response 1 of 43:

Jun 15 16:55 UTC 2007

I must confess that, because herbs and spices go a long way to making
simple food versatile, my "bare" cupboard contains a lot more than the
average over-the-stove shelf.  

I buy all of these at the 4th Ave Coop for the dried versions.  Bulk
spices at the Coop turn over quickly.  I can buy small amounts, based on
my use-rates, and always have fresh stock in my pantry.  One of the
worst things about cooking in not-Ann Arbor is being able to afford a
good selection of herbs that you use infrequently.  I end up paying too
much, buying more than I can use, and throwing out the dusty remnants
when I can't stand it any longer.  

In the spring, I spend about $25 on seedlings at the Farmers' Market,
and plant them in window boxes.

Here is my current window box inventory of living herbs:
basil, chives, cilantro, dill, mint, parsley, rosemary, tarragon,  
thyme, nasturtium, marigold. Nasturtium and marigold petals add lively
visual interest to salads, and the leaves of the nasturtium also have a
peppery flavor.  

My kitchen is tiny, almost 9 by almost 6 ft, and has two counter top
areas, one 18" x 20", and the other 24" x 27".  In the first shelf above
the smaller work area, I have my spices.

There are about 45 Spice Island jars in use as herb/spice containers,
but I've whittled it down to 26 essential ones for Cheap Eats.

Allspice, basil, bay leaf, caraway seeds, celery seeds, chili powder,
cinnamon, coriander, cumin, curry powder, dry mustard, dry ginger,
marjoram, mint, mustard seeds, nutmeg, oregano, paprika, red pepper
flakes, cayenne pepper, black peppercorns, rosemary, sage, sesame seeds,
tarragon, thyme.

Fresh ginger, fresh garlic, vanilla extract, and Worcestershire sauce
round out the flavorings.  

response 3 of 43:

Jun 15 19:56 UTC 2007

Fresh vegetables are here.  The list is limited to those I can usually buy
for less than $1.00 a pound, plus the garlic and ginger for flavor.

Cabbage, onion, potato, and tomatoes.

response 5 of 43:

Jun 15 20:01 UTC 2007

I buy a fair amount of manufactured foods:

Catsup, cider vinegar, lemon juice, evaporated milk, molasses, raisins, shoyu,
walnuts, and Worchestershire sauce.

I also buy some pantry items like canned green beans, green chili peppers,
pineapple, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and whole tomatoes.  

response 7 of 43:

Jun 15 20:11 UTC 2007

I was surprised by the variety of fats I wanted handy.  Again, much of the
flavor of foods is carried by the fat content, so even though I don't use much
each day, the differences are important to me.

Bacon, butter, lard, mayonnaise, olive oil.  

The mayonnaise is one of those items that it is actually more cost effective
to buy than to make.  Hellman's is the only brand I'll purchase; if it's not
available at a reasonable cost, I make my own.  

Several years ago, I adjusted my pie dough recipes to use lard instead of
shortening.  I'd rather do without butter and pie crusts than use margarine
or shortening.  

The bacon is under scrutiny; I use it as a flavoring for many things, and
often substitute it for smoked pork hocks and salt pork. It's difficult to
recreate traditional bean recipes like Boston baked beans and red beans and
rice without them.  

response 9 of 43:

Jun 15 20:17 UTC 2007

You sound like you generally have a pretty well stocked kitchen. 

response 11 of 43:

Jun 16 14:09 UTC 2007

The vegetable selection is somewhat different on this list than on my
usual list.

Although organics are often out of my budget range, I usually have a set
of "hot" veges that I buy organic, and settle for conventionally grown
for everything else.  Based on toxicity of residue, or sheer volume of
toxic residue, my normal "only buy these if you can find organic" fruits
and veges are:

apples, apricots, bell pepper, cantaloupe, cherries, cucumbers, grapes
(including raisins), green beans, peaches, potato, spinach, and
strawberries.  

wheat and soybeans also have high levels of pesticide residue when grown
conventionally, so they are on my Top 15 Organics list.

However, for this exercise, I'm using the "under $1 per pound" rule for
fruits and veges.  I'll be able to buy seasonal vegetables and fruits to
add some variety.

response 13 of 43:

Jun 16 14:45 UTC 2007

My protein needs are calculated based on my lean body mass, and my
activity level.  I want enough to prevent muscle loss, but don't want to
overload my budget with expensive meats.

Activity Level                  Gms protein
Sedentary                       0.5
Moderate        2-3x 20-30 mins 0.6
Active          3-5x 30  mins   0.7
Very Active     5x 1 hr         0.8
Athletic                        0.9

The prices I used in the following calculations are sale prices over the
past few weeks at Meijer, Kroger, and Buschs.  Each of these stores has
an online version of their print sales flyer, so I can quickly find the
best deals for the week while drinking my coffee on Monday morning.

I run the ad prices through a little spreadsheet program that converts
the price per pound of raw meat to the price for a day's supply of
protein from that source.  This takes care of two comparisons:  a)
different yields of various cuts, and the problem of comparing a dozen
eggs to a  pound of meat and b) different amounts of protein in an ounce
of the cooked item.


Item                                          Price     Cost for 
                                          per pound     1 day protein

Tuna    (6 oz can)                              1.33    0.68
Chicken, thigh, raw, bone in                    0.79    0.70
Egg 1.24 per dozen                              0.94    0.85
Chicken, thigh, raw, boneless                   1.49    0.94
Chicken, leg quarters                           0.99    1.00
Pork, ham, without bone                         1.59    1.02
Pork, shoulder, bone in                         1.19    1.08
Chicken, whole, raw, bone in                    1.00    1.17
Cheese, cheddar                                 2.67    1.23
Pork, loin roast, without bone, free of fat     1.99    1.25
Egg white                                       1.42    1.49
Chicken, breast, raw, boneless                  2.99    1.52
Tuna   (12 oz can)                              3.03    1.55
Turkey, boneless, with skin, natural proportion 1.88    1.75
Salmon   (14.7 oz can)                          2.32    1.87
Pork, ribs, bone in                             1.69    2.12

To my surprise, a large can of tuna was a more expensive source than a
small can.  And the ham, which I never buy because I thought it was too
expensive, is actually reasonably priced.

With this little spreadsheet I was able to buy a month's supply of meat
for less than $20.  I still check prices every week, because items move
around on this list dramatically, and my menu options expand with each
loss-leader the stores advertise.

response 15 of 43:

Jun 16 16:50 UTC 2007

Comparing apples and oranges is a difficult task.

I could not come up with any nutritional measures that were universal
enough to allow such a comparison.  So my fallback position is the
American Dietetic Association exchange lists.

For fruits, the size of a portion varies from 2 tablespoons of raisins
to 1 cup of strawberries. I start with the cost per pound at the grocery
store, and end up with the cost per exchange serving on my plate.  

Peaches, size 64 60     3.04
Cantaloupe 15 (40 oz)   0.81
Kiwi fruit              0.26

I only did the fruits on sale this week.  Next step is to gather prices
for canned and frozen versions of the fruits as I did for vegetables.  

response 17 of 43:

Jun 16 17:01 UTC 2007

My original Bare Cupboard Basics list always contained canned milk,
under the assumption that it was less expensive than whole milk.  I
sometimes buy dry milk, especially to keep on hand for yogurt making,
again, assuming it was less expensive than fresh milk.

To make the comparison, I calculated the cost of 1 fluid ounce of milk,
ready to drink or use in a recipe.

Here's the numbers:

Item            Price per fluid ounce

Milk, fresh     0.016
Milk, dried     0.016
Milk, dried     0.020
Milk, fresh     0.021
Milk, dried     0.021
Milk, canned    0.033

The various package sizes of dried milk are all less expensive than
canned evaporated milk, but fresh milk is cheapest of all.

response 19 of 43:

Jun 18 20:01 UTC 2007

Calculating Protein and Calorie needs

Most people limit their caloric intake because they are overweight and
want to lose some of the fat pounds that have accumulated.  A budgetary
reason is that I don't want to pay for calories I don't need to remain
healthy.  So I set out find out exactly what that number was.  

First stop was finding out my BMI, Body Mass Index, which is often used
to assess levels of obesity, but can also help you if you are
underweight.  It calculates a lean-body-mass based on your height, and
an estimation of how much of your body weight is muscle and bone, and
how much is fat.  Tape measures and calipers are the quick solution;
some people go to the trouble of being immersed in water to find out
their density.  

From the measurements, I found that I have a lean body mass of 106
pounds, and at my ideal % body fat (20% for me -- it varies mostly by
sex), I should weigh 127 pounds.  Since that was within 3 pounds of my
weight the summer I was 18 and swimming a mile a day, it seemed like a
reasonable estimate.  

Using my ideal weight, we calculated the BMR, basal metabolism rate,
using the Harris-Benedict model, which is a well tested and well
respected public health algorithm for estimating caloric needs.  

Here's the formula if you want to try it for yourself:

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in
inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Men:  Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in
inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

My BMR is 1239 calories, what it would take to keep me from losing
weight lying in bed all day.  Of course, I don't lie in bed, so we use
the following formula to figure out my caloric needs based on my
activity level:

Activity Level                          Calories/lb (Harris Benedict
model) Sedentary                               1.2 Moderate        2-3x
20-30 mins                1.375 Active          3-5x 30+
mins           1.55 Very Active     5x 1 hr                 1.725
Athletic                         1.9


You multiply your ideal weight by the factor associated with your
activity level to find your daily caloric needs. Mine is 1487.  Since I
am slightly above my ideal weight, we rounded it down, and came up with
a daily caloric limit of 1200 to 1400 calories.  

Protein needs are calculated in a similar fashion, multiplying your
ideal (or current) weight by a factor based on activity level, and your
need to rebuild muscle.  

Activity Level                  Protein gms/lb
Sedentary                       0.5
Moderate        2-3x 20-30 mins 0.6
Active          3-5x 30+ mins   0.7
Very Active     5x 1 hr         0.8
Athletic                        0.9

I need between 63 and 76 grams of protein a day to avoid losing muscle
mass.

So that was how I arrived at my food needs.  As long as I'm getting 63+
grams of protein each day, and approximatly 1300 calories, I should
regain my ideal weight by slowing working off the excess fat without
losing muscle along with the fat.  

Anything above 1400 calories is simply excess, and it is food I don't
need to buy or eat.  

response 23 of 43:

Jun 23 18:09 UTC 2007

Red Beans and Rice

One of the menus this week was Creole Red Beans and Rice.

The folklore around this dish is that the hambone left from Sunday's
dinner was thrown in with red beans and seasonings to simmer all day
Monday while the wash was being done.  

At the end of the day, dinner was ready without the housewife having to
cook.

This is a Creole recipe, not Cajun, so the spicing is not necessarily as
hot, although it's almost always served with a handy bottle of Tabasco
sauce.  

Simple Red Beans and Rice
4 servings

Kidney Beans, dry       8 oz
Onion                   1/2 C
Green Pepper            1/2 C
Celery                  1/2 C
Garlic                  4 cloves
Ham                     6 oz
Thyme                   1/2 tsp
Bay Leaf                1
Worstershire sauce      1 tsp
Cayenne pepper          1/2 tsp
Black pepper            1/2 tsp
Salt

Soak the beans over night.  Drain and add fresh water.  Boil for 45-60
minutes, and drain.

Chop the vegetables very fine, so that they can melt into the beans. 
Saute them until the onions are translucent.  Add the finely chopped
garlic, and saute for 2 more minutes.

Put the drained beans and vegetables into a crock pot.  Add ham,  thyme,
bay leaf, red pepper, black pepper and salt.  Simmer for 4 hours on low.
 

Near serving time, make rice.  Serve in bowls by ladling creamy beans
over the fluffy hot rice.  

Personally, I like the beans better the second day so I often make it
one day, and serve it the next.  

The changes I made:  kidney beans instead of Louisiana red beans. Cooked
them for 20 minutes in a pressure cooker.    Left out Tabasco, and
beefed up the cayenne.

I served these with Southern Green Beans

Green Beans             4 C
Bacon                   4 slices
Onions                  1 C

Chop bacon fine, and cook until crisp.  Remove from fat and set aside.

Saute finely chopped onions in remaining bacon fat.  When translucent,
turn up the heat and add the green beans.  Stir fry quickly, and serve
when beans are bright green and still slightly crunchy. Sprinkle with
crumbled bacon. 

Actually, this is NOT Southern Green Beans.  True southern green beans
are boiled to death with a piece of salt pork, until they are limp and
wrinkled, then drained and served with slices of the boiled salt pork.