Eating like a King on a small budget

Recently I came across the work of Leanne Brown, a food studies scholar who has completed an amazing book to help us all cope with eating well while living within our budget.

Leanne’s book is called Good and Cheap and it is FREE as a pdf file on her website:

http://www.leannebrown.com/

Leanne’s heart is definitely in the right place – not only has she continued to offer the book for free, but she has also completed a kickstarter campaign to offer a free printed copy of the book for those who don’t have ready access to a computer. 9,000 copies have been distributed already. Bravo!

I just downloaded her cookbook and I couldn’t agree more with her philosophy. To live frugally does not have to mean that you have to eat poorly. Here are some of her main tenets:

• Buy foods that can be used in multiple meals
• Buy in bulk
• Start building a pantry
• Think weekly
• Think seasonally
• More vegetables means more flavour
• Always buy eggs (expensive ones) and cook them well so they are food safe
• Buy fresh bread, but don’t buy drinks
• Be creative with vegetables to avoid wasted money on produce
• Make your own broth and stock
• Use your freezer to best advantage
• Make chicken Schmaltz – this is something I haven’t tried but am curious about
• Buy a pepper grinder – Sweet Baboo would wholeheartedly concur!

Please do check it out and recommend it to your friends. Sweet Baboo and I are living proof that this kind of planning and cooking work tremendously well – we routinely eat meals that cost approximately $5 for the two of us. While no cookbook will ever only deliver completely to an individual’s tastes, the meals featured can easily be modified to suit what you like.

Bon Appétit!