Buy produce in season, and you'll not only save money, you'll get more nutrition out of the food. Nutrients dissipate into the air over time. That's why frozen vegetables, usually frozen less than 48 hours after they're picked, are better for you than fresh ones that sat around for weeks, or worse, came from hundreds or thousands of miles away. Out-of-season items are often grown closer to the equator where they get more sun. Then they're picked very green, since they are expected to ripen in transit and storage. They may look ripe by the time we see them in the grocery store, but the nutrients stopped accumulating at the moment they were picked. 

Do yourself a favor and shop at your farmers' market -- you can get 2-for-1 deals if you have an EBT card, and you'll get the most nutrient-dense items available. You'll also support local farmers and smaller businesses. Here in Oregon in mid-April, a great purchase is asparagus. You can grow your own, too! It's a perennial plant, so fresh spears pop up every spring all by themselves. Like magic! (I'm going to plant some one of these days, I swear I am.)

I like to steam asparagus just until it starts to soften, while it's still bright green, then rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. It's most convenient to do this the same day I buy it, then stick it in the fridge for later use. On hot days, it's ready to add to that dinner salad. Or just heat up briefly in the microwave to serve hot. I'll add a simple hollandaise sauce recipe below, an elegant way to finish asparagus, marvelous on eggs, and with a little tarragon, you also have bearnaise sauce to give your steak or any meat an elegant upgrade. 

Do me a favor, please. Try barely-cooked asparagus at least once. Don't cook it until it's mushy and the green is fading to brown. Snap off the tougher bottoms of the spears, but be gentle with the lovely stalks. It's like a mouthful of springtime.

Hollandaise sauce is traditionally made in a double boiler or over a bain marie (that's French for a pot of hot water). You whisk melted butter into the egg yolk mixture, counting on the warmth from the water to cook the yolks, thickening the sauce. Lovely, but it's easy to get too hot and have your sauce curdle. Try this simple blender method instead. Our family used to make eggs benedict for our whole church on Easter morning, so we got really good at making this sauce! Here's a scaled-down recipe for a small family:

Every couple of weeks, we all should take a look at our fridge, freezer, and pantry to identify items we need to use up. I've been guilty of throwing out fresh vegetables many times, because I never got around to cooking them. Unless you're composting these items, they become part of the big problem of food in our landfills. Let's change a habit and be a soup maker!
​

Yesterday I found cabbage, zucchini, an onion, some baby carrots, limp celery, and half a jar of spaghetti sauce in my fridge. The freezer yielded some chopped spinach and part of a bag of peas & carrots. In the pantry, there was an expired can of chili, about a cup of rice left in the package, a little chicken soup base stuck to the bottom of the jar, and a can of diced tomatoes. (I always have diced tomatoes -- I use them in everything!) 

OK, let's get started! I chopped up about 1 cup each of carrots, celery, and onions. I generally aim for 1/2" pieces of everything, but the onions came out minced. I heated a little light olive oil (not the good stuff) in a 6-quart pot and tossed in the veggies (called mirepoix in classic French cooking, and the start of most soups, stews and stocks). ​

I sauteed for a good five minutes, until the veggies started to soften and release steam. Then I threw in about four cloves of garlic and a good sized dash of Italian herb seasoning. A lot of recipes call for salt and pepper at this point, but I wanted to wait to see what flavor my leftovers produced.

While the mirepoix was sweating, I quartered and sliced the zucchini, and cut the cabbage into 2" wedges and thinly sliced them. Those will go in later. I added the two canned items - chili and tomatoes - and the spaghetti sauce to the mirepoix. With 2 cups of water, I rinsed and scraped the chicken base jar, then added that and the remaining water to the pot. You could use any stock instead of water, but I didn't have any. ​

After another five minutes or so, I added the zucchini, then the cabbage. 

I let those soften for a couple of minutes, then added the frozen spinach and peas & carrots, and the rice. 

This is when I taste and season. All it needed was a little salt & pepper. I might have added some herbs from my garden, but only the rosemary is ready, so I didn't bother to go outside. I added another 2 cups of water so there was enough liquid for the rice to absorb, then turned the burner down to low and let everything simmer until the rice was cooked, about 20 minutes. 

This made about 4 1/2 quarts of thick stew-like soup. I transferred to 1-quart tubs and let cool. It's all in the fridge now. I can add water or stock to make it more soupy, or I can add any chopped cooked protein and serve it for dinner as a stew. I'm trying to eat more vegetables, so I'll have a mugful just as it is for lunch every day this week. I might have to label and freeze one or two quarts, but that's fine, I love heat-and-eat options. 

No preservatives, no extra money spent, minimal food waste (onion skins, zucchini ends), and a hearty, flavorful, and versatile meal option to get us through the week. Win-win-win!

Recipe: Hodge Podge Soup

1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
2 Tbsp. light olive oil
1 Tbsp. minced garlic or garlic paste
2 Tbsp. dried Italian herb seasoning
1 14-oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 14-ounce can mild chili con carne with beans
1 cup marinara or spaghetti sauce
1 Tbsp. chicken soup base
2 medium zucchini, quartered and sliced
1/2 large green cabbage, cut in thin strips about 2" long
1 cup frozen chopped spinach
1 cup frozen peas & carrots
1 cup long-grain white rice

Over medium-high heat, toss the onion, celery, and carrots in the oil in a 6-quart soup pot. Sauté until mixture is steamy and vegetables start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, herbs, tomatoes, chili, spaghetti sauce, soup base, and about 2 cups of water. Bring mixture to a boil. Cook and stir another 5 minutes.  Stir in the zucchini and cabbage and allow to soften. Add the spinach, peas & carrots, rice, and another 2 cups of water or stock. Reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes more. Makes about 10 cups thick vegetable stew. Add stock or water to serve as soup, or add protein and serve as a casserole or one-bowl meal. 

​In these very weird political and social times, many of us are getting nervous about food supplies. More than half of Oregon residents are already pinching pennies and cutting back on food budgets. I'd like to address strategies for stretching your food dollars and maximizing nutrition for your family. 

Firstly, please get over your resistance to visiting emergency food pantries. They're here for anyone who is struggling to make ends meet, and they can provide some free basic essentials so you can use your money for more fresh food. Some items you can count on your local pantry for are beans, rice, pasta, canned vegetables & soups, canned fruit, peanut butter. Some pantries commit their own funds to stocking frozen meat and vegetables, and most accept donations so they end up with surprise items like condiments, snacks, and treats. Many welcome anyone without an appointment or any registration. Others prefer people to be in the SNAP food stamps program. You can usually visit twice a month. We'll be publishing a comprehensive list if Washington County resources this summer, but you can find many pantries at FoodFinder.OregonFoodBank.org. There's an interactive map, so you can click on your nearby programs to get details. This large free food network is there for all of us as greater food insecurity looms. 

Secondly, if you qualify, go ahead and apply for SNAP benefits. Set up an OregonOne.org account and follow the prompts to find out if you can get help. You just have to revisit your account every six months and report any changes in income or living arrangements. You can buy all varieties of food with your SNAP EBT card, even unhealthy processed foods and goodies, so don't waste your actual cash if you don't have to! 

Thirdly, plan ahead. You need to make lists to save money. Write down your favorite meals and snacks, then create a complete list of the groceries you expect to use in any given month. The list will help you choose only what you need from the free pantries and to prioritize your use of SNAP benefits.

Fourthly, if possible, plant a garden. Only plant what you normally eat, unless you intend to share with neighbors. I've wasted too much time growing green beans that none of us want for dinner! Our family uses a lot of tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, cucumbers, onions, berries, and fresh herbs, so that's what we grow. We have planter boxes along the side of the driveway to maximize space. 

Finally, shop with your actual cash. From your list, determine what meals you want to cook for a week and what ingredients you still need after your free items are taken into consideration. Meat, fresh produce, and dairy products are big on my list. Frozen vegetables actually retain more nutrients that their fresh counterparts, if the fresh items have to travel any distance. If you're not buying your vegetables at a farmers' market (using double-up food bucks for twice the value!), it may be smarter to choose the frozen option. (I draw the line at carrots, though. Frozen carrots are rubbery, imho.)

Today I made my old stand-by, leftover soup. I'll add the recipe and photos in tomorrow's post. I spent about $2.50 on vegetables. Everything else came out of the back of the pantry and the bottom of the fridge. I ended up with 2 gallons of hearty soup.                                                                                         
​                                                                                                                       Photo courtesy of Alicia McCabe and WBUR News.