Living on Less

I've never suffered any illusions regarding the difficulties I would face when I decided to retire, so the reality of how little money I will have in a few short months comes as no surprise.

With retirement drawing ever nearer, I decided a few weeks ago to ease the transition a bit by cutting my food budget way back, right now. An added benefit is more money in savings to use for all those costs of moving and settling in. I don't even want to think about those right now!

Fortunately, I've lived with a similar budget for a good portion of the last 13 years, so I am familiar with the drill despite my recent profligate ways. The first rule is, no more debit card. Once a week I withdraw $50 in cash, and that's what I live on for the week. I've also started watching the weekly supermarket sales flyers, clipping coupons and paying attention to sale items on the store shelves, all of which have helped me save a rather astonishing amount. A new and different mind-set has also been a major plus.

Admittedly, the first week was a bit of a shock and major readjustment to my food shopping habits. I'd reach for something on a shelf and then stop and ask myself 'do I need this today?'. Most often, the answer was 'no' and as often as not the item in question was one of my lovely, pricey herbal tea blends. Now, I walk into a store with an awareness of how much cash I have, and keep a running total in my head so I won't go over (or spend it all at once without getting the necessities for the week). I leave with everything I need, some of what I want, and that warm feeling of cash still in my pocket. My food budget, by the way, includes whatever I buy at the grocery store -- cleaning items, toiletries and such, as well as food.

After that first week, thankfully, I relaxed and realized that I could indeed survive on that amount in comfort and even have enough leftover for other things. Last week, for example, I bought some luscious salami and cheese from my favorite deli to share with a friend who provided a bottle of wine. I also used $11.50 to FedEx some checks to my real estate agent in Georgia, AND I had $2 left at the end of the week. This week is almost over, I have all the necessities, I spent $8.20 at the post office today on a book of stamps, and I still have at least $25 left.

If you're wondering how I do that -- am I eating ramen noodles, for example -- I promise you I eat a tasty,healthy diet and don't feel in the least deprived. One of my secrets goes back to my childhood, when my mother often had nothing more to feed me than pinto beans and cornbread. My dad was a career army sergeant and I used to quote the refrain "the navy gets the gravy and the army gets the beans" when I was tired of that diet. I hadn't yet learned to be grateful to my mother for putting an essentially nutritious meal on my table against some unpleasant odds.

I don't know whether it's the draw to save money, or my southern roots making themselves known, but I've returned to those staples which, as an adult, I love. With a little effort, I've finally managed to cook the beans so they taste like the last ones I remember my mother making. The cornbread is easy and has become second nature and there's not much of anything better than buttermilk cornbread hot out of the oven. Both keep well and reheat well, I eat them for lunch or dinner almost every day and I'm not tired of them yet. I eat plenty of other things too -- but these have become the heart of my diet.

I thought I'd share the recipes with you.

Buttermilk Cornbread
Adapted from the Mingus Mill in the Great Smoky Mountains

Hot out of the oven

1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups stoneground cornmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup healthy, non-hydrogenated vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 425. Coat bottom of 9-inch cast iron skillet with a generous bit of oil, place in oven to heat. You can use another baking pan, but an iron skillet is the quintessential cornbread pan and it just doesn't taste the same baked in anything else.

Sift the dry ingredients to mix thoroughly. Make a well in the center, add the buttermilk, eggs and oil, stir together thoroughly to blend fully. Pour into hot skillet, return to oven, bake about 30 minutes until toasty brown on top. Eat hot!

Mama's Pinto Beans

This is a really loose recipe, so use quantities that work for your needs.

Dry pinto beans, picked through and well-washed
Serrano and/or jalapeno peppers
Coarse Kosher salt

Put the beans in a container large enough to hold the beans along with enough water to cover by 3-4 inches. Place in your refrigerator to soak overnight. When ready to cook, put beans and water into dutch oven or saucepan, adding water as necessary to cover generously. Dice peppers in small pieces, add to the pan in quantities that suit your personal heat tolerance. I like it pretty hot! Bring to a boil, turn to a low simmer and cook for several hours until beans are tender and soft. Add salt to taste, cool for a few moments, stir and serve. Do NOT put salt into the beans at an earlier stage, as this tends to make them tough. Beans should be soupy with plenty of liquid -- you gotta sop that up with some cornbread!

Enjoy!