If you could make one food affordable enough to eat every day, what would it be?
I was thinking about this the other day as I was eating some (out of season) (not-local) blueberries, which were ridiculously tasty.
And I realized that if I had a magic wand that could make one food so affordable that I could eat it with abandon every day, berries would be it.
Enough organic, local berries to eat every day...that would be heaven.
(I realize that if I had them every day, I probably would cease to value them in short order. Let's ignore that for now, though, ok?)
I'm cheating here by picking two, but second on the list would be fresh scallops. Not the little teeny bay scallops, or the kind that come floating in the off-tasting liquid, but the really super expensive $25/pound dry scallops (they're just called dry because they're not sold in liquid) that cook up into little bits of heaven.
______________
All right, so it's your turn now. What one food would you magically make affordable?
(For the purposes of this question, we are completely ignoring the health value of whatever you pick. It can magically be healthy too. 😉 )
Pina Colada's please! They are so delicious, but I almost never drink them because of the cost. I know they are a drink but they are so high in fat and calories its practically a meal. 😉
That's funny. When I saw this headline in my inbox I automatically thought, "scallops." Then I opened the post and thought - blueberries, yes! How will I pick? Blueberries and scallops whenever you feel like it. That would be a wonderful world.
Sushi!!!!!!!!!!!
Seconded! On that note, I made Sushi Salad yesterday and it was very tasty and surprisingly affordable. I had bought the 2 cans of crab meat a long time ago so I didn't have to buy anything extra (rice, avocado, cucumber, seasoned rice vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, wasabi and the crabmeat). It seems that the recipe could be quite versatile. I got it from "The Frugal Foodie Cookbook", which I think, Kristen had reviewed at some point (I think?) and I had borrowed from the library.
Haha.. that's what I was thinking too!! It doesn't even have to have fish in it.. I love CA rolls 🙂
I eat a lot of organic almond butter. The price just increased to $12. a jar. I still buy it but wish it were more reasonable.
I'm with you on the scsllops and berries. But, i am planting tons of fruit all over my yard this year so in future years I get 3-4 months at least;)
So its going to have to be organic dairy and poultry.
Bcz our local Costco has been getting double fist-pumps from me these days bringing affordable organic produce, grains and beef!!! Yes!!!!!! But their dairy is still very high as is poultry.
Margaritas...which magically have no calories, and would make me buzzed, but never drunk. Although ice cream (with lots of mix ins, and likely some sort of peanut butter and chocolate streak in there) might work too. Your answers are a lot healthier, Kristen!
I have to go with organic berries as a number one as well. And since you picked another..... My runner up is west coast razor clams. I grew up there and miss the clams like CRAZY!
Artichokes. Boiled and then dipped in melted butter...YUM!
My immediate thought was sushi! But berries are also wonderful. So I pick two, as well. 🙂
I'm thinking berries and sugar snap peas....LOVE those but never really buy them, only grow them, so we just eat them like crazy in the spring. And lobster. Mmmm.
I would choose champagne--the only alcoholic beverage I like but manage to have only once a year or less--and some of the more costly cheeses. I buy the berries whenever we want them because we need an extravagance now that we are seniors!
I'm with you on the expensive cheeses.
Also caviar - to be able to top toast with it, with black coffee, and an orange - a breakfast in heaven!
I tried caviar once, and did not get what all the fuss was about. Which I guess is good for my budget?
I'm with you on the berries.....a retired senior citizen here, too. And every week I splurge and buy strawberries or blueberries for my cereal.
My heart's desire would be crabs.......Maryland crabs!
Heavy cream.
I'm not sure about scallops, but I know heavy cream would pair well with your berries and it is also an ingredient in a number of very nice mixed drinks. We could have a reader brunch!
I love heavy cream with the passion of a thousand burning suns.
And it would have been on the list except that it is a regular item at Aldi now (didn't used to be), which makes it very affordable and so I have heavy cream in my fridge at all times.
Words really cannot express how much I love heavy cream. And yes, it could make a lovely sauce for scallops. Ha.
The grocery store owner in town (just a little independent market) teases me that I should buy a milk cow to save me from buying seven gallons of milk a week. That would also solve the cream problem. 😉
I would have to say any kind if gluten free food...it is SO expensive...oh and seafood as well. I bought those blueberries and raspberries this week from Aldi too and they were delicious!
Hmm, I had always heard that the blueberries that come from South America and are sold in the winter months here are pretty terrible and one should buy (or DIY) frozen blueberries for when you want to eat them in the winter months.
For me it would be a good steak (and assuming that they wouldn't kill my heart in the process.) We get beef so infrequently these days because it has become something of a luxury item due to the drought and cutting back of herds.
I dunno where these were from, but they were QUITE acceptable. Yum.
I just checked the box from my Aldi blueberries purchased last week. They were from Chile, but very good!
I'm going to go with organic meats. I confess, we're carnivores. I also would love some good, fresh seafood. Living in the Midwest (after growing up on the Washington coast) doesn't give way to REALLY fresh and affordable fish.
Aldi has blackberries this week that are affordable - enough where I may buy enough to make jam.
TOTALLY second that one! Traditional grass fed beef! Around here its VERY expensive, beyond my budget expensive since we have snow on the ground for 6 months of the year and stocking/growing enough hay to grass feed through the winter with no grain supplement is difficult.
Milk would be another one. Its painful paying $5-6/jug with 7-8 jugs a week in our house!
I'm going to be pretty broad here, and say fresh fruit in general. Why do the healthy foods have to be so expensive?!
Without a doubt or a blink of the eye, sushi! I want it like McDonald's dollar menu cheap so we could afford to take the whole family out to eat. My kids gulp sushi down. My husband and I will order something we think we'll really enjoy, but we turn our heads for a second, and the kids have already inhaled more than half of it.
Sushi.
Sushi.
Sushi.
I don't think you'd ever get tired of fresh berries. I used to visit my Oma and Opa in the summer, and they had berries of all kinds. I'd pick and eat and pick and eat and never once got tired of them. The first taste of raspberry brings back all of those memories.
You should visit Vancouver, Canada sometime. It is a very expensive place to live, but there are cheap, delicious sushi restaurants in every neighbourhood. (Also, $1 US is currently worth $1.20 Canadian, so you would get 20% off).
I would love to, but somehow I think the trip from Maryland, USA would offset the cost difference 🙂 My Oma and Opa lived in the Puget Sound area, and I'd love to take my children back to that area. . . it's not too far north from there to Vancouver.
Fresh off the boat jumbo shrimp! Scallops would be great too 🙂
Cherries - every day of the year....
Rainier Cheeries YUM ! 😊
Ooh, that's a good one. Fresh cherries are SO expensive usually, even when they're in season.
Totally sushi!!!!!! I can't get enough of it!
Once we ate at a 5 star seafood restaurant at the beach. I have dreams about their
Bacon Wrapped Crab Stuffed Shrimp. Even jumbo shrimp from the store are no match for these colossal fresh off the boat shrimp.
Fresh peaches, grapes, and blackberries. I love them, but they are so expensive in their off season. On the other end of the spectrum would be ground beef. Not grocery store hamburger, but the really good kind (from happy cows in the the farmer's pasture) ground by your local butcher ground beef.
Gulf shrimp... ONLY from the Gulf of Mexico. Not so easy to get in the Pacific Northwest.... 🙂
RED GRAPES! We go through a bag every two days when I buy them which makes them very expensive. They are vary rarely on sale around here!
Rebecca, I don't need the crab stuffing but you're description of the bacon wrapped shrimp has me drooling! I second the diver scallops Kristen. I LOVE them!
salmon first pick, second pick I wish bananas were cheaper in New Zealand (at least $3 a kg, probably about $1-1.25 a pound) Since I live in the USA temporilarly I love Aldi's price of bananas, now a staple in our house!
A couple of notes:
- sushi I love it. It's so easy to make and to top it of very cheap to make. Kirsten maybe you need to do a demo for your blog 😄. Sushi in New Zealand were you can buy all the ingredients in the local supermarket is a frugal meal for us especially when you use cooked chicken and not seafood.
- price of fresh fruit and vegetables. Compared to New Zealand the USA is sooo CHEAP especially when you shop the specials at aldi. Berries in the off season at a reasonable price, AWESOME!
Fancy cheeses.
Rainier Cherries, Jazz Apples & Lobster
Sugar snap peas! We go through at least 2 large bags a week 🙁 and Strawberries - I can't wait for June.
Also: Whyyyyyy is strawberry season not longer??
I live in Southern California and they are picking strawberries now!!!! I just went to our local produce stand and got 10 lbs for $15!
JEALOUS.
If I could share I would! 🙂
Fresh berries, cherries, all kinds of fruit... Yes!
But since that's already been said: Red, yellow, and orange bell peppers.
Lobster, to dip in butter sauce. (Lobtsre that I wouldn't have to cook). 🙁
Many places that sell lobster, will steam it for you as well. Perhaps try asking your store?
If cost was not an issue or health, I would just want to eat take out all the time (or at least have the option to do so). I love cooking, I just hate HAVING to cook when I don't want to.
Having a backup plan in the form of cheap takeout would be excellent!
I love almond butter, but it is really getting expensive!
Shrimp! I can demolish a shrimp tray like nobody's business...
PEACHES. Fresh, heavy, eat them over the sink because they're so syrupy peaches.
Also Macadamia nuts.
Yes to the peaches. I pretty much never buy peaches unless they are from a local farm in season, because grocery story peaches are almost always terrible.
That is so true! Fresh fruit is usually a gamble, but it seems especially true for peaches. It's so disappointing to bite into a flavorless peach!
Or to have one rot before it gets soft.
Or to have it get mealy instead of soft.
This is a fun game! On my list would be bing cherries, crab, and (yes, totally ignoring the health aspect) bacon. And also organic, grass-fed meat.
p.s. FG - you should totally look into growing your own blueberry bushes! My mom has some, and it is heavenly to just walk outside in the summer and grab a handful of fresh blueberries.
My parents have them too, and they are great! Sadly, my yard is SO shady, it's tough to grow much of anything. 🙁 If I buy another house, I am SO going to think more about sunlight.
YES. Sunlight - never even thought I needed to think of such a thing when I bought my condo! PS - I'm tickled to see how many of your readers would pick cocktails, he!
I'd do that too, perhaps, if I weren't such a lightweight. Half of a Seagram's wine cooler is enough to make me feel buzzed, so I've never tried a margarita or pina colada. I'm kind of pathetic.
We made the margarita recipe in our Vitamix cookbook, and it changed my mind about margaritas forever. But you'd have to invite company to share because it makes a lot. You could have a very small glass.
So very good.
Not pathetic in the least! Being a lightweight is extremely healthy AND frugal (maybe worth a blogpost about saving money by not being able to hold your liquor? ha! jk). I LOVE red wine, but I started cutting it out of my budget because it is seriously pricey. And, not to get all heavy, but I'm in Wisconsin where excessive alcohol is a problem. It's always good to be on the other end! 🙂
Oof, well, not to imply that your readers who picked cocktails as their thing were excessive drinkers. Just to be clear. 🙂 #overanalyzer
I am not much of drinker, either and thank my lucky stars when I see how much my friends and family spend on alcohol.
However, I don't mind spending money on really good chocolate so each to his own, I guess.
Fresh berries (strawberries, cherries, raspberries they're all good) and shrimp - and my husband would not be allergic to shrimp and I could eat it at home not once in a blue moon when we go out with coupons.
Berries, hands down!
But I decided last year I was going to make that a reality. I live in Washington State, a major berry producing region. So, last summer, I bought (and picked) tons of fresh berries (most of them organic). I froze and canned them, and also made jars upon jars of low-sugar berry jam. Since then, I have eaten berries in some form or another just about every day. Yum...worth every penny and all the work. (And I only taught myself how to can two years ago....).
Fruit and any kind of seafood! Yummo!
For me it would probably be fresh pineapple, berries also. I do have to say that frozen blueberries can be quite reasonable year round, as Dollar Tree carries a 12 oz. bag, I think, for $1 year round. The problem is they are out so often. The cashiers tell me they run out as soon as more comes in. They used to have sliced strawberries frozen, but haven't seen that in some time. They do have frozen strawberries whole, which I bought recently but have not used yet. There is a strawberry muffin and a strawberry sweet roll recipe I want to try that uses frozen strawberries. Would be nice if I could buy good meats for less though. I see some cuts of beef at $20 something a pound. Here in California, produce is cheaper, seems to be in season a bit longer. Right now, I keep seeing sales on red peppers, which seems odd to me. But meat and dairy is crazy expensive.
When I saw the question and before I saw what you said my first thought was ORGANIC BERRIES! I would eat them everyday and not get tired of them!
I also would love to see the prices on grass fed beef and organic milk more reasonable.
Probably smoked salmon. I was late to loving fish and am making up for it now!
That's me with avocados. I was late to the game, and now I am eating zillions of them. 😉
I used to like avacados and lately I've been getting a stomach upset...boooo.. I miss my guacamoli and all that yumminess!!! Waa And now I developed a sensitivity to bananas...I never really loved bananas but I think this should be posted somewhere else, LOL
Fresh (as in: caught and sold the same day) deep sea fish: albacore; ahi; mahi-mahi; yellowtail...
Seafood or berries. Either one of them really break the bank. Especially if they're quality (sustainable and organic).
I agree with all the posts about seafood - like really good, sustainable, organic, cruelty free seafood.
Beef. It's averaging over $6 a pound for just about any cut, including stew meat, which used to be cheap! Ground beef is cheaper, but it's still skyrocketed in price, too. It rarely goes on sale anymore, either.
Organic locally farmed chicken and fresh fish. It's interesting that several have said berries: $10 buys a small punnet of raspberries, strawberries and blueberries here (which I couldn't eat in one day unless I was paid to do it), whereas I could easily eat twice that amount in fish & chicken daily ($10 for a salmon fillet and same for chicken breast.) I don't do this, for obvious reasons. But it is where any lottery winnings would go first 😉
Sushi is very reasonably priced in the UK and really quite cheap (& nice) in the supermarkets.
lobster.
Oh, this is a good one.
Maple syrup!
oh, yeah
I just saw pure organic maple syrup at costco for $12!! A huge bottle.
Lobstah!!!!! Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks!
Caviar (and that includes salmon roe), softshell crab (yummy crab with out the work), mango, papayas, and duck. I'm sure I'll think of more later.
Good gluten-free bread, muffins, etc. Mmm.
We went to the cottage this year during berry season. Free berries mean that I was picking berries multiple times a day. So good.
For me it would be breakfast pastries: chocolate croissants, danishes, cinnamon buns, donuts (you said health concerns weren't an issue, right?).
Gluten-free croissants. I just found a place that makes them well, and that will ship them! But they're very much an occasional treat at this point.
And I love the idea of healthy, affordable take-out that could be done for every meal if we wanted it - I'd want variety, so it doesn't have the same 'one food' daydream quality to it, but it'd be a life-changer to not have to cook!
I'm starting to feel really fortunate that all I have to do to get good home-raised beef is go to the freezer. Most farmers (like us) are very responsible with livestock, so organic isn't an issue for me, but home-raised simply cannot be beat.
Sorry I keep adding in here and there but...beef! That is one we eat at least twice a week, it is very filling and I am not hungry for anything afterwards, so isn't that really* saving your money. By not eating some more snacks later? 😛
Cheese. All of the nice cheeses.
Ahhh...cheese....yum
Every kind of cheese and every kind of milkproduct is cheap where I live (Holland). So this is a nono for me. I am still thinking about the one thing I would love to eat or drink everyday, if it was unaffortable and terrible unhealthy...
I love this game! LOL
My son (15) says sea food!
I say hazelnut creamer...wierd I know.. :O
My 11 yr old daughter would say....spaghetti
And my other one who is 3...chocolate
They might not be expensive but when you eat a lot of it... 😛
OH, my husband would say BREAD,lol The GOOD kind
Sushi! Sashimi! Yum.
I don't have it nearly often enough.
Mangoes
Getting ready to post the same thing! Ripe.
Cherries and since calories don't count, Graether's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Seafood. Not fish, but scallops, shrimp, lobster, crab, clams. I could eat seafood three times a day and never get tired of them. But even living on the east coast, seafood is expensive. Local, in season fish is $5/lb, and seafood goes through the roof.
Brie. Every day, all day, day after day...BRIE.
If you have an Aldi close-by, their brie is priced at $2.99 and actually pretty delicious. So is their smoked gouda ($2.99 as well).
Raw cashews. I could and would eat some daily
Salmon would have to be my food. I LOVE it, but don't buy it very often due to the cost. Once in awhile I find a great deal on it and then I am ecstatic, but that is a rare occasion. 🙂
Cherries <3... And fresh nuts, not the pre-packaged ones, they are really expensive over here (in the Netherlands that is).
True, the price of Fresh nuts went over the roof. I really, really love almonds, but they have become way to expensive for me.
Oh I have been thinking and there are so many choices. However, this is fantasy world so I am going to go with eating foods that I am allergic too. So may I have a combination of shellfish and egg please and not suffer from it.
This week I paid $6 (Aus) for 4 ounces of raspberries. I was desperate for something tasty.
"Beyond organic" meat products; i.e., meat, dairy, and eggs from critter that lived as nature intended. This includes eating grass, not grain. Being outside and roaming around, not mostly inside in a barn -- or worse! I decline to elaborate as this is a family blog. But the price differential is steep. It's really hard to buy the $20/lb 100% grass-fed, all outdoors meat when it's right next to the $8/lb "extra space and vegetarian feed" version or the $5/lb CAFO cut.
It's possible to get happy pork and happy beef at a low(ish) price if one buys in bulk, but there's no way to raise happy poultry and not have it be more expensive. [Long explanation omitted.]
Answer #2, which incorporates the lack of concern about health:
1. Harry & David's Dark Chocolate Moose Munch, the kind with few nuts.
2. Strong cheeses, both hard (such as cheddar) and moldy (I love me some moldy, stinky, strong-but-smooth cheese).
My list was much longer, then I realized I was more motivated by the lack of negative health impact than by price so I stopped.
For me it woukd be fresh wild salmon with roasted green asparagus. On the fruit list though it would also be berries, tasty peaches (that are only upon luck to get), and pomegranete.
Yogurt. My family loves yogurt. And there are five of us. If each of us ate one cup of yogurt at .50/cup/day it would come out to $17.50/week. (That is if I can find a good quality yogurt on sale. The type we prefer typically runs about $1.00/cup which would be $35/week on yogurt alone!) We typically end up just buying one quart of yogurt for $4-$5 for the week and when its gone its gone, otherwise it takes up too much of my grocery budget.
You can easely make your own yoghurt. Search the internet and just try. It is easy, cheaper and you will never go back to store bought yoghurt. Trust me!
Yep-so cheap and so tasty! Here's the method I use, which requires no special equipment. https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2009/10/how-to-make-homemade-yogurt-2/
Berries is a good one. This time of the year I am anxious for asparagus though. I recently splurged and bought some at the outrageous price of $6/lb. But I figured if I was going to splurge - better asparagus than ice cream.
I would truly love a nice ripe nectarine everyday, too.
So I read all the comments and thought about it for a while: what could I eat every day without caring for the costs and calories. Red wine would be nr. 1 in my top 5 ( Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot, that sort of wine keeps me happy). Nr. 2 would be roasted almonds. Avocado's, I really love them. So I make it my nr. 3. Nr. 4 hmmm I would go for the raspberries and the blueberries, can't wait to grow my own. My nr. 5 must be haring, herring in english I think, raw with onions on it.
My conclusion is that I am a very happy woman because I can buy all of the above easely every day if I want.