The wonderful tastes and health benefits of Greek food rely on good quality, authentic ingredients, but Greek foods always seem to be featured at fine food, fancy food, and gourmet food aisles of the market. And that generally means imported. And that generally means expensive. And there are other ingredients that may be hard to find or high-priced.
Investing in a fabulous Greek cheese, olive oil, honey, or other basic ingredient can strain the budget, but there are steps you can take to keep the costs of recipes at manageable levels for everyday cooking.
Use the best olive oil only when needed
The finest extra virgin olive oil does not need to be used in every dish. High heats when frying will cause the oil to degrade, so a lesser quality can be used. Check the
Olive Oil Buying Guide for more information.
Use less expensive cuts of meat
Much Greek cooking centers around casseroles, stews, and ragouts. Using "stew meats" generally works quite well in these recipes, and keeps the cost of the dish down. The general rule of thumb is: when a recipe calls for stewing or boiling of meats before roasting, a less expensive cut will do. Less expensive cuts of chicken (such as thighs, legs, and wings) are delicious in recipes calling for chicken. Here on the site, dishes calling for lamb where a substitute meat can be used are indicated, since lamb can be quite costly.Make your own ingredients
From tomato pulp to mayonnaise and thick yogurt,
making your own ingredients will save a bundle, and homemade ingredients offer the additional advantages of tasting better and containing no additives.
Prepare by hand
Traditional Greek cooking doesn't call for small kitchen appliances. Sure, they can make certain preparation chores easier, but even today we tend to knead our dough by hand, use a knife to chop, use a mortar and pestle to crush, and use items like hand graters for vegetables, fruit, and cheeses.Use seasonal fruits and vegetables
Prices are lower when fruits and vegetables are in season in your area, and the freshness can't be equaled. Traditional Greek cooking is based on the seasons, and what we can't use, we freeze, can, preserve, dry, smoke, salt, or we just don't use certain fruit and vegetables at certain times of the year. Check our
Local Foods Site for extensive information on what's in season, where, and when.
Shop at farmer's markets
This goes along with the previous suggestion. Farmer's markets are a treasure trove of ripe produce. Prices are almost always lower than in grocery stores and you may run across some difficult to find items like zucchini blossoms, quince, and unusual peppers. Load up on items you use frequently as well as those you plan to freeze or preserve in some way. Farmer's markets also offer end-of-season "sales" with things like ripe-to-almost-overripe tomatoes to buy in quantity (perfect for making your own spaghetti sauce) for grating and freezing.Buy large quantities of high-priced items
I know it's an investment to buy a large can of olive oil, jar of Greek honey, or several pounds of a brine cheese like feta, but if you use them frequently, the cost per unit can be significantly lower. Olive oil and honey keep very well for long periods, and feta can be
stored for long periods.
