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Grex > Kitchen > #202: Cooking on a budget, i.e. when you are impoverished. | |
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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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slynne
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response 35 of 68:
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Dec 29 21:53 UTC 2002 |
Jeanne is a very good cook. I KNOW!
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void
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response 36 of 68:
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Jan 1 11:17 UTC 2003 |
Cheater's Stew:
1 to 1-1/2 # stew beef (the really cheap stuff)
Seasoned flour (flour, salt, pepper, other spices to taste in a paper
bag)
2 or 3 potatoes, cut in chunks
2 or 3 onions, quartered
Some carrots, cut in chunks
Some celery stalks, cut in chunks
Mushrooms (optional)
Garlic to taste (optional)
3-4 cans Franco-American Beef Gravy
If it's not in pieces already, cut up the beef. Put it in the bag
with the seasoned flour and shake it around. Brown it and drain it.
Place the beef, vegetables, and gravy in a large pot and simmer, covered,
at least until the potatoes are done. The longer it simmers, the more
tender the beef will be.
It ain't fancy, but it's cheap and palatable.
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tonster
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response 37 of 68:
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Jan 1 15:28 UTC 2003 |
I usually use beef bouillon for my stews.
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jaklumen
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response 38 of 68:
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Jan 2 08:13 UTC 2003 |
Never heard of canned Franco-American beef gravy.
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tonster
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response 39 of 68:
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Jan 3 02:44 UTC 2003 |
I should think that bouillon (just boil 1 cube per cup of water) would
certainly be cheaper. You can get giant containers ( I think 100 cubes
or so ) for about $5.
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jaklumen
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response 40 of 68:
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Jul 26 10:10 UTC 2005 |
New situation, new digs.
We eat oatmeal a lot more frequently now, and remember Sindi and Jim's
tip on cooking it without burning :) We try to get old-fashioned when
we can, more fiber that way, but we get a lot of quick oats from the
food bank.
Beans are a marvelous thing. I made a mix from some I had in storage
(some we had gotten from the food bank, again) and added a soup mix to
it which had letter pastas and lentils in it. I usually soak them
overnight or Julie might boil them if we are pressed for time, and
usually slow cook it until it gets to a chili-like consistency. I add
spices on hand, of course, but I recently got some dried chiles from the
Farmer's Market that work super.
We don't have it down perfect-- I tend to eat out a lot, usually at
Subway to float between meals. It is my lazy man's out when I want to
get a lot of veggies and I'm not ready to prepare something. Of course
I know it is hardly cheap.
I've found frozen foods are really great-- frozen veggies, frozen
fruits-- often cheap and I understand they usually retain their
nutrition a little better than fresh.
We get bulk food now too at the store we usually frequent. We can
usually get most of our spices there and even 'prepared' foods are a
little more reasonably priced.
It's a work in progress, but we'll get better at it. Was reading this
again and made a note that I should find Jeff Smith at the library.
Should be easy to do online and my sister works at our main branch so
getting and returning books is a snap.
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twenex
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response 41 of 68:
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Jul 26 11:06 UTC 2005 |
BEANZ MEANZ FARTZ
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jadecat
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response 42 of 68:
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Jul 26 15:08 UTC 2005 |
'Ello! (just joined the conf, so I thought I would say 'ello).
The whole 'eating at home' thing is kind of new for me- but I'm finding
that it can be quite enjoyable.
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eprom
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response 43 of 68:
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Jul 26 16:57 UTC 2005 |
you can make 2-3 meals out of a Little Caesar $5 hot-n-ready pizza.
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jadecat
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response 44 of 68:
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Jul 26 19:32 UTC 2005 |
Yes but that's not particularly healthy...
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jaklumen
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response 45 of 68:
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Jul 27 09:53 UTC 2005 |
resp:41 darn skippy.
resp:43 can never make pizza stretch well... say, when we get a u-bake
pizza it tends to get snarfed. No, not particularly healthy. Usually
done for speed and convenience (mostly convenience).
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