food and drink

 I was asked by an out-of-town reader for suggestions of frugal places to eat downtown. I put out the question to my other readers and decided it needed to be a section on the site. I've divided the suggestions by meal-type, basically:
For breakfast:

Join CBC host Sook-yin Lee for an exploration of being "cheap," where she asks: does being "cheap" really pay off? (Originally aired Saturday March 6, 2010). Followup show airs March 16th.

Listen here: http://www.cbc.ca/dnto/MT/2010/03/listen_to_dnto_mar_6_on_the_ch.html

Some of what's discussed:

Our current home is surrounded by plum trees. Problem is, I don't much like fresh plums. I pulled out my canning books and scoured the internet and found a few recipes to use the bucketsful of plums I was collecting off our trees.

TIP: for large plums, like the Italian Prune Plums on our biggest tree, use egg cartons to store them in the fridge and keep them from getting squished. 

Getting groceries can be a time-consuming and frustrating task -- especially when you are on a tight budget. Even now that grocery stores now put their flyers online, it can be tedious going to each site to check for the weekly deals. 

If you don't get the weekly newspapers there are some other options:

Flyerland.ca -- sign up and receive local grocery flyers (or almost any flyer) weekly.

Instructables has a collection of Home Gardening tips -- everything from square foot container gardening to a recycled bottle herb garden to making a garden shovel from a length of pipe.

Need to hide your edibles in plain sight? Little House in the Suburbs offers tips on the Elusive Edible Landscape.

If you haven't planted your garden yet and you don't know about companion planting (or don't know why you should), read this first. 

The gals at Little House in the Suburbs compare it to seating your families at a wedding:

Victoria is blessed with having several good markets, most notably Moss Street Market in Fairfield and the wonderful Food Roots Pocket Markets that have sprung up around the region.

This month, Consumer Reports lists 13 ways to save at the supermarket.

The CRD (Capital Regional District) offers free courses in Permaculture, Organic Food Gardening and Organic Gardening and Lawn Care. Register online or download the forms from the CRD Site.

For more information: workshop schedule, workshop descriptions.

Seed tape is a relatively recent consumer good -- seeds are spaced between layers of tissue paper at the best distance to reduce the need for thinning. However, seed tape is sold at a premium -- generally $1 to $2 more than seeds alone.