May 13, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

Produce is always cheapest when you buy it in season for your location. While I can not list every single area of the country and what is in season, this is a general over-view of what is currently in season in the United States. If you only buy local produce, not all of this will be available to you, but if you do purchase from stores, this is what should be the least expensive and the most fresh right now, even if it’s being trucked in from another state. Use this as a guide for purchasing large amounts from non-local farmer’s markets for canning, freezing, lacto-fementing, dehydrating and preserving. If you can purchase locally and it is within your budget, please do. However, if you are new to eating seasonally or don’t have a local farmer, this list will help you make the best purchasing decisions.

Early- it is the beginning of their season, they might not be available in Northern locations
End- it is the end of the season, you might be able to grab a steal of a deal on any you can find

Artichoke (end)
Apricot (early)
Asparagus (end)
Avocado, Haas (end)
Beets
Broccoli (end)
Cabbage (end)
Cauliflower (end)
Carrots
Celery (end)
English Peas
Fava Beans
Fennel (end)
Grapefruit (end)
Green beans (early)
Green onion
Kale (end)
Limes
Mushrooms
New potatoes
Onions/Ramps
Peas
Radish (end)
Rhubarb (end)
Salad greens
Spinach (end)
Strawberries
Vidalia Onions
Zucchini (early)

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April 6, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

Produce is always cheapest when you buy it in season for your location. While I can not list every single area of the country and what is in season, this is a general over-view of what is currently in season in the United States.  If you only buy local produce, not all of this will be available to you, but if you do purchase from stores, this is what should be the least expensive and the most fresh right now, even if it’s being trucked in from another state. Use this as a guide for purchasing large amounts from non-local farmer’s markets for canning, freezing, lacto-fementing, dehydrating and preserving. If you can purchase locally and it is within your budget, please do. However, if you are new to eating seasonally or don’t have a local farmer, this list will help you make the best purchasing decisions.

Artichoke
Asparagus
Avocado, Haas
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Chinese cabbages
Collards
Fennel
Grapefruit
Green onion
Kale
Kiwi
Leeks
Lemon
Lime (early)
Navel orange
Peas
Radish
Rhubarb
Sunchoke
Shallot
Spinach
Strawberry
Swiss chard
Tangerine

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March 15, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

My children are prone to complain if they see the same meal too many times in a row.  To keep them from getting food boredom, I often take leftovers and turn them into something new. I do pinto beans on a Monday night, doubling the beans and setting the extra aside.  I serve cornbread for dinner on Tuesday or Wednesday, and the following day for lunch I serve the reheated beans spooned over the cornbread.  For me and the kids, we’ll eat three slices of cornbread and a third to a half a pound of dry beans for a lunch.

Final cost- 73 cents a serving using organic beans or 67 cents a serving for conventional.  If you can use cornmeal that isn’t gluten-free, it will be a cheaper meal. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in leftovers, Nut-free, Soy-Free, Lunch, lazy cooking, crock-pot, Casein-Free, Cheap Eats, frugality, recipe, Gluten-Free | Print | 1 Comment »

March 13, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

How many times do your kids run into the kitchen and pull their stool up to the stove to take a peek at what you’re heating up for lunch, only to hear, “Awwww!  Again?  We ate that last night!”  Fried rice is a good way to reinvent leftovers from the night before.  I serve this by having rice one night and then doing a roast, pork or chicken and veggies the second night.  The third day for lunch I combine the rice and leftover meat and veggies to make fried rice.

Fried Rice Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in leftovers, Nut-free, Lunch, lazy cooking, Menu Mailer, Casein-Free, Cheap Eats, recipe, Gluten-Free | Print | 2 Comments »

March 11, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

I am often appalled at the price of hot cereals, especially gluten-free hot cereals.  If you have a blender or a grain mill, you can make them for a fraction of the cost of the commercially produced products and they will be fresher.  Rice farina is the perfect example of this.  Bob’s Red Mill sells it for $17.72 for 7 pounds, which comes out to $2.53 a pound.  You can get whole rice for the normal price of 40 cents a pound around here, probably less if you go to an ethnic market, and then do about 3 minute’s worth of work yourself to save the $2.13 difference.  I have also done this with sorghum and had excellent results.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Egg-Free, Nut-free, Soy-Free, breakfast, recipe, Casein-Free, Cheap Eats, frugality, Gluten-Free | Print | 1 Comment »

March 9, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

This recipe has been one of the most requested and most loved dessert recipes I have used in the menu mailer.  I have modified it here to be more budget-friendly and usable for breakfast.

Clafouti (from the Menu Mailer)

Total meal cost $1.80, 60 cents a serving Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Menu Mailer, Nut-free, Soy-Free, breakfast, recipe, Casein-Free, Cheap Eats, frugality, Gluten-Free | Print | No Comments »

March 7, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

I normally try to have enough leftovers from dinner to have lunch the next day, but sometimes that doesn’t work out.  So on those days where I have to cook lunch, I normally turn to vegetarian meals with plenty of veggies.  I like this one because it’s very quick to throw together.  Since we normally eat meat at every dinner and we use a lot of stock, I don’t worry about an occasionally meatless lunch.

Lentil Dahl-  from the Menu Mailer Volume 2 Week 7

Total cost for the meal $2.49, 63 cents per serving, not including the rice or $2.90 for the meal, 73 cents per serving including the rice. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Nut-free, Soy-Free, Lunch, Egg-Free, Menu Mailer, Casein-Free, Cheap Eats, recipe, Gluten-Free | Print | No Comments »

March 5, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

It seems so many are struggling with their finances right now.  My husband has been unemployed since May, so we know the struggle well.  I’d like to share some of the recipes we use to help keep the food costs down.  These prices are assuming that you are not buying in bulk and are shopping at a health food store.  I will be posting a series of recipes over the next few weeks.

Latkas (from the Menu Mailer, Volume 3 Week 20)

Total meal cost $1.25, 31 cents a serving without applesauce or sour cream and not reclaiming the oil Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Menu Mailer, Nut-free, Soy-Free, breakfast, recipe, Casein-Free, Cheap Eats, frugality, Gluten-Free | Print | No Comments »

March 1, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

Produce is always cheapest when you buy it in season for your location. While I can not list every single area of the country and what is in season, this is a general over-view of what is currently in season in the United States.  If you only buy local produce, not all of this will be available to you, but if you do purchase from stores, this is what should be the least expensive and the most fresh right now, even if it’s being trucked in from another state. Use this as a guide for purchasing large amounts from non-local farmer’s markets for canning, freezing, lacto-fementing, dehydrating and preserving. If you can purchase locally and it is within your budget, please do. However, if you are new to eating seasonally or don’t have a local farmer, this list will help you make the best purchasing decisions. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in seasonal eating, Organization- inside, Cheap Eats, Food Storage | Print | No Comments »

February 24, 2010 by KerryAnn Foster.

We have a new sample Menu Mailer posted over on the forum.  Come join us and take a look.

We’ve recently changed the Mailer format and it has received overwhelmingly positive feedback by our subscribers.  As usual, we have maintained our goal to keep all meals under 30 minutes of hands-on time and have one meal a week that is meatless or meat-optional yet filling.  Now we have added three new features to the weekly mailer.  A Soup of the Week through the Fall and Winter, to help get extra veggies and bone broth into your family.  I suggest you serve a small cup each night to your family as an appetizer, fifteen minutes before you put the main meal on the table.  This allows you to use meatless soups and use up leftover veggies as a form of added nutrition, when your family normally would not accept a meatless soup as a full meal.  This also gives you an option for a quick lunch on a busy day.

We have started prepping all of the onion, celery and carrots into one batch using the food processor, to cut down on your hands-on time in the kitchen each evening.  Cooking them all at once then putting some in the freezer allows you to get meals on the table even faster on busy weeknights.  Other veggies that can be prepared ahead are also listed. We have also listed all of the grain soaking and cooking and all of the bean sprouting/soaking and cooking ahead, so you don’t have to worry about doing it during the week.  However, we continue to put that information on the weekly prep list in case you don’t have time to accomplish it before the week starts, in order to make sure you are covered either way!

Finally, we have started doing at least one batch-cooking meal a week to help you stock your freezer and give you an extra option for lunch.  Depending on the week, we might do a completed main dish or a piece, such as BBQ sauce or a plain roasted chicken, that can be used in many different recipes going forward.  Sometimes we also do both, as was recently seen in our week with BBQ chicken where you could put the BBQ chicken as a coplete meal, then the extra BBQ sauce and plain chicken into the freezer for other dishes, according to what would best meet your family’s needs.

We hope you like these new changes to the mailer!

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