Common Cuisine |

How is world news affecting you these days? I try not to pay too much attention, because I have a vacant house for sale in this faltering economy. I have tried to limit my reading of the newspaper, at least until that gets resolved. The only thing to be accomplished by reading all about the mortgage crisis and the impending recession is to get me uptight about a situation that is out of my control for the moment.

But there is something going on that I cannot ignore. Have you noticed yet how the news of what’s going on “out there” is starting to be reflected in your monthly expenses? We recently moved to a different region of the country, at which time I made the switch to organics for meat, dairy, and some select produce. To me this explained the significant increase in my weekly grocery bill. But as I have begun looking longingly back at the ordinary apples and milk in hopes of saving a few dollars, I am not seeing as much of a price spread as I remember. What happened when I wasn’t looking?

It seems that food prices globally are responding to increasing pressure from multiple sources: Severe weather in Australia and Argentina, among other places, has diminished supply, at a time when producers’ reserves are down, due to increased standards of living in the huge countries of China and India.

In addition, as oil prices continue their stiff climb, higher fuel cost leads to higher production and transportation cost, which gets factored into the end cost, which consumers pay. To help counteract the fuel factor, some of our usual sources of food have been reallocated to become fuel resources. But now higher corn and soybean prices are increasing the price of feed, which in turn increases the price of poultry, meat and dairy products. The summers when we could buy twelve ears of corn for a dollar, or even two, are gone.

To put the squeeze from yet another direction, our US economy is in a fragile situation, if you believe the news. Falling interest rates mean higher inflation, which means your money buys less than it did not too long ago. Natural gas and electricity are increasing in cost due to a shortage of supply; home prices are falling due to a culture of poor lending practices among the mortgage industry, finally correcting itself.

And all of those factors are being reflected in the bottom line on my grocery receipt, which according to some research reflects a five percent increase over last year. The painful realization is that many staple items such as milk, eggs, beef and wheat have increased between 25 and 50%.

The natural principle at work here is that economy is built on a balance between supply and demand. Prices of products are always fluctuating; sometimes there is a bit more supply, sometimes a bit more demand. In an ideal capitalistic economy, demand will slightly outpace supply. Right now, the equation is unbalanced with too much demand for food resources, and a food supply that has been globally diminished on multiple fronts.

The good news is, the equation will naturally right itself, sooner or later. Growers will increase their production of needed crops, because with more demand they can get paid more for growing them. Governments will eventually change policy to encourage greater production in areas of need. Higher cost of transportation may lead us to increase consumption of locally grown produce and goods, as well as take the step into more fuel-efficient vehicles. If critical markets slide or crash, perhaps that will bring a relief to the high price of oil (which still seems to mystify those of us outside the oil industry as to its true cause). Long term, there are good results to come from this imbalance.

In the meantime, it is time to take action. What are you doing to protect your family budget at the grocery? In the next few weeks I will be discussing responsible and effective ways we can make our food budget stretch to the max.

Would you like to give yourself a break from the kitchen for a week? It’s not hard to do, it just takes a little bit of strategy.
I know that planning is the hardest part of keeping up with the family’s needs, but it really involves about the same amount of thought it takes to get dinner on the table on any given night. You just have to do a little more thinking at one time, instead of a little bit every day. If you want to really knock yourself out and cook meals for a whole month in one weekend, I’ll address that in another article; the following are just a few strategies for how to slowly build up a surplus so you can take a sanity break when you need it.

Double Up So here is what I recommend: Look at your roster of freezable dinners. If you need ideas, check out our quick lasagna, layered enchiladas, chicken pot pie, and invent-your-own casserole recipes. Plan to make one of those for your family each week for the next three weeks. When you purchase supplies, get enough for twice what you need, and when you make it, make two. It doesn’t take that much more work. Then by the fourth week you will have three dinners already made. You can take three nights off that week, or you can keep going until you have enough to take a serious break all at once.

Before beginning this strategy, take a look at your baking dishes. If you don’t have enough to keep so many in the freezer, you can invest in disposable containers or else try the lift-out strategy. With the lift-out strategy, line the pan you intend to eventually bake the dish in with a layer of aluminum foil, then a layer of plastic wrap, each with enough material to eventually wrap over the top. Make sure to spray the plastic wrap with cooking spray; assemble the dish and freeze it, then lift it out and finish wrapping it with the plastic wrap and foil. Mark the item name on the foil with a Sharpie marker, then you are ready to add it to your treasure trove of pre-made dinners!

Intentional Leftovers Another way to cook less is to make a huge dinner one night, knowing you will see the rest of it in three days. That’s the limit in my house for how soon we can repeat a meal. When I want a break and really have my act together (doesn’t usually happen at the same time, but on occasion it does!) I will make roast beef on Sunday, layered enchiladas on Monday, and some kind of baked chicken on Tuesday. Then Wednesday we have roast beef again, Thursday is nachos and the rest of the Mexican sides from Monday, and Friday we either have chicken salad or eat out and have the chicken salad for lunch on Saturday.

Recipes I recommend for this strategy are any of the freezable dinners, chicken stuffing bake, chicken zucchini bake, roast beef, and deluxe macaroni and cheese. Or use your own family favorites.

Pre-cook and Pre-portion I always watch the circulars for meat sales. I just won’t buy it at full price. We eat a lot of Italian sausage, so when that goes on sale for half price, I stock up. But instead of freezing whole links, I crumble and fry up the whole batch as soon as I get home. I divide it into small portions and freeze it that way. Then when spaghetti night comes, it’s a snap to thaw the packet for a minute before throwing it into the sauce. By the time the water heats and the noodles cook, the sausage is heated through (not to mention the salad is made, the garlic toast is broiled and we are ready to eat)!

Another excellent item to have on hand is cut up, cooked chicken. So when the roasting chickens go on sale, I buy a couple and cook them up that afternoon. It takes a little work to debone them that day, but by the time it is done I have enough cut up, cooked chicken pieces for four meals, with the same amount of work it would have taken to cook one of those meals.

Mix it up When you have full dinners on hand, you may find you have more energy to occasionally make something that doesn’t repeat as well. Ideally I like to have something like stir fry, spaghetti, jambalaya, or even a big salad on a regular basis so we don’t get burned out on freezer fare.

Even if you are not a vegetarian, you may entertain one sometime. Or you may find you enjoy taking a break from meat one or two nights per week.

You can still get protein from cheese, nuts, eggs, and any two of beans, rice, or corn. Tofu is also a great protein that takes on the flavor of whatever it is cooked with.

You can sometimes modify a regular dish to be vegetarian by substituting the above choices for the meat part of a dish. Here is an example: Turkey Surprise is made by layering turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes into a casserole. You can turn it into Nutty Surprise by layering stuffing, chopped walnuts, slices of mozzarella cheese, and mashed potatoes.

Pastas and enchiladas are easy to remove meat from, because they usually contain cheese.

Another way to try vegetarian cooking is to feature a special vegetable dish (like artichokes, butternut soup, or a spinach quiche), served with rice and beans, mashed potatoes piled with cheese, or cheesy garlic bread. You could make a vegetable stir-fry with corn and peanuts, served over rice.

Do you ever wonder what makes a dish Chinese, or French, or Italian? These are some spice and herb combinations that distinguish certain national cuisines.

By using these combinations you can stick with a family of flavors and turn your otherwise ordinary meat and potatoes dinner into something with ethnic flair. All of the following spice combinations include onion and black pepper. Take a look at some of their distinctive flavorings.

Note that I have listed cuisines with which I have more experience. If you have knowledge of a national cuisine I have not listed, please feel free to submit a list of distinctives for that cuisine to be included here.

You could invent meals for a month if you had all these things at one time! Try to keep all of the must-haves in stock, and a good variety of the useful items.

MUST-HAVES

• Bread
• Butter
• Cheese
• Chicken Broth
• Eggs
• Flour
• Garlic
• Ketchup
• Mayo
• Milk
• Mustard
• Olive Oil
• Onions
• Pepper
• Potatoes
• Rice
• Salad Dressing
• Salt
• Soy Sauce
• Spaghetti (noodles and sauce)
• Sugar
• Tuna
• Vegetable Oil
• Vinegar

USEFUL ITEMS

• Aluminum Foil
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Brown Sugar
• Canned Black Beans
• Carrots
• Celery
• Cereal
• Chocolate Chips
• Cornstarch
• Crescent Rolls
• Cans of Cream Soup
• Green Onions
• Horseradish
• Hot Pepper Sauce
• Lemons
• Onion Soup Dry Mix
• Parmesan Cheese
• Pillsbury Pie Crust
• Plastic Wrap
• Pickles
• Relish
• Salsa
• Tortillas
• Vanilla Extract
• Worcestershire Sauce

USEFUL DRIED SPICES

• Oregano
• Red Pepper
• Bay Leaves
• Cayenne Pepper
• Celery Seed
• Chili Powder
• Curry Powder
• Dill
• Thyme
• Garlic Powder
• Ground Cinnamon
• Ground Cumin
• Ground Ginger
• Dry Mustard
• Paprika

USEFUL FREEZER ITEMS

• 1-meal portions of chicken
• 1 lb portions of ground beef
• 3-4 pound roast (beef, pork, or whole chicken)
• Frozen Spinach
• Frozen Peas
• Frozen Fruit
• Bread Dough

Wow, I’ve finally joined the ranks of those who don’t burn their rice. It’s only been about 10 years, but now I have one, and since I saved it from being my daughter’s drum last week, it is still part of my kitchen. What a novel concept to measure in the proper ingredients, plug the machine in and walk away. I can’t wait to get started with sushi now that I have a way to make predictable rice!

So the model I got only makes 3 cups, which is how much I usually make for our small family. It’s nothing fancy, but I think that for the small price I paid for it, it’s good enough for what I need. If we turn out to use it more than it can handle, then I will consider it worth my while to get a bigger and better one!

I’ll let you know in the long run how it turns out, but in the meantime, consider me a happy cook with an inexpensive, simple new appliance that will remove one more step from my crazy life. I can dig it.

When you have company over and they’re ready but dinner’s not, you’ll be glad you thought to have one of these ready. Personally, I think some starters also make a great simple dinner for two.

Some of the easiest starters include:

• Corn Chips and Salsa
• Veggies or Potato Chips and Dip
• Cheese Ball and Crackers
• Shrimp Cocktail (easy AND fancy!)

For more great starter ideas, visit our Appetizers section.