Grocery Shopping Tips for Families on a Budget

This week I've been featuring tips for shopping on a budget, plus meal ideas for my friend, Jane, and her family of four.

On Tuesday, I posted Jane's basic shopping list, which she keeps as a Word doc on her computer.

Today, at Jane's request, I met her at Whole Foods and shadowed her while she did her weekly shop, offering tips for saving on her grocery list, which she had with her.

Jane works part-time so she suggested we meet mid-morning for these reasons:

1. "It's not busy in the mornings so with less people about, shopping is hassle-free."
2. "I won't be hungry at 10.30, so If I'm not hungry then I'm less likely to buy on impulse."
   
3. "It's much easier to shop when the kids are in school. When they come with me, I end up caving into them, buying things I would not normally buy."
   

As we walked into Whole Foods we picked up The Whole Deal which contains coupons and the Good Stuff For Less flier, which lists What's on Sale.

Jane's already a pretty savvy shopper, but I did remind her of several of the money-saving tips I posted on Tuesday -- you might want to read over those again.

She took advantage of a number of sale items:

• Half & Half, 2 pints for $3
  
• 365-brand Large White eggs 2-dozen for $4
  
• Whole Catch Mahi-Mahi for $8.99 (which will make one meal for the whole family)
  
• Buy one Get one Free 365-brand pasta
  
• 365-brand Black Tea, Fig Bars, Orange Juice, Yogurt, and Chopped Spinach.
  
• And it's Easter on Sunday, so her treat this week for the family is mini Easter eggs.

Using coupons, buying Good Stuff For Less and 365-generic brand product, and getting credit for using 7 of her own grocery bags, Jane spent $170. And this week for her family of four she'll make:

• 16 packed lunches
  
• 6 evening meals
  
• Plus, tonight she has 2 guests coming for dinner (total of 8 people)
  
• And this Sunday she's going to an Easter brunch for 8 people (I suggested she make Savory Bread Pudding for the brunch and use some of her eggs and the Half & Half.)

Shopping for a family and saving on your grocery bill is possible at any grocery store using the above tricks. Whole Foods Market just happens to be my favorite store because there, I feel I can get the best overall value for money.

I do recommend one-stop shopping, in other words, do your research and identify the one store that you feel gives you best overall value and become a loyal customer.

Most grocers offer loyal-customer discounts and when you're on a budget, why not take advantage of these programs just as Jane took advantage of the values at her local Whole Foods.

Mini Tortilla Pizza

When feeding a family on a budget it's tempting to buy cheap filler-foods, like frozen pizza.

I know ready-made meals are convenient; I posted a blog titled More Meal from Your Frozen Favorites.

Yet I also have concerns about the impact on a family's health and happiness if mealtimes are reduced to consuming food that is made in a factory, frozen, and then sold cheaply.

It's actually very easy to fill up on cheap calories, if that's what eating is all about -- filling up.

But to me, nourishing oneself and a growing family is a holy and sensual act that can't be bought in the frozen-food section of your grocer.

If at the end of the day, time is the reason you seek the convenience of ready-made meals, consider involving your children in the preparation of dinner. Enlist their help and make cooking the family meal a fun and engaging way to be together.

As a kid, I followed my mother around the kitchen as she cooked, I'd tell her about my day at school and she'd give me things to do to help, like shelling peas or peeling potatoes, and this is how I began to appreciate the joys of cooking.

Then as a tween, one of my favorite meals to make was pizza, because like most kids of that age, I loved pizza! I made it on the weekends because I used yeast to create a traditional pizza crust, and as you probably know, when you use yeast, you need plenty of time.

With time in mind, the pizza I'm proposing here is simple, quick and easy. And it's definitely a meal kids will enjoy helping you make, and then enjoy eating even more.

Mini Tortilla Pizza
(using ingredients from my friend's shopping list)
1) Lay tortillas out on a baking tray. As you can see in the pic above, I used the mini corn tortillas so I allocated two per person.
2) Cut up several tomatoes and place slices around the tortilla.
3) Wash and chop leafy greens and or broccoli, then toss into a pan with some garlic, chopped onion and olive oil. Saute gently till greens are tender.
4) Dot the tortilla with sauteed greens.
5) Grate cheddar and mozzarella and spread cheeses over tortillas.
6) Drizzle olive oil over pizza. Pop in oven.
7) Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 mins or so.

Olives, of course, are great flavor pals to mild cheese and sweet tomatoes, but sometimes the salty, brine-like flavor of olives is a bit strong for kids.

It's easy to make family-style pizza without olives, instead, use whatever cheeses you have in the fridge and whatever veggies you have in the crisper. And if you want to add a little protein, dot pizza with ground beef.

Shrimp & Tomatoes with Garlic Mash

As I post meal ideas using my friends shopping list (yesterday's post), I'm keeping in mind that this is a family of four with two children, aged 12 and 10.

Tweens are at an age when appetites increase in direct relationship to physical growth. This is particularly so for boys.

And it's a tricky age, particularly for girls, who are suddenly aware of their body-image and hence at risk for developing an unhealthy relationship to food. Either they won't eat properly, for fear of getting fat or they satiate they're pubescent emotional ups-and-downs with too many delicious sweets and snack foods.

Additionally, tween taste buds are maturing and so they're often open to eating a wider ranger of foods and flavors -- that is, so long as you introduce them into your cooking.

In summary, family meal-times can be a challenge. However, the important ingredient is to model healthy eating by consuming a range of simple, colorful meals with texture, flavor and eye-appeal.

With that in mind, here's the first family-meal idea using my friend's shopping list.

Shrimp & Tomatoes with Garlic Mash

• Shrimp is a slightly sweet crustacean with a subtle flavor that lends itself well to delicate flavor pals, or big flavors. Kids tend to like shrimp fried because that's how it comes at family restaurants on the "Kid's Menu." Frying makes most foods delicious, and it can drown the subtle flavor too. I'm pairing shrimp in this dish with vegetables: tomatoes, leafy greens, cilantro, and some onion. The shrimp flavor will hold its own paired with these veggies.

• Potatoes have an earthy flavor that lends itself to many flavor pals. Because the shrimp and tomatoes are sweet and delicate, I'm adding garlic and butter to the potatoes to enrich them and add oomph to the whole meal. Plus, mashed potatoes are a fave with kids, probably because the buttery texture is non-threatening to their palate.

1) Boil several potatoes (you can either peel or not peel them).
2) Meanwhile, toss a chopped onion and a smashed clove of garlic into a pan with some olive oil. Saute gently until transparent.
3) Wash and chop leafy greens, and several tomatoes (and a couple of carrots, if you wish).
4) Add veggies to pan with onion, stir, then put lid on pan and turn heat to low, letting veggies cook in their own juices for about 10 mins or so.
5) At the 10-minute mark, pour frozen shrimp over veggies and replace lid. The moisture from the frozen shrimp will cause the veggies and shrimp to gently steam cook.
6) Once potatoes are tender, mash them with a fork, tossing in a couple chopped gloves of garlic, a big blob of butter, some milk. Season to taste.
7) Chop cilantro and toss over shrimp and veggies, season, then squeeze a lemon over the lot.

To Serve: I've sliced an avocado to decorate the plate--adding color and eye-interest. Though avocados aren't on my friend's shopping list, they're abundant and well-priced at the moment, and they're a great flavor and texture pal for potatoes. Try them with this dish and see if your family enjoys the combination.

Saving on Groceries for a Family of Four

Today I have a something I want to draw your attention to, it's an article in O Magazine which touches on the idea of recipe-independence, a concept I refer to a lot.

As I've stated in previous posts, recipe-independence can be achieved by trusting your creativity and taste-intuition, and by understanding complimentary foods and flavors, or flavor pals.

O's article uses The Flavor Bible as a resource for guiding home-cooks away from recipes and toward their inner "culinary authority."

I highly recommend this brilliant book for anyone who loves to cook. You can buy it on this blog; see the link to the right and below.

Back to Market to Mouth ... As I stated last Friday, my intention this week is to share a friend's weekly staples shopping-list, which she keeps it on her computer as a word document, and discuss ways in which she can reduce her grocery bill using that list at Whole Foods.

And then on the remaining days of this week, I'll offer some meal ideas using her list and flavor pals.

For a family of four: 2 adults, a girl aged 12, and a boy aged 10, my friend's weekly shopping list looks like this:

• Veggies: carrots, broccoli, cucumber, green leafy, lettuce, cilantro, parsley, potatoes, garlic, onions
• Fruit: apples, bananas, tomato, soft fruit, grapes, kiwi, grapefruit, lemons
• Dairy/Chilled: milk, soy milk, eggs, cheese: cheddar & mozzarella & goat & Parmesan, butter, humus, whipping cream, yogurt, fortified orange juice.
• Fish/Meat: cod, salmon, tuna, shrimp, Mahi Mahi, chicken breast, whole chicken, ground turkey, beef, pork.
• Dry/Packets: bread, cereal, oatmeal, English muffins, raisin bread, tortillas, pasta, rice, crackers, cookies, dried fruit, coffee beans, tea bags, snack bars, chocolate, jam, peanut butter.
  

My quick tips for saving $$ on this list:

1. Buy fruit and veg in season, i.e. we're just moving into spring so summer produce like cucumbers, soft fruit, grapes, kiwi and grapefruit will be pricey, whereas you'll find great deals on abundant spring produce like parsley, leafy greens, avocados, radishes, asparagus.
2. Buy Good Stuff For Less fruit and produce--apples & pears are often on sale at WFs.
   
3. Avoid buying ready-made products like humus, I know it's convenient, but gee it's easy to make.
4. Buy 365-brand dairy, i.e. their milks, butter and yogurt.
5. Buy WF's Whole Catch fish and shrimp and or buy it in bulk and get the case-discount.
   
6. Buy family packs of chicken pieces, versus the breast which is very pricey.
   
7. Ground beef is always on sale at WFs when you buy over 3 pounds.
8. Don't buy dry goods in packets; you'll pay for the packaging, always buy bulk so you can control the weight and the price. And avoid buying tinned beans like black beans and chic peas, buy them in bulk and pay so much less.
   
9. Use The Whole Deal coupons for items like snack bars, juices, jams, nut butters.
10. For a family of four or more, it'd be well worth the savings to buy dry goods, plus protein items in bulk and cases and either dry store or freeze.
    

Orange and Almond Cake

On Friday I left off with the promise that my next post would include a picture and method for making flourless, Orange and Almond cake, which I consumed that evening at my very successful birthday dinner.

You'll note that I've posted more than a picture -- above is a hilarious video of the cake topped with an elaborate, flowering candle which bursts into flame and birthday song for the ultimate celebratory experience.

What fun we had, and as you'll hear above the din of music and chatter, I stress how delicious the cake smells.

The scent of orange is strong in this moist, souffle-like, gluten-free cake, and that means it lends itself well to flavor pals like fresh berries, yogurt, whipped cream, and or dark, grated chocolate.

I don't tend to include recipes in my blog but rather, fairly loose methods for preparing meals (since I feel this allows for personal innovation and creativity).

However, this cake requires measured ingredients, so I'm including an ingredient list and method.

Orange and Almond Cake
4 oranges, washed well to remove sprays and wax
1 -1/2 cups of almond meal
1 cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 eggs

Method
1) Throw oranges into a pot and cover with water. Simmer till oranges are completely tender (about 2 hours). Allow to cool, then cut oranges into pieces, removing pips. Put oranges and any remaining liquid into a food processor and whiz oranges (skin included) to a smooth pulp.
2) Now separate eggs placing whites into one bowl and yolks into another.
3) Pour sugar into yolks then beat till mixture turns creamy.
4) Add almond meal and mix in thoroughly.
5) Stir in baking powder.
6) Whisk egg whites till stiff then fold into orange and almond mix.
7) Line the bottom of a spring-form circular pan with baking paper or oiled foil.
8) Pour batter into pan and bake in 350 degree oven for about 50 mins.
9) Let cake sit and cool before removing spring-form. Sit cake on a platter and dust with icing sugar.

Optional: You may add a teaspoon of Cointreau or Frangelico to the cake mix to enhance either the orange flavor and scent or the nutty sweetness. Or you can add either of the liquors to whipped cream and serve this with the cake along with any of the fruit mentioned above.

Me and My IPhone Camera

Food photographer extraordinaire? No, I'm just a girl with an IPhone.

And there I am to the left trying to capture the best angle of the polenta cake I posted last weekend.

As you can see, my kitchen is simple with few mod-cons. Sometimes I surprise myself with the meals I produce with minimal gadgetry, especially given the cook-and kitchen-ware available now.

When I did my professional training we had our own knife set (which I still have), a uniform including ridiculous hat, and minimal equipment in the school's kitchen. The philosophy: It's not the equipment that makes a great meal, it's the chef!

Maybe you've read The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry. My culinary education wasn't that brutal, but I do remember having some mini-meltdowns after humiliating reprimands from one of the tougher chefs I studied under.

I think the boot-camp style of teaching was intended to toughen us up so that once out in the world of fast-paced commercial kitchens, sweating under stress and pressure, we didn't crack. I didn't crack, so I guess boot-camp worked.

My next post will be a picture and method for making flourless, Orange and Almond cake, which I'll be consuming this evening at my birthday dinner! I sent the recipe to a friend, as she kindly offered to make my birthday cake. It's one of my favorite desserts; I hope you'll love it too.

Coming up on Market to Mouth, I'll write another shopping list, a modified version of the list a friend uses for her family. Using items from that list, I'll post accompanying meal ideas for a family of four.

Then at some point next week, I'll accompany that friend to Whole Foods while she grocery shops, offering her tips on the spot to help her reduce her weekly expenditure on groceries. In subsequent posts, I'll share those tips, and more.

Enjoy your weekend!

Luscious Leftovers

April 1st easily makes fools of gullible individuals like me.

I'm sure my gullibility has something to do with April 1st being so close to my birthday and the subsequent excitement I feel about celebrating my pending day!

Doesn't matter my age, I always feel like a kid again when my birthday roles around.

It's Friday this year, and I'm planning on having friends over to celebrate with an early dinner followed by flourless, orange and almond cake. I'll share the recipe this weekend.

Well, I've listed 6 to 7 meals with the ingredients from the March 19th shopping list and at this point, the only other meals I'd suggest from that list are meals made with leftovers.

One of my budget-conscious strategies is this: I always cook more than I'll need at any one meal so that I have leftovers for lunches and or simple dinners.

Jazzing up and eating leftovers is a great way to ensure that by the end of your week you've wasted nothing (hopefully) purchased during your previous trip to the grocery store.

Oftentimes, I add frozen veggies or any remaining fresh produce in my crisper to the leftover meal thereby creating an almost entirely new meal. This ensures that I'm using everything I previously purchased so that by the time I need to grocery shop again, I'm down to a bare fridge.

Above is a picture of leftover savory bread pudding from Friday's brunch. I'll eat that for lunch today, otherwise, I might heat it up this evening with some leftover okra and eggplant made yesterday.

I suggested two different meals with polenta this week, one savory and one semi-sweet. The one cup of polenta to 4 cups of water I proposed in both meal ideas makes quite a bit of cooked polenta, which means if you have leftover, whether savory or semi-sweet, you might like to slice it and smother it with Salsa from the last shopping list, and then top it with olives.

In the picture to the left, I've used whole okra (which I had in the freezer) as a side to the tomato-baked polenta.

I simply popped the frozen okra onto the baking pan with the sliced polenta, dotted it with unpeeled garlic cloves, drizzled the lot with olive oil, and then put it into a 350-degree oven for about 20 mins or so.

Baked unpeeled garlic cloves are delicious. Once cooked, the garlic slips easily out of its skin. Eat it whole just like that, or mash it up with some olive oil and use it as a dipping for bread, crackers or corn chips.

Good luck being innovative with your luscious leftovers!

Chick Peas with Okra & Eggplant

Eating well does not need to be an expensive endeavor. But some people think that eating inexpensively is all about rice and beans!

Not true -- though beans and rice are an inexpensive meal option.

Beans, legumes, and peas cooked badly deserve the negative rap they sometimes get as the cheap food of poor college students. On the other hand, prepared creatively, they are delicious.

When I was cooking in Courcheval in the French Alps, beans, legumes and peas were a great energy staple for my chalet guests. The French guests in particular loved them, because believe it or not, French cooking incorporates pulses, elevating something like the humble chic pea to lofty gourmet heights.

Yes, it can be a bit of a pain to soak beans overnight, but last month I suggested trying the power soak which cuts down soaking and cooking time significantly.

Once cooked, legumes can be stored in the fridge (covered) for several days, and used in a variety of ways.

For instance, you probably know that the middle-eastern spread, hummus, is simply cooked chic peas whizzed up with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and water.

Chic peas are also a delicious snack on there own. Grab a handful on the run for a great energy boost.

And you don't need to serve rice with chic peas; they can stand on their own as a protein-rich meal or you can serve them with a spicy vegetable side, as I'm proposing in the following meal idea.

Chic Peas with Okra & Eggplant

Chic Peas

1) Power soak chic peas, then boil till they're tender.
2) Drain and toss peas into a bowl with whatever veggies you have in your fridge. Using items from the March 19th shopping list, I've added a few chopped cherry tomatoes, some onion, feta cheese, olives, and cilantro.
3) Then toss the lot in a pan with a little oil & garlic, turn the hot plate to low, (the idea is to warm them), and put a lid on while you make the side of vegetables.

Okra & Eggplant
1) Saute chopped onion and garlic in olive oil till transparent.
2) If you have any eggplant left, chop and add to onions, stirring over med-to-high heat till eggplant starts to brown.
3) Add a teaspoon of cumin (and or coriander) stir it through onions & eggplant. Turn heat to low.
4) Toss in some sliced, frozen okra and put lid on pan so veggies cook slowly in their own juice for about 20-30 mins.

To serve: Onto a plate, spoon a good portion of the warm chic peas, next to it, a spoonful of spicy veggies. If you have any cooked polenta leftover, you might slice and warm it, then drizzle it with a little olive oil -- it'll make a delicious accompaniment to this meal.

Curried Shrimp with Vegetables

Cooking, like life, is an experiment in creativity. And when you're on a budget, grocery shopping and managing your food for the week requires unabashed creativity.

You'll note that the methods I share to prepare the meals I post on this blog are not recipes, in as much as I don't offer exact amounts and measurements.

Rather, I use "dollops" and "blobs," "chunks" and "bunches." And I "toss," "throw," "saute," "whisk," and "whiz."

You see, my cooking style is not complicated, it used to be but my lifestyle and budget has changed the way I cook and eat.

Today cooking is a creative exercise for me, one that's dependent on common sense, gumption and taste-testing as you go.

So I encourage you to become recipe-independent by trusting your instincts and creativity and your ability to taste-test your way to creating a delicious meal -- cooking is way more fun when you throw caution to the wind and experiment.

Curried Shrimp with Vegetables
(using ingredients from March 19th shopping list)
1) Remove remaining Whole Catch frozen shrimp from freezer and unfreeze.
2) Saute some onions and garlic in olive oil till transparent. Add a blob of curry paste (I like Pataks. It comes in mild and hot, I think.)

3) Stir the onions, garlic and paste into the olive oil over a med to low heat.
4) Toss in any leftover eggplant, chopped into cubes, a cup of frozen okra, and a cup of frozen peas. Stir into onion and curry paste mix.
5) Turn heat to low and let the veggies gently cook in their own juices for about 20-30 mins.
6) Toss in all the remaining shrimp, stirring them through the veggies. Cook slowly for another 10 mins.
6) Taste-test. You might find that it needs salt, or that it could do with a little tomato, if so add any leftover cherry tomatoes.

To Serve: Spoon over boiled rice. Or if you have any leftover cooked polenta, toss it about in a pan with a little butter or oil till lightly browned and serve this as a side with your curried shrimp. Curry is always delicious with condiments like sliced banana and yogurt (on our last shopping list), and or shredded coconut, and chutney.

Sunday Brunch Polenta Cake

I think this is probably the first dessert-like dish I've shared on this blog.

I made it for a brunch on Friday, and I have to tell you, it was a huge success!

It's a semi-sweet polenta cake which I served with buttered apples and yogurt. I say semi-sweet because there's no sugar in the polenta, only black cherry conserve.

And the beauty of this semi-sweet polenta cake is that if you have any leftover, you can pan-fry pieces of the cake, say with eggs and bacon (exactly what I did this morning), which means it can also be the basis of a savory meal.

Sunday Brunch Polenta Cake:
(using ingredients from the March 19th shopping list)
1) Boil 4 cups of water and gradually pour in a cup of polenta.
2) Whisk briskly so polenta takes on the water on med-to-low heat. Continue stirring for about 30 mins with a wooden spoon.
3) As polenta is cooking add a big dob of butter and about a cup of fruit jam, whatever you have on hand, i.e. cherry, strawberry, apricot, marmalade. Stir thoroughly, mixing jam through cooking polenta.
4) Chop a couple handfuls of almonds and add to the cooking polenta, and you might add a little salt too, it will bring out the flavors. (You can also add half a teaspoon of cinnamon and or nutmeg if you like.)
5) At the 30 min mark, pour polenta into a large greased bowl or onto a plate, and let it cool.
6) Now peel and slice several apples. Bananas are on the last shopping list too, so you could add some sliced banana too.
7) Melt a big chunk of butter in a pan, add the apples and bananas and stir them about in the butter till they brown. Squeeze some lemon juice over the fruit, put a lid on the pan and remove it from the hot plate.

To serve: Plate sliced pieces of polenta cake, spoon some buttered apple and banana over the cake, and then add a large dollop of yogurt. If you have any almonds left, sprinkle a few over the top, and for total decadence drizzle honey or maple syrup over the lot!

A delicious flavor-pal beverage is Tulsi Rose Tea, or chai or a good cuppa English breakfast tea.

Savory Bread Pudding & Asparagus

It's Friday, and once again, I want to offer readers an easy-to-make, family-friendly meal.

Savory bread pudding is a clever adaptation of the old-fashioned dessert favorite, sweet bread pudding.

Making use of any stale bread on hand, leftover vegetables such as chard, eggs and milk (ingredients from the most recent grocery list), this is a delicious dish that will take about an hour to make.

Savory Bread Pudding & Asparagus

1) For the bread pudding: Chop into chunks any leftover baguette you have, or for that matter, any stale bread you have in the fridge or freezer (unfreeze bread first).
2) Saute all the leftover chard (wash it first, and remove woody stalks) in olive oil with a little garlic.
3) Halve all the leftover cherry tomatoes.
4) Set aside a cup of frozen peas to defrost.
5) Break 4 eggs into a bowl & add a cup & a half of milk, beat with a whisk till eggs are thoroughly mixed into milk.
6) Now toss bread & veggies into a baking dish. If you have dried herbs, i.e. basil or thyme or oregano, add about a teaspoon & stir through. Season with salt & pepper, stir again.
7) Pour egg & milk mix over the bread & veggies & gently press the lot down with back of a spatula.
8) Pop into a 350 degree for about 40 mins.

Grilled Asparagus

1) While bread pudding is cooking, break off woody ends of asparagus.
2) Heat olive oil in a skillet and toss asparagus in, stirring it about -- it will brown as it would if over an open-flame grill.

3) Cook for about 5-7 mins, or till it turns bright green.

4) Remove skillet from hotplate and drizzle some olive oil over the asparagus, season with ground black pepper and salt.

To Serve: Dollop a heaping spoon of bread pudding onto a warm plate with a side of asparagus. A bright, slightly dry, chilled white wine would be a fab flavor pal with this simple-gourmet, Friday-night dinner.

Flounder with Polenta & Chard

When I upload photos I've taken of meals I've made for this blog, I'm often woefully disappointed with the way the pictures look.

Disappointed, because I know how absolutely gorgeous food can look when it's staged for the camera.

In my professional cooking days in Australia, I had a friend who worked in the kitchens of Kraft.

Kerry called me one week and asked if I'd be interested in helping her stage food for a photo shoot for Kraft's latest cook book.

I jumped at the opportunity. And what an eye-opening experience it was!

I discovered that because cooked food looks kinda limp, tired, and unappetizing, great food photography takes advantage of partially-cooked or raw food (particularly if vegetables are in the shoot) even if it means the final photograph is a big fib.

The truth is, oftentimes a picture of a dish that is supposedly cooked (like a veggie-rich casserole) is not a photo of cooked vegetables at all, but a manipulated image of par-cooked vegetables.

After all, who would be enticed to read or buy a cook book featuring limp and tired-looking food?

So, in defense of my amateurish food pics, I'm just a girl with an iPhone, a laptop (not a Mac), on a mission to show you real food in all its cooked, and sometimes limp-looking glory.

So with that in mind, let me tell you about the above meal:

Flounder with Polenta and Chard

(Ingredients are from the March 19th shopping list)

1) Add about a cup of polenta to a pot of (3-4 cups) of boiling water. Stir with a wooden spoon, letting the polenta simmer for about 30 mins or until it turns porridge-like. Turn polenta out onto a plate and let it cool and set.

2) Meanwhile, remove woody stalks from chard and chop it into pieces.

3) Saute some chopped onion and garlic in olive oil, toss in chard & a cup of frozen peas, turn heat to low so that veggies stew slowly in their own juice.

4) Cut polenta into chunks and toss it in with veggies.

5) Lay flounder fillets over the top of polenta and veggies, season with salt and pepper and put lid on. Flounder will steam cook in about 5 minutes.

To Serve: Spoon a portion of vegetables and polenta onto plates, top with a piece of steamed flounder, squeeze half a lemon over the lot and serve with chopped cilantro.

Realize your Economic Limits When Grocery Shopping

At the request of one of my friends, this Sunday we met at Whole Foods.

Catherine wanted to shadow me and learn how and why I make the choices that I make when I do my grocery shopping.

Talking through my choices with Catherine made me aware of two things:

1. It's important to realize our economic limits around food purchases and consumption.
2. It's possible to buy your weekly groceries for less by staying away from packaged foods and purchasing whole, unprocessed produce, protein and dry goods in bulk.

As Catherine and I stood at the check-out, ahead of us were a couple who'd spent $86 on a bag of groceries which included over $10 worth of carob treats. Spending that amount on sweets is fine if your budget allows for it, but if it doesn't, don't buy expensive sweets!

It's a simple formula: If you can't afford it, don't buy it -- realize your economic limits!

I'm not suggesting that if you're on a budget you should never treat yourself -- since I buy myself a small treat every week -- rather, treat yourself within your means.

Oftentimes I'll buy a bar of chocolate, or something sweet from the bulk section, like maple-covered pecans, or dates, or chocolate covered almonds and at the most, I'll spend 2-3 dollars because that's within my budget.

As for the second point, I spent the amount I usually spend on my weekly groceries, approximately $60, and my carry bag was larger and overflowing with whole foods compared to the couple ahead of me who'd spent $86 on less food.

As we all feel the pressure of living during leaner times, it makes sense to spend within your means by making healthier, whole food choices at the grocery store.

Today I have a simple meal suggestion using items from the March 19th shopping list.

Spicy Buffalo
1) Over med-to-high heat, saute big chunks of chopped onion and eggplant in olive oil with garlic (1 or 2 cloves).
2) Once eggplant has browned toss in buffalo, stir it around, breaking up ground beef, then turn heat down, low-to-med.
3) Add half a jar of the 365-brand salsa, stir into beef and veges.
4) Once mixture starts to bubble, turn heat to low and put lid on. Cook slowly for about 15 mins.
5) Do a taste-test and if you want it spicier/hotter, add more salsa or if you have 'hot sauce' on hand, add that.
6) At the last minute, toss in lots of chopped cilantro, stirring through before serving.

Asparagus, Chard & Cherry Tomatoes
1) Break off woody part at the bottom of asparagus spear.
2) Boil rapidly in an inch or so of water for 3-5 mins. with a couple of chopped chard leaves.
3) Strain greens, drizzle with olive oil, season to taste.
4) Toss through some cheese, letting it melt.
5) Chop cherry tomatoes in half and serve on the side with greens.

To Serve: Spoon spicy buffalo and asparagus into separate serving bowls for the most effective presentation at the dining table. You might like to include a small bowl of extra grated cheese for sprinkling over the vegetables, and additional salsa to serve with the buffalo.

Living the M2M Principle

One of my creative-foodie friends, Carolyn, a travel writer for Lonely Planet, prompted me to share some thoughts on living the Market to Mouth principle, that is, grocery shopping and eating well on a budget.

Based in Chile, Carolyn has stayed with me on numerous occasions while on assignment in the U.S. We have much in common; in particular, we've both been trying to eek out a living as writers.

Writing romantic comedy, and now food blogging (me) and writing for one of the most successful budget-travel publications (Carolyn) -- is wonderfully creative and challenging and so on, but living the Artist's Way has meant forgoing a steady & regular paycheck.

However, Carolyn and I do it anyway because we love it!

When you follow your passion and work at what you love, oftentimes you have to make sacrifices. And out of necessity to our craft, C and I have consciously chosen to live thrifty lives because we've had to.

This means pre-recession, we were living on a budget, counting our pennies while grocery shopping, and still eating well despite our thrift.

Because we both love our food and because we're both creatives, we've learned the art of whipping up stone soup (minus the stones) again, because necessity is the mother of invention.

The conversation amongst my friends these days is the economy, and that conversation is tinged with fear. We are indeed living in interesting times necessitating that we all tap our inner resourcefulness and inventiveness.

Whether you're already counting pennies or realizing that you need to be, follow me as I walk my talk, grocery shopping on a budget, and managing my food for the week, cooking up delicious and nutritious meals applying my no fuss, no waste approach to simple-gourmet cooking.

Really, If Carolyn and I can do it, you can too!

Red Curry & Coconut Milk Shrimp

This is a fabulously easy and tasty dish that can be whipped up in minutes.

Using ingredients from the shopping list I posted yesterday, here's the method ....

Red Curry & Coconut Milk Shrimp
1) Chop an onion (or several spring onions) and toss in a pan with olive oil and some garlic. Saute on medium till onion is transparent.
2) Add a teaspoon of Thai Red Curry Paste (or more, depending on how spicy you like your food).
3) Wash several leaves of red chard, trim woody stems off then chop into pieces. Add to pan, along with a handful of whole or halved, grape tomatoes.
4) I added a yellow bell pepper, though they're not on this week's grocery list, but if you have a yellow pepper or even carrot, add it for the color.
5) Toss in a half bag of thawed Whole Catch Pink Shrimp or the whole bag, depending on how 'shrimpy' you want to make this dish. Stir around and coat shrimp and veggies with curry paste and onions.
6) Pour in a can of coconut milk and lightly simmer for about 10-15 mins.

To Serve: Spoon curry over boiled rice, or noodles, or even over toast if you can't be bothered cooking rice. Top with chopped cilantro and the juice from half a lemon or lime.

The Transition from Winter to Spring

Today, I'm putting together a new grocery list.

My Feb 28th post offered several tips on writing a weekly grocery list. You might want to check it out again.

I also added a couple of links (see sidebar) to sites that will help the grocery shopper in your household become more skilled with writing grocery lists.

As I write my list, I'm taking into account that it's getting warmer and that spring officially starts next week. Because of the change in the weather, my preference recently has been for lighter meals with an emphasis on more vegetables, particularly green veggies.

Green foods are a great way to make the transition from winter to spring because their phytonutrients help the liver detox after a winter of heavier, richer food.

I'm also taking into consideration that this week, I'm having a group of friends over for brunch.

I'm going to prepare butter apples and top them with vanilla yogurt drizzled with honey and toasted almonds, accompanied by Tulsi rose tea!

I perused WFs Good Stuff For Less flier online and saw that bags of mixed apples are on sale this week, as are baguettes, which will a great for my brunch and last week I picked up the Tulsi tea when I noticed that it was on sale.

So here's my list: (Remember, my budget is around $60 a week and I manage to stick to it by sticking to my shopping list.)

1. Red Chard (2 for $3)
   
2. Asparagus ($1 off)
   
3. Organic grape tomatoes
   
4. frozen peas & sliced okra
5. cilantro
6. egg plant
7. bag of apples ($1 off)
   
8. bananas
9. buffalo ($2 off)
   
10. flounder (frozen vacuum pack)
    
11. Whole Catch frozen shrimp
12. 365-brand coconut milk
13. eggs (365-brand large white)
    
14. 1/2 & 1/2
15. 365-brand yogurt
16. almonds (from bulk section)
    
17. chick peas (from bulk section)
    
18. polenta (from bulk section)
    
19. Wfs bakery baguette ($1 off)
    
20. Tortilla Chips (2 for $4)
    
21. 365-brand salsa
22. Cheese from olive bar
    

This week, I'll share as many different and interesting simple gourmet meals as I can prepare from my grocery list above -- including the brunch I make reference to.

As always, I want readers to see that it is easy to shop on a budget at WFs and then once home, just as easy to prepare at least 6 main meals, plus some yummy lunches with leftovers.

Cooking for a Thousand

Yesterday I wrote about the economy of buying in quantity at Whole Foods. My reader, Erica, posted a comment in response. Feel free to add your comment(s)

After all the talk about buying in quantity, I have a story about cooking in quantity:

When I worked as a chef for Melbourne's then top catering company, Peter Rowlands, we catered a 3-day, weekend wrap-up party for The Man From Snowy River. Between the crew, actors, extras, hangers-owners etc, we were cooking for about 1000 people. And our managing chef was away, so at 22-years young, I was at the helm!

I have vague recollections of not sleeping for about a week leading up to the cook-a-thon due to daily, major panics over ordering the right massive quantities required to prepare the food we'd planned for the event.

Then during the actual cook-a-thon, my days ended around midnight and started again around 5 a.m. It's no wonder I was a bit foggy-brained and stressed.

Because Rowland's hadn't catered such a large function before (our big events were a couple hundred people not a thousand), I ordered containers to hold the planned butternut pumpkin soup and fancy salads. The containers were 30 gallon, plastic trash cans.

I'd proposed the butternut pumpkin soup because it's so easy, so delicious and the color is beautiful -- I knew the party-goers would love it. (It was a simple version of the recipe I posted on February 16th for Spicy Butternut Pumpkin Soup.)

As each batch of soup was finished, we poured it into one of the trash cans. At the end of that day, the lids went on 3, 30-gallon cans after which, we hauled them into our walk-in coolers for the night.

The following morning I rolled up half-dead with exhaustion but ready for another day of marathon cooking. With only a couple more days left before the weekend, we were on schedule and doing great work.

Shortly after my arrival the kitchen crew straggled in, made coffee, eggs, toast and hung out while I wandered through the walk-in cooler checking on our previous-day's work, lifting the lids on the trash cans.

When you cook large quantities of say, soup, it needs to cool slowly so that the temperature falls evenly on the outside and the inside. If the outside cools fast and the inside maintains it's temperature, the inside continues to cook and bubble and ...

I don't remember the superlatives that came roaring out of my mouth, suffice it to say I'm sure they were colorful. You see, the soup was bubbling. Furiously!

It had begun to ferment!

At least one, 30-gallon trash can of soup had to be tossed and made again.

Despite the behind-the-scenes drama, our food and the event was a huge success. Though, I have to say, I would never commit to putting myself under that kind of stress again!

Saving on Your Groceries

Today, I went on Whole Foods value tour and gathered information for my reader Erica who has three hungry, carnivorous men in her family to feed.

My intention was to find out if Erica could shop at Whole Foods for her family and not spend more than she's already spending on groceries at the big box stores.

On the value tour, I learned that like the big-box stores such as Costco, you can purchase WFs meat, fish, bulk items, tinned, bottled and frozen goods as well as fresh produce at a 10% discount when you buy large quantities.

In fact, you can buy just about anything at WFs for a discount if you buy in quantity:

1) Note the picture above of brightly-packaged frozen tuna, salmon and halibut -- a 10% discount applies on cases of frozen fish. In one case there are 12 packets of 12 ounces of fish, so a case contains 24 pieces of top-quality frozen fish. Cost that out, and you'll find you're paying a mere $3.50 per piece of fish. Ask your fish-counter team leader for help.

2) At the meat counter, ground beef is always .50c off each pound over purchases of 3lbs. The pre-packaged family packs of chicken and steak are also .50c off each pound over 3lbs. Cryovac packs of NY steaks are available with the 10% discount as are 40lb cases of meat. Ask your meat-counter team leader about the "beef in the bag" program. With the 10% discount, WFs prices on their fresh meats are comparable (within a few dollars) to Costco prices.

3) In the bulk section (pic above) note the sacks under the self-help containers. The 10% discount applies when you buy sacks of commodities like flour, sugar, salt, oats, rice and beans. Dried fruits and nuts come in boxes rather than sacks. The weight of the box is indicated below the PLU number on the self-help containers. For instance, cranberries are 9.99 per lb and they're available in 25lb boxes. When you buy a box, the 10% discount applies.

4) Over in the frozen foods department, the 10% case-discount applies on all frozen goods. Check the yellow price label; it will indicate how many packets are in a case. For instance, the 365-brand sliced okra comes in cases of 12 packets.

5) Then over in the fresh produce department, everything can be bought in a case and the 10% case-discount applies.

If you're grocery shopping for a family on a budget, and you have a good freezer and a pantry with room to store dry goods, consider buying your groceries in bulk and making use of WFs 10% discount program.

Obviously the thing to do would be to stagger your bulk purchases so that you're not spending an enormous amount all at once. One week buy a case of fish. The next week buy a sack of rice. The next week buy a case of acorn squash. And so on.

I hope this has been helpful for readers like Erica, who have hungry carnivores at home, and who need and want to be mindful of saving dollars.

Budget-Wise Grocery Shopping Tips

Erica, mother of two hungry boys and wife to an equally hungry husband, emailed me saying that she could never afford to grocery shop at Whole Foods for her carnivorous family of men.

I've taken on Erica's challenge, which means this week I'm going to offer some cost-saving suggestions for families like Erica's who are curious to learn how they can shop on a budget at a grocery store like Whole Foods.

To start with here are 4 simple budget-wise tricks to consider:

• Note that I don't buy processed or packaged foods, other than the occasional frozen meal which I keep on hand for emergencies. My cost-saving preference is whole, unprocessed foods because simply, they're healthier and cheaper.

• I always buy my dry goods, like whole, unprocessed grains in bulk. If you buy boxed and brand-name rice, beans, pulses, nuts, chocolate, etc. you will pay for the pretty packet. Instead, buy flours, grains, nuts, dried fruits, trail mix, beans, lentils, chocolate in bulk; there's no packaging to toss away and you'll save.

• Buy fresh produce in season, i.e. don't buy expensive soft summer fruits in the middle of winter! In fact, go without produce that is not in season; it makes economical and health sense to avoid foods that are not in season. In winter, those veggies and fruits harvested in the late fall are in season and abundant and they're price will reflect that.

• Look out for Whole Foods "Good Stuff For Less" prices and try their 365-generic brand products; they're a great deal! And remember 10% off case-discounts and .50c off every lb of meat with purchases of over 3lbs!

Meanwhile, today I'm posting the eighth meal suggestion from ingredients listed in the Feb 28th shopping list, a list of groceries I bought for just under $65.

It's a chunky, green veggie and corn soup, one that uses leftovers from the 2/28 shopping list, and one that would suffice as a main meal for light-eaters, but probably only as a lunch snack for fellas like Erica's boys.

Chunky Green Vegetables & Corn Soup

1) Recently I posted a meal using a turkey breast so you may have scraps of leftover meat. Hopefully, as a result I've my posts on stock making, you were inspired to made a stock by tossing the remaining meat (and any bones) in a pot of water and simmering it for about an hour or two.
2) To the strained stock, add leftover broccoli, zucchini, celery, some frozen corn, season to taste and voila, a delicious, nutritious green soup made from leftovers. For a more substantial soup, add a cooked grain, i.e. rice, millet or quinoa, or add chunks of cooked potato.
3) From the Feb 28th shopping list, you might have a leftover piece of salmon. For a more complete meal, pan fry it in a little olive oil and lemon juice and serve it with this soup.

Pasta with Red Bell Pepper Sauce & Greens

Today I'm offering the seventh meal suggestion from the Feb 28th shopping list.

It's a simple, hearty meal. One that'll take about 15 minutes to prepare which means it's great for evenings when you're too tired to fuss with food -- like Friday nights!

Pasta with Red Bell Pepper and Greens
1) Chop and saute red bell pepper, onion, garlic in olive oil over med heat.
2) Bring pot of water to boil for pasta.
3) In a separate pan saute additional onion in olive oil, then toss in unfrozen spinach, chopped broccoli florets and chopped asparagus. Turn hot plate to low and put lid on so that veggies stew lightly in their own juice.
4) Add pasta to boiling water and simmer until pasta is soft but still slightly chewy (al dente).
5) At this point, add a big blob of olive and caper tapenade to the red bell peppers, onion and garlic. Put the lot through a food processor to create a thick sauce or if you can't be bothered, just spoon it over the pasta as a chunky sauce.
6) Once pasta is cooked to your liking, strain, and then run strainer w/pasta under the hot water tap to flush out starchy pasta water. Return pasta to pot, drizzle olive oil over pasta and stir through with pot on hot plate, though don't over heat and fry pasta.

To serve: Spoon pasta onto plate, top with red bell pepper sauce, and some zesty cheese if you have any. Add side of greens to create a colorful and nutritious meal.

Top Reasons to One-Stop Shop

In my March 9th post, I mentioned that I practice 1-stop grocery shopping. I do so because driving around looking for the best deal on single items is a time, energy, gas, and ironically, a money zap.

Let's face it, if you were to put a dollar value on your time, energy, and gas, how much would you really save buying "X" for less at that other store.

When Whole Foods introduced their value-pricing strategy last summer, it encouraged me to try 1-stop shopping at my local store. And here's what I discovered:

1) Their "Good Stuff for Less" and 365-generic brand prices are comparable, if not lower than other grocery stores.
2) Their 10% case-discount on any product in the store (plus it can be a mixed case of any 12 items) is a great deal.
3) Their .50c off each additional pound of meat over a 3lb purchase is a great value-added for me (I freeze what I'm not going to immediately use) and it's particularly great for families.
4) Their Whole Deal value guide contains lots of money-saving coupons.

When I buy groceries at a discount, I want to know that I'm still purchasing quality. I don't want to feel concern that I'm paying less because:

a) It fell of the back of a truck or
b) It's beyond its use-by date or
c) If it's meat or fish, it's full of antibiotics, hormones and dyes.

At WFs, I don't have these concerns because I trust their core values, plus I've shopped their long enough now to know that their product really is excellent.

Growing up in rural Australia, we knew where our beef, lamb, chicken came from. We bought from the local butcher who bought from the local farmers.

When I lived and cooked in France, I noticed it was similar, in as much as you could go into a butcher and see a drawn map of where the meat had been farmed. But I don't live in rural Australia or Europe, I now live in the middle of America.

Having had the above experiences, I want to feel like I can trust that the meat and fish I purchase has been ethically sourced. Whole Foods Meat standards gives me reason to trust that their meat is top quality.

Good value to me isn't just about my groceries being cheap. Good value includes knowing that while the food I'm buying is well priced, it's also good for me to the extent that's been grown and sourced according to a set of ethics and guidelines that parallels my desire to eat food that is as clean as it can be.

For all these reasons, I choose to 1-stop grocery shop at Whole Foods because during these economic times, I can buy my groceries there at a reasonable price and feel comfortable that their values are aligned with mine.