Setting the Scene
Describes the delicious whole foods you’ll eat when using The Plenty Method. They aren’t decadent such as pheasant under glass, caviar, or chocolates flown in from Belgium. They are commonly available staple ingredients of the highest quality, usually organic, such as chicken, lentils, peanuts, or rice. These humble foods are fit for royalty when grown or raised in harmony with the earth.
The First Act
Presents a bird’s eye view of The Plenty Method. Upgrade your diet to the best food on the planet without spending more than you usually do. This socially responsible approach to buying, storing, and using food improves your health and lessens stress on our pollinators and our planet, too.
Part 1: Why Do The Plenty Method?
Chapter 1: Go Way Beyond Flavor and Taste
Increase your “joy quotient” by uncovering the heightened sensory pleasure that eating high-vibe food (food that is grown or raised in harmony with the earth) can bring to your life. No need to be satisfied with mediocre when you can have extraordinary.
Chapter 2: The Improvisational Pantry
Shows how a well-stocked pantry reduces time spent in grocery stores and frees up time for food preparation. Dial back the number of foods you keep on hand and learn how “freedom in limitation” can unleash enormous creative possibilities. Become a six-star cook by sourcing food like a famous chef without spending more on food than you usually do.
Chapter 3: How to Eat Like Royalty for Less
Covers how to buy organic food for about the same price as conventional store-bought food. Multiply your food dollars to upgrade your pantry to a nutritional powerhouse. Use “flavor bursts” to turn humble ingredients into meals fit for a king or queen.
Part 2: The Plenty Method
Chapter 4: How to Start The Plenty Method
Summarizes each step in this new approach to food buying, storage, and preparation. Discusses how to take small steps and adapt the method to your personal preferences. A real-life example of how The Plenty Method works from start to finish.
Chapter 5: P = Prepare Your Pantry with Friends
Shows how to find like-minded friends who can help you transition to The Plenty Method. Having extra food on hand is good commonsense and it’s easier to create a backup supply with the help of friends. A well-stocked pantry is like having a true friend – it’s there for you when you need it.
Chapter 6: L = List of Master Ingredients
Demonstrates how to develop a streamlined Master Ingredients List based on your food preferences. Describes how a food becomes a Master Ingredient and includes advice on how to sort through the dizzying array of foods in the marketplace so you can create a beautifully curated list of foods to stock your pantry.
Chapter 7: E = Easy to Find Food Sources
Discusses the many food sources available beyond the grocery store. Covers how to access nearby wholesale and farm-direct markets to slash your food costs so you can upgrade your diet. Answers the question: “If I don’t go to the grocery store to buy food, then where do I go?”
Chapter 8: N = New Containers and Making Space
Includes tips for finding containers, storage space, and shelving to make food easy to see, access, and rotate. Explains how to stock your pantry so you can escape the “buy it, use it, toss it, or run out cycle” and liberate yourself from continuous trips to the store.
Chapter 9: T = Tune into a Sense-able Shelf Life
Addresses the confusing and often conflicting information about shelf life. Provides suggestions for trusting your senses to determine if a food is safe or not. Covers how to extend the shelf life of food to keep food fresh and reduce food waste.
Chapter 10: Y = Yum! The Un-recipe Recipe
Introduces The Pantry Method of cooking. Great food doesn’t need much “do” when starting with extraordinary ingredients. Experience new freedom and creativity as you break from the constrictions of “recipe as formula.” Develop your own repertoire of delicious, easy-to-make “un-recipe recipes.”
Part 3: Vision for a Transformed Agriculture
Chapter 11: God Save the Queen Bees and All Her Pollinators
Examines the crisis facing bees and other insects responsible for pollinating much of our food supply. Science shows that pesticides are one of the primary factors impacting bee vitality. Explains how The Plenty Method can help reduce society’s dependence on agricultural pesticides and lessen stress on the bees.
Chapter 12: The Hive and The SWARM
Invites you to participate in the creation of The Hive Food Network as a way to improve food systems in our local communities and around the world. The Hive will support The Plenty Method users by providing them with direct access to farmers and wholesalers. The people of The Hive can also participate in a grassroots social movement called The SWARM: Supporters of World Wide Agricultural Reform Movement to assist the bees.
The Next Act
Raises a call to action: together we can create an alternative food system that restores health for people, pollinators, and our planet. The vision presented in The Joy of Plenty is that individual food-buying decisions will accrue to cause huge transformations in our global food system.
Acknowledgments
Author Biography
Appendices
A: QuickStarter Guide
A list of simple actions you can take to start The Plenty Method
B: Master Ingredients Guidelines
How to create a customized list of pantry items
C: Flavor Bursts List
A list of concentrated flavorings that elevate a dish or meal to six-star fare
D: How to Place a Wholesale Order
A step-by-step guide that takes the mystery out of the world of wholesale and farm-direct buying
E: Essential and Helpful Tools
A list of supplies for setting up a beautiful and functional pantry
F: How The Plenty Method Reduces Food Waste
G: Further Reading
Notes
Epigraphs