Golden Women’s Resource Centre – A group of women gathered at the Golden Women’s Resource Centre (GWRC) last Friday to share ideas about creative and affordable meal-planning.
The event was part of a Financial Literacy project mini-series called “food and finances,” which will include two more food-related events next week. Laurie Dalzell, GWRC’s Financial Literacy Co-ordinator, explained at the presentation that there are certain costs that aren’t very easy to cut, like rent or other monthly bills.
Grocery bills, on the other hand, can be significantly reduced with a little creativity when it comes to bargain hunting and mixing those last, few (and sometimes weird) ingredients in your fridge.“I use Google all the time when I’m trying to figure out what to make with only the food I have in the fridge,” said Dalzell, explaining that you can just type the ingredients into the search bar and tada — recipes appear.
Ellen Zimmerman shared with the group her love for soup. One of her favourites, vegetarian minestrone, consists of just a few inexpensive ingredients including onion, cabbage, celery, carrots, fresh herbs, garlic, potatoes, red beans, tomato and whole grain pasta.
Sarah Wegelin, Special Projects Co-ordinator at the Women’s Centre, told the group about an even simpler soup that she likes to make called tomato cilantro. All you need, she said, is a can of tomatoes, water, cilantro and garlic.
Other topics of conversation included sweet potatoes (they have half the calories of a potato the same size!), quinoa (a whole grain rice substitute that contains protein) and reducing your intake of white flours and sugars.
The presentation ended with a quick game of “Pantry Price Is Right”, which had participants guessing the price of grocery store items like a can of tuna, a large can of Maxwell House coffee and a bag of whole wheat pasta. This Wednesday’s presentation will explore the tricks of finding product bargains with coupons.
On Friday, March 4th, the Women’s Centre will host a “Pantry Pot Luck”. Participants aren’t allowed to go grocery shopping and have to make a dish from ingredients that are already in their kitchen. You are, though, allowed to borrow from your neighbour, substitute ingredients in a particular recipe, or even spend up to five dollars at the grocery store if you find yourself in a bit of a potluck pickle.
For more information about these events, please join the GWRC Facebook page or contact Laurie Dalzell at the Golden Women’s Resource Centre.
