Posted on 02/18/2009 2:24:13 PM PST by JRandomFreeper
It’s tough out there and may get tougher. Job cuts, pay cuts, and expenses are going up. What’s a conservative to do? Conserve, of course.
That doesn’t mean you have to eat less healthy food, or eat foods that aren’t so good, or eat less. With a few of the right ingredients, some practice, some planning, and some time, you can produce excellent quality nutritious meals for surprisingly little money.
The catch, of course, is the time it takes. But if you are unemployed, or under-employed (like me), you have more time than money.
Fine cooking is about treating good quality ingredients right. Inexpensive cooking is about picking the right ingredients, some planning, and some labor.
My favorite ingredients are good quality, good price, and ingredients with many uses. That means shopping fairly frequently, watching for specials in the flyers that fill up my mailbox, and talking to family and friends about the REALLY GOOD DEALS that we all run across sometimes.
Ingredients
I rarely buy canned or frozen, with a few exceptions, (canned tomatoes and frozen corn, namely) I use what is fresh and in season, and cheap. I also have a garden, and eat what is seasonal from the garden.
Basil is expensive in the grocery store, but is easy to grow. And it shows up about the same time as the tomatoes. Can you say Italian?
Meats are more problematic. I’ve pretty much given up on beef, except once a month. I’m fortunate that I can get game locally, like venison and boar, and we raise a few goats for the freezer.
Pork can be found on sale in large roasts that can be cut up and prepared in many ways.
Chicken also can be found on sale in bulk and frozen in appropriate sized portions.
Bulk products, like flour, cornmeal, rice, beans, masa, and sugar can be purchased in bulk and transferred to appropriate sealed containers to keep the bugs out.
Planning
Since I’m single, I know how much of what I’m going to use in a month and plan accordingly. Breakfast is whatever you eat for breakfast times 30. For me that means 60 eggs, 30 sausage patties, 30 frozen biscuits, and 60 oz of homemade salsa for the month. Sausage patties weigh 2 oz each, so that’s 60 oz of that pork shoulder for breakfast for the month.
A word about individually frozen biscuits. I use them, they are good. I can, and have mixed up a batch of biscuit dough to cook just one biscuit. I won my bet, and would never do it again.
Lunch and dinner I plan for 8 oz of meat, 6 oz of cooked starches, and 4 to 6 ounces of vegetables. So for planning that’s 2 meals times 30 days = 60 meals. So I need about 30 lbs of meat, 22 lbs of starches, and 20 lbs of vegetables for the month.
A word about starches. 2oz of dried beans, rice, or pasta roughly equals 6 oz of cooked starches. For things like potatoes, rutabagas, and turnips, use the full 6 oz measure when buying.
Fruit is as in season, and inexpensive. Sometimes, that means that I just get preserves.
Salads for me come from the garden if they are in season. Down here in Texas, I’ve usually got something most of the year.
I make my own breads, desserts, and lots of my own sauces.
This article is meant to stimulate discussion on cost savings and maybe provide some advice during these difficult times. There are quite a few freeper Chefs, food service professionals, and darn good non-professional cooks on this site.
“I hope your meal was good.”
You have no idea how much we appreciated and ate that American cooking you, or more precisely from that air base we ate at, long ago. I still remember that meal from 40 years ago. My gosh, that was really, really good food. Not trying to pump you up, but take the credit due. Thanks.
I ate better than my uncle at New Guinea who ate rats and lizards fighting the Japanese.
You are very well prepared if the shiite hits the fan
/johnny
Exactly!
Scratch cooking from the pantry. I make a basic vegetable minestrone but it never gets boring because, being a minestrone, it always changes depending on whim and what's on hand. Sometimes spinach and extra diced tomato, sometimes no spinach but more garlic in the starter and triple tomato paste, sometimes mixed bean with carmelized "string" onions. Every now and then, a tube of frozen ground turkey. Delicious. Varying the beans, alone, is a great way to keep variety. Bowties or elbows or egg noodles? Potatoes or no? On and on...
Now my breadmaking skills are still developing, but a variation from batch to batch again keeps things interesting. You mentioned a mixer...I have a fine Kitchenaid but I don't use it--I knead each batch by hand. Great way to burn through frustrations, especially in Obamaland.
As for flour, I've never tried King Arthur but I've heard great things. I use Pillsbury unbleached no-bromate. Anywhere from one-sixth to one-third graham flour for mixed grain bread, what is known in Trinidad as "hops."
Yeast from the jar rather than the packets allows me to vary batch sizes.
And on top? Sesame seeds, or dried onion and kosher salt, or even rosemary.
Bread like this is good enough to eat all by itself.
Meat jello is right. Alton Brown is a good food scientist/physicist/chemist but his manic manner makes him unwatchable
Put a wrought-iron pan filled with hottest tap water in the bottom of the oven when the preheat is started.
I thought for a moment all those beans were going in one batch of soup.
Ay carumba!
The best midnight meals I remember were during the winter of '03-'04 at Pope AFB when I backfilled for the kids headed to the desert.
The kids that I fed were working mainly nightshift maintenance on A-10s, and would come in cold, reeking slightly of hydraulic fluid, tired, and far from home.
I made it my mission to be a bright point in their day. My kitchen staff had ONE mission. Make those kid's day have something special to look forward to.
That was the most gratifying experience of my life. Ever. Those kids were my kid's age, and I was able to make a difference.
It changed my life profoundly.
I was honored to be allowed to serve.
/johnny
Ping
I’ve got sweet potatoes...think I’ll make oven fries out of ‘em.
...or gnocchi. But I'm particularly fond of potato pancakes.
Yes, that's the best "teasing" -- a tantalizing aroma from the kitchen!
Where do you live?
I smell the ability to make a LOT of $$$$ in the black marketing of American goods!
About six months ago, I noticed that she started DVRing the program, so she got over it.
Love those....for an extra kick try some spicy Mrs. Dash...I sprinkle her on everything:-)
I don’t go much for mixes. What’s in Mrs. Dash? I’ve got loads of dried cayenne and jalapeno peppers that I need to grind up.
As my old friend Bobby (one of the best grocery slingers Ingles Markets ever had) used to say: "You can eat it all, from the roota to the toota."
Just dried herps and spices....no salt....It’s really good with sauteed shrimp....I’m going to throw some in my burgers tomorrow....It’s also good in scrambled eggs...Give it a try.....
We could use standard stuff like flour, salt, sugar, shallots, wine, etc... in the kitchen, and any leftovers in the walk-in, and (after I pressed the issue) any edible vegetation around the school grounds. (I remember Euell Gibbons.
It became quite a competition to be creative with some of the stuff we were handed.
If any freeper has stuff in the fridge and wants to make a meal of it, or even post hypothetical "mystery baskets", I'm game to come up with a creative, tasty dish and recipes.
/johnny
Found the ingredient list...wild with the herbs!
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