Photo: Library of Congress
10, 9, 8… The countdown to our June 24 PRK Meet-Up, Slow Food on No Dough, has begun, and we’re calling out all you unrepentant skinflints: Be there! (Please? There’ll be prizes!)
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Anastacia Marx de Salcedo
Guest Contributor
Slow Food Boston
This post was going to be upbeat, a scrappy guide to eating the Slow Food way* without a) blowing your entire bi-weekly payroll deposit or b) devoting all your waking hours to foraging, gardening, CSA pick-up, food preservation and early Rombaueresque cookery (double boilers! triple sifting!).
Ain’t gonna happen.It’s not that I haven’t tried. Last winter, I ran a children’s cooking class in which we focused on the über-affordable. Gleefully wielding all sorts of easily weaponized kitchen tools (knives, graters, rolling pins), my posse of babychefs prepared three kidlicious meals: pepperoni pizza ($4.60 per person—ouch!); bean, cheese and veggie burritos ($2.00—better!) and chicken noodle and minestrone soups with biscuits ($1.90). But guess what? Even those humble favorites made with ingredients from Market Basket and Shaw’s are out of range for a family of four earning $44,100 a year, which can spend a whopping $1.25 per person on meals.
Can we agree that, under these circumstances, it’s hard to even think the words local and sustainable?
Maybe eating the Slow Food way for less is more appropriate when there is actual fresh local produce available, you say? Point taken. So, over Memorial Day weekend, I took another run at it. My mission: dinner for a 10-person family gathering with items bought at The Brattleboro Food Coop, one of the nation’s 145 member-owned grocery stories, located smack in the agricultural mecca of southeastern Vermont. I grabbed a cart and skated into the store. First stop: the meat department, where I picked up three grass-fed flank steaks for about $6 per pound. (And, yes, I made it the ladyway: oven broiled.) Then over to the Vermont cheeses, where I oogled and squeezed raw milk cheddars, mold-covered goat goudas and sheep-milk Camembert, but didn’t find anything under $8. No prob. I’d wow my relatives with delectable veggies. Which is where sticker-shock set in. Let’s see, there was corn at $0.69 an ear, organic asparagus at $8 a pound and locally raised mesclun for close to $20. Depressed, I shuffled over to the wine section. “Hey,” I joked to the buyer as I perused his bargain bottles ($6-10), “Everything else is so expensive, I’m thinking I might just imbibe my dinner.”
Readers, save me from sinking into vinous oblivion! Tell me that it is, in fact, possible to eat the Slow Food way on a budget. Please post your favorite low-cost/high-quality recipes in comments, and/or bring them to the Slow Food Boston/PRK Meet-Up next week, Slow Food on No Dough, featuring blogger/author Amy McCoy talking about her new book, Poor Girl Gourmet Cookbook: Eat in Style on a Bare-bones Budget. (Get a taste from yesterday’s PRK on-air segment, featuring Amy and “Radio Boston” host Meghna Chakrabarti on a frugal but delicious trip to Whole Foods).
Need more motivation? How about (some very special but as yet unidentified) prizes? Votes will be taken and tallied in the following categories:
->Best Dish Made With Odd Animal Parts
->Best Dish to Serve Your Brother’s New Vegan Girlfriend
->Best Dish to Have on Hand During a Three-Day Power Outage
->Best Dish With Which To Trick Recalcitrant Children into Eating Something Healthy
->Best Dish Using Excessive Amounts of C12H22O11
->Cheapest Dish (That’s Still Edible)
To enter contest, please provide total cost of ingredients and cost-per-portion. Winning recipes will be posted.
*Eating the Slow Food Way
1. Buy local, seasonal and sustainable food when possible
2. Prepare food from scratch
3. Enjoy meals in community
Remember, fresh local food lasts longer. How many times have you had to throw away organic produce bought at the market only days after it was purchased. Buy local and you get a least a week or more of time before it spoils.
I wrote this article and recipe for Brokeass Three Bean Salad several years ago, before all the info about the presence of BPA in some cans came out. You may prefer to cook your beans from scratch for that reason. It’s a delicious recipe, especially if you give the flavors time to develop, and the cost of the ingredients is quite reasonable.
http://www.grist.org/article/tis-the-season-for-earth-and-wallet-friendly-beans
For most peoples around the world it’s a bag of beans. A staple starch on the side, whether rice, corn or wheat. And then some greens and spice for variety. The easiest way to get calories and flavor into a body for the least amount of money. Ken
Roz, you’ll be delighted to hear that Slow Food Boston is planning a bean-fest for the fall, and Ken Albala (see above), the very modest author of Beans, has agreed to share his enormous store of legume-lore.
http://www.amazon.com/Beans-History-Ken-Albala/dp/1845204301
One of my favorite money-saving standby meals is homemade pizza! I make homemade pizza crust for just $1.50 (http://brokeassgourmet.com/articles/the-wonders-of-pizza-dough) and then the possibilities are endless. Pair with a fresh green salad and maybe some fresh fruit or even ice cream for dessert. Perfect and super-cheap!
http://brokeassgourmet.com/tags/pizza/
Beans and rice are always good cheap slow food. I make a huge pot at least once every other week and use it for burritos, etc.
If you’re looking to go the meat route, the only way to keep yourself to a budget is to learn how to use less prized (but very delicious) cuts of meat. These cuts are the definition of slow food :)
For example, you can buy awesome humanely raised pork butt for like 4 or 5 bucks a pound. Learn how to braise it and you can make carnitas which will feed an army.
http://www.macheesmo.com/2010/03/guys-night-carnitas/
I will say though, that it’s tough to eat healthily and “slowly” on a strict budget. Unfortunately, the really quality, fresh foods just plain cost more money to raise and grow…
Well, you may have to open that battle of wine, but I will split it with you if that makes you feel better.
If urban foraging – which I happen to be expert in – is “out” then, yes, I’m not sure it can be done.
My family of 5 makes less that 40K a year and we eat very cheaply – but unless it has been “foraged” we do not use “organic” or “locally grown”. It is simply too expensive.
My wife and I would rather that she be home with the kids (and attentive to them) then get some marginal health benefit or feel eco-friendly about things which may or may not pass mathematical muster for being truly ecological.
Figuring out what ingredients cost and putting meals together within a budget takes time, but it’s a great exercise to show where the money goes, and highlight affordable slow foods. Here at Oldways, where we promote the healthy Mediterranean Diet, we had fun coming up with some things you can make for $2 or less per serving.
mediterraneanmark.org/documents/Powerof2_Apr14.pdf
I think half the trick is figuring out where to get the food, and the other half is figuring what to do with it all.
For bulk foods (organic flour, beans and lentils, rice), the Harvest Co-Op in Central Sq is the least expensive we’ve found. Eggs, I think the best deal is actually at Wilson Farm, in Lexington of all places (not organic, but raised on a farm utilizing IPM). Dairy is least expensive from Boston Organics (and their produce is reasonably priced.) Produce is cheapest at the farmer’s markets (for local and/or not factory farmed and therefore not subsidized.) Meat, on the other hand, I don’t know much about.
For some there are some food pantries/soup kitchens that receive the benefits of Waltham Community Farms and other local/organic farms. For those who know what they are doing, container growing, vertical growing and/or growing in small plots can make a big difference, providing nearly-free food. I haven’t yet got the hang of growing food (or any plant that I don’t really want to let die off anyway). However, my landlord grows quite a bit in a small postage-stamp-sized yard with very little work. I’d love to learn more about city foraging.
As for what to do with it all, looking to cuisines developed without a lot of resources can help. Greeks are great at making decadent, filling dishes with very humble ingredients. Indian and Mexican cuisines are also capable of serving up tasty with little. Recipes are space-consuming here, but I’d be happy to share. In general, beans/lentils, rice, and home-made breads are the least expensive meals.
The hardest thing for anyone is to cut back, to figure out how to do the same with less (or less with less) as we get accustomed to our spending habits. Once the adjustment is made, food takes less thought.
It can be costly, however it helps to think like an old Italian lady on this one: pasta. It’s cheap and can stretch your locally raised meat and vegetables a lot further. Thanks for the great article!
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I think for a veggie option we rely heavily on slaw. Cabbage based slaw, or you can shred broccoli stems/carrots/any affordable kind of veggie. Dressings can be vinaigrettes or creamy mayo type. Always include either fresh parsley or fresh cilantro. My kids eat every last bit of the red cabbage slaw around here!
I say why does food have to be cheap? We can work ourselves up trying to find food that fits a particular budget, then throw up our hands and say it’s “impossible” to eat healthy, local, and organic. But what’s happening is this expectation that food should cost very little, something the corporations that make most of our food love because no one expects cheap food to be good food so they can cut corners like crazy (for the environment, the animals, the workers, etc) and make tons of profit.
We can’t keep buying into their reasoning. Food should be affordable. That is not the same as cheap.
The link you provided says the average amount spent on food in the US per family is $6122. Assuming a family of 4 and 3 meals a day, that’s $1.40/per person per meal, not the $1.25 you cite. If you just look at Boston, it would be $6700/year and $1.53/per person per meal. But if you assume a family has an annual income of $44,100 and they spend the national average of 12.4% on food, that’s $5468/year and you get your $1.25/per person per meal.
This isn’t enough. Unless you are supplementing your food somewhere, you need to spend more. Supplementation isn’t hard. School lunches are cheap or sometimes free and give more to spend on meals at home (if you can find not dreadful ones). A lot of people have gardens, or friends with gardens, and can cut out paying for some of the pricier items that make wonderful meals, like herbs and very fresh veggies. There’s also no reason to pay retail for everything. If you eat meat and have a freezer, get half a cow once a year, produced locally and on grass. Go to farmer’s markets and get seconds (be prepared to process that day or the next)…I often get about-to-go-off fruit or overripe tomatoes, which I turn into sauces and ice cream and a whole lot of stuff that costs a lot to buy.
But the main thing is to prioritize. Spend more money on food. Spend less on other things. Obviously some people do not have this option no matter how much they tweek their budget. But 12.4% of your income on food is tiny and unreasonable. If you don’t spend it on food, you will spend it later on healthcare.
My advice? Skip the meat and use dairy (I put a dollop of cream cheese in a lot of stuff) or olive oil to get your satisfying fats. Slightly al-dente veggies (zucchini is particularly similar to meat, texturally) satisfy the need for something to chew on.
Eating seasonally is a great way to eat cheaply. I never buy fruit out of season because in season it is so cheap, plentiful, and good!
Root vegetables are dirt cheap (excuse the pun) and organic versions are often not that much more expensive. They are also satisfying raw or roasted or baked, depending on season.
Keeping an adequately stocked pantry is also important, as is planning. Dried beans are way cheaper than canned, but if you’re short on time, canned can be so much less stressful. Advance planning takes time, but makes things easier. If you want to buy meat or veggies in bulk and freeze them, you need to take them out of the freezer the night before so that they are adequately defrosted. Ditto soaking beans overnight, as well as some grains.
Cooking in bulk is another great way to bring down the per-person cost. Soup is a good example of this. A pound of meat can be stretched with grains and vegetables into 10 servings instead of 4.
Having a crock pot or slow cooker (I’ve heard the older the pot the better, as it can cook at lower temps than new health safety rules allow) can also really help, especially if you are short on time. Cheap cuts of pork or chicken can be turned into barbecue or soup and cheap cuts of beef can be turned into amazing french dip sandwiches or shredded taco beef.
I live in a teensy apartment right now but will be moving into a house next month that can hold a chest freezer, so I’m hoping to take Cyndi’s advice and buy my side of grass-fed beef and freeze it.
One more thing – there are websites in local areas where people who have excess fruit and veggies (think bumper crops on backyard fruit trees or planting way too many zucchini) and want to get rid of it. Sometimes they trade, sometimes it’s free! Urban foraging is another way to score fresh, local, free food.
Okay, here’s my favorite cheap, no-meat recipe:
Mexican Skillet Dish:
1 can Goya Organic black beans – $1.25
1 can Price Chopper brand chopped tomatoes – $0.79
1/2 bag 365 Organic frozen corn – $0.75
1 box Zatarain’s Spanish Rice – $1.99
1 tub Friendship sour cream – $1.99
1/2 block shredded cheddar cheese – $1.25
In a large skillet (14″) or stockpot, follow directions on back of rice box (I skip the olive oil/butter) and add all ingredients but sour cream. Cook until rice is tender and liquid is mostly evaporated, stirring occasionally. Serve topped with cheese and/or sour cream. Serves 6 people as a main dish.
Total cost:$8.02. Cost per person: $1.33. And that’s including both cheese AND sour cream. I usually just do sour cream. AND, that’s using the more expensive organic corn and beans. Although they’re really not that much more expensive.
Anyway, good luck in your endeavors!
Have you thought about buying your meat in bulk? We buy 1/2 a cow at a time and get it for $2.45/lbs – all grass-fed, local, hormone free, etc. We work directly with the farmer (no middle men). It’s a steal – and a better price than even more traditional beef from big chain grocery stores.
Also, in the past, we’ve made deals with farmers at farmers markets. We’ve taken whatever they don’t sell at the end of the day and helped preserve it. We give half of the preserved produce back to them and keep the other half for ourselves. It works for everyone (the farmers are often so busy, they don’t have tons of time to deal with left overs of certain bumper crops).
why is CSA pickup out? That’s my favorite way to get organic produce at a decent price. Also buying bulk grains, flour, etc. The less I buy at an actual grocery store the better for my budget. It really doesn’t take long to swing by the farm for my herdshare, CSA pickup once a week.
I’ll just quote from Cyndi, above, ‘cos it’s what we do for the 5 of us on a modest salary
“Spend more money on food. Spend less on other things.”
It works for us, we eat mostly organic, belong to buying clubs and do a CSA every summer. It’s a way of life. Hey, we live to eat and don’t cut corners there at all!
Hailing from Ireland here.
We live on a family income of less than $35,000 annually and manage to eat very locally and organically.
I have to hand it to Cyndi for a great response above. Although we scrimp and save anyway we can the last thing we would do is sacrifice our own health and the health of our children.
The kids eat everything we put on the table. We purchase our meats from 3 local producers (no middle man) and we grow a large portion of veggies (thanks to and almost year-round growing climate on our little island).
Before cutting back on ‘fuel for your engines’ I would recommend people start to look at other ways to reduce their monthly output of cash so you can increase your monthly intake of fresh, local and fabulous food.
WiseMóna
I know it’s been a while since this article was posted, but it strikes a chord with me. I can’t believe a farmer’s market that has expensive produce – the one I go to provides in-season produce for much less than the grocery stores, and it tastes better. As to why be so concerned with the price – some people don’t have any option. The price of food is a huge issue for the poor, and, at least where I live, even though the farmer’s market is cheaper, they don’t accept food stamps. It’s a frustrating problem.