Cook for Good: A New Food Religion?

While most people are down to conserve some energy or save a polar bear when it suits their fancy, it takes a special kind of eco-warrior to expend cash or effort to benefit the planet. But what if someone were to tell you that you could save money, time, empty calories, AND energy (while also producing less waste) all at once. That's the promise of Cook for Good, a food site that presents simple monthly menus that work out to just $1.20 per meal.

After taking a look through the menus and recipes, I'm convinced of two aspects of the plan: 1) it would save most if not all grads I know a ton of money, and 2) it would be a healthier option for most if not all grads I know. The caveats, however, are three-fold. Firstly, you have to be a pretty organized, regimented person to do all your shopping and cooking for full weeks at a time and seek out the lowest prices. Secondly, the meals are all vegetarian (though you can easily add meat to a lot of them). And finally, having literally every meal planned out ahead of time might be sort of "OD" for some.

That said, "Cook for Good" has a lot of great resources on the site that anyone can use. For example, the Top 20 foods page shows you the best bang for your buck per serving size when you "go green" (e.g., organic) versus buying regular. And there are tons of ridiculously thrifty tips like, "Time is your friend. For example, by starting bread dough the night before your bake it, you can use just half as much yeast, cutting the cost of the most expensive ingredient in bread."

In other words, you can learn a lot of great money-saving, healthy-eating fundamentals from Cook for Good even if you don't have the time, patience, or self-control to follow the menus to the letter.

Cook for Good [via Lifehacker]