No one in modem America deserves more sympathy than the working parent on a limited budget. Finding the time, energy and means to prepare nutritious meals for oneself and one's children poses a real challenge, especially as the temptation to opt for convenience foods is very great. The first step to meeting that challenge is the realization that fast foods are a terrible trap that, in the long run, leads to diminished vitality and, hence, even greater restrictions on one's time, energy and budget - not to mention the tragedy of serious disease.

While it is not necessary to spend long hours in the kitchen in order to eat properly, it is necessary to spend some time in the kitchen. Simple, wholesome menus require careful planning rather than long hours of preparation. Much can be accomplished in the way of advanced preparation by dedicating just one block of four to five hours per week to food, which might include shopping, starting a large pot of stock to last the week, putting up a jar of fermented vegetables, making a batch of cookies for school lunches and preparing a large casserole of soup or stew that can last for several meals. Simple, nutritious meals can be prepared very quickly when one lays the groundwork ahead of time. If your present schedule allows no time at all for food preparation, you would be wise to re-examine your priorities.

• Don't buy boxed cold breakfast cereals, even those made of whole grains. They are very expensive, poor in nutrients and difficult to digest. A serving of the best quality organic oatmeal costs half the amount of the average boxed breakfast cereal and is infinitely more nutritious. For optimum nourishment, you need to think ahead and soak your oatmeal overnight.
  
• Make your own salad dressing. You can make your own dressing using the finest ingredients for about the same cost as the average bottled dressings, most of which contain rancid vegetable oils, trans fatty acids and numerous additives. With practice, it takes no more than a minute to produce a delicious dressing for your salad.

• Always buy butter. Margarine and shortening may cost less but it is a false economy, one that leads to numerous impoverishing diseases. If the cost of butter is prohibitive, use lard.
  
• Make stock at least once a week. Meat stocks have formed the basis of nourishing peasant diets for millennia. They cost very little to make ( often a good fish merchant will give you fish carcasses for free), are very nourishing and have a protein-sparing effect. That means you can get by with very little meat in the diet when you use properly made stock for soups and stews. Use congealed fat from stocks for cooking and leftover meat for soups, meat salads and other dishes.
  
• It's better to put your money into whole foods than vitamins. However, most benefit from a daily teaspoonful of cod liver oil, one of the least expensive supplements on the market and from Azomite powder, a very inexpensive mineral supplement. Lacto-fermented beet kvass contains a large array of nutrients in easily assimilated form and is simple and inexpensive to make.
  
• Good quality dairy products are worth the price. If you live in the country, look into an arrangement for keeping a Jersey cow or goats.
  
• The less expensive vegetables include some of the most nourishing --potatoes, cabbage, carrots, zucchini, onions, broccoli, chard, beets and kale-and they are easy to prepare. Always prepare or serve vegetables with butter for best assimilation of the minerals they contain.
  
• If you can't afford caviar (and very few can), buy fish roe in the spring. Uncured roe from a variety of fish can be had from a good fish merchant at a reasonable price-possibly even for free. Use it to make roe cakes, or add to fish cakes . You can buy roe in quantity and store in the freezer to use throughout the year. Fish roe is just loaded with nutrients and was always prized by healthy primitive peoples.
  
• Don't forget eggs as a nourishing, low-cost alternative to meat. It pays to buy the best quality.
  
• Make soups part of your repertoire. Blended soups can be put together in very little time and are extremely nourishing. Invest in a handheld blender (which costs about $25) so you can blend your soups right in the pot, thereby saving time and dishes to wash.
  
• Don't forget to eat liver occasionally. It is not expensive but is worth its weight in gold, nutritionally speaking.
  
• Leftovers can be turned into delicious treats. Leftover pureed vegetables can be made into pancakes; leftover oatmeal is delicious fried; tender meat reserved from making broth can be added to soups or used for meat salads and sandwiches.
  
• A judicious choice of recipes will make a little go a long way. Budget stretchers include stir-fry stews, fish cakes, ground meat dishes, kidney-rice casserole, chicken gumbo and lamb shanks. For special meals, consider leg of lamb, one of the more economical meat cuts, which can provide several days of leftovers in the form of leg-of-lamb soup.
  
• Buy organic whole grains (unground) in bulk and store them in 5-gallon covered plastic buckets, available at paint stores.
  
• If you can't afford a grain grinder, buy whole grain flours at your health food store or supermarket and store in the refrigerator or freezer. Use them to make easy and low-cost pancakes, muffins, gingerbread, brownies, crackers, etc. If you have the time, you can save money by making your own bread. Otherwise, try to buy good quality sourdough or sprouted grain breads.
  
• Learn to make basic brown rice. It is delicious, economical and nutritious. Leftovers make wonderful salads, or freeze extras in serving size portions.
  
• Children love our cookies-adults do too. Peanut cookies are the most economical. Arrowroot powder is rather expensive. (Oriental markets often carry it at a good price.) Bulgur flour is more economical but takes time to prepare.
  
• Make kombucha! It cost less than 20 cents per quart; and the taste is better than the most expensive soft drink, beer or wine.
  
• Try not to overeconomize on food. Instead cut out all the junk food -- prepared cookies and cakes, soft drinks, frozen foods, fast foods, etc.-and use the savings to buy good quality whole foods. Above all use good quality fats-they keep you healthy during times of stress.

Adapted from Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon & Mary Enig.

Additional "Slow Food for Fast Lives" tips:

• Purchase an insulated lunch box/cooler, reusable ice packs that fit inside and a thermos for soups, etc. Make a habit of packing healthy, nutrient dense foods for whatever meals are needed on the go each day.
  
• Tasty, nourishing foods that t ravel well are: raw cheeses, cultured meats (Natural brand salami and pepperoni), cultured butter, sourdough breads, fruits and vegetables, crispy nuts and other "snacks & finger foods found in Nourishing Traditions cookbook.

• Carry a thermos filled with your own healthful beverages, such as filtered water, beet kvass, kombucha, fresh vegetables juices and homemade sodas.

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