Keeping Grocery Bills Down

The rising cost of food has many cooks on edge, and the obligatory spate of "save money in the kitchen" articles is making the rounds. Many tips for saving money can also help save the earth: Eat less meat, or focus on the cheaper cuts. Shop at the farmers' market, where in-season produce is often cheaper than at the supermarket. Or follow the lead of blogger Bron Marshall, who found a free local source for apples in an unloved Granny Smith tree along the fence-line of her neighbor's property.

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It seems like folks in my office are packing more lunches and saving their lunch dollars, too. But looking at the trash bin in our lunch room — stuffed with zip-top bags and other nonrecyclable food containers — is enough to dampen the spirits of any green eater. If you're even the slightest bit handy with needle and thread, you can make a reusable sandwich wrapper for your lunchtime treats. (Those with fumble fingers can buy a ready-made product from King Arthur Flour catalogue or Etsy artisans.)

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With their eco-conscious consumer base, farmers' markets seem like natural places to find easy recycling and composting options. San Francisco's Ferry Plaza Farmers Market launched a new Waste Wise program, complete with separate bins for recyclable items and food waste. A small army of volunteers staffs the bins, helping shoppers sort their trash into the right receptacle, and many of the market's prepared food vendors switched to compostable cutlery and cups made from corn plastics.

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On the Menu: Artisanal Salumi
His son Mario may wear the supersized clogs in the family, but Armandino Batali is the family's undisputed meat genius. After retiring from Boeing to become one of the West Coast's first creators of artisanal salumi — a catch-all Italian term for cured meats of all sorts — the elder Batali found himself at the forefront of a trend toward locally produced versions of typical European preserved meats. His Seattle deli-restaurant, Armandino's Salumi, is a tiny, humble affair. But Batali's fervent following arguably paved the way for star chefs like Chez Panisse alum Paul Bertolli and former "Next Iron Chef" competitor Chris Cosentino, who've turned the house-cured salumi on their restaurant menus into full-blown retail empires, Fra'Mani and Boccalone .