I'm thinking cheap. I manage my expensive hobbies by living a beans and rice life. Because of that, I can cook good meals that freeze well and I end up with a large variety of choices in my freezer. I cook a lot of stuff from scratch. I manage spices when i find them on sale and in big containers. We've all got things we make to stretch the buck, and I think it'd be fun to have a "Feed ten for $8": contest. I'm thinking some allowances need to be made like charging the portions worth that you use from bulk items. Two cups of flour from a five or ten pound bag should be prorated at the 2 cup portion of cost. Not a contest for folks that think buying three boxes of cheap mac and cheese along with a loaf of bread is a contestant.
Soups, stews, chili. Cheap cuts of meat. In season vegetables. A full meal extra points, i.e. salad, main course and desert. Eighty cents per person. Dandelion salad and other greens are fine IF they are in season. Food piramid points. Novel ideas points. Eating enjoyment points.
What do ya think? To me it sounds like a fun challenge. We could even come out with "The JTI Scraping the Bottom Cook Book."
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Often times, the best comfort food can be made the cheapest. My mom fed a family of five on a very restricted budget and we never went hungry. I love to cook from scratch, and am a cheapskate at the grocery store.. homemade biscuits, chicken soup with dumplings, split pea soup. I just made a big batch of chili mac with cheese that would fit your criteria.
I don't know how to do this. I mean, I can make a meatloaf or pot roast, but I pay almost no attention to price. Mostly, I eat sandwiches, when I'm eating.
Orbs it's one of those things that isn't hard if you know how,, and near impossible if you don't. It helps if you like to experiment and like to cook. What spices work well with which foods, how much food is a fair portion per person, and how to take really cheap cuts of meat that others might do an eww over and turn it all into a tasty nutritious meal.
The pinto bean soup I made two weeks ago started with a $2.83 pack of smoked pork neck bones. Carrots that didn't get eaten from a veggie tray, some celery, onions, and spices... My BIL is begging for more. I sent four healthy portions to my sister, a portion to Mom, and had three or four before I put six portions up. I think that meal came to under $6.75
KKD and her scratch bisquits will be a hard one to beat though. I make a huge mess when baking. I did drag out Mom's old yeast and scalded milk bread recipe a few months ago. She gave me her old cook book printed in 1947. Lots of love in that book.
Anyhow, it isn't hard, just grab a cook book and read it. LOL There is a book case in my kitchen and nearly two shelves are filled with cook books. They rarely get opened though as I'm a pinch of this, dash of that, and a palm full of the other. It's how Mom taught me to cook.
One thing with living in Sweden was that I had to learn to cook from scratch. There is not that much for processed foods and I'm very thankful. Having to learn to make my own spaghetti sauce from actual tomatoes (or when you want to do things quickly a can of crushed tomatoes). I bake my own bread quite often because I try to stretch a buck or en krona as it is here. I will have to think hard about how I make a healthy meal for cheap. I like to make a lot of Eggs (we have a local person here that has chickens and we buy eggs from them) and can make homemade tortillas and homemade chorizo.. that's a fun meal. I buy a lot of my meats with short dates and freeze them. That way I can get some nice pieces for cheap. During the summers I enjoy the farmers market they have set up in our little square.
Orbs is good for eating. No one would have to do something they were uncomfortable with. Huck, tame back on some of those mystery meats, man. There are always beverages needed, too. I'm assuming water and maybe some liquid potions... (I make homemade Kahlua)
I just shake my head when I walk past the meat counter. There is no way I'll pay $5.00/lb for a hunk of roast. I buy my meat on sale and freeze it too.
"I’d like to live as a poor man with lots of money."
-Pablo Picasso
If anyone wants the recipe for home-made Bailey's let me know. I am going to have to price out what I spent to make my big batch of turkey chile, it seems like whenever I make that it is the meal for the entire week.
I must start calculating.
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