What I Now Know: An Introduction

I am a graduate student and will be for the next five years. I am lucky enough to be paid to do so, but I am not rolling in cash. After car payments, rent, insurance, and utilities, I am stuck with just enough money to survive. Unfortunately, I enjoy food and I am quite the snob about it. I refuse to eat Easy Mac and crappy bread, but I also understand I cannot buy fine cheeses every month. Further, I try to live a healthy and relatively organic lifestyle. This is difficult, too. In a more recent documentary on obesity, Killer at Large, an expert went into a grocery store to see how much healthy food he one could buy with only one dollar. Sadly, he found that many of the crappy-for-you and processed foods were the cheapest. Thus, people go for what they can afford, while compromising what may be best for them. If you shop in the organic section, I’m sure you have noticed the higher prices.

Before jumping into more specific posts, I wanted to delineate what my goals are for this blog on frugal eating and what I know as of now. My goal is to introduce methods for eating healthy and green as much as one can on a limited budget. I hope to point out ways to use every purchase until it is gone. I want to help you avoid impulse buying. Essentially, I want you to enjoy food for its taste and not hate it for the hole it puts in your wallet. This will be a place of collaboration, since I too have a lot to learn about money. You will be learning from my journey, not my expertise. And, I’ll be learning from you. Please, feel free to share your advice by emailing me at thehungryscholar@gmail.com.

What I now know

I have another blog that focuses primarily on healthy eating. It is part of an entire subculture of female bloggers that write about food, and more specifically: body issues, diets, recipes, and exercise. I have already learned a lot from these women, especially in terms of money. I wanted to introduce myself by explaining what I now know about frugal cooking and baking. Feel free to add to the list.

1. Start cooking. I have always loved good food, but I just recently started cooking and baking. I essentially was living off restaurants and frozen meals. I have saved money from limiting how often I go out. Now that I cook and I like it, I find that I’m less likely to go out because there is sense of achievement when I cook. Plus, some of my dishes are just better than restaurants.
2. Host a potluck. This is a more sneaky bit of advice, but you’ll love me for it. I recommend hosting a few potlucks, because people usually bring and leave some awesome dishes. Leftovers, period. Also, to be green and to save green, use your own dishes and silverware  instead of buying disposable eating materials. Don’t have much? Ask your guests to bring their own dishes and silverware to keep things green! I find that using the “being green” excuse can not only make you look environmentally aware, but also save you money. I, of course, do it for the earth.
3. Buy a basil plant (or any type of herb plant). I cook with a lot of fresh basil and I was wasting so much money on those little packets in the produce aisle. I recommend buying a basil plant from your local farmers market or grocery store. They are relatively cheap, easy to take care of, and make your kitchen smell fantastic. More importantly, throwing fresh basil into your cheap cans of tomato soup can improve the taste.
4. Use the internet. Don’t buy cookbooks quite yet. There are a lot of recipes online. I recommend Cooking Light and Eating Well. To avoid wasting food because the recipe was not that great: read the reviews. These review sections contain information on what is wrong with the recipe or helpful changes that can improve the dish. Always read through these before starting! I also have two rules for picking a good recipe. Firstly, look for recipes with less ingredients. Less ingredients to buy, more money for other food purchases. Second, if you come across a recipe you must try, but it has more ingredients or just more expensive ingredients (such as herbs and spices), do not throw it out as an option. For example, I found a recipe for molasses, which I rarely use. I did some research and found five more recipes I could use it for. I think that qualifies it as a worthwhile purchase.
5. Buy frozen waffles instead of bread. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches are a great go-to dish when you are living frugally. I live alone and I often throw out bread I cannot finish before it expires/molds. I have switched to buying whole wheat frozen waffles. They make a pretty awesome substitute for bread and they last longer.
6. Buy organic responsibly. Do your internet research. There is so much information on what produce you must buy or what you can pass on when shopping organically.

Please stay tuned for cheap recipes, wines, and foods. I look forward to you frugal food advice.