Are you ready to tighten your belt, single mother?
The front page of last Sunday’s Washington Post was alarming: The New Economics of Hunger. Suddenly, everyone is declaring, hunger is coming. I’m worried about single mothers. I’m worried about all of those folks out there who are just getting by. Higher food prices are going to push to many of us over the edge. Too many people are going to fall through the cracks. There is no margin for error.
Unfortunately, when I start to panic about money, I buy food. I overstock the pantry, the fridge, the freezer. Inevitably, half of it goes bad before I can use it. Knowing bad habits is the first step to changing them.
On Monday evening, I actually sat down and pored over some of my favorite cookbooks: the updated 
Joy of Cooking, the new 
Cooking Light, and Aviva Goldfarb’s Six O’Clock Scramble. I picked out some recipes, I added plenty of fish dinners, I planned. And THEN I shopped. Kale. Leeks. Carrots and parsnips. Good foods. Some chicken and hamburger on sale. Quinoa. This weekend, the Kid and I whipped out some fabulous meals.
Yes, he ate the Pan Seared Cod with Vegetable Ragout, made with leeks and tomatoes, shitakes and kale (Cooking Light). We had a delicious broccoli-leek soup (Six O’Clock Scramble)with his beloved fish sticks tonight. On the stove? A pot of chicken and vegetable stew, reasonably based on one of the recipes from Six O’Clock Scramble, but with kale instead of spinach, and parsnips instead of potatoes. We’ll have that for dinner tomorrow night.
Point is, I spent $150 at the grocery store last week–not all of it was groceries, either. And I’ve got three meals a day covered for the next week and a half. In a city like this one, already boasting one of the highest costs of living in the U.S., that’s a great bargain.
If you’re looking to save money, shop smart, cook smart, eat smart. Tomorrow, I’ve got some concrete ideas on how to do just that. Stay tuned, single moms. I don’t want any of you to find yourselves on the other side of the poverty line.
Tags: food crisis, food shortage, new economics hunger, new poor, single-mom, single-mother, working-poor
3 opinions for Are you ready to tighten your belt, single mother?
Suzanne Bastien
May 5, 2008 at 12:15 am
Couponmom.com
I’m learning how to use it … very very slowly. She has a great free e-book that explains everything. We will see if that works. I only hope it does….
Aviva Goldfarb
May 5, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Christina, kudos to you for trying and recommending weekly menu planning to save time and money and reduce waste. Many of my customers tell me they save hundreds of dollars each month by doing so. If you want to make it even easier, check out my online menu planner–couldn’t be simpler!
V
May 6, 2008 at 10:47 pm
To stay healthy - body and wallet - I added lots of vegetables to my grocery list.
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