Breakfast on the Go: Blueberry-Maple Steel Cut Oat Bars

To contact us Click HERE


The past couple months I was invited to spend some time talking with mom groups and sharing our ideas on getting our families fed in a healthy way even as they race by us to the next meeting, school day, activity or well, anything but sitting down to a meal with us.

While most of us do strive for an occasional sighting of all family members around the dinner table, breakfast seems to be the meal most likely to be skipped all together.

We're a big fan of steel cut oatmeal around this household. In fact, we rarely buy cold cereal or instant hot cereal. But, even with the slow cooker overnight method (recipe in our book), I'm still faced with having to find ten minutes in a busy morning to sit and eat a bowl. On the most time-challenged days, I have had to just reach in the fridge and grab the first portable food I could find — last night's pasta dish, one of the kid's cheese sticks, the last few spoonfuls of cottage cheese. Guilty.

I decided maybe it was time to try and make my favorite breakfast more portable, or at least edible in traffic without getting oatmeal down my front while trying to manage the steering wheel, stick shift and spoon all at once.

First, don't expect cake here. It's oatmeal in a bar. It's more like a power bar that's not made with ingredients you cannot pronounce. It's lightly sweet and lower in fat than a muffin, with an added nutritional benefit of Omega-3s and protein from chia seed and almond butter, along with the steel cut whole grain goodness. So healthy, and yet tastes good.

Blueberry-Maple Steel Cut Oat Bars
2 cups milk or almond milk
1 and 1/2 cup steel cut oats
1/2 cup chia seeds
1 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup maple syrup (can substitute brown sugar)
1/2 cup almond butter or peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1/4 tsp. salt

Soak the oats in the milk or almond milk overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While you are assembling the ingredients, add the chia seed to the milk and oat mixture.

Add the remaining ingredients to the oats, milk and chia seed. Press into a 9x9 baking dish. Cover with foil. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 15 more minutes. Allow to cool and cut into squares. Store, covered, in the fridge. Ready to eat on the run!

Really Slow Food

To contact us Click HERE

I’ve actually used Facebook to track down local foodingredients, including five pounds of lard for tamales and our Thanksgivingturkey. It really wasn’t a surprise when I got another kind of local foodrequest through Facebook, “Can you cook for a Slow Food event on April 29?”
What I did not expect was the adventure in what I can onlyrefer to as Really. Slow. Food. With the attendance planned for less than 30people and just three small courses, we started out pretty confident.


The PlanOne of the hardest parts of planning a local food event amonth out is that you are really not sure if the menu you planned will matchthe food available. This approach is a whole lot easier in say, SouthernCalifornia, rather than the Midwest where we have 90 degrees in mid-April thena frost warning the very next week.
My usual approach of shopping the farmers market first, thenmaking the dinner menu was not an option. You just can’t put off all thecooking to the afternoon before when you are planning on serving up to 35people!
Now, to request a couple vacation days from my full time joband get cooking. And be grateful my husband took some time off to help, too! He's been really supportive on these events and doesn't get the thanks or attention.
Things I learned:Keep the menu flexible for last minute swaps or additions.Plan at least one dish that is based on an ingredient youknow you can locally source, such as the meat or a year-round staple like eggs.Plan recipes that are mostly make ahead just in case thingsget crazy…
Recipe 1: Asparagus and Potato Salad with Lemon MintDressing
For the dressing:
Juice and zest of three lemons
1 tbs. dijon mustard
2 tbs honey
1 tbs. white balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
kosher salt and pepper to taste

For the salad:
2 cups greens, divided for four plates (spring mix, or green and red leaf)
3 tbs. chopped mint, blend with greens
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 lb. of asparagus
1 lb. new potatoes (I love the blue ones for this)
Feta cheese, optional, but lovely
Coarse finishing salt, black pepper to taste

Wash and boil the potatoes, skin on, until tender. Remove from water, and chill for two hours. Blanch the asparagus for three minutes and shock in ice water to stop the cooking and set the color.

Whisk the dressing together. Chop the hard-boiled egg (or served halved). Assemble each of the four plates with greens, two potatoes sliced lengthwise, 1/4 of the asparagus, 1/4 of the egg. Drizzle with the lemon-mint dressing. Finish with coarse sea salt and black pepper if desired. Sprinkle on 1 tbs. of feta. Serves 8 small portions.
Sourcing IngredientsOne of the great things about Slow Food is the network ofpeople in the group, which includes farmers where we can source ingredients.The harder part is sourcing from many different farms means more time sourcingthan cooking. Some would say here, “Isn’t one trip to the grocery store a wholelot easier?”
Um, yes. But, where’s the adventure in that? Or the flavor.Or the variety. Still, the four trips to three different farms, a trip to thelocal butcher, and two farmers markets racked up the frequent buyer miles (but not nearly the average of 1500 for a single grocery store ingredient!). Forour Slow Food board member (Jamie, you are amazing!), it also meant doing someof the harvesting, too!
The day was not without stress. After a call to the u-pick farmwith asparagus, we learned they had over-picked for the day and our only optionthere would be to return and harvest the following day, but no guarantees ofenough for our event. Sometimes things just don’t work out. These are real peopleand not some automated system, which is far more of a benefit than a problem. Aquick call to a different farmer, and our menu was back on track.
Things I learned: Sometimes local food is not the easy choice. It’s still thebest choice.You can never know too many farmers.They call it Slow Food for a reason. Embrace the process.

Recipe 2: Grilled Flank Steak with Radish Chimichurri
2 lbs. flank steak

Marinade:
½ cup dry red wine (Cabernet)
¼ cup soy sauce
2 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
2 tbs. organic canola oil
Few grinds of pepper
Juice of 1 lemon plus zest
4 cloves garlic, smashed

Whisk marinade ingredients together and place in sturdy zip lock bag with the flank steak. Marinade at least two hours, up to overnight.

Radish Chimichurri
1/2 cup cilantro, packed leaves
1/4 cup parsley, packed leaves
1/4 cup mint, packed leaves
20 small radishes, 1/2-1 inch diameter
4 spring onions, white plus 1 inch of green, or use garlic scapes
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
1/8-1/4 crushed red pepper

Chop the radishes and onions or garlic scapes finely. Chop herbs, add the radish and onion blend. Drizzle in oil and vinegar. Blend in salt and red pepper.

Remove steaks from marinade and discard marinade. Grill over direct heat to desired doneness, depending on the thickness of the steaks, about 6 minutes per side for a 1-1/2 inch thick steak for medium-rare. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Makes eight 4 oz. servings.
In the KitchenOne thing I wanted with the menu, other than including asmany local ingredients as possible, being flexible, and make ahead (no smalltask) is to have a consistent flavor palate that would connect all the dishes.For that, we leveraged one local and abundant ingredient — mint — and the lastof the winter citrus with lemons. Sure, citrus not local. It never will belocal and neither is my morning coffee or my weakness for dark chocolate. Forthese items, it’s best to seek out US grown where possible, organic, and fairtrade.
By the fifth batch of lemon curd, we were pretty glad that it’sthe end of citrus season. By the time we got the salad dressing done, the lemonrinds were building up. We compost everything we can, but here my spouse hadheard that citrus acid slows the composting process. I had heard a few lemonrinds keep your disposal clean and working well. I am pretty sure neither bitof this advice was meant to cover forty lemon rinds.
Working over the sink, I began to hear an odd sloshingsound. I looked down and was now standing in water with lemon pulp. Thedisposal double duty pretty well rattled the pipes apart. We had a flood underthe sink, in the lower cabinet, on the floor, down into the basement wall.
The good news is that when it comes to plumbing emergencies,there are far worse types of floods to have than lemon water. Plus, my husbandis good with plumbing. We were left with half our pots and pans on the countersand a newly cleaned kitchen that needed drying out. Cooking was put on holduntil the next day. This was the only moment in the process where I wondered ifI could really make this happen, even with my husband's help and support.
It was a good time to be grateful for simple menus. And friendswho grill. Heading to bed, exhausted and smelling strongly of lemon, I made onedesperate text to Craig Adcock.
“Can I drop marinade ingred. and meat off for you to grill?”
The response of yes was just what I needed to fall asleep. Still, Craig's good karma he earned from helping out didn't keep it from pouring rain the day of the event as he stood outside at the grill. The rain was at least good for the farmers.

What I learned:
Forty lemons really should go in the compost.
Every home should have a pipe wrench and one person who knows how to use it. Which is not me, definitely. (Thanks, Kurt!)
Craig Adcock is amazing for standing in the rain grilling.


Recipe 3: Lemon Curd with Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote

2 cups Cabernet Sauvignon
1 cup plus 2 Tbs. sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
1 Tbs. lemon juice plus zest
4 cups 1/2-inch pieces fresh rhubarb (about 1.5 pounds trimmed)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 quart strawberries, cored, stemmed and sliced
Few grinds of black pepper
Pinch salt

Combine wine, sugar, zest, lemon juice and vanilla in heavy large saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Add rhubarb and salt and simmer until wine syrup in saucepan until slightly thickened and reduced to 1 1/4 cups, about 10 minutes. Add the strawberries for the last few minutes, to cook slightly, but not turn to mush, add salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Cool and store in refrigerator.

Lemon Curd
3 eggs plus 4 yolks
1 cup sugar
1 cup lemon juice plus zest of 3 lemons (5 lemons total needed)
Pinch salt
¼ cup cold butter

Whisk eggs and sugar, whisk in juice and zest. Place over simmering water (double boiler) until thickens, stir in butter. Whisk five more minutes. Remove from heat to a bowl. Cover surface with cling wrap and refrigerate to prevent skin forming.

To serve, place lemon curd in a ramekin or glass dessert dish, spoon the compote over top. Garnish with mint leaves.

Serves 8-10.

The Event
Food got finished. Things were together, we made it, as in WE, not me. Because it was a team effort. And I hope everyone enjoyed the meal. As for me, when I was up talking about the joy of local food, I could look back at the kitchen and see my family, one of my best friends for over thirty years who came, and Craig, who is a friend I hope to still have in thirty years. That's what made the whole event worthwhile.

What I learned:
I wouldn't trade local sourcing, for all its quirks, for any other way.
At the end of the day, family, friends and sharing good food is what it's all about.
It's good to have a spouse who loves to cook and puts up with the adventures.

Ingredients Sourced from:
Urbavore Farm; eggs, mint, salad greens, herbs, radishes, spring garlic and the venue!
Cultivate KC; cilantro and parsley
Local Pig; flank steak
Red Ridge Farms; potatoes
Samyn Farm; spring onions, asparagus
Door-to-door Organics; lemons
Prairie Ridge Farm; Rhubarb
Shatto Farm; butter

Beet and Microgreens Salad

To contact us Click HERE

I like adult food as much as the next Mom. Sometimes, I just have to channel my inner five-year-old to get the kid to enjoy adult food as much as I do.  Hot pink adult food, with tiny, little perfect lettuces and fluffy goat cheese. Otherwise known as roasted beet dressing with microgreens if you want to be mature about it. Where's the fun in that?

Beets are still hit and miss for the kiddo, unless I am Dan Barber, but that's a different story. I'll get to that. Back to reality here. The kid eyes her hot pink salad with skepticism. I see this.

"You know what? If you eat a lot of beets, it will be red when you have to 'go.'" Intrigued look. "Plus, look at this!" I stick my tongue out, my bright, bright pink tongue. "Cool, huh?"

Yes, yes I am, like, five years old sometimes. I'm okay with this. The kid powers down a huge bite of beet and beet dressing.

"Mmmm." She likes it. My work is done. Except for a few more rounds of comparing how pink our tongues are.

Beet Dressing with Microgreens

3 medium beets, stems removed, washed, roasted as below

Dressing ingredients:
1/4 cup white balsamic vingar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbs. Dijon mustard (or honey, if you have picky kids)
Salt and pepper to taste

Salad Greens:
2 cups microgreens
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tsp. olive oil
dash salt and pepper
2 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the washed beets in foil and wrap well. Roast for about 60 minutes, until fork tender. When cool, rub beets with paper towel and skins slip off easily. You can do this step the day before and refrigerate the beets.

Place one beet in the blender with the the other dressing ingredients. Blend on high until it is an awesome, creamy, smooth and hot pink mixture. Chill. The dressing, that is, for a couple hours.

Before dinner, assemble salads by gently tossing the microgreens with lemon and olive oil, salt and pepper. Plate by putting 1/3 cup greens on a plate, a nice swath of beet dressing alongside it. Add 1/3 of a beet, sliced per plate. And garnish the beets with goat cheese.

Serves six adults who act like five year olds.

Pretty in Pink: Beet Risotto

To contact us Click HERE
We've been battling the beet for some time around our house. What was once a reviled vegetable by my spouse is now beloved and, yes, requested even. In fact, requested often enough (and in season twice a year here) that I'm starting to dig a bit deeper to create new recipes for this root.

The Roasted Beet salad dressing and the Blueberry-Beet Smoothie from our book are still my favorites, but this shocking pink risotto is right up there. It looks stunning on a plate, too, once you get past the notion that this would be something my kiddo's "Barbie Celebrity Chef" (courtesy of her aunt) would whip up if it were just sparkly as well as pink — and if I had not already vacuumed up most of her tiny cooking utensils.

Beet and Goat Cheese Risotto
3 beets, stemmed and washed
3/4 cup arborio rice
1 tbs. olive oil
3 to 3-1/4 cups hot chicken stock
1 sprig rosemary, chopped
2 oz. fresh goat cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the washed beets in foil and wrap well. Roast for about 60 minutes, until fork tender. When cool, rub beets with paper towel and skins slip off easily. You can do this step the day before and refrigerate the beets. Dice them to 1/4-inch dice.

In a small pan, heat the chicken stock over medium heat and keep hot to add to the rice. Heat a larger saucepan, add the olive oil. Saute the arborio rice for about three minutes until translucent and just slightly golden. Add a cup of hot stock to the rice, stirring occasionally until the stock is absorbed. Continue adding stock by the half cup, then stirring to prevent sticking. The rice releases a lot of its starch with this method, giving risotto its creamy texture. Aim for an al dente texture to the rice grains and a creamy consistency overall.

Note: you can use this basic risotto recipe to create other recipes, too. It makes about 3 cups of risotto.

Gently fold in the goat cheese and rosemary. Add the beets, gently folding, again, until the risotto takes on a bright pink hue, but the beets are not mashed. Salt and pepper to taste. You'll need less salt if you used commercial stock that is not low sodium, so add carefully, tasting first.

"Everything" Slaw

To contact us Click HERE
There's a saying, "If it grows together, it goes together." I repeat this to myself often when I am trying to figure out what to make with an abundant CSA bag and some farmers market finds that were irresistible, like purple and gold cauliflower. I will confess that I have a problem with buying too many vegetables, especially when I find unique varieties. There are worse obsessions. Mine is, however, perishable and rapidly accumulates in BOTH our refrigerators.

These are moments when you try to figure out just how many of those vegetables that grow together will go together all in one dish. Slaw is perfect for this. This recipe is very flexible for whichever CSA or market finds you have stuffing the produce drawers at home right now. For example, you can swap out kohlrabi (I know, FINALLY what to do with that stuff) for the radishes. Broccoli will work instead of cauliflower easily. The fresh herbs can include dill or basil, sorrel or lemon verbena, or all of these. You can use red cabbage, napa, bok choy, or green cabbage as well. You can use scallions or garlic scapes, or both. Just get a big bowl.

"Everything" Slaw
Slaw Veggies:
1 medium head of cabbage (napa here), chopped
1 medium (or two small) heads of cauliflower, florets only
1 bunch radishes, sliced thin
3 scallions, white plus 2-inches green sliced thin
2 garlic scapes, sliced thin
1/2 cup fresh mixed herbs, (dill, basil, sorrel, mint, lemon verbena)

Dressing:
2/3 cup canola mayonnaise (non-GMO)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tbs. Dijon mustard
3 oz. bleu cheese crumbles
1/2 tsp. salt
black pepper to taste

Toss fresh veggies together. Whisk dressing ingredients and toss with vegetables. Chill and allow to marry in flavor for at least two hours before serving.

A Beginner's Guide to Beans, Plus 42 Bean Recipes

To contact us Click HERE
This article first appeared in October 2009.
Some will balk at their flavor and size. Many will have texture issues. And still others just won’t enjoy the farting.

But know this: there are few cheaper, healthier, and more versatile foods than the humble bean. Members of the legume family, beans can be found everywhere from gourmet restaurants to campfire cauldrons. They’ve been vital to the survival of certain populations, and instrumental to the development of particular cuisines. Also, they taste good.

Still, there are folks out there unfamiliar with chickpeas and pintos, kidney and black beans. And for them, CHG proudly presents the following: a breakdown of why beans are wonderful, plus 42 tried-and-true recipes in which to use them.

HEALTH BENEFITS

Low in fat, high in protein, and astronomically high in fiber, beans work beautifully as the main components of recipes, but also as fabulous alternatives to meat. This is for a few reasons: A) they create a complete protein when paired with nuts, seeds, or grains, B) their chemical composition makes you feel sated longer than a lot of other foods, and C) they have a bulky and substantial mouthfeel, so you never feel deprived. Studies have found them to be solid tools in weight loss and maintenance, and integral to the prevention of all kinds of diseases.

If that ain’t enough for you, this WebMD blurb is pretty convincing: “In a recent study, bean eaters weighed, on average, 7 pounds less and had slimmer waists than their bean-avoiding counterparts -- yet they consumed 199 calories more per day if they were adults and an incredible 335 calories more if they were teenagers.” Sweet.

P.S. True to the well-known rhyme, beans make you both smartier and fartier. They contain both certain vitamins that improve brain function AND undigestable sugars, which lead to exciting intestinal activity, which leads to gas. So there you go.

PRICE

Grown globally from Ethiopia to Australia, beans are some of the most plentiful - and subsequently cheapest - edibles anywhere. A pound of dried beans in Brooklyn will generally run about $1, and will produce four to six cups of food after rehydration.

Compare that to meat. In my neighborhood, a pound of chicken breast (one of the healthier animal options) runs $1.69 on sale. It shrinks slightly when cooked, ultimately producing around two cups of poultry.

Let’s do some math, then. One cup of cheap chicken is $1.69 divided by two, or $0.85. One cup of beans is $1.00 divided by five, or $0.20. Using these (incredibly) rough numbers, chicken breast is 425% the price of dried beans.

Of course, the numbers will vary by area, sales, and math skills, but you get the idea.

DRIED OR CANNED?

It’s a controversy as old as storage itself: dried or canned beans? On one hand, dried beans are universally cheaper, and widely considered to possess a creamier consistency and better overall flavor. On the other hand, canned beans aren’t terribly expensive themselves, and the taste difference is pretty negligible when you’re talking about everyday kitchen use.

The tiebreaker, then, is time. If you have the wherewithal, forethought, and 90 to 480 minutes to rehydrate a bag of dried chickpeas, you’ll be rewarded in kind. If you‘re throwing dinner together and an hour-long prep time is crazy talk, canned beans are the way to go.

It’s worth noting that if respected cooks aren’t using canned beans already (Giada DeLaurentiis, Sara Moulton, etc.), they’re starting to come around. Even die-hard dried fans like Mark Bittman have been giving props to metal dwellers recently. Meaning: don’t fear the Goya.

INTRODUCING … THE BEANS

If you’ve ever tried chili, hummus, minestrone, Texas caviar, Mexican food, Indian food, Italian food, or, er, refried beans, you’ve already experienced the wonder of the bean. They’re omnipresent in cuisines all over the world, and come in a range of flavors and sizes that can be adapted to thousands of dishes. Here are six of the most common found in the U.S., along with a few recipe suggestions for each.

(A quick note before we get to the beans themselves: there are a zillion types of legume, and some [like the soybean] are rocketing in popularity stateside. But to keep things manageable, we’re sticking to a few big ones.)

Black Beans
Used frequently in Latin cuisines, the black bean is a small, ebony bean with an earthy flavor. I find it pairs very well with grains, and makes for a stellar soup.
Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa
Black Bean Brownies
Black Bean Burrito Bake
Black Bean Salad with Fresh Corn
Black Bean Soup
Calabacitas Burritos
Stuffed Peppers with Black Beans and Corn

Black-Eyed Peas
A terrible band, but a wonderful food, black-eyed peas are all over Southern cuisine. Like other beans, they’re great sources of fiber, folate, and protein. Unlike other beans, you will always feel like they’re looking at you.
Black-Eyed Pea (Texas) Caviar
Black-Eyed Pea Salad
Collard Greens and Black-Eyed Peas

Cannellini/White Beans
There are a ton of variations on the white bean, but I dig cannellinis in particular for their creaminess and flavor. Found in many Italian dishes, you’ll find that Microsoft Word often corrects its spelling to “cannelloni,” which is annoying.
Escarole and White Beans
Garlicky Long Beans and Beans
Grilled Zucchini with Quinoa Stuffing
Guacamole Bean Dip
Penne with Lemon, Potatoes, and Cannellini
White Bean and Tarragon Soup
White Chicken Chili
Spinach and Cannellini Bean Dip

Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)
Without chickpeas, there would be no hummus. And without hummus, there would be no joy. Vital to Italian, Indian, and Middle Eastern cuisines (among others), the plentiful and versatile garbanzo bean can be found in virtually every form, from dip to stew to flour (though I have yet to see a chickpea smoothie). Due to its subtle flavor and increasing ubiquity in the U.S., I like to think of the chickpea as a gateway bean; if you like it, odds are other legumes will soon follow.
Beets and Greens Curry with Chickpeas
Chickpea Salad
Couscous with Chickpeas, Tomatoes, and Edamame
Curry in a Hurry
Greek-Style Chickpea Salad
Lemony Light Hummus
North African-style Chickpea Salad
Pasta e Ceci
Pasta with Zucchini and Chickpeas
Pasta with Broccoli and Chickpeas
Pindi Chana (Spicy Chickpea Curry)
Roasted Chickpeas
Shredded Zucchini and Chickpeas Over Polenta

Kidney Beans (red and pink)
Substantive and quite large in comparison to other common legumes, kidney beans go great on salads and substitute fabulously for meat in chilis and stews. And seriously, what’s a frugal kitchen without red beans and rice?
Chili Corn Pone Pie
Pumpkin Turkey Chili

Pinto Beans (Frijoles)
Wonderful on their own and even better mashed, these pink-brown legumes claim the great honor of being the only bean my mom likes. Also, I could be talking out my neck here, but I find pintos a little sweeter than black beans and chickpeas.
Refried Beans
Swiss Chard with Pinto Beans and Goat Cheese

Multiple Beans
Each of the following recipes use more than one type of bean.
Bodega Beans (any)
Camp Stove Veggie Chili (black, kidney)
Curried Chickpeas and Black Beans (chickpeas, black)
Easy Vegetarian Bean Chili (any)
Gallo Pinto (pinto, black)
Indonesian Curried Bean Stew (chickpeas, black, kidney )
Light Leftover Turkey Chili (black, kidney)
Turkey Chili with Beans (white, pink, kidney)

And that's our ballgame. Readers, how about you? What are your favorite bean recipes?

~~~

If you like this article, you might also dig:

• 20 Cheap, Healthy Dishes Made From 10 Pantry Staples
• How to Tell if a Recipe is Cheap and Healthy Just By Looking at it
• Spend Less, Eat Healthier: The Five Most Important Things You Can Do

Couponing for People Who Hate Couponing: A Zero-Stress Guide to Clipping Big Bargains

To contact us Click HERE
This post first ran in April, 2010.
WARNING: If you know what a Catalina deal is and/or have actually employed one, this may not be the post for you. If you occasionally slice your pinky open while using adult scissors, this is definitely the post for you.

When you think of couponing, what’s the first thing that pops into your head? Is it GoGurt? Is it a planet-sized binder and never-ending stack of circulars? Is it a crazy cat lady, forever in search of the single slip of paper that will net her 14 free packets of McCormick fajita seasoning?

It’s understandable. Long stereotyped as the favorite pastime of bargain-happy grandmas and moms of 47, clipping coupons gets a pretty bad rap. Many believe it gets you minimal deals on junky food. I didn’t touch coupons for years, figuring the time it took to collect them was disproportionate to the amount of money they saved.

Now I know better. While I still buy groceries primarily based on the circular, I’ve come to realize that a simple, no-frills approach to couponing nets good money for little time investment. I don’t freak out, I don’t buy rainbow-colored faux food, and I save a couple hundred bucks each year. Not too shabby.

If you’re considering coupons, but don’t know where to start, read on. These simple explanations and stress-free strategies could kick off a lifetime of half-price egg noodles. If you do nothing else, make sure to scroll down to the GOLDEN RULE OF COUPONING, wherein I explain the practice’s most important tenet as well as the origin of the universe.

(Also? Readers? What am I missing? I’m sure it’s a lot. The comment section awaits.)


OBTAINING ‘EM

There are a few ways to collect coupons. Some are intuitive, others not so much.

Newspapers. Since the beginning of time, the Sunday paper has come equipped with bazillions of coupon-stuffed circulars. If you can’t swing a subscription, bum them off friends and family after they’re done reading. This is how I amass most of my deals. (Thanks, Dad.)

Store circulars and magazines. Occasionally, coupons will appear in publications within a supermarket or drugstore, probably by the door or the cashier. Though you’ve already made your plan, leaf through these, since they can offer good last-minute deals or bargains for next time.

Store shelves. You know those little ticket dispensers that line supermarket aisles? If they’re located by a food you enjoy, grab one. Hey, you never know.

Mailings. If you really like a particular company, you can frequently sign up online to receive coupon packets through the mail.

Online. Online coupon deals can be tremendous, but also a giant headache if you spend too much time looking for them. So, be judicious in your search. Speaking of which, there are three basic ways to collect and save.

1. Go to aggregate sites like Coupons.com and Mambo Sprouts (organic).
2. Visit individual company pages like Betty Crocker.
3. Cruise popular forums and consumer sites like A Full Cup and Coupon Mom.

Be warned: you might have to sign up for the service and/or install a special printing program, but it can be worth it. Also, not every store accepts print-outs, and many supermarkets often restrict what you can and can’t use. Give your local chain a call before planning any big shopping trip.


ORGANIZING ‘EM

My coupons currently sit in a small stack on my clock radio, vaguely organized by general category. Sometimes, I weed through them and pick out the expired ones (which can then be donated to the military). Your preferred method may vary, but other folks seem to enjoy:

• Accordion folders
• Binders
• File boxes
• Anarchy

They’re all small, cute, unobtrusive, and cheap (except the last one). Store ‘em in your desk or among your cookbooks.


CLIPPING AND USING ‘EM

It’s Sunday afternoon. You’re sitting down at the kitchen table, coffee at your side, clippers in hand. In front of you rests 20 coupon circulars, waiting patiently for you to begin slicing and dicing. How in the good name of Bea Arthur do you approach this? By following these simple rules:

Forget brand loyalty. You’re looking for products (ex: cheese), not brand names (ex: Sargento). If you find a coupon for a brand you like (Tropicana!), that’s fantastic, but the better toothpaste deals come when you let go of your Crest fixation.

Clip only for products you need or use. When you don’t eat yogurt, own a dog, or have dentures, getting bargains on Activia, Alpo, and Polident is senseless. A good rule of thumb: if you have to think about clipping a particular coupon for more than a few seconds, skip it.

Avoid clipping if you can find a comparable generic product. Even with coupons, store brand foods are almost always cheaper. In most cases, people can’t tell the difference in flavor or texture, either.

Don’t clip for junk. It’s undeniable: most coupons are for processed, insanely over-packaged crap, and hoarding them will only lead to blown cash and rampant unhealthiness. (*cough* Hot Pockets *cough*) However, you should always …

Be on the lookout for pantry staples. Yay! These diamonds in the aspartame-blanketed rough are more common than you might believe. Currently (4/14/10), in my alarm clock stack, I have coupons for bread, olive oil, sour cream, butter, soy milk, mustard, dried beans, chocolate chips, cooking spray, corn starch, baking powder, rice, pasta, and egg noodles. Not to mention tin foil, gum, deodorant, and the all-important Zyrtec (a brand we will not forgo).

Be on special lookout for personal products. Coupons are fantastic for cosmetics and body care items (shampoo, toothpaste, etc.). If you like L’Oreal eyeliner, and see a bargain, don’t hesitate. You could consistently save 50% or more without much effort.

Take advantage of double and triple coupon days. Never in my life have I seen a Double Coupon Day in a New York City supermarket. But I’m assured they exist in many other wonderful parts of the country, as does the rare and hallowed Triple Coupon Day. Check your grocer’s website for dates.

Beware hoarding. Odds are you’ll never end up in a terrifying A&E series, but there is such a thing as going overboard on coupons. If you don’t have sufficient storage OR the product will go bad before you use it, avoid buying multiples.


THE GOLDEN RULE OF COUPONING

If you take nothing else away from this post, remembering this single rule will still help you bank mad cash every year:

Wait for sales to use your coupons.
Sales alone can save you money. Coupons alone can save you money. But they’re at their most powerful when combined. This may mean waiting a few weeks after your initial clippage, but trust me, it’s worth it.

Let me give you an example: I buy Del Monte diced canned tomatoes all the time. They’re usually $1.89 at my local supermarket. (Not a typo. I double checked.) Two weeks ago, they went on sale for $1.00 each. That’s a good deal by itself.

However, I also had a coupon for $1.00 off four cans, meaning each dropped to $0.75. What would have been a $7.56 spending spree became a $3.00 bargain. I saved 60% off the usual price.

Sweet, right?

In order to obtain these most excellent deals, leaf through your supermarket circular (at its own website or Money Saving Mom) before going shopping. Food companies generally offer circular and coupon deals around the same time, so matching them will be easier than you think.

And that’s our ballgame. Readers, what advice would you give a beginning couponer? What do you think of the words offered here? Did I get anything wrong? (Seriously, please tell me.)

~~~

If you like this article, you might also be taken by:

• 26 Common Food Labels, Explained
• Angus Anguish: Is Angus Beef Worth the Money?
• Eating Healthy While Clipping Coupons

[(Photos courtesy of Hearts and Home (coupon book), Encyclomedia (coupon dispenser), and Strom Products (egg noodles).]