Food

Eat like a Hero

Now that you've had to fire the private chef... (sorry - we were daydreaming again). But there are ways to satisfy champagne taste on a beer budget - and stamp out your carbon footprint while you're at it.

• Go vegetarian - eating less meat will save you more than moo-la: Just a pound of grain-fed beef takes 826 gallons of water to produce, so dropping it from your shopping list (at least now and then) saves finite resources too.
• Cook at home (gasp) - see "Whip It Up," below, for some of our, er, easy-to-whip-up and easy-on-the-wallet recipes.
• Take turns hosting potluck-style dinner parties; that way you only have to pay for one dish but get to chow down on several. Also: One froufrou martini on the town, $14. Getting sloshed on a bottle of wine at home with your buddies? Priceless. (Well, $14. But you get the point...)