Jones - Eat vegan on $4 a day: a game plan for the budget-conscious cook

A GAME PLAN FOR THE BUDGETCONSCIOUS COOK

Ellen Jaffe Jones

BOOK PUBLISHING COMPANY

Summertown Tennessee

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jones, Ellen Jaffe.

Eat vegan on $4 a day : a game plan for the budget-conscious cook / Ellen Jaffe Jones.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-57067-257-6 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-57067-980-3 (e-book) 1. Vegan cooking. 2. Low budget cooking. 3. Cookbooks. I. Title. II. Title: Eat vegan on four dollars a day.

TX837.J5428 2011

641.552dc23

2011011974

Cover and interior design: John Wincek

2011 Ellen Jaffe Jones

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, except for brief quotations in reviews, without written permission from the publisher.

Book Publishing Company
P.O. Box 99
Summertown, TN 38483
888-260-8458
www.bookpubco.com

ISBN: 978-1-57067-257-6

Printed in Canada

17 16 15 14 13 12 11 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Book Publishing Company is a member of Green Press Initiative. We chose to print this title on paper with 100% post consumer recycled content, processed without chlorine, which saves the following natural resources:

49 trees

1,421 pounds of solid waste

22,415 gallons of water

4,971 pounds of greenhouse gases

20 million BTU of energy

For more information on Green Press Initiative, visit www.greenpressinitiative.org.

Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Defense Fund Paper Calculator. For more information visit www.papercalculator.org.

Printed on recycled paper

To John McDougall, MD, for his tireless passion over the years to keep singing the same song. I have read all his books, but it was a simple sentence he wrote in an old newsletter filled with recipes that spoke to me. He said all of the recipes could be made for $3 a day. Wow! Really? And so began my journey to prove him right.

To Neal Barnard, MD, and all the doctors and registered dietitians at The Cancer Project and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). They are my heroes for standing up to big money and politics in the best interest of our health and our children. Some of my recipes have been adapted from The Cancer Project to show that you dont have to spend a bundle to eat well.

To the folks at Vitamix, who, by inventing a great blender decades ago, made healthful eating for me as a single, working mom so much easier.

To Patti Breitman, who wanted this book to be published with a passion equal to mine. Her guidance and knowledge were gifts from heaven. Her belief in my thoughts and words kept me on track.

To my editor, Caroline Pincus, who is as swift and on target as the best surgeon.

To Jo Stepaniak, whose books have inspired me over many years. I feel deeply honored to have had her as my editor at Book Publishing Company. Beth Geisler was also a gift. Bountiful gratitude goes to Cynthia Holzapfel at Book Publishing Company for believing in my vision that if you show people how easy it is to save money by eating healthfully, they will flock to the table.

To the many websites that educate about environmental issues and plant-based eating. Our future may depend on our ability to connect the dots between what is good for our bodies and what is good for our planets survival.

To the community leaders in Bradenton, Florida, and everywhere else, who have the courage and dedication to run community supported farms.

To the students who have attended my cooking classes and the children I have had the honor of coaching, especially the Manatee County, Florida, high school girls track and cross-country teams. I received way more information, inspiration, and ideas from you than youll ever know.

To my friends in running clubs everywhere. Your secrets are safe with me. I hope mine are safe with you too.

To so many friends and relatives who didnt live to see this day. Memories of you still live on and ignite inspiration.

To my mom, who was always there to listen and loved when I picked dandelions for her. She would chuckle to know that I eat them now. And my dad, who marveled at nature daily, had beautiful backyard gardens, and made me pull weeds instead of spraying them. Ive tried to honor one of his many quotable quotes: I calls em as I sees em.

To my three daughters, who endured great challenges, including nontraditional birthday cakes. Their fearlessness beyond their years was the spark that seriously ignited this book. I fervently hope that Ill be there for them if and when they have children, and that their children wont be swimming upstream to beat the odds of a bad family health history or a world plagued with preventable diseases.

To my dear husband and the love of my life, Clarence, who read the Serenity Prayer to me so many times during a family crisis that he finally plastered it on several walls. His calmness, peacefulness, and personal serenity give hope to those who think that smart and kind dont coexist in soul mates.

In the past few years, we have seen a decline in our economy and standard of living that many say is the worst since the stock market crash of 1929 and the following Great Depression. There may be no food lines or formal rationing like there was way back then, but good-quality health care is still informally rationed to the wealthy or fortunate who can afford or find it. Good-quality, health-promoting food has been thought to be available only at higher-priced health food stores. As belt-tightening becomes a way of life, the mad dash is on to find ways to eat well without breaking the bank.

Fortunately, even with grocery prices inching upward, for less than the amount of daily food stamp rationings, you can easily make serious dents in your food budget and improve your health dramatically. I have been researching and advocating a plant-based diet for twenty-five years, and I know it can be done. You dont have to make sudden, sweeping changes to how you eat. Even incorporating a few plant-based meals into your week will go a long way toward improving your health and your familys bottom line.

I first met Ellen Jaffe Jones years ago when she transitioned from successful consecutive careers as an Emmy Awardwinning TV consumer and investigative reporter and a financial consultant at a major Wall Street firm. She had decided to join her husband in his media-consulting business, and I found their knowledge of how to deal with the media invaluable. The two of them have won the highest awards in broadcast news.

Over the years, Ellens passion for improving health blossomed as she became a trained cooking instructor for The Cancer Project and a trained, certified coach for the Road Runners Club of America. She can run an eight-minute mile or a marathon and hold a plank position for six minutes. She also helps to coach a high school track and cross-country team and is a nationally certified personal trainer. All plant-powered. She has taken on the task of teaching people of all ages how to eat for optimum health. Defining what a healthful lifestyle would be to avoid a huge family history of disease was and continues to be her personal and professional lifelong mission. After losing her parents and several other family members to cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, figuring out how to avoid the same family fate became the investigative reporting job of her life.