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Grex > Cooking > #202: Cooking on a budget, i.e. when you are impoverished. | |
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keesan
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response 10 of 68:
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Dec 15 23:28 UTC 2002 |
Eprom sounds like the sort who does not like to cook ;)
We make our nwn noodles from durum flour, our cereal is oatmeal, I have made
corn tortillas from masa harina.
Meat is generaly cheaper than cheese - I think it's govt. subsidized.
If you want to save money on meat find a fish store or butcher and ask them
for the trimmings - fish bones from the fish filets are free here (pay for
the bag). The parts left after making boneless chicken are also cheap.
Supermarkets often mark down somewhat old vegetables and fruit.
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scott
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response 11 of 68:
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Dec 16 00:32 UTC 2002 |
One thing to look into would be farm-style cooking, although I don't know if
there's any such cookbook. Typically it involves trying to use as much of
the ingredients as possible, avoiding having to throw out things with
nutritional value.
Example: Cook meat in a skillet, and instead of throwing away the grease,
make gravy and use it on potatoes or as a sandwich spread. Hard to say how
many such things are relatively doable in a modern kitchen with modern stuff,
but it's something to think about.
Overall you can save some money with cooking, but really it's a drop in the
bucket compared to housing and transportation. Being able to do basic car
maintenance and repairs is very useful; not only do you save on shop labor
but you also tend to notice things which need immediate attention and can
prevent more expensive repairs. Maybe there's a local organization which
gives cheap/free car work classes. Or maybe you could trade some guitar
lessons for car repair lessons and access to tools?
Speaking of things like guitar lessons... have you looked into making a little
money on the side that way? A few years ago I noticed a really interesting
guitar in a new store which needed work, and ended up fixing it to see if I
wanted to buy it. I didn't buy it, but I did end up occasionally doing other
repairs for the store. Right now I'm trying to decide if I want to do that
kind of work on a half-time basis and spend some money on tools, since I'm
the best amp & electronics repair tech to have shown any interest. And while
I was almost exclusively doing repairs on store items (it's a vintage
instrument store) it turned out there were regular service requests from
customers who were being turned away because there was no regular repair tech
to make sure stuff got fixed in a timely fashion. So check out the local
music stores, and if they don't offer lessons ask why - maybe they were just
waiting around for somebody who could actually teach (plenty of people can
play, but not so many can be a good teacher) and was reliable enough to keep
a regular schedule. And if there's demand, well, go with it. You want to
teach professionally, right? The business side might be a little scary at
first, but no worse than academia politics.
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jep
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response 12 of 68:
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Dec 16 03:08 UTC 2002 |
No-brand cereals are creeping up in price, but are still much less than
their brand-name equivalents. Rice krispies and corn flakes are really
cheap. I get the no-name Cheerios equivalent, which are usually about
half the price of the name brand product.
What kind of stuff are you eating now?
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i
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response 13 of 68:
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Dec 16 03:41 UTC 2002 |
Bulk food store oatmeal is cheaper than any no-name breakfast cereal.
Home-baked bread is *vastly* cheaper than fancy-bread-store bread.
(That you had to buy, right?) Can you split the savings with your
hosts ("paying cash for electricity for baking bread") to save some?
Meat/fish/poultry is fairly cheap if you don't mind the least-wanted
stuff & don't expect to fill up on it. (A nice $0.99/lbs. pork shoulder
roast is simmering as i type. It seems to be the piece of the pig that
my favorite butcher can't get folks interested in buying. Another local
store cuts whole salmon into salmon steaks - then sells the lots-of-meat-
but-no-cool-looks tails for $2.99/lbs.
Eating cheap is 1 part penny-pinching attitude, 1 part on-the-cheap
cooking skills, and 1 part having the time.
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jaklumen
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response 14 of 68:
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Dec 16 05:56 UTC 2002 |
We receive foodstamps. We are not really quite worried about budgeting
that, as I bargain shop well. We buy "no-brand" cereal, and we shop at
a grocery store that keeps prices very low by staying less fancy as far
as the store (think Safeway vs. some smaller-chain store) and they have
you bag your own groceries. resp:9 yep, I always check the per/unit
price, too.
Again, bulk is not a great option. Our roomies insist on buying lots
at a time, but space is a bit at a premium, as over 60% of our
belongings are in their basement.
I may be making excuses as to the bread machine, but I have little time
to do it. Yes, the husband does work in the bakery of the grocery
store where we shop at. I doubt we could do day old bread because I'm
sure the wife roomie wouldn't allow it.
Food service employment may not be the best idea right now. I am
really working on finding a living wage, and I have some good leads
that might work.
resp:11 farm-style cooking.. well, I think the mention of "The Frugal
Gourmet" might partially cover that.
I had a friend who helped me with car repair, but he moved out-of-state
to go back to school. Guitar lessons aren't really an option; I don't
play well enough. I'm just trying to figure out how to barter for
lessons for myself. If I had stayed with piano, I might be able to do
that, but the honest fact is, I don't think I can compete.
I think I haven't been very specific.. I'm not really worried about
budgeting and whatnot-- I need help with recipes and meal ideas.
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scott
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response 15 of 68:
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Dec 16 12:28 UTC 2002 |
(You don't have to be a super-whiz guitarist to give lessons - you have to
be OK [which I suspect you are], but mainly you have to have a great deal of
patience to teach 12 year-olds how to fret their very first chord.)
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davel
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response 16 of 68:
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Dec 16 15:21 UTC 2002 |
<sigh> Yep.
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keesan
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response 17 of 68:
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Dec 16 19:13 UTC 2002 |
What sorts of things do you like to eat? And how much time do you have to
cook?
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jaklumen
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response 18 of 68:
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Dec 17 10:07 UTC 2002 |
I talked to Ann and she agreed to help me make bread in their machine.
Off the food subject, Julie is moving Sarah to cloth diapers part of the time.
On lessons, well, existing teachers tend to snap students up and I would be
teaching folk style-- hardly the popular choice of many young teens.
Julie and I are doing Lean Cuisine (and similar) type dinners right now to
make our new diet easier. *sigh* Eventually, I suppose I will be closer to
Sindi's suggestions; but I choose to make changes gradually. A chunk of our
bankruptcy debt was eating out frequently when I was depressed (during my last
days of college, and shortly after, which were miserable). Cooking for 2-3
people is hard for me, and Ann is a picky eater; there are many veggies she
won't touch.
I think we may move out next month.. that will change things slightly. More
things I can cook, but one less person-- I found cooking for 3 easier than
cooking for 2.
Maybe I'm being obstinate.
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orinoco
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response 19 of 68:
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Dec 20 22:25 UTC 2002 |
Cooking for two is much easier if you make enough to have a few days' worth
of leftovers. And, uh, then you've got the added benefit of having a few
days' worth of leftovers. :)
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i
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response 20 of 68:
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Dec 21 14:49 UTC 2002 |
I cook virtually all meals from scratch for just one (me). What's the
problem? If you count things like washing broccoli & chopping it into
an old plastic ice cream tub (free tupperware) and baking bread, most
of what i eat is leftovers.
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jaklumen
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response 21 of 68:
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Dec 22 07:28 UTC 2002 |
resp:19 resp:20 that's part of the problem.. I don't always like to
keep leftovers.
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jmsaul
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response 22 of 68:
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Dec 22 16:34 UTC 2002 |
You might want to figure out what you could do to make leftovers more
appealing, if you're serious about saving money. I don't mean change your
attitude, I mean look at which kinds of leftovers you like, and cook that
stuff more often.
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keesan
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response 23 of 68:
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Dec 22 17:29 UTC 2002 |
Some things make much better leftovers than others. Soups and stews reheat
well. Rice reheats okay in the microwave oven. Potatoes are okay if you make
them into some other dish (chop them up and fry them with onions). Boiled
beans reheat just fine. You can often take a leftover dish and incorporate
it in something else you are cooking to make it taste new. I had some
leftover stir fried vegetables and I fried an onion, added tomato juice,
slivered cabbage, boiled until tender, and threw in the leftovers.
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slynne
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response 24 of 68:
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Dec 23 04:06 UTC 2002 |
I used to like to make cassaroles out of leftovers. i.e. if I had chicken and
rice and broccoli for dinner, I would put the leftovers in a casarole dish
with cheese on top and then freeze it for a week. Then the "leftovers" never
really felt like leftovers.
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cmcgee
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response 25 of 68:
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Dec 23 12:17 UTC 2002 |
I paid the $4-5 at a Corningware outlet store for several 1 pint and 1 quart
Corningware pans. They turn leftovers into planned overs.
You can either prepare normal 4 serving recipe, and cook it in two separate
pans, freezing one for later use. Or you can prepare a dish, and line a
Corningware pan with foil, then freeze the contents. In this case, you remove
the frozen package and store it without the pan.
In either case, the Corningware can stand the temperature differential of
being in a hot oven, or on a hot burner with frozen food inside it. All the
convenience of 4 serving recipes, with two separate meals as the outcome.
I keep 2 or 3 of these planned-over meals in my freezer. They can pop right
into the microwave on those evenings I'm too tired to cook.
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orinoco
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response 26 of 68:
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Dec 23 19:51 UTC 2002 |
So sort of like home-made TV dinners? Nice. I can definitely see how there
might be something off-putting about a big vat of leftover goop in the fridge.
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jaklumen
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response 27 of 68:
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Dec 24 08:15 UTC 2002 |
I would like to learn more how to convert leftovers.
Hey, I was still hoping for a few recipes!
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keesan
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response 28 of 68:
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Dec 24 18:56 UTC 2002 |
What sorts of leftovers do you generate? Leftover bread is no problem, or
soup.
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jaklumen
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response 29 of 68:
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Dec 24 23:00 UTC 2002 |
It hasn't been much of anything lately. We've been eating Lean Cuisine
and the like for dinner. Husband roomie works grave and does not do
dinner-- wife roomie eats at weird times, at best, one meal a day. Not
healthy at all.
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keesan
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response 30 of 68:
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Dec 24 23:34 UTC 2002 |
Is there some reason you prefer not to cook your own dinner instead of buying
it prepared? You could get better quality for less money. Also these weight
watcher's things don't have much bulk and will probably leave you feeling
hungry. When we took a visitor to Jim's relatives, his brother in law told
the visitor to be sure to eat two of them at a time as they were not filling.
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i
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response 31 of 68:
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Dec 27 01:38 UTC 2002 |
Leftover conversion: in my family, it's obvious this time of year. The
loads of leftover turkey will become turkey sandwiches, turkey salads, &
turkey & (also leftover) gravy over (reheated) mashed potatoes & stuffing.
Lots of mashed potatoes left over means we'll see hash browns a bit later.
Picking the turkey's remains clean indeed is an important job. The least
desirable little scraps & bits become a seasonal little-extra-bonus-on-top
in the pet food bowl. Leftover cookies & pies just come back as-is until
finished off. Rolls & breads come back once, then become bread crumbs for
meatloaf. The remains of fresh veggie snack trays (celery, cauliflower,
carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, etc. return in salads, then baked into a
quiche or casserole. When there's lots of something that will freeze okay
(usually meat), some is frozen to come back mid-January or so.
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jaklumen
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response 32 of 68:
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Dec 27 08:31 UTC 2002 |
resp:30 au contraire, they work just fine. One dieting tip says eat a
King's breakfast, a Prince's lunch, and a pauper's dinner, so it's
fine. We are not vegetarians, so all of them have some kind of meat--
mostly chicken.
I have a hard time with preparation, Sindi. I don't necessarily have
tons of time and I just don't have the patience sometimes to cook for
people that don't always wait or appreciate it much. Or maybe I
haven't gotten into a routine habit-- cooking is a big deal thing for
me.. I really get into it once I do. I like super quick, super
simple. Nuke it and eat it. And I don't like cooking one night and
eating the leftovers the following nights. So I must be spoiled, I
guess.
resp:31 I don't know why, but ugh.
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gelinas
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response 33 of 68:
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Dec 27 16:31 UTC 2002 |
The trick with leftovers is not visit them the next day. But don't wait so
long they go bad, either.
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furs
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response 34 of 68:
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Dec 29 21:49 UTC 2002 |
You can also freeze them for a little later.
I just used the leftover mashed potatoes to make a vegetarian Shepards
Pie. YUM.
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