Eating better food for less and other tales from a no-moneymoon

Monday, May 17, 2010

Menu for a No-Moneymoon

Brisket started this blog.

Now, to be clear, I'm not a big fan of brisket. But when the economy turned south and I started scouting about for ways to save money on our food costs, brisket just kept turning up -- on my favorite food shows, in magazines, and on the blogs that I follow daily. It was a barrage of brisket.

And it got me thinking, how can I cook healthy meals without spending a small fortune in ingredients? And how can I save money without turning to the fattier cuts of meat and processed foods that are usually cheaper (and sometimes more flavorful!)?

Lost in the (Cream) Sauce
I kept thinking about this, even as I turned to those less-healthy eating options for comfort. Mr. Lemon and I had experienced a recent setback, like so many other people these days. We needed something delicious to soothe our weary souls. We'd call our experience The Troubles, but that's a politically-loaded term. So we'll call it The Woes. And when The Woes began in late November, we ate my home-baked cakes to remind ourselves of happy birthdays and our recent wedding and a dozen other joyful times together. When we realized we shouldn't order in as much as is our habit (we are New Yorkers, after all), I'd try to feed our cravings with home-cooked versions such as deep-fried apple fritters. And when the weather turned wickedly cold as it surely does on this lovely island, we warmed ourselves up with beef stews and all the fixings.

It's no wonder that now, I really NEED to slim down my waistline, while trimming away at my food budget! Plus, Mr. Lemon loves food (and wine) as much as I do. So here's the challenge:

Cook delicious healthy meals for me, my foodie husband and for our frequent dinner guests for approximately $40 a week
.

I think we can do it. We've been coming close to this number for a while and I've stopped deep-frying, so there's hope yet. I'm blogging to keep on track. And if I can share some delicious easy recipes along the way, then all the better.

So yeah, I'm trying to make some lemonade here. I always do. And sometimes I even spike it with vodka.

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