Food in the USA Just Got More Expensive. Recipes to Cope with Inflation.
Tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico are about to raise the prices on everything from apples and avocadoes to flour and milk.
Food inflation, courtesy of the current USA leaders, is about to escalate. Many who voted for the current president thought they were voting for someone who cared about the “little guy.” Instead, they’ve impowered a group of billionaires who only care about getting richer.
Meanwhile, American consumers need to stretch their paycheck a little further. Eggs are hard to find and if you do find them, they’re expensive. I’ve seen them selling for as much as $9 a dozen. These may be eggs from organic farms that are typically higher in price, but regardless, when eggs go up in price they impact food prices across the board.
While we wait for the mid-term elections and write to our congressmen, a temporary strategy is to look for alternative recipes. When egg prices rise, it may be time to eat grits.
Grits are just one of many hot breakfast choices that include oatmeal, cream of wheat, rice porridge and banana pancakes. My favorite, however, is grits with melted cheese and grilled cherry tomatoes. Add more vegetables or crumbled bacon for a sumptuous meal.
Cooking, playing with recipes, is one of the ways I cope. The other way is to write. So, before I share my recipe, here is a WRITING PROMPT. The idea, like a puzzle, is to use limited resources (in this case words) to achieve something worth reading. Try writing about something that happened to you without using the pronouns “I/me/myself” and without adverbs and without commas. What can you create?
Try a different constraint. Write a scene, but restrict your word use to one time only, ie. you can not repeat any word, not even “the” or “and.”
What did you learn? Remember, throughout history humans have been forced to survive with limited resources in times of war, famine and floods. Our ability to be resourceful and flexible in our creative thinking, enables us to be better people and better artists.
In the mood for a hot breakfast over the weekend, many of us fall into a habit of eggs- scrambled fried or fancier eggs- omeletes and frittatas or perhaps an Egg Benedict. But lately the grocer’s case is sometimes empty or the only cartons of eggs that remain are the more expensive organic varieties. Here is my recipe for Delicious Grits.
Grits with Melted Cheese and Grilled Cherry Tomatoes
Ingredients:
Grits Mix — I prefer the five-minute variety. The proportion for two servings is ½ cup of grits to 2 cups of boiling water.
Ripe Cherry Tomatoes- approximately 8 sliced in half for two servings
One half a cup of finely grated cheese- Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Swiss- whatever you like
Two Tbsps of olive oil
One Tbsp of butter
Sautee the cherry tomatoes in one Tbsp of olive oil. If you want to add more veggies, mix in green peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc. I like to serve the grits with wilted spinach, so after the tomatoes are added to the grits, I throw the spinach in this pan.
In a saucepan make your grits by first boiling the water, then adding the appropriate proportion of grits (instructions on the box) and then add one Tbsp of olive oil. Turn to a simmer and stir to prevent sticking. When the moisture is absorbed, add the cheese and the butter. Then top with the tomatoes.
If you like sausage, ham, bacon or shrimp-sautee those in the frying pan or wilt some greens.
Serve on a plate or in a bowl and ENJOY.
T hank you for reading and feel free to share your comments and any questions. Don’t forget your can follow me for FREE. Just sign up, and you’ll receive an email each time I publish. If you enjoyed this post and want to support my writing, consider purchasing my little chapbook filled with short essays and poems, RECIPES FROM MY GARDEN and check out my essay “ Is it Authentic” about my previous career as an antiques dealer and appraiser, just published this week in Across the Margin.
Thanks again.
Originally published at http://nadjamaril.com on March 6, 2025.
