That necessary measure of irrationality

"Homer may have been blind, but his taste buds were alive to wine, and he reserved his richest adjectives for it: heady, mellow, ruddy, shining, glowing, seasoned, hearty, honeyed, glistening, heart-warming, and, of course, irresistible." So writes English teacher Alexander Nazaryan in "The Tipsy Hero," an op ed piece in this morning's New York Times.

Nazaryn, noting the extensive role of wine in ancient literature, admires "how open the Greeks were about to the role of alcohol in their society (unsurprising, perhaps, for a people whose highest ideal was 'the examined life')." Moderation was in, debauchery was out--but unrelieved sobriety was also out.

"Today," Nazaryn writes, "'irrational exuberance' means bankruptcies and foreclosures; for the Greeks, a measure of irrationality checked the rule of reason."

Trader Joe's or Aldi?

If we're going to eat cheaply during Lent, I decided, it might be a good idea to find out how much food costs. So yesterday I went to Aldi and Trader Joe's, conveniently owned by the same family of German billionaires and conveniently located on the same stretch of Roosevelt Road in Glen Ellyn, IL. (To go directly to my downloadable chart comparing several dozen items at the two stores, click here.)

I'm a big fan of Trader Joe's. Prices are often better than at Jewel, the quality is usually excellent, and they carry the kinds of food we like to eat. My few previous trips to Aldi, however, had not impressed. Shopping carts that have to be liberated with a quarter, involuntary self-bagging, stacks and stacks of junk food . . . put off by the environment, I'd never made the effort to see if good deals on good food lurked down some of those aisles.

Well, yesterday I learned something.

Three cheers for Aldi
Clearly breakfast is cheaper at Aldi. Look at this:

• oatmeal, $1.79 for 42 oz (A) vs $2.29 for 18 oz (TJ)
• cinnamon, $1.09 for 4.25 oz (A) vs $1.99 for 1.5 oz (TJ)
• milk, $2.29 (A) vs $3.29 (TJ) for a gallon
• bananas, $0.45 a pound (A) vs $0.19 each (TJ)
• tea, $1.69 for 100 bags (A) vs $1.99 for 48 bags (TJ)

Dinner can be cheaper at Aldi too, though the meat may be less humanely raised and may contain more fat:

• beef stew, $2.99 (A) vs $4.99 (TJ) a pound
• chicken thighs, $1.29 (A) vs $3.99 (TJ) a pound
• frozen salmon fillets, $3.99 (A) vs $7.99 (TJ) a pound

Three cheers for Trader Joe
You won't find masa mix (for making corn tortillas) or queso fresco at Trader Joe's; but then TJ's stocks quite a few things aren't available at Aldi: whole wheat flour, for example, or ground flaxseed, or unhydrogenated peanut butter. TJ's wine and beer selection is vastly better and often cheaper than Aldi's. And TJ has better prices on some food items:

• little white mushrooms, $1.49 (TJ) vs $1.69 (A)
• extra virgin olive oil, $7.49 for 1 liter (TJ) vs. $4.29 for 1/2 liter (A)
• shredded parmesan cheese, $4.69 for 12 oz (TJ) vs $2.39 for 5 oz (A)

After spending an hour going up and down the aisles taking notes in my reporter's notebook, I noticed that my cart was strangely empty. So, having bought a few frugal supplies at Aldi, I succumbed to temptation at Trader Joe's. Hey, it isn't Lent yet. Tonight we're having a TJ simple feast:

Insalata Caprese

• large ovaline fresh mozzarella, $2.99
• small fresh tomatoes on the vine, $3.24
• 2 oz. beautiful fresh basil leaves, $3.49

Season with TJ's coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Drizzle with TJ's extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle some of TJ's bulk pignoli (pine nuts) on top. Serve with crusty bread and red wine.

Seize the day. Ash Wednesday is a whole month away.

Uh oh

"The best way to gain weight in America is to go on food stamps."

--Dr. Mehmet Oz on Oprah this morning

So, if we do this Lenten Experiment, will we need to get Easter outfits in a larger size?

Lentil soup

Thanks to Jana Riess for this extremely easy, cheap, and tasty recipe. I plan to serve this soup regularly during the Lenten Experiment, along with homemade bread and perhaps a salad. Maybe we'll even be able to afford fresh fruit for dessert...

This recipe makes at least 10 cups of soup. If you need only one or two servings, you can freeze the rest. Or throw a party.

Rinse

• one pound of lentils,
  

picking out the bad. Into a crockpot, place the lentils and

• 6 cups water, chicken broth, or vegetable stock
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 to 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes, undrained
• 2 tablespoons minced dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme

Cover and cook on low for 7 - 8 hours or on high for 4 - 5 hours, until lentils are tender.

Notes from LaVonne: I followed this recipe exactly, and I ended up with a lovely thick lentil stew. Because I wanted soup, however, I added

• 1 quart (32 oz) low-sodium chicken broth
  

and heated on low for another four or five hours.

It's OK to substitute other dried beans (though you'll need to presoak them overnight before throwing them in the slow cooker) and other seasonings.

You can also toss in other mild-flavored vegetables for variety: potatoes, spinach, squash, yams... If you want to use up last night's fully cooked leftovers, add them to the pot 1/2 hour before serving--enough time to warm them up and absorb some flavor, but not so long that they turn to mush.

Garnish with celery leaves (or shaved parmesan cheese, yogurt, fresh parsley, or chives).

10 reasons to try the $6-a-day food experiment

1. It might help with your blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, or body-mass index

2. You only have $6/day to spend on food anyway, so you may as well feel righteous about it

3. You'd like to reduce your spending to $6/day so you can buy more books

4. You'd like to reduce your spending to $6/day so you can give an equal amount to your local food pantry

5. You're a misunderstood ascetic in a hedonistic world

6. You like a good stiff challenge you can be obsessive-compulsive about

7. The Easter feast is so much tastier when you're really hungry

8. You would like to show solidarity with the poor (without having to live on less than $2 a day, like nearly half the world's population)

9. You'd like a family project that will make your kids realize how lucky they are

10. You're no good at fasting or dieting, but maybe if you think of this as a game...

The rules

OK, you want to play the game. For a day, a week, a month, six weeks--you decide--you're going to try to eat tasty, healthy food without spending more than suggested in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's thrifty plan, which is the basis for food-stamp allotments.


To calculate how much you can spend, you can click the link in the previous sentence and work out a precise amount based on your household's number, ages, and genders. Or you can go by these fairly generous approximations:

• For one adult: $6/day, $42/week, $180 month
• For a two-person household: $12/day, $84/week, $360 month
• For each additional person in the household: $4/day, $28 week, $120/month

In Illinois, these are the rules:

Food stamp benefits can be used to buy:

• any food or food product for human consumption,
• plus seeds and plants for use in home gardens to produce food.

Food stamp benefits cannot be used to buy:

• Hot foods ready to eat,
• Food intended to be heated in the store,
• Lunch counter items or foods to be eaten in the store,
• Vitamins or medicines,
• Pet foods,
• Any nonfood items (except seeds and plants),
• Alcoholic beverages, or
• Tobacco.

(Not that there will be enough money left over to buy those things anyway...)

Cheap food as a spiritual discipline

My friend Jennifer read my January 18 post, "Please advise us on our Lenten plans," and wrote:

I would love to do this, but I confess it would be for material, not spiritual reasons--I need to save money!

I answered:

The whole point of my blog is that the material and the spiritual are inextricably linked--so your reasons are fine.

With unemployment rising and salaries being frozen or reduced, many of us have considerably less to spend on food this year than last. Can we still eat meals that nourish body and soul?