Queercents

For the past 6 months, we’ve been talking about different ways to stretch your food dollar. But I have been remiss at actually sharing any tips about how to set a realistic food budget in the first place. With the New Year right around the corner, many of us are reevaluating our finances and setting goals for 2009. It’s a great time to look at your family’s food budget and determine if you’re on the mark.

The USDA has a handy worksheet available to help you set a food budget that is appropriate for your household. They’ve calculated the average price of food over the past 12 months to arrive at their monthly food cost estimates. Using my household as an example, a two-adult household should plan to spend $447.10 a month on food if they are on the “low-cost plan.” Last year my partner and I spent an average of $400 a month on food, so we’re doing pretty good. If we want to go with the “thrifty plan,” we’ll need to cut our expenses to $352.50. But anything below that would be completely unrealistic (and probably a little unhealthy).

Many articles about stretching your food dollar advocate these four tips:
1. Never grocery shop when you’re hungry - you end up buying more.
2. Scout the weekly food ads to find out which store has the best deals. Read the rest of this entry »

One of my family’s favorite holiday traditions is making plates of goodies for our friends and neighbors. We always make cookies, fruit cake, and fudge to include on a plate wrapped in colored cellophane. Then we deliver the goodies on Christmas Eve. In honor of this tradition, I thought I’d share some of these recipes for this week’s Stretch Your Food Dollar.

A report on CNN this week noted that many people are turning to homemade gifts as a way of cutting down on their holiday shopping expenses. The great thing about making homemade gifts in your kitchen is that most of the time, the ingredients are things that you’re likely to already have on hand. Plus, you can get the whole family involved and create your own special memories. Heck, you could even make a cheap date out of decorating cookies and Christmas caroling as you deliver the goodies to your friends. And what’s not to love about a cute date in a Santa hat? The proverbial kiss under the mistletoe is just the icing on the cookie, if you’ll forgive the cheesy pun.

Here’s a recipe for sugar cookies and icing. You can use candy to decorate the cookies, and colored sprinkles are usually less than $1 at the grocery store. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you like me? Do you buy bananas each week with the best of intentions to eat them before they turn brown? For me, it never fails. Whether I buy 2 bananas or 6 bananas, I’ve always got brown bananas before the end of the week. So I thought I’d offer a recipe for Vegan Banana Bread for this week’s edition of Stretch Your Food Dollar.

Vegan Banana Bread is a great dish to have in your repertoire. Whether you eat it at home or bring it to a potluck, there’s always someone who will enjoy it. Banana bread is perfect with a cup of coffee for breakfast on the run. You could make several loaves at once and store extras in your freezer. Or you could make mini loaves and give them away as gifts for that upcoming office holiday party, or to a neighbor who watered your plants for you while you were on vacation. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is starting to recover from the frenzy of eating leftovers. Two weeks ago I mentioned that you could save your turkey bones to make stock, so I thought this would be an excellent topic for this week’s edition of Stretch Your Food Dollar.

Quality stock is the basis of all classical cuisine. By utilizing bones to make stock, you are maximizing your food dollar by making sure that you use every part of the animal. You can of course make chicken and beef stock by saving your bones, but did you know you can also make shrimp, fish, and lobster stock by saving the shells and bones? Most of us probably don’t have the freezer space at home to make all of the different stocks that can be used in the kitchen, but having your own chicken or vegetable stock on hand can be a real money saver. And with a few tools and some simple ingredients, you can start saving money on stock today.

Before we get into the specifics of making stock, I should probably clarify that there is a difference between stock and broth. Broth is made by simmering meat, while stock is made by simmering bones. On Saturday I made broth by simmering a whole turkey. I picked the meat off the bones and bagged that up for future use, and then I saved the bones for making a batch of stock when I run out of my broth. If you use bone-in cuts of meat (which end up being cheaper), you can store your bones in the freezer for several months until you have enough to make your stock. Or you could talk to your butcher to see if they’re willing to sell or give you their discarded bones. Read the rest of this entry »

As I promised last week, I’ve saved the best part of our Thanksgiving edition of Stretch Your Food Dollar for last . . . the desserts! When the family and friends get together, you can always count on someone to bring their signature dessert. Whether it’s a Cherry Pie with vanilla ice cream, or a Pumpkin Pie with lots of Cool Whip, it’s always a good idea to save a little room for dessert!

I used to be a pastry cook, and one of the best parts of offering desserts is that the pastry station is usually the cheapest station in the professional kitchen. Your main ingredients are flour and sugar. And even though the price of flour has been increasing steadily, desserts are still an easy way for restaurateurs to earn a substantial mark up on the menu. For those of us at home, desserts are also an inexpensive way to put a smile on your guests’ face. And who doesn’t love the smell of the house when a pie or some holiday cookies are in the oven?

I love pie! But even though it’s a Thanksgiving classic, I’ve never been a big fan of Pumpkin Pie. I’ll let someone else share their best recipe for the dessert that defines Thanksgiving. However, I think that Pecan Pie is a good reason to give thanks. Here’s a version that I’m positive will make your vegan guests ecstatic. Read the rest of this entry »

Holy moley, can you believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner? Last week’s edition of Stretch Your Food Dollar was about cheap and easy Thanksgiving dishes. And this week we’re talking turkey. Literally.

Since I’m a vegetarian, I don’t do much by way of cooking a turkey. The Food Network, however, has several pages devoted to the subject. The most popular method from their site comes from Alton Brown. He recommends soaking the turkey overnight in a brine made with vegetable stock. Brining helps to lock in moisture so that your meat is nice and juicy after a slow roast. Regardless of your roasting method, be sure to follow food safety procedures. Thawing a turkey in the refrigerator can take up to 3 days. So plan ahead.

While I’m not a big fan of making turkey myself, I have compromised by making jerk chicken for my Thanksgiving guests. This is so easy you’ll wonder why you didn’t do this before. All you need is enough chicken leg quarters for the number of guests you have coming and enough Lawry’s Jerk Marinade to cover the meat. Read the rest of this entry »

With the holidays fast approaching, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about doing Thanksgiving on a budget for the next 3 editions of our weekly food budgeting series. You may have already guessed that as a foodie, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! I typically spend the entire week cooking, then recovering from all the frenzy by spending the weekend curled up in front of the TV with a stack of my favorite videos.

One of the great things about Thanksgiving is the potluck nature of the day. You can always count on certain people to bring their best dishes to the table. And when everyone contributes to the meal, you can justify splurging a little on some of your ingredients, since the overall cost of the meal will be shared. This is where my deep dish baked mac and cheese comes in. Normally I can’t afford to go balls out and buy a good Gruyere cheese to put myself in a pasta coma with this dish. But on a day that’s all about giving thanks, I want to celebrate with a big pan of sexy, cheesy goodness. And in that situation, no other cheese will do. Follow me after the jump for my rock star quality mac and cheese, as well as a few budget worthy dishes that taste really delicious. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Wednesday, so that must mean it’s time for our weekly food budgeting series. And what better way to celebrate Obama’s amazing victory than to talk about one of my favorite foods of all time - the humble, yet lovable potato!

Despite the rising cost of many foods, potatoes remain one of the few food staples that seems to be inflation proof. You can still get a 10 pound bag of potatoes for $2-$3. And since these amazing tubers store remarkably well and are extremely versatile, it’s no wonder that they’re a subsistence crop around the world.

The mighty potato wasn’t always the trusted source of nutrition that it is today. Potatoes originated in Peru and reached Europe via the Colombian Exchange. When potatoes first arrived on European shores, people were hesitant to accept them because they resembled the deadly nightshade plant. In fact, tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants are all a part of the nightshade family. But potatoes eventually took root, if you’ll excuse the pun, and now show up on plates around the world. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to another edition of our weekly food budgeting series.

One of my favorite things about the Fall is the abundance of root vegetables that are available. Right now you can find beets, turnips, parsnips, and rutabagas at super prices at your grocery store or in your CSA basket. When I was young, I never really cared for these “ugly” looking vegetables, especially beets. This is probably because I had only ever had pickled beets from a can. However, when I was in high school and living in Idaho, my aunt made some fresh beets for dinner one night and I was hooked. Now I can’t get enough!

One of the great things about root vegetables, aside from their taste and versatility, is that they keep for a long time in the refrigerator. So follow me after the jump for storage tips and a few great recipes that I am sure you’ll enjoy as much as I do.

When you get your root vegetables home, don’t wash them before you put them in the refrigerator. As soon as water hits the vegetables, they will start to loose their freshness. Do, however, trim off any of the greens. The greens will start to wilt before the rest of the vegetable. As with most other vegetables, root vegetables should be stored in a plastic bag to help maintain freshness. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey everyone - this is the fourteenth installment of our food budgeting series;. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. They’ve really been driving the direction of the posts. This week I want to talk about canning and preserving, based on an excellent suggestion from Jane a few weeks ago.

Whether your growing your own food or you’re shopping the food sales and hitting the farmer’s market to get great deals on produce, right now we’re smack dab in the middle of the Fall harvest. What an exciting time to think about canning and preserving in your very own kitchen! The art of making pickles and jams is throw back to an almost bygone era. Your grandmothers (and probably some of your mothers) may have done their own canning, and you might have helped them. But how many of us actually take the time to make our own applesauce these days? The thought of putting things into little mason jars might seem daunting, but it’s actually easier than you think. It’s a great weekend activity that the whole family can participate in. And it’s also fun to invite a few friends over to enjoy a bottle of wine and make jam together. As an extra bonus, homemade preserves make excellent (and cheap) holiday gifts. And who doesn’t love a two-fer? Read the rest of this entry »