Food Bytes: How Does Your Garden Grow?

Part Three of my Food Bytes series about eating good food on a budget.  See the introduction, Part One, and Part Two. 

We don’t have a garden (but it's on the "To Do Someday" list!!), so we head to the produce department of the store and our farmer’s market to get our fruits and veggies.  Ingles has great produce- lots of organic stuff.  Walmart is ok, their grapes have been all sorts of nasty this year though- anyone else have a problem with that??  Our farmer’s market leaves much to be desired (still missing the farmer’s market near my grandparents’ house- they know how to do farmer’s markets in southern Ohio!).  I never buy produce from Aldi- I choose life, thank you.  And if the CEO of Target happens to be reading this, please build a Target store in Shelby, NC.  Thank you.

Now, on to our “rules” of produce buying…

Rule #1: We don't buy canned goods.  I've heard bad things about BPA in can lids, and I think fresh and frozen taste better anyway. 

Rule #2: I buy what's on sale.  I try to get a couple kinds of fruit per shopping trip, so if grapes and apples are on sale, that's what I get.  We just went apple picking last weekend and got a whole box of apples for $15.  

Rule #3: The only exception to Rule #2 is our lettuce.  After throwing out enough lettuce to feed Kenya for a year since we got married (A family of two can only eat so much salad, ok?)  I tried an organic mix of several different greens, including our favorite: spinach.  We love it!  It's the Walmart Marketplace brand, and I don't know if it's the organic part or what, but this mix lasted two and a half weeks- no lie. Look for it by the prepackaged Dole lettuce that you don’t want to waste money on.  It comes in a plastic container, and it tastes amazing. 

Rule #4: We try to buy organic produce from the “Dirty Dozen” list. Just reading that article makes me squirm.  Ew, ew, ew.   And, for the record, I am so tired of the argument: organic costs more.  Would you rather pay $2 more per pound for strawberries now, or $200,000 for cancer treatments later?  I’m just sayin’. 

Rule #5:  We use the produce we buy to make homemade foods to save money.  I make homemade hashbrowns, applesauce, twice-baked potatoes, pies, some tomato sauce, and other things.  (See the super easy way that I make applesauce below.)

Rule #6:  I am not opposed to convenience food.  I just discovered frozen chopped onions in the freezer section.  I hate chopping onions (even though it doesn’t make my eyes water chop them), and I never use a whole onion in anything.  The little bag of frozen onion is cheaper and easier for making “2 people” meals.

Homemade Applesauce in a Crockpot

1.    Peel, core, and slice the apples.

2.  Put apples in the crockpot. (I try to fill it to the rim, since apples cook down so much, but just use what you have.)

3.    Add brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.   You can add all of that, or pick and choose; don’t measure, it takes all the fun out of things.  My typical applesauce has a few scoops of sugar, some cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg or ground cloves (Don’t put whole cloves in. You don’t want to pick cloves out of your teeth when eating applesauce.)

4.    Cook on high for 3-4 hours, or low for 7-8 hours, depending on how many apples you have.

5.  For  chunky applesauce- mash with a potato masher while they’re still warm in the crockpot.  For smoother applesauce, scoop into a blender, and blend them.  Either way, when you’re done, scoop the applesauce into mason jars and enjoy!