Diagonal-slice the tops, preheat the oven to 500 and voila!
I don't have one of these pans yet, but a restaurant supply house should have them for about $20.
Apricot preserves and creamery butter....
arrrrrlgh!
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.
That might be a great idea for some other areas though.
Solar A/C would be great
One thing we do here at the house is cook outside as much as possible during the summer.
Baked bread becomes a fall/winter/spring kind of thing to help warm the house, and summer tends toward homemade tortillas cooked on a comal outside.
/johnny
Diagonal-slice the tops, preheat the oven to 500 and voila!
I don't have one of these pans yet, but a restaurant supply house should have them for about $20.
Apricot preserves and creamery butter....
arrrrrlgh!
Yup, and the photo is only about 75-80% size.
Get cane chairs for your dining room and enjoy those al dente beans!
Pressure cookers are great. We have accumulated four Presto pressure cookers. All are stinless steel
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.
Meat on the bone always has the most flavor and obviously the best for soups as the collagen and bone leak into the broth. This has been known for centuries
I’m known world wide as an authority on beans. I have 115 books you can find on Amazon
Really? Guess this Texan better go put it back in the garage.
I spent 3 years on my own as an amateur cook learning bread, and doing ok. I spent the baking semester soaking the Instructor Chef for everything I could get. I finally worked out a recipe that works very well for me in the fall/winter/spring here in N.Texas.
Every place is a little different, and everyone's tastes/needs are a little different.
When I cooked bread for the 301st AT in Wyoming, at 6000 ft.... I had to listen to the baker there that had been doing it, 4.0 in school or not.
/johnny
Proper soaking and rinsing is the secret to tender beans. Another tip is not to add salt or acidic foods when cooking them, particularly salt, as it can make them tough.
Chickpeas in chili are awesome, and I swear they produce less gas than properly soaked red beans.
And, never forget the lowly lentil. It cooks quickly, doesn’t need soaking to become tender, and combined with regular rice, onions, celery, and some spices of your choice, a yummy main dish! (brown is best, parboiled Uncle Ben’s second best, and forget instant rice!)
Also, there is a company that I have ordered form and can vouch for... Harmony House Foods. You can buy big jars of deydrated veggies, just perfect for adding to soups, stews, and casseroles. This saves us money, time, and the problem of keeping fresh veggies here is the house in the winter when our garden isn’t producing. We live in the snowbelt of Western NY, and the nearest market is 1 hour drive away (round trip), so we like to have dehydrated on hand.
These are not the vacuum packed big cans you buy from the survival places, and are only good for a year or two of storage. They have sample packs so you can try them out without spending a lot. They ship promptly, and are a family owned business.
Their link to save you time... Tell them a happy customer sent you!
http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/
You can also get a canvas and wood proofing pan that holds the round shape during proofing. That, I don't have.
/johnny
15 bean soup.
Ingredients:
1 pound dried black beans
1 pound dried red beans
1 pound dried kidney beans
1 pound dried navy beans
1 pound dried great northern beans
1 pound dried baby lima beans
1 pound dried large lima beans
1 pound dried pinto beans
1 pound dried green split peas
1 pound dried yellow split peas
1 pound dried black eyed peas
1 pound dried red lentils
1 pound dried green lentils
1 pound dried brown lentils
1 pound dried cranberry beans
***To Make Soup***
2 cups 15-bean soup mix
1 smoked ham hock
2 cans (14.5 ounces) stewed tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
6 cups water
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Directions:
Combine beans in a very large bowl. Pour 2 cups into a large wide mouth jar.
To Make 15 Bean Soup: Cover bean mix with water and soak overnight. Drain beans and place in a stockpot. Add ham hock, tomatoes, onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf and 6 cups water.
Bring to a boil over medium high heat; reduce to medium low, cover and simmer 1 hour. Add remaining ingredients; continue to simmer 1 hour or until beans are tender. Remove bay leaf before serving. Serve warm.
That’s awesome! I’m just teasing you about beans causing gas. But then, I grew up with a bunch of brothers and uncles — I’m not kidding about the cane chairs. Good thing nobody smoked, or the house might have caught fire after dinner.
Funny, we both still cook outside in the summer, though. That's common enough.
/johnny
Now, I just need a cow or a couple of goats.
We love “Henry Hill’s” chic pea salad....It’s so simple....chic peas, chopped pimento’s, chopped red onion, fresh Italian parsley, olive oil, s&p and grated lemon zest.....Don’t forget the crusty Italian bread!!!!
Put a pan of water underneath in the oven.
It will steam.
Try making one from a cardboard box and foil just for grins and giggles. Rice takes on a wonderful nutty taste.
I don’t think Americans eat enough meat. Our real problem is we eat too much processed, high starch, low nutrient grains.
Some will even accept special orders if you order larger quantities (such as no msg or no shrimp paste).
I could never do that. I love the piggies and the chicks, but if I go too long without beef, I become despondent.
That doesn't mean you have to take out a loan and buy a rib roast every week.
I get packer's cuts of briskets, shoulder muscles, sirloin tips, u.s.w. from BJ's Wholesale Club. these are vacuum packed so they will hold up in your fridge for 2-4 weeks which should give you plenty of time to break them down if you're single or have a small family.
The shoulders and sirloins can be used for pot roast, ground up in the food processor for hamburger meat, put in chili, stew, whatever you want.
Brisket is for the smoker. I'll take a brisket smoked over apple wood for 12 hours over a steak any day.
My weapons of choice are the slow cooker, the pressure cooker, and the propane smoker.
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