As a backstory, I have been actively involved with the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover to plan my budget and pay off all my debt. I finally conquered Baby Step 2 this month and am consumer debt free! No more student loans, no more credit cards, no more car payments; just the mortgages are left. It was painful, but one of the most helpful parts was creating a food budget and planning out my meals.

I got anal with it and started shopping lists, spread sheets, figured out costs per portion, where to find the cheapest groceries, etc. I’m documenting everything for my first book to be published. It’s a huge help just to be conscious of the money being spent each month, especially on food. As I explained in my recent post about shopping at farmer’s markets, pricing items can be tricky and vary significantly from place to place. It pays to be diligent.

So, what I’m asking for are submissions of all the unique ways to cut corners on price but not on flavor. We’re not talking just spaghetti dinners and boring potato casseroles here. I am truly passionate about designing meals on a creative budget, and I’m sure there are others out there. Thanks for everyone’s feedback, small or large.

When I was living in Charlotte, I had organic produce delivered to the house every other week. The service was called Absolute Organics (the Web site leaves a lot to be desired, but the products are great) and they have several different packages you can sign up for, but the gist of it is that you get a box of produce either every week or every two weeks left on your doorstep. Wow, how convenient. I definitely ate better while receiving boxes every other week.

I will be placing my order with NaturaStyle this week and will let you know once it gets here how it turns out. I do need to make sure it fits within my monthly grocery budget. If you would like to see a list of organic food delivery services near you, see my page about it. If there is a company not on the list just shoot me a comment and I’ll get it posted.

http://www.endlesssimmer.com/2009/04/16/100-ways-to-crack-an-egg/

Well, I think I’m going to reconsider the anti-meat and animal products routine. I know there are substitutes, and I plan to use them when I can (soy milk, veggie burgers, etc), but in general I love being creative in the kitchen without hesitating to use certain ingredients because a book said not to. Now, I do plan on being as responsible as possible in choosing all natural ingredients (MSG and pesticides-ew!) and knowing where the animal meat came from. Being in Costa Rica, this is fairly easy, as most farms and markets are very accessible.

I just can’t let go of delicious foods like Parmesan and feta cheese, bacon bits, etc. And I shouldn’t have to. I will do what I can to avoid the mass-produced products (also easier to do in Costa Rica) and get organic products delivered to my house. That’s right, I am about to be a proud subscriber to NaturaStyle.com, who has all the natural products you could think of including meats such as fish, chicken and beef. There are a ton of home delivery options all over the US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc you just have to look for them. I have created an organic food delivery directory that will help you find what you need. If you know of something out there that’s not on the list, please comment and I’ll add it.

It’s hard to get a handle on the animal cruelty that happens in slaughterhouses all over the world, and not knowing if the hamburger your eating came from a screaming cow before it got to your plate is something I’ll have to consider. But, I’m feeling better about just doing research and knowing the conditions in which my food is coming from. Don’t trust government agencies to protect you, they only have dollar signs on the brain. Where there’s money, there’s corruption, so don’t think for a second they care about what you are ingesting. You need to be responsible for yourself and protect your health by eating all natural foods and organic products.

(borrowed from www.skinnybitch.net)

I just read the book called Skinny Bitch this week, and I think it has ruined me. Well, in an eating-junk-and-meat sort of way. It’s a good book with mostly good information, but written in an over-the-top California snobby super-model style. What I mean is, there is a lot of cussing and inappropriate language, for shock factor and humor, but it starts to grate on your nerves after a few chapters. Anyway, it reveals some pretty eye-opening statistics (cited and verifiable, of course) about animal cruelty in slaughterhouses; chemicals, hormones and pesticides that get into the meat, cheese, and eggs we eat; and how the FDA is a corrupt government agency that is being led and persuaded by the farm associations doing all the harm.

So, as a result, I am grossed out by meat, and more careful about the eggs and cheese I eat. Luckily (I think), I am in Costa Rica and there are many little farms here that are organic, humane, and healthier than the mass-produced animal farms elsewhere (although, I can’t speak for the cattle, most is sold to the US/Burger King companies). So, I am on the search for organic, healthy foods that exclude meat and it’s tougher than I thought, especially being in Costa Rica. Although, I am living in San Jose, which will have something even if the rest of the country doesn’t.

I found a great website for vegan/vegetarian recipes developed by the International Vegetarian Union (IVU). It can’t guide me on where to find items in Costa Rica, but I am determined to comb through all the local grocery stores. Each one has their own great features, which will be in a different post, but the organics sections are small! And so, the hunt for cheap organic food in Costa Rica begins.

A quick and striking example of how food production impacts the Earth includes a Michigan State study. This study shows eating a pound of beef is about seven times worse for the environment than chicken and 200 times worse than potatoes. To put it into context, it takes about 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef (per Dr. Georg Borgstrom, Chairman of Food Science and Human Nutrition Dept of College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Michigan State University) which is about the same as a year’s worth of showers for one person.

So, you could essentially stop showering for a year or skip 4 hamburgers to save the same amount of water. I think I’ll choose a veggie burger next time. Think spicy black bean burger at the Penguin (if you’re reading this in Charlotte).

On a more positive note, sustainable food is easier than you might think to incorporate into your daily diet. It could be as close as your back yard, in a patio planter or around the corner at the farmer’s market. You can be sure you are eliminating as much transit, handling, processing, and pesticides as possible by looking in your own garden. In case you are an urbanite and don’t have a yard, there are simple questions you can ask at the farmer’s market and grocery store as well. Just simply noting where the fruit or vegetables come from (I think they require a sticker with country/state of origin now) is a good way to gauge how far they had to travel to get to you. Some farmer’s markets have imported goods as well as local, so it’s good to ask. This also helps support your local growers.

So, all you men out there responsible for eating 75% of the beef in our country, maybe opt for an alternative to your regular quarter pounder with cheese. We all have a responsibility to our environment and our bodies to be healthy and conscious of the overall impact we each make in every aspect of our lives. Especially the ones we have the most control over, like our diet.

(This article was written and published in the April 2009 issue of Charlotte Health and Fitness Magazine)

Again…another night with nothing to be found in the pantry and a hungry husband. I remembered seeing a recent post made by a fellow foodie for some curried chickpea dip and saw that i had a can in the pantry, so i decided to take the inspiration of the dip and make a pasta dish. I wanted to stuff cannelloni noodles with a curried chickpea filling, but I ended up just layering the baking dish with the flattened noodles instead.

Here’s the cheap food here, on-the-fly recipe:

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

1/2 lb of Cannelloni pasta
1- 20oz Can of Chickpeas or Garbanzo beans
5- fresh mushrooms diced
1- medium sweet onion diced
4- cloves of minced or finely chopped garlic (more or less to taste)
1/4 C. crushed walnuts
3- Tbl of olive oil
1- Tbl of yellow curry powder
1- Tsp garlic salt
1- Tsp white pepper
1/2 Tsp ground cinnamon
2- ripe tomatoes diced
1 1/2 C. shredded cheese (I used peppered Gouda)

DIRECTIONS

1) Cook the pasta to al dente, drain and rinse.
2) Saute the garlic, onions and mushrooms in olive oil for 2-3 minutes on med-high heat. Add the garbanzos, curry powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper and mix well. Saute for 2 more minutes.
3) Reduce heat to medium and add the diced tomatoes. Let cook for 3-4 minutes and remove from heat.
4) Spoon out half of the chickpea mixture into a 9 x 9″ baking dish and layer cannelloni noodles on top. Spoon out the remaining mixture on the noodles and top with walnuts and cheese.
5) Bake on 350 for 15-20 minutes uncovered

The best way to eat potatoes.

In my opinion, baked potatoes take way too long, and unless you have an hour or more to cook them, your best bet is to microwave them. But, these days we have been surviving without certain modern amenities such as the microwave, so we are left to get creative with the grill. More often than not, I prefer to eat potatoes on the grill, so it’s definitely easy to overcome the lack of a microwave.

There is probably a great tutorial full of beautiful photos on the subject of how to grill potatoes at www.grillingcompanion.com, but I am going to share with you my version to serve 2-3 people. What you’ll need is approximately 2 large potatoes (diced), half an onion (diced), a jalapeño pepper, 1 TBL olive oil, 1 TBL butter and a generous portion of your favorite seasoning salt.  Depending on how spicy you like it, you should remove the seeds before dicing. Mix all the ingredients together and spoon onto a generous portion of double-ply (or made-for-grilling) aluminum foil. Place another sheet of double-ply aluminum foil over the potatoes and roll up the edges to seal. Cook on both sides for about 10-12 minutes per side. Check the potatoes for tenderness and don’t cook on a high flame. The top rack works best.

One of the things I do with my neighbors in Charlotte every week is share cheap food; group dinner style. We decide on a theme early in the week and send out an email to coordinate who brings what. The host takes care of the main dish and everyone else brings something. If this is done right, and you establish a budget, it can save everyone money.

This week was Asian night. In my opinion, it could be Asian night every week and I would love it (see my previous post about my love for Asian food markets). The menu included a staple recipe of honey jalapeño cilantro chicken pasta, crab rangoons, Thai salad with spicy ginger peanut dressing, Thai summer rolls, and an almond mandarin gelatin for dessert. If you are feeling froggy, like our group tends to do, we made mai-tais and a limeaide spritzer.

It is just great to get our friends together that have the same goals and just let loose. One of my favorite themes for pot luck dinners is “Dishes under $5″. You can’t lose, and it forces everyone to get creative. Feel free to comment about your latest cheap food group dinner experience. Happy cheap eating, together!