Cooking Co-Op and The Just-In-Time Consumer

The WSJ reports the recent recession has changed our shopping habits. Grocery bills have been reduced by using the pantry stock pile. Shoppers are now less likely to purchase items just to have them on hand and instead paying off debt. For the last 20 years, bulk shopping has been the fashion but now we are buying what we need for a specific time frame. Instead we are making more trips to the store and spending less. Once again, cooking co-op is the perfect vehicle to help you buy only what you need for the next week and it's so much easier creating your grocery list as you focused on fixing one meal in quantity. So you get the cost savings of buying in quantity yet only buying for one week. Didn't you love being home for Thanksgiving, having your family and friends around the table, and using your kitchen to the max? Cooking co-op saves you so much money and time. It's worth a try.

Happy Thanksgiving- Cooking in Quantity

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and let this show you the potential of starting your own cooking co-op in the New Year. You will be learning how to cook in quantity and you will enjoy eating on the left-overs the remainder of the week. What if more meals could be as well-designed as Thanksgiving? Turkey goes so well with stuffing, sweet potato casserole, cranberry salad, green bean casserole etc. So often we find a good recipe but the trick-of-the-trade is what else goes well with that new recipe to make a memorable meal. So practice this Thanksgiving and plan on having more memorable meals in 2011 with the help of 3 cooking co-op partners. And the other main ingredient for memorable meals is the conversation and sometimes laughter with family and friends. Food is the wd-40 to grease the wheels and see what's on everyone's minds. So get cooking and get talking.

"The fashion world has a big fat crush on ...cuisine"

That is one of the headlines from this week-end's WSJ. The article cites Gwyneth Paltrow's eating tour of Spain for PBS. Barney's Christmas windows will feature Anthony Bourdain and Paula Deene. "The fact is, fashion and food have always had a relationship. As designer Isaac Mizrahi (also an enthusiastic home cook), points out: "It's no coincidence that Paris is the fashion capital of the world and the food capital of the world." As fashionable and fabulous as Gwyneth Paltrow is, she admitted in an interview with Vogue: "When you're having dinner with your kids and your husband and someone says something funny or you're dying laughing because your 3-year-old made a ...joke, it doesn't matter what else is going on. That's real happiness." The Fianancial Times reported this morning, "Casual Dining Appetites Revive as Confidence Returns."Instead of eating out, have the confidence and poise of fashion models and actresses, to plan, cook, experiment on your own home-cooked dinners. Make eating at home with family and friends the fashionable thing to do! "That's real happiness."

Home Economics

Here are the headlines: 1) "Healthy Eating Getting Pricier" Oct.,2010 Tufts Univ. Health& Nutrition Letter. "Prices of foods rich in nutrients rose at almost double the rate of junk food from 2004 to 2008...Prices of the healthy foods(veges, fortified whole-grain cereals) rose 29.2%, while the least-nutritious foods( high in sugar, fat and refined grains) went up 16.1%...The growing price disparity "may pose a barrier to the adoption of healthy diets," researchers warned." 2) "Food Sellers Grit Teeth, Raise Prices" Nov. 4, 2010 WSJ. "Packagers and supermarkets start to pass along rising costs, even as consumers pinch pennies." In the last year, boneless USDA Choice Chuck roast is up 13%, whole fortified milk is up 10% etc. "Costs are being driven by growing demand for meat in China, India and other emerging markets." Necessity is the mother of invention so why not try a new way to put dinner on the table- cooking co-op! What is most important to you? Spending money eating out, grabbing to go dinner because you have not planned ahead? Or would you rather have those hard-earned dollars go toward your mortgage, home-improvements, beach trip, or an earlier retirement? A revolution is brewing...hum stewing!

Family Dinner is So Important Because...

Patrick Henrey lived, married, and learned his most valuable life lessons here in Hanover County. As the busy and proud father of 17 children, he believed the family was the foundation of a strong society. The family dinner time is one of the key ingredients of a strong and productive family. Case in point. WSJ article "Parental Role Aids Anorexia Recovery." You think? "Closely monitoring the meals of a child with the eating disorder trumps sessions with a therapist...(the parents) tag-teamed to sit with (their 13 yr. old daughter) through 3 meals and 3 snacks daily...( Soon) her daughter was gaining weight consistently.. and the (mother) started "seeing sparks" of her daughter's personality again." And then a qote from Tennis Magazine in a interview with John Isner, "We never got much in the way of material things, but if you can be spoiled by good cooking,my mom spoiled me 3 times a day all my life." Cook at home and sit down for dinner to create healthy moments and memories. Be sure to vote tomorrow and think of Patrick Henry and his wisdom!