So it’s about time I expand the blog to themes beyond
climbing exploits. Eating tasty, healthy food and reducing the money I spend on
it have always been major pastimes of mine; since I’ve recently become an unemployed
student again, these activities have risen in my priority list. The dilemma:
how do I forge a diet of wholesome, nutritious food so I can perform as an
athlete and generally live healthy, without breaking the bank? There are people
who have lots of money and not much time; they have Whole Foods to shop at.
Then there are people who have a whole lot of time but not much money, and we
have the bulk section of Whole Foods to shop at (or hopefully a cheaper store). If we
have raw ingredients and a kitchen to play in, we can make pretty tasty, real
food at a bargain price.
I’m going to share some basic recipes that are so simple
even a climbing-obsessed male in his mid 20’s (read: gorilla) can make them.
Many of these can be made with basic tools, although a food processor comes in
quite handy. I’d say if I only owned three kitchen implements they would be a
quality cast-iron pan, a food processor, and a respectable knife; you can
improvise anything else about anywhere you go.
A brief note on REAL food and realities of budgets: I am an
omnivorous mammal, I forage the earth for plant and animal foods. I know what
eggs and salt and kale and meat are, I could find them in a field if I had to.
I don’t know what casein solids or whey protein isolate or sodium carboxy-methyl cellulose really are, and while they
can make my taste buds happy in the right ratios they probably won’t
help me pedal a bike or hold onto a crimp or keep walking on hour umpteen,
because they aren’t real food. Much can be said about this, of course, so I’ll
avoid the rant and let others do it who can do it better.
Of course, we all have a budget to consider. I titled this
blog “carrots and peanut butter” in tribute to our classic college road trip
meal: cheap, filling calories that could be purchased just about anywhere. I’ve
since learned things about mass-produced (Jiff, etc) peanut butter that make me
cringe, and carrots from big factory farms are little more than cellulose and
water with a hint of beta-kerotine, so my snacks have changed. In college I ate
cheap by buying cheap foods, many of which were already made. What I’ve learned
since is that by making my own, I can purchase more wholesome (less fake)
ingredients and make tasty food while still maintaining a low cost bottom-line.
Much of the dollar value of food comes from the value added (i.e. processing) to
basic ingredients. As a dirtbag, you have more time than money. If you buy the
ingredients in bulk and do the processing yourself, you still have gas money
when it’s time to hit the road. Simple.
Yogurt:
I’ll start with yogurt. I love yogurt. My girlfriend has
accused me of being “mostly made of yogurt” from how much I eat, which probably
wouldn’t be a bad thing to be made of because yogurt is alive. Making your own
yogurt can be done quickly and is an easy way to save money. Once you have the
yogurt all you need to buy is milk. I make a gallon of super tasty yogurt every
couple weeks for $5.50; the process takes about 40 minutes and most of that
time I can be doing something else while waiting for the milk to warm or cool.
A gallon of yogurt of equivalent quality, at $4-6 a quart, would cost between
$16 and $24. Simple math.
Oh, this necessitates a quick note on fat and the whole
“low-fat” craze; I’ll keep it brief because this opens up its own deep can of
worms… Fat is the densest form of food. Fat is 9 calories per gram, compared to
4 cal/g for carbs and protein. This makes fat an awesome energy source! If you
had to do produce a sustained physical output for a long day with only a few
ounces of food (like a climb in the Black Canyon…) you will feel more long-haul
energy throughout the day if your food has a high percentage of fat in it. I’ve
noticed that if I eat some fat in the morning I can stave off mid-day hunger by
a few hours.
OK, so the yogurt recipe:
*Yogurt starter: you need a yogurt that’s proper alive, full
of living bacteria. Getting a few TBSP of someone else’s homemade yogurt is
best; if you can’t go for a full-fat, high-quality yogurt. I’ve had success
with FAGE, Greek Gods, or whatever local yogurt is available. Don’t try to use
low-fat Yoplait with preservatives that’s been sitting in a warehouse for
months.
Ingredients
4-6 TBSP
live yogurt*
½ gal whole
milk, best quality you can find
large pot, ½
gal mason jar
thermometer
that goes between 115° and 180° (the small ones, for about $5)
twist-tie or bendable wire to hold the thermometer on the pot
Optional for fast cooling: larger-diameter pot and ice. In the freezer, stirring every few minutes, also works.
Directions
Put 4-6 TBSP
live yogurt in the jar
Heat milk to
180° (stir when the temperature is getting close to get an accurate reading)
Cool milk to
115° (I place the pot of hot milk in a larger pot holding icewater and stir, takes 5-7 min)
--optional: pre-warm oven by turning it on for a couple minutes--
Pour warm
milk in the jar and cap it
Keep the jar
warm, in oven or otherwise (around 100° ideally) for six-nine hours
That’s it!
The heating activates critical proteins that let bacteria multiply through the
milk, when you open the jar it will be full of creamy yogurt…like magic! For
keeping the jar warm, I usually turn the oven on for a couple minutes so it
heats up, then put the jar inside wrapped in a towel. In El Chaltén, the lovely
ladies at Verdelimón let their yogurt incubate in a foam tube placed
in a sunny window. I don’t think the mechanism, or the ideal heat of 100°,
really matters. Be creative. If you haven’t made yogurt before be patient and
expect some inconsistencies at first, it’s an uncertain art. Once you have a
quality yogurt, remember to save a little to make the next batch. I’ve messed that
one up before…
All you need. A twist-tie keeps the thermometer on the pot. The funnel is nice but not necessary.
Cooling the milk in icewater in the larger pot. Watch the thermometer while you stir and you'll notice how much faster it cools when the fluid is moving. The power of convection!
I wrap the mason jars in a towel in a pre-warmed oven. 6 hours later, they emerge as yogurt.
Sauerkraut
One of my
favorite condiments, super versatile…under a fried egg, as a garnish on the
side, not to mention the classic applications alongside sausage or atop a
burger. Sauerkraut taps my old German heritage; my grandmother remembers her grandmother
always keeping a huge ceramic crock stocked with cabbage for the next batch.
Sauerkraut
is probably the simplest fermented food to make. It’s basically brined cabbage,
and the brining breaks down the fibrous structure of the cabbage (that makes
you fart) and lets lactobacillus bacteria thrive, turning the cabbage mash into
a live, fermented food full of probiotics. Since the only necessary ingredients
are cabbage and salt, this is super cheap, less than $2 for a half gallon!
Ingredients
1
medium-size cabbage
1 TBSP salt
1 TBSP caraway
seeds (optional, for flavor and flair)
Big mixing
bowl
½ gal masor
jar (or a bucket and a plate and a weight)
Directions
Chop the
cabbage. A food processor with the shredding blade does this super fast.
Mix shredded
cabbage, salt, and caraway seeds in the bowl. Use your hands and squeeze hard,
it’s fun.
Two options
for fermentation: the process is anaerobic, so the cabbage needs to be submerged
(if left exposed to air, the aerobic process, rot, will occur). The salt breaks
down cell walls and releases a surprising amount of water, so much that you don’t
have to add any water. Cool huh.
a)
Traditional method: For style points use your
family’s heirloom ceramic crock, or a 5-gal bucket from Home Depot if you can’t
find it (shoot, where is that thing?). Insert shredded cabbage, place a plate
over it that just fits, and weight the plate down. The pressure will keep the
goods submerged.
b)
Simple method: stuff all the cabbage in a ½ gal
mason jar and cap it. The water will collect at the bottom, so flip it over
every other day. This has worked just fine for me. Fermentation releases CO2,
so you need to unscrew the lid to release pressure every day or so.
Fermentation takes about a week (give
or take for temperature differences).
Since brined sauerkraut (not made
with vinegar) is alive, it has its own “immune defense” so-to-speak, meaning it
is very shelf-stable. I leave mine un-refrigerated in a room-temp kitchen for
weeks, and it holds up great camping.
Variation: I used a 1:1 blend of green
cabbage and red cabbage; the result was tasty and a gorgeous magenta color.
purple sauerkraut in action
