IT’S ROASTED CHICKEN SEASON. You know, it is. Here’s my recipe for InstaChicken. An oldie, but a goody.

UPDATE: Reader Tom Ganley writes:

The ingredients to make your roast chicken, to feed 3-4 people, cost about as much as one Mac D’s meal deal. It amazes me when people say that poor people are obese because they can’t afford to buy good food, they can only afford to eat junk. If you add a salad, garlic bread, and a decent bottle of grocery store wine, you’d have a delicious healthy Sunday feast for 4, at less cost than fast food to feed the same number of people.

Yeah, that argument’s pretty lame. You can eat healthy and delicious food for not much money if you’re willing to cook.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Antoinette Aubert writes:

You said people can eat healthily and inexpensively if they are “willing to cook.” There is another proviso; you have to know how to cook. How many of the inner city poor being raised by single moms ever learned how to cook?

My mom was a lousy cook. But I went to school back in the bad old days when girls had to take cooking and sewing classes. I save my family money not only by cooking, but by repairing torn clothes and even occasionally making new ones. Do any kids of any sex still take home ec anymore? Don’t take the ability to cook meals for granted. I know plenty of people who just can’t.

Sigh.

MORE: Reader Marica Bernstein writes:

Two three thoughts:

1. “I’m too busy to cook.” B-o-l-o-g-n-a. (Thanks to Oscar Meyer for teaching me how to spell that.) All you need is a system that works for you– a weekly menu that dictates your grocery list,* maybe do your prep cooking while watching Sunday football, find your crock pot, Tuesday night “veggie night,” with some to spare, means you have side dishes for the rest of the week. … Et cetera. “I’m too busy to cook” is like saying “I’m too busy to live.” Of course, I say this on a full stomach.

2. As much as you can, grow your own produce. Everyone can have a window herb garden. Many can grow tomatoes and peppers, lettuce, collards, and whatnot. It’s not hard. Glen, you’ve linked several times to Bill Quick’s new forum, and there are others like it out there as well, all with people who have gardens and who grow an amazing amount of their own fruits, veggies, and herbs, even in apartments and urban settings. The how to info is out there. No excuse for not giving it a go.

3. Cooking is fun. No matter where you get the ingredients, putting them together to create a meal for yourself or your family is a fundamental human activity. Feeding is, after all, one of the big Fs in biology. If you’re not good at it at first– well, then keep trying! (None of us were all that great the first time we tried the other Fs, now were we? Practice, practice… .)

And just FYI, we’re not nut jobs. Honest.

Why would I think that?