Help is as close as the bookshelf

Eating Economically at the Co-op

by Ruth Ann Smalley

Here’s a little shopping quiz. Which statements most accurately describe your experience?

A. My food expenses just keep increasing. 

B. Genetic modification, fair trade issues, overfishing, etc., make shopping so complicated, I feel exhausted when I leave the grocery store.

C. I try to shop according to my ideals, but sometimes I don’t know what to make with what I bring home. 

D. I’ve figured out which foods fit my “pinnacle of goodness” standard, and I am able to buy and prepare them regularly.

Many of us have trouble circling the last statement. In fact, “pinnacle of goodness” was a tongue-in-cheek phrase that came up in the Co-op’s Nutrition committee meeting one evening. Our discussion of the perils of conscious shopping revealed how many of us have had to develop a type of “personal purchasing algorithm,” just to deal with grocery choices. 

We each have to tussle with the obstacles the current food system presents us. But good recipes can help ease the problems expressed in the statements above. Some of my favorites come from friends and family, and the Internet can be helpful. But I credit certain cookbooks for guiding me through the major shifts I’ve made in my eating habits over the years.

Once you’ve identified your own purchasing criteria, the right cookbook can simplify your life. Finding one suited to your tastes and values may take time, but it will repay you handsomely. And you may make some interesting discoveries about yourself in the process. 

For example, when I first started cooking, I found that recipes with too many ingredients (say, more than 5), too many steps, and no appetizing picture, just stayed on the shelf. I am happy to report I’ve outgrown the need for a picture.

When I began to focus on both the economy and the ecology of the meal, something else changed. Cookbooks that assume you choose a recipe first, and then buy the ingredients, no longer worked. I needed one that helped me take what was actually available and turn it into a meal. As in, “what can I do with all this … cabbage?” 

Farmer John’s Cookbook — written for CSA members to help them use their seasonal shares — takes this approach, organizing recipes by the vegetable. But a book with a good index can do the same thing. A fine example is Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook. Based on the traditional diets of the world’s far-from-affluent people, the ingredients are usually simple, whole foods. The recipes often show how, by varying the seasonings, you can create different dishes from the same set of staple ingredients — which helps when you’ve got a lot of cabbage.

My informal survey of Co-op shoppers turned up these recommendations. Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook was a common choice. Kate Maunz likes it because it has “a great range of simple to complex recipes that don’t need a lot of alteration.” Jane Bunker says it allows her to make meals that are “inexpensive and tasty.” She adds that “when you cook out of this book you will find yourself in the bulk aisle! It was my destiny to end up there!” 

Megan Gillespie uses Moosewood in summer for the salads. However, she notes, “because so many of her recipes depend upon summer vegetables, I tend to avoid using them during the rest of the year.”

She looks to Anna Thomas’s classic Vegetarian Epicure books “because she incorporates so many ‘Old World’ recipes, the recipes seem to be more seasonally based.” Megan also recommends Patricia Gregory’s Bean Banquets from Boston to Bombay,” with “everything from soups/stews to main dishes, and recipes from many international cuisines.” She loves how easy it is to substitute seasonal ingredients, and says, “It really is a staple for the budget dinner!” 

Louise Maher-Johnson praises Laurel’s Kitchen, explaining that it’s a great source for “how to cook your own everything, from scratch!”

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