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Eat, Drink & Save Money
Have you been watching your 401k turn into a 501c?
At this point in the economy, we’re hearing the official
announcement that the country is in a recession. And the daily papers
are full of articles about cheap eats. We know a few ourselves, and some
you may not have heard about or thought of - yet.
1.
Freeze
Leftovers - Never heard of this one, right? Well read on. I live alone. Most
dishes I cook at home can serve four or more people. Since I’m not interested in
eating the same leftover over and over again over the course of a few days, I
simply take at least half of it, put it in an airtight container and toss it
into the freezer. The rest I refrigerate and enjoy a day or two later. A few
weeks later I can pull open the freezer and the rest is still tasty. It becomes
two – two leftovers in one! One caution is that when you’re selecting food
choices that will turn into leftovers, stay away from dishes that use leafy
greens like parsley or cilantro. These items don’t do well beyond about a day.
 2.
Check the
Happy Hour Directory – There’s plenty of good happy hour specials to be had and
they are changing all the time. Use the
SD! Happy Hour directory to get up to date with what’s
going on out there. (Photo: Ponti strawberry martini)
3.
30 for $30,
25 for $25 or whatever - There are a ton of various promotions going on to lure
food lovers into high-end restaurants that otherwise they would not check out.
In fact, where there use to be one promotion a few years back, there are more
than a dozen going on in the Seattle metro area annually. Check you daily paper
for listings.4.
Eat out,
drink at home – Drink prices are nearing or have climbed over the $10 a serving
mark at many restaurants. If you like to have a few drinks at night,
consider having one at home before going out for your meal, just one with dinner
and then go back home to finish the night up. You’re dealing with a pro here.
Stick a drink in front of me and I’ll drink it. But myself and a friend or two
can easily make a drink tab tilt over $100 for the evening if we don’t manage
our wallets.
 5.
Eat This,
Not That – Since reading the book Eat This, Not That, I have a new found love for
fast food chains. The book lays it all out for you to see and has plenty of
options to help you eat nutritiously in a not-so-nutritious environment.
Learning to say no to grease, mayo and other bads doesn’t mean you can’t eat at
McDonald’s, Jack in the Box or elsewhere. It just means you’ll be eating
differently. A good example: at McDonald's, order a Big and Tasty, hold the mayo
and add mustard. What do you get? A basic burger that works as a meal. Want
fries? Eat half of them and toss the rest. To drink? Water or a diet Coke. Now
you’re cutting calories and eating out affordably. If you have not read this
book, do. Two things may occur. First off you’ll be disgusted at how most chains load people with salt and fat. But you already knew that. Secondly, you’ll learn
how to dine on 500 calories or less no matter where you go.6.
Start
Dreaming/Start Cooking – I love to eat out. It’s part of my job, but it still
ticks off certain accounting forces in my life. Recently I had a jones for a
sloppy joe. Turns out I can’t come up with one single restaurant around Seattle
that makes them. Know any? Anyhow, I went ahead, reviewed a few recipes online
and then came up with one of my own. And it was good! I followed my suggestion
in the first tip on this page and had numerous meals from the one batch, thus
saving lots of money that I otherwise would have used to eat out.
 7.
Dig into a
good local cookbook – OK, let’s face it. We all can’t afford to eat at The Herbfarm, Rover's, Assaggio or The Palace Kitchen. At least not on a regular basis.
Nonetheless all these places serve great food and each of their head chefs
and/or owners have produced great cookbooks. For a lot less money than dining
out at one of these places you can dine in with their recipes.8.
Eat less –
That’s right. Eat less. I’m good for about 2,500 to 3,000 calories a day. Which
is way too high. My average is well over the USDA suggested amount of 2,200. I
manage my weight by making sure I break a sweat almost every day, but I could
drop 20 pounds (about what I need to drop to get into my zone) over several
months if I dropped my calorie intake down to 1,800 a day and continued on with
breaking a sweat each day. I’d be that much healthier and I’d spend less money
on food – right?
9.
Stop
patronizing lousy food joints – In all this economic turmoil there will be
restaurants that die. Some sooner than later. When you eat out, vote with your
dollars and dine at places that serve respectable food that tastes good and is
good for ya. This is a chance for you to re-evaluate your diet and find the
silver lining in the economic cloud. I’m not going to name names here, you come
up with your own, but restaurants that serve unhealthy meals that are worse than
the average Joe can make at home deserve to die and now is the time. Does the 12
egg omelet guy, the greasy chicken wing people or the 16 ounce porter house
steak place really need to be around when the dust settles?10.
Share a can or
two – If you’re doing all the things above, you’re saving money on your overall
food bill. Next time you’re at the grocery store, consider buying an extra can
or two of food to share with the local food bank or Northwest Harvest.
Patrick Thomas/DecemberWinter 08
Patrick Thomas is a vocal foodie who has been eating his way
around the Northwest since before the dawn of the information super
highway. |
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