If you grind in the first sword areas you will make at least enough food to break even! If you have the time you can grind through that way- 1 xp point at time until you can get 2 from the battles.
You'll make more food than you burn if you only run 1-2 wolves through the 2nd level areas, which also have wild wolves. Make sure to bring companions so that you level them up too. IMO DarkSpine is the best--it has an extra combat encounter, no raspberries to slow you down, and also has all the drops you need to make bug soup.
Once you've gotten a good stash of food and a trained wolf, Icerun's Black Hills. Bring one Level 10 wolf or companion; they'll be able to take out the Lapistrix themself. Bring your others. Keep refreshing. Do all encounters. I've gotten wolves from 1-10 in about 20-30 minutes off of that.