Yummy on a Budget

So...I've decided to do a few short posts on the art of eating well on a budget. It's frustrating that buying organic and natural foods is expensive....and cooking from scratch requires planning, creativity and patience. But, it is possible to eat yummy healthy foods even though your budget is tight, and I'm going to do a little project to prove it. I'm going to tell you what I bought at the grocery store, how much I spent, what I cooked, and how much food it made. The first rules of learning to cook well on a budget are as follows:

1. Slowly stock your pantry with spices, olive oil, fresh garlic, etc.
2. Learn the value of meatless meals.
3. Don't be afraid to cook without recipes. Recipes often call for strange ingredients that you have to run out and buy for just that one meal.
4. Know that when it comes to thinking about the environmental, political, and health issues in regards to food, everything's a trade off. It's unlikely that you'll find food that is organically and locally grown. So, if you can't get organic, try to at least buy local...and vice versa. The main thing is that you're not eating Lunchables and the like. Ew.
5. Read labels carefully. Learn what those crazy ingredients are and how bad they are for your health, and look for foods with very short ingredients lists. Skippy Natural Peanut Butter ingredients: Peanuts, oil, salt. Yes.

Okay, so I went to our farmer's market yesterday for some essential items:

16 oz. Hickory Smoked Sausage from Elba, AL
12 oz. Bacon from Elba, AL
Amish shredded cheddar
10 pk flour tortillas
32 oz. bag frozen broccoli
frozen biscuits
Amish whole wheat pasta
2 yellow onions
2 green bell peppers
4 roma tomatoes
1 ginormous eggplant
1 garlic cluster

Total: $34.66

So I have several meals in mind here, and I plan on posting the meals I made, but the most important thing is how long this food will last us. So, we'll see. Obviously, there are other grocery items that I will be picking up here and there that are not on this list: coffee, juice, milk, etc. Allegri Farm Market doesn't carry any of these items except coffee, so I split up the rest of my shopping between Publix and Target. Yes, I go to three different grocery stores. It saves me that much money. Produce at Publix is very expensive...for example, one bell pepper is $1.79 there, and they're $0.69 at Allegri. However, Publix carries organic bell peppers for around $2, so sometimes I buy those. It's all a trade off. For dry foods (cereal, pasta, coffee) and juice, I shop at Target. A box of cereal that costs $4 at Publix is $2.50 at Target. And Publix cranberry juice is $4.29 while Target's (same brand) is $2.79. That shit adds up! I buy my organic foods and some meat from Publix (though finding remotely natural meat is next to impossible here...more on that later). I got a humongous jar of organic Texas rice for $6, and we've been eating off it for weeks and are only halfway through it! Anyway, through all this, I've become very aware of what I'm spending and what I'm eating, and it's given me a great and wonderful sense of having control over my day to day living through my own educated and thoughtful choices of food. I'll let you know what's for dinner.