Cut Your Food Bills in Half

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Learn to use locally abundant foods, including wild-gathered foods such as mushrooms, nuts and berries. Frequently these can be had for the harvesting (check to see if you need a permit to gather on public land), or you might find them as great seasonal deals at farmers markets. The price usually drops when the crop comes in, so buy when the supply is at its peak to get excellent quality at a good price. From pecans in the Southeast to wild Maine blueberries to the Pacific Northwest’s bounty of mushrooms, every area has its riches and often you can harvest them yourself for free.

Eat whole, eat plain. Whole grains are supernutritious, tasty and cheap. Whole oat grains, called groats, cook into a truly satisfying breakfast for about 25 cents per serving, and a $2 bag of gourmet brown rice can anchor many meals for the whole family. Once cooked, whole grains can go into spicy stir-fries, be paired with roasted meats, or taken in a sweeter direction with diced apples, cinnamon and brown sugar. The important thing is to have them around, ready to eat. Whole grains such as wheat berries, groats, hulled barley or brown rice take about an hour to cook on the stove, or 15 to 20 minutes in a pressure cooker. (Some grains, such as quinoa and millet, cook up even faster.) By cooking two batches per week, you will have inexpensive, ready-to-eat whole grains available at all times.

How to Run a Food-efficient Kitchen

Cook and eat at home. Numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2005 Consumer Expenditure Survey show that Americans spend about half of their food dollars away from home — a figure that began to decline last year as food prices went up. Still, it’s a no-brainer that home food is cheaper than eating out, even if you must buy all of the ingredients, or you are just learning to cook. You will not be alone. Restaurant revenues are down, but sales of cookware and cookbooks are on the rise. And few things are as enjoyable as savoring fresh and fragrant dishes that come from your own kitchen.

Make big batches. Consider a pot of split pea soup, easily made by soaking a pound of dry peas in water for a few hours, and then simmering them with onions, celery and carrots (and some would insist, good bacon or ham). You now have enough soup for two, three or even four meals, depending on the size of your household. As soon as the mother batch cools, pack up single servings in freezer containers; they will keep frozen for six months. Do not underestimate the overall value (in cost and time savings) of such efforts. Reheated in the middle of winter, a bowl of frozen chili made with the last peppers and tomatoes from your garden will taste like heaven.

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