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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Eat Organic on a Budget--It Can Be Done!
  • Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:49:42 -0700


Eat Organic on a Budget--It Can Be Done!
Maria Rodale CEO and Chairman of Rodale, Inc. and book author
Posted: February 22, 2010 04:53 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/eat-organic-on-a-budget_b_472188.html

Let's start with full disclosure: I am not by nature a frugal shopper, nor a
shopper on a budget. In fact, I've been known to make sales people gawk at me
when my bill gets tallied (like when I drive an hour to the closest Whole
Foods with a cooler in the back of my truck to stock up for months at a
time). I am fortunate in that I don't have to worry about my grocery bill.
However, I know that lots of people do, including my mother-in-law, who would
be a frugal shopper even if she were a millionaire. She uses tea bags at
least twice, and always wraps rolls and butter in paper napkins and stuffs
them in her purse when we go out. Her famous line is, "Our people's poor food
is your gourmet!" She was born in America, but will always consider herself
Italian first and foremost. Here is what I learned from her:

1. Make meats, poultry, and fish a side dish, not the main dish. After 19
years of eating amazing meals in LeRoy, NY, at Rita and Louie Cinquino's
house, I can say the only time meat is the main dish is when there is a
turkey or a ham and a major holiday--and even then there are so many side
dishes, it's hard to eat too much meat. Meats, poultry, and fish are used to
flavor soups, sauces, and pastas, and not the main focus. Besides being
cost-effective, this method is also much better for your health and is one of
the key components of the famed "Mediterranean diet"--which includes Italian
cuisine, of course.

2. Use everything. Never throw a bone or carcass into the trash unless you've
already made soup out of it! Eat the skins of all your fruits and vegetables.
Whatever you have left, feed it to the pets (that's my tip--my-mother-in-law
never let a pet in her house!), and if there's anything else left, make
compost.

3. Make it from scratch. Most of what people waste money on is alleged
"convenience," a.k.a. processed, overly salted, overly marketed food with
excess packaging. Most things we buy in processed form are fairly easy to
make from scratch with a good, simple recipe. Spend your money on quality
ingredients, and you won't need fancy sauces and artificial flavoring to make
it taste good. You'll find lots of recipes on the Rodale Recipe Finder.

4. Garden! Nature's bounty is infamous. A few dollars' worth of seeds can
produce hundreds of dollars' worth of foods--a winter's worth of frozen
pesto, tomato sauce from scratch, and many other good, good things. Plus,
gardening is good exercise--which is one of the reasons my in-laws are both
87 and living at home together.

5. Trade. Whenever you have extra, give it away. It will come back to you in
other ways. In his gardening prime, my father-in-law was always giving away
garlic, seeds, and extra vegetables. Often, friends and neighbors would repay
him with corn, apples, or beans. Now that he can't garden anymore, people are
still bringing him things for free. He's a lucky man.

6. Freeze it. When things are in season, they are either free from the garden
or cheap from the farmer's market. Freeze veggies, fruit sauces, extra
casseroles, and soups. Make broths from leftovers and freeze them for when
you need them later. Just don't forget to label and date things. That's my
pet peeve. I do think Rita Cinquino has things in her freezer that have been
there for over 20 years.

7. Keep it simple. Really, you don't need to complicate things with fancy
ingredients and elaborate preparations. The best foods are the simple ones
that just rely on fresh, tasty ingredients and the usual
enhancements--garlic, oil, and Romano cheese (which my in-laws buy in bulk
and grate themselves and keep in the fridge in a plastic container that
hasn't been changed in at least 20 years).

8. Cook at home. My mother-in-law has issues with eating out. It can get
annoying at times, but it's how they put four kids through private school and
college on a very limited income. Anyway, no one cooks as well as she does,
so why go out and pay more for something inferior? But darn it, if you do go
out, always bring home every speck of leftovers. But also, it's hard to find
restaurants that only serve organic foods, so if you really want to eat
organic, you had better learn how to cook!

9. Don't fall for newfangled gimmicks. This is my downfall. I always want to
try the new things--but whenever I end up cleaning out my pantry or fridge,
it's those very new things that end up getting wasted. All you really need in
your pantry are the basics--a bag of brown rice, some whole wheat pasta, a
bottle of olive oil, some beans, and you've got the makings of yummy
goodness. Oh, and plenty of Heinz 57 organic catsup.

10. Forage! This is Louie Cinquino's realm, but what a wonderful realm! I
feel so lucky to have tasted (many times) his "gardooni," which is a
burdock-stem delight, made from a common weed. (This spring I will share the
recipe.) We have all gone out collecting wild mustard greens, also a common
weed. Many friends of mine rely on their husbands' going out and foraging a
deer to provide them with meat for the winter. Through my father-in-law, I
learned that the world is filled with good, free things to eat--you just have
to know how to look for them.

So, don't let anyone tell you that eating organic on a budget can't be done.
In fact, it's the best eating in the world.





  • [Livingontheland] Eat Organic on a Budget--It Can Be Done!, Tradingpost, 02/22/2010

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