Cut The Crap - Cook At Home

As home cooking has fallen into disfavour in recent decades, many people don't know how to cook.

I like to cook all my meals from scratch using wholesome vegetarian ingredients. Evidence is amassing that tells us this is the way to go for optimal health. Recently the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation said as much when it recommended we "cut the crap" and get back to home cooked meals.

Besides "avoid all highly processed foods", they had the following recommendations. 

• Cook from scratch at home as much as possible with whole ingredients.
• Teach children and young people how to cook, including through home economics classes in school.
• Pay attention to portion sizes.
• Eat a healthy, balanced diet with a variety of natural and whole foods.
• Eat fewer highly processed foods such as sugary drinks, sweets, salty snacks and processed meats with many ingredients, additives and preservatives.

Not so long ago these were simple common sense, but in a time when we are spending more of our food budget outside of the home and eating industrialized food, they are seen as radical ideas.

What happened to home cooked? I have one possible explanation. One of my neighbours remembers being embarrassed at bringing sandwiches made from home baked bread to school.

Wonderbread, which was new to the market at the time, was the more modern and fashionable choice in the 1950s school lunch room. It was "notoriously deficient in vitamin and mineral content" and had to be fortified according to government regulations introduced to combat disease.

Advertising that often appealed to children made it seem like home cooked food was inferior. Today cooking at home is only for celebrity chefs on TV and people that can't afford processed food and restaurant meals.

Wrong. I think we are ready for a fresh, home made, no crap food revolution. We are finally coming to understand that good food is our true medicine.  And the best medicine is made from your own two hands in your own kitchen with tasty, healthy ingredients.

Yum.

Get Cooking: Tips For Beating Rising Food Prices

The cost of food is going up and increases are likely to continue

While we do strive to not buy anything, we currently have to buy our food. Since 2008 that has been getting a lot more expensive. This trend is not likely to reverse soon, if ever.

At the same time that a lot of stuff you don't need gets less expensive, everything you need (really need, as in survival) is getting disturbingly more expensive. Big screen TVs? Less expensive. Gas, electricity, rent, and food? More expensive.

That people are concerned about food is evidenced here on our blog. A post on reducing food waste is one of the all time top posts on NBA, showing that many are doing everything they can to stretch the food budget in inflationary times.

With the US drought forecasted to inflate prices another 5% next year, I thought it was time to share more of the tips that Linda and I use to keep our food costs down.

Background

The average family of four spends about $237 dollars per week, or about $12,300 dollars per year, on food consumed at home. The same family spends $5200 dollars more on food consumed outside of home. A 5% increase means an added $875 dollars per year on food for our fictional family.


Money Saving Tips

With some simple solutions and planning, one can mitigate impending food price increases. These are some of the tips we use to stretch our food dollar, and maintain a whole food diet.

1. Limit, or eliminate eating out. I know how tempting it is to take what seems like the fast or easy route to filling the tummy, but fight that impulse. Meals eaten out cost 6 to 10 times more than a similar meal cooked at home.
2. Skip pre-packaged frozen meals. Convenience foods sacrifice taste and quality for ease of use. Plus they cost up to 4 times as much as home cooked meals.
3. Do your own washing and cutting. Pre-cut/pre-washed, or grated foods will cost you twice as much.
4. Learn to cook your favourite foods. When we quit eating out that didn't mean leaving behind all our favourite restaurant meals - we just learned to cook them at home. It has been fun, and satisfying.
5. Buy generic for certain items. Some products such as flour, sugar, cereals, salt, and milk are indistinguishable from their pricier brand name counterparts.
6. Plan your grocery shopping trips to avoid impulse buying. We always shop with a detailed list from which we do not deviate. This alone can save up to $20/month for the average shopper prone to impulsive edible purchases.
7. Don't waste the food you have bought. This seems obvious, but a large amount of food is wasted in the average home. If you haven't already, see our post on reducing food waste.
8. Eat less meat. Some products, like meat, will probably rise in price more than 5%. Explore non-meat alternatives like beans/grains, tofu, nuts and seeds. They are less expensive, and better for you.
9. Bake your own bread products. Buying two loaves of hearty, healthy bread can cost as much as a 10 kg (20 lbs) bag of flour. You can make a lot of bread with that much flour.
10. Take advantage of sales. Closely watch flyers for weekly specials, and stock up when the price is right. When we find peanut butter on sale, for example, we purchase several jars at a time to add to our well-stocked pantry.

By following these money saving tips it may be possible to make up that forecasted 5% rise in food prices, and then some. It is not that difficult, and besides saving money, these tips will help you to eat more healthfully, and have more fun in the kitchen.

What is your favourite money saving tip when it comes to the purchasing and preparation of yummy, nutritious food?

Get Cooking: The Joys of A Tidy Kitchen

Welcome to my Tiny Tidy Bakery (note: toaster oven in background now gone)

When I was learning to cook more meals from scratch I was looking for ways to ease the process of getting off convenience foods. I read that the prime reason people didn't cook more was because their kitchen was often a mess. The solution was simple - always keep your kitchen clean, tidy, and ready for cookery magic.

Freshly made baked salsa with tortilla chips

There is nothing that kills the desire to cook more than walking into an untidy kitchen. It is not hard to envision piles of dishes filling a sink, cluttered counter tops, and things out of place. Most kitchens I have been in actually looked like that. But this should be scrupulously avoided, because what you want to do is focus on cooking, not cleaning.

When we see a messy kitchen we yield to the temptation to consume less nutritious, more convenient, more expensive fare. Manufacturers and providers of frozen dinners, take out, order in, prepackaged, and fast foods all benefit from the chronically messy kitchens across the land. It is time for a Tidy Kitchen Movement.

I cook all meals from scratch in my tiny, tidy kitchen. Sometimes it seems like I spend most of every day preparing for, cooking, and cleaning up from meals. Good thing that I love cooking. I love it even more when I start with sparkling clean, orderly surroundings.



Keeping A Tidy Kitchen

• always have a tidied kitchen by the end of the day so you don't have to wake up to a mess
• clean as you go throughout the day so things don't add up to a huge, overwhelming cleaning job later - keep a sink of soapy water and wash things as they are used, then dry and put them away
• have a place for everything so things can be stowed out of the way when not in use
• change your attitude toward cleaning so you can look at it as a part of cooking which can be enjoyable in its own right. Look at it as an opportunity for quiet time, moving meditation, or karma yoga.
• keep counter tops clean - a wide expanse of clear counter space wants to be used
• have everything at your fingertips - you should be able to immediately access everything you need, which is why I like a smaller kitchen
• involve your family in the cooking... and the cleaning

Veggie stir fry

Do you want to take more control over what you are eating? Do you want to cook more often? Try the joys of a tidy kitchen. It is just as effective regardless of how big or small your kitchen. 

You will find that a constantly clean, orderly workspace invites you to joyfully practice your culinary alchemy. It makes transforming basic, healthy ingredients into delicious elixirs of longevity for the whole family easier, and much more enjoyable.