In 2023, Business Insider published a story about how Costco shoppers were bypassing beef in favor of the less expensive pork and chicken. Others were foregoing fresh meat altogether and going for canned food. A recession trend, the story says, and an indicator that people are prepping for a recession.
I’m not an economist nor a financial analyst. I don’t know if what we’re experiencing today can be called a recession. It could be something more menacing. Whatever it’s called, since the United States went to war with Iran, as a consumer, I can feel the pinch. Fuel and food prices have soared, and continue to soar. We have a pickup truck that runs on diesel and a compact SUV that runs on gasoline. And our cooking stove and oven are powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
But fuel is just the beginning of the problem. Because any food item needs to be transported to reach consumers (you, me and everyone else), the high cost of fuel means higher food prices too. What am I doing to help alleviate our plight?
Buying food in bulk and going for less pricey cuts
We buy meat, chicken and seafood in bulk, and freeze them, to lessen trips to the market and grocery to save on gasoline and diesel. And believe me when I say that now, more than ever, I pay serious attention to sale prices and less expensive cuts.
We love salmon, for example, but whole fillets are pricey. I choose, instead, irregular cuts. Trimmings, really. It’s amazing what a little imagination can do with trimmings. I did a good job with salmon trimmings given free by a neighbor once and I know I can concoct more recipes if I bought the trimmings myself. It’s still salmon so never mind the size and shape.
Another example is chicken for making bone broth. When I bought chicken leg quarters in the past, I often cut off the back portion to make broth. While that may sound practical and frugal, I have discovered that there is an even less expensive cut for making broth, and the broth is even better.
Chicken feet which we buy by weight. So inexpensive. And because there’s a lot of tendon in the joints, after about six hours in the slow cooker, the broth is just unbelievably rich.
Another cheap chicken part for making broth is the neck which we are also able to buy by weight. The downside is that the fat in the skin dissolves into the cooking liquid. But if you’re not scared of the fat, broth made with chicken necks is delightful!
Air fryer and slow cooker
For daily meals, we try to avoid cooking dishes that need to simmer for hours but, if absolutely necessary, we use the slow cooker instead of a pot on the gas stove. If meat or chicken needs to be roasted, we use the air fryer instead of the full-size oven. But if the war in Iran instigated by that entity at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue continues, I have to find more ways to keep our food expenses down.
Canned food
I’ve never really been a fan of canned food. I’ve always treated them as an obsession of the Baby Boomer generation that grew up with the remnants of the American colonial era.
I belong to the fresh food generation. Fresh meat, fresh poultry, fresh seafood, fresh vegetables. I raised my daughters on fresh food. If you look inside our pantry, there’s rarely more than a dozen canned food items. You’ll find a can or two of sweetened condensed milk (because we make dulce de leche) and evaporated milk (because my husband grew up with it and it’s still a must for him), canned tomatoes (because they make better sauces than fresh), canned coconut cream (because fresh spoils fast), canned corn kernels and canned tuna. Once in a while, there’s corned beef, luncheon meat and beans. When we have more that those, it means there’s a supertyphoon brewing in the Pacific Ocean and I’m preparing for prolonged power blackouts.
These days, I’m rethinking my canned food philosophy. Canned food is fully cooked. If used with imagination, it is possible to create delicious dishes with them.
Canned food can also be stored for a long time so the chance of spoilage is far, far less. All that translate to fewer vehicular trips, less LPG consumption and lower food expenses.
Instant ramen
Oh, the things I’ve done with instant ramen. And I wasn’t even a fan until the pandemic hit and there weren’t a lot of choices for cooking our meals. I’ve set my biases aside and I now cook instant ramen more often than I care to admit. Not exactly by just dumping the contents of the packet into a pot of boiling water. Read “In defense of instant ramen” for a few tricks. And know too that just because the label says instant ramen doesn’t mean you always have to cook the noodles into a soup.
Sometimes, I just use the noodles and set aside the packet meant for the broth. I boil the noodles, drain them, dump them in icy water then drain them again to make a stir fry. In the photo above, I seasoned the noodles with equal parts of hoisin sauce and oyster sauce, tossed them with slices of Chinese sausage and strips of leftover bell pepper, then drizzled everything with sesame seed oil. And it was great! Inexpensive too.
Surviving what feels like a recession
Will all those food shopping and kitchen hacks see us through these terrible times? I hope so. And I hope I was able to lift your spirits enough to inspire you to keep cooking delicious meals.
P. S. If you haven’t yet, do join Umami Days Community where we can talk more about food and cooking. It’s newly launched, there’s not much activity yet, but if you do join, it can be a real community. Thanks and see you there!
P. P. S. No, I don’t think I’ll retire this newsletter anytime soon.
