Food Stamp Challenge Day 22: A Nifty Book

Now, those of you who travel in organic food circles will roll your eyes and point out this is soooo two years ago.

Please, feel free.  I’ll wait.

Regardless of how this heretofore slipped past me, during my exploration of ways to eat well and cheaply this month, I finally stumbled over Linda Watson’s wonderful book Wildly Affordable Organic: Eat Fabulous Food, Get Healthy, and Save the Planet, All on $4 a Day or Less.   Even better, that pointed me to her equally great web site, https://CookForGood.com.   (and no, these aren’t affiliate links….I really just like them)

In the first seven pages of the book, I stumbled over this line: “Why do people insist that people who don’t have much money can only drink soda and eat potato chips?”

Yep. My kinda gal right there.

The book is a great resource for anyone trying to eat well — and not just being satiated,  but really savoring their food as I do — and spend less doing it. The first third of the book builds the framework of “how” — planning, maximizing the use of your freezer, strategies for shopping/cooking/dining/cleaning, helpful equipment to have, and an overview of the Starter Plan – a 20-minute-per-day guide to getting your feet wet with scratch and make-ahead cooking. Linda follows that with sections on seasonal menus, cooking plans, and a ton of recipes for everything from homemade yogurt (easy!)  to burger buns to Chocolate Upside-Down Cake.

For those who want to change up their shopping and cooking habits but might be ever-so-slightly intimidated by the time & effort needed to figure everything out, the level of detail she provides (meal plans, quantities, sources, allocating time, pricing) can be super-helpful.

She has also included a bonus section for Wildly Affordable Organic readers on the web site, with demonstration videos,  resources, and more.

Although many of us know a great deal about this already, and although The Google is always there waiting for us, it feels good to have it all bundled up into one friendly, comprehensive 241-page volume to keep on the cookbook shelf and help me stay true to my core values: live incredibly well, eat good food, keep our bodies healthy, and wherever I can, save money for things that make life great.

Category: Book Reviews, Cooking, Food, Food Stamp Challenge Recipes, Fun, Money Saving, Organic, Recipes, Whole Foods Challenge