Saving Money

I downloaded a few great recipes here. These are delicious Mediterrean meals, healthy and cheap. The idea behind them is to eat fresh, local food for under $2.00 per meal. I'm always looking for ways to cut my food costs without giving up the Real Food, so this is perfect for me.

I will say, that the prices for ingredients probably don't reflect organic prices. I mean, where are you going to find local, organic asparagus for $1.69 a pound?

You aren't.

So in that sense, this isn't useful. Frankly, I don't know where to shop in the Bay Area to find "cheap" organic, local food. Everywhere I look, it costs a fortune, even at my local farmers market. Maybe, especially at my local farmers market.

But that's okay. As Alice Waters has said (paraphasing), "Good food is not supposed to be cheap." It's only in America, in the last 50 years or so, that we've latched onto the idea that food should cost practically nothing. It's another way we bury our heads in the sand and pretend The World According to Us has no problems at all.

Ouch. Didn't mean to jump on the soapbox. It happens so easily! The basic thing is that if we eat Real Food, mostly plants, not too much (thank you, Michael Pollen), and if we cook it ourselves, our meals don't have to break the bank

Frugal is good.