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!