Like many of us in this economy, you may be finding yourself living with less money. You may have lost your job entirely or are just realizing that the rising costs of food, fuel and just about everything else is leaving you with a lot less wiggle room in your budget. While there are some expenses that you cannot likely change – your rent or mortgage payment, for example – a little ingenuity may allow you to spend a bit less at the grocery store. One of the keys to living on less involves taking on a bit of a do-it-yourself attitude and this can easily be applied to a few quick and simple things that you can do to produce some of your own food.
It’s not possible for most of us to live out on a farm and be self-sufficient – and most of us wouldn’t even likely want to resort to getting up before dawn to milk the cows and tend the fields. Still, even in the city, there are things that even the busiest of us can do to produce a bit of inexpensive and healthy food to help out the budget. Consider the following ideas, none of which will require a large investment of time or money for the rewards they will provide you:
1. Make your own yogurt
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Yogurt is one of the healthiest and oldest foods on the planet and one of the easiest to produce on your kitchen counter. No fancy equipment is required – you can make a quart of yogurt overnight in a thermos bottle. No fancy ingredients are needed either. All it takes is some milk – even powdered if you want to be really thrifty – and a few tablespoons of plain store-bought yogurt with live cultures for starter (once you’ve made the first batch, you have the culture for your next batch and so on). A few minutes of your labor will yield acidophilus rich yogurt – mix it with fruit, use it in place of sour cream, etc. Your wallet, your digestive system and your waistline will all thank you.
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This one got a weird counter-culture reputation in the 1970′s but is seeing a resurgence in popularity among people in places besides Southern California. And why not? With our increasing awareness that we should eat more vegetables, this is one of the healthiest and cheapest ways to add fresh, nutritious greens to our diets. The price of a small package of sprouts in the grocery store defies the simplicity in growing them. There is no mystery here – just seeds, water and a jar or other container that has cheesecloth, or other material over the top. One or two tablespoons of seeds will yield up to a quart of “gourmet” produce that you can use to dress up cheaper ingredients in salads, omelettes, sandwiches and stir fries. You can pay for the expensive organic sprouting seeds or you can go ultra-cheap and use dried garbanzo beans or lentils that sell for about $1 a pound at any grocery store. Considering the high yield, that gives you a lot of food for your money.
3. Grow some herbs
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(This one got a bad reputation in the 70′s also but we’re talking kitchen herbs here.) Just because you may be trying to eat cheaper doesn’t mean you have to forego great flavor. Herbs add panache to many otherwise ho-hum dishes, but fresh ones will set you back several dollars for a few sprigs at the grocery store. When it comes down to it, herbs are nothing more than weeds. Weeds are not difficult to grow, as anyone with a lawn knows. All you need are containers (repurposed items are fine), some potting mix and seeds to create your own continuous supply. Try basil – easy to grow and great in so many dishes, or mint – great for tabouli and herbal tea (at much less than $3-4 for 20 teabags at the supermarket). Or try some chives to give a lovely fresh oniony taste to so many things besides baked potatoes.
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If you have room and energy for a full-on garden, skip this one. Otherwise, take advantage of whatever growing season you have, round up some old containers, baskets, even fabric tote bags, fill them with potting mix and harvest cherry tomatoes, green onions, lettuces, and more from your patio all summer long. Look for seed varieties that state that they are suitable for container gardening. For a few dollars upfront, you can enjoy an array of fresh salad ingredients for less than the price for one package of organic tomatoes. Even cheaper, look for one of the many seed exchanges and other sources online and you may score seeds for the cost of a postage stamp.
Granted this isn’t for everyone and isn’t legal everywhere – although it is becoming more common again. Even in a small city backyard, you may be able to keep 3 or 4 hens – enough to supply your household with fresh, nutritious eggs. (A noisy rooster is not needed for hens to lay eggs.) Chickens become like pets to many people and children generally love them. They aren’t picky about fancy housing, so you can generally build a small coup from salvaged materials. They also aren’t terribly picky about fancy food or everyone’s great grandmother wouldn’t have had them running about. You could buy the expensive organic premixed feeds, but you can also go with a balance of grains and household kitchen scraps. (By the way, chickens generally love sprouts and yogurt – which is very good for their digestion also).
6. Forage
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You don’t have to become Euell Gibbons or Steve Brill for this one. If you enjoy walking or biking in the country, get a field book or take a quick course in wild edibles. Even mainstream Americans are familiar with eating dandelion greens and morels – both are surprisingly tasty and also expensive to buy (dried morels can be had commercially for about $25 an ounce). Wild onions (ramps) and fiddlehead fern coils are also appearing on gourmet menus. Keep your eyes open for free food – apple falls from an abandoned orchard, wild strawberries, etc. (Just make sure you have any necessary permission – many landowners will be happy to let you clean up fruit falls for them. Also avoid areas that have been sprayed with chemicals and don’t eat something you aren’t familiar with.)
Forget the Kool-Aid hooch set-up that your college roommate once exploded in your shared closet, winemaking can be done quite safely and easily. Wine, like yogurt, is one of the oldest processed foods on the planet and is not as complicated to make as experts would have you believe. You aren’t making pinot noir or champagne here, but you can make a passable small gallon batch of table wine very cheaply from fruit juice, sugar and yeast without a kitchen full of expensive equipment – and without irritating sulfites in the final product. Simple recipes are all over the internet. If the first recipe you try doesn’t thrill your drinking palate, it will still be useful for cooking or perhaps in a spritzer or sangria. Even the worst case scenario – that it turns to vinegar on you – isn’t a bad thing when you price gourmet vinegars at the market.
Depending upon the time you have to invest, there are no doubt hundreds more ways you can begin living with less money and still have a healthy and delicious diet. If you start with a few quick and simple ideas, you may find that you are quickly hooked on the feeling of doing more for yourself and saving money at the same time. Living on less does not have to equal feeling deprived – it can equal feeling creative and even inspired.
Related articles
- Sprouting plants from the food in your pantry (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- How to Save Money, Eat Well, and Be Merry (money.usnews.com)
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