Leake - 100 days of real food on a budget: simple tips and tasty recipes to help you cut out processed food without breaking the bank

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If you know or suspect you have a health problem, it is recommended that you seek your physicians advice before embarking on any medical program or treatment. All efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of the information contained in this book as of the date of publication. This publisher and the author disclaim liability for any medical outcomes that may occur as a result of applying the methods suggested in this book. 100 DAYS OF REAL FOOD: ON A BUDGET . Copyright 2018 by Lisa Leake. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. FIRST EDITION Food photography and styling by Lindsey Rose JohnsonLifestyle photography by Daniel and Candice Lanning with The Beautiful Mess (with food styling by Tami Hardeman and Heidi Billotto and prop and wardrobe styling by Erin Rutherford with the Open Road Kitchen) except those in (provided by Lisa Leake). Digital Edition AUGUST 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-266856-1 Version 07252018 Print ISBN: 978-0-06-266855-4 To all the 100 Days of Real Food readers We are in this together. Thank you for your continued support and for inspiring me with your stories!

And, while the response was tremendous, the feedback we most commonly heard was Sounds great, but too expensive. So it quickly became my mission to once again prove all of this could be done, even on a strict budget. I was originally inspired by Michael Pollans In Defense of Food and, after spending months relearning how to food shop and cook for my family, it turned out to be a life-changing experiencein more ways than one. My blog grew to the point where I knew there were thousands, even millions, of others out there just like us desperate to clean up their own familys diet, but unsure how to do it without losing their sanity. So this led to me writing not one, but two cookbooksboth of which ended up being national bestsellers!in an effort to provide a complete easy-to-follow guide to cutting out processed food. Meanwhile, we took our second real food challenge head-on by pledging again to eat real food, and real food only, without spending more than $125/weekless than the $167/week a family of four would receive on full SNAP (i.e., food stamp) benefits.

While I would not describe this challenge as easyespecially at first!we never went hungry or had to succumb to buying the dreaded processed stuff. And we never went over budget either. I learned that shopping this way wasnt as much about what foods we were in the mood for as it was about what we could afford. I also learned that by employing some simple tacticsboth at the store and at homeand making the most of inexpensive ingredients, real food on a budget could most definitely be done. Some of the most helpful tips that kept us on track were to plan out our meals for the week, know and use what foods we had on hand, make substitutions in recipes (to avoid going out and buying something extra), and reduce our consumption of those nice to have foods such as desserts, meats, and flavored beverages. I documented all the details of our budget pledge online (as well as our original pledge, which can all still be found at 100daysofrealfood.com), including all the trials and tribulations we faced along the way.

And there were plenty! The page on my blog that summarizes how we ate real food without breaking the bank has since been viewed more than one and a half million times, and I received a ton of helpful feedback from readersso much that I knew an entire book dedicated to the topic of cost-saving tactics and budget-friendly yet delicious real food recipes would be the perfect third cookbook in my bestselling 100 Days of Real Food series. And Im beyond thrilled to have you here with me on this journey. Whats in This Book The first chapter covers many different aspects of saving money in the kitchen, including how to properly set a budget, reduce your grocery bill, preserve seasonal foods, plan ahead, and reduce food waste, all of which go toward saving money. These tips and tricks are followed by one hundred real food budget-friendly recipesseventy-five of them new, never before publishedeach complete with a shopping list that includes the price for every ingredient. Sharing how much a recipe costs is nothing new, but I take a different approach to it. Ive seen other budget recipes that call for 3 tablespoons of sour cream, worth only 20 cents.

But when was the last time you could buy only 3 tablespoons of sour cream? Ive taken the liberty of listing the total cost of ingredients for a recipe, whether you use them all up or not. If you dont have the extra money to spend on the rest of the sour cream container, you simply dont have it. Youll also find my list of what I call