Except now. Sometime in the next who knows how many months, we are getting a Trader Joe's. A real one, with frozen veggie meats and 2 buck chuck (which I'm assuming isn't $2 anymore...).

And that is great and amazing, and all sorts of other things. But, while it'll make wine cheaper (sometimes, a little), I've done without so long that it just doesn't show up in my arsenal. Oh, yeah, and it's going to be on the other side of town from where ever I end up. It's probably also going to open after I leave (they always do).

So how and where do I plan to buy these tasty gourmet bits?

They don't have them at Save-a-lot. The most exciting that place gets is avocados and queso fresco.

Anyway, just like knowing that the Circle K usually has the best price on soda (2 for $2.26 incl. tax), or that Dosher's (IGA) has the best deals on meat (usually), a huge selection of food service sized cans, and a really nice dry bean selection. Or that the normally freakishly expensive Harris Teeter puts things on sat at 5 for the price of two, plus double and (sometimes) triple coupons. Or that Publix is the only store around here that lets you get one item at half price if it's on sale buy one get one. Just like all that, it's important to know where to get the stuff that actually *tastes good*.

Earthfare *had* bulk spices. They seem to have gone missing. World market has a whole tiny wall of spice packets for a dollar each (plus UK baked beans... <3), but other stuff there can be crazy expensive. Big Lots, though, that's a magic place. And until yesterday, I thought it was too far away.

Yesterday, though, after most of a year living in this foul suburb, I found a Big Lots no more than 3 miles away. A Big Lots with jars of sundried tomatoes in olive oil for $1, and mango in syrup for $1.20. There were pickles and sauces, and fancy mustards for $1-$2.50. There was a whole *wall* of canned fruit for pies, all less than $1.50 a can. And organic whole wheat pasta for $1.20 a pound. Oh, and Dad's root beer, which I didn't think you could find on this coast ever, at all.

Obviously it isn't a place you can go to with a list- who knows what'll be there- and once you're there you have to be careful with prices, 'cause some things go on sale at lower prices elsewhere. For crazy stuff that normally wouldn't find its' way into a low-budget menu, though, it's a magic place.

What did I get? Well, though the mango and the tomatoes were both calling to me, I hate moving open food *more* than I hate moving dry food, so I picked up a pound of pasta for 82 cents, including tax.

Day 257- The Tofu Frying That Actually Worked

I'm feeling particularly lazy right now, food-wise. Luckily I have the tofu vat-o-hugeness to work through.

Also lucky, I know about a dozen different things to do with that tofu, at least half of which taste good. Yay!

So yesterday I made fried tofu. I'm about to go make more, actually, but yesterday's first.

I'm now out of paprika, too, so I seasoned my flour with salt and hot curry. Which worked out ok, but I think the next batch gets a mix. And more salt.

Anyway, I seasoned the flour, chopped the tofu, and did my "shake the bag like a maniac" thing. Dumped a (small) puddle of oil in the wok and let that heat on medium, maybe a bit higher than halfway up the dial. Drizzled some water into the baggy of flour/ spice/ tofu and did my demented shaking thing again.

Then, leaving the heat at medium (strange, I know) I dumped the tofu i the pan and tossed the tofu a couple times. Not, you know, throwing it, but flipping it in the pan with that neat flipping move TV chef's use. Keeps the tofu from breaking up, ya know...

Anyway, I tossed it around until all the tofu had a bit of oil on all the sides, then let it cook (on medium) for a couple minutes. Wandered off, wandered back, flipped the tofu a bit, wandered off, wandered back... Flipped the tofu again...

That actually went on for a while.

Finally, though, the outsides of the tofu were kinda browned and crispy (ish) and the insides were hot and squishy, and it was close enough to done for me.

So the secret to breaded or battered, or whatever-ed tofu in a pan or wok is to cook it slowly on medium. No matter how long it takes.

A deep fryer (or deep pot full of very hot oil) still works best, but for a more oil-frugal method, this whole "medium" thing seems to work. Who'd have guessed, lower temps make things less sticky...

Oh, yeah, and I nommed it. Can't forget that part.

ETA: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charley Brown is on Hulu, US peeps. Dunno if Canadian-types or anyone else can see it, but US-types, it's there...

Day 192- Pasta and... Tofu?

Yesterday I finished the pasta. I had already used up all the red sauce, though, so I needed to do something else with it. I still had 2 whole onions and a whole head of garlic, but I wanted to make them last. I also had about 1/4C of blanched, slivered almonds (that *were* going to be used over gnocchi), a chunk of tofu, and half a can (give or take) or tomato paste.

So I decided to make a kinda white sauce. Now, no where in that list is "milk." I know that. This is where my super sneaky j. skillz come in.

So Tofu-

Tofu starts it's life as soybeans. Usually dry, they're added to a whole bunch of water, ground up, cooked, and strained. The solid bits are called okara, and are used for... pretty much anything. The wet stuff is soy milk.

Much like dairy cheese making, a coagulant is added to the soy milk to make "curds", and the milk is (usually) cooked some more. That pulls the solids out of the water and makes the good-sized bottle of soy milk into a small pile of super soft pre-tofu stuff. The "curds" are put in a press (a cheesecloth lined box) and squished until enough water comes out for it to (mostly) hold it's shape. firm and extra firm are pressed longer, the silken stuff, I suspect, is treated differently somewhere along the line.

But basically, tofu is partially dehydrated soy milk (plus whatever was used to make it curddle- mine used calcium sulfate (gypsum)).

Back to food-

So I started the pasta cooking, got some onions and garlic caramelizing, and got to work on a "sauce."

I used:

• 14oz water
• 1/4C blanched slivered almonds (optional)
• 6oz block soft tofu
• T cooked onions/ garlic
• T flour
• spices
• extra salt

Almonds and about 4oz of water got blended together first, if I do this again I'd either use less water to blend the almonds, or leave them out entirely. Then I added the rest of the water, the tofu, and the caramelly onions, and blended them until it was nice and smooth. The sauce went in the wok with the rest of the onions and garlic. I added the flour slowly to thicken my sauce, added spices and seasonings to taste, and simmered until the sauce thickened a bit and heated through.

Tossed with pasta, and nommed.

Using tofu instead of soy milk saved me some money- I'd normally used close to a quart of milk for a sauce like this. The more concentrated tofu, though, worked just as well. I'm not sure how a firm or extra firm tofu would work out, but the soft stuff was great. And instead of using $1.25 worth of soy milk, I used about 40 cents worth of tofu. WIN!

Anyway, Pasta week was good, I will miss it. Now I have to actually really cook. pleh.

Day 182- Back on the Wagon?

So, it's halfway time. Sometime this morning (if it ever stops raining) I'm going to hit the grocery store. Actually 2 stores.

For the second half of the year, I said there would be some changes. And there will be. I want to cook more- even I get sick of junk food eventually, I'm tired all the time, and I really just want to not feel blah. Better food is a big part of fixing that.

How I plan to do that is easy (in theory)- I'll make a meal plan. Meal planning isn't fun, though, or sexy. It's useful, but that's about it. Some people can meal plan on the fly (Heidi), while others (that'd be me) run over horribly when we wing it. Which is why planning is my plan.

So, How does this plan work?

Well, it's my plan, so probably not at all.

Was that too negative? Ok, it works like this- I know what I want *right now*. I want chana masala, black bean humus, falafel, samosas, and sweet potato gnocchi. The first two are pretty easy, and the last 4 take a bit more work. In the case of samosas, it's a lot more work. This week's wish list is mostly pretty cheap.

What if I really really really wanted something super expensive? Something like Greek salad for lunch every day, or store bought curry sauce, or vegan cheese enchiladas? The steps start the same-

1. Look at the food list and see if there's a theme or common ingredient. If the recipes are all over the place and the only things used more than once are salt and oil it's not going to work.
2. If I have a theme (or at least a set of ingredients that overlap) I make a list- either in my head or on paper- of everything that goes into each recipe. I check the list against what I've already got and the missing ingredients go on the "shopping" list.
3. I price out that list- using the last prices I've seen and sale fliers. When I get to a total of $6.80 it's time to stop.

Obviously this depends on me shopping, on not giving in to dreams of melty vegan (or other) cheese, and on my developing some follow-through.

My (estimated) grocery list looks something like this right now-

• 1lb dry chickpeas- $1.40
• 5lb bag white flour- $1.49
• 1 small jar tomato paste- $0.75
• 1 head garlic- $0.40
• 1lb sweet potatoes- $0.70
• 1lb carrots- $0.67
• 1lb frozen peas- $0.89
• 1 small tomato- $0.25
• 1 tiny onion- $0.25

I already have onion, and it *should* be enough, but if it isn't, I'd rather have spare. I already have rice for the curry, chips and black beans for the hummus, potatoes and spices (sorta) for the samosas. It makes this first week rather more affordable, but with tax this will still come out right around $7.

I dunno. Guess we'll see how it works, right? There aren't any breakfasts in here. I'd like to start making/ eating breakfast, but I just don't see it happening. Perhaps I'll make some bagels with the flour, but I wouldn't count on it. Not this week, anyway. "Lunches" will probably just be servings of mains, I never really saw the point in special food for lunch.

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions? Shopping sometime in the next 5 hours (before the church/ brunch types are free).

Photo by Crystl

Day 146- Mixed Drinks are Not Cold Medicine

My cold has moved on to the next stage- I now totally wish I was dead. I'm coughing (which hurts), my eyes are watering (also hurts), sneezing (hell-ooo pain), my face feels twice its' normal size, and my throat has moved onto the "dying of oesophageal cancer" voice. Very hot, srsly.

Don't worry, though- I has medicine!

Benadryl, hot sweet herbal tea, ibuprofen, and booze!

Um, I mean... cough medicine. Srsly. Because, you know, amareto sours would really really *really* hurt a raw throat. And burn a nose that looks like it's trying out for rudolph's in summer stock. You could even say it glows.

Cleared me up for a minute or two, though. If only it didn't hurt so damned bad. Hot soup by the bucket load is sounding better and better, by the way- something that pulls the ick out of my throat and gives me nourishment at the same time would be full on win. Maybe later today. For now, I'm going to make another cup of tea and hope my head falls off.

Maybe if I'm lucky the health fairy will come along while I nap and make me better. If only she'd bring the money fairy, too... Life would be sweet then.

Oh, yeah, and my local grocery seems to have discontinued my fav. vegan ice cream- it was on super sale and all out when I tried to cheat earlier. It just sounded so good- the cool creamy smoothness of frozen coconut milk and sugar... so soothing. But no, all gone.

Ow. Going to go hope for fast painless death. Or fever high enough to hallucinate- talking to Mickey Mouse always helps time pass faster.

Day 99- Lazy Day

I planned to turn the seriously over-ripe apples from two plus months ago into apple butter starting yesterday, but didn't get around to it. Apple butter should be a good use of the fruit I'm not eating, and it's too grainy at this point for eating raw. I just hope it's still good inside, and not supporting wildlife. At least when/ if I get around to this I'll have something other than salsa or bean cooking juice to spread on bread.

For food I had a corn muffin with green tomato chow-chow for breakfast, some dough flavored like tofu breading that I fried, and another muffin with the last of the chow-chow for dinner. Oh, and about 5 cups of tea, including the only bag of lemon zinger I could find in the whole dratted collection.

Tip- If you know people who can food and they give you a home-canned jar of something... When you're done, clean the jar and give it back. Pretend it's bake ware, or something, but give it back. Returning canning jars is a good way to get more jars of snazzy home canned food as gifts. Or at least save yourself from being thought of in unpleasant ways when your friend/ canner is one jar short for their current batch.

On the Challenge- I feel like a total slacker now- I set a challenge and 4 or 5 people have already finished and reported back (sparkly points for promptness, BTW) and I'm still not even sure if I'm making tortillas or bagels.

In case it's holding you back from trying, oh random internet people, if you've *never* cooked something at all, then cooking anything counts. If the most you've ever done for your self is start the coffee machine, then making ramen from a packet or in a cup counts. Baby steps, right? Pick a level of home-made you're comfortable with, and work from there. Kitchens don't bite, just watch your fingers around knives.

Also, just because *I* don't use something to cook with, or as food doesn't mean you don't/ can't. If you've never baked a ham and ham's on sale, go for it! I'm not (strange tho it may sound) trying to make the world veg, Just me. If you want to try a veggie recipe- maybe you've never made something without meat before, I dunno- then go for it, but your challenge food doesn't have to be veggie or vegan. It just has to be fun.

Anyone else having trouble actually getting started?

Oh, and sorry for the lack of photos, but it's damned tough to motivate myself to upload and edit them at 5:30 in the morning. Oh wellz.

Day 94- How I Choose My Foods

Eating on a super-tight budget doesn't come naturally to most people. It requires a lot of preparation. Some of that preparation can take years, like learning to cook well or confidently (different things, strangely enough). Some just takes a lot of time in front of a computer or talking to people.

I can't lend you the person who taught me to cook- my mother was, up until fairly recently, a very New England sort of cook. We're still not sure where this wild streak of food experimentation came from. I can only assume it's from the vegetarian thing. But the basics- how to make something good with what you happen to have- that is a pretty standard thing to see in New England. So that's where that comes from.

Think of it this way- in the northeastern US there are (growing wild) onions, berries, clams, deer, lobster, and a bunch of types of fish. Grass grows well, so cows (or goats) have long been affordable to keep for milking. Root crops and squash also grow well, and berries of all types seem to love the weather up there. So people in New England grow up (and have for a long time) eating stews flavored with onion, and salt, and (maybe) some fresh garlic. After all, meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, and water are (or were) locally grown and affordable. Berry cobblers are a similar idea- berries are free for the picking, a bit of sugar, some butter, a bit of grain, maybe some hoarded cinnamon and an egg, and you're done. Clam chowder? Again, until recently, clams were cheap and you don't have to use clams in chowder. Onions, potatoes, carrots, milk- are you noticing a theme here?

So that's the basis of my cooking, and it still pops up pretty often- I never met an onion I didn't love, or a potato I couldn't work into my food somehow. But how do I (or you...) take ideas from a hunter/ gatherer/ farmer based food world and make them work anywhere, with whatever you can find?

That's where the interwebs come in. There are three main groups (with some overlap) who are interested at getting the best food, to last the longest, for the best price- other than couponing mavens. Those are survivalists (who seem to prefer being called "preppers" now), standard food-storage types (including Mormons), and long distance sailors. Weren't expecting that last one, were you?

Survivalists-

Surprisingly good resource, after I learned to ignore all the bits where they rant on and on about people of different political or theological beliefs. In amongst the gun talk, and the tin-foil hat plans there is a lot of information. These are the people who got me interested in the idea of canning, who sometimes grow their own food, who may even turn their entire yard into beautiful edible landscaping.

Is there a lot of crazy mixed in with the useful stuff? Absolutely. But there's also information that, if I were shopping for more people (since eating on the super cheap scales up really well, but down not so good) would be more useful than you can imagine. like buying your own grinder and getting (unmedicated) feed grain from a feed store. And recipes and rotation ideas, so that I don't end up eating nothing but plain rice for months on end- I'm not so good with this idea.

They are also an outstanding resource for out of print, out of copyright, ancient cookbooks. You know, the type they'd have carried across the prairies. Buried in the stories even, there are sometimes really good ideas, like pacing and timing for making whole meals from scratch. Admittedly most of it hasn't been tested for more than a week or so at a time, and they do focus more on the idea of "after an apocalypse", and living in bunkers with limited or no mod-cons, but it was still useful at some point.

Food-Storage Types-

Again, sometimes I have to skip over philosophical differences, but this is where I probably learned the most. Again, I've ignored a fair bit of it due to price constrains when shopping for one. This, though, is where I learned all about freezing grains before storing them, what people in other parts of the country (or world) were paying for staples, and what to do *with* those staples.

Since people store food for a bunch of reasons- because it's part of their belief system, because they've been out of work before and like eating, because it's just cheaper, or because they live in an area where food is sometimes tough to come by (think snowed in, roads rained out, tornadoes took out the grocery store)- there's more variety in suggestions. The most important one, though, seems to be "store what you eat, eat what you store," and that's the one I seem to have ignored the most here. After all, if I were to buy only what I'm used to eating, my house would be full of potato chips, vegan sour cream, frozen fake meat, boxed pasta, and jarred pasta sauce. Easy, lazy, fast.

While I don't follow that "rule" all the way- I haven't been the healthiest eater, after all- I do follow it somewhat. Before starting out, I made a list of all the things I like to eat that are easy to make, or that I had made, from scratch. I think my list had probably 40 items on it when I was done, and I only listed the more affordable options. I love mac and cheese made with boxed pasta and cashew "cheese" sauce, but cashews are (very) expensive and I don't use them in much else, so it didn't go on the list.

I learned from the Food Storage ladies (and occasional gentleman) that you need to have every part of a recipe, or know what to substitute, or you could be SOL, with a pile of useless ingredients. So once i had my food list I wrote out the "recipes" I use to make them, then counted how many times I used each ingredient. Oil and salt turned up in just about every one, lemon juice showed up around 8 times, tofu 3, soy in some form or other around 12. If I were working from a "storage of food for the future" standpoint, I'd pick up a soy milk maker, a tofu press and coagulant, and a big bag (or 3) of soy beans, and make those things myself from scratch. But the buy in price is too high for my budget- decent soy milk machines run about $100, and I have better things to spend that money on. Like food.

Right, so I made my list, tallied how often each item was used in those recipes, then took out a couple recipes, or modified them, to get rid of the odd ingredients that only get used once. Right before I started this whole thing, I googled a bunch of food storage sites, looking for their *best* prices, and their average buy prices. There are people blogging about storing food all over the web, so I was able to get a range of prices, including ones for my general region- but most of them are in Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. Where there are more Mormons, or a better chance of getting snowed in, there are more people taking about storing food. I'm sure there are also food storage blogs and sites from people in Alaska and Hawaii, but the foods available to them are pretty far off what's available here- or in some cases what I eat. There's a lot of wild game getting eaten in Alaska, after all, and the only "wild game" I'm interested in is Hockey.

Which brings me to

Long Distance Sailors-

Kinda the odd man out, but really, the only group that has real experience with the "eat what you've got, and like it" way of living. After all, when it's a mile or more down to solid ground, and three weeks to dry land, you eat what you've got or you starve. On a boat there is only so much space, so information on provisioning for sailors is based on what takes up the least amount of space, provides the best nutrition, requires the least fridge or freezer space, tastes best, and produces the least waste. Useful, right?

Since I'm sharing my kitchen with two (or more) other people, I can't go crazy with stocking up on big items. Twenty pounds of flour got rotated through the freezer as there was room, and I try to use as little of the fridge space as possible- mostly just the veggie draws and half of one shelf. Ways to manage food so that it doesn't have to go in the fridge are useful here. Sailors get that. There's also a lot more information on being flexible with your food choices on sailing sites- milk in the Caribbean is ruinously expensive, and buying foods that are cheap at home but cost a lot where you're provisioning can cut a long term cruise short.

They're also amazingly resourceful when it comes to keeping what they *do* have fresh. Without a fridge, or with limited refrigeration space (marine fridge's are, of course, super expensive to buy and run, and take up a lot of very valuable storage) keeping food fresh, often in tropical climates, is a huge topic, and there's a lot of information available. Like using cabbage by pealing the leaves, rather than cutting off chunks- no cut edge means it stays fresh longer.

I know I've used other resources over the years to build to the point where I can do anything close to this. I also admit that most of the time, rather than make something good with what I have using what I know, I make stuff you'd expect to see a 20 year old guy eating. I think, though, that the knowledge is the important bit. As I start using it more my diet should round out better, but like anything else in life, it takes time.

I'll get some links and put them up on a resource page, just as soon as I dig them out of my old, dead computer or hunt them down on the web. Might take a week or two, though.

On yesterday's food-

I was pretty fooded out from Monday, so after finishing the bean and catsup monstrosity for breakfast, I went until almost 9PM before making some noodles with veggies. Probably cost about 53 cents, over estimating on cost of noodles, onion, and soy sauce.

Day 57- Building Dinner

Made polenta again. I really like polenta. It's super adaptable. I don't know if that came across yesterday. You can cook it until it's thick, spread it in a lightly greased pan, chill until it firms up, then slice and fry- great for bruschetta-type snacks. You can serve it soft, or add different liquids, or top it with just about anything.

This time I used the last (I fibbed a bit about finishing all the Easter stuff- this is the real last of it) almond cream sauce in the polenta. It made it lighter and creamy. If I had them, I'd blend in sun dried tomatoes. Instead I added garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

If you had it or prefer it you could use

• veggie or chicken broth instead of water
• milk (any) instead of water
• fresh tomato
• tomato sauce
• fresh cracked black pepper
• cracked wheat instead of cornmeal
• rice instead of cornmeal (gotta call it risotto then)
• wine instead of *some* of the water
• cheese

Toppings are just about anything. This has got to be the best thing I learned from the "veggie thing".

A basic, cheap veggie meal starts with a base- sweet potatoes or white potatoes, or rice, or bread, or this polenta. You can add flavor to your base, but if you flavor it all you limit what you can top it with. Soy sauce is bad in rice pudding.

Add something sauce-y on top (this is where the protein and veggies hang out). Or you can mix it in and cook it- like casserole or fried rice. This is actually the bit that makes the whole thing really affordable.

If you use *flavor from the topping* to make the base taste good you can use less of what people normally use for flavor in food- meat, cheese, fat. Spices cost less per serving, and they're probably better for you, too.

Think about it- which is better? Spaghetti covered in sauce (doesn't matter what type) or dry spaghetti with a grilled slab of chicken and some peas? Obviously sauce *and* snazzy good thing is better- Chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and ice cream is better than just chocolate cake with raspberry sauce, after all- but I work with what I've got.

Sorry if this is a bit more scattered than usual. I'm listening to 4-Hour Workweek on CD, and I can't bring myself to stop listening. So incoherent post is all my fault.

oh, and I topped my polenta with the same thing as yesterday. The vegan cheese quandary is no more. Cheese is gone, too.

So, what's your favorite (cheap) base/ topping combo? I like chili over rice, soup thickened and poured over stale bread, and home-made Indian-style *anything* over bread or rice.

Day 40- Some more cheating

Spent some of my gas money on a bag of chips. I know, naughty j.

In more promising news, I ate lunch (another dozen potstickers) at a reasonable hour, and finally roasted (and fried) the egg plant, so I can put it on pizza.

Which is what I was planning to do last night before I gave into the call of the chips. At least I didn't blow 3 more dollars and pick up soy sour "cream". Tasty, but... too much, I think.

A couple ways to lower the food bill-

• Pre-portion dinner onto plates- Then put *most* of the rest of it away for left-overs/ lunches. Think about portion sizes while making up plates, and how much people *need* each day. If you serve steak or chicken in slices the "meat and potatoes" crew might be a little put off at first, but you'll have more left for later. Also, starting with smaller portions means that if someone isn't as hungry as they thought you aren't left with a plate of half eaten food. They can always refill if they eat it all. Bonus- only have to clean cooking dishes, no serving dishes. <--working on this one
• Have a (cheap, easy) snack before dinner- tortilla chips and salsa, or veggies and dip- home made hummus or salad dressing. You get more veggies, and it takes the edge off your hunger. Bonus- it's starts the climb to satiation, so you feel full faster- instead of sometime after dinner. If you live with someone who doesn't eat veggies- is there something healthy/ cheap they *would* eat as a snack? Even a quick pbj? <--bad at this. Snack becomes dinner.
• Try having dinner as "courses" to slow down food inhalers (Hi, dad!). If you start off with soup and/or salad, then have the main course after that dinner takes longer to eat. You can do this with lunches as well, by packing a couple different things rather than just a frozen entrée and bag of chips. apple, soup, leftovers, cookie. Your co-workers will envy you and you won't feel as deprived when they all go out to lunch. Starting off with a soup or salad also allows you (and everyone else at your table) to fill up on stuff that's less expensive, since mains tend to be where the money goes.
• Instead of cold cereal, try home-made muffins for breakfast. There are thousands of recipes on the web, and a basic fruit/bran muffin takes no more than 10 minutes hands on time- including washing up. I've even seen (but not tried) savoury muffins with egg and bacon in them. If you have kids they could do this with you over the weekend- learning about flavor and baking all at once.
• Don't give protein top billing on your plate. Protein is usually the most expensive part of a meal (unless you're me, then it's asparagus), and it usually takes up the biggest part of the plate. Try to mix things up in ways that allow you to use less, while still looking like it's very "meaty". I do this by making stirfry, and that can work. Stew is a good choice in winter.
• Try new foods from regional cuisines. I'll be trying cold soba in dipping sauce once it heats up a bit more here. I like lentils, and they're cheap. look at the foods eaten in the poorest parts of the world, and think of how to recreate them in your own kitchen. Try substituting out things that you don't have/ can't get, or that are too expensive- like split peas for red lentils. The flavor difference isn't that big once you spice it. Substitutions can be found all over the internet.
• Make one night a week leftover night. or if you've got no leftovers, or live with someone who *won't* eat them, have pantry night- everything you use has to be already in the kitchen, bonus points for using things that have been there the longest.

These ideas work better if you only feed yourself. If you feed other people too, don't change a bunch of things all at once. You might have a revolt. But change one thing a week, or (if they're young enough, or easy going enough) sell it as an adventure. If there's just two of you, sell it as healthy eating, together time, a chance to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, whatever might work. Oh, yeah- and try to get your other eaters involved in the food process- from the budget to the table, so they can see where everything goes, and how it all balances. Learning opportunity for kids, chance to calmly work on budget and money goals for couples.

With all the work involved in keeping everyone happy, I just don't get why anyone gets married and has kids. Dogs are easier. ; )

Anything else you guys/ ladies do to lower your food cost without always feeling hungry? Anything you remember your mom/ grandmother doing that lowered the food bill?

Day 35- Lots of Dough

hmmm... so for breakfast I had oatmeal (again) but tried something different with the flavor. Instead of the usual- sugar, cinnamon, vanilla- I went with balanced.

I added

• 1/4C raisins
• 1T+/- almond slivers, crushed
• 1 (eating) spoon sugar- not over flowing
• dash extra salt.

Probably took the oatmeal from 150 calories up to a more reasonable 400-500. Almost added the soy creamer that is trying to go bad in the fridge, but decided against it. The raisins actually made it *very* sweet, even though I don't normally like them. Probably would have been improved more with some nut butter, but roommate's so is allergic to peanuts, and almond butter is out of my range. Oh well. The almonds were good for crunch, but flavor-wise they didn't add much.

Around lunch time I got "motivated", and used up most of the rest of my (current) bag of flour making dough.

Pizza Dough

• 2.5C flour (white, wheat, mix- doesn't matter) +extra for kneeding
• 1C warm water (slightly more if using whole wheat flour)
• 1-2T oil (I used olive)
• 1-2tsp yeast (or half/ whole packet)
• 1tsp sugar (honey, maple syrup, w/e)
• 1-3tsp salt (I use kosher)

extras I added for flavor

• about 1T garlic powder
• about 1T "italian" seasoning (this one has parsley, oregano, basil, I think)

Put sugar, yeast, water in a cup off to the side until the yeast softens up and a quick stir makes the mix cloudy. Put the 2.5C flour in a bowl, add salt and extras and mix them in. I keep my flour in the freezer so I usually let it hang out in a sunny or warm spot for a minute at this point- just until it's not freezing anymore. Add the oil and yeast/water to the flour mix, and stir it in with a spoon until the spoon doesn't seem to do anything anymore. Then it's time to get your hands dirty.

Note- you can kneed in the bowl, if it's big enough, and you won't have as much waste, or as much mess to clean up later.

so flour your hands and the dough a bit, and kneed the dough. If it gets tough, walk away for a couple minutes, sometimes even dough needs a break. When it's got that firm/ bouncy texture thing going (still don't get the baby butt thing, but yeah, that) set it aside someplace warm until it's had a chance to rise. oh, and cover it with something so it doesn't get dusty or gross. sometime's i'll also roll the dough ball in oil to keep it from sticking/ drying out.

Note for people living in *cold* places- The best place I've ever found was a shelf next to the heating vent. Next best is on top of the fridge, near the back. Colder temps mean slower rising, so find a warm spot if you want to eat the same day you start.

So for lunch I used half the dough.

Not healthy, but sooo yummy. Make a log out of the dough, then chop it into inch wide strips, so you have a bunch of short, fat caterpillars. Then stretch and twist into ropes. I dipped them in some flavoring, but you don't have to. It was just oil, salt, ital. seasoning. If you have shake cheese, that's good here too, so is fresh chopped garlic. Just mix it all into the oil, then roll the dough in it and put it on the baking sheet.

Baked @ 450*F for 13 minutes. But my oven is forked.

Ate them all, too. Dipped in the last of my Earth Balance, and when that was gone in basalmic/ olive oil. Yum.

Then for dinner I made a Calzone (sorta)

It was as big as my head. Srsly.

Stuffed with tofu ricotta, lightly fried onion, mashed sweet potato, and the last quarter of my tomato. I could only eat half.

So putting this together. First i made the "ricotta". Recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance or free at the Post Punk Kitchen.

I changed it around a bit- didn't have fresh basil or lemon juice, so I used Italian seasoning and white vinegar instead. It's better with lemon juice. Oh, and I add extra salt. I usually don't use the nutritional yeast and it's just as good so if you don't have it, don't worry.

Then I nuked the sweet potato. Like 5 minutes, flipping halfway through. Peel the skin off and smoosh with a fork. I added salt, garlic, and I think pepper to this. Fried the chopped onions, chopped the tomato while the sweet potato was cooking.

Then I stretched the dough.

you want it to be about the same size/ shape if you cut on the x or the y axis (so if you fold the top down, or the side over the edges match up). You don't want to be trying to close it after it's stuffed. It's a big mess if it breaks. The wholes are tough to close back up.

Layered ricotta, sweet potato, onion, tomato on half the dough,

and folded it up- make sure you press the edges together/ roll them over a bit. Oh, and cut slits in the top for steam to escape.

Baked at 450*F for about 18 minutes. It's ready when it looks like this-

I was going to put the almond cream in it, but I'm glad I didn't. Any more liquid and the dough would be a soggy mess. Like this it was soooo good. The flavors weren't as strange as I feared they would be when they mixed, and it was good and filling. A good change from more "traditional" fillings.

Possible swaps (with the same flavor +/-)

• left over squash, smooshed- butternut, acorn. I bet delicata would be great, but who ever has any of that left over. Pumpkin puree if you have some plain (pie filling would taste funny)
• ricotta from the store, if you eat it
• cottage cheese can sub for ricotta if you find a better deal.
• Homemade ricotta or cottage cheese if you have access to really cheap milk (WIC people, I'm looking at you here)

A quick word about buying tofu- At my closest local tofu carrying grocery store they want *$3 a package*. Are they crazy? It's less at the veggie shop, closer to $1.80, which is still high, I think. Small packages at the Asian specific store run from $1.29-1.75-ish, which is more reasonable. But they also have a huge package. 6 pounds huge. It was $5, which is pretty close to the cost of supplies and power to make it at home. And I *hate* making tofu at home.

Deals depend on location of course, but even in the frozen wilds of Wyoming I could regularly find it on sale 4/$5. At Safeway! So check around, even places you expect to be more expensive. they might surprise you.

Day 34- leftovers are better

I finished off the fried rice. The texture was better, and the flavors had mixed more. I nommed it fast. I also realized I'd left something out of the recipe! I put in some almond slivers, and I totally forgot. That'll teach me not to post when I'm that tired.

Here's the veggie mix sizzling away-

I woke up late, ate lunch, then fell asleep before dinner, so that's it for yesterday. Plans today for all three meals, plus snax, but we'll see how that turns out.

Leftovers

I am a huge fan of leftovers. I love the heat and eat benefit, and the low cost. Sometimes I think about trying once a month cooking, but freezer space and motivation are in short supply here. Plus, most recipes are sized for families, so one month of cooking would land me with enough (of the same 4 or 5) meals for months.

But when a recipe is easy to double, or designed to be four servings- that I love. I can eat what I want the first day, then portion the rest out into reusable plastic tubs or baggies or my (only) re-purposed pasta sauce jar. This is a huge time savings for things that take longer to make (like the gnocchi), or that are easiest to make in big batches (like soup).

Just don't try to eat the same thing twice a day until it's gone, you'll come to hate it quickly and you'll either end up throwing it away or never making it again.

Question

I realize a bunch of you are here because you just love food, but there are a lot of you who are interested in saving money, too. Do you want more tips for finding deals, ways to make what you have last longer, substitution ideas? You're getting the food and wacky recipes anyway, but what else would you guys find helpful? Also, I might be able to con a post out of my low-budget, omni eating mom. She works with more of a pantry and about double my budget, would that be of any interest?

Ok, off to finish my breakfast...