Cooking Gourmet with 99¢ Food

npr.org ^ | Alex Cohen

[JoeProBono]

These days, the idea of making a three-course meal for a family of four for less than $20 can seem impossible. Unless, that is, you shop at the 99¢ Only Stores. There are more than 200 of them throughout the West — not to mention other bargain variations like the Dollar Store — true to their name, everything costs exactly 99 cents. Christiane Jory thoroughly embraces this fact in her book, The 99¢ Only Stores Cookbook. The idea may sound silly, but the book is filled with recipes for gourmet items like gruyere beignets, salmon souffle and Pinot Noir poached pear tarts. Many of the recipes have been adapted from culinary classics like the Joy of Cooking and the Moosewood Cookbook.

[JoeProBono]

Curious and hungry, I went to visit Jory at her home, where she prepared chicken pot pies, scalloped potatoes and apple pie, entirely with ingredients that she purchased at the store.

Relying entirely on 99¢ food requires serious creativity. As I watched her create crust from Pillsbury biscuit dough and dump chicken, spinach and other veggies from cans, it was hard not to be skeptical.

Jory can relate. Although she has been a long-time fan of 99¢ Only Stores, the idea of purchasing something edible there only came to her after many years of bargain shopping, she says. (Yes, she does have an extreme affinity for this particular line of bargain store, but there's no official endorsement involved.) The cheapo-food epiphany was inspired one random summer day, she recalls, by a seemingly classy lady.

"I was broke, and I like my wine, and then I saw this woman buying wine and I was like, 'No way!' And she had fancy shoes on and I looked at her and she said, 'It's really good.' So that's when I bought a sauvignon blanc. And I had wine for the summer, thank God. And that's when I started thinking maybe there's food here too," she says

Indeed, there was plenty to eat in the store — most of it brands that she had never heard of, in boxes that were misshapen or discolored. But the contents tasted just fine, she says. And with a bit of innovation, Jory says, she realized 99-cent ingredients could turn into truly delicious dishes.

[JoeProBono]

Recipes Based on 99-Cent Ingredients

The offerings at a 99¢ store vary on any given day, but there are certain basics that tend to always be there. Christiane Jory created these dishes for Day to Day’s Alex Cohen based on the ingredients she found to work with the week of their dinner.

Chicken Pot Pie

4 Individual Pies, Cost: About $9.99

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Danish Creamery butter + some to grease ramekins

4 cans Picket Fence Poultry Farms chunked chicken, drained

1 teaspoon Santa Paula ground thyme

1 can Del Monte mixed vegetables drained, reserve the liquid

1 can Del Monte Whole Leaf spinach, drained

1-2 tablespoons fresh ground McCormick pepper to taste

1/8 cup Santa Paula diced dried onions soaked in the reserved mixed vegetable liquid + 3 Tablespoons Foggy Bay white wine

1 12 ounce bottle Franco-American Slow Roast chicken gravy

1 container of 10 count Pillsbury Golden Flaky biscuits

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease 4-(4 ½” diameter x 2 tall”) ramekins

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large fry pan.

Add reconstituted onions, thyme and pepper and sauté for 1 minute.

Add chicken and sauté for 1-2 minutes.

Add mixed vegetables and spinach and incorporate thoroughly.

Add gravy and mix to heat through.

Remove from heat.

On a well floured surface (Romina all purpose flour) roll out each biscuit to bigger than the size of the ramekin. Line each ramekin with a biscuit using an extra half of a biscuit to line the sides to the top.

Place in heated oven and par-bake for 3-4 minutes.

Open oven door and carefully fill each ramekin to the top with the filling.

Cook another 4-5 minutes.

Open oven again and place the remaining rolled biscuits atop each pie. (1 each)

Cook until tops are golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool about 5 minutes before eating.

Green Chile and Cheddar Scalloped Potatoes

4 servings, Cost: About $1.99

Ingredients:

1 box Alpine Foods Cheddar Cheese Au Gratin Potatoes (other flavors will work)

2 tablespoons Danish Creamery butter

2 / 3 cup Dairy Ranch Fresh milk

1 cup Ortega diced green chilies

Instructions:

In a large saucepan, heat 2 cups hot water, milk, butter and sauce mix.

Stir well to combine.

Add potatoes and chilies and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer covered for 7 minutes stirring occasionally.

Remove cover and cook another 7-9 minutes. Sauce will thicken during this last cook time. Continue to stir to avoid mixture from sticking to the bottom of pan.

Remove from heat and serve.

Apple Pie

Servings:6-8 Cost: About $3.99

Ingredients:

1 package (2 crusts) Roundy’s Pie Crusts

2-20 ounce cans Polar Fuji apples, drained

¼ cup Romina all purpose flour

¼ cup C&H white sugar

½ teaspoon Santa Paula cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon Santa Paula ground ginger

Dash Encore Premium ground clove

Dash McCormick salt

2 Tablespoons Danish Creamery butter.

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

Place one of the frozen crusts upside down on a piece of parchment paper. As it thaws it will pull away from the pan and lie flat. This is your top crust.

While both crusts are thawing (about 20 minutes), mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, clove, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Add apples and stir to coat evenly.

Pour apples into pie crust and place flattened crust on top.

Seal edges firmly with the tines of a fork and cut 4 slits in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape.

Wrap tin foil around the outer edge of pie. (This will help avoid outer crust from burning.

Place on a baking sheet and cook about 30 minutes.

Remove tinfoil and continue to cook until crust is golden and juices are bubbling. About 15-20 minutes

[Tamar1973]

The Adventures of Jolene Sugarbaker The Trailer Park Queen

[js1138]

Of course if you buy real ingredients like flour, carrots, celery and whole chicken, you can produce something that tases good and costs less.

[Pessimist]

Mrs. Pessimist and I cook plenty of sumptuous multi course meals for the 2 of us for under $10 (not counting the wine, of course).

Plus, we often end up with great leftovers that can be made into other things.

You’d be surprised how many really great meals 2 people can get out of a small roasting chicken...

Now I’m getting hungry!!

[mnehring]

Some of the best foods in the world are the food of the poor-working class. It isn’t about the price of the ingredients, but the time and care put into the dish.

[Pessimist]

Exactly!

I think most of the mioney people spend on “food” these days is really spent on “convenience items” (e.g. pre cooked, frozen, etc.)

We rarely even by boneless chicken breasts. Mrs Pess would be aghast at the chicken stock we’d be missing out on.

[Travis T. OJustice]

You’d be surprised how many really great meals 2 people can get out of a small roasting chicken...

AT least 3 dinners, plus a gallon of soup! YUM! Birdmeat. At least half of what i feed my family (main course stuff)is roasting chickens. Not much beef and even less pork.

[SeafoodGumbo]

Red beans and rice.

Red beans - $1

Rice - 20c (I'm guessing because we get the huge bags at Sam's)

Hot sausage - $3.29

For less than $5, you've got 8-10 (I'm guessing) bowls of good, healthy, tasty food.

It's easy to do in a crock pot also.

[JoeProBono]

[Texas Fossil]

Good idea.

That with the garden I will have this spring, should really work.

Fresh garden veggies make all the difference.

Okra, yellow squash, cantelope, greens, onions, radishes, purple hull peas, blackeye peas, green beans

And this is something that is easy to do.

[Travis T. OJustice]

We rarely even by boneless chicken breasts. Mrs Pess would be aghast at the chicken stock we’d be missing out on.

At 3 or 4 bucks a pound, you could buy a whole chicken cheaper. And yeah, no soup!

[Califreak]

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/

Hillbilly Housewife

[Syberyenta]

Thanks for the post.

Here’s my advice:

Buy what’s plentiful
Buy what’s in season
Buy staple foods in bulk
Learn to cook — food is delicious already.
Eat in.
Duh-uhhh.

[Pessimist]

“At 3 or 4 bucks a pound, you could buy a whole chicken cheaper. And yeah, no soup!”

Yup! That back makes great stock. So do the wing tips. When we pull our stock out of the fridge, it’s completely gelatinized.

Mmmmm! Man, my bears are really growling now!!

[Pessimist]

“Not much beef and even less pork.”

Hey now! Don’t diss our other barnyard buddies!

We both love slow cooked, coarse cuts like pork shoulder or beef blade roast. Toss one of those clowns in a crock pot when you leave for work in the morning, and return to the inviting smell of a home cooked dinner.

And talk about left overs! Pulled port, shredded beaf enchiladas, you name it!

[Travis T. OJustice]

I use some of the backs and necks for crab bait. Crabs are FREE! YUM!

:)

[tunedin]

Yes and Star-Kist is owned by Del Monte Foods and is a major contributor to Pelosi. Paul Pelosi, Nancy ‘s husband, owns $17 million dollars of Star-Kist
stock.

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2007/01/sorry-charlie-speaker-pelosis-husband.html

[dawn53]

I’m really careful about food at the dollar stores because much of it comes from China. But we do lots of meals for $5-7 per meal.

I do a similar thing to your red beans with lentils. Lentils, sausage, seasonings, and at the end stir in some cheese...serve over rice...yum, and cheap.

We also make stews and soups. With a tiny bit of lamb you can make a tasty lamb stew, ingredients: lamb, potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions.

A couple turkey thighs (cheap cut) some celery, onions, carrots, seasoning, and a bag of barley...makes lots of servings for under $5.00.

Our favorite, (but the fish is free because we catch it) is a seafood gumbo made with canned tomatoes, lots of spices, cayenne especially, fish fillets, then add some okra, maybe corn, serve over rice. Good eating, and healthy too.

[prismsinc]

I must have. That 99 cents will become 99 dollars after Obambi gets done destroying the economy