Upton Sinclair (The Jungle) started the dialogue about humane animal and slaughtering conditions early in the 1900s, and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) laid the cornerstone for the 2000’s, and now here we are at Earth Week 2010 still searching for healthy meats. Some nutritionists quickly chime in and say that the phrase, healthy meats, is an oxymoron as we need to limit our beef input significantly or eliminate such consumption. Let’s say we understand but recognize the reality includes beef. What are the best products to purchase? Where’s the beef? Maybe that’s not the question we need to ask, but whose beef is this?

In this age of numerous and ongoing beef recalls, food safety must be paramount in our decision-making.

If you purchase limited quantities of beef, then it is easier to justify your expenditures from top purveyors. In many instances, you will be surprised that their prices are not so-called, out of line. Many of these suppliers are individuals who trek to the farm markets to sell their prize products. The grass-fed movement has finally taken off, and for many it is the answer to the most humane question. If Wagyu or Kobe Beef meets your budget, then that natural route has a number of suppliers. As for organic and humane, consider a farm that specializes in such meats, such as Virginia’s Ayrshire Farm.

To help you locate who has the best beef for your money and to understand the range of beef possibilities, consult Local Harvest or Eat Wild, both of whom have devoted discussions and extensive lists of  suppliers who can provide the top-quality meats.

Sustainable, organic, humane: All words we need to consider when we have a beef discussion. Whether you purchase directly from the farm, visit a farm market, or spend your beef dollars at a grocer who purchases this top quality, this is the week you should organize your thoughts and ready your commitment.

The small concept has traveled its way into other parts of the food and beverage chain. Study the power bar departments and you’ll notice that the mini bars have arrived. That’s even true with the gluten-free bars. The belief simply translates into smaller is better and less caloric. Maybe you need just a boost of power instead of a full-blown surge. How does 100 calories, zero sugar, and 6 grams of protein sound? Good, right. The small approach can quickly do the trick: A boost of energy or a taste treat. Maybe even the taste treat that works for anyone regardless of exercise or lack of energy. Minis. Bites.

Other power bar companies are moving in this direction, too. After all who needs 200 calories when you can cut the caloric input in half and gain a similar advantage! Rather than tempt yourself with the big bar, go small.

As for beverages, we’ve seen the smaller Cokes and now wines and sparklers are growing the smaller is better category. If an early season picnic sounds perfect, then one of these small bottles of Prosecco or mini wines may be the perfect, enjoyable sip. Grab a plastic glass, and you’re good to go.

Small bites and sips, that’s a pleasant solution to large plates and overpours.

Worry no more. A new product, CoverMate Food Covers are just that: Covers. They may be the perfect solution to storage anxiety. That means they can fit tightly over a bowl, dish,  platter or whatever item is holding leftovers: No need to transfer food to another container. Besides their reusability, they also solve the microwave problem as they are microwave safe and have built-in vents that let steam escape during the reheating process.

To allay the greatest worry, they are BPA, latex, and PVC-free.

No more plastic wrap that promises to unroll easily and not stick to itself. These covers stretch-to-fit.

Food storage and food safety all in one simple marketing tool!

It does not take rocket science to analyze what food establishments whether they be cafes, full-service restaurants, quick shops, or grocers are doing to capture our attention and our food dollars. We have to eat, and it seems we continue to figure out ways to economize the approach.

Restaurants have special dining out nights and chains, even those with just a few locations in a city, have frequent diner cards. Sometimes those benefits get extended into doubling or tripling their value on certain slow nights, that used to be translated as Mondays but midweek is starting to look a lot like a Monday! All this in an attempt to reward the faithful and expand the inner circle of loyalists.

These are just like frequent shopper cards which offer a reduced price on set items to the loyalists. Just scan and save is their mantra.

Does it work? Does it fill the tables? Depends who you ask and the price point of activity. The dollar:value equation becomes the heart of the analysis. Most people like a deal.

As for newspaper inserts, some weeks the number of coupon books weighing down the delivery is astounding, as in 4-5 different coupon catalogs. So it should come as no surprise that we ended the decade with increased coupon usage. The question always remains: Will the consumer trade up to a brand with a cents-off incentive and a doubling-off strategy from the market or stay with the new shopper’s friend, the house brand?

Then there’s the whole social media approach to couponing regardless if it’s for a restaurant or a grocer. If you become a Facebook fan, give over your email, or join their special mobile coupon connection, you will be inundated with money-saving offers. You name the service or the business, they want your fan loyalty and in turn, you will be rewarded, or turned off. You decide.

Clipping still has its friends, but new strategies are making more immediate inroads.

Smart eating has an infinite fan base.

The problem is a global one. We can do all this wonderful work domestically from our top-tier US chefs, but the issue does not get resolved if only a few of the world’s major players are on the program. This week we had good news in the sustainability column from Target and Safeway: Target, with help from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch guidelines, will no longer buy and sell farm-raised salmon. They plan to sell only wild-caught Alaskan salmon.

By following this road, they hope to contribute to keeping the ocean cleaner, free of pollutants from the myriad of factory fish farms. This is all part of Target’s growing emphasis on the food side of its business. Safeway turned to the marine conservation group, FishWise to have them help set up a stronger sustainability policy. They will no longer sell red snapper, monkfish, or grouper until there is a proven ample supply of these fish. They will also concentrate on providing traceability information. This latter fact is part of a growing food trend that says, tell me everything you can about a product. Give me its roots; its history.

Here’s a little primer of connections that can serve as a fish road map: A new Pocket Guide is available.

As more companies get on board, we are more likely able to sustain our supply and enjoy fresh fish.

Nothing is more basic (OK, acidic, got me there) than a lemon or a lime. There are varying levels of acidity among these two groups. The pink lemon, yes, it’s pink inside and besides eliciting an “ooh” response for its surprise beauty, has a similar taste to the conventional yellow. This year also seems to have produced ample availability of Meyer Lemons. Not just at fancy stores where a single “regular” lemon can prove costly, but bags of Meyer Lemons at the same price as the more common, so-called traditional lemon. Two very different products. The Meyer has a sweeter taste as it combines the flavor of a Mandarin orange and a lemon. Lovely as a boost to an otherwise, plain sparkling beverage or with any number of specialty desserts.

Then there is the lime universe. Limes are the go-to citrus for avocados and turning them into guacamole as their higher acidity levels prevent the cut avocado from turning brown right away and boost its flavor profile when chopped for guacamole or as the marinating base for ceviche dishes. Then there are the Key limes which look like mini limes but have a higher acidity quotient. Although Key West likes to claim complete credit for their origins, they are not solely grown at the tip of FL. Don’t worry if you crave Key Lime pie, there’s plenty of bottled product available at the supermarket.

I haven’t forgotten the orange, so many varieties, the grapefruit, and its newly popular cousin, the sweeter pummelo, Try them all. They help brighten the long, dark days of winter.

Citrus: So simple but with such definitional complexity.

So many choices: An easy winter refreshment.

–Johnson & Johnson recall expands.

–Whole Foods One Day price knockdown sale–it’s Friday. Today: Extra large shrimp, $7.99–normally $15.99.

One positive; the other expanding negative news.

If you want to make a traditional bread or pancake recipe, you need to approximate all-purpose flour (primarily, regular wheat) with the above ingredients or a combination of them. For instance, if you are using rice, potato starch, and tapioca flours, you achieve the accustomed flour milled consistency by following a 6:1:1 ratio or 2 C rice flour, 1/3 C potato starch flour, and 1/3 C tapioca flour. Sure there are lots of recipes that call for extra thickeners, but the most basic simulation uses the flours in and of themselves.

We bash corn products continually as the villain in high fructose corn syrup and its alter-ego, obesity, but wheat has clearly achieved its own villainous persona. As more people experience allergic responses to certain foods, nutritionists frequently recommend eliminating wheat products all together. When you go on a wheat-free diet, where do you get the all-important fiber?

Figure out the foods you can handle and consider the obvious ways to get fiber into your wheat-free diet. If other factors are not interfering, then fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts should do the trick.

You can easily tolerate the wheat-free lifestyle, if you plan ahead and think about how much fresh popcorn you want daily!

That just might do the trick.

Not for gluten-free products: The mark-up is significant. Finding the tasty ones (Glutino) and other snacks (Lundberg) make shopping a little less of a challenge. Interesting that Glutino just adjusted its product packaging, giving more prominence to its label. If grocers would just figure out where to place the G-F line (does it go in a section of an aisle by itself or does it comingle with similar products?), we could shop without so much interweaving among the aisles.

As for new packaging and heightened awareness, General Mills boldly showcases the term “Gluten-Free” on many of its familiar products. The big news is the introduction of its new website to help us broaden our G-F knowledge base: Live Gluten Freely. They have taken the guesswork out of a lot of label reading.

One can only hope that other large manufacturers will follow suit and do a product listing of G-F items and help us shorten shopping time.

Now if one of them would only do something about the pricing, more people might feel comfortable about making the healthier switch!

Hello, can you hear me?

Target, which has been increasing its food options, just announced that they were redoing their branded Archer Farms label and making it more nutritionally conscious. Their Simply Balanced products moves the company further into the important private branding aspect of shopping.

One of the funnier reports has to do with self-checkout, the opportunity to avoid long lines and entrust scanning to yourself. A Villanova University report found that customers prefer no one around or waiting while they are doing self check-out. Being self-conscious is an underlying trait coming from using the machines. Maybe we are not as adept at scanning as we think!

Kroger decided that all the angst about product information and where produce (basically salad) is grown can be alleviated by introducing traceability technology. By using the Harvest Mark system, consumers can uncover the food’s origin’s. This is one more step in enabling the consumer to feel good about what they purchased as now they have comforting information in addition to the usual ingredient and date stamped information.

All of these programs are in direct response to consumers filling out good data and reporting their shopping concerns to the companies. In turn the companies receive high marks for understanding the importance of making changes and being flexible during these trying times whether dealing with food safety, nutritional information, or cost-effective marketing.

As more people concentrate food dollars at the supermarket instead of dining out, it is fitting that markets are adjusting to the marketplace.

We love this type of news!

What’s the real deal? Why were prices so high in the first place? The honest answer is: Because they could be. People were more flush with money, they had jobs, bills were getting paid, and high grocery prices were an almost accepted fact of life. Now with all the additional coupons from grocers and manufacturers, we are in a different world. The worry is that economic signs are improving and grocers will return to their old ways.

First, you need to be a member. Membership loyalty cards, those pesky things that are all over your keychain, are often necessary to get the savings. Most chains let you type in your phone number rather than make you carry the 500-lb assortment of ways you are trying to save. Whether a club card, card saver, or whatever it’s called, it is the modus operandi of the shopping universe.

Wegmans came up with a response to consumer anxiety this past Sunday when their senior vice president of consumer affairs Mary Ellen Burris turned her weekly column into a road map of good economic strategies. She recognizes they have seen changed buying habits, house-brand shopping, and greater focus on less expensive prepared foods. They stress they are committed to maintaining their prices and remain focused on how many items are less expensive now than they were in ‘08.

A new volley was tossed out today, food circular Wednesday, as Giant Food introduced its new point-based savings plan: Each dollar is a point, 250 points is 5 % off a future order (800 points earns a 20% off reward). They call it the Holiday Reward Coupon of Your Choice.

The gloves are off. May these strategies serve as the model for other grocers as we are far from being out of the woods. The holiday’s are coming, and we all appreciate that beef, pork, chicken, bread and dairy are less expensive than they were.

We are different diners, shoppers, and cooks. We will not go back to those spendthrift, carefree days of accepting high prices. We need the incentives to continue, and the grocers to recognize that the early part of the decade exhibited behavior we no longer can afford to stomach.

Price spikes need to stay off the shelves.

It’s fine for a heads up message, but this recall is far more invasive and needs banner type attention. I have blogged numerous times about food safety and specifically about burgers, but this time the impact seems even more frightening.

What was a smaller E.coli warning has moved into headline space. People need to know. Products need to be returned. Freezers need to be checked for product. This is a sizable recall notice affecting multiple states and covering a broad range of supermarket shopping locations.

Consumers need to be aware, and then after that we need answers to what appears as a lengthy list of unending questions: How do we stop this from happening again? Who do we trust? What is going on? What next?

Although we have praised the efforts of the Administration in setting its food policy agenda, we are still struggling with the overall issues of food safety. BTW, you can follow the foodsafety folks on twitter!

For now, hamburgers are off the grill.

When can we feel safe?

Now the FDA, you know the group, the guys that have been slow out of the gate, has promised their diligence and their response time will be improved. How this applies to labels is really quite simple: The front (Front of Package, FOP) will need to be accurate and reflective of all important information. Look, Coke made a similar announcement not that many weeks ago. One company, albeit a rather large significant food world player, took the step. Why not the agency that is responsible for information and for policing accuracy?

The FDA announcement wants to have companies move from a voluntary FOP approach to a single set of nutritional criteria that spells out fat, sugar, and calories on the front of the package. The problem is the announcement comes with the phrase, “an 18-month study.” Why is this part necessary? Are we not aware that shopping time is precious and front labeling catches the eye quicker.

We need to know what is in the product, in plain and simple English. Maybe companies will even rethink how many ingredients are really necessary to make a purchased food. Hmm.

The process will take time, but the important take-away is that changes are a brewing. The goal is information, complete and total, on the front of the product. Visible. Kill the misinformation or lack of information.

I want to see it.

These marketing changes are a direct result of what they’ve learned from surveys and studies. In a recent study it was found that consumers believe they have cut back effectively but still not enough. They plan to spend even less on groceries this coming year. Price remains the strongest determinant of a purchase. In a poll of over 6, 000 people, almost 40% said they spend less at the grocers than they did 12 months ago and almost 80% said they would happily switch products for a better price.

In a survey conducted by Wegmans, they learned that almost a third of respondents said they are preparing more meals at home and relying less on take-out and restaurant meals. To help shoppers figure out the actual cost per serving, the East Coast grocery chain added that information to their list of readily available recipes.

Whole Foods continues to add coupons and specials; concepts that were less prevalent a year ago. They’ve even added a section called “Three Under $3.” Pretty impressive.

More coupons, more specials, more discounts: Welcome to the grocer who plans to survive!

We’ll keep talking.

Today was one of those days. I didn’t just pop in anywhere. I am quite particular about who makes my burger, and I decided it was best to go to the man, the person most responsible for introducing the Washington, DC area to reasonably priced, wonderfully flavorful meats. That would be Michael Landrum, aka Ray’s the Steaks, or in this case, Ray’s Hell Burger.

It’s easy to crown him King of the Perfect Patty. He has no equal in our region. No short-cuts. Only attention to quality. No matter who is in line; it’s all about a great burger.

So if you have to go down the beef aisle, take the road without a worry: Go with a product from Ray’s. Now if you are not in this region, maybe you’re lucky enough to find a person who has that same commitment to quality. That’s the burger you want. Messy, good.

When you walk in you know you are in the right place, a shrine to a perfect beef experience. He has always been a believer in managing his own meats, being careful about his purveyors. He’s interested in providing a top product at a price that expands his appeal to a grateful audience.

So it’s OK to go down the burger route; as long as you know something about where the meat came from.

I’m happy.

Not every product needs to be an organic. It’s a complex balancing act which sometimes gets ruled merely by a good judgment call. There is a major difference between organic and regular eggs, but questionable why we need organic bananas. Some stores such as Whole Foods (which has spent several years convincing consumers they have both organic and natural foods and are not the most expensive store in the world) have great pricing on organic milk and eggs because of their volume of sales. You’ll just need to decide which of the other organics are priced to meet your budget needs.

Now the USDA has gone so far as to remove the “specialness” of Organics by calling these purchases “mainstream.” They found an impressive growth in organic purchasing and find that consumers consider organics part of their regular shopping experience. Fruit and vegetables still lead the organic purchase list with dairy being the next largest sector.

Somehow we feel safer, more protected, comfortably free of chemicals and hormones, when we say, “organic.”

It’s understandable.

The Project identifies the egg farmers and uses as its tagline, “Eat good. Do good everyday.” Sounds like a winning combination! That message is strengthened by the egg farmers who currently donate millions (last year over 12 million) of eggs annually to food banks and recognize that even more needs to be donated. As part of their mission, they strive to educate individuals and families about the egg’s journey from the farm to the table and about the nutritional value of eggs.

We’re talking about a food that plays an important role in our diets: A food with 13 essential nutrients including a high-quality protein, iron, and even lutein; all this for 75 calories. These numbers are before we mention how important eggs are in terms of muscle strength, vision, and brain function. Eggs have clearly been maligned by the cholesterol anxiety folks, but the facts tell a different story. This is an important food group that now deserves our attention.

We can all be good eggs.

Here’s a simple way to test the concept and put more money into the grocery bag: Buy some store brands instead of some national brands. According to a Consumer Reports blind taste test (October 2009 issue) of 29 food products, 23 store brands  tasted as good or better than the more expensive national brands. They found this to be true with Costco’s (Kirkland) Organic Salsa, Target’s Archer Farms Chewy Soft-Baked Cookies, and Wal-Mart’s Great Value Whipped Topping. These three store brands beat out Old El Paso, Pepperidge Farm, and Kraft respectively.

No need to be shy about trying the store brands– the savings can be impressive, and many grocery stores are confident in their in-house branding approach that they offer a money-back guarantee if customers are not pleased.

In another Consumers Reports study just released, they ranked and rated 18-high fiber cereals and found 7 distinct products noteworthy including Kirkland’s Signature Spiced Pecan Cereal (Costco) which cost 33 cents a serving and proved a flavorful fiber choice. Archer Farms (Target) High Fiber delivers 10 grams of fiber a serving, and Wal-Mart’s Great Value Raisin Bran is considered a strong choice for raisin bran purists.The others were all national brands: Kashi GoLean Crunchy, Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Extra, Post Shredded Wheat Spoon Size Wheat ‘n Bran, and Barbara’s Bakery Ultimate Organic. Cereal can be costly, but you should be able to find sales either in a store’s circular ad or part of the Sunday newspaper coupons. Now that you have the fiber list, you can clip or do online grocery coupon savings.

There’s money in these aisles. Especially when someone else does the taste-test homework.

Here’s a hearty protein to start with: National Chicken Month. Lotsa ways to celebrate this one from finding new recipes to supporting producers of organic and heritage birds.

It’s also a sweet month: It’s National Honey Month. The Honey Board’s website makes it easy for parents and youngsters to find teaching activities about honey or bees, and some easy recipes.

Now my new food weakness: Mushrooms. September is National Mushroom Month and Kennett Square, Pennsylvania (considered the Mushroom Capital of the World) celebrates with the 24th Annual Mushroom Festival. Maybe one of the best nutritional tidbits about mushrooms is their natural Vitamin D content. With everyone screaming about testing for low Vitamin D levels: Do yourself a favor, enjoy mushrooms.

The list goes on, and some foods are celebrated for a week or a single day. (Starting on the 6th is National Waffle Week). The possibilities for a week or a day’s celebration are only limited by your imagination.

September, a back-to-reality month, is just a warm up for October’s great party: Virginia Wine Month.

It’s a good news-bad news story: We are moving into a post-Recession universe. We have seen prices drop on important commodities like milk and eggs: That’s the good news. Now flip the coin, and you get the other story.

If people are supposed to spend again (post-Recession), and consumers have changed their ways of shopping, cooking, and dining out, this could be a red alert to slow down the rising price cycle. Rising prices will once again turn them away from major purchases if so much of their money has to go to basic food necessities. We must have learned something from this past cycle. Sure not every product dropped in cost (cereals and bakery products are up for the year), but many of the major ones were lower (beef prices were down over 2% in July) enabling cooks and chefs to be creative with a range of foods.

At the same time farmers continue their struggle. Farm incomes are down 38% no matter how many of us have joined CSAs, visit farm markets, and support all the Buy Local campaigns. It’s never been easy farming the land, but this news is truly depressing as the farmer in many ways has become the superstar of the food industry with all the attention being given to finding the best products locally. We have to save the farm.

So we have a double whammy situation: Rising basic food costs and farmers struggling beyond the bounds of livability. Both of these issues need immediate attention from the Administration.

We cannot move forward by continually sliding backwards.