Saturday, July 25, 2009

Intro post and challenge

I decided to start a thrify food blog after hearing complaints (or perhaps excuses) online of various food blooggers and commenters that it was "impossible to eat healthy on a budget!" This is untrue. I gave myself a challenge to eat as healthy as possible while still receiving foodstamps.

In general, expect to spend more time in the kitchen. What you save in money, you will spend up in time. This doesn't mean I spend all my time in the kitchen either though. I'm usually cooking or preparing about three to six hours a week. I make everything from scratch, and I do mean everything, right down to my dressings, mayonnaise and mustard. I don't expect all my readers to do this right away if they don't want to, but you will save money on your food and that's what this blog is all about. To show you where you might be wasting food (and money) and not know it. To give you cooking tips, kitchen advice, tools and foods to eat. By now, everyone knows to wait for sales and stock up, but not how to store foods so they stay fresh longer. Or how to use the proper tools so nothing goes to waste. Or how to eat so nothing gets thrown away.

And if you are throwing food away, shame on you. COMPOST. This is a thrifty hippie guide, so learn to be a thrifty hippie most of all. Save everything. Hippies never throw anything away, least of all our most precious resource: Food. I'll detail compost in another post, but anyone can do it, yes, even someone in an apartment. It is not difficult. There is no excuse for not having a compost.

I'm a single person, shopping and cooking for one, so most of my recipes and advice will be for one. There are a lot of blogs and cookbooks out there for families and a lot of advice on how to save money on food for families. You won't find that here. Some of my tips will apply generally, across the board, for everyone wanting to save money, sometimes they're only valid for single people. Again, there are dozens of resources for families, but not singles.

Enjoy your time & your food.