Tosan Nancy Stohs, food editor at the Journal Sentinel,
recently published food shopping tips from a financial counselor. And a good
idea, now that food is going the way of gasoline, price-wise.
I can't match the financial counselor's $3 dinner/day/person . (And to tell you the truth, I don't believe she does it, either). But I'm getting better. I’m experimenting with my own approach, the $1.99 rule. Don’t
buy anything that costs more than $1.99 a pound at the grocery store.
If you nudge it up to $2, you can have your strawberries and eat 'em, too.
Shopping at Sendiks (the closest stores to my house) and applying the rule, we’ve been putting together meals with said strawberries plus green beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, brown rice, and the
like.
I had to cheat on two items. Anchovies were almost a buck
for 2 ozs. But a little goes a long way. The big surprise was bread. Four water
rolls, lots of air, weighing in around half a pound, set me back $2.20. I’m
having to regroup on bread: flour, water, yeast, and salt are bubbling away
right now at home and will become a loaf for less than a dollar by nightfall.
The most successful $1.99 a pound or less meal was soup: beets, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, red cabbage, onions, and a few
assorted odds and ends from the crisper drawer. Add some honey and vinegar, a
dollop of sour cream later. Heavenly color and good for you, too.
What are you doing for good eats on the cheap?
