How to shop for your family without breaking the bank

In a pinch, could you bake a birthday cake without eggs? Turn fried bread into bacon? Sweeten cookies using carrots?

Such culinary wizardry was commonplace when wartime rations stretched consumers' kitchen skills considerably. But now — as the stock market zigzags and the economy wobbles — many modern consumers are seeking quick fixes and are stuffing their pantries with comfort convenience foods.

Take, for example, the rise of Campbell's Soups stock as the economy teetered on Sept. 29 — the one stock in the S&P Index that rose as 499 others fell. In October, U.K.-based Marks & Spencer reported sales of bread and butter pudding increased 15 per cent while sticky toffee pudding sales rose 10 per cent.

According to British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, this phenomenon in part reflects the larger issue that many people simply don't know how to cook. In early November, Oliver appeared before a committee of MPs and called for more government investment in food education. He noted in the past when the economy receded, families knew how to prepare nutritious but inexpensive meals. But today, he warned, the U.K. could soon be facing a health crisis as more and more families become reliant on takeaway fast food.

Food knowledge spread thin

Heather Evans, a professor at Queen's University, agrees that food knowledge today is spread thin. While cooking shows, diet books and culinary magazines abound, many consumers have become accustomed to picking up prepared foods at deli counters and restaurants.

"People don't have the same culinary knowledge that we used to have," she says.

"Between wars when we had rationing, we also had families that fairly consistently had one member that was really, really knowledgeable about food and could make that one egg, and that little spoonful of sugar, and that little cupful of flour into something that looks like a real treat."

Women, who were the primary cooks, built social communities with other women working in munitions factories, Evans said. Recipes and tips were shared readily. By necessity, consumers in wartime cultivated a unique relationship with their food. Waste was strongly discouraged and cooks learned how to use what they had effectively. By the war's end, a leaner and fitter generation emerged, Evans says.

"They'd been living on a diet that was really low in fat, really low in sugar, really low in animal fats," she says. "Kids raised on that — they were stronger, they were healthier than previous generations."

In the 1950s, consumers turned to convenience foods, which were at the time seen as a sophisticated novelty, Evans said. The shift played an important role in reinforcing traditional ideas of femininity, she said.

"If you make the kitchen seem very appealing by giving her more appliances and more convenience food, well of course, women are going to want to stay in the kitchen instead of going out and joining the workforce — the relationship with food and other issues is very, very complex," she said.

"There was a movement towards convenience foods … and we're now swinging the other way, I think. People are now recognizing that they're not necessarily nutritious. They had the allure in the 1950s of being innovative and glamourous and new but they're not nutritious and now widely recognized as being a very poor use of your food dollar."

Some retro rationing cookbooks have been reissued as novelty items but Evans notes the scrimping and saving techniques offer lessons that hold relevance today. Some consumers have tried to replicate the experience of living on the same amount of food as allowed in wartime rations for a week. The results have been largely positive.

"The kids are healthier and perkier and less sluggish," Evans says. "They're throwing out less food, there's less waste, you make it go further. It's really about being very, very focused in what you use."

Breaking bad habits

Home economist and cookbook author Emily Richards concurs that planning is essential to making a family's food dollar go far. Hurried shopping often results in people mindlessly filling their carts, she says.

"Let me tell you, I love going down that chip aisle — it calls your name," she says, adding that for many people, a trip to the grocery store is a fun break in the day.

"I think what ends up happening is you end up buying things that you don't really need," she says. "You go home and [think] what did I spend? When I go with a list, I come home with staples and ingredients that I'm going to use and half the time my grocery bill is much less than when I just go for the sake of going."

Consumers can break bad habits by taking half an hour out of the day to do a little intensive research at the grocery store, she suggests.

"Bring a coffee and just go around with a pen and a paper and look at what you buy," Richards recommends. "See what other options are there — whether there is a less expensive option or whether there is a low-sodium [alternative] or those types of things that are a little bit more specific to your needs. In the end that will help you form a really good plan to go grocery shopping and in turn will help stretch your food dollar."

The dangers of stockpiling

Small but steadily rising food costs have forced many consumers to adjust their budgets and reconsider how they stock their fridges. Statistics Canada reports that the average price of one kilogram of pork chops increased from $9.17 in May to $9.50 in September. Similarly, a one-kilogram bag of oranges increased from $2.29 in May to $2.94 in October.

But despite the price increases, registered dietitian Andrea Holwegner cautions consumers against the urge to stockpile. Buying jumbo boxes of cereal or big bags of chips may offer good value but you may end up overindulging, she says.

"Food psychology research supports the more we buy, the more food we have available at home and often, the more we will eat," she wrote in an e-mail. "Consider if it is really a deal for you to buy in bulk."

Montreal-based cookbook author Marcy Goldman says stockpiling can also stifle inspiration, noting people often forget about the foods they store in their freezers. While consumers should strive to keep a certain amount of essentials — such as eggs, blocks of butter and dried pasta — hording sale items in the freezer may not be the best idea.

"You end up with a lot of your food dollar sitting in your freezer, underutilized by the time you're ready to cook or bake. People don't often think ahead; you're not always defrosting on time," she says. 

Goldman says consumers should instead shop sensibly, picking up staples and splurging every once in a while with items such as a fancy tin of paprika or a fresh cut of salmon.

Selling your leftovers

Once your meal has been prepped and served, think twice before putting it back in the fridge. Montreal-based cookbook author and chef Marcy Goldman says consumers should not be lazy.

"I think people have to start recasting leftovers with a lot more flair instead of a moused-down 'Oh God, we [can't] throw it out,' " she said.

"You've got to sell your meals a little bit.… If you're not excited about it, it's going to distill down to who you're serving it to; it's going to come across as ho-hum."

Goldman, who has recently seen an upsurge in recipe searches on her website for casseroles and breads, says zapped mashed potatoes and roast turkey may be a tough sell. But try turning those potatoes into New York-style garlic knishes or incorporate leftover turkey into savoury crepes and you've upgraded the leftovers significantly.

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"Begin to share with your family that what you could do at home probably is a lot better than any restaurant, for a fraction of the price," she said.

"There's a certain feeling of entitlement and a sense that if you go out that it's a fun time and that the food is better. I think it's time to maybe revalue and celebrate one's home effort a little more."