I have a lot of experience with dieting. I don’t just mean the commercial diets like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, but lots and lots of simply not eating, bowls of Special K, and boxes of Lean Cuisine that made me say “As that all there is?” I’ve eschewed white bread for so long I don’t think I could choke a slice down if that is all there was.

I’m used to the constant juggle: “I’m going out to dinner tonight, so I better just have half a grapefruit for breakfast, Minestrone soup for lunch.” Or, “I drank 4 beers and shared those cheese fries last night; it’s oatmeal day today!”

But Weight Watchers, whose basic premise is one of banking and earning points, has led me to ponder a concept: the Recession Diet.

We are in lean (pun intended) times; watching and listening to how people currently choose to eat has made me connect the purchasing of food with dieting. Dieters and non-dieters; we’re all choosing what to splurge on.

When folks know they are going out to dinner, they will brown bag lunch, forego the 3:00 p.m. $4.34 Starbucks, saving their cash for the $12 martini’s that await them. I see the same people who will be joining me later that day at happy hour refilling their water bottles from the water cooler in the mailroom.

Campbell’s and Hormel’s sales have gone up in the last two quarters. Read this as: chicken noodle soup one night equals $10.99 per lb. artisan cheese and a $2.99 baguette the next; canned chili over tortilla chips is not so bad if you “splurge” on a six-pack of Dos Equis to wash it down.

Because I’m a veteran, it’s been fun to watch other novices learn how to conflate their spending and food choices. I challenge myself to get costs and calories in sync, which is actually pretty difficult. (Less expensive food is almost always higher in “bad” calories, refined white flour, corn syrup; fresh fruits, vegetables, and seafood far more expensive than white flour products, processed cheese, 20% fat ground beef.)

But to get the most out of your wallet and your calories, here are some Recession Diet tips: I’ve become a fan of boxed organic soups, in flavors like roasted carrot, potato and leek, tomato basil. Less sodium and 4 servings for about $2.69.

Take a can of garbanzo beans (chick peas) and spread them out on a flat baking sheet. Spray them with oil, then sprinkle with seasonings to your liking—sea salt, garlic, crushed red pepper. Put them in an oven heated to 175 degrees and forget about them for about three hours, maybe four. Voila! A crunchy, salty, nutty, protein-rich snack for about 99 cents!

Put water on to boil in your pasta pot. Dice an onion and sauté in a little bit of olive oil with garlic. When onion is soft and garlic is golden, add two cans of chopped clams, with their juice. By now, your water should be boiling; make a pound of capellini. Beat one egg with a half cup of skim milk. S-l-o-w-l-y add to your clam mixture, stirring all the while. Shut off the heat, add the (now cooked and drained) pasta straight to the clam mixture and toss. Add a couple tablespoons of Parmesean cheese and toss some more. You have just made at least four servings of pasta in clam sauce for less than five dollars and less than four grams of fat!

Never underestimate peeled baby carrots. You resent them because they were forced upon you, yes, but if you can just approach them with an open mind, now that you’re older, you might see that, on sale for 99 cents per bag, they can’t be beat for crunch and virtuous feelings. Same goes for oatmeal. Try the oatmeal---any brand, any flavor.

Eat like this all week, and you can join me for a Stoli Doli martini and crabcakes in Dijonaisse sauce on Friday for Happy Hour. My treat.

Kathleen Volk Miller is co-editor of the Painted Bride Quarterly. She has published fiction, personal essays, and articles in numerous publications, including Red Booth Review and thePhiladelphia Inquirer.

Homepage photograph by morberg via Flickr (Creative Commons); article photograph by luluinnyc | Amy Dreher via Flickr (Creative Commons); “Menu” photograph from Image Source/Getty Images; "Plate" photograph from FoodCollection/Getty Images.