Friday, November 2, 2012

Welcome!

Welcome to Eat More, Spend Less -- a blog about thrifty cooking, shopping, and eating based in Toronto, Canada.

Why this blog? I am passionate about local, healthy, and affordable food. 

For the past 3 1/2 years I have been living on ODSP, which is a government support program for people with disabilities. My monthly cheque is $1,200.00.  Out of this I pay rent, transportation, groceries and for therapy. Money has been tight.

Lansdowne Paton
photo by Adityo Sastromuljono
Bloor/Lansdowne
Last spring I decided that I wanted to take steps to leave disability and retrain as a commercial photographer. Now I am a first year student in Photography at Sheridan College.  This means that money is even tighter.  I received a combination of loans, grants, and scholarships to pay for my tuition. School pays for therapy. But everything else comes from my ODSP cheque.

Just so you know what we are talking about, on a very concrete level, out of my $1,200 a month I receive, my budget is $750 a month for rent, $40 for my cell phone, and $310 in commuting costs (subway, GO train, and Oakville transit). That leaves less than $100 a month for everything else. 

There are, of course, additional costs for school on top of tuition, such as printing my assignments so that they can be handed in and graded, as well as props and accessories for photo shoots. 

So now I have a grocery budget of $60 - $80 a month (that's $15 - $20 a week), which leaves a little bit for everything else (printing, postage, vet bills for the cat, and savings for a rainy day).

So that's a little bit about my background.

Waffle Headphone
photo by Adityo Sastromuljono
Bloor/Lansdowne
But what you really need to know is that I LOVE to cook, and I LOVE Toronto. I live in this amazing city. Our population is about 2.5 million (6 million if you count the outer boroughs), and it is incredibly diverse.  30% of our population are recent immigrants, and collectively we speak over 140 languages.  50% of Toronto's citizens were born outside of Canada.

Within steps of my apartment, in the Bloor/Lansdowne neighbourhood, you will find a Latin American grocery, a Bengali supermarket, a mosque, 2 West Indian restaurants (Queen of Patties and Vena's Roti) , a South-East Asian vegetarian restaurant, a Middle-Eastern fast food shop, a French bakery, and a Portugese bakery, a Vietnamese restaurant, assorted art galleries, a Brazilian capoeira company, a bicycle DIY place, and I'm sure I'm leaving out a bunch of places.

I look forward to sharing thrifty recipes, cooking, and shopping tips with you in the coming months! Welcome.

16 comments:

  1. am looking forward to seeing your recipes. Food is prohibitively expensive in Australia and grocery prices are out of control. So I can't wait to see what you whip up x

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    1. welcome! my very first reader!!! what an honour! i would love to learn about australian food and recipes, i guess your seasons are opposite to ours (we are heading into winter here)... i'm afraid you will have to wait a little while for spring recipes!

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  2. 2nd reader! Came here from Frugal Queen. you have a very tight food budget so very keen to see what you come up with. Cheers Judy xx

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    1. hi judy, and welcome! i am keen to see what i come up with, too! LOL!! i am basically an improvisational cook, winging it with whatever is on sale that week. sometimes my recipes turn out lovely, and sometimes they need some tweaking as i go along. but it's always fun!

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  3. I'm looking forward to seeing your creations!

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    1. hi, andrea! thanks for coming by. i hope you will enjoy the site.

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  4. Wow... I can't imagine living off of $15/week... That's impressive! I admire your drive & determination! Good luck to you, I can't wait to read more! :)

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  5. hi carla, thanks for stopping by. it's not easy, to be sure, but i love to cook and be inventive with different ingredients, and i REALLY love to explore different ethnic foods and recipes, as you will see in the months to come.

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  6. How great to have such a variety available. Looking forward to reading your posts.

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    1. hi shara, thanks for the comment. toronto is a great city for variety... we have so many cultures living here side by side... and with that comes a variety of ethnic restaurants and grocery stores. or maybe you meant the variety of veggies? LOL ... that, too!

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  7. Hey! I love the concept of your new blog - $15 a week is VERY admirable. I'm trying to cut back our grocery budget too, so am looking forward to your inspiration. Rah, rah, rah! (That's me, cheering you on...)
    Christina

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    1. hi christina! thank you! i love your username. i don't know if it's true for you, or tongue in cheek, but i am indeed a happy slob! it feels great to have a cheerleader!!

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  8. Catherine I too love the concept of your blog and I'm looking forward to following it and checking out your recipes.

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    1. hi Jean, I am really looking forward to reading *your* blog... my grandparents (from sheffield) had an allotment as well as a backyard garden, but sadly i don't have one. they are much rarer in canada, i think because most people have larger properties. as for me, i live in a big city and rent, so i can't do any backyard gardening, but i thought i'd check with my landlady about putting in some herbs next summer...

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  9. Ooh! a lovely new blog. I'm looking forward to learning from you as I am stuck in a cooking rut. I'm also on a tight budget with £100 a month left for everything after bills are paid. I have no idea how that compares with your $100, but frugal is frugal wherever you live. Good luck with your course, I hope it goes well.

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    1. Hi Carrie, and welcome! I look forward to having you around the site! catherine

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sorry i had to turn on moderation; was getting tons of spam. sigh.