Best Deals on Bulk Foods

When it comes to cooking frugal, ethnic foods, you can virtually rely on the bulk bins at any supermarket. My favorite store bulk bins are Winco stores, and local Hispanic grocers, but sometimes I'm looking for more variety, more quantity or an even lower price. In those cases, I turn to catalog shopping.

Personally, I'm a fan of Azure Standard. I am fortunate to live in a western state, on a delivery route (they deliver in 15 states), so I never have to pay for shipping, but there are other options too.

By way of comparison, I ran down a few of the biggest mail-order and online companies with the comparison item of dry organic (or natural) black turtle beans by the 25 pound bag. Shipping assumes ground shipping to UPS zone 4.

Aaoobfoods.com $45.15 Shipping is $13.56* (variable by UPS zone)

Amazon.com (don't underestimate Amazon!). $27.70 shipping, $22.45.

Azure Standard $21.85 Free shipping in 15 states, otherwise UPS rates apply.

Bulkfoods.com $30.81 shipping $5 on orders over $75

BulkWholeFoods.com $30.81 plus $22.63 shipping

Pleasant Hill Grain $67.70, shipping $45.30.

WaltonFeed $45.15 plus $15.28 shipping.

One thing that I can tell you is that across the board, the natural food web sites are very difficult to use. They are disorganized, or lumped (you might find beans under grains or vegetables, etc). They also often have "iffy" ordering systems that aren't user-intuitive. Often, the best solution is to buy a catalog (usually around $5) and then phone in an order.

My greatest surprise here was that Amazon.com carries so many natural foods, and often at affordable rates. If you aren't on a route for Azure or WaltonFeeds, Amazon might just be the best bet, and certainly, for convenience's sake, it's the easiest to use.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes appear in so many cultures, and are especially prevalent in the Mediterranean, Africa, South America and Central America.

They are packed with vitamins, especially vitamin C, and can be prepared in a multitude of ways.

Here are three summer favorites that can be prepared for pennies.

1. Fried Green Tomatoes.

This dish is perfect for the end of the garden--grab those green tomatoes off the vine before you risk loosing them all to frost. Greens are battered in a beer batter (Pennsylvania Dutch-style) or in a Cornmeal Crust (Cajun-style) and pan-fried in oil or bacon fat. Don't try to deep-fry these, tomatoes will sink and stick to the bottom of the pan.

2. Caprese broil. Perfect for all tomatoes. Red, green, heirloom and others. Slice tomatoes about 1/2 inch thick, and spread in one layer in a pan. Top with salt and pepper, basil leaves, and mozzarella fresca (very affordable, especially at Hispanic grocery stores) and drizzle with a little olive oil. Put the tomatoes under the broiler for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese begins to brown in places.

3. Bread salad. Perfect for a crusty loaf of leftover french bread. Toss chunks of french bread with chunky-chopped tomatoes, olives and celery, red onion cucumber and basil and toss with a vinegar-olive oil combo and serve immediately.

Request for submissions: Tamales!

I don't know how I made it to thirty years old before I experienced a tamale, but O-M-G!

I don't mean a canned tamale (after having the real thing, who can eat a canned one?) I mean a real, handmade tamale. Wow!

The thing is, I don't have any idea how to make them. I have heard they are very involved so have been reluctant to try the "cookbook" versions.

If you have a tamale recipe that is a tried and true favorite at your house, please let me know. I'll post it here, and at Pennywi$e Family with attribution and a link back to you.

Thanks in advance!

Steel cut oats

We made Alton Brown's steel cut oats at my house this morning--toasting the oats makes a world of difference in flavor. Give it a try!

Also, when buying steel cut oats, don't be fooled by the cute metal cans of oats. You're paying $6-$8 per pound this way. Better to head for the bulk bins where costs of steel cut oats should be closer to reasonable in the $0.11-$0.20 range.

Something to remember when washing dishes

Thank God for dirty dishes
They have a tale to tell

While others may go hungry
We're eating very well

With home, health and happiness
I shuoldn't want to fuss

By the stack of evidence
God's been good to us.

--unknown.

North American Carbs Galore

Between our family's recent budget slashing and my carb cravings we've been seeking out some new recipes, and I thought I'd share these with you. They've all passed the finicky family test in our house.

The first is Navajo Fry Bread which is a long-term family favorite. This recipe is from an old cookbook called "Sunset Wok." It doesn't require a wok. It is a good sandwich bread, dinner bread or breakfast if served with jam or honey. It's deep-fried so perfectly dreadful for the diet.

2 cups flour

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk

1 TBS baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 TBS lard or shortening

3/4 cup of water

Frying oil (vegetable oil).

You mix the ingredients together and divide the dough into small balls which you flatten a little with your hand before dropping into the oil just until browned. For a variation you can add a teaspoon of chili powder to make this a little spicier.

Next is corn tortillas. This recipe calls for Maseca corn masa mix, which is not the same as cornmeal, it's a corn flour. (This recipe came from the Maseca bag, but no, it doesn't work with cornmeal)

2 cups maseca, corn masa mix

1tsp sea salt

1 1/4 cup hot water plus 2-3 TBS if needed

1 tsp shortening.

Finally flour tortillas. Thankfully this one works without any special ingredients and came out just fine with plain white flour or no more than 1/4 whole wheat flour (anything else made it too crumbly.

2 cups flour

1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vegetable oil or lard

3/4 cup lukewarm milk (powdered milk works just fine).

Makes 8 tortillas. Doubles or triples easily and freezes well. Let the dough rest 20 minutes before forming the tortillas. This works best with a tortilla press, or between two pieces of plastic wrap.

For both tortilla recipes the tortillas need to be cooked quickly on both sides on a griddle.

Beans and Rice, Rice and Beans!

I'm a big fan of Dave Ramsey, and he's always telling people they need to get on a diet of "Beans and Rice, Rice and Beans" to meet their financial goals.

These spotted little treasures are really beans, not peas, and are associated in many cultures with good luck, making them a traditional new-years food.

Halfway as a budgetary measure, and halfway because I'm on too many allergy meds to drive to the grocery store, my oldest daughter and I have been chowing down on beans this week. (She's home for spring break).

Destiny, age 10 lived until age 7 in Florida--then we adopted her and transplanted her to the Pacific Northwest. She's accustomed to a yummy diet of soul food, and blackeyed peas (especially with fried chicken) really take her back.

We've been making blackeyed peas by boiling 1 cup dried peas with about 4 cups of water.

They're done when they look a little creamy. If they're out of water and not looking creamy, just add more water and boil some more.

We flavor them with about 2 cloves of crushed garlic straight into the boiling water, and a dash of worstershire sauce and Tabasco! It's just that easy and super yummy. Despite my grocery trip yesterday, we both decided to make more peas today for lunch.

We've eaten these most days this week with a piece of fruit for our lunch, and low and behold--I've lost four pounds! It turns out these little buggers have 160 calories per cup, 5 grams of protien, 1 gram of fat and 34 grams of carbs! Yum-O!

IMAGE CREDIT: www.thenewhomemaker.com/blackeyedpeas (Hint: there's more black eyed peas recipes here).