I'm picky about my porridge. I won't eat the kind made from rolled oats, especially not (shudder!) those awful one-minute ones, which taste like glue. I adore the taste and texture from steel-cut oats, but there's no denying they're a lot more high-maintenance than the more quick-cooking varieties.
I've been searching for the perfect way to make steel-cut oats for some time. The key is advance preparation. In a pinch, you can simply make them 20 minutes before you want to eat: use one part steel cut oats to four parts water, bring to a boil, and simmer until the oats are softened and the water absorbed. But if you have 20 minutes to wait for breakfast in the morning, you're a more organized woman than I.
I tried a few times to make porridge in my slow cooker, but I didn't like it at all. The recipes always said the texture would be deliciously creamy, but for my taste it had just turned into glue. I like my oats to have a bit of bite.
This week, I figured out the perfect shortcut. You can prepare your oats the night before so that they cook gently in hot water and then cool down into perfectly cooked, perfectly textured porridge that you only need to heat up.
The trick is to put only three parts water for one part oats. Mix in a pot, stir, and bring to a boil. As soon as it's boiling, take the pot off the heat and clap a lid on it. Leave it overnight, and first thing in the morning, put it back on the stove over medium heat and let it heat through for a few minutes. Serve with the toppings of your choice--I like fresh or frozen fruit (it defrosts in the heat of the porridge) and a spoonful of plain yogurt. I grew up having milk and raw sugar on top, but my blood sugar can't handle sweet stuff in the morning these days. I'm told that the Scots are horrified by the thought of toppings on porridge. Oh well, I've only been there once.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Week's meal plan, September 27, 2013
Last week's meal plan went fine. Mr. B and Baby B loved the corn fritters. The black bean burgers weren't particularly exciting, so in my quest for the perfect veggie burger, I'm going to try another recipe this week. I've had some lovely veggie burgers in restaurants, but have yet to find a really good recipe, one that tastes good, has a pleasant texture, and doesn't send my blood sugar into outer space.
This week, I was taking stock of the ingredients I already had in the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer, and realized that I had enough food to make masses of meals without even going shopping. So I decided to use up some of them, and spend my grocery money on some things that were possibly a little more luxurious than what I normally get, just for fun. Not super economical, but sometimes a girl yearns for a sundried tomato and a bit of feta.
Contents of my pantry:
So I decided to make the following recipes:
Meat:
1 whole chicken: 7.72
This week, I was taking stock of the ingredients I already had in the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer, and realized that I had enough food to make masses of meals without even going shopping. So I decided to use up some of them, and spend my grocery money on some things that were possibly a little more luxurious than what I normally get, just for fun. Not super economical, but sometimes a girl yearns for a sundried tomato and a bit of feta.
Contents of my pantry:
- 1 15-oz can Alaska sockeye salmon
- whole wheat rotini
- pinto beans
- black beans
- whole wheat breadcrumbs
- brown basmati rice
- white flour
- whole wheat flour
- rice noodles
- polenta
Contents of my freezer:
- 1 large chicken breast
- half a bag of green beans
- half a bag of peas
- 1/4 bag of corn
- small quantities of frozen fruits: mangoes, cherries, bananas
Contents of my refrigerator:
- 1 loaf whole wheat bread
- Half a jar of peanut butter
- various condiments: mayonnaise, soy sauce, fish sauce, etc
- eggs
So I decided to make the following recipes:
- Roast chicken with sides of black beans and brown basmati rice, side salad
- Rotini with leftover chicken, broccoli, sundried tomatoes and Asiago (from the Cook's Illustrated Best 30-Minute Recipes), side of peas and green beans
- Veggie burgers with homemade whole wheat buns, with mayonnaise/tomatoes/spinach/etc
- Salmon cakes with red peppers, green chiles, scallions, cilantro, and lime juice (also from Cook's Illustrated Best 30-Minute Recipes) with a side of cheesy polenta and a side salad
- Some kind of stir-fry with sauteed chicken breast, rice noodles, spinach, peanuts, carrots, scallions, various stir-fry sauces (I seldom use a recipe for this kind of thing, it's more of an improvisation)
- Linguine with red cabbage and feta, side salad
- Leftovers (we always seem to have lots)
Lunches:
- Peanut butter sandwiches
- Raw vegetable sticks
- Boiled eggs
- Fruit
Snacks:
- string cheese
- fruit
Breakfasts:
- Steel cut oats with yogurt and frozen berries
- eggs on toast
Desserts:
I spent $58.03.
Groceries:
Dairy:
1 gallon Organic Valley whole milk: 6.68
Nancy's low-fat yogurt: 2.43
Asiago (cheaper than parmesan and does the same sort of thing): 1.48
Sargento reduced fat Mexican shredded cheese: 2.68
Frigo reduced fat string cheese: 2.48
Athenos crumbled feta cheese: 4.78
Eggs: 1.30
Fruit and vegetables:
Frozen mixed berries: 1.88
sundried tomatoes: 2.88
broccoli: 2.02
1 red bell pepper: 0.88
1 head garlic: 0.38
10 oz spinach: 1.38
3 lbs nectarines: 2.96
3 lbs gala apples: 2.67
red onions: 2.19
3 lbs tomatoes: 2.98
5 limes: 1.25
scallions: 0.58
1 red cabbage: 1.47
2 lbs carrots: 0.98
1 head celery: 1.51
Bulk:
steel cut oats: 0.68
bulgur wheat: 0.29
brown sugar: 0.13
1 lb linguine: 0.93
unsalted peanuts: 0.30
Meat:
1 whole chicken: 7.72
Fruit "ice cream"
I don't buy ice cream much, because it's not especially healthy and we don't want Baby B getting used to the idea of sweet desserts. We have dessert every night, but it's either fruit or cheese unless it's a very special occasion. This, however, is probably about as healthy an ice cream as you can get. I don't have an ice cream maker, but you don't need one if all your ingredients are frozen and you have a food processor whose blade can handle it.
This isn't an exact recipe, but I was clearing out my freezer and found some bags of frozen mangoes, cherries, and bananas. I mixed about two cups of the fruit with 2 tablespoons of yogurt and whizzed them all up in the food processor until they'd achieved the texture of ice cream. Baby B and I had it for an afternoon snack and it was joyfully received. If you wanted to be extra-virtuous, you could throw in a handful of raw or frozen spinach or kale, which wouldn't alter the taste, but would give you an effortless serving of your daily green leafy vegetable.
This isn't an exact recipe, but I was clearing out my freezer and found some bags of frozen mangoes, cherries, and bananas. I mixed about two cups of the fruit with 2 tablespoons of yogurt and whizzed them all up in the food processor until they'd achieved the texture of ice cream. Baby B and I had it for an afternoon snack and it was joyfully received. If you wanted to be extra-virtuous, you could throw in a handful of raw or frozen spinach or kale, which wouldn't alter the taste, but would give you an effortless serving of your daily green leafy vegetable.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Cold-brewed tea
Like cold-brewed coffee, this is a wonderful way to use resources economically. Using eight tea bags, you can make a gallon of iced tea--far more than the eight cups of hot tea you could make with as many bags. It also tastes far better than hot-brewed tea cooled down, because for some reason the complex flavor of tea really comes out when you cold-brew it. Even if you use the absolute cheapest tea bags you can find. We use the Red Rose brand, which costs $3.31 for 100 tea bags. One pitcher of ice tea is enough for Mr. B and me for at least half the week, so we use 16 tea bags a week. As you see, that $3.31 goes a very long way.
For the container, we spend $7 and bought a large square glass jar with a lid and a sort of tap at the bottom for convenience. We keep it on a shelf of its own in the refrigerator.
Ingredients:
1 gallon water
8 black tea bags (caffeinated or decaffeinated as you like)
Pour water into a large container, and immerse the tea bags in it. Cover and put in fridge overnight or until the tea is steeped to your liking. Remove the tea bags. Serve.
For the container, we spend $7 and bought a large square glass jar with a lid and a sort of tap at the bottom for convenience. We keep it on a shelf of its own in the refrigerator.
Ingredients:
1 gallon water
8 black tea bags (caffeinated or decaffeinated as you like)
Pour water into a large container, and immerse the tea bags in it. Cover and put in fridge overnight or until the tea is steeped to your liking. Remove the tea bags. Serve.
Cold-brewed coffee
One of the difficult things about eating economically is the problem of what to do about drinks. Well, obviously, we drink water. We both love drinking cold water. In the winter, I like drinking hot water, a habit I picked up in China. But we can't live on water alone, can we? We've completely cut out alcohol, on the grounds that it's unnecessary and expensive. We don't drink juice, because it's expensive and isn't very good for you--all the sugar from fruit with none of the fiber. Baby B is the only one who likes to drink milk.
We used to have a coffee habit that set us back $30-40 every week. That's all gone now. But who wants to live a totally caffeine-free life? No one who has a toddler, that's for sure.
I heard about cold-brewing coffee about a year ago and it sounded so eccentric--coffee beans into plain water?--that I was sure it wouldn't work. But then my mother-in-law made some for me, and I was hooked. Not only does it make a pitcher of delicious iced coffee that lasts me for a week, it also makes far more iced coffee than the equivalent amount of beans would make hot coffee. Yet another big win for the thrifty B family! We can get a pound of organic coffee beans for $5.68, and it lasts for weeks and weeks. Now, that sure beats the vast sums a lot of people spend at the inevitable Starbucks.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of ground coffee beans (you don't have grind your own, but I do because I have a coffee grinder and I prefer freshly ground beans)
1/2 gallon water
This really couldn't be simpler. Mix your beans with your water in a pitcher, cover it, and let it steep at room temperature for 24 hours. Drain it through a fine-mesh sieve into another pitcher, discard coffee grounds, and you're ready to go. Refrigerate the coffee once you've drained it.
I like to have this with unsweetened almond milk, a new discovery of mine. Not only is it higher in calcium and lower in carbs and calories than dairy milk, it tastes wonderful and it's $0.70 cheaper per half-gallon at our local supermarket.
P.S. I've heard of people heating this up in the microwave to make hot coffee. I don't think this would taste very good. If you want hot coffee, I recommend the old-fashioned way.
We used to have a coffee habit that set us back $30-40 every week. That's all gone now. But who wants to live a totally caffeine-free life? No one who has a toddler, that's for sure.
I heard about cold-brewing coffee about a year ago and it sounded so eccentric--coffee beans into plain water?--that I was sure it wouldn't work. But then my mother-in-law made some for me, and I was hooked. Not only does it make a pitcher of delicious iced coffee that lasts me for a week, it also makes far more iced coffee than the equivalent amount of beans would make hot coffee. Yet another big win for the thrifty B family! We can get a pound of organic coffee beans for $5.68, and it lasts for weeks and weeks. Now, that sure beats the vast sums a lot of people spend at the inevitable Starbucks.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of ground coffee beans (you don't have grind your own, but I do because I have a coffee grinder and I prefer freshly ground beans)
1/2 gallon water
This really couldn't be simpler. Mix your beans with your water in a pitcher, cover it, and let it steep at room temperature for 24 hours. Drain it through a fine-mesh sieve into another pitcher, discard coffee grounds, and you're ready to go. Refrigerate the coffee once you've drained it.
I like to have this with unsweetened almond milk, a new discovery of mine. Not only is it higher in calcium and lower in carbs and calories than dairy milk, it tastes wonderful and it's $0.70 cheaper per half-gallon at our local supermarket.
P.S. I've heard of people heating this up in the microwave to make hot coffee. I don't think this would taste very good. If you want hot coffee, I recommend the old-fashioned way.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Spaghetti alla carbonara
I adore carbonara, and I'm quite picky about it. I despise versions with cream in them, which are cloyingly rich. Yuck! This version is a really good dish to make when you're feeling poor and hungry, because it's incredibly filling and tastes delicious too. The recipe is a variant on one my parents used to make when I was little. As far as I know, they never monkeyed about with wine or Parmesan, but I bet they'd like it if they did.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
3/4 to 1 cup grated cheese of your choice (I like a mixture of cheddar and Parmesan)
4 slices bacon
3 tablespoons white wine (optional)
1/2 lb whole wheat spaghetti (or white spaghetti)
1 tablespoon minced parsley
salt
pepper
Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook it in its own fat in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat until it's crisp. Deglaze the pan with white wine and let it simmer until reduced. (Skip this step if you don't have wine, it'll still taste good.)
Boil water in a large pot, and when it's boiling, stir in 1 tablespoon of salt. Pasta water should be salty like the sea--it's the best way to make the pasta taste good without over-salting the sauce. Add the spaghetti, and cook according to package directions. (I usually take it out 1 minute before it says you should, because I like pasta with quite a bite to it.)
Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, parsley and cheese together with a fork, and set aside.
Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water. Tip the egg and bacon mixtures into the pot and toss with the spaghetti--the egg will cook and the cheese will melt from the heat of the pasta. Season with a few generous grinds of pepper.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
3/4 to 1 cup grated cheese of your choice (I like a mixture of cheddar and Parmesan)
4 slices bacon
3 tablespoons white wine (optional)
1/2 lb whole wheat spaghetti (or white spaghetti)
1 tablespoon minced parsley
salt
pepper
Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook it in its own fat in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat until it's crisp. Deglaze the pan with white wine and let it simmer until reduced. (Skip this step if you don't have wine, it'll still taste good.)
Boil water in a large pot, and when it's boiling, stir in 1 tablespoon of salt. Pasta water should be salty like the sea--it's the best way to make the pasta taste good without over-salting the sauce. Add the spaghetti, and cook according to package directions. (I usually take it out 1 minute before it says you should, because I like pasta with quite a bite to it.)
Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, parsley and cheese together with a fork, and set aside.
Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water. Tip the egg and bacon mixtures into the pot and toss with the spaghetti--the egg will cook and the cheese will melt from the heat of the pasta. Season with a few generous grinds of pepper.
Whole wheat hamburger buns
This variant on my basic bread recipe may be a way to make yourself feel altogether healthier about eating hamburgers. I don't like those white plastic buns everyone eats with hamburgers, and these seem much more substantial. I haven't figured out a way to make completely whole-wheat buns that are soft enough, but a 50-50 compromise is better than nothing, no?
Makes 8 buns.
Ingredients
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons active dried yeast
2 teaspoons sugar or honey
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or any other kind of oil; olive tastes best)
1 1/2 cups white flour (bread flour has a higher gluten content, but plain will work too)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
Kosher salt, sea salt, or reasonably finely ground rock salt
1 tablespoon butter
Whisk the first three ingredients together in a large bowl. Leave for ten minutes in a warm-ish place, or at least a place where there aren't any cold drafts, until the yeast starts going into fluffy bubbles.
Sprinkle the salt over the mixture and add the olive oil. Give it a stir.
Whisk the two flours together in a medium bowl.
Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon to form a ball of sticky dough.
Turn the dough out onto a generously floured counter top and knead the dough for around 5 minutes, adding the extra half-cup of flour little by little to stop it sticking to the counter. You know you've kneaded it enough when the dough is smooth and satiny-textured and doesn't stick to the counter or your hands.
Wash and dry your bowl, then coat the inside with a little oil. Place your dough in the bowl, cover the bowl with a clean towel, and leave it in a warm place until the dough has roughly doubled in size. Depending on how warm the warm place is, this can take as little as 30 and as many as 120 minutes. If your oven has a bread proof setting, you can put it in there. Make sure, obviously, that you use a metal or glass bowl if you do this.
When the dough is risen, knead it again briefly to get some of the air out. (It will make a satisfying whoosh.) Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape the into buns. Place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
Heat your oven to 430 Fahrenheit (220 celsius). Right before baking, throw a couple of handfuls of ice cubes into the bottom of the oven to help keep the buns moist. Bake the buns for 12-15 minutes or until they're golden on top and slightly golden underneath.
Take the buns out of the oven and transfer them to a wire rack. Melt the butter and brush the tops of the buns with it, then leave them to cool. (The butter helps them to stay soft enough for hamburgers.)
Makes 8 buns.
Ingredients
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons active dried yeast
2 teaspoons sugar or honey
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or any other kind of oil; olive tastes best)
1 1/2 cups white flour (bread flour has a higher gluten content, but plain will work too)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
Kosher salt, sea salt, or reasonably finely ground rock salt
1 tablespoon butter
Whisk the first three ingredients together in a large bowl. Leave for ten minutes in a warm-ish place, or at least a place where there aren't any cold drafts, until the yeast starts going into fluffy bubbles.
Sprinkle the salt over the mixture and add the olive oil. Give it a stir.
Whisk the two flours together in a medium bowl.
Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon to form a ball of sticky dough.
Turn the dough out onto a generously floured counter top and knead the dough for around 5 minutes, adding the extra half-cup of flour little by little to stop it sticking to the counter. You know you've kneaded it enough when the dough is smooth and satiny-textured and doesn't stick to the counter or your hands.
Wash and dry your bowl, then coat the inside with a little oil. Place your dough in the bowl, cover the bowl with a clean towel, and leave it in a warm place until the dough has roughly doubled in size. Depending on how warm the warm place is, this can take as little as 30 and as many as 120 minutes. If your oven has a bread proof setting, you can put it in there. Make sure, obviously, that you use a metal or glass bowl if you do this.
When the dough is risen, knead it again briefly to get some of the air out. (It will make a satisfying whoosh.) Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape the into buns. Place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
Heat your oven to 430 Fahrenheit (220 celsius). Right before baking, throw a couple of handfuls of ice cubes into the bottom of the oven to help keep the buns moist. Bake the buns for 12-15 minutes or until they're golden on top and slightly golden underneath.
Take the buns out of the oven and transfer them to a wire rack. Melt the butter and brush the tops of the buns with it, then leave them to cool. (The butter helps them to stay soft enough for hamburgers.)
Corn fritters
This is a pretty cheap, filling meal, if not the world's healthiest thing ever. I serve it with this homemade pico de gallo and a slice of bacon for each person. The recipe feeds two greedy adults and one greedy toddler.
Ingredients:
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 egg
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, for cooking
Place corn kernels in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for a minute or two to defrost.
Meanwhile, beat the egg, yogurt, and milk together in a large bowl. Add the defrosted corn, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and whisk lightly to combine. Don't overmix; the mixture should be a little lumpy.
Heat a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Melt a tablespoon of the butter, and ladle spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan. You'll probably be able to fit about three fritters in the pan at one time.
When the fritters are starting to get bubbles on top, gently flip them over with a spatula and cook the other side until it's lightly browned. Repeat until the batter is used up, adding more butter to the pan when necessary.
Ingredients:
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 egg
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, for cooking
Place corn kernels in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for a minute or two to defrost.
Meanwhile, beat the egg, yogurt, and milk together in a large bowl. Add the defrosted corn, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and whisk lightly to combine. Don't overmix; the mixture should be a little lumpy.
Heat a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Melt a tablespoon of the butter, and ladle spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan. You'll probably be able to fit about three fritters in the pan at one time.
When the fritters are starting to get bubbles on top, gently flip them over with a spatula and cook the other side until it's lightly browned. Repeat until the batter is used up, adding more butter to the pan when necessary.
Week's meal plan, September 20, 2013
Last week's meal plan went well, except for the pad thai, which was bland and unappetizing. I think I will leave pad thai to the experts in future.
This week I spent $56.94 on groceries, although I already had quite a few of the things I needed for the recipes, so it doesn't count. I already had a pound of spaghetti, for example, some cilantro, onions and carrots left over from large bags I'd bought in previous weeks, some baking things like baking powder, baking soda, yeast, sugar, and so on, and staples such as mayonnaise and the big bottles of olive oil and jars of salt that last for months and months. Still, I felt pretty pleased to have spent not much more than half the grocery budget of $100 a week that I set myself at the beginning of this project.
I tried to keep costs down this week by not eating as much meat as we usually do, which is supposed to be better for the planet anyway. I planned three meals around bacon, because Mr. B and Baby B adore it. I don't terribly like it, but neither do I hate it, so that's all right.
What we're going to eat this week:
Breakfasts: cereal and milk, OR eggs (boiled, scrambled, poached, fried, whatever) on toast.
Lunch: peanut butter sandwiches, fruit, cheese.
Dinners:
1) Corn fritters with homemade pico de gallo and bacon.
2) Black bean burgers with homemade whole wheat hamburger buns.
3) Roast chicken and roast potatoes
4) Ditalini e ceci (the recipe doesn't sound that amazing, but it's utterly delicious, trust me)
5) Broccoli, bacon, and cheese soup (from Cook's Illustrated Best 30-Minute Recipes, p. 60) with the rest of the whole wheat hamburger buns.
6) Spaghetti alla carbonara
7) Various leftovers.
Everything with a side salad of spinach and tomatoes and a simple olive oil/balsamic dressing.
Groceries:
Fruits and vegetables:
3lbs vine tomatoes: 2.97
Bunch green onions: 0.58
10 oz spinach: 1.38
1.72 lbs broccoli: 169
Bunch parsley: 0.58
Bunch bananas: 0.95
6 nectarines: 3.43
8 Gala apples: 2.80
1 red bell pepper: 0.98
3 limes: 0.75
1.63 lbs potatoes (3 large): 1.11
1 head garlic: 0.38
1 avocado: 1.50
1 lb frozen corn kernels: 0.70
Dairy:
1 gallon Organic Valley whole milk: 6.68
parmesan cheese: 1.48
Cheese Heads low fat string cheese: 2.48
Nancy's low fat yogurt: 2.43
Challenge butter (1 lb): 2.56
Sargento low fat shredded cheese, 8oz: 2.68
12 eggs: 1.30
Meats:
Locally farmed and cured bacon: 4.92
Very small chicken claiming to be free range: 6.88
Bulk:
Peanut butter (that you can grind yourself--fabulous!): 0.50
Peppercorns: 1.64
1.1 lbs whole wheat flour: 0.45
1.27 lbs white unbleached flour: 0.39
0.92 lbs ditalini
Other:
Giant box generic cereal (Cheerios knock-off): 1.98
Sara Lee whole wheat bread: 2.28
1 can generic chickpeas: 0.64
1 can generic black beans: 0.64
Observations: this week is going to be rather carb-heavy. When you're trying to eat cheaply, it's so easy to fall into the trap of doing lots of bready things and lots of pasta. I think I'll aim for more variety and less bread/cheese next time.
This week I spent $56.94 on groceries, although I already had quite a few of the things I needed for the recipes, so it doesn't count. I already had a pound of spaghetti, for example, some cilantro, onions and carrots left over from large bags I'd bought in previous weeks, some baking things like baking powder, baking soda, yeast, sugar, and so on, and staples such as mayonnaise and the big bottles of olive oil and jars of salt that last for months and months. Still, I felt pretty pleased to have spent not much more than half the grocery budget of $100 a week that I set myself at the beginning of this project.
I tried to keep costs down this week by not eating as much meat as we usually do, which is supposed to be better for the planet anyway. I planned three meals around bacon, because Mr. B and Baby B adore it. I don't terribly like it, but neither do I hate it, so that's all right.
What we're going to eat this week:
Breakfasts: cereal and milk, OR eggs (boiled, scrambled, poached, fried, whatever) on toast.
Lunch: peanut butter sandwiches, fruit, cheese.
Dinners:
1) Corn fritters with homemade pico de gallo and bacon.
2) Black bean burgers with homemade whole wheat hamburger buns.
3) Roast chicken and roast potatoes
4) Ditalini e ceci (the recipe doesn't sound that amazing, but it's utterly delicious, trust me)
5) Broccoli, bacon, and cheese soup (from Cook's Illustrated Best 30-Minute Recipes, p. 60) with the rest of the whole wheat hamburger buns.
6) Spaghetti alla carbonara
7) Various leftovers.
Everything with a side salad of spinach and tomatoes and a simple olive oil/balsamic dressing.
Groceries:
Fruits and vegetables:
3lbs vine tomatoes: 2.97
Bunch green onions: 0.58
10 oz spinach: 1.38
1.72 lbs broccoli: 169
Bunch parsley: 0.58
Bunch bananas: 0.95
6 nectarines: 3.43
8 Gala apples: 2.80
1 red bell pepper: 0.98
3 limes: 0.75
1.63 lbs potatoes (3 large): 1.11
1 head garlic: 0.38
1 avocado: 1.50
1 lb frozen corn kernels: 0.70
Dairy:
1 gallon Organic Valley whole milk: 6.68
parmesan cheese: 1.48
Cheese Heads low fat string cheese: 2.48
Nancy's low fat yogurt: 2.43
Challenge butter (1 lb): 2.56
Sargento low fat shredded cheese, 8oz: 2.68
12 eggs: 1.30
Meats:
Locally farmed and cured bacon: 4.92
Very small chicken claiming to be free range: 6.88
Bulk:
Peanut butter (that you can grind yourself--fabulous!): 0.50
Peppercorns: 1.64
1.1 lbs whole wheat flour: 0.45
1.27 lbs white unbleached flour: 0.39
0.92 lbs ditalini
Other:
Giant box generic cereal (Cheerios knock-off): 1.98
Sara Lee whole wheat bread: 2.28
1 can generic chickpeas: 0.64
1 can generic black beans: 0.64
Observations: this week is going to be rather carb-heavy. When you're trying to eat cheaply, it's so easy to fall into the trap of doing lots of bready things and lots of pasta. I think I'll aim for more variety and less bread/cheese next time.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Shrimp and pea risotto
I adore risottos. I didn't learn to make them until two years ago, because I'd always supposed they were incredibly difficult and high-maintenance. It turns out they're really neither.
Ingredients:
1 cup arborio rice
2 tablespoons oil or butter
1 shallot or half an onion, chopped medium
1/2 cup white wine (you can use the nastiest, cheapest plonk you can find--you can't taste it at all but you need it for activating the starch or something, I'm told)
4 cups chicken broth (homemade or bought, but if you buy it, get the low-sodium kind)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (asiago is also good, and is often considerably cheaper)
A further teaspoon oil
1/2 lb shrimp meat
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 minced garlic clove (optional if you don't like garlic)
1 cup frozen peas
First, heat your chicken broth in a medium pot, and keep it warm.
In a medium heavy-bottomed pot, cook the onion in the oil or butter with a pinch of salt and pepper over medium heat until the onion is softened, 4-5 minutes. Add the rice, and cook, stirring, until the grains are well coated in oil, 1-2 minutes.
Add the wine and cook, stirring, until all liquid has evaporated, 1-2 minutes.
Now ladle in about a cup of stock, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is completely absorbed. Repeat the process, one ladleful at a time, until the rice is cooked and all the liquid is used up. The total cooking time will be about 25 minutes. Stir in the parmesan.
Right at the end, heat a small non-stick frying pan over high heat. Cook the shrimp and garlic or garlic powder with a pinch of salt and pepper until the shrimp is pink and warmed through. Stir the shrimp mixture into the risotto and add the frozen peas (they will thaw and cook in the risotto, no need to do anything to them). Serves 2 hungry adults and one hungry toddler.
Ingredients:
1 cup arborio rice
2 tablespoons oil or butter
1 shallot or half an onion, chopped medium
1/2 cup white wine (you can use the nastiest, cheapest plonk you can find--you can't taste it at all but you need it for activating the starch or something, I'm told)
4 cups chicken broth (homemade or bought, but if you buy it, get the low-sodium kind)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (asiago is also good, and is often considerably cheaper)
A further teaspoon oil
1/2 lb shrimp meat
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 minced garlic clove (optional if you don't like garlic)
1 cup frozen peas
First, heat your chicken broth in a medium pot, and keep it warm.
In a medium heavy-bottomed pot, cook the onion in the oil or butter with a pinch of salt and pepper over medium heat until the onion is softened, 4-5 minutes. Add the rice, and cook, stirring, until the grains are well coated in oil, 1-2 minutes.
Add the wine and cook, stirring, until all liquid has evaporated, 1-2 minutes.
Now ladle in about a cup of stock, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is completely absorbed. Repeat the process, one ladleful at a time, until the rice is cooked and all the liquid is used up. The total cooking time will be about 25 minutes. Stir in the parmesan.
Right at the end, heat a small non-stick frying pan over high heat. Cook the shrimp and garlic or garlic powder with a pinch of salt and pepper until the shrimp is pink and warmed through. Stir the shrimp mixture into the risotto and add the frozen peas (they will thaw and cook in the risotto, no need to do anything to them). Serves 2 hungry adults and one hungry toddler.
Week's meal plan, September 13 2013
Last week's meal plan went swimmingly. It ended up making so many leftovers that we didn't even need to make the baked Mexican omelette, so that'll be on our menu this weekend. Because we only needed therefore to budget for six meals instead of seven this week, I decided to get a "bought" sauce for pad thai. I normally try to make most things from scratch, but I was craving pad thai and buying the makings of it was at least cheaper than driving half an hour to the nearest Thai restaurant and then spending $10 each.
I spent $55.49 on food for this week, which comes out to $7.93 a day for the three of us (although Baby B eats her lunches at daycare, so it would be more if she weren't doing that). I felt pretty pleased about that, but also know that I could have done it for a lot less. We may be on our version of austerity measures, but we're privileged enough not to have to buy things we don't like. I mean, I could buy non-organic milk for far less, but I feel that my daughter has a right not to be pumped full of hormones. I could buy all frozen and canned vegetables, which cost mere pennies and are perfectly nutritious because they're typically preserved at their nutritional peak, but I don't want to. (Frozen vegetables are all right, but canned ones seem too salty for me.)
Which leads me to feel ever more annoyed at the things you read in the media about what the poor "should" do. Jamie Oliver going on about poor people spending their money on gigantic television sets instead of wholesome food, etc. He needs to quit that. Our family, while not genuinely poor, has a gigantic television. My husband bought it the year before we met. He got a great deal on it, and at the time he had a good income, no debt apart from student loans, and no one to look after but himself. Would we buy a gigantic television now? Probably not, but having a television at all takes quite a lot of the edge off not being able to go out much. We cancelled our cable subscription, but we do have a monthly subscription to Netflix. Am I going to cancel that too? Heck, no. Our society wants poor people to be humble and grateful and not have anything that brings them pleasure or even relief from a day of boring drudgery or the soul-sucking process of applying for job after job, but I'm not willing to go without television and I don't see why anyone should be.
Well, rant over. Here's what we're going to eat this week.
Breakfasts: steel cut oats with sliced fruit.
Lunches: leftovers or peanut butter sandwiches (I found a jar of peanut butter in the back of a cupboard)
Snacks: Fruit, celery sticks.
Dinners:
1) Roast chicken (we eat this a LOT), side salad
-> use leftover chicken for casserole
-> boil the carcass along with with week's vegetable peelings for broth
2) 1/2 lb rotini with butternut squash and turkey sausage (I use this recipe but I skip the shallots, spinach, and sage, because Baby B likes it better without), side salad
3) Shrimp and pea risotto
4) Chicken, broccoli and noodle casserole (I use this recipe but I use 1/2 lb rotini, skip the shallots, and make my own breadcrumbs by pulsing a slice of bread in the food processor), side of frozen peas
5) Pad Thai using the recipe on the back of the sauce packet (cheating, I know), skipping the bean sprouts because I keep reading that they cause listeriosis
6) Mexican baked omelette, side salad
7) Leftover chicken, broccoli and noodle casserole (it makes loads), side of peas
The groceries:
Sara Lee whole wheat bread: 2.28
Dairy:
1 gallon Organic Valley milk: 6.68
1 wedge parmesan: 2.08
Sargento reduced-fat shredded Mexican cheese, 4oz: 2.68
Meats:
3/4 lb turkey Italian sausage: 4.48
1 chicken: 6.20
2 packages of shrimp meat: 2.17 and 1.59
Bulk:
1 lb rotini: 0.78
small package bulk peanuts: 0.28
1 lb steel cut oats: 0.63
1.18 lbs arborio rice: 1.98
Misc.:
Taste of Thai pad thai sauce: 2.85
Taste of Thai rice noodles: 3.00
Bottle Tisdale pinot grigio (for risotto): 2.98
Vegetables and fruits:
1 lb frozen peas, supermarket brand: 0.78
1 bunch cilantro: 0.58
1 head broccoli: 0.84
1 head romaine lettuce: 1.68
5 smallish bananas: 0.64
6 nectarines: 1.85
8 smallish apples: 2.98
2 limes: 0.50
6 tomatoes: 1.17
1 3-lb butternut squash: 3.81
Total: $55.49.
Further reflections: $55.49 is not, of course, the total I spend on groceries. I don't include non-food things like toilet paper, soap, etc. Which makes me think how appallingly awful it must be for anyone who is genuinely poor to eat well on small amounts of money, because toilet paper is actually pretty expensive and it's not like you can stop using it.
I spent $55.49 on food for this week, which comes out to $7.93 a day for the three of us (although Baby B eats her lunches at daycare, so it would be more if she weren't doing that). I felt pretty pleased about that, but also know that I could have done it for a lot less. We may be on our version of austerity measures, but we're privileged enough not to have to buy things we don't like. I mean, I could buy non-organic milk for far less, but I feel that my daughter has a right not to be pumped full of hormones. I could buy all frozen and canned vegetables, which cost mere pennies and are perfectly nutritious because they're typically preserved at their nutritional peak, but I don't want to. (Frozen vegetables are all right, but canned ones seem too salty for me.)
Which leads me to feel ever more annoyed at the things you read in the media about what the poor "should" do. Jamie Oliver going on about poor people spending their money on gigantic television sets instead of wholesome food, etc. He needs to quit that. Our family, while not genuinely poor, has a gigantic television. My husband bought it the year before we met. He got a great deal on it, and at the time he had a good income, no debt apart from student loans, and no one to look after but himself. Would we buy a gigantic television now? Probably not, but having a television at all takes quite a lot of the edge off not being able to go out much. We cancelled our cable subscription, but we do have a monthly subscription to Netflix. Am I going to cancel that too? Heck, no. Our society wants poor people to be humble and grateful and not have anything that brings them pleasure or even relief from a day of boring drudgery or the soul-sucking process of applying for job after job, but I'm not willing to go without television and I don't see why anyone should be.
Well, rant over. Here's what we're going to eat this week.
Breakfasts: steel cut oats with sliced fruit.
Lunches: leftovers or peanut butter sandwiches (I found a jar of peanut butter in the back of a cupboard)
Snacks: Fruit, celery sticks.
Dinners:
1) Roast chicken (we eat this a LOT), side salad
-> use leftover chicken for casserole
-> boil the carcass along with with week's vegetable peelings for broth
2) 1/2 lb rotini with butternut squash and turkey sausage (I use this recipe but I skip the shallots, spinach, and sage, because Baby B likes it better without), side salad
3) Shrimp and pea risotto
4) Chicken, broccoli and noodle casserole (I use this recipe but I use 1/2 lb rotini, skip the shallots, and make my own breadcrumbs by pulsing a slice of bread in the food processor), side of frozen peas
5) Pad Thai using the recipe on the back of the sauce packet (cheating, I know), skipping the bean sprouts because I keep reading that they cause listeriosis
6) Mexican baked omelette, side salad
7) Leftover chicken, broccoli and noodle casserole (it makes loads), side of peas
The groceries:
Sara Lee whole wheat bread: 2.28
Dairy:
1 gallon Organic Valley milk: 6.68
1 wedge parmesan: 2.08
Sargento reduced-fat shredded Mexican cheese, 4oz: 2.68
Meats:
3/4 lb turkey Italian sausage: 4.48
1 chicken: 6.20
2 packages of shrimp meat: 2.17 and 1.59
Bulk:
1 lb rotini: 0.78
small package bulk peanuts: 0.28
1 lb steel cut oats: 0.63
1.18 lbs arborio rice: 1.98
Misc.:
Taste of Thai pad thai sauce: 2.85
Taste of Thai rice noodles: 3.00
Bottle Tisdale pinot grigio (for risotto): 2.98
Vegetables and fruits:
1 lb frozen peas, supermarket brand: 0.78
1 bunch cilantro: 0.58
1 head broccoli: 0.84
1 head romaine lettuce: 1.68
5 smallish bananas: 0.64
6 nectarines: 1.85
8 smallish apples: 2.98
2 limes: 0.50
6 tomatoes: 1.17
1 3-lb butternut squash: 3.81
Total: $55.49.
Further reflections: $55.49 is not, of course, the total I spend on groceries. I don't include non-food things like toilet paper, soap, etc. Which makes me think how appallingly awful it must be for anyone who is genuinely poor to eat well on small amounts of money, because toilet paper is actually pretty expensive and it's not like you can stop using it.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Coleslaw
I used to think I hated coleslaw. It transpires that I had only had bad coleslaws before, however. I thought coleslaw came in a nasty plastic container from the supermarket, and it never occurred to me that a homemade one might be superior. But then I tried this one, and it's tops. I adapted it from an America's Test Kitchen recipe, taking out the things I don't like and adding in some that I do like. This recipe makes absolutely tons of coleslaw, enough to keep you in sandwich fillings for a week.
Ingredients:
1 medium cabbage, shredded
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
1/4 of a small onion, minced
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used the Best Foods brand)
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon sugar (the original recipe specified much more, but I detest sugary dressings, so I greatly reduced the amount, which makes it tangy but not cloying)
1 teaspoon salt (don't worry, not all of this ends up in it, you'll see)
pepper to taste
2 teaspoons caraway seeds, optional
Step 1: put your shredded cabbage in a colander, sprinkle the salt on it, toss to coat, and leave it for a couple of hours until the cabbage is wilted. Don't be tempted to skip this step, because it makes all the difference to the final product.
When the cabbage seems wilted enough, rinse it carefully. Most of the salt will wash away, but not all the salty taste will come out, which is a good thing. Dry the cabbage off with paper towels.
Now make your dressing. Whisk the mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, onion, sugar and pepper together in a large bowl. Add the cabbage and carrot and mix well. At this point, you may also like to add a teaspoon of caraway seeds, lovingly toasted in a frying pan over medium-high heat for a minute or two to release their fragrance. Then again, you may not. Mr. B doesn't like them, so we don't do this.
Ingredients:
1 medium cabbage, shredded
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
1/4 of a small onion, minced
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used the Best Foods brand)
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon sugar (the original recipe specified much more, but I detest sugary dressings, so I greatly reduced the amount, which makes it tangy but not cloying)
1 teaspoon salt (don't worry, not all of this ends up in it, you'll see)
pepper to taste
2 teaspoons caraway seeds, optional
Step 1: put your shredded cabbage in a colander, sprinkle the salt on it, toss to coat, and leave it for a couple of hours until the cabbage is wilted. Don't be tempted to skip this step, because it makes all the difference to the final product.
When the cabbage seems wilted enough, rinse it carefully. Most of the salt will wash away, but not all the salty taste will come out, which is a good thing. Dry the cabbage off with paper towels.
Now make your dressing. Whisk the mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, onion, sugar and pepper together in a large bowl. Add the cabbage and carrot and mix well. At this point, you may also like to add a teaspoon of caraway seeds, lovingly toasted in a frying pan over medium-high heat for a minute or two to release their fragrance. Then again, you may not. Mr. B doesn't like them, so we don't do this.
Pear bread
I adapted this recipe from a feature in this month's Fine Cooking. Now, if you wondered what the thrifty Mrs. B was doing with a subscription to Fine Cooking when she loftily claims to be on an austerity budget, let me explain that it was given to Mr. B as a birthday gift. It was a gift that went on giving, too. A lot of things in Fine Cooking are pretty fancy, but we find that if we adapt them, using cheaper ingredients, we can make lovely dinners for very little. We used to have a subscription to Bon Appetit, but that wasn't very useful to us, since it's mostly a magazine for people who have money to go on nice vacations and visit nice restaurants. The recipes weren't all that amazing, either. I can't speak highly enough of the people who make Fine Cooking, and when our subscription runs out I'll be getting it from the public library.
I don't normally make sweet things, both because we're trying to eat healthily and because we don't want Baby B getting a taste for sugar, but I made an exception because the pear tree in our garden was ready for harvesting. The pears don't taste very nice if you eat them raw, but they're wonderful in baking, and thrifty Mrs. B can't turn down free, wholesome, organic fruit. I had all the dry ingredients in my pantry anyway due to a strange stroke of luck, and the wet ingredients were all ones I had bought this week. The original recipe specified buttermilk, a thing I normally never buy, so I substituted half milk and half yogurt, which I figured was more or less the same sort of thing. It worked fine. I'm a pretty lousy baker when it comes to sweet baking (yeast bread is my thing) but this recipe, like all Fine Cooking recipes, is so good that even I couldn't mess it up.
Preheat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit, and put the oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan, and line it with baking paper.
Whisk together in a large bowl:
2 cups plain flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup pears, cored and finely diced (I didn't peel them)
1/2 cup raisins
In a smaller bowl, whisk together:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup yogurt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated orange zest (optional)
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Add 4 oz melted butter. Fold ingredients together gently with a spatula, being very careful not to overmix. (Overmixing is the enemy of baked goods, I have recently learned.)
Pour the batter into your loaf pan. Bake in the oven for 55 minutes, or until you can poke a toothpick into the middle of the loaf and have it come out clean. Let the loaf cool in the pan on a rack for half an hour, then remove and allow it to cool fully. Or do what we do and dig in right away.
I don't normally make sweet things, both because we're trying to eat healthily and because we don't want Baby B getting a taste for sugar, but I made an exception because the pear tree in our garden was ready for harvesting. The pears don't taste very nice if you eat them raw, but they're wonderful in baking, and thrifty Mrs. B can't turn down free, wholesome, organic fruit. I had all the dry ingredients in my pantry anyway due to a strange stroke of luck, and the wet ingredients were all ones I had bought this week. The original recipe specified buttermilk, a thing I normally never buy, so I substituted half milk and half yogurt, which I figured was more or less the same sort of thing. It worked fine. I'm a pretty lousy baker when it comes to sweet baking (yeast bread is my thing) but this recipe, like all Fine Cooking recipes, is so good that even I couldn't mess it up.
Preheat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit, and put the oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan, and line it with baking paper.
Whisk together in a large bowl:
2 cups plain flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup pears, cored and finely diced (I didn't peel them)
1/2 cup raisins
In a smaller bowl, whisk together:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup yogurt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated orange zest (optional)
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Add 4 oz melted butter. Fold ingredients together gently with a spatula, being very careful not to overmix. (Overmixing is the enemy of baked goods, I have recently learned.)
Pour the batter into your loaf pan. Bake in the oven for 55 minutes, or until you can poke a toothpick into the middle of the loaf and have it come out clean. Let the loaf cool in the pan on a rack for half an hour, then remove and allow it to cool fully. Or do what we do and dig in right away.
Slow-cooker turkey meatballs in pumpkin sauce
I consider the slow cooker one of the most blessed pieces of cooking equipment ever invented. This recipe takes a bit of advance preparation, but you can do a lot of it the night before, then throw it all in the slow cooker the next morning, and come home exhausted from work to a house full of delicious smells and nothing more stressful to do than boil some spaghetti.
First, make your meatballs.
Mix together with a fork or your hands:
1.25 lbs ground turkey (I used 93% lean--I find 99% lean too dry for this recipe)
1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs of your choice (I used chives from our garden)
1/4 cup any kind of cheese (I used shredded Mexican cheese, but anything from cheddar to Parmesan to ricotta would do)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (if you don't have any, pulse a slice of bread in the food processor or crumble it with your fingers)
1 egg
1/4 of an onion, cut up very finely
2 teaspoons garlic powder (or a clove or two of fresh garlic, minced)
3/4 teaspoon salt (or less, to taste)
a few good grinds of black pepper, or about 1/4 teaspoon pre-ground pepper
Sprinkle about half a cup of flour on a dinner plate. Line a baking sheet with some baking paper.
Shape the meat mixture into balls. It doesn't really matter how big or small they are, just do what you prefer. Roll each meatball in the flour until it's coated all over (don't skip this step; you need the flour to thicken the sauce later). Place on the baking sheet. When you've finished making meatballs, place the baking sheet in the freezer until the meatballs are frozen through (or leave all night). They'll keep for a few days in there before they start thinking about getting freezer burn.
When you're ready to start cooking, whisk together 1 cup of homemade chicken broth (or use bought broth, I won't tell anyone), 1 can of pumpkin puree, and half a teaspoon of salt. Arrange your frozen meatballs artfully in the bottom of your slow cooker, and pour the sauce over the top. If the sauce looks too liquid to you, don't worry; the flour from the meatballs will thicken it as it cooks.
Cook on the lowest setting for around 6 hours, but if you're gone for 9 it probably won't be any the worse. Serve on top of spaghetti, with a sprinkling of grated cheese if you like that sort of thing. This usually serves two hungry adults and a hungry toddler and leaves a small amount of leftovers.
Week's meal plan, September 5 2013
Last week's meal plan went to plan. We didn't sneak out for comforting Chinese takeout, even though we were all ill with a horrible cold/sinus infection thing and really didn't feel like cooking. Nor did we sneak out to buy any extra food, so hooray. The moussaka with potatoes was a big hit, and we all liked the shrimp fajitas so much that we're having them again this week.
This week I spent $61.99 on food for the three of us, so $8.86 a day. Not counting that Baby B has her weekday breakfasts, lunches and snacks at daycare, so if you factor that in it's a lot more. (Daycare in general seems designed to suck money out of our every pore. I'm not quite sure why, given that the teachers are paid a pittance. I'm sure their overheads must be gigantic, however.)
The other thing was that we were given two major items that would have cost quite a bit had we bought them. My mother-in-law gave us a large package of pork tenderloins that will do for one dinner and then packed lunches for the rest of the week. Someone we know who is a hunter gave us a pound of ground elk meat that we will use for elk burgers. I've never had elk before, so this will be interesting.
Also, I had a number of things that were left over from last week's shopping, such as tortillas, onions, rice, and oats. I had plenty of my own homemade chicken broth in the freezer (sometimes I have far, far too much chicken broth, more than I know what to do with), and there was some salsa, mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup in the refrigerator and flour and sugar in the pantry. We have a small herb garden and a pear tree in our garden, so those things were free. So the true cost of this week's meals is considerably more than $61.99.
I don't know what I was really setting out to "prove" when I started a blog on cooking cheaply at home. I certainly didn't aim to moralize to people on low incomes about what they "should" be doing. Our society wants poor people to be grateful and humble and receptive to their wonderful advice about living economically, but I find this view particularly obnoxious when you consider that so many people on tiny incomes lack the equipment, facilities, knowhow, time and energy to do any of the cooking they're "supposed" to do. Plus, I can easily imagine that if you drag yourself home from working long hours at two different low-paid jobs a day, the last thing you want to do is whip up a nourishing casserole for your squawking children. There are so many things denied to you in life, and if you can have one thing--fast food, for example--that takes no effort and makes you feel good, who am I to judge?
The fact that I'm able to feed our little family on so relatively little is because I have a nice kitchen, ten tons of kitchen equipment (thanks again to my mother-in-law), around an hour a day that I can spend cooking (and simultaneously playing with my enchanting toddler), the education to do so, etc. Also, I always have a few dusty old bags of dried beans and rice knocking around in the cupboards, a package of frozen peas or beans in the freezer, and so on. It's not like the cupboard is bare every time I go shopping. If it were, it would cost me significantly more to make the things I've been making.
The Meal Plan:
Breakfasts: steel cut oats with a spoonful of yogurt and sliced bananas OR eggs (boiled, scrambled, poached, fried) on whole wheat toast with a scraping of butter.
Lunches: whole wheat sandwiches with cold roasted pork tenderloin and coleslaw, with sides of fruit and carrot sticks.
Snacks: fruits and raw vegetables, slices of pear bread.
Dinners:
1) Roast pork tenderloin with butternut squash (I don't have a recipe for this, Mr. B does it!)
-> leftovers for sandwiches for weekdays
2) Elk burgers (with homemade buns made from my all-purpose bread dough, plus sliced tomatoes and a sprinkling of grated cheese, with a side of coleslaw
-> coleslaw makes loads, enough to put in sandwiches all week
3) Roast chicken with a side of lightly steamed broccoli
-> boil the chicken carcass with all the vegetable peelings I keep in the freezer to use for homemade chicken stock
-> leftover chicken to make...
4) Chicken-zucchini curry with a side of basmati rice (I lightly stir-fry the zucchini, then warm the chicken in the same pan, then add a simple curry sauce made of Taste of Thai curry paste and a can of coconut milk)
5) Whole wheat spaghetti with turkey meatballs in pumpkin sauce
6) Baked Mexican omelette, served with warm tortillas
7) Shrimp fajitas, again
The groceries:
Fruits and vegetables:
4 lbs butternut squash: 5.21
1 cabbage: 1.84
2.5 lbs zucchini: 2.87
2 broccoli crowns: 0.82
3 lbs nectarines: 3.00
1 red pepper: 1.28
1.06 lbs tomatoes: 1.04
2.5 lbs apples: 2.24
1 avocado: 0.88
2 lbs carrots: 0.98
2 lbs bananas: 0.90
Eggs/dairy:
Nancy's low fat yogurt: 2.43
1 gallon Organic Valley milk: 5.96
Lucerne light sour cream: 1.38
Darigold light cottage cheese: 1.88
18 eggs: 2.18
1 can Taste of Thai light coconut milk: 1.48
1 lb Challenge butter: 2.48
8 oz Sargento reduced fat shredded Mexican cheese: 2.68
Meats:
1.25 lbs ground 93% low fat turkey: 3.98
0.75 lbs shrimp meat: 2.52
1 small chicken whose packaging claimed it was "cruelty free": 6.75
Misc.
1 can pumpkin puree: 1.88
1 package Taste of Thai red curry paste: 2.04
1 lb whole wheat spaghetti: 1.00
1 loaf Sara Lee whole wheat sandwich bread: 2.28
Total: $61.99.
Observations: reading through this, I feel guiltily that I could have saved more money than this. It seems extravagant to buy "expensive" vegetables such as red peppers and avocados. I could have made us steamed carrots and broccoli every day for far cheaper. I guess it's a privilege to allow oneself more variety. I also could have made my own sandwich bread this week, which would have cost mere pennies if I added up the prices of 3-4 cups of whole wheat flour, a few teaspoons each of yeast, salt, sugar, and oil, plus the cost of electricity for 45 minutes in the oven. I plead that I'm busy, sick, tired, and don't feel like it. Some day I will become the sort of wholesome earth mother who makes every single thing from scratch. Today is not that day.
On a different guilt-trip, I also feel uneasy about buying vegetables that have been shown by the Environmental Working Group to contain a lot of pesticide residues. Should I be feeding this stuff to my toddler? OK, the reason I continue to give her apples and stone fruits is that I want her to grow up learning to like a wide variety of foods, and I'm going to assume that the benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables outweigh the dangers of pesticide residues. I hope I'm not doing something bad here. I simply can't afford to go to our local organic shop and buy all organic, locally sourced fruits and vegetables. I want to but I just can't justify it when our expenses and our debts are so huge. I do buy organic milk because she drinks two large glasses of milk a day and I'm uneasy about the hormones and so on in non-organic milk. But I wish I could give her everything organic. I feel bad enough about having her spend the first year of her life drinking decidedly non-organic soy formula after I tried very hard and failed to breastfeed her.
And on yet another guilt-trip, I'm uneasy about the provenance of all the meats we eat. I don't buy factory-farmed beef for cruelty and environmental reasons, but I don't particularly adore beef, so that isn't a big sacrifice. But we do eat a moderate amount of pork, and the habitual cruelties of the pig-farming industry are well-known. I try to buy poultry that comes from farms with humane practices, but you never really know what you're getting unless you visit the place yourself, it seems. I'm almost afraid to Google the shrimp industry, because I'm sure it's awful too. The only reason I don't dare is that Baby B loves shrimp above almost any other food. It seems like you can barely raise your fork to your mouth without exploiting workers, torturing animals, or ruining the environment. I suppose the answer to this problem might be to grow all my own food and raise my own animals for slaughter, but I'm a busy working mother and I prefer to spend my tiny amount of leisure time doing other things, such as playing with my toddler and writing blogs. What to do??
This week I spent $61.99 on food for the three of us, so $8.86 a day. Not counting that Baby B has her weekday breakfasts, lunches and snacks at daycare, so if you factor that in it's a lot more. (Daycare in general seems designed to suck money out of our every pore. I'm not quite sure why, given that the teachers are paid a pittance. I'm sure their overheads must be gigantic, however.)
The other thing was that we were given two major items that would have cost quite a bit had we bought them. My mother-in-law gave us a large package of pork tenderloins that will do for one dinner and then packed lunches for the rest of the week. Someone we know who is a hunter gave us a pound of ground elk meat that we will use for elk burgers. I've never had elk before, so this will be interesting.
Also, I had a number of things that were left over from last week's shopping, such as tortillas, onions, rice, and oats. I had plenty of my own homemade chicken broth in the freezer (sometimes I have far, far too much chicken broth, more than I know what to do with), and there was some salsa, mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup in the refrigerator and flour and sugar in the pantry. We have a small herb garden and a pear tree in our garden, so those things were free. So the true cost of this week's meals is considerably more than $61.99.
I don't know what I was really setting out to "prove" when I started a blog on cooking cheaply at home. I certainly didn't aim to moralize to people on low incomes about what they "should" be doing. Our society wants poor people to be grateful and humble and receptive to their wonderful advice about living economically, but I find this view particularly obnoxious when you consider that so many people on tiny incomes lack the equipment, facilities, knowhow, time and energy to do any of the cooking they're "supposed" to do. Plus, I can easily imagine that if you drag yourself home from working long hours at two different low-paid jobs a day, the last thing you want to do is whip up a nourishing casserole for your squawking children. There are so many things denied to you in life, and if you can have one thing--fast food, for example--that takes no effort and makes you feel good, who am I to judge?
The fact that I'm able to feed our little family on so relatively little is because I have a nice kitchen, ten tons of kitchen equipment (thanks again to my mother-in-law), around an hour a day that I can spend cooking (and simultaneously playing with my enchanting toddler), the education to do so, etc. Also, I always have a few dusty old bags of dried beans and rice knocking around in the cupboards, a package of frozen peas or beans in the freezer, and so on. It's not like the cupboard is bare every time I go shopping. If it were, it would cost me significantly more to make the things I've been making.
The Meal Plan:
Breakfasts: steel cut oats with a spoonful of yogurt and sliced bananas OR eggs (boiled, scrambled, poached, fried) on whole wheat toast with a scraping of butter.
Lunches: whole wheat sandwiches with cold roasted pork tenderloin and coleslaw, with sides of fruit and carrot sticks.
Snacks: fruits and raw vegetables, slices of pear bread.
Dinners:
1) Roast pork tenderloin with butternut squash (I don't have a recipe for this, Mr. B does it!)
-> leftovers for sandwiches for weekdays
2) Elk burgers (with homemade buns made from my all-purpose bread dough, plus sliced tomatoes and a sprinkling of grated cheese, with a side of coleslaw
-> coleslaw makes loads, enough to put in sandwiches all week
3) Roast chicken with a side of lightly steamed broccoli
-> boil the chicken carcass with all the vegetable peelings I keep in the freezer to use for homemade chicken stock
-> leftover chicken to make...
4) Chicken-zucchini curry with a side of basmati rice (I lightly stir-fry the zucchini, then warm the chicken in the same pan, then add a simple curry sauce made of Taste of Thai curry paste and a can of coconut milk)
5) Whole wheat spaghetti with turkey meatballs in pumpkin sauce
6) Baked Mexican omelette, served with warm tortillas
7) Shrimp fajitas, again
The groceries:
Fruits and vegetables:
4 lbs butternut squash: 5.21
1 cabbage: 1.84
2.5 lbs zucchini: 2.87
2 broccoli crowns: 0.82
3 lbs nectarines: 3.00
1 red pepper: 1.28
1.06 lbs tomatoes: 1.04
2.5 lbs apples: 2.24
1 avocado: 0.88
2 lbs carrots: 0.98
2 lbs bananas: 0.90
Eggs/dairy:
Nancy's low fat yogurt: 2.43
1 gallon Organic Valley milk: 5.96
Lucerne light sour cream: 1.38
Darigold light cottage cheese: 1.88
18 eggs: 2.18
1 can Taste of Thai light coconut milk: 1.48
1 lb Challenge butter: 2.48
8 oz Sargento reduced fat shredded Mexican cheese: 2.68
Meats:
1.25 lbs ground 93% low fat turkey: 3.98
0.75 lbs shrimp meat: 2.52
1 small chicken whose packaging claimed it was "cruelty free": 6.75
Misc.
1 can pumpkin puree: 1.88
1 package Taste of Thai red curry paste: 2.04
1 lb whole wheat spaghetti: 1.00
1 loaf Sara Lee whole wheat sandwich bread: 2.28
Total: $61.99.
Observations: reading through this, I feel guiltily that I could have saved more money than this. It seems extravagant to buy "expensive" vegetables such as red peppers and avocados. I could have made us steamed carrots and broccoli every day for far cheaper. I guess it's a privilege to allow oneself more variety. I also could have made my own sandwich bread this week, which would have cost mere pennies if I added up the prices of 3-4 cups of whole wheat flour, a few teaspoons each of yeast, salt, sugar, and oil, plus the cost of electricity for 45 minutes in the oven. I plead that I'm busy, sick, tired, and don't feel like it. Some day I will become the sort of wholesome earth mother who makes every single thing from scratch. Today is not that day.
On a different guilt-trip, I also feel uneasy about buying vegetables that have been shown by the Environmental Working Group to contain a lot of pesticide residues. Should I be feeding this stuff to my toddler? OK, the reason I continue to give her apples and stone fruits is that I want her to grow up learning to like a wide variety of foods, and I'm going to assume that the benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables outweigh the dangers of pesticide residues. I hope I'm not doing something bad here. I simply can't afford to go to our local organic shop and buy all organic, locally sourced fruits and vegetables. I want to but I just can't justify it when our expenses and our debts are so huge. I do buy organic milk because she drinks two large glasses of milk a day and I'm uneasy about the hormones and so on in non-organic milk. But I wish I could give her everything organic. I feel bad enough about having her spend the first year of her life drinking decidedly non-organic soy formula after I tried very hard and failed to breastfeed her.
And on yet another guilt-trip, I'm uneasy about the provenance of all the meats we eat. I don't buy factory-farmed beef for cruelty and environmental reasons, but I don't particularly adore beef, so that isn't a big sacrifice. But we do eat a moderate amount of pork, and the habitual cruelties of the pig-farming industry are well-known. I try to buy poultry that comes from farms with humane practices, but you never really know what you're getting unless you visit the place yourself, it seems. I'm almost afraid to Google the shrimp industry, because I'm sure it's awful too. The only reason I don't dare is that Baby B loves shrimp above almost any other food. It seems like you can barely raise your fork to your mouth without exploiting workers, torturing animals, or ruining the environment. I suppose the answer to this problem might be to grow all my own food and raise my own animals for slaughter, but I'm a busy working mother and I prefer to spend my tiny amount of leisure time doing other things, such as playing with my toddler and writing blogs. What to do??
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