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What's your cheapest dish for dinner?


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What's your cheapest dish for dinner? http://blogs.smh.com.au/lifestyle/chewon...llpage#comments

The article is good, but I really liked the ideas in the comments section afterwards...

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Well, I'm assuming Ramen noodles don't count, right?

 

Seriously, though, I really like the subject you've brought up here. My last grocery shop was $214 for fillers!!! eek

I've seen others saying the same thing, too.

 

I'm taking this as a challenge; be back later with some ideas...

 

 

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Polenta with just about anything. I start with field corn and grind it fresh. One dish I like is to spread out the cooked polenta in a baking dish, spread cooked pink or pinto or black beans over the polenta, then a layer of cooked diced chicken, layer chopped stewed tomatoes (with onions and bell peppers and jalepeno peppers in it), and top with shredded cheese. Heat in oven till hot thru and the cheese melts. Serve with salad on the side if you like and a dab of sour cream if you have it. (Don't know how much it costs to make, depends on how much you pay for ingredients tho. For us it is cheaply made. Daughter gets hers on rice and sometimes I just use rice instead of polenta, depending on what mood I'm in. We normally have the stewed tomatoes and chicken home canned. Salad is usually from the garden.)

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GOODMORNING3-1.jpg

 

I think that Beans and Corn Bread are about as inexpensive as anything. We really like it but we don't have it a lot. This is a meal that is easy to make and filling too. But, the beans do bother me for at least 2 days, so I have to be careful when I make them. frown

 

HAVEAGOODDAYWINTERGIRLANDSNOWMAN.gifSNOWMANHUGSINPURPLE.jpg

 

 

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Snowmom, do you discard the soaking water when you make dry beans? That contains a lot of the 'offending' enzymes, if that is your trouble with them.

I pour boiling water over them, leave for an hour; drain, repeat. Add new water and cook until done. Hippie Dad is a great deal easier to live with after eating beans since I started doing that... laugh

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I just made home made refried beans and homemade tortillas a few days ago. Coupled with a tiny bit of grated cheese, homecanned salsa(from homegrown produce), orange wedges from the tree, and a rather eclectic green salad made exclusively from stuff growing in the garden, I made two complete meals for four people for about $1.20, which averages out to 15 cents for each individual meal. I won't deny that it was labor intensive or that each serving was about 5cents more than ramen, but it was definitely more tasty and nutritious than ramen!

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Oatmeal. Cornbread with milk and sugar.. Rice with milk and raisins. Potato Soup. Neck bones and potatoes. Hamburger Gravy over mashed potatoes. Chipped beef gravy over toast.

 

 

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Sometimes you can find some real meaty neckbones. Mom always boiled them and then added potatoes.. boil them until done. Maybe add an onion and salt.. You can either get pork or beef neck bones. What meat and fat are on the bones (not much meat but alot of flavor) sure makes those potatoes taste yummy...

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I can only eat white beans if I do them like this:

Pour beans into boiling water and bring back to a boil. Boil for 10 or 15 minutes, pour off water. Pour more boiling water over the beans and boil for 10 to 15 min and pour off the water. Cover with boiling water again and let simmer till tender.

 

If I don't do it this way the beans taste too 'beany' and bitter for me to eat. You can let the poured off water cool and use it to water your plants so all the good stuff and water isn't wasted.

 

I want to be able to eat beans because they are healthy and stretch the food budget.

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GOODAFTERNOONCHOCKBOARD.gif

 

Leah, I have done my beans several different ways. One way I soak them all night, drain and wash them off, sometimes I use soda in the soaking, other times not. Then cook them until they are done.

 

Another way, the way my mother did it is, to bring the beans to a boil, put in a teaspoon or so of baking soda and let them cook for about 10 minutes or so, then drain them, and rinse them off and put them on to cook until done.

 

So, guess it is just me. It isn't just the gas, but they have a way of bothering me other wise too.

 

SNOWMANHUGSINPURPLE.jpg

HAVEAGOODDAYWINTERGIRLANDSNOWMAN.gif

 

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  • 3 months later...

i have had good results with a pot of "bone soup". out of the freezer come the bones i've saved...into the crock or dutch oven. Ditto with any veg. peelings. just match the type of veg. trimming to the kind of soup you want. Simmer with water to cover and a dash of vinegar or lemon juice (helps dissolve some nutrients into the water) until the bones fall apart. this falling apart is good, means connective tissue nutrients are in soup too. Strain the new stock. Remove bones from colander, pick off the meat, return to stockpot with the broth. Add saved leftover veggies to suit. Heat through. Serve as is, or thicken with a bit of flour or cornstarch and some milk powder for a cream soup. Thicken even more, pour over rice. This is especially good with any poultry bones, the turkey carcass; ive used pork chop bones with lima beans and chicken bouillon; steak bones are a nice difference. Add homemade bread, preferably warm and by magic it becomes a feast.

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stop in at any area fast food place and get 3 packets of ketchup and 1 of pepper. Peel one layer off of that onion you been using for the last month and dice it up real fine. Put all 3 into a pot and add some water until it just looks right? heat on stove until hot and then eat. wink

 

PS there have been times years ago when I did have to make soup with the ketchup packs.

 

Michael2

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Cheap meals? Which one do you want...butterbeans & cornbread; redbeans & rice; chicken and dressing; chicken and cabbage, potato soup; cabbage pockets; split pea soup; bean burritos; elephant ears (and no not the kind you get at the county fair it is baked bolonga and mac & cheese) and the all time fav at my house (which by the way I am cooking tonight) sausage gravy and homemade biscuits.

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  • 3 years later...

My cheapest dinner is re-fried pinto beans thinned with water or broth made from veggie trimmings, etc., the broth adds flavor and extends the beans a little bit (I prefer thicker re-fried beans).

I cook some white rice, and I use masa harina to make my own corn tortillas. Both can be made using broth or water.

Hot sauce made from home-grown chiles is cheaper than store-bought, but I tend to buy the huge bottles of my favorite when it goes on sale.

For veggies or fruit, it depends, but the cheapest is during the summer when the garden is really producing, and friends and neighbors gift their own excess produce (oranges, avocados, tomatoes, etc.). The cheapest vegetables I buy are carrots and cabbage, which makes a nice slaw dressed with a little vinegar, oil, dill and parsley (home-grown, fresh or dried). In-n-out style grilled onions are also cheap, easy and delicious.

 

The pinto beans, white rice and masa are bought in bulk and usually on sale, making them much cheaper for me than similar foods (black beans over brown rice and cornbread, or white bean sauce over rice noodles and polenta, or lentils with rice flat-bread and grits) which are still cheap, but not cheapest.

 

Epazote is an herb that is treated like a weed where I live, it can also sometimes be found with spices for Hispanic or Latin food. When beans are cooked with this herb there is very little occurrence of gas. The herb by itself does not smell great, but it gives the beans a mild, pleasant flavor. Large amounts of the herb are not recommended for anyone, and it is best for pregnant women to avoid it altogether.

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1-lentils & rice with browned onions on top. got the recipe from the more with less cookbook. Fast for a bean dish, too.

2-butterbeans cooked in chicken broth with margarine (or butter if on hand) on top.

3-dogfood (which is what the hash looked like....at least it tasted good!)

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