LE BUGUE, France, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- You're probably still functioning in full party mode. So when you mull over what to toss into your shopping cart, smoked salmon is going to look a lot more festive than a frozen fillet of nameless fish.
We're not quite at the New Year yet, but you might want to start working on your resolutions for how you plan to buy food in 2007 right now. Food manufacturers are going to do their level best to deter you from economical purchases if they can, with tempting packaging and promotions.
It takes statisticians time to round up the facts for their consumers surveys. Which is why the latest predictions on food expenditure for 2007 only now have as guidelines the way we dispensed our food budgets in 2003 against the figures for 2004.
If these are anything to go by, we're going to be spending more on food at home in 2007. No surprise, you might say. But the average annual household spending on food eaten at home in 2003 only rose by a modest 0.97 percent. And the amount of money Americans spent on eating out actually decreased by 2.9 percent.
A year later, however, home food purchases had shot up by 7 percent. It accounted for 57.9 percent of a household's total food budget, at an average cost of $3,347 in 2004. And as much as 42.1 percent of the average family's annual food expenditure went to eating out.
So to keep the family food budget under control, start by putting back that vacuum-packed envelope of smoked salmon.
Rural families across the globe can tell you that single-ingredient meals are going to be costly. Restaurant chefs know that the dishes that will benefit their bottom line are what the French call "composed" dishes -- the pies and stews and slow-cooked compilations that use plenty of other components to stretch out the central ingredient.
Similarly, chefs and rural cooks know that to buy locally and seasonally will put less stress on the family budget. Don't look for asparagus in January. Even if it's available, its out-of-season flavor won't deliver the bang-for-your-buck it will later in the year.
Who would have thought two or three blithe and blinkered years ago the label "food miles" would become common currency? Or that organic food, assumed to appeal only to economically privileged buyers of a liberal bent, would have created a demand widespread enough to have influenced mass-market suppliers like Wal-Mart?
Consumers have influence. Here's betting that next year the buzz words you will see bannered above the fresh produce and meat counters will be "local" and "seasonal."
Instead of putting your money down for "probiotics" or "functional" foods to fill that nutritional gap left by eating ready-made or processed foods, spend it on fresh items that can be stretched to more than one occasion. It's a practice that will also stretch your food budget.
Any traditional Yorkshireman from that North of England county will tell you that Yorkshire Puddings are never eaten with the roast beef. They come as the first course, served with gravy from the meat. The family matriarch announces the puddings' arrival with the saying, "Them that eat most pudding get most meat." That is, fill them up on the cheap puddings and they won't have the appetite to gorge themselves on the expensive meat.
On the next day the beef will be ground into the base for a mashed-potato-topped pie, and the one after that those leftovers might be molded into circular patties and fried in beef fat to a golden brown.
Italians have their own variations on how to stretch good meat, from the slow-cooked veal roast to the ragú for the pasta some days later. So do the Spanish, the Mexicans, the Asians and cultures less affluent than ours.
So let's defy the wealthy food manufacturers' persuasion tactics and support our family's wellbeing and local farmers and extend our food budgets as far as we can, to eat in good health.
-- Shepherd's Pie
-- Serves 4
-- Potato purée made from 1½ pounds peeled and boiled potato chunks mashed with ¾ stick butter, ¼ cup hot milk, salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg to taste
-- 1 cup left over cooked meat, ground or finely chopped
-- 1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
-- 1 medium carrot, peeled and finely diced
-- 1 small celery stalk, finely diced
-- 1 can peeled tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped, their juice reserved
-- Jigger of Worcestershire Sauce
-- 1 tablespoon oil
-- Pre-heat oven to 375 F.
-- Heat the oil over low flame in a heavy-bottomed sauté pan, add the onion, carrot and celery and cook till softened, about 10 minutes.
-- Add the meat and stir thoroughly to absorb the flavors, then add the tomatoes and stir in, leaving everything to cook together 3 minutes.
-- Add, while stirring, the tomato juice and a couple of jiggers of Worcestershire Sauce and cook a further 5 minutes or until you have a fairly thick meat sauce.
-- Season and smooth into an oval baking dish, then cover with the potato.
-- Run the back of a fork over the potato to rough it up a little into plough lines, bake in the oven till beginning to brown and crisp on top.
-- Serve, if you like, with a salad or a bowl of boiled frozen green peas.
