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Save Money by Shopping Once a Month

Get Started in the Slow Food Movement

Keep Chickens in a City

Learn to cook. There is probably no skill that will get you through hard times with equanimity than being able to rustle up a good meal for yourself out of whatever is around.

Buy preserved (canned, dried, etc.) foods in bulk whenever the cost is lower, rather than buying a smaller size. Do not, however, buy more than you can use before it spoils.

Avoid "convenience" foods, as they are usually more expensive and less healthy. Learn to cook. You can save a lot of money by cooking from scratch rather than ordering takeout. A good thrifty cook can make a tasty, nutritious meal from inexpensive ingredients and "stretch a meal". Also, leftovers are much cheaper to bring to work or school than buying lunch.

When times get tough—tough—you appreciate having food on the table. You might never know what it's like to have to eat wet bread for dinner, but you don't have to get to that point to make the resolution never to waste food. "Take all you want, but eat all you take." Cook food from scratch and, if you can, go straight to the source (such as dealing directly with farmers ) or become your own source: grow your own food , keep livestock, gather wild edibles , and/or hunt wild game if possible and legal. Whatever it is that you procure for food, never let it make it to the garbage can without a very good reason.