I moved from Atlanta to a little North Georgia town 18 months ago and realized yesterday I’m spending almost twice the amount I usually spend on groceries.
I cook meals from scratch most every day and am quite nutritionally minded. I decided I needed to rethink my cooking habits. Therefore, last night I soaked a dollar pack of pinto beans, which are a good source of vegetable protein.
Today I cooked the bag of pintos and after soaking, they made quite a large pot of beans. I added onions, carrots, celery and chilies, spiced with a little chili powder, added a pinch of sage, salt and pepper, and cooked slowly for about two hours.
I also bought a head of cabbage, which also has a lot of nutritional value. It cost $2.59. It seemed to me I had been buying cabbage for years for no more than 49 cents a pound, which usually costs around a dollar.
I made a cream sauce adding only salt and pepper. It was a fairly large batch of food so I put some in freezer bags and saved some for lunch tomorrow.
I plan to make cornbread from the wonderful fresh stone ground cornmeal I bought at the old gristmill in Helen, Georgia. In the South, we call this kind of meal “soul food.” It is a wonderful tasting meal and is quite nutritional. Admittedly, it’s a bit more trouble than a fast food hamburger…one has to wash the beans, scrape the carrots, chop onions, wash and chop cabbage, yet it’s a great tasting, healthy meal that lasts a couple of days and at a low cost.
The rising cost of groceries shocked me into revamping my thinking about shopping and preparing meals. I decided there is a way to circumvent the escalating cost of groceries with a bit more planning that allows you to still eat nutritionally and prepare meals that taste good.
Most of us in the older generation are on fixed incomes, but we do not necessarily have to be victimized by the increasing cost of food. Not to mention that eating healthy is essential to our well-being. I for one love to cook, therefore the challenge of eating well on less money is right up my alley.
I encourage others to consider innovative ideas to eat well in spite of the mounting food prices.
As summer approaches, local farmers and gardeners have fresh produce for sale. I know one particular farmer who grows and sells a variety of produce, fresh corn tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cabbage, among other things. Moreover, a little farmers’ market has vendors from all over this area who come and sell their fresh vegetables throughout the summer in addition to wonderful fruits like blueberries, peaches and plums.
I buy those and process for the freezer. I say process because many things like fresh corn must be cooked before freezing; otherwise, it has a poor taste. In this area, we have the superb tasting silver queen corn.
And what’s better than a meal of creamed corn, green beans, potato salad and sliced tomatoes?
What I have noticed is many items in the grocery store come from foreign countries like China and Indonesia. For example, I used to buy tilapia fish until I read the label stating the origin was China. Needless to say, I stopped buying it. Instead, I buy canned Atlantic salmon from Sam’s Club.
With a little work and creative planning, there is a way to beat the rising cost of groceries while eating well and remaining healthy. We still have to buy some things at the local grocery store but we can reduce our weekly bill. One of the things causing the rising cost of groceries is the high price of gas for transporting goods to the store. And that’s not likely to change anytime soon.
Therefore, we can expect to pay more and more or we can begin thinking about ways to reduce the weekly cost. I for one was shocked to have to rethink my grocery spending.
Let Freedom Ring!
JUST ME,
AC
