Photos by Ellen Knuti

No time for the Park Slope Co-op and too broke for the Grand Army farmer’s market? For my (rather limited) money, the best trick for defeating the rising cost of groceries is maxing out on curiously affordable, endlessly versatile beans and grains from Goya.

Keeping them on hand can make a huge difference in the decision to throw together something for dinner instead of ordering in Thai for the third time this week. With some onions and garlic, a can of beans can become a nutritious and filling meal that pairs easily with rice, salad or any vegetable you find in your fridge.

My favorite Goya cooking staples (all from the 9th Street Steve’s C-Town) include barley ($1.19), cornmeal ($1.49),  dried cannellini beans ($1.59), red lentils ($1.79), green split peas ($.99), yellow split peas ($.99), bulgur ($2.09), 16-bean soup mix ($1.99), quinoa ($2.99),  canned chickpeas ($1.69), and canned cannellini beans ($1.69). At my last trip to C-Town, great deals include a 20-lb bag of medium grain white rice for only $16.99, or $.85 a pound. Add that to several dozen cans of black beans, pinto beans (both $1.69) or even refried beans ($1.19) and you have lunch for months.

The cornmeal, for instance, can make enough polenta to last a week. Each night you can dress it up differently — with tomato sauce, diced meat, melted cheese or hot sauce. You can also fry some up with a little olive oil for breakfast. Barley is also an amazingly versatile grain and if you keep some cooked in your fridge, you can mix it with pretty much any vegetable or meat for a quick protein-filled meal. Try cooking it up on a Sunday evening and it will last about a week. Put it in a covered baking dish in the oven with chicken or beef broth, a little salt and pepper, diced mushrooms and onions and you’ll have a delicious casserole that makes a great side dish. Another cheap trick: eggs. Fried or poached eggs make any soup or rice dish a complete meal by adding some additional protein.

While the canned goods are quick starters, the dried legumes are where you’ll save the most money if you have the time and forethought to soak the beans overnight. For example, this below recipe for curried yellow split pea soup costs about $5 or less to make (assuming you have the spices) and serves at least six people. Give it a try along with the following recipe for hominy, an oft-overlooked ingredient that imparts a rich corn flavor to stews and soups. Do you have any Goya recipe favorites?

Curried Split Pea Soup (adapted from Robin Bellinger and Alton Brown)

1 lb yellow split peas (rinsed)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp salt
½ tsp turmeric
Approx 2 tsp total of the following spices, using more or less of whichever you favor: cumin, ginger, garam masala, red pepper flakes or cayenne (depending on how hot you want it)
7-8 cups of water

Put the rinsed split peas into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave the peas to soak for about an hour, until they are softened. Drain water.

Add the olive oil to a large pot and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the chopped onion and carrots and cook for about five minutes, until the onion begins to soften and turn translucent. Add the minced garlic, salt, turmeric and spices, cook on high heat for about 30 seconds.  Stir in the yellow split peas and add the water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 40 minutes, until the lentils are soft. Puree with a food processor or immersion blender for a smoother soup.

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Another more off-the-beaten path and underrated staple is hominy: canned white hominy is made of dried white corn kernels that have been treated with an alkali solution and simmered until the kernels are soft. Dried hominy is ground and can be used in grits and either are suitable for making an excellent posole, a corn-based stew. Great for leftovers and as a hearty meal, this chicken posole recipe can be adapted to suit your tastes. Experiment as you like by substituting spices, making it vegetarian or even meatier, depending on what you have on hand.

Chicken Posole (adapted from the Kitchn blog weeknight recipes)
makes 6-8 servings

Broth
8 cups chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons coriander
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon chili powder

Posole
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 – 1.5 pounds chicken breast
2 cans hominy

Any (or all!) of the following garnishes:
lime wedges
red or yellow onion, diced
radish, sliced thin
cabbage or lettuce, julienned
tomato, diced
queso blanco
avocado, diced

In a large pot or dutch oven, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add the minced garlic. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the salt, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, and chili powder.

Continue to simmer on the stove top until all the other ingredients are ready. Taste for seasoning. If bitter, add another teaspoon of salt. If too concentrated, add a cup of water to dilute.

To prepare the chicken, pat dry and season both sides generously with salt and pepper. In a frying pan or stove-top grill pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 4 minutes until underside is crispy and golden brown. Flip the chicken and continue cooking until cooked through–another 4-5 minutes. Remove to a cutting board and rest until cool enough to handle. While the chicken is cooking and cooling, prepare the garnishes and put in individual bowls.

When the chicken is cool enough to handle, dice it into bite-sized cubes and add to the broth. Drain the hominy into a strainer and rinse under cold water. Add to the broth. Bring the soup to a boil to bring everything to the same temperature. Serve in soup bowls and allow guests to garnish their soups individually.

©iStockphoto.com

I am a stay-at-home girlfriend. When my boyfriend goes off to work, I spend my days cooking, cleaning our two-bedroom Greenpoint apartment and trying to look good for him when he comes home. I never planned on this lifestyle; my corporate job of four years was outsourced in October when we were already living together. What was a matter of convenience before is now a matter of financial survival — while I’ve always been someone who’s really into keeping her boyfriend happy (that’s how I was raised), it’s now my primary occupation after job-seeking. I’m not alone. I was actually the third of my female friends living with her boyfriend to wind up out of work, and all of us, to some degree, adhere to stereotypically Stepfordish rules to keep our relationships afloat and ourselves sane. Here are mine:

Don’t sleep in: When my boyfriend wakes up at 6, I get up with him, turn on the television, chat with him, and try to make him a simple breakfast, maybe scrambled eggs or just cereal and juice. It’s bad enough that he knows I’m home all day, no need for him to think I sleep until noon.

Keep the place clean: When I was working, the cleaning usually didn’t get done until Saturday — now it’s part of my daily to-do list. Like any other busy person getting ready in the morning, he throws his clothes on the floor, takes a shower and leaves the floor wet etc. Why leave it there for him to take care of when he gets home? To be spiteful? I’d much rather pick up behind him — I don’t want to live in a messy home either. It also gives me something to do when my brain reaches its resumé-submission limit.

Cook or order dinner every night: I happen to love cooking. I was making dinner at least three to four times a week when I was still employed, except then I could actually afford to go to the butcher and get the best racks of ribs. Now that I’m not working, it’s only right to keep the meals on the table. If you don’t cook, order something. Put a cold beer or glass of wine on the table along with it. My boyfriend loves it. He’s always grateful for any and all of the little things I do; it never gets too predictable because I try to do something new every time.

The SAHG: she cooks, she cleans, and she still looks hot. ©iStockphoto.com

Keep yourself up: I can’t afford to go to the hair and nail salon once a week as I did when I was employed. Those $60 Brazilians every month are definitely out of the question. I learned how to do my hair myself, went to Duane Reade for an at-home wax kit (proceed with caution!!) and have my friends give me manicures. I even turn on the Health channel and do some of the cheesy morning aerobics. There are plenty of ways to look good on a budget and I have made it my mission to find every single one. My trick to keeping my actual clothing hot and inexpensive is actually fairly simple; I wear things that are totally out of season. If I’m at home, I’ll throw on a pair of denim shorts and a tank top or a tube top with jeans and flip flops. Stay covered when you need to leave the house, otherwise pretend everyday is a 90 degree day.

Pamper him. One of my fellow SAHGs buys her boyfriend’s favorite chocolate milk and puts in the freezer (because that’s the way he likes it) for him to find when he gets home from work. I always have beer or whiskey ready for my boyfriend, and when it gets colder outside, I’ll mix a warm cocktail, which he’s a big fan of. Needless to say, the surprise doesn’t always have to be of the alcoholic variety but a nice treat while dinner is cooking is always a great way to keep him happy.

Sexy Time: Everyone knows there is nothing more important in a relationship than that special time between the sheets. I have eight to nine hours everyday to send out my resumés and clean and make dinner, by the time he comes home from work I am well rested. Frankly, there’s no real reason (time of the month aside) why I shouldn’t be ready and willing when he is. I try very hard to keep my boyfriend happy and this is a key part of doing so.

Leave the house: To stay sane, I have to get out of the house at some point everyday or I go completely crazy. Whether it’s to go to the grocery store, take a walk around the block or go daytime boozing with one of my unemployed friends. My friends and I go boozing at least 1-2 times a week and it is FANtastic. There ‘s nothing better than going to a restaurant, sharing a couple of appetizers and a bottle of wine (or two) with another unemployed girlfriend. The lunch specials at a lot of NYC restaurants are quite inexpensive. You can even spring for a whole meal if you feel like it. If you’re not the booze enthusiast I am, enjoy a great meal with a friend. Getting “me” time outside of the apartment is so important. I am aware that a large part of my unemployment schedule is based on keeping my boyfriend happy, so having time to myself away from the confines of my living room really makes my own life better.

All in all, I think being unemployed has made us closer. He gets a clean house and dinner, and being unable to go out all the time has forced us to spend more time together. If there’s one thing I’m sure he’d like to change it is the way I cling to him when he gets home. After spending a large part of the week talking only to myself, having him walk through the door ready to talk about something other than toilet cleaner is really exciting to me. It makes him crazy.

I’m positive some people reading this will assume I’m a brainwashed and battered woman, and I can’t say I’m all that concerned. The thing is, even though I’ve gotten the whole domestic thing down to a science, the idea of being an actual housewife is not at all appealing. I still fully intend to have a career of my own. Until I land that new job, I’m doing the best job I can as a stay-at-home girlfriend.

Worth it? Photo from Big Red Kitchen.

Let us, for a moment, set aside the fact that if you’re a decent cook and you have decent ingredients, whatever you make at home WILL taste better than its packaged counterpart from the store. Similarly, ‘making it’ is usually a better fiscal decision than ‘buying it.’ But there’s still a gray area in the make vs. buy debate that needs to be addressed. The question needs to be asked: Is it really worth it to squeeze those 50 oranges for the Sunday brunch, or will Tropicana do? We visited supermarkets around Brooklyn to price-check a few kitchen staples. Then we explored making them ourselves and did some math. Here’s what we found.

We recognize that you may be able to find a lower price, use different ingredients or eek a bit more out of that jar or bottle than we did here. Recipes and prices vary, so treat this as a general guide.

Orange juice
Sadly, juice is expensive no matter how you squeeze it. Take Tropicana: A gallon of Tropicana (128 oz.) will set you back $6.99 at Wyckoff Food Bazaar while its half-gallon counterpart is a disproportionate $5. And for the fresh-squeezed stuff (undeniably superior), it takes six to eight oranges (size/juiciness dependent) to make an 8 oz. serving. At three oranges for $2, that’s upward of $4 per glass ($64/gallon!). Now you understand why some OJ costs more than cocktails in restaurants.
VERDICT: a resounding, but reluctant, BUY

Not worth it. Photo by Jill Harrison.

Pasta sauce
A 24 oz. jar of Newman’s Own, Ragu, or Barilla ranges from $2.99 to $3.19, but these usually don’t hold a candle to the home-made stuff, which is easy to make with a few basic ingredients.
You’ll need: (prices from Wyckoff Food Bazaar) two 28 oz. cans of tomatoes ($3.78); one yellow onion ($0.99); a bag of fresh garlic ($1.50); olive oil ($2.99 and up); spices (basil, oregano, black pepper, whatever else is around) (negligible).
Recipe: In a large pot over medium-high heat, saute the chopped onion with a few cloves of minced garlic in two tbsp of olive oil. As the garlic starts to brown, dump the canned crushed tomatoes in. Stir, turn the heat to low, add spices and let simmer for 1-2 hours. You’ll get a whopping half-gallon (64 oz.) of sauce, and you’ll need only a fraction of the garlic and olive oil, making the total closer to $5.50. Note: this method is ultra suitable for crockpots.
TOTAL COST: $9-$10; $5.50/64 oz. ($8/64 oz. for store-bought)
VERDICT: a resounding MAKE

Ice cream
Making ice cream is a labor of love and commitment, which we’ve never attempted A) because we don’t have an ice cream maker and B) because we understand it takes a really, really long time. According to Ice Cream Club, the sweet stuff is made from three main ingredients: heavy cream ($3.99/quart), whole milk ($1.39/liter), and sugar ($2.50/5 lb. bag). To make something beyond the ‘sweet cream’ flavor, you’ll probably need vanilla extract ($3.99 and up) and other ingredients, like cocoa powder, nuts or fruit. Plus, there’s the cost of the maker ($30-70 even in the low-budget range). Ok, we didn’t do all the math here, but since you can snag two pints of Häagen-Dazs or Ben and Jerry’s on sale at Food Bazaar for 2/ $5.00, leave homemade for the more financially stable.
VERDICT: BUY

Worth it. Photo from Healthy Delicious.

Baguettes
Making bread requires a lot of patience. There’s the mixing, the kneading, the proofing (letting the dough rise) and sometimes you just don’t have the time. Admittedly, buying a baguette can be cheap—$2 to $3 from Sahadi’s to Choice Market to… most grocery stores. But cheap only counts for so much—when it comes to a nice bread, there’s nothing like taking your own from a hot oven.
You’ll need: (prices from Associated): bread flour ($2.79/5 lbs., but you can usually replace it with cheaper all-purpose.); yeast ($2.49/three packets); sugar ($1.19/1 lb.)
Recipe: Use this great recipe for a baguette from Epicurious.
TOTAL COST: $6-$7; $1.63/recipe.
VERDICT: MAKE (unless you’re in a hurry)

Plain yogurt
Making yogurt can produce mixed results, but as with anything, practice makes perfect. Mainly, it’s just kind of awesome to cause a bacterial fermentation in your apartment. Of course, to make yogurt, you have to start with yogurt, but that itself isn’t too expensive.
You’ll need (prices from Pioneer Market): two 6 oz. organic yogurts ($1.38); one quart of 2% milk ($0.99); 4 oz. powdered milk ($1.99); honey: $2.99-$5.99.
Recipe: We love this Food Network recipe (yes, they actually know their stuff) for fresh yogurt.
TOTAL COST: $5.75. You use almost all the ingredients on this one, except for the honey.
VERDICT: MAKE (it’s just more interesting!). A store-bought quart (32 oz.) of yogurt runs anywhere from $2.99 to $6.99, so it’s a financial toss-up.

Worth it. Photo from Kitchen Thymes.

Guacamole
Guacamole goes well with everything from baby carrots to pita chips, has a nice kick to it and miraculously pleases both vegans and meat-eaters. With 12 oz. of store-bought guac at just under $4… for your next big party (be it dinner or a big game), try this concoction.
You’ll need: (prices from Wyckoff Food Bazaar)four avocados ($6); red onion ($1.59); tomato ($0.99); lime ($0.15); spices (garlic powder, black pepper, and a tbsp of whatever hot sauce you have available) (negligible).
Recipe: Mash up the avocados in a large bowl. Dice a small red onion and a large gutted tomato, add to the mix. Add ¼ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp black pepper, and a full dose of hot sauce of your choosing. Squeeze the lime over everything and mix together. Our concoction makes at least 36 oz. Per 12 oz., that’s a dollar less than the store-bought stuff.
TOTAL COST: $8-$9; $2.91/12 oz. ($4/12 oz. for store-bought)
VERDICT: MAKE

Beer
Beer can be made with a ton of different flavors, but for the most part, it all has the same base: water, a starch source (such as malted barley), yeast and flavoring (like hops). On their own, barley costs $1-$2 per pound, hops around $3-$11, and yeast costs $1.50-$3.50 (prices found online). But if you don’t know anything about brewing beer, Brooklyn Brew Shop has a one-gallon (128 oz.) brew-it-yourself kit for $40 ($3.75/12 oz.) in a variety of flavors: blackberry red ale, IPA, Grapefruit Honey Ale and more. A six-pack at the bodega will run you around $6 for cheap beer (PBR) or $10-$12 for the more expensive varieties (Pacifico, Brooklyn Brewery).
VERDICT: BUY for now. Make… somewhere down the road, maybe with that ice cream.

Bouchon Bakery sliders. Photo courtesy of the slashfood blog.

Brooklyn foodies are praying Thomas Keller is serious about opening a Bouchon Brooklyn, which reminds me of a cooking tip from the famed chef that you don’t need to be a swell to try. Maybe it is a little hard to believe that the man behind Per Se’s $275 prix fixe menu is a penny pincher, but in a magazine interview I did with him two years ago, he cited cost as one reason never to cook with a common ingredient that may surprise you. I haven’t cooked the same since. “Don’t cook with olive oil,” he says. “It’s such an expensive product and heat ruins it because it has a very low heat tolerance. Cook with canola or grapeseed oil instead and use olive oil as a condiment at the end.” So now you can have your Frankies 457 EVOO and justify the expense by pouring on a few drops at the end instead of dumping it into the pan.

We’re not a cooking blog (lucky for you), but other out-takes from the Keller interview include these three ideas for springy / summery desserts that are really easy to make but sound delish:

- Apricots with almonds and ice cream: Mix Ben and Jerry’s ice cream with fresh peeled apricots, top with toasted slivered almonds on top (buy them raw and toast yourself)
- Toasted pound cake with lemon curd
- Toasted country bread: “Grill some country bread, slice it, put a little bit of butter and sugar on top, throw it on the grill, chop up some fresh figs and mis with orange blossom honey and spread it over grilled bread. It’s really good.”

Okay–one more Keller tip. Be a flexible enough cook that if a recipe calls for plums and the pears look better, swap them in. Go by what’s ripest at the grocery store/greenmarket, not what the recipe says. “Shop with the season and your nose,” Keller says. “If the raw product doesn’t taste good, the finished one won’t taste good either.”

A yield from Flatbush Farm Share. Photo via Sustainable Flatbush.

Ah, CSA season once again: overflowing boxes of mystery farm-freshness, that connected-to-the-earth feeling and giant zucchinis up the wazoo. Last year we gave you the lowdown on Community Supported Agriculture in Brooklyn and why every locavore, quasi-locavore and their mother seemed to be hopping on the farm wagon. Now it’s registration time again, and there are four new CSAs on top of last year’s already impressive list. A few are already sold-out for the season, but plenty are left to help you fill those crispers.

Brooklyn’s CSAs this year are offering far more than just veggies. You can sign up for fruits, eggs, honey, flowers, chicken… and then you decide if you want a full share every week, a half share every week, a full share every other week or your produce divided on to the backs of three mules delivered every third Thursday. You have options.

Here are the nuts and bolts of the CSAs still open for the season, hopefully to start you on your way. All prices are for shares of vegetables:

Bay Ridge
Yellow Hook CSA
2010 season: Jun. 10-Nov. 11 (23 weeks)
Full share: $516 ($22.43/wk)
Half share: $268
Requirements: 1 distribution shift per season (3 hours)
Location: Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, 414 80th St.
Email: yellowhookcsa@gmail.com

Bedford Stuyvesant
Bed-Stuy Farm Share (choose Tues. or Wed.)
2010 season: Jun. 5-Oct. 30 (22 weeks)
Full share: $600 ($27.27/wk); low income: $475, $375
Half share: $325; low income: $250, $200
Requirements: 4 hours per season
Location: Bread Stuy Cafe, 403 Lewis Ave. (Tues.); 497 Quincy St. (Wed.)
Email: bedstuycsa@gmail.com

Brooklyn Heights
Sweet Pea CSA
2010 season: June-November (24 weeks)
Full share: $540 ($22.50/wk)
Half share: $280
Requirements: 2 shifts per season (3-4 hours total)
Location: First Unitarian Congregational Society, 50 Monroe Pl.
Email: sweetpeacsa@gmail.com

Bushwick
Bushwick Food Coop CSA
2010 season: Jun. 9-Nov. 17 (24 weeks)
Full share: $540 ($22.50/wk) (sliding scale possible)
Half share: $280
Quarter share: $135
Requirements: TBD
Location: probably Cathedral of Joy, 43 George St.
Email: csa@bushwickfoodcoop.org

Carroll Gardens
Carrol Gardens CSA
2010 season: June-November (24 weeks)
Full share: $540 ($22.50/wk)
Half share: $280
Requirements: TBA
Location: MTA Community Garden, 192 2nd Pl. at Smith St.
Email: carrollgardenscsa@gmail.com

Cobble Hill
Cobble Hill CSA
2010 season: Jun. 1-Dec. 14 (29 weeks)
Full share: $507.50 ($17.50/wk)
Half share: NA
Requirements: TBA
Location: Christ Church, 326 Clinton St. at Kane St.
Phone: 718-856-1882

Crown Heights
Crown Heights CSA
2010 season: June-November (23 weeks)
Full share: $585 ($25.43/wk)
Half share: $370 ($16.09/wk)
Requirements: 2 shifts per season (4 hours)
Location: Franklin Park, 618 St. John’s Pl. (Near Franklin Ave.)
Email: crownheightscsa@gmail.com

Central Brooklyn CSA
2010 season: 22 weeks
Full share: $485-$290 (income based); $120 (food stamps/SNAP)
Half share: $240-$145; $60 (food stamps/SNAP)
Requirements: 4 hours per season
Location: Hebron SDA Church, 1256 Dean St. at New York Ave
Email: centralbrooklyncsa@gmail.com

Crown Heights South CSA
Email: CrownHeightsSouthCSA@gmail.com
Location: St. Gregory School, 991 St. Johns Pl.

Ditmas Park
Ditmas Park CSA
2010 season: 20 weeks
Full share: $500 ($25/wk)
Half share: $350
Requirements: 1 shift per season (2 hours)
Pick-up location: Third Root Community Health Center, 380 Marlborough Rd. at Cortelyou Rd.
Email: ditmasparkcsa@gmail.com

Downtown Brooklyn
Brooklyn Beet CSA
Email: brooklynbeetcsa@gmail.com
Location: YWCA, 30 Third Ave.

Brooklyn Bridge CSA
2010 season: Jun. 8-Nov. 9 (23 weeks)
Full share: $688-$488 ($29.91-$21.21/wk) (income-based)
Half share: $353-$253 (every other week)
Partial share: $418-$318 (every week, less stuff)
Requirements: 2 shifts per season (four hours)
Location: Congregation Mt. Sinai, 250 Cadman Plaza West
Email: brooklynbridgecsa@gmail.com

DUMBO
DUMBO CSA
2010 season: Jun. 8-Nov. 9 (23 weeks)
Full share: approx. $25/wk
Half share: approx. $15/wk
Requirements: 2 shifts per season
Location: Phoenix House, 50 Jay St.
Email: core@dumbocsa.org

East New York
East NY Farms! CSA (2010 info TBA)
Email: janelle@eastnewyorkfarms.org
Phone: 718-649-7979
Location: ENY Farmer’s Market, Schenck Ave., between New Lots and Livonia Aves.

Flatbush
Flatbush Farm Share
2010 season: Jun. 3-Oct. 28 (22 weeks)
Full share: $595-$265 ($27.04-$12.04/wk) (income-based)
Half share: $315-$140
Requirements: 4 hours per season
Location: Flatbush Reformed Church, 890 Flatbush Ave. at Church Ave.
Phone: 212-741-8192 x7

Fort Greene
Fort Greene CSA
Currently sold-out of full-cost shares.
Email: csa@fortgreenecsa.org for info on limited shares for low-income households.

Kensington/Windsor Terrace
Kensington / Windsor Terrace CSA
2010 season: Jun. 12-Nov. 21 (24 weeks)
Full share: $540 ($22.50/wk)
Half share: $280
Requirements:
Location: Windsor Terrace Community Garden, 179 E. 4th St.
Email: kwtcsa@gmail.com

Park Slope
Park Slope CSA (Tues. or Thurs.)
2010 season: Jun. 8/10-Nov. 2/4 (22 weeks)
Full share: subscribe to PScsaALL-subscribe@yahoogroups.com for pricing
Half share: subscribe to PScsaALL-subscribe@yahoogroups.com for pricing
Requirements: 5 hours (full share); 2.5 hours (half share)
Location: Garden of Union, Union St. between Fourth and Fifth Aves.
Email: jjanda@igc.org
Phone: 718-707-1023

Prospect/Lefferts Gardens
Prospect Lefferts Gardens CSA
2010 info TBA
Email: info@plgcsa.org
Phone: 347-823-1076

Red Hook
Added Value Red Hook CSA
2010 info TBA
Phone: 718-855-5531

Sunset Park
Sunset Park CSA
2010 season: Jun.-Nov. (22 weeks)
Full share: $475/$315 ($21.59/$14.32/wk) (income based)
Half share: $245/$165
Requirements: 2 shifts per season (4 hours)
Location: St. Michael’s Church, 352 42nd St. at Fourth Ave.
Email: sunsetparkcsa@yahoo.com

Williamsburg
East Williamsburg CSA
2010 season: Jun. 5-Oct. 30 (22 weeks)
Full share: $510 ($23.18/wk)
Half share: $270
Requirements: 1 shift per season (2 hours)
Location: Red Shed Community Garden, 266 Skillman Ave. (Skillman Ave. and Kingsland Ave.)
Email: eastwilliamsburgcsa@gmail.com

South Side CSA
2010 season: Jun. 14-Nov. 8 (22 weeks)
Shares: $710-$320 ($32.27-$14.55/wk): almost endless combinations and prices available for veg., fruit, berries, eggs.
Requirements: various duties, time commitments
Pick-up location: The Woods, 48 S. 4th St., between Wythe & Kent
Email: southsidecsa@gmail.com

Greenpoint-Williamsburg CSA (Wed. or Sat.)
2010 season: June-November (24 weeks)
Full share: $540 ($22.50/wk)
Half share: $280
Requirements: several options (3-4 hours per season)
Location: McCarren Park, between the dog run and the Green Dome Community Garden (Sat.);
Lutheran Church of the Messiah, 129 Russell St. (Wed.)
Email: williamsburgcsa@gmail.com

The author's roommate isn't pleased. Photos by Vanessa Velez.

I have the utmost respect for my predominantly Chinese neighbors in the minimally gentrified nook of Sunset Park that I call home, but those feelings are not what drew me into the world of traditional meat drying. I was driven to investigate this little-understood foodway solely by pangs of curiosity and the stench of unemployment—not necessarily in that order.

Last winter, when I was gainfully employed, my roommate Peter and I moved into a brand new nondo. During the tour, Peter was spooked to discover that from the balcony above us hung damp slabs of meat offset by a faint glimpse of the Manhattan skyline.

A few of the ground floor units got the memo as well, using their burglar bars as mounts.

It was a nice apartment, and the meat didn’t look human, so in we moved. I didn’t see any more meat festoonery until nine months later. It was fall, right after my job dropped me on my ass. Bit by bit, the moist loins reappeared, hanging from the ground floor windowsills. One too many daytime cooking shows finally drove me to action—I would dry and taste the goods myself. As a broke American, I’m used to ingesting preserved foods year round but, I wanted to try preserving them myself without the added chemicals.

The language barrier between myself and my neighbors left me with only Google to turn to. I found little on Chinese meat drying, other than that it’s often done in preparation for the Chinese New Year celebration. I did, however, find a blog by one Lingling Luo, a Chinese blogger living in Germany who’d made an entry about the practice. She kindly responded to my email with step-by-step instructions. To prep the meat, I would need to put all of the spices on the slab, letting it marinate in the fridge for 2-4 days before hanging it out to dry over a period of 1-3 weeks. After drying completely, it could be stored for about six months without refrigeration, the salt being the main preservative. If frozen, it could last up to a year. Later, the meat could be hydrated again by boiling it in water.

The author takes her meat to the balcony.

Out in Brooklyn’s Chinatown, meat is extremely cheap at stores like Fei Long Market, right off the 8th Ave N train station. However, a trip to Key Food in Park Slope netted me two lamb chops for the “Manager’s Special” price of $2.31, half off similar cuts. At home, I prepped the meat with soy sauce, sea salt, table salt, cumin, chili pepper, freshly grated ginger, and cinnamon (a little addition of mine for its antibacterial properties) and let it marinate for four days.

After that, I realized I was missing something very important—string to suspend the lamb from the balcony. I improvised by cutting the straps from a promotional nylon mini-backpack I had laying around. I then took the bowl out to the balcony adjacent to roomie’s bedroom, hanging the slabs prominently in tandem with my neighbors’ cuts, causing a meaty eyesore for him once again.

Outside, the lamb chops were exposed to temperatures between 25 and 40 degrees. Day by day, I watched the meat harden into itself with surprisingly no smell. After eight days, I decided it was done. The meat was so hard and dry that I couldn’t imagine it getting any drier. I stored the chops in plastic baggies in the fridge, though I could have left the desiccated stuff on the counter just as safely, according to Lingling.

There is always a dark side to saving money and messing around with “illicit” cuts. In terms of food safety, as I learned while studying for the NYS Food Protection Course certificate, (another of my “hey, let me try this!” unemployment whims) there are strict guidelines for conditions at which meats should be kept to prevent the spread of harmful bacteria, many rules of which were broken during this experiment. The meat was technically dried at safe temperatures (below 41 degrees Fahrenheit, according to food safety experts). But it was also exposed to MTA bus exhaust and who knows what else.

That’s why I was still a bit hesitant to actually swallow the grub. It had also been waving at me from the window for over a week. We’d gotten close. But when I finally dug in, the flavor was salty going down, but surprisingly tender, even if it was a bit less plump than if I had stopped at marinating it. I wanted more!

After my experiment, I consulted two research scientists to get their opinion on the practice (something I might have done beforehand.) Dr. Kit Keith L. Yam, Graduate Program Director of the Department of Food Science at Rutgers University, said it is generally safe for the average person, but there are many variables governing its safe consumption, and if the product is not properly processed and handled, there is a potential health risk.

I also emailed Rutgers Food Microbiology professor Dr. Thomas Montville. “I won’t touch such a complex cultural topic with a ten-foot thermometer,” he wrote back. “I wouldn’t eat it either.”

I guess that leaves more for the rest of us. Or me, at least. I find I like having a little dried meat in the cupboard, along with some canned goods, in case of a dinner or Snowpocalypse emergency. I think I’ll dry some fish next.

Bill moved to New York in 2007, after finishing grad school in Philadelphia. He subsisted on frozen Trader Joe’s burritos and boxed mac and cheese until a friend suggested he get a crockpot. Even though his first experiments were a series of cream-sauced, Velveeta-slicked disasters, he discovered the appeal of slow cooking. The food went a long way. “After about 4 or 5 meals, I realized I still had another 4 or 5 to go, and I did a rough calculation of what each meal was costing me,” he said. “That’s when I finally understood what crocks were all about.”

Since then, Bill’s crocks have become so good that his friends look forward to dinner invites. Lentil casserole is delicious and his red beans and rice, made with $4 worth of kielbasa from Greenpoint, is really, really good. After a night at the bar, returning to Bill’s apartment for bowls of white bean and chicken chili is the best drunk food there is.  Even his roommates steal from the crock. “They come home from the bar and they head straight to the crockpot. I know they just try to skim from the top, to stay undetected, but I can always tell.”

There is not, however, a smorgasbord of slow-cooked delicacies to choose from in Bill’s refrigerator.  He makes one of these dishes a week, and eats it for every single meal. I’m not even kidding. That’s how he affords his very social New York lifestyle.

Because I thought Bill’s thrifty ways might be inspiring to others as well, I roped him into keeping a diary of his food and outings costs for a week, and asked him to send me some of his best recipes. Try ‘em out—if you don’t have a slow cooker, they’re not very expensive, about $40, and in many cases are free. Your mom probably has an extra one.

Bill with his trusty crockpot.

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BILL’S ONE-WEEK EATING AND DRINKING LEDGER

DAY 1
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Chicken mushroom pasta, costs about $1.75 per serving
Dinner: Chicken mushroom pasta $1.75
After dinner: Drinks at Subway Bar, $15, and Legion Bar, $20

DAY 2
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Chicken mushroom pasta $1.75
Dinner: None
After dinner: Drinks at Canal Bar, $12, free drinks at Taco Competition open bar, $6 tip

DAY 3
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Paid for at internship
Dinner: Chicken mushroom pasta $1.75 (The end of the crock. Crock total cost: $14)
After dinner: BAM, A Single Man, $9 (student rate – not really a student)

DAY 4
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Paid for at internship
Dinner: Beans and rice crock (about $1.06 per meal)
After dinner: Film Forum, Red Beard, $6 (member rate

DAY 5
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Beans and rice $1.06
Dinner: Beans and rice $1.06
After dinner: Drinks at Washington Commons, $24

DAY 6
Thursday, Feb. 4
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Beans and rice $1.06
Dinner: Free, generously provided by roommate.
After dinner: Drinks at Alibi Bar, $12, drinks at Sweet Revenge, $12

DAY 7
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Beans and rice $1.06 (4 projected meals left. Total: $9.54 cost)
Dinner: Friend buys Bill 2 hot dogs in exchange for enduring the Knicks vs. Bucks game (the tickets were a gift from his brother – $0)

TOTALS
Food: $12.30
Movies: $15
Drinks: $101

[Editor's note: Please consult a medical professional before embarking on any diet plan, especially one involving skipping breakfast and spending more money on drinks than food.]

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BILL’S FAVORITE RECIPES
Always brown meats first and sautée and onions, garlic, peppers, and celery—it softens the vegetables and seals in their flavor. Otherwise, just throw everything in the crockpot and cook for 6 to 8 hours on low—or 3 to 4 hours on high.

Chicken mushroom pasta
1 pound chicken thighs (bone-in), trimmed of excess fat
2 large cans crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
2 ribs celery, diced small
6 to 8 mushrooms, sliced
1-2 onions, diced
Garlic, minced
Oregano, 1 1/2 tsp
Box of pasta, preferably a roni-esque noodle (cooked first, and added at the end)
Optional: mix in a block (cubed) of your choice of cheese in the last 20 minutes
*When finished, remove bones from chicken thighs, should be very easy to do at this point

White bean chicken chili
3-4 large cans of white beans
1 green chili (sent fresh/frozen from New Mexico if you’re lucky or can be found frozen at Trader Joe’s or canned in various markets here)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 pound chicken thighs (bone-in, again remove bones upon completion of cooking)
3-5 slices bacon, diced
8 oz button or baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
Cayenne, chili powder, paprika, pepper, etc. to taste
*Fry up bacon, mushroom and onions together first and add to crockpot with rest of ingredients

Red beans and rice
1 pound kielbasa, sliced
1 – 1.5 cups dry rice, cooked
3 cups water
1-pound bag of dried red beans, soaked overnight, weird looking beans picked out [Ed: a commenter notes that red beans can cause food poisoning if undercooked, which is a risk in a slow cooker. So to be on the safe side, you should soak dried kidney beans in water for at least 5 hours, pour away the water, and then boil them for an hour in fresh water before putting in the slow cooker.]
1-2 onions, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 rib celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Thyme, paprika, pepper – to taste + a bay leaf
*Stir in rice at very end

Lentil casserole
1 pound lentils
1 cup brown rice
3 cups chicken broth
1-2 onions, diced
1 carrot, sliced thin
1 large can of diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
Thyme, basil, oregano, salt, sage, garlic powder to taste
*Add 1-2 blocks of cheddar in the last hour

If your mind works like mine, right about now you’re considering how much it’s going to run you. And it’s true, entertaining can be a costly proposition. As the gods of thrift would have it, though, many of the staples of backyard barbecuing—beans, coleslaw, iced tea—are built from peasant-level ingredients that can be had for spare change. So we set out to throw a barbecue for a dozen people and see how little we could spend while serving up a meal that nobody would suspect cost little more per person than their subway ride over. For tallying purposes, we’re assuming you’ve got a number of basic ingredients in your kitchen: oil, white vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, mustard and milk.

The key to pulling this off is coming up with a main course that’s cheap and good, and it’s here the act of barbecuing—not grilling, but long, slow cooking over a smoky wood fire—becomes your friend. After all, the founding concept behind that method was to get good eating out of cheap, tough cuts of meat, like brisket and pork shoulder. And it still works. Not only that, but it’s easier to do than you may think. All you need is a covered kettle grill, some charcoal, a few handfuls of aromatic hardwood (chips or chunks) and a willingness to spend long hours hovering in the vicinity, absorbing smoke until you smell like you’ve spent the day battling wildfires.

For the long version of how it’s done, click here. The short version is this: after seven hours bathing in wood smoke in the confines of my vented grill, a pair of 5-lb. pork butts that cost a mere 99 cents a pound at the local C-Town emerged smoke-blackened outside, tender within, and flavorful throughout, ready for shredding, dousing with vinegar sauce (or not), heaping on a cheap white bun (or not) and otherwise devoured by an appreciative crowd. Cost, including $2.78 for the buns and $2 for dry-rub ingredients (chili powder and paprika): $14.78.

The other long-haul cooking task was making baked beans. Turning a $1.39 bag of dried navy beans into the ultimate barbecue side dish involves overnight soaking followed by 5 hours of stovetop simmering (though you can largely ignore them during that time, aside from the occasional stir). According to the unbeatable recipe in Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby’s classic Thrill of the Grill, it also involves a half-pound of bacon, an onion, some molasses, a whole bottle of ketchup, some cheap yellow mustard and brown sugar. Total cost: $6.98.

Thrill of the Grill also has my favorite corn bread recipe, which yields a giant pan that’s moist and slightly sweet. And, did I mention, cheap to make? If you’ve got flour, sugar, salt, milk and baking powder on hand, you’ll need only a stick of butter, some cornmeal, and 4 eggs. Total cost: $3.88.

In the green division: Mustard-based spicy coleslaw modified from Mark Bittman’s recipe in How to Cook Everything, which other than kitchen staples like vinegar calls only for green and red cabbage (which isn’t a standby of the penniless for nothing) and a red pepper. (I skip the scallion and parsley). Total cost: $4.35. To really lay on the dog with a second vegetable, I added marinated cucumbers and onion, an inevitable crowd-pleaser whose ingredients ran a whopping $2.61.

To drink: As the host, you, of course, ask your guests to bring beer. But for a classic BBQ accompaniment you ought to also brew up some iced tea, which runs only the cost of a few teabags. I tossed in some mint from my herb garden, but will spot you the cost of a lemon if you’re lacking a fresh mint supply. Total cost: 60 cents.

The result: a kingly feed that and fed a dozen people (more, if you count me eating leftovers the next day), for the pauper’s price of $33.20—which comes to $2.77 a person. For this, I earned the plaudits of happy guests, a fine party—and all that leftover beer.

Ana's afternoon haul. Photos by Vanessa Velez.

With salsa long the number one condiment in the U.S., the border between Mexican and American grocery stores is not as clear as it used to be. By now most people think of canned Goya frijoles as vritually interchangeable with Progresso’s. But do you know your poblanos from your jalapeños, or bananas from batatas (sweet potatoes)? If you’ve found yourself at your local supermarket or specialty store eyeing all of those colorful jars and odd-shaped cheeses, this guide is for you.

I started by experimenting with pre-made condiments and marinades available in jars and cans. For cooking meat, chicken or fish, I found a few common ingredients  very useful. Adobo and mole (marinades and sauces) can be a little dense, but they’re great to combine with the pan juices or broth of braised meat or poached chicken to deepen the flavor. Banana leaves, typically used to wrap tamales, can also be used to swaddle marinated meats, chicken and fish to add a smoky flavor when they’re roasted or steamed. (By the way, a great resource for the beginning Mexican chef is Latin Chic, by Carolina Buia and Isabel González, a cookbook and entertaining bible that offers a vivid cross section of contemporary Latin food.)

Tomatillos at Citalis.

For a fresh salsa, tomatillos are ideal. The small, green, thin-husked tomato-like fruits can be bought fresh and then pureed with jalapenos, cilantro, onions, garlic, salt and water. For a spicier alternative, replace the jalapenos with dried costeño chiles that have been boiled until just tender. Chorizo, a sausage and another Mexican grocery staple, is commonly added to rice and beans, stews or baked eggs. Just remove the casing and brown the ground meat for a few minutes first.

While most stores carry an inexpensive array of farmer’s cheeses, the white bricks can all blend together to the unaccustomed eye. Here’s a quick cheat sheet: queso fresco, a crumbly “fresh cheese,” doesn’t melt easily, so it’s an easy substitute for Feta. It’s often confused with queso blanco, which comes in two varieties — one has a creamy texture when heated and the other, labeled para freir, holds its shape when fried. Cotija is similar to Parmesan, and then there’s Oaxacan string cheese, which melts like mozzarella and goes great in quesadillas.

On the hunt for new ingredients over the past week, I visited a slew of supermarkets and Mexican grocers around Brooklyn. I was armed with my kitchen Spanish and a lot of questions. Thankfully, the store owners were more than happy to oblige, and with seemingly unlimited patience.  In fact, everyone I met went to pains to emphasize just how much more there was to try and see. Maybe I did only scratch the surface, but here’s a start:

Rows of Malta at Key Food.

To get a sense of the selection at a large chain supermarket, I went to the Key Food in Sunset Park (4320 Fifth Ave., between 43rd and 44th Sts., 718-438-9510). In addition to the usual Goya aisle and farmer’s cheeses, they had a small front section with go-to Mexican items like Doña Maria adobo and mole for $2.99. It’s also worth looking at the Los Compadres section for dried chiles and herbs, including Mexican oregano, which is more potent than the Mediterranean variety but used the same way.  Each bag was only 99¢, as was a 2 lb. bag of fresh corn tortillas, so it’s a painless way to try something new. I also found a bag of frozen banana leaves for $1.79. They can be defrosted and refrozen as needed. Finally, it’s always exciting to find a supermarket that offers any malt beverage, much less a choice between Vitarroz and Malta India ($3.49, $3.99/8pk).

Chilis at Citalis.

With its overflowing baskets of fresh produce lining the window, I was immediately drawn to Citalis Deli (4118 fifth Ave., between 41st and 42nd Sts.) Just opened, it’s brighter and spacier than the smaller grocery stores we’d passed. The manager was excited by the growing interest in Mexican food and the variety this allows the store to carry. He explained the different degrees of heat between a few peppers: the mild poblanos that are roasted and stuffed, the medium heat jalapeños and the hot Serrano chiles that make for a tearful dinner. There also were two types of tomatillos: the smaller, sweet ones for $1.29/lb and the larger, tart ones for $0.99/lb. In the back, there was a full case of what seemed like every Mexican cheese, each for $5/lb. (Only buy what you need; they’re highly perishable and need to be used quickly.)

Smaller than the original Guadalupita on Seventh Ave., Guadalupita II (Fifth Ave. and 39th St., 718-438-1080) is the place to find Mexican home ware. This is especially true if you’re looking for a piñata, a tortilla press or a stone mortar and pestle for making guacamole (one was shaped like a woman’s breast). It really is a great mix of things. They have a Victoria tortilla press for $19.99, to be used with Maseca, an instant corn flour that many stores now carry. Mixed with water and salt, Maseca turns into a dough to be rolled into separate balls and pressed to create well formed tortillas.

Breads at Mi Mexico Pequeño.

Stopping by Mi Mexico Pequeño (4513 Fifth Ave., between 45th and 46th Sts., 718-437-1031)  before heading home, I picked my way through baker’s racks full of variations on pan mexicano, sweet brioche-like buns with names like conchas, monas and besos. They’re topped with sugar or stuffed with jellies, custard or dried fruits  and go for less than a dollar apiece. Once we started taking pictures, the staff pulled out full trays and brought out the dramatic pan de muerto. The “bread of the dead,” to be used in October to make offerings on the Day of the Dead, is decorated with bones and flavored with anise seeds.

Recently renovated, the Key Food on Fifth Ave. in Park Slope (120 Fifth Ave. at Sterling Place, 718-783-8339), has a full case of tropical juices and frozen fruit pulps for shakes and smoothies for much less than at the typical health food store. The store has a Latin-heavy ethnic foods aisle with a better balance between Caribbean and Mexican foods than at the Sunset Park location. This Keyfood might be what every suburban supermarket will look like in 2025 if the census continues to tell us the same story about Hispanics in the U.S. With a small parking lot in front, I think of the store as a sort of Latino Fairway.

The size of the Goya section at the Boerum Hill Met Food (197 Smith St., between Baltic and Butler Sts., 718-237-0317) seems inversely related to the growth of the organic foods aisle. Slightly more expensive than Key Food, the store still has a good selection of Mexican produce like yucca, batatas (sweet potatoes),  tomatillos and farmer’s cheeses — both Colombian and Mexican. Taken with Felmingo Corp. (189 Smith St., 718-625-6533), the small bodega a couple of doors down, the block makes a strong showing.

Small and neat, Ditmas Park’s Mex Deli Grocery (1625 Cortelyou Rd., between East 16th and East 17th Sts., 718-282-0454) packs a large grocery’s worth of inventory in its floor-to-ceiling shelves. While they have the same jarred and canned pantry items I’ve already mentioned, they also sell fresh, homemade tubs of traditional condiments like adobo and mole for $8.00/lb and a cheese and chorizo assortment for $5.50/lb. Not quite satisfied after spending 20 minutes answering my questions about making tamales, the proprietors insisted I come back with the results so they could check my work.

Ana Sofia Pelaez lives in Cobble Hill and writes about Latin food at hungrysofia.com. See more of Sunset Park-based photographer Vanessa Velez’s work at www.veesvision.com.