Beans and rice and everything nice to the food budget

At the tail end of a summer on the road, visiting far-flung family and camping in dozens of state and national parks, we arrived back to Arizona broke and about to start school.

It was an intense, sobering time, a slap in the face to our invincible, youthful carelessness. And it was the summer of 2008, the last golden months before the economic downturn that has fashioned this past decade and rendered many of us into lean, hungry wolves constantly on the move.

We got mad, but then we got busy. A year into our marriage, it was the first time we really needed to put ourselves on a skimpy budget. We moved into the basement of a family of six going on seven (preceding our basement stay with the Colorado family of 12), and committed to buying almost nothing but gas to get to our massage therapy school and $150 worth of groceries for the month.

Since we didn’t know how to cook creatively, our diet consisted chiefly of beans, rice, lentils, and oats cooked in plain water, unsoaked and unsprouted, with haphazard dashes of random spices and herbs found in the kitchen cabinets. We supplemented this diet with ramen, tuna, peanut butter, pasteurized skim milk, a little cheese and fruit, and tea for morale on chilly mornings. Great treats were the meats, salads, and casseroles at parents’ or friends’ houses. I still fondly remember being invited to join our house family’s dinner of bacon roulades, a treat for them, too.

All in all, we financially survived those six months by tightening the belt and doing sundry odd jobs of housesitting, plant watering, and brick laying for friends and acquaintances, fit around the demanding 40-hour-a-week classes.

But somehow, despite (or because of?) all those breakfasts of oatmeal, lunches of tuna, and dinners of lentils and skim milk, we still had pudgy, achy tummies and, needless to say, did not look forward to meals. Wasn’t there a better way without breaking the bank?

Simple grocery budget

Eight years and three kids later, we go broke for the third time, the second time being after our Europe backpacking misadventures.

We could stay depressed, angry or even cavalier about it, but each time we run ourselves down to fumes, we eventually land on a place of reflection.

At various times, reasons for our self-induced impoverishment over the years include:

• college and continuing education
• three homebirths, which are self-pay
• health expenses such as chiropractic care, supplements, and a juicer
• road-tripping and backpacking to visit family, national parks, and historical sites
• and, most of all, career path imbroglio.

Were the decisions we made each year of the past decade more impulsive or thoughtful? Did they reflect our superficial desires or our deeper values?

These are the questions that surface as we reflect and mourn for the money, time, and opportunities lost. But eventually, out of the rubble, our optimism breaks free. We allow ourselves to dream again, and this energy grows into an action plan. That is, on our good days!

So here we are, our view of the tiny house slowly transforming from exhausting build project to high-maintenance pet to cozy home for this life season to future VRBO / massage office / guest house in the backyard of a future small residence.

Getting there is formidable but possible, requiring both an increased income and tight budgeting . . . especially in the area of groceries!

So how do we cut food costs now that there are five mouths to feed and Big Country and I eat like Michael Phelps, if Michael Phelps were to do chicken chores, wash windows up on ladders, hammer boards on a tiny house, and chase three babies around all day?

Right now, our goal is roughly $500-$600 a month for groceries, and it’s quite an interesting challenge. With an awareness of the true value of healthy, nourishing food that is fortunately miles away from our massage school days, no way are we able or willing to return to the Spartan $150 of nearly a decade ago! But it would be a pity to work and sacrifice so much while blowing our goals through gourmet tangelos and craft kombucha.

So it helps us to think of food as we imagine people in more primitive, traditional cultures see it and buy sustaining foods at top quality. Which foods are staples, which foods are flavorful, nutrient-rich accompaniments to these staples, and which foods are simply treats? And I would add, there are social foods, too. This is what helps us make sense of our food:

Staple Foods

Farm fresh eggs

Necessary to survival, the “bones” of our cheap but quality diet always kept on hand:

• Clean water
• Bones for stock
• Raw whole milk
• Farm fresh eggs
• Animal fats: fermented cod liver oil, grass fed butter, beef and bacon fat
• Plant oils: coconut, avocado, olive
• Beans, peas, lentils
• Rice, oats, quinoa, teff
• Seasonal vegetables, potatoes, squash, onions, garlic, carrots, celery
• Flours: wheat and almond
• Salt, baking soda
• Herbs, spices, vinegar

Accompaniment Foods

Savory foods to round out meals, bought as needed but more sparingly: 

• Meat: beef, venison, whole chickens, bacon, sausage, tuna, sardines
• Seasonal fruit
• Dried fruit
• Avocados
• Nuts, seeds, cacao nibs
• Canned coconut milk
• Canned tomatoes
• Raw cacao powder
• Peanut butter
• Cheese, yogurt
• Bread, tortillas

Treat Foods

Simply for enjoyment and morale:

• Honey, molasses, maple syrup
• Coffee and tea
• Citrus, bananas, figs, dates, out of season fruit
• Chocolate

Social Foods

Those we sometimes bring when we invite ourselves over to friends’ houses! Here we definitely cheat as to eating healthily . . . but everything in moderation!

• Pizza
• Chips
• Artichoke dip
• Ice cream
• Any packaged, convenience food or beverage

 

Beef pumpkin stew

And so, using the above as a guideline, our meals this winter look like this:

Simple As Can Be Meals

• rice and beans cooked in broth
• teff and pecans
• lentils and sour cream
• oatmeal with nuts, seeds, dried fruit, molasses, butter, cream
• sardines and crackers
• sandwiches of peanut butter and jelly/honey, grilled ham and cheese

Salads

• quinoa bean salad
• fresh greens with salmon, tuna, cheese, eggs, or nuts, and homemade dressing
• homemade hummus and veggies
• tuna salad or chicken salad

Skillets

• coconut chicken curry
• potatoes and ground beef or sausage
• bacon and eggs
• squash or apple pancakes
• white almond pancakes
• omelets with onion, garlic, spices, veggies, meat, cheese
• bean, rice, and cheese burritos

Soups and Chilis

• chunky soups & chilis, made with bone broth, spices, onion, garlic, veggies, stewed tomatoes, beans, and/or meat
• blended soups, such as butternut squash coconut milk soup
• cream soups, such as chowders and broccoli cheese
• cabbage, potatoes, and sausage boiled in broth

Snacks

• nuts
• dried fruit
• cacao nibs
• fruit
• maple date energy bars
• spoonful of peanut butter
• apples and peanut butter or cheese
• glass of milk
• mug of hot chocolate, hot lemonade, coffee, tea or other steamy drinks

This is our strategy for a balanced, nutrient-rich diet that is both enjoyable and relatively inexpensive. Looking over this list, I feel blessed that we’re able to eat this well despite a tight budget. Hope these ideas help you in your meal planning and grocery wanderings!

Better is a dinner of herbs

Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.” Proverbs 15:17