Cooking For One or Two - A Guide to Budget Meals and Stretching Your Money

As I said in a previous post, my father has managed to keep his monthly food budget very low by some disciplined eating. Here are some of the things he does:

1. Eats meat only once a week. This saves him a considerable amount of money. I don't recommend this for everyone, especially if you are not used to it. Start by eating smaller portions of meat, then try to skip meat one day a week. When you are okay with that, see if you can add another day. It helps to have good, delicious vegetarian recipes that don't make you miss meat. I'll have such recipes coming up in future posts. Ultimately, you may only be able to skip one or two days of meat, which still reduces your food budget.
2. Substitutes meat protein with legumes and lentil. Dal/lentil soup is easy to make, delicious, nutritious, and very high in protein. If you have never tried it, you can actually go to an East Indian temple and have a serving of dal and rice for free. They hand it out to whomever comes. I know a lot of punk rockers over the years that learned about Indian food when they were poor and living in Toronto, Canada. They went to the nearest temple for "prasad" (the name of the free offering). For the most part, no one will force religion on you. Everyone is welcome. Some Buddhist temples offer food as well, although I think that is less common in North America.
3. If he misses the texture of meat, he'll have some meaty mushrooms or some red kidney beans. This of course isn't the same as meat, but it can be a satisfactory substitute until your "meat day".
4. Fasts once a week, on Mondays, for health reasons. Warning: Do not do this without some expert supervision. My father studied advanced yoga for five solid years when he was in his early 20s. He's able to manage this. The best I can do is half a day. And that's mainly because, when I'm on the go, rushing here and there, I don't want to faint. If you have health problems, don't this at all.
5. Eats only when hungry. Too often, we fall prey to media. Who isn't feeling a little peckish after watching a pizza commercial on TV. Or reading a food blog :D Try to snack on homemade stuff instead of buying expensive bags of peanuts or party mix. I'll have some party mix recipes posted soon.

Again, I caution you that some of the tips above require a fair bit of discipline, and some you should consult your health practitioner before attempting.

(c) Copyright 2005-present, Raj Kumar Dash, http://cookingforone-or-two.blogspot.com

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