No, they were good, and the store is a regular beehive. Just pleasantly more chewy than the usual mushy navy bean -- more like a kidney bean in texture, but much larger. Fava beans are over an inch wide.
Dried fava beans
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.
No, they were good, and the store is a regular beehive. Just pleasantly more chewy than the usual mushy navy bean -- more like a kidney bean in texture, but much larger. Fava beans are over an inch wide.
We get a nice preroasted chicken for $4.95 here.
I totally agree. I recently learned that some of our beef contains thyroid hormones, which will mess you up if you eat beef frequently.
Hubby and I love to fish, so we look forward to filling our freezer with freshwater favorites, crappie, bream, and catfish, with a few bass thrown in for those who like them too. It’s that time of year again in our neck of the woods!
We are still enjoying fish out of the freezer from our last fishing season.
Hubby also bags enough venison to furnish us with steaks and ground meat until well into the next deer season. You can make sausage, summer sausage, and jerky too, if you’re so inclined.
We think venison is just as good, or better, than beef in most dishes, if you know how to prepare it and season it.
Another thing that’s done among friends and acquaintances around here, and in other places too I’m fairly certain, is to exchange a type of food or to give it in exchange for a service when payment was refused by the person who rendered service. For example, someone who doesn’t hunt, but likes game, might exchange beef, or pork, for venison, etc., if they raise cattle or hogs. Someone might need help with something, and the person helping wouldn’t accept a monetary payment, so they would be given some food item as a kindness for their kindness.
Hubby came home recently with some packages of home cured bacon, and homemade sausage because he helped the person without charge. That’s pretty much a way of life around here regardless of hard times. : )
It was good enough that the dogs are getting a little extra corn-meal and a little less meat in their dog-food, and we kept the good parts.
NZ lamb for restaurant use? I can see the $13US price, maybe.
I wouldn't pay any more for lamb than goat, and they go under the knife when they start costing me $0.85/lb.
That doesn't count the cost of processing the meat. I do that here. Anyone that can read and is willing to try can learn to process a carcass.
/johnny
The closer to the natural state that you buy something the cheaper it is.
Instant rice is more expensive, so is quick cooking barley, and rolled oats.
Ethnic groceries are one of the best kept secrets, you can buy 4 or 8 ounce bags of spice for 10% of the stuff in jars.
Same thing on the grains. Local Indian grocery has chickpeas, every color of lentil and many other dry beans at a fraction of the 1 lb sacks the grocery’s carry.
I never cooked large favas. How are they supposed to come out? Soft or chewy? I don’t like al dente beans. I like soft because you digest them better and get no gas
I think there's a joke in there somewhere, but I haven't gotten it yet. What does Europe have to do with fava beans from a middle-eastern grocery here in the States? At least some of my ancestors fled Europe because of the potato famine; others came for the fishing, farming and trading; still others were born here as native Americans.
I buy beef neck bones and made soup stock and always buy whole chickens (unless there’s a sale I can’t pass up), save out the backs, tail, and wing tips to make chicken stock. Lately I’ve been canning what stock I don’t use up...need freezer space this summer for squash.
I have Bouillon cubes for emergencies, but like my homemade stock better.
And I make my own pizza.
I make exceptions for some of the chain baguettes which are par-baked and the store just finishes them, those are excellent, much better than I can do without a fancy oven.
Soups are a favorite here as well, considering the cats sometimes hide my teef.
/johnny
http://solarcooking.org/plans
Off to read the rest of the thread.
It's taken me four months of trying, but by jove I think I've got it.
Bookmarked.
Great thread. Thanks!
/johnny
Indian stores have beans and pulses I've never seen in my life. Beans are a crucial protein source in India
You're no fun.
I picked up a T-Fal pressure cooker at a second hand store late last year for 3 bucks. It had never been used. I’d always been afraid of them, but never again.
And talk about frugal. Yes, you can get cheap meat and turn it into something amazing (those cheap, tough cuts also have the greatest amount of flavor). But what’s great about it is you’re only running the stove for 1/3 of the time you ordinarily would.
Thats a Jack and the Beanstalk kind of bean
Right now I’m trying to eat down the freezer (lots of turnips and squash from last summer) before this year’s garden comes in. It’s bad when you don’t have freezer space for ice cream. :)
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