The Briefing Room
General Category => Grassroots Activism and Living => TBR Kitchen => Topic started by: unite for individuality on March 28, 2024, 08:56:13 pm
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Here are some meals that can be prepared at relatively low cost, and are tasty and satisfying.
Rice based meals - Rice is a major food staple around the world. It is the main ingredient in many kinds of meals.
Prepare the rice like normal - in boiling water. When you strain out the rice, save the water, and use it to make tea or soup. The water contains many nutrients that washed off the surface of the rice during cooking. Add other ingredients to make the rice into a satisfying meal. Ingredients such as chunky soup (Campbell's, Progresso, etc.), beef stew, etc.
Chicken - Chicken is the least expensive meat. Leg quarters are usually the least expensive (and tastiest!) part of the chicken. They can be bought at low cost frozen, or fresh (Walmart usually has them for about 69 cents a pound, at this writing). Boil the leg quarters for one hour in a big pot of water. This will make them so tender that the meat actually does fall off the bone! You can dice the meat into small pieces, and add them to rice dishes.
Pork - Pork is often available at low cost, especially before Christmas and Easter. Check the packaging. It might be pre-cooked and ready to eat. It's best to not cook it again. That only destroys the tenderness. If the pork is not cooked, boil it in a big pot of water for an hour, just like chicken. Fried pork often comes out very tough. Boiled pork is always at least fairly tender. You can cut it across the muscle fibers to enhance the tenderness. Diced pork can also be added to rice dishes.
Hot dogs and bologna - Prices can vary widely between brands, and from one week to the next. Flavor can also vary between brands. Hot dogs dipped in barbecue sauce can be very tasty.
Potatoes - Potatoes provide plenty of calories per dollar. It's best to not peel potatoes. Most of the nutrition is in the first millimeter under the skin. You can buy devices at the grocery store that you shove down onto the potato with both hands, to easily cut the potato into slices, sticks, or wedges. They can then be deep fried, pan fried, or baked in the oven. All the enhancements (meat, eggs, veggies, soup, etc.) that can be added to rice dishes can also be added to potato based dishes.
Eggs - One way to prepare eggs is to crack them open over a big pot of boiling water. Then, when the eggs are cooked, ladle them out with a strainer. If you cook eggs this way, you can cook a dozen or two dozen or three dozen all in one session, and then have plenty of egg on hand that is ready to eat. You can also add pieces of cooked egg to rice or potato dishes.
Pasta or noodles can be inexpensive, if you look for it on sale, or buy store brands. Rice and potatoes are healthier. Spaghetti sauce can vary widely in price. Pasta sauce can often be found at about the half of the price of the cheapest salsa.
Store brand tortilla chips are usually much less expensive than name brand chips. Tortilla chips are made from corn and tend to cost less than potato chips.
Popcorn is one of the least expensive snack foods. Pieces getting stuck in your teeth can be annoying.
With the cost of food skyrocketing, these meals can help keep everyone fed without going broke. I'm sure there are many more possibilities. Comments are open!
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bkmk
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Masa. Learn to make masa.
With that you can make your own tortillas - It's a pretty easy process if you have a bread maker that can handle the stiff dough... From there they can be pressed out (using a tortilla press) or rolled out and passed over a hot cast iron pan to cook - They actually 'cook' in seconds. With a little practice, and developed efficiencies, 12-24 fresh, so-mo-bedda tortillas await you in about 1/2 hour's time.
Those can be quartered and stacked, then the stacks halved, ad halved again, to form your own chips, which go through the fryer in no time at all.
WAY easier than bread.
Also Bannock or Indian fry bread. Internet recipes abound... But they are all pretty much the same.
Easy to wrap around a stick and cook over a fire, or flattened and thrown in a cast iron pan to fry.
Very versatile. Indian tacos or bushcraft pizza, or stuffed with cheese or folded over and filled with whatever ingredient..
Even for breakfast - fry up hash browns, fry up an egg, and fry up some flatbread - Lay the hash browns down on the flat bread, lay the eggs on top of the hashbrowns. throw on some picante sauce.
all of the above... Staple food, easy and delicious... and costs pennies
You won't believe how good fresh tortillas are. You'll wonder why you've been paying for the crap at the store.
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Beans. Pintos, navy, butter beans, black beans... With a pan of cornbread.
It will keep ya goin' on the cheap.
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Beans. Pintos, navy, butter beans, black beans... With a pan of cornbread.
It will keep ya goin' on the cheap.
More than keep you going... Many, many times I have set down to red beans and rice with a burger or sausage patty busted in, and some corn bread on the side or laid under the rest.
I would take that over any $50 plate in any restaurant.
But yeah - Learn to cook beans. I know it ain't so in Texas, but dang near anywhere else, beans make chili. And if you are looking to stretch a buck, anything you can make in a big pot is gonna go far.
Before the current inflation, my chili cost about 12 bucks, took about a half hour of prep (and a while on the bubble)and would feed me for a week.
I mean ALL week. So many things to do with a good chili. Chili fries, chili over potatoes, a chili omlette... Lay down texas toast, rip a couple big hot dogs down the middle and lay them down on the toast, cover em with chili and cheese, and a garnish of onion and parsley. SO GOOD!
So when do we get to casseroles?
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I know I'll lose my Tx citizenship...but I put beans in my chili as well.
I am a big fan of casseroles but with today's prices there aren't too many you can make on the cheap. Probably still cheaper for a family though.
I'll be interested to see some ideas.
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On the cheap -- I ran across this recipe years ago when my kids were toddler -- this was a favorite. I still make it and it lasts hubby and I a couple of meals.
Granny's Goulash:
1 - 1.5 lbs. ground beef
24 oz. tomato sauce (any jarred sauce works fine)
box macaroni and cheese
Brown the ground beef, cook the macaroni and cheese and stir all together with the tomato sauce in a casserole dish.
Bake at 325 for 1/2 hour
I usually top with additional cheese slices or shredded cheese. Serve with a salad, vegs, and some garlic bread.
Cheap, easy, and fills you up.
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(https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/ca798602-cfaf-469d-8e88-dc135f89fcfc_2.e992c852d6065f464f95f07cc94c4bdc.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF)
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(https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/ca798602-cfaf-469d-8e88-dc135f89fcfc_2.e992c852d6065f464f95f07cc94c4bdc.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF)
Prison food.
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Prison food.
College students loved them too, when I was a college student. Back in the 70's, these were a nickel a pop.
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I wonder how long you could survive on just milk?
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I wonder how long you could survive on just milk?
The body needs about 26 grams of fiber a day.
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College students loved them too, when I was a college student. Back in the 70's, these were a nickel a pop.
They are ok for filler but not much nutrition.
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The body needs about 26 grams of fiber a day.
Not really. I know tons of people who do zero fiber.
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On the cheap -- I ran across this recipe years ago when my kids were toddler -- this was a favorite. I still make it and it lasts hubby and I a couple of meals.
Granny's Goulash:
1 - 1.5 lbs. ground beef
24 oz. tomato sauce (any jarred sauce works fine)
box macaroni and cheese
Brown the ground beef, cook the macaroni and cheese and stir all together with the tomato sauce in a casserole dish.
Bake at 325 for 1/2 hour
I usually top with additional cheese slices or shredded cheese. Serve with a salad, vegs, and some garlic bread.
Cheap, easy, and fills you up.
@libertybele
You just wrote the recipe for Hamburger Helper.
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College students loved them too, when I was a college student. Back in the 70's, these were a nickel a pop.
I ate buckets of that stuff... Not so bad if you throw in some burger or chicken and some stir fry veggies... You can jack it up alright.
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@libertybele
You just wrote the recipe for Hamburger Helper.
I LOVE hamburger helper... But it makes me poop bricks. **nononono*
Make that stuff from scratch.
And btw... I keep that original Mac & Cheese around, but only and specifically for chili-mac, which should not be forgotten. One big scoop of chili thrown into that stuff makes it wonderful... And is not better with scratch made Mac.
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I LOVE hamburger helper... But it makes me poop bricks. **nononono*
Make that stuff from scratch.
And btw... I keep that original Mac & Cheese around, but only and specifically for chili-mac, which should not be forgotten. One big scoop of chili thrown into that stuff makes it wonderful... And is not better with scratch made Mac.
Yes, make it from scratch -- but I do use Annie's Organic mac' n cheese....hey, it's good.
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(https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/ca798602-cfaf-469d-8e88-dc135f89fcfc_2.e992c852d6065f464f95f07cc94c4bdc.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF)
I've never eaten them, but I can attest that when my kids were in college -- they ate plenty of 'em.
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Yes, make it from scratch -- but I do use Annie's Organic mac' n cheese....hey, it's good.
Nope. For Hamburger Helper (Cheeseburger Macaroni flavor, which I assume is on point), I start from standard scratch built Mac & Cheese - Old school, except I am prone to use American cheese instead of cheddar with the rue, and then put a sharp cheddar over the top - But a standard old-school, Mac... get it cooked and bubblin...
Then stir fry an onion, G.Pepper and a pound of burger together - Along with whatever spices ... Last minute, mix in tomato sauce in the stir fry, get it bubblin good, then combine the two...
Shake it over with sharp cheddar like I said, and stuff it all in the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes...
Endless variations, but something like that.
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Nobody's said anything about Kielbasa and cabbage...
Fry up kielbasa coins to get a sear on em - Set aside.
Half a head, fairly fine chopped.
In the pan with an onion (rough-chopped or julienne)... Red bell pepper, again, rough or julienne)
*whatever else*
Let it all cook down
Before serving, throw in the kielbasa.
I could eat that every day.
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:bkmk:
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Ramen noodles are very high in salt unfortunately.... kids can get away with it for a while, not so much me. We had a rice and Chicken dinner tonight (with some homemade gravy).
We have our own Chickens for about 6 months now... 5 or 6 eggs a day so the wife does a lot of devil eggs for church functions. I have 2 (sometimes 3) eggs for breakfast about 5 times a week. Throw in a slice of ham or bacon on the skillet and you have a good breakfast. Grits or Oatmeal other times.
I got a son that works part time at a grocery store (for college money). He lets his mother know when there is a good deal on things and will often call her and ask if she wants a particular deal (and how many). If a great deal the wife will carry the extra to church to share with the other ladies (and they do vice-versa).
We have started saving grease from meats... straining it to keep it mostly clean in jars we keep by the stove. It makes the grease for cooking and keeping the iron pans oiled so they don't rust (keeps them conditioned).
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One of my favorite summer meals Is to cut coins of peeled eggplant, fairly thin, say 1/4 inch or so...
Drag it through an eggwash and then through flour - If you are feeling adventurous, crushed corn flakes, italian bread crumbs or penko... Then throw it in a pan using butter for the grease - you'll need a fair bit of butter, to cover the bottom of the pan a quarter inch or so, and you'll need to add butter as you go...
But pan fry it golden brown and flip em over...
When they won't stay on a fork they're done.
Place the finished eggplant on a piece of really crappy white bread with too much butter, open face...
Give it too much salt.
If you have em, a big ol slice of tomato with more salt.
You'll have to have paper towels ready, because often you must swab the pan out between batches.
It almost has a breaded fish texture... Super good.
If you have you're own butter and your own garden, all you're into it is the crappy store bought bread.
I can put down 6 or 8 of em so a family can murder an eggplant pretty quick.
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I call this "Poor Man's Spaghetti"
* 5 cloves of fresh garlic
* 3/4 cup of olive oil
* 1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
* 3 to 4 eggs
* 1 Tablespoon butter
* 1/3 Cup chopped fresh parsley florets (no stems)
* 1/2lb Barilla thin spaghetti[/b]
1) Sautee chopped/minced garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil. Do NOT allow garlic to burn. Remove from stove and set aside.
2) Boil pasta in salted water to el dente state. Pour excess water out but leave enough to just cover cooked pasta.
3) Fry eggs in butter sunny side up. Do NOT overcook.
4) Return oil/garlic/red pepper flakes to cooked pasta and remaining water.
5) Add the fried eggs and butter to the pot and poke egg yokes with fork...stir gently
6) Add the chopped parsley to the pot.
Remove cooked pasta and eggs from the boiled water mixture
Spoon or use ladle the water/oil/garlic/pepper/parsley mixture over the cooked pasta and egg in your plate.
Enjoy!
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Couldn't find my own recipe so I found this one that's almost identical.
Texas Caviar
8-12 servings
Ingredients
- 2 15 oz. cans black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
- 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed (not in my recipe)
- 2 cups corn, fresh or frozen
- 1 cup red onion, minced
- 1 green bell pepper, small diced
- 1 red bell pepper, small diced
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup minced cilantro
- 3 scallions, sliced thin
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Juice of 1 lime
Instructions
1. Add all ingredients to a large bowl and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour, or up to 24 hours. Serve with tortilla chips, on top of burgers/sandwiches or crostini, or on the side of your favorite grilled meats and fish.
2. Enjoy!
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AllThatJazzZ's World-Famous Texas Rice
6 servings
- ¼ c. butter
- 1 c. green onions, chopped
- 4 c. cooked rice
- 2 c. sour cream
- 1 c. large curd cottage cheese
- 1 t. salt (or to taste)
- Pepper
- ½ t. garlic powder
- 1-2 t. hot curry powder (or to taste)
- 2 4-oz. cans green chilies, drained and seeded*
- 2 c. sharp cheddar grated
1. Microwave butter 30 seconds on high. Add onions. Cook on high 1½ min.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Put in greased 12 x 18 glass dish or 2 quart casserole dish.
3. Cook uncovered on high for 6 minutes until bubbly. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley and serve.
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The body needs about 26 grams of fiber a day.
Okay.
I wonder how long you could survive on milk and cardboard?
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Okay.
I wonder how long you could survive on milk and cardboard?
:silly:
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Ramen noodles are very high in salt unfortunately.... kids can get away with it for a while, not so much me. We had a rice and Chicken dinner tonight (with some homemade gravy).
We have our own Chickens for about 6 months now... 5 or 6 eggs a day so the wife does a lot of devil eggs for church functions. I have 2 (sometimes 3) eggs for breakfast about 5 times a week. Throw in a slice of ham or bacon on the skillet and you have a good breakfast. Grits or Oatmeal other times.
I got a son that works part time at a grocery store (for college money). He lets his mother know when there is a good deal on things and will often call her and ask if she wants a particular deal (and how many). If a great deal the wife will carry the extra to church to share with the other ladies (and they do vice-versa).
We have started saving grease from meats... straining it to keep it mostly clean in jars we keep by the stove. It makes the grease for cooking and keeping the iron pans oiled so they don't rust (keeps them conditioned).
I have always saved Bacon grease, but lately have taken to saving beef fat, too (when I don't drizzle it on Peaches' kibble).
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Ever put parm cheese on chili? holy crap is that good.
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I LOVE hamburger helper... But it makes me poop bricks. **nononono*
I always try to eat a balance between meat and vegetables
(usually canned vegetables).
Too little vegetable, I get corked.
Too much vegetable, I get a slow, hard to prevent ooze.
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I always try to eat a balance between meat and vegetables
(usually canned vegetables).
Too little vegetable, I get corked.
Too much vegetable, I get a slow, hard to prevent ooze.
Oh me too - I need my greens.
Don't matter with Hamburger Helper.
Eat that stuff, and you're a bricklayer now. Dunno why.
And it don't matter which flavor.
Besides, HH ain't all that handy... So ya gotta make a roux and melt some cheese. Big deal... Throw some spices around... so what? I can dang near build the same thing in the same time, with but an extra pot, perhaps.
And mine, from scratch, will be way, way mo bedda And with all them greens we're talking about built right in...
So it ain't really doing that much for you, and it certainly ain't saving money. I mean, it's alright (other than the bricks), but just REAL 10 minute macaroni makes it so different and so much better... Add a roux based cheese bechamel, even a cheap, crappy one, and KABOOM, baby! you are so far past what HH can do that it ain't even in the same league.
If you scratch build that same thing, it's probably cheaper, probably far more healthy (no bricks is a great start), and super-mo-bedda delicious.
That's another point for the OP... Food need not be merely OK to be affordable. HH builds on that lie.
Learn to scratch cook and your diet will be fantastic! You'll eat like a king, and stretch your dollar too!
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Here is an oldie but goodie cheapie. I'll put the more modern day expensive ingredients in parathesis. If you want "fluffy" dumplings...this may not work for you.
Chicken and Dumplings
Boil a chicken until done and debone. Save the meat not used and freeze for later as well as the bones for stock. (Use canned chicken and add chicken bullion and chicken broth)
Cut up a few carrots and a small amount of onion/celery and add to boiling broth until soft. (use canned carrots...and peas if ya got them}
Roll out a basic pie dough recipe with a small amount of baking powder. (use el cheapo canned biscuits, rolled out thin, which is what I use these days) and cut into squares.
Drop biscuits/pie dough into the boiling broth and cover for about 15 minutes. Add the chicken. I usually add some yellow food coloring to make it look "real".
Add cornstarch to thicken the broth (add about 1/2 can of cream of chicken soup.)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Either way...it's not too expensive.
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Chicken and Dumplings
Oh man... I ain't had Chicken and dumplings since Hector was a pup.
But even *even* just fried chicken.
Everybody thinks chicken comes from a box. It's been SO long since I've been invited to dinner and there was fried chicken, or chicken on the grill. It's just crazy.
I think I posted this elsewhere, But in the course of my Blue Haired Ol Ladies' Committee from my clan helping me out in my current malady, one of the things that appeared in volume was frozen chicken breasts. They were stuffed in every hole in my freezer. Butt tons of em.
Well there they sit, because I don't know my way around a peeled and frozen chicken breast- I don't know how to handle it. So there they sit for a year, and now they're gonna go bad pretty soon, so I gotta use em up... So what to do? :pondering:
Well being a redneck boy, I know what to do with any meat... I cut it into bite-size chunks, drug it through the eggwash, drug it through the flour, and threw it in the oil. Well basically, That's Southern fried chicken, without the skin.
OMG!!! It was SO very good! One chicken breast made a bowl full of bites.... I fried up greens and veggies, Threw a couple little taters in the nuke, worried it all together with some butter, and laid them bites across the top. And it was AWESOME.
What could you do with them bites with some onion, peppers, pineapple, and some Thai sweet and sour sauce over rice? Or throw em through some Franks for a buffalo wing effect, lay em next to a baked potato with broccoli in a cheese sauce on the side?
Oh, man! You can make some stuff with that.
And if you really want it cheap, fry up the whole chicken...
And if you really really want it cheap, raise up the chicken in the first place.
And that brings me back to you... Chicken and dumplings.
We had that a whole lot. If old hens went to freezer camp, invariably that hen wound up in chicken and dumplings. Them old birds ain't good for eating without you put em on a boil for a while.
//rant
888high58888
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Oh man... I ain't had Chicken and dumplings since Hector was a pup.
But even *even* just fried chicken.
Everybody thinks chicken comes from a box. It's been SO long since I've been invited to dinner and there was fried chicken, or chicken on the grill. It's just crazy.
I think I posted this elsewhere, But in the course of my Blue Haired Ol Ladies' Committee from my clan helping me out in my current malady, one of the things that appeared in volume was frozen chicken breasts. They were stuffed in every hole in my freezer. Butt tons of em.
Well there they sit, because I don't know my way around a peeled and frozen chicken breast- I don't know how to handle it. So there they sit for a year, and now they're gonna go bad pretty soon, so I gotta use em up... So what to do? :pondering:
Well being a redneck boy, I know what to do with any meat... I cut it into bite-size chunks, drug it through the eggwash, drug it through the flour, and threw it in the oil. Well basically, That's Southern fried chicken, without the skin.
OMG!!! It was SO very good! One chicken breast made a bowl full of bites.... I fried up greens and veggies, Threw a couple little taters in the nuke, worried it all together with some butter, and laid them bites across the top. And it was AWESOME.
What could you do with them bites with some onion, peppers, pineapple, and some Thai sweet and sour sauce over rice? Or throw em through some Franks for a buffalo wing effect, lay em next to a baked potato with broccoli in a cheese sauce on the side?
Oh, man! You can make some stuff with that.
And if you really want it cheap, fry up the whole chicken...
And if you really really want it cheap, raise up the chicken in the first place.
And that brings me back to you... Chicken and dumplings.
We had that a whole lot. If old hens went to freezer camp, invariably that hen wound up in chicken and dumplings. Them old birds ain't good for eating without you put em on a boil for a while.
//rant
888high58888
C & D are in our regular rotation for dinner. I like the kind that sink (no baking powder).
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Well, @roamer_1 ...I do hear where you are coming from. In my very not long ago youth, I was a huge red meat eater. But since I've been cursed with high cholesterol and the prices have gone up it's chicken, chicken, fish, fish. I cluck when I walk and have grown gills. :rolling: Red meat is a treat.
There are so many ways to make chicken...chicken spaghetti, parmesan chicken, barbequed chicken, and my personal favorite (that I eat all summer) chicken salad. I could go on, but I won't bore you, lol. Well one more...if I'm having a cheat day I'll roll them in an egg/milk mixture and then roll them in a crushed up mixture of the canned onions, and bake.
I can live without fried chicken...it's messy. I can eat salmon and tilapia that is baked. But if I get fresh catfish or crappie...I'm frying it...if I croak..so be it. :laugh:
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We do homemade chicken and noodles all the time. Over mashed potatoes.
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C & D are in our regular rotation for dinner. I like the kind that sink (no baking powder).
Last I had em we'd just bust up biscuit dough from a pop-can and throw it in there. That was alright - But not as good as when Mamma made em scratch.
I really think she has some kind of cocaine oil or something exuding from her fingertips... Everything she touches turns delicious. You ain't messin with Mamma's cookin. Ever.
Shoot, she's in her 80's now, and still can run rings around the rest of the ladies... Easter Sunday is coming up... You can bet money Mamma's going to have a busy weekend. And it will be glorious.
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I haven't had dumplings since I was little.
Homemade recipe anyone??
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The last time I had dumplings it was in homemade minestrone soup.
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Well, @roamer_1 ...I do hear where you are coming from. In my very not long ago youth, I was a huge red meat eater. But since I've been cursed with high cholesterol and the prices have gone up it's chicken, chicken, fish, fish. I cluck when I walk and have grown gills. :rolling: Red meat is a treat.
Yeah, my current health restrictions are a thing now, but what really threw me was going kosher. That threw away well over half the meat I was used to. I was pretty hillbilly for a while there - You want to eat on the cheap, learn hunting and trapping. Come by for dinner at my place, you might find coon or beaver or marten or even coyote in the pot.
Add to that - fisherman... Another HUGE money saver... Learn to fish. Half of one of my freezers is usually packed with rainbow and cutthroat, Brookies and kokanee. Throw in some bass and perch and sunfish, and well, it's fair to say fish has always been in my wheelhouse too.
A lot of that went away when I went kosher. I don't know how to stay alive in the woods and keep kosher, limited to ungulates and upland birds... I would likely die. But now, dietary restrictions too - I can still have all the red meat I want... I just can't put any damn salt on it... Which means no pickles, no sauces, no nothin.
So what I am saying is I have a fairly extended palate when it comes to meat - I ain't all that picky, though I have a definite preference for red meat (beef, elk, moose, buffalo venison) and fish of any kind.
But the restrictions suck. Makes it rough trying to find and cook excellent food... ALL the redneck food groups are verboten. **nononono*
There are so many ways to make chicken...chicken spaghetti, parmesan chicken, barbequed chicken, and my personal favorite (that I eat all summer) chicken salad. I could go on, but I won't bore you, lol. Well one more...if I'm having a cheat day I'll roll them in an egg/milk mixture and then roll them in a crushed up mixture of the canned onions, and bake.
I can live without fried chicken...it's messy. I can eat salmon and tilapia that is baked. But if I get fresh catfish or crappie...I'm frying it...if I croak..so be it. :laugh:
Thankfully, I have no cholesterol issues. They left me my cast iron and my deep fryer...
Salmon is right up my ally, my kokanee, honey and mustard, left up in the smoke turns to candy... You have one little bit, you'll keep coning back for more. Way better than jerky and easier on old teeth. :beer:
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Dumplings
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour plus extra for dusting
⅓ cup shortening
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup milk
½ teaspoon salt
(I sometimes add about 1/4 cup of sour cream)
Stir it up into a thick dough (add small amount of flour if necessary) and drop tablespoon sized hunks into the broth of your choice and simmer for 20 minutes on low heat.
(Being a Texas guy, I can't resist throwing a tablespoon full of red pepper flakes in but that's strictly up to you.)
P.S. No buckshot green peas for me!
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Dumplings
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour plus extra for dusting
⅓ cup shortening
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup milk
½ teaspoon salt
(I sometimes add about 1/4 cup of sour cream)
Stir it up into a thick dough (add small amount of flour if necessary) and drop tablespoon sized hunks into the broth of your choice and simmer for 20 minutes on low heat.
(Being a Texas guy, I can't resist throwing a tablespoon full of red pepper flakes in but that's strictly up to you.)
P.S. No buckshot green peas for me!
Thank you @Bigun I've got it written down -- adding sour cream sounds pretty tasty :beer:
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Dumplings
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour plus extra for dusting
⅓ cup shortening
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup milk
½ teaspoon salt
(I sometimes add about 1/4 cup of sour cream)
Stir it up into a thick dough (add small amount of flour if necessary) and drop tablespoon sized hunks into the broth of your choice and simmer for 20 minutes on low heat.
(Being a Texas guy, I can't resist throwing a tablespoon full of red pepper flakes in but that's strictly up to you.)
P.S. No buckshot green peas for me!
Those would be "floaters," I leave out the baking powder. It's a North/South thing.
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I found this alternative to dumplings, which actually be quite good -
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/the-nosher/matzah-ball-casserole-is-my-passover-comfort-food/
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Those would be "floaters," I leave out the baking powder. It's a North/South thing.
Depends on what I have on hand. This is basic camp cookery that works with all kinds of game (squirrel, rabbit, turkey...)
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Depends on what I have on hand. This is basic camp cookery that works with all kinds of game (squirrel, rabbit, turkey...)
True! The base meat can be anything!
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Here is an oldie but goodie cheapie. I'll put the more modern day expensive ingredients in parathesis. If you want "fluffy" dumplings...this may not work for you.
My mom used to make chicken with fluffy dumplings.
She would put the chicken in a big pot, cover it with water,
and then pop open a tube of pre-made biscuits,
and float them on top of the water.
Put the lid on and simmer for one hour.
The "dumplings" always came out perfect,
regardless of the cooking time.
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In my very not long ago youth, I was a huge red meat eater. But since I've been cursed with high cholesterol and the prices have gone up it's chicken, chicken, fish, fish. I cluck when I walk and have grown gills. :rolling: Red meat is a treat.
Years ago, I used to eat hamburgers twice a day, at least 6 days a week.
It gave me body odor. I smelled like a cattle feedlot.
Later, for economic reasons, I changed over to eating more chicken.
No more body odor.
I didn't realize what was causing the body odor until after I changed my diet.
These days, I try to keep a rotation going something like
beef, chicken, chicken, pork, chicken, pork, chicken.
Or maybe
pork, chicken, fish, pork, chicken, fish
with beef thrown in occasionally.
Some foods that can cause body odor (if eaten in large amounts) are -
Onion, garlic, green peppers, peanuts/peanut butter, beef, pork.
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Lentil soup. Soak a cup and a half of brown lentils overnight. When ready to make the soup, chop up a big onion, mince a few coves of garlic, and cut up whatever else you fancy (bell pepper, carrot, zucchini, eggplant,...). Saute the garlic and onion for a while in whatever oil you like to cook with, add the other veg, season with whatever you like (we usually use Levantine spices like cumin, coriander, Aleppo pepper, but a bit of chili powder would do) saute a little longer, add the lentils (drain the water you soaked them in first) and some sort of broth, cook for about a half hour. If you like you can put in some chopped tomatoes or tomato paste. If you fancy sour soups (a taste that seems to start in Greece and run all the way across Asia) squeeze some lemon or lime juice on before serving.
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Here is a cheap and handy meal I like to make once in a while. Take one can of Hormel tamales, heat them up in the microwave, then just serve them over a nice big bed of rice. Serves two for under $2.00 per person.
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Years ago, I used to eat hamburgers twice a day, at least 6 days a week.
It gave me body odor. I smelled like a cattle feedlot.
Later, for economic reasons, I changed over to eating more chicken.
No more body odor.
I didn't realize what was causing the body odor until after I changed my diet.
These days, I try to keep a rotation going something like
beef, chicken, chicken, pork, chicken, pork, chicken.
Or maybe
pork, chicken, fish, pork, chicken, fish
with beef thrown in occasionally.
Some foods that can cause body odor (if eaten in large amounts) are -
Onion, garlic, green peppers, peanuts/peanut butter, beef, pork.
I rotate my foods, too. I try to never eat the same protein 2 nights in a row.
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Lentil soup. Soak a cup and a half of brown lentils overnight. When ready to make the soup, chop up a big onion, mince a few coves of garlic, and cut up whatever else you fancy (bell pepper, carrot, zucchini, eggplant,...). Saute the garlic and onion for a while in whatever oil you like to cook with, add the other veg, season with whatever you like (we usually use Levantine spiced like cumin, coriander, Aleppo pepper, but a bit of chili powder would do) saute a little longer, add the lentils (drain the water you soaked them in first) and some sort of broth, cook for about a half hour. I you like you can put in some chopped tomatoes or tomato paste.
My sis makes a bomber lentil soup, and when she does she always sends some over. It's_delicious.
My only critique: It needs meat. I am kosher, but I always envision cooking that up with a ham bone.
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I rotate my foods, too. I try to never eat the same protein 2 nights in a row.
I'm often the opposite. I like making a big pot of something and eat on it for days.
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I'm often the opposite. I like making a big pot of something and eat on it for days.
Me, too. Maybe I'll make two big post and trade off...but usually when I get a distinct hankering for something I will eat until the pot runs dry. (of course, exceptin' hot chili, I usually get some help...)
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Me, too. Maybe I'll make two big post and trade off...but usually when I get a distinct hankering for something I will eat until the pot runs dry. (of course, exceptin' hot chili, I usually get some help...)
Yep. Mostly this place runs on three meals: chili foremost, goulash, and spaghetti. With those meals comes a huge amount of variation - well, with the spaghetti and the chili anyway.
For instance, if you have the forethought to roll up a few meatballs, the marinara sauce and meatballs and mozeralla cheese, and some decent Texas toast, and you have a meatball sandwich that'll knock you right out.
Rip some French bread longways, pan fry it, and use that marinara and make some french bread pizza...
Oh, and sourdough pizza, made in a cast iron pan... I do a sourdough slurry that leaves a beautiful crust... Man, sometimes I would prefer that to any pizza.
But all that is only around if you make a big ol pot of spaghetti sauce to start with. :beer:
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My sis makes a bomber lentil soup, and when she does she always sends some over. It's_delicious.
My only critique: It needs meat. I am kosher, but I always envision cooking that up with a ham bone.
Notice, I left the broth open: you can use beef or chicken stock. (We usually don't, being Eastern Orthodox there are too many days when we're supposed to be almost vegan -- we're always allowed shellfish, but they don't go with lentil soup.)
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Notice, I left the broth open: you can use beef or chicken stock. (We usually don't, being Eastern Orthodox there are too many days when we're supposed to be almost vegan -- we're always allowed shellfish, but they don't go with lentil soup.)
LOL! Like I said - Kosher - so no ham bone for me... But that's what seems to fit it... Though a nice sausage coined up and seared and thrown in would be nice too.
But what a great soup. Hardy. Sprung from the ground. The kind of thing you'd get at a farmer's table with a nice chunk of homemade bread... A ripped-off chunk... No sliced bread there.
:beer:
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Bean Soup -- (I normally start to simmer and stir in the morning and cook this for most of the day till dinner time).
1 lb great northern beans - 4-5 qts water
Ham and or bone or hocks
2 Bay leaves (decent sized pieces)
1 large onion chopped or diced
couple large carrots
1 or 2 potatoes (preferably Idaho)
1 or 2 tomato sliced/diced
whole peppercorns
tomatoes
Tabasco sauce (optional)
Put enough water in pot to cover beans bring to a boil (or soak overnight) Empty water and refill with qts of water and bring beans to boiling again. Simmer -- add bay leaf, ham, onion peppercorns, carrots. Simmer till ham and beans are almost tender, add tomatoes, potatoes (Potatoes are for thickness too) and simmer. When potatoes are soft and soup is thickened to desired consistency and ham is tender (or off bone), remove bone and mash till thick. Remove or leave peppercorns to taste.
If desired add a shot or two of Tabasco sauce.
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Hobo Dinners
Since the cost of hamburger has come down a little bit it's pretty cheap.
In heavy duty foil for individual portions, crumble up uncooked hamburger. Lightly salt and pepper. Cut up potatoes and carrots in rounds and layer on top. Cut up a boat load of onions and layer on top. Lightly salt and pepper. Bring the tops of the foil together and seal. It will kind of look like an aluminum foil burrito.
This is made to be cooked on a campfire but works just as well in the oven. I guess I like it because it can be fixed ahead of time and can feed one or ten . And the clean up is a breeze.
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Hobo Dinners
Since the cost of hamburger has come down a little bit it's pretty cheap.
In heavy duty foil for individual portions, crumble up uncooked hamburger. Lightly salt and pepper. Cut up potatoes and carrots in rounds and layer on top. Cut up a boat load of onions and layer on top. Lightly salt and pepper. Bring the tops of the foil together and seal. It will kind of look like an aluminum foil burrito.
This is made to be cooked on a campfire but works just as well in the oven. I guess I like it because it can be fixed ahead of time and can feed one or ten . And the clean up is a breeze.
Double-BUMP. I have eaten hobo so many times it's uncountable.
You can put your bannock bread right in with it too, but it turns out more like dumplings than bread...
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I'm looking into an old Tuna Melt Jello dish. Looks promising so far.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/5151/5915385132_01014f8084_b.jpg)
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Lentil soup. Soak a cup and a half of brown lentils overnight. When ready to make the soup, chop up a big onion, mince a few coves of garlic, and cut up whatever else you fancy (bell pepper, carrot, zucchini, eggplant,...). Saute the garlic and onion for a while in whatever oil you like to cook with, add the other veg, season with whatever you like (we usually use Levantine spices like cumin, coriander, Aleppo pepper, but a bit of chili powder would do) saute a little longer, add the lentils (drain the water you soaked them in first) and some sort of broth, cook for about a half hour. If you like you can put in some chopped tomatoes or tomato paste. If you fancy sour soups (a taste that seems to start in Greece and run all the way across Asia) squeeze some lemon or lime juice on before serving.
Be sure to check your lentils beforehand, sometimes small rocks get picked up in them, so hand sort them first. Usually the rocks are porous stones grey if I remember correctly. Don't want a dentist bill to ruin your fun... Such a treat they are, and good for the heart (you know the rest .... toot).
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Double-BUMP. I have eaten hobo so many times it's uncountable.
You can put your bannock bread right in with it too, but it turns out more like dumplings than bread...
One of the things I have found interesting about this thread @roamer_1 is how no matter where we live, the cheap recipes are very similar. (I did have to look up bannock bread, lol)
The other thing is, when I was thinking about economical recipes from my youth and "lean days" of early marriage...they really aren't cheap anymore. For instance, salmon patties (heck a can of salmon is 4 bucks) and a roast that could be 3 meals at least. Roast is crazy expensive! When we first married, I worked at a fried chicken joint and got to take the left over chicken home every night. Wouldn't work today. We were in our teens and very active so cholesterol was not even a thought.
But the weather is a little cooler today (not cold by any means) so I made lentil soup for dinner. Yum!!
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One of the things I have found interesting about this thread @roamer_1 is how no matter where we live, the cheap recipes are very similar. (I did have to look up bannock bread, lol)
Bannock bread is a hillbilly term, or at least it is out west - y'all may know it (in its variations) as indian fry bread or Navaho fry bread... But for all its variation (see pemmican as being the same way), it's all pretty much the same. Pretty much biscuit dough...
The other thing is, when I was thinking about economical recipes from my youth and "lean days" of early marriage...they really aren't cheap anymore. For instance, salmon patties (heck a can of salmon is 4 bucks) and a roast that could be 3 meals at least. Roast is crazy expensive! When we first married, I worked at a fried chicken joint and got to take the left over chicken home every night. Wouldn't work today. We were in our teens and very active so cholesterol was not even a thought.
Yeah... With my malady keeping me nailed down to the cabin, I am finding that out. It's truly an amazement to me how much I got for free when I could just go out and get it. It's coming on morels right now up in here, and that's something I should ought to just wander out in the woods and pick, but I won't have any this year, unless the kids think to bring me some by. Eggs... I am so used to just getting 4 dozen any old time I want, And now they are moved across town with my son and I am mostly eating store-bought, as it is a chore for them to bring em over. Salmon is another one of them... I ain't made salmon from a can in a coon's age. I just catch a mess of kokanee every year, and make it from that, frozen, or from smoked. We ain't even gonna talk about no beef, elk, moose, venison, and upland birds... That and fishin is what I have always done for fun, And my freezers have always been full - 3 of em... Now I have 1 freezer left, and it half full, and Instacart bringing me my groceries (and that at an enormous extra cost).
It is a bother. I cannot wait for my feet to come back (If Yah provides) . Hopefully this summer sees it come. I would much prefer to go back to taking care of myself. I sure ate better - If that in the more rustic manner to which I am accustomed.
But the weather is a little cooler today (not cold by any means) so I made lentil soup for dinner. Yum!!
We got it coming on.... Ain't no snow left down here in the valley - Even the snow berms from plowing are gone... But no crocus yet, no lilacs in the bud, and the willows ain't coming yet (all sure signs of that 's' word)
happy77 :beer:
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The other thing is, when I was thinking about economical recipes from my youth and "lean days" of early marriage...they really aren't cheap anymore. For instance, salmon patties (heck a can of salmon is 4 bucks) and a roast that could be 3 meals at least. Roast is crazy expensive! When we first married, I worked at a fried chicken joint and got to take the left over chicken home every night. Wouldn't work today. We were in our teens and very active so cholesterol was not even a thought.
Some things have gone up a lot.
Mackerel used to be 75 cents a can. Now it's $2.69.
Fukushima happened, and poisoned much of the ocean.
Stock up on non-perishable foods now, before they go up more!
I'd like to add - when buying canned fish, on the can, in addition to net weight,
it might say on the can "DR WT". That means "drained weight."
That's the amount of fish you're actually getting
after you drain off the water in which the fish is packed.
And if you're going to stock up on beans, you should also stock up on Beano!
(The store brand tends to be a lot cheaper.)