The Last Two Weeks

• I did really well the last two weeks. I decided to get serious about staying under $100. I spent $61 and $80 respectively. I preplanned what we would be eating and I had no impulse buys. The average is now down to $120.88 per week for my family of five (three teens). I have no doubt that it continues to be possible (even with rising prices) to feed an average family nutritious meals for $100 a week. We need to continue to look to our ancestors and to the third world for guidance on how to do this. Meat should be viewed as an element of the meal and not the primary focus. I've been watching Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel and I'm amazed that people in many other parts of the world will eat virtually any living thing. They will also eat every part of the animal. Nothing goes to waste. This is the case in Europe and the United Kingdom as well. There are traditional dishes like haggis that mixes all the parts of the animal that we would throw away with oats and cooks it in the stomach of the animal for a delicious taste treat :) Insects seem to be quite popular too. I don't see Americans eating bugs anytime soon however.

I have been figuring out the price of everything per lb. I think potatoes are our most versatile vegetable. You can do so many great things with them and there is virtually no waste.

canned corn $1.28 lb (drained water and weighed)

fresh green beans $.99

pasta Sauce (jar) $.62 lb (on sale)

graham crackers $2.10 lb

whole wheat bread $1.08 lb

oranges $.63 lb

eggs $.14 each

potatoes $.31 lb

boxed cereal $1.66 lb (sale price)

romaine lettuce $1.12 lb

fresh strawberries $1.25 lb

tortillas $1.29 lb

bread flour $.40 lb (bulk)

Combo's Snacks $2.28 lb (sale price) $4.59 lb reg price

Home Grown Tomatoes

Started my seeds for the garden a while ago. These are Pruden's Purple tomato seedlings. They are an heirloom variety that have that incredible tomato flavor (caused by a chemical called furaneol) that you can't get at the grocery store. My other favorite is Brandwine. You can't buy these as seedlings at your local nursery (maybe Brandywine is available). You have to mail order the seeds. There are hundreds of types of tomatoes only a few of which are commercially grown. The best place to get good ones are at farmers markets. Gourmet grocers like Whole Foods carry some but they are really expensive. If you have any yard at all you can grow a couple tomato plants. My Russian grandparents lived in a row house in Philadelphia and grew enough vegetables and fruit (tomatoes, beans, cabbage, onions, apples, etc) to last all winter. If people want to fight high food prices there is no better way than to have a small garden. It's also good exercise. All you need is a piece of ground, a shovel, a rake and and some manure (or other organic material).