Do not EVER buy spices or herbs at grocery stores. For fresh herbs, go to a farmer's market or ethnic grocery store. Fresh herbs will be 1/2 to 1/3 the price there. For dried spices, go to the ethnic grocery store or order from an online Indian grocery supplier if you don't have any large urban centers near you. There are dozens of them, and you can buy huge amounts of very fresh spices for a fraction of what you will pay at a grocery store.
For "exotic" meats- first, ask around for hunters. If you can't find any hunters, call every single independent butcher you can reasonably drive to. Independent butchers will often get animals dropped off and never picked up which they will sell you for the butchering cost. You can also source whole animals through butchers, like whole pigs, at a fraction of the grocery store price... and you can get exactly the cuts you want. Look around for producers and try to buy directly from the farm, especially if you are doing a large feast. If you can take the meat without packaging or need large cuts, a farm will sell to you at a lower prices because they save on labor and packaging costs.
Try to find a halal butcher or carniceria. Halal butchers usually have goat and lamb at incredible prices,and they will cut it exactly how you want if you can actually go in and talk to them in person and establish a relationship. Carnicerias will have the best prices on fresh sausage meat and usually pork.
Cheese is, in my experience, the most expensive single item to buy in quantity. I have never found decent cheese for less than $6 per pound, while I get meat regularly for wayyy less per pound. If you have cheese dishes, buy good cheese and make a little go a long way.
Think about portion sizes very carefully. I see such a ridiculous amount of waste at almost every feast I have ever been to because the cook got paranoid about there being "enough food". I am extremely guilty of this, myself.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 01:19 pm (UTC)Do not EVER buy spices or herbs at grocery stores. For fresh herbs, go to a farmer's market or ethnic grocery store. Fresh herbs will be 1/2 to 1/3 the price there. For dried spices, go to the ethnic grocery store or order from an online Indian grocery supplier if you don't have any large urban centers near you. There are dozens of them, and you can buy huge amounts of very fresh spices for a fraction of what you will pay at a grocery store.
For "exotic" meats- first, ask around for hunters. If you can't find any hunters, call every single independent butcher you can reasonably drive to. Independent butchers will often get animals dropped off and never picked up which they will sell you for the butchering cost. You can also source whole animals through butchers, like whole pigs, at a fraction of the grocery store price... and you can get exactly the cuts you want. Look around for producers and try to buy directly from the farm, especially if you are doing a large feast. If you can take the meat without packaging or need large cuts, a farm will sell to you at a lower prices because they save on labor and packaging costs.
Try to find a halal butcher or carniceria. Halal butchers usually have goat and lamb at incredible prices,and they will cut it exactly how you want if you can actually go in and talk to them in person and establish a relationship. Carnicerias will have the best prices on fresh sausage meat and usually pork.
Cheese is, in my experience, the most expensive single item to buy in quantity. I have never found decent cheese for less than $6 per pound, while I get meat regularly for wayyy less per pound. If you have cheese dishes, buy good cheese and make a little go a long way.
Think about portion sizes very carefully. I see such a ridiculous amount of waste at almost every feast I have ever been to because the cook got paranoid about there being "enough food". I am extremely guilty of this, myself.