I still remember back to my first summer in Lake Tahoe. I had a friend come over to visit, and she was a vegetarian. Eeek! I was from Michigan - land of comfort food, jello salad, and all-things non-vegetarian. I had absolutely no idea what to make! I began frantically looking through magazines and cookbooks to find a couple of options. I chuckle at this now. A little over a year after this visit, I became roommates with that vegetarian. Even though I continued to eat meat, I learned a lot about cooking and preparing veggies, eating fresh food, and eating the "Californian way" - which typically included avocados. Avocados in California were like baking soda in other parts of the country. It was a staple in most pantries, and people were able to bring them out to add to a dish at a moment's notice. It was fascinating to me.
Although I learned a great deal about eating healthy while living in Lake Tahoe, my healthy food skills went to a new level when I dealt with all of my food allergies (see The Challenge is On....). All the while, my food budget has not changed too dramatically. I shared a bit of my background and life experience with you in my last post, The Link Between Argentina, Lake Tahoe, and Colorado, so you can see there were times when I have had very little money. In order to pay all of my bills and not go further into debt, I had limited resources in the area of my food budget. My first couple of years in Lake Tahoe were especially tight. During that time, my food budget was set to $80/month. Yes, you heard that correctly. Most people are shocked when they hear that amount, but it's true. At the time, I didn't limit myself because of a simple food challenge; I simply adjusted my lifestyle to match my income (and my location of choice - let's face it, it costs money to live in beautiful places). It definitely took some creativity and strategic planning, but I actually ate really well for $80/month - in a resort town, nonetheless, where food prices were quite a bit higher than other areas of the country.
Needless to say, as my circumstances in life have improved, so has my food budget. The improvements have been incremental, though. There were a number of years when I lived off of $120/month. In more recent years, I have bumped my budget up to $160/month - prior to signing up for my CSA share. Now that I have a regular supply of fresh, organic vegetables and eggs at my fingertips, I have decreased my food budget to $110/month to account for the cost. Yes, I am single; however, I feel like I could probably feed 2-3 people (and sometimes more!) on a regular basis. I love to cook and bake for others, and I do so often. I buy as much organic food as possible; however, there are times I choose to buy non-GMO food, or food that does not contain hormones or antibiotics rather than organic.
Why do I share this information? I am definitely not trying to prove how amazing I am. As you can see, I have come a long way in learning how to eat, appreciate, and cook healthy food. There is still room for growth, and I am not always great at eating well. If I have a busy week or I am stressed, my eating habits tend to slip. So, no, my goal is not to prove I am a better, healthier eater than you. My goal is simply to demonstrate that eating healthy does not have to "break the bank," so to speak. How often have you heard (or said) the phrase: it's expensive to eat healthy? This is a common belief among the general population. I would love to break down the misconception that eating healthy is impossible or an unattainable goal for those who may not have a lot of money. Instead, I would like to propose that it can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be.
I do realize the cost of food increases with the number of people in a household; however, I believe some of the things I have learned from my experiences could benefit families of any size. As I mentioned, I have grown a lot in the area of healthy cooking and eating. I think the concept that most transformed my ability to eat healthy on a budget was this one simple, common sense principle: use what I have. I know it sounds too simple, too easy. It was really life-altering, though, when I started implementing this practice. In the past, I would be in the mood to eat a particular meal or make a certain recipe, but I didn't have many of the ingredients. So, I would go buy them. It costs a lot of money to buy multiple ingredients for an individual meal. In practicing the "use what I have" concept, I would look and see what I had available, create a meal plan, and buy one or two essential ingredients that would allow me to make a whole week's worth of food (or more). When I first bought into this practice, I was living on $80/month. During that time, I was also actively involved in our church's adult Sunday School class. Once a month, I would make breakfast for 30 or so people. I loved making food for this group of people, and I did so with a joyful heart. I also found it was very doable when I practiced the principle of using what I had on hand. (I can't say all of this food was incredibly healthy, but it was good!).
This is a principle I continue to practice in my life - in multiple areas, actually, not just with food. In fact, I had the opportunity to practice this concept this past weekend, while I was prepping my food for the week. I wanted to make the empanadas to use the remaining CSA potatoes, but I realized I had more potatoes than I needed for the empanadas. Originally, I was planning to make Apple Pie Steel Cut Oats for my breakfast this week. Instead, I went with the flow - and used what I had on hand: potatoes. I realized I had just enough to make a recipe from my new favorite cookbook: the Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook: A Complete Nutritional and Cooking Guide for Healthy Living, by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre. If you are still a fan of real cookbooks, I highly recommend this one! There are loads of wonderful recipes - all of which I can eat!
Vegetable Frittata with Potato Crust
2 teaspoons organic butter or extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing the pie plate
2 cups grated potato (about 1 large baking potato, scrubbed)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 cups finely chopped broccoli (I used a bag of frozen kale)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme (I used fresh lemon thyme, as I had it growing!)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or Herbamare
6 large organic eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated raw organic Jack cheese (optional - I used a sprinkle of feta, since I had it on hand)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 9-in deep-dish pie plate with olive oil or butter.
Grate the potato. (Don't mind that mine are purple).
Place the grated potato into a small bowl with the sea salt. Let rest for about 10 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water, and transfer the grated potato to the prepared pie plate and press evenly into bottom of dish.
Transfer the cooked onion and garlic to a bowl with the pepper, broccoli, thyme, black pepper, and sea salt and mix well.
Add the eggs and cheese and mix well. Pour the egg and vegetable mixture over the potato crust. Sprinkle the top with extra grated cheese if desired. Transfer to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked through. (It says it yields 4 servings, but I had 6 servings).
Have you found creative ways to use the ingredients you have on hand? Please share in the comments below! And stay tuned for continued updates on the $5/week food challenge. (Read Resurrection Week: Resurrecting the Blog for a Food Challenge for details on my food challenge.)
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