I recently revised my book “The Joy of Plenty: How to multiply your food dollars to eat like kings and queens.” I will give a digital copy to anyone who requests it – just email me and it will be my pleasure to send you one! Lately I’ve been thinking of the book as the “food inflation survival guide”.
I wrote the book after I formed a small food buying club with some of my friends and we increased the value of our food dollars by 40%. Eventually our pantries were stocked with the best food on the planet and much of the food was organic. Organic food definitely tasted better. No matter the flavor, whether bitter, salty, savory or sour, a notable touch of delicious sweetness was always present, like background music.
Our pantries eventually were stuffed with copious amounts of fabulous food and we had a lot of fun buying it too. And then something unexpected happened. With our pantries full of incredible food, our cooking exploded with creativity – and ease. With so much food available in our own pantries, we had the courage to try new things. I nicked named my kitchen “Five Star Kitchen” because over time my cooking evolved from ordinary to extraordinary and often it seemed as if I was eating at a five-star restaurant.
In the book, I define the six steps I took in the process of transitioning from going to the grocery store often to buy small quantities to buying larger amounts at wholesale food resources. I learned to share those larger quantities with friends or properly store the excess. I called this six-step approach the “Plenty Method”.
When you do the Plenty Method, your well-stocked pantry will be like having a good work horse back in the olden days—it makes life easier for you. Individual foods stand out in essence and quality, they become superstars. Then, food doesn’t need much “do” to prepare. You don’t need to follow a recipe exactly to make delicious food. Food doesn’t need to be complicated or take a lot of time. You can easily whip together simple wholesome treats and meals because your pantry overflows with extraordinary food. You’ll have the ingredients to make almost any recipe on a moment’s notice. You may have to substitute a few things, but that is far better than running to the store. Now you’ve made the recipe completely your own, 100 percent tailored to your tastes.
After all, having quality ingredients on hand to serve your friends and family “royal” meals and snacks will do you more than proud every time. I’d love to help you learn how to survive food inflation and have fun doing it.