What are you Drinking?

I used to drink a lot of soda. Diet soda, particularly. Now, there's always controversy surrounding every artificial sweetener out there, but that's not the point of my post today. I am no chemist, but I did stop drinking soda for two good reasons. First, it's an expensive and carbon-footprint-heavy habit. At the height of it, I was going through nearly 24 cans of soda a week. Even on sale, we're talking 8 bucks a week for my caffeine fix. Second, I appreciate the food I eat a heck of a lot more now that I don't drink soda. I notice flavors more, because my palate isn't overwhelmed with sweetness. I particularly like more kinds of fruit now. And no matter what side of the sweetener controversy you fall on, fruit is better than soda.

However, I still like to have something other than water to drink sometimes. No more 8 bucks a week for me, though, now I spend much less on what I drink.

First, for those of you who are going to stick with the soda, you can save some money and make your own. It's a little expensive as an initial investment, but if you're committed to soda, it saves in the long term. Also, you can reuse your bottles, so you make a big reduction in your carbon footprint.

However, I recommend switching to iced tea. I make my own. Buy one of these tea balls (you're going to want one at least this size), fill it with tea, and boil some water. Attach the tea ball to a pitcher, pour the water in, and refrigerate. After a few hours, you have your favorite flavor of iced tea. I've had mango green iced tea, pineapple ginger black iced tea, red iced tea. You don't only need to use loose leaf tea. Just stick four or five bags of tea in. You usually can use a tea ball twice. Two pitchers of tea with 8-10 glasses each in exchange for four or five bags of tea. A much better deal per glass than soda.

Where do I get cheap tea? First, I often get tea as a stocking stuffer or gift. I haven't bought tea in MONTHS and am still trying to get through all the tea I have been gifted over the years. However, you can also buy cheap tea at dollar stores, Christmas Tree Shop, Marshalls or TJ Maxx, or online. Happy tea hunting!

For a little more flavor, mix in a favorite lemonade, limeade, juice, or other flavor combo. Whole Foods had organic limeade on sale the other day for $2, and it made mango green tea taste like a virgin mojito..with caffeine! It was a bit more expensive and it has plenty of calories, but you only have half a serving when mixing it with the tea. So 6o calories instead of 120, and .15 instead of .30.

So try being your own tea barista, and drink up!

Making Do With What You've Got...But You Can Microwave Quinoa!

Just because we made the pledge to eat more responsibly a few months ago now doesn't mean that we still don't have some slightly more irresponsible food lying around. Particularly those items in our freezer. However, I think one of the most irresponsible thing one can do with food, responsibly acquired or not, is waste it.

So this is how I ended up baking this delicious pre-seasoned pork loin for dinner. It comes from Shaw's and had been sitting in our freezer. It was an excellent bargain. Normally $10, it had one of those $3 off stickers on it, and it was already on sale at about $7. So $4 for nearly 2 pounds of pork, preflavored. Not too shabby. However, this best I can say about this pork is that it is "all natural." What does all natural mean? Well, that depends; I don't know, and neither, I suppose, does the FDA. Seriously, however, there were no chemical additives or artificial or synthetic ingredients in the pork. Not so bad, when you think about it. No promises, however, about what Mr. Pork ate while still alive, his living conditions, and whether he was treated with anti-biotics. Oh well.

Accompanying this were some delicious snow peas obtained from our CSA. I can't tell you what they cost, because I purchased a subscription, paid for in full a few months ago, which means I am paying $335 for fruits and veggies during a 26-week growing season. I get several items every week. It's been a pretty good deal so far.

Last but not least is quinoa. Pronounced KEEN-WAH, it's pretty delicious stuff. I tend to be more flexible about the locality of my dry goods, particularly grains, because they take much less of a carbon footprint to get here, with no special refrigeration, etc. required. It's a delicious, nutty grain, and it's high in protein and fiber. A box may cost close to 2.50, but seriously, this stuff stretches much farther than couscous. A quarter cup prepared is more than enough for 2.

My favorite thing about Quinoa? YOU CAN MICROWAVE IT. Just follow the directions on the box. I promise. It's just as good that way.

So, in conclusion, what did I do to cook this meal? Stick a thing of pork on a dish and stick it in the oven, removing at the right time. Rinse some peas, stick them in a steamer insert with some water and steam. Microwave quinoa. Pretty easy stuff. And, if we're honest, a significant improvement in responsibility from our normal eating habits.

Enjoy!

A Belated 4th of July Post: How to Feed More Than 10 People on a Budget

It has been a crazy week, and so I am much delayed in posting on the 4th of July party we hosted. Originally planning to picnic on the Esplanade, the half-million plus crowds combined with the 90+degree heat led us to change our plans with less than 3 hours before people started to arrive. Yet, with a quick trip to Whole Foods and Panera, and with a little creative stretching, we served about 12 people on leftovers and about $35. Pretty awesome.

First, we didn't serve a full "meal" per se, but the amount of noshes we had was more than enough for "dinner" for everyone.

First, we took a page out of our own book, and the base of our meal was about 4 baguettes from Panera (about $10), and some cheese. However, fancy local mozzarella was not in the budget for this many people, so some concessions were made to locality for budget's sake. Now, brie may sound fancy for a dinner party on the cheap, and it is, but we have found a super deal on it. President's Brie now comes in easy-to-slice brie logs, and since it is a new product, they offer a coupon for it! You can get $3 off a brie log. Fill out the info and you can print your coupons. Now, supermarkets like Shaws and Stop and Shop will put $2 and $3 dollar off coupons on cheese (and other deli products) that are close to their expiration date. If you look through the cheese section you can usually find some. So, on the 4th, we got 2 brie logs which are normally 6.79 each for about 1.79 each! Slice thinly, and these go a long way.

We also added some somewhat local blueberries and strawberries from Whole Foods which were on sale, some other random things we had lying around the house, and we made a delicious spinach salad. You can buy a whole giant container of baby spinach at Whole Foods right now for about 6.99. That sounds expensive, but we only used half of the container for our salad to feed 10-12 people.

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Baby Spinach, sliced strawberries, +cheese (optional, feta or goat is highly recommended)

Dressing...mix balsamic vinegar, a little olive oil, and poppy seeds together. It's delicious!

So, with a delicious meal, we settled down for an excellent view of the fireworks...in air conditioning!

Buy in Bulk, or, How I Continue to Receive an Education Every Time I Go to Whole Foods

When I hear the encouragement to "buy in bulk" when I hear tips about saving money, I usually cringe a little. See, I've made buying in bulk mistakes before, like the time we bought about 120 rolls of toilet paper because it was the cheapest per roll price. There are now toilet paper rolls stuffed in the few conceivable storage places we could find in our tiny apartment (and some in some inconceivable locations as well.) Yes, we save .01 per hundred sheets, or something like that. Was it worth it? Probably not, although we have not had to buy toilet paper in a year. A full year.

However, buying in bulk sometimes makes sense. If you use a product or item frequently, and it goes on sale infrequently, then you should buy enough when it is on sale to last you until it is on sale again, as long as you have space and it won't expire.

That said, if you like Stonyfield yogurt, it is currently on sale for .50 a pop at Whole Foods. So now half of the top shelf of our refrigerator is yogurt. Seriously, we spent close to 25 dollars on yogurt alone yesterday. Why? Because, even with our yogurt-obsessed kick of one for breakfast and maybe one for lunch, we have enough to last us the next three months. It was over half off, and even sale prices on mass-producers dannon, yoplait, and the like are comparable to that price.

So think about what you like to eat. That thing you will always have, no matter what, with a great deal of frequency. Then go out and buy it when it's on sale. Easy enough.

However, no trip to Whole Foods is complete anymore without me learning something new. This time, I learned two important facts.

1. Whole Foods, as well as many other retailers, now offer recycling for #5 plastic, which is the heavier duty plastic found in, for example, my beloved yogurt cups. They'll also recycle your Brita Water Filters. An awesome tool to find out who near you recycles #5 can be found at the Gimme 5 website. There, you can find drop off points for #5 plastics, as well as learn how you can even MAIL IN your #5's if there is no place near you!

2. The cashier looked at us bug-eyed when we checked out with so many yogurts. He kept joking with us about how we were "setting records" on yogurt purches. Then, a manager saw our purchase and came over to tell us that Whole Foods will give you a 10% discount when you buy a case of something, or in bulk, such as say the yogurt, when it is not on sale. So, even if we ran out and yogurt had not gone back on sale, we could just ask and get a 10% discount. This holds true with all of their products!

Date Night Addendum: Wine!

I received some lovely advice from Kelly, a close friend and reader. Kelly has experience working in wine distribution, and had the following advice about getting a good deal on cooking wine.

"Keep an eye out, or ask a retailer, if they have any discount wines. Sometimes you can get them in 375mL, which is perfect for cooking. Retailers will have vintages that aren't selling well, so they want to move them out to create space in their store. OR... they know that particular vintage is going to start to turn, so they want to get something for it. I've seen bottles of wine, only fit for cooking, selling for $2.50-$3.00. I'm not sure what the prices would be in Boston, but at least you can get something from the US at a reasonable price.

We used to have deals for "cooking wines" at the distributorship for wines that sat in the truck a little too long in transport. It's worth asking your local retailer if their distributor has any deals on wines that might have turned and are now better suited for cooking. Your retailer will probably not think to ask that question to a distributor. Something to think about if you plan on doing more cooking with wine."

And, while we're on the topic of wine, please think about the carbon footprint of your wine. Not surprisingly, most of wine's carbon footprint comes from the transportation, not the fertilizer to grow the grapes, etc. This is a fascinating map telling (depending on where you live) whether it is less of a carbon footprint to have wine shipped by plane from Bordeaux, France, or to be trucked from Napa Valley, California. So think about where your wine comes from, and enjoy!

Date Night: Dinner and a Movie

This past weekend, I made dinner for date night. Date night often can mean dinner out, which is probably going to be at least 10-12 per person, so when I cook for date night at home, I allow my budget to run a little higher, because it is still a marked improvement over even burgers and fries at a local joint. This fancy-looking but simple meal was a real hit for date night!

First, I went to my local farmer's market and picked up some fresh veggies. I looked for something a little exotic but still tried to keep it cheap. I don't need any $9 salad...I went with these rainbow carrots for $2.50. They were beautiful, tasted delicious, and were easy to prepare; I just steamed them like regular carrots, but since they were beautifully rainbow-hued they looked like something from a fancy restaurant menu.

Then came gnocchi. I usually get it at Trader Joe's. It's really simple to make; you boil water, put the gnocchi in, and when they begin to float they're done. I toss in a little pesto (same stuff as on the pizza). They're usually well under $3 for a package, and there are almost always leftovers.

Now, I need to make an honest confession here. The gnocchi were NOT a hit this date night. I think they had soured or something. We took one bite and said, something is funny about these gnocchi. It wasn't the pesto. It was the gnocchi. So I'm going to have to look for a cheap but good alternative for the gnocchi at Trader Joes. Which is probably a good thing, since I realized that the gnocchi had come from Italy. That's too big a carbon footprint for my comfort.

But the best part of the meal was hands down the chicken. Now, the chicken was the usual Whole Foods deal, but this time I baked it in a white wine beurre blanc. Wow. It was that good. You, too, can impress, with a little slightly-past-you-want-to-drink-it-out-of-a-glass white wine.

Take two chicken breasts, season with garlic, a little salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Stick in an oven at 375 and set the timer for half an hour.

In the meantime, take leftover white wine and add it to a saucepan. Turn on med-high heat, and bring the wine to a boil. Let it bubble a few minutes to let most of the alcohol burn off. Turn the heat down to medium, and begin to add small chunks of cold, salted butter. Whisk hard while adding the butter. Add as much butter as it takes to make it look more like a sauce than wine in a pan.

Remove the chicken, pour the white wine sauce over the breasts, so they're just sort of bathing in the goodness. Return to oven, and finish the 30 minutes of baking or so. Use a meat thermometer to tell you when they're done!

A little butter goes a long way in this recipe. I highly recommend Kate's of Maine or Cabot's. Both are local and use a consortium model to gather the products of smaller farmers. Both are competitively priced with other butters on the market, and are available at Shaw's, Whole Foods, Stop and Shop, and most other retailers.

Final tally on the meal? I guesstimate about 6.25 per person. A good deal for such a fancy date night. Next time, more white wine sauce and less gnocchi.

Save Money: Pack Lunch

We're busy. Really busy. We don't need another thing to do. Or maybe it's social pressure. Everyone does it, so we should just do it too. Whatever the reason, plenty of people buy their lunch during the workweek. Once a week, twice a week, every day.

It's an expensive habit. Let's say you spend 5 bucks a meal every day at work. That's $25 dollars a WEEK on a single meal. And where exactly is that meal coming from? If you've committed to trying to make somewhat responsible eating choices, can you honestly say you know where your lunch money is going? Is it supporting whole trade products? locally sourced items? A well-balanced, healthful meal?

If you pack your lunch, every single day, you could save a lot of money off of your food bill. With a little prep time on the weekend, it only takes an extra five minutes in the morning. When you buy fruit on the weekend, make up some little single-serving containers. Same goes for chips, snacks, crackers, or whatever else you would like with lunch. Then all you need to do in the morning is make a sandwich or grab some leftovers, add a yogurt or fruit or snack, and go.

How much can you save? Let's have a look at lunch today. $1 on leftover pizza. Probably about .75 cents on blueberries. .50 cents on my yogurt. (On sale at Whole Foods last week for .50 each!) Maybe about .50 of little snack crackers. A whopping total of 2.75 for lunch. That's nearly half off if you're amazing at finding $5 lunch deals.

So, save the $2.75 per week, or any other multiplier, and pack your lunch.

A last bit of food for thought. What are you going to do with all that money you save? I challenge you: Try giving %10 of it to charity. Eat out twice a week? Saved $5 this week on your lunches? Give $.50 to a charity this week, and pocket the rest. Do a little extra good (you won't notice the difference, since it's money you usually spend anyway), and save some money as well. Then do it next week too. And the week after that. It will add up quickly

Happy lunching!