Keeping to strict food budgets doesn’t mean you have to forgo every foodie pleasure. In fact, it sweetens the indulgences that you do allow yourself in a way you never could have imagined.
Frugality isn’t asceticism. It’s sensualism. It recognizes that the truly great feasts — the ones worth having — come after fasts.
Confused? Here’s
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What a remarkable perspective. It’s obviously true, but it’s so easy in our day and age and culture to simply think “more is more” — always and without exception. But there really is something to delayed gratification, and not just from the sensualist perspective Sharon Astyk shared. It does something to our character, makes us better people. I’m starting to connect the dots between how I eat and who I am.
Yes!
This makes total sense.
My food spending has completely reversed over the past few years. I spend much more on higher quality ingredients and pay far less attention to price (I’m not immune to price, however). But at the same time, I also buy much less prepared “convenience” foods, out-of-season foods, or premium cuts.
So consequently, I think we eat far better (both for our health and the eating experience) and in the end, probably spend no more in total, perhaps even less than when I did a lot of shopping at the grocery store and wasted time clipping coupons.
Of course, that also means I spend more time preparing food, but a lot of that time is just passively monitoring a simmering pot or roast, not actively attending a hot stove, leaving chunks of time to do something else. So along with my reversal of food budget priorities, I’ve really reversed my mindset about how to “spend” my cooking and food prep time, too. Making good food a priority is good for us, on so many levels, and is worth spending what might seem like extra time.