Putting a quality meal on the table for $8

If anyone tells you they can't afford good food, consider that my dinner tonight of grass-fed, free-range lamb chops and Jersey tomato-peach salad, with a few slices of toasted bread and seltzer, cost about $8.

The biggest problem when it comes to good ingredients is not so much price as it is finding them on a consistent basis. ShopRite offers free-range Australian lamb and beef, but it is not always there when you want it. It also sells Readington Farms drug-free chicken, though the slection varies from store to store.

Of course, if money is no object, do all your food shopping at Whole Foods Market, which has the widest variety of naturally raised meats, poultry, farmed seafood and produce in North Jersey.