Living More with Less

[Originally posted as a comment on Faithfully Liberal]

I have to recommend the ‘Mennonite More with Less’ cookbook as a great reference for not only learning how to eat lower on the food chain healthfully, but also talks about how doing so helps to free up more resources for sustainable agriculture and feeding the world. We had this in the Middle East where I served as a human rights worker and had to feed a team of 6-20 at any given time on the cheap with whatever was in the market.

As mentioned, I shop mostly at a locally-owned produce mart. Following our mideastern habit, I buy few processed foods and no meat; I buy whatever produce is on sale that week knowing that prices change according to seasonability; I buy bananas with spots and whatever’s on the clearance rack, and wash it with dish soap when I get home so it doesn’t go bad so fast. I rely on milk, eggs, yogurt, cheese, lentils and peanut butter for protein. I don’t “cook” elaborately; dinner is usually some form of vegetables and rice or pasta; lunch is filled pita pockets and fruit; breakfast is fruit and bread with whatever’s handy. Usually, I walk out of the mart with hands full and about $12. There’s a lot in that store though I can’t afford, and I’m curious to find out what happens when this family-owned store expands into the larger shop building next door in August. And still, I agree that families with children ought to have more than a dollar per person per meal to buy food.

peace,
Le Anne