How to eat well and cheaply, a guide to gardening and processing

I love to eat. If there is one thing on this earth that I am good at it is eating.  I love to eat well.  Eating well can get expensive. However it does not have to.  You have to know how to do so on a budget, and I feel like that takes some good old fashioned know how.  It doesn’t take much extra time and has a great yield.  Also, I find it very satisfying to do.  So here are my three tips on how to eat better on a budget:

1- learn how to cook.  My parents didn’t really know how to cook, and when they did it wasn’t great. Their solution was to eat out almost every meal.  Now, I couldn’t afford to do that as a single person, let alone imagine the bill weekly for a family of five to often eat out twice a day. Cooking doesn’t have to be elaborate or fancy. Start small- simple recipes, with very few steps.  Look around at different recipes and see what’s available and what you think you can handle, and grow your skill from there.  My recommendation is always the oven- its simple because you throw everything into a dish and pop it in the oven and magically after time passes you have food. Also, you don’t have to tend to it while you’re baking it so you can accomplish other tasks while it’s baking. You can find many meals that are one dish oven baked goodness. Also, you have a better connection with your food when you have made it yourself. You know what’s in it, and you can be proud that you made it.

2- grow food. Seriously, it’s not that hard. Just get some seeds, slap them in some dirt, and follow the directions. You don’t have to be super uppity about weeding and fertilizers and all that. Many dollar stores offer 4/$1 seed packets at the beginning of the growing season and for a quarter you can afford to experiment. Just a small plot can produce a lot! My garden in South Carolina was only 10x20 and I produced about 60% of what I ate. Imagine saving 60% off of your grocery bill? And again, having the satisfaction that you grew it. Not only did you cook it, but this way you even know everything that went into the process. Don’t have a yard? You can still grow food. Many things do well in pots- lettuce, carrots, spinach, herbs, tomatoes, even squashes and peppers. Just give it some sun and water when needed and you’ll have produce! No outside area at all? STILL OK. Get things like greens that don’t require pollination, or you can even just manually pollinate things! Or buy a small upright greenhouse. You can pick them up fairly cheaply these days, and a couple growing strips and at the least you can grow herbs and sprouts!

3- canning.  Many people are afraid of canning, but this is an amazing way to store excess produce, or to stock up when things are on sale. Just the other day I bought (all on sale) a whole chicken, a pork shoulder, 6lbs of carrots, and 10 lbs of potatoes for like $20.  From that I made 4 quarts chicken broth, 4 pints canned chicken, 4 quarts ham broth, 5 pints cubed pork, vacuum packed a 2 lb pork roast, and endless jars of carrots and potatoes- all shelf stable for years to come. By keeping an eye out for sales and having a little knowledge, I am able to buy groceries cheaply and store them for harder times or when I need something quick to eat. It is also an amazing way to have fruits and vegetables during the winter months when they aren’t produced locally and fresh without preservatives! It’s a win win.

I love to grow, cook, and can my own foods. It allows me to eat well, save money, and always have food on hand. I know what is in everything I eat, it is natural and preservative free, and it is very satisfying to do. I love looking into my canning cupboard and seeing all the jars of great food I have prepared, and sharing it with others. I love food, and trust me I’ll spend some good money on a great meal, but I don’t have to for every meal to still eat well. Be well!