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Background of Cook for Good

How it started

This experiment in thrifty, delicious eating was born when the philosophy of food ran smack into the politics of food in the summer of 2007. On the philosophical side, Michael Pollan declared in The Omnivores’ Dilemma that the only rational plan for people of limited means was to wallow in the center section of the grocery store, buying as many calories as possible with their limited funds. On the political side, Congressman Ryan did just that when he took the Food Stamp Challenge: trying to live on the average food-stamp allowance of a dollar a meal. Ryan's solution was a slap-dash, center-aisle approach, with his aides throwing in two-ounce bags of coffee into his cart. When airport security seized his stash of peanut butter and jelly, he was looking at thirty-six hours with nothing but corn meal. He wound up cheating by eating bags of airline peanuts.

Nonsense, I thought, reading both of these accounts. These men must not be cooks. A dollar a meal is tight, but it doesn’t mean you have to pick Cheetoes over carrots. The goal should not be maximum calories but maximum nutrition. The maximum-calories idea had been around for years, supporting the idea that poor people were often fat because they didn’t have the money to eat food that would allow them to be thin. But you get fat by eating too many calories. Surely buying better food to move closer to the ideal number of calories and nutrients would be both possible and desirable.

I found myself chuffing in the grocery store. “Look, this whole bag of dried beans is only seventy-nine cents a pound … and it’s not even on sale. That’s about twelve cents a serving.” I was garumphing at the farmers’ market, too. “Here’s a flat of delicious local strawberries for $15. That’s about fifty cents a serving. Why do people insist that poor people can only drink soda and eat potatoes?”

After nearly a week of these mental calculations, I got bored with the limited answers my growling produced. Sure, some foods were both cheap and nutritious. But could I really get by on a dollar a meal? Could I enjoy it? That night at dinner, I broached the idea to my husband. What if I tried the food-stamp diet for three weeks, eating on $1 a meal just like Congressman Ryan. But what if I moved the source of our food around to better show the options available. We are within walking distance of a Whole Foods and a chain grocery. And the farmers’ market where we usually buy our fruits and vegetables is reachable by bus, even if somewhat awkwardly. What if we did week one at the Food Lion, week two at the Whole Foods, and week three at the farmers’ market? At the end of that time, we’d know a good deal more about eating on the budget allowed by our government.

My husband looked only mildly horrified. “You can eat extra if you want,” I said. “I’ll just cook for both of us to that budget and you can have extras if you want.” “No, I’ll do it with you. Might as well see just how hungry we get.” You can see why I love him. “Well, at least we’ll lose some weight.”

The Results: Saving Money Leads to other Savings

We did lose weight – about a pound a week over a three-month period. But except for the first day, we were never hungry or felt deprived. In fact, we were surprised to find that not only was it possible, but that other good things happened when we did eat so cheaply. We started feeling more energetic after only a week. Our moods improved. Our recycling and trash went down to almost nothing. I learned skills that will help me get through the panic if I ever do have serious money trouble. The first week was so good that we revised the experiment and continued on for three more months. The budget went up to $1.53 a meal, the actual amount of food stamps allotted in North Carolina for a couple with no other money to spend on food. And after that, we used the same menu plan while eating mostly organic, kindly-raised, and local food. Amazingly, this “elite” diet cost under $2 a meal. We weren’t stingy, either. I was able to take cookies to bookclub, cupcakes to friends who’d had a death in the family, invite friends over for dinner, and bring a dish to community suppers. Best of all, the food was simply delicious. Spicy beans and rice, fragrant tomato sauce on pasta, burritos, homemade pizza, bread, and yogurt. Fruit and plenty of vegetables. Dessert once or twice every day: carrot cake, homemade peach ice-cream, chocolate cookies, and more.