For the love of cheese. And bacon. And butter. And raw milk. And all those other things we're not supposed to eat.
| Need help getting started cooking traditional food? Never have enough time to do menu planning? Have trouble sticking to your food budget? Want to cook using more nutrient-dense foods? Need more inspiration and ideas? CHEESESLAVE Menus By Mail Includes:
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Download sample week menu (PDF file):Week of Dec 6-12, 2009 | CHEESESLAVE 156 dinner menus per year |
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24/11/2009 at 3:29 pm Permalink
I’m interested but am on a really restricted budget. Will your food tips help out with that? And if we’re not into raw oysters (just in case…since I saw them on some of your other menus… lol) will there be alternates we can choose from?
Thanks,
Susan
26/11/2009 at 8:13 am Permalink
Hi, Susan!
No, you don’t have to eat raw oysters — LOL! I know they are not easy for everyone to find. I happen to live in Southern CA where we have fresh locally harvested oysters, which is why we eat them so often. I want the menu mailer to be accessible — not just based on what you can find here in LA.
I am incorporating oysters and other mollusks into the menu plans. They are so nutrient-dense, and many people prefer them to organ meats. The first week we are doing a green salad with roasted shrimp, scallops and new potatoes. I also plan to do oyster or clam chowder, oyster or clam risotto, Thai coconut shrimp soup, and various other meals that use shellfish.
Most people can find frozen shellfish (wild or sustainably farmed) but for those who cannot, I also always say that you can substitute fatty fish for shellfish if you can’t find a good source. Like wild salmon or tilapia. It’s not as nutrient-dense as shellfish, but it’s still a great choice.
Although I’m not creating this menu mailer specifically for a budget, I am including tips for saving money. These are 3 meals a week that are guaranteed to be nutrient-dense and nourishing. Even if you only cooked these 3 meals per week and did beans and rice every other night for your family, you’d be way ahead of the game.
I thought about making it specifically for a tight budget — but it is very hard to do that since some people have access to cheap raw milk and others don’t (I don’t — we pay a lot for our raw milk) and some people get cheap grass-fed meat and others can’t, some people have chickens and so eggs are abundant — and so on.
So what I recommend is this: use the menu mailer in a way that works for you. For example, make the lentil soup but leave out the sausage and/or bacon if you need to cut corners. I think I will start a thread of money-saving tips on the Menus By Mail subscriber forum.
27/11/2009 at 12:34 am Permalink
Who has cheap raw milk?? $7 for a half gallon is killing me, especially when my 16 month old drinks it like it is going out of style
27/11/2009 at 7:15 am Permalink
Briana, Some people do! There was a thread on my Facebook page recently. I think there was one person in Oklahoma who was buying milk for as little as $3-4 per gallon.
28/11/2009 at 9:33 am Permalink
Just found you on Facebook, fantastic site you have. Adding to favorites right now!
29/11/2009 at 9:34 pm Permalink
Definitely concerned about the budget thing here too (raw milk is $18 a gallon here, pastured eggs $7.50 a dozen). I’m leaning toward giving the mailers a try just because I figure even if I use more conventional ingredients, the whole foods approach will still be nutritionally superior. I’m really excited for these! I’ve liked all the recipes I’ve used from your site so far.
29/11/2009 at 10:05 pm Permalink
Where are you, Carmen?
I’m working on a post about how to save on real food… hopefully it will help you some.
And yes you are right, even if you are using conventional (non-organic, grass-fed, etc.) ingredients, you are still going to be way ahead using the menu mailer recipes.
Thanks for the compliment.
30/11/2009 at 2:10 pm Permalink
San Francisco. Claravale costs me $4.50 a quart + $1.50 glass deposit. Organic pastures comes in slightly lower mostly because you can get that in half-gallons (and no glass deposit). I usually buy Straus, which is organic, part-time grass-fed, local and non-homogenized (and delicious). So I don’t do too badly. Meat is the hardest. I only buy organic, but it isn’t always pastured. If anyone knows anywhere to get real milk cheaper in the Bay Area, I’d love to know!
30/11/2009 at 11:36 pm Permalink
Carmen
You can get Claravale for $4 a quart through:
http://www.realfoodbayarea.com
It is listed at $5.50 but that includes the $1.50 bottle deposit.
07/12/2009 at 6:56 am Permalink
I recently found out we need to go gluten-free. How much experience and how many recipes on your menu are g-f?
thanks
07/12/2009 at 3:51 pm Permalink
Nettelyn -
All the recipes have gluten-free options. I’m about to post a sample from the first week so you can check it out. I’ll email it to you.
09/12/2009 at 7:01 am Permalink
I am very interested in trying your menu mailer… but I have other allergies beyond “just” gluten. How workable do you think it’d be without dairy? I can use butter just fine (thank goodness!) but other dairy products are out for me, as is the popular substitute of coconut milk.
I personally love the fact that it’s just 3 dinners per week, because I’m already planning our menus and can easily fill in the rest with things my family is used to.
09/12/2009 at 7:20 am Permalink
Hi Carmen,
Read your site often. I would really like to try the menu mailer. I’m a caterer and lately I strayed far from nutrient dense food as I am practicing and sampling my menus for different jobs. I have a small window now and I must get back to good food for my health and the health of my family. I would love for our business to be more healthy foods. At our last Job we made quite a few of Julia Child’s recipes. Sounds like some of your might be a nice added addition.
Sabrina
09/12/2009 at 8:20 am Permalink
Great site. Thanks!
09/12/2009 at 8:42 am Permalink
i was told to come to your web site to register for the giveaway. Do I just leave a comment as my registration?
09/12/2009 at 9:35 am Permalink
Amy – Leave a comment on Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s site – on the giveaway page
09/12/2009 at 10:40 am Permalink
Bekki,
I wish I could say it is workable but I use a ton of dairy products in my menus. There’s a reason I’m called CHEESESLAVE!
If you follow the GAPS diet or similar protocol, you can recover from dairy intolerance. It takes time but you can get there.
09/12/2009 at 7:06 pm Permalink
Oh, see, that’s not what I want to hear… I know too much about the GAPS diet and how hard it is… LOL
I do believe that is in my future. For now I’m sticking with everything else I can eat (don’t seem to be making new allergens anymore, thank goodness), and will continue that until my soon-to-be-nursling is mostly-weaned. Then, when my calories are mostly my own, I think I can handle a more restricted diet in order to heal. I wish I’d been able to do it before I got pregnant this time, but… it didn’t happen.
12/12/2009 at 9:35 pm Permalink
Wow, I am so sorry to hear how much some of you are paying for milk!!! I thought $6 was alot (what I used to pay until I found a closer farm)…I’m paying $4 a gallon here in South Carolina! -and $2 a dozen for pastured eggs! Although, grass-fed beef is expensive here, so I guess it evens out
18/12/2009 at 10:27 pm Permalink
I am on a low carb diet (maintenance) as well as 2 other members of the family. Will your menus be mostly low carb since you mentioned gluten free?
Holly
19/12/2009 at 1:03 pm Permalink
No, the menus are not low carb. I don’t use a lot of grains but it depends on the week. Some weeks have more rice and beans than others.
I am juggling creating a variety of nutrient dense meals (lots of good fats, meats and dairy products) with also keeping it delicious (and kid-friendly) AND making it affordable.
For example, here are the menus I’m working on now (this is for the week of January 3):
MENU 1:
WEEKNIGHT THAI FOOD
TOM KHA GAI SOUP WITH CHICKEN
SHRIMP PAD THAI
MENU 2:
EASY MEXICAN COMFORT FOOD
BLACK BEAN, GOAT CHEESE & CHICKEN QUESADILLAS
WITH LACTO-FERMENTED SALSA & SOUR CREAM
MENU 3:
DINNER IN VENICE
FENNEL, BEET, BLOOD ORANGE & PINE NUT SALAD
RISOTTO WITH SHRIMP & PANCETTA
BREAKFAST ON THE GO:
CINNAMON TOAST
SIDE OF BACON
03/02/2010 at 2:47 pm Permalink
Hello Annemarie,
I just downloaded a sample menu week. I like that you have made the sample available, thank you. It sounds good. I was reading through some of the notes you have on ferments–I noticed that you use a reptile mat- that caught my attention! I had never heard of one used for making cultured foods. I live in NH and the warm spot in our home hovers at between 63 and 68 degrees during the day and getting down to the mid 50’s at night. This has made making cultured dairy foods a challenge, so the reptile mat sounds like it might be the ticket to consistent fermenting success! I take it that one simply sets the container of food to be cultured on top of the mat–would there be a need to also cover the whole thing with a blanket?