Money-saving tips for getting back in the kitchen

Eating healthfully is easy to do when you have the money to dine on wild Alaskan salmon, arugula and fresh raspberries. But is it possible to eat well on a budget?

That's a question that often surfaces in Lean Plate Club Web chats. Fast-food restaurants provide plenty of choices that are easy on your wallet, but it's rare to find nutritional bargains there.

You can stretch your dollars if you're willing to cook at home. Just ask Mark Erickson, a certified master chef and vice president for continuing education at the Culinary Institute of America. Although he helps train chefs for some of the finest restaurants in the world, Erickson is quick to note that "dining at home is a lot less expensive than dining out every night."

Trouble is, who has the time?

That's something that Erickson struggles with, too. Each week, he commutes between his family home in suburban Atlanta and the Culinary Institute's campuses in Napa Valley, Calif., and Hyde Park, N.Y. He has a dormitory room at one, an efficiency apartment at the other. Even so, he still makes it a habit to cook most nights for himself or his family, which he views "as a form of recreation, not a chore."

Those of us who aren't trained as professional chefs might not see it the same way. But Erickson says he also faces nights when he feels too tired to cook. To cope, he's developed some easy -- and inexpensive -- shortcuts that can help cut your grocery bills, lure you back into the kitchen and make you more efficient once you get there:

* Invest in a few basic tools. Erickson can cut, slice and dice fast using a paring knife and a chef's knife. Both are made of stainless steel and carbon, and both are moderately priced. He keeps them honed with a steel sharpening tool. Other kitchen essentials include a vegetable peeler, colander, sheet pan, a solid cutting board that fits snugly on your kitchen counter, and three graduated cooking pans.

* Make "planned-overs." Restaurants survive on the strategy of "cook once, use twice," Erickson says. You can, too. So the Sunday night roast chicken can become the Monday night soup, stir-fry or chicken taco. No need to limit this strategy to dinner. Thin slices of leftover roast chicken or roast meats are cheaper than deli cold cuts for lunch.

Erickson loves oatmeal. So while cooking dinner, he sticks a pot of longer-cooking oatmeal on the stove, then divides it into individual portions. Reheated in the microwave, the oatmeal is a fast breakfast served with fruit, cinnamon and a little milk. Add prosciutto, mushrooms, herbs and a little Parmesan cheese, saute in a pan, and the oatmeal becomes oatcakes for dinner. The trick, Erickson says, is to have a plan. Find a template to help plan a week's worth of meals at www.leanplateclub.com.

* Be your own butcher. Turn rack of lamb into chops at a fraction of the cost you'd pay at the grocery. Carved boneless chicken breasts often cost $6 or more per pound at the store -- more than three times the cost per pound of whole chicken. Buy the whole chicken instead, and you can use the back and neck to flavor soup, broth or stew. If you do buy boneless, skinless poultry or meat, choose family packs of store brands, which usually cost far less than brand names. Wrap and freeze what you don't need for future meals.

* Skip bottled water. A good home filtration system produces water at a fraction of the cost of bottled and eliminates recycling. Brew your own coffee and bring it to work in a thermos to save a couple of dollars per cup. Save at least a dollar per cup by brewing your own tea.

* Seek frozen bargains. Fresh cherries can cost $8 or more per pound. But frozen, unsweetened fruit has the same nutritional punch for much less money. Use them in smoothies, cooking, mixing with other fruit or even for eating slightly thawed. Year-round bargains include bananas (about 30 to 60 cents per pound), apples and pears (about $1.50 per pound).

* Stretch your budget with vegetables. Dried beans cost just pennies per serving. A veggie omelet with two eggs costs about 50 cents, half the price of a fast-food dollar meal.

* Cheap good fats. Fresh, heart-healthy fish can run $18 per pound and higher. But there are plenty of penny-pinching options. Catfish and farm-raised salmon cost about $7 per pound. Canned fish -- anchovies, tuna, sardines, clams -- have the same fatty acids and cost from 50 cents to $4 per can. Another option: pickled herring, just a few dollars per jar and loaded with heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

Join Sally Squires online from 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesdays at www.leanplateclub.com, where you also can subscribe to the free Lean Plate Club weekly e-mail newsletter.