Myth Busters: Organic IS affordable!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the inaugural class of the Family Meals Project, a pilot project to help families learn to cook nutritious and delicious meals on a tight budget – around $10 for an entire meal for a family.  Think it’s impossible?  The last meal came in at about $2 per person, including salad, entrée and dessert!

As a registered dietitian and nutritionist who cares deeply about where my foodcomes from, and the impact of its production on my body and the environment, I wondered:  Could I make an affordable $10 dinner using sustainably or organically and locally produced foods? 

The short answer:  Yes!  I didn’t hit the $10 mark, but this beautiful menu of a roasted spring vegetable salad with a lemon vinaigrette, followed by a vegetable Bolognese lasagna and poached pears with cranberries, rang in at only about $3.81 per person.   

 

 

I shopped for the class at the Bellingham Community Co-op, purchasing mostly local and organic ingredients.  And it didn’t break the bank!  You just have to be selective. 

 

This chart shows the total cost of all of the ingredients.

Dish	Cost per Meal	Cost per Serving
Roasted Spring Vegetable Salad
Serves 6 - 8
2 lemons ($0.33/each)	$0.66	$0.08
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper	pantry	pantry
extra virgin olive oil	pantry	pantry
12 small spring carrots ($1.98/lb)	$1.44	$0.18
1 bunch of radishes ($1.98/ea)	$1.98	$0.25
6 cups spring salad mix ($5.98 for 12 cups)	$2.99	$0.37
TOTAL	$7.07	$0.88
Vegetable Lasagna
Makes 8 large servings
extra virgin olive oil	pantry	pantry
1 onion ($1.29/lb)	$0.50	$0.06
1 large carrot	$0.12	$0.02
1 stalk celery	$0.10	$0.01
2 cloves garlic	$0.05	$0.01
red pepper flakes	pantry	pantry
2 bay leaves	pantry	pantry
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper	pantry	pantry
24 ounces whole tomatoes	$1.99	$0.25
4 tablespoons whole wheat flour	pantry	pantry
3 cups whole milk ($3.59 for half gallon)	$1.34	$0.17
1 cup grated parmesan cheese ($8.99/lb)	$2.13	$0.27
nutmeg	pantry	pantry
1 package frozen spinach	$1.49	$0.19
1 1/2 pkg whole wheat lasagna noodles ($3.89/ea)	$5.84	$0.73
TOTAL	$13.56	$1.70
Poached Pears with Cranberries
Serves 8
2 cups apple cider ($3.39 for 4 cups)	$1.70	$0.21
¼ cup honey ($4.99 for 6 ounces, local)	$1.66	$0.21
1 inch piece fresh ginger	$0.10	$0.01
2 star anise (or cinnamon sticks)	pantry	pantry
4 Bosc pears (firm), peeled ($2.49/lb)	$5.98	$0.75
¼ cup dried cranberries ($3.75/lb)	$0.42	$0.05
TOTAL	$9.86	$1.23
Total Cost of Meal for EIGHT SERVINGS	$30.49
Total Cost of Meal for FOUR SERVINGS	$15.25
Total Cost of Meal for ONE PERSON	$3.81

 

Here are a few tips for making organic shopping more affordable.

But cost isn’t the only focus of the Family Meals Project.  At each class, we gather together in the kitchen to learn and share stories, not only about cooking and nutrition, but about our lives.  And really, that’s what cookingfor your family is really all about.  It’s a way to connect with the people you love and care about, to give you a vehicle for conversation, one that feeds your body and your soul.

And now, for the recipes.

 

 

Roasted Spring Vegetable Salad

Serves 6 - 8

Zest of one lemon

Juice from 2 lemons, about 4 tablespoons
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
12 small spring carrots
1 bunch of radishes, washed and trimmed
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 cups spring salad mix
Radish greens, washed well

Make the vinaigrette by whisking together the lemon zest, juice, olive oil and salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel the carrots and place with whole radishes on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast about 10 - 12 minutes or until crisp-tender and lightly browned. 

Put spring salad mix into a bowl and add radish greens.  Add warm or room temperature roasted vegetables and toss with ½ of the vinaigrette.  Serve with additional vinaigrette on the side.

Vegetable Lasagna 

This recipe has a lot of steps, but all of the parts can be mixed-and-matched to make other dishes.  For example, make a double or a triple batch of the basic tomato sauce, and freeze it in quart containers or freezer bags.  You can just thaw and reheat to make a quick pasta dinner or add to a soup stock for a delicious soup.

Makes 8 - 12 servings

Basic Tomato Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
1 stalk celery, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup red wine (optional)
24 ounces whole tomatoes, crushed by hand

Basic Cheese Sauce

3 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons whole wheat flour
3 cups whole milk, warmed
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

1 package frozen spinach, thawed and water squeezed out completely
1 package whole wheat lasagna noodles*
½ cup grated provolone or mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Make Basic Tomato Sauce

Heat olive oil in medium-sized pot over medium-low heat.  Add onion, carrot, celery, garlic, fennel, red pepper flakes, bay leaves salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring often, until vegetables are very soft and beginning to brown.  Add red wine.  Bring to a simmer and cook until wine has reduced to a few tablespoons.  Add tomatoes.  Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, about 30 – 45 minutes, or until sauce is thick and fragrant. 

Make Basic Cheese Sauce

Place a large skillet over medium-low heat.  Add butter.  Cook until butter is melted and foaming.  Add flour.  Stir briskly with a wooden spoon until a smooth paste is formed.   Continue to cook 3 – 4 minutes, stirring.  Add warmed milk, 1 cup at a time, whisking briskly, until sauce is smooth.  Bring to a simmer and continue to cook and stir until sauce is thick.  Stir in parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.  Stir in thawed spinach.

Assemble lasagna in a 10 x 20 inch lasagna pan. 

Place about ½ - ¾ cup of the tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan.  Top with lasagna noodles.  Add another ½ - ¾ cup tomato sauce and then layer about ½ cup of the cheese sauce.  Top with another layer of lasagna noodles.  Repeat three more times (or until you run out of sauce).  Over the last layer of lasagna noodles, spread ¾ cup of tomato sauce.  Top with shredded cheese.

Cover tightly with foil.  Place on a baking sheet, in case sauce bubbles over.  Bake for 45 minutes with foil on top.  Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes, or until cheese is just starting to brown and lasagna is bubbling.  If the cheese starts to get too brown, replace foil.  Let rest at least 10 minutes before slicing.      

*I don’t cook my lasagna noodles ahead of time.  It has always seemed like an unnecessary step, and not cooking them actually turns out lasagna with a better texture—one that holds together beautifully and doesn’t fall apart with the first bite.  As long as you provide plenty of liquid for the noodles to absorb, your noodles will be perfectly toothsome to the bite.

 

Poached Pears with Cranberries

Serves 8

2 cups water

2 cups apple cider
¼ cup honey
1 inch piece fresh ginger, sliced
2 star anise (or cinnamon sticks)
4 Bosc pears (firm), peeled, cored and quartered
¼ cup dried cranberries

Pour water and apple cider into a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Add honey and stir to dissolve.  Add ginger and star anise.  Add pears.  Simmer, making sure the pears are covered with liquid, until the pears until cooked through, about 15 to 25 minutes.

Remove from heat, add dried cranberries and let the pears cool in their liquid.  If you like, you can remove the pears from the liquid and reduce down to a thick sauce.  Spoon over the pears.  Serve warm or cold.

$10 Dinners!

We hear it all the time.  Eating ‘whole foods’ is expensive.  You can’t expect everyone to be able to cook like that.  It’s elitist.  It’s time consuming.  It’s so much cheaper and easier to open a box, bag, bottle or can, or speed through the drive-through.

Untrue! And we’re here to prove it.  With just a little planning, eating real, whole foods can be easy and very affordable.  Cheap, even!

We’ve recently partnered with the Family Meals Project in Ferndale, Washington to help families learn to make nutritious, delicious meals for a family of four to six for only $10 a meal.  We scheduled six classes over the next few months, covering everything from soups and stews to braising meats to rice and beans.  Every class creates an entire meal, including dessert, for about $10 for a family of six.  Classes meet at the kitchen at the United Church of Ferndale and have a capacity of about 14 – 16 students. 

The first class met this week, with an amazing first-time turnout of 16 participants, including several kids and teens.

We gathered together in the kitchen and made a southwestern-inspired meal with the following menu:     

Black Bean Tacos with Homemade Tortillas

Oil and Vinegar Cole Slaw with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Brown Rice with Onions and Poblano Peppers

Grilled Pineapple with Yogurt Sauce

This meal is high in fiber and vegetarian protein, loaded with good-for-you antioxidants, and naturally sweetened with sweet caramelized pineapple and Greek yogurt.  And delicious!  The favorite of the night—rolling and griddling homemade tortillas. 

The total cost for an entire meal:  $2.02, or $12.12 for a family of six, just over the $10 target!  See the bottom of the post for a breakdown of the cost of each dish.  Here are a few strategies for making your family meals more affordable:

      · Shop the bulk bins!  Buying from the bulk bins is cheaper, because you’re not paying for packaging.  Shop a few different stores to see who has the best deals on their bulk products.

      · Keep an eye on sales.  I found Chobani* yogurt for only $1 each for a 6 ounce container!  (*We don’t represent Chobani yogurt, or any other yogurt manufactures.  Other comparable brands include Fage, Greek Gods and others.)

 ·        Make substitutions for more expensive ingredients.  You could easily reduce the cost of the meal by switching out a few of the more expensive items with less expensive options, like substituting chopped peanuts for pumpkin seeds and a banana for the pineapple.  But, it’s a great example of how simple and inexpensive good food can be.

·     Cooking from scratch definitely takes a little more time than just opening convenience, packaged products.  But, cooking together is a great way to spend time as a family.  Even more incentive, a 2012 study by Cambridge University shows people who cook at home live longer!  Here are a few tips for making this meal easy for a busy, working family:

·     Cook a big pot of beans on your day off.  Let the beans cool completely and then portion the beans into plastic freezer bags, enough for one meal for your family (use ½ cup per person as a guide for portion size).  The day before you’re making tacos, just pull the bag out of the freezer and let thaw overnight in the refrigerator.  They’ll be ready by dinnertime.

·     Use the same tip for the rice.  Cook a big pot of rice on your day off, portion and freeze.  Both rice and beans freeze beautifully.

·     Cole slaw is a salad that keeps beautifully for several days.  Make a big batch and then use it for lunch, dinner or snacks for several days.  You can vary the ingredients using what you have on hand.

·     If you don’t have time to roll and griddle the homemade tortillas, store bought are just fine, and can be even less expensive.  I found a package of 72 tortillas for only $2.79.  You can buy these in bulk and store in the freezer.  However, if you do have an extra half-an-hour, making homemade tortillas is a great way to spend time with your kids.  Kids really like the job of rolling the dough.

Here are all of the recipes, so you can make your own $10 dinner.  Please feel free to comment and share other ideas for $10 dinners.  We love to hear from you!

Black Bean Tacos with Homemade Tortillas

Black Beans

Makes 5 – 6 cups of beans

1 pound dried black beans

1 onion

1 jalapeno pepper, split in half

3 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon sea salt

1 tablespoon ground cumin

Pick through the beans, discarding any discolored or shriveled beans.  Rinse well.  In a 5-quart saucepan, cover 1 pound dried beans with about 10 cups of water.  Cover and let sit at least 6 hours, or overnight.

Drain and rinse the beans again.  Return the soaked, rinsed beans to the 5-quart saucepan.  Cover the beans with 3 times their volume of water.  Add an onion, pepper, garlic, salt and cumin.  Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender, about 60 – 90 minutes.  Check the level of the water and add more if it gets low.  Use the cooked beans for tacos, soup or side dishes.  

Homemade Tortillas

Makes about 15 tortillas

1 3/4 cups masa harina (corn flour)

pinch of sea salt

1 cup hot tap water

Stir together the masa harina, salt and water, then knead it until it's smooth, adding more water or masa harina as needed to make a soft but not sticky dough.  Cover with plastic wrap or a bowl cover, and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Heat a cast iron griddle or a pair of frying pans over medium-high heat.  Divide the dough into 15 balls and keep them covered until ready to use.  

Place a piece of plastic wrap over the two halves of the tortilla press.  Place a ball of dough between the two squares of plastic, then press down with the press.  Peel the tortilla off of the plastic carefully, then slap it onto the preheated griddle.  Flip after 30 seconds, or when browning in spots.  Cook on the other side for about another 30 seconds, and then remove.  Wrap in a warm towel to keep warm.  Repeat with remaining dough, stacking the cooked tortillas on top of each other.

Tacos 

1 corn tortilla

¼ cup cooked black beans

oil & vinegar slaw (recipe below)

cheese or salsa, as desired

To assemble the taco, top one corn tortilla with black beans and slaw and garnish with shredded cheese or salsa, if desired.

Oil and Vinegar Cole Slaw with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Serves 8

1 head red cabbage, thinly sliced or grated

2 carrots, grated

¼ cup cilantro leaves, chopped

¼ cup toasted pumpkin seeds

½ teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

6 – 8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

In a large bowl, toss together cabbage, grated carrot, cilantro leaves and toasted pumpkin seeds.  Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper.  Toss vegetables to distribute.  Pour apple cider vinegar and extra virgin olive oil over the vegetables and toss again.  Can be served immediately, or allowed to marinate in the refrigerator for up to two days.  Enjoy!

Brown Rice with Onions and Peppers

Serves 8

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 green or red sweet bell pepper, seeded and minced

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons cumin

2 cups long grain brown rice

4 cups water

2 cups frozen corn (optional)

Begin by toasting the rice.  Rinse the rice well and strain.  Heat a 3-quart heavy-bottomed stock pot over medium heat.  Add the rice and cook, stirring often, until rice is fragrant.  Pour the rice into a large bowl and reserve. 

Return the stock pot to medium heat.  Add the onions and saute for 5 – 10 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add the pepper, garlic, sea salt, and cumin and saute until all the vegetables are softened and very fragrant.

Add the rice to the vegetables, stirring to coat with oil.  Add the water and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce to a simmer, cooking for about 50 minutes without lifting the lid.  Turn heat off and let sit for another 10 minutes.  Stir in corn, if using.   

Grilled Pineapple with Yogurt Sauce

Serves 6

1 pineapple

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon fresh mint (if desired)

Preheat a grill over medium high heat.

Peel pineapple and cut into about 12 slices.  Brush pineapple with olive oil and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Grill about 2 – 3 minutes per side, or until char marks appear.

In the meantime, stir together the yogurt, honey and mint (if desired).  To serve, place 2 slices of pineapple on a plate and top with 1 ½ tablespoons of honey yogurt.

***

Here is a detailed cost-analysis of the meal.

Dish	Cost per Meal	Cost per Serving
Black Beans
Makes about 5 cups of beans, 10 - 1/2 cup servings
1 pound dried black beans	$0.99	$0.10
1 onion	$0.25	$0.03
1 jalapeno pepper, split in half	$0.11	$0.01
3 garlic cloves	$0.10	$0.01
1 tablespoon sea salt	pantry	$0.00
1 tablespoon ground cumin	pantry	$0.00
Total	$1.45	$0.15
Homemade Tortillas
Makes about 16 tortillas, Serves 8
1 3/4 cups masa harina (corn flour)	$1.32	$0.08
Bag of masa cost $5.29 and made 64 servings
Cost for ONE Taco
1 corn tortilla		$0.08
¼ cup cooked black beans		$0.05
oil & vinegar slaw (recipe below)		$0.09
Total		$0.22
Oil and Vinegar Cole Slaw with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Serves 8
1 head cabbage, thinly sliced or grated	$2.35	$0.29
2 carrots, grated	$0.41	$0.05
¼ cup cilantro leaves, chopped	$0.78	$0.10
¼ cup toasted pumpkin seeds	$3.41	$0.43
½ teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)	pantry	$0.00
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper	pantry	$0.00
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar	pantry	$0.00
6 – 8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil	pantry	$0.00
Total	$6.95	$0.87
Brown Rice with Onions and Peppers
Serves 8
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil	pantry	$0.00
1 medium onion, minced	$0.25	$0.03
2 garlic cloves, minced	$0.10	$0.01
1 sweet bell pepper or 2 poblano peppers, seeded and minced	$0.90	$0.11
1 teaspoon sea salt	pantry	$0.00
2 teaspoons cumin	pantry	$0.00
2 cups long grain brown rice	$1.79	$0.22
Total	$3.04	$0.38
Grilled Pineapple with Yogurt Sauce
Serves 8
1 pineapple	$3.48	$0.44
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil	pantry	$0.00
¼ teaspoon cinnamon	pantry	$0.00
1 cup plain Greek yogurt	$1.00	$0.11
2 tablespoons honey	pantry	$0.00
1 tablespoon fresh mint (if desired)	garden	$0.00
Total	$4.48	$0.55
Total Cost of Meal for EIGHT SERVINGS	$17.24
Total Cost of Meal for ONE PERSON		$2.02