We have a plaque above our stove that says, "If we are what we eat, then I'm fast, cheap and easy!" I love tasty food, but during my student and bachelor days, I often had to improvise champagne tastes on a beer budget. So share your recipes for good eats on a small budget.
Here's mine.
I would go to a local health food store and buy vegetable soup mixes. I would then add 1 cup of rice for each two cups of water. Brown rice may need some adjustment. Then to get some protein add finely chopped chicken or tuna. Within 20-25 minutes a realtively healthy, complete meal. And if you live alone, leftovers for at least 2-3 meals later.
Finally; English Muffin Pizza.
English muffin halves, small amount of tomato or spaghetti sauce and cheese of your choice. Place in toaster oven and in about 3-5 minutes.
The choice of toppings is only limited by your choice of foods.
Peace
Make a cassoerole/stew with a small amount of meat to save money, then add pearl barley to add body and thicken it. Its very inexpensive and has a lovely nutty flavour, is filling and good for you.
Add a cupful of it and add extra water as it absorbs the water and swells up to be plump.
I love pearl barley Amy, its not just the flavour (and its ability to absorb the flavour of the food it's cooked with) but also its amazing texture: soft, crunchy and velvety all at once, especially good with lamb and mutton I think.
Me too! I have two packets in the larder right now. I put it in a sort of Scotch Broth - though I'll use any meat and bones I have to hand for the stock.
Stella
I try to cook dishes with dried beans or lentils in them. Combining beans or lentils with bread or rice or corn gives a complete protein. Pulses provide B vitamins and fibre. Many people in India and other countries survive on pulses and some source of starch.
I cook alot of Indian style dishes. My husband likes spicy and hot food. I would not say we are vegetarians but we sometimes will have meatless meals just to save money.
I like black eyed peas, green lentils, brown lentils, red lentils and yellow lentils. I use black lentils (that have the skins removed) to make a special pancake with rice flour that is called thosai.
I find TVP (texturized vegetable protein, soy) very useful for soups and stews.
Tonight, I am baking 3 fillets of freshwater Catfish, with a bread crumb coating at 375 degrees F. It should take about 30 minutes to cook thoroughly.
Now the thing I like about this fish, is it has a nice firm meaty texture and takes any kind of flavoring that you desire. One time I took a packet of Italian dressing mix and covered the fish with that. Add some fresh dill and you have another flavor. I prefer to bake it, but, if you slice it a bit thinner and coat with flour and a dash of salt and pepper, it sautee's very nicely. The fish I buy is "farm raised" from down south where it's quite an industry. They can be caught in the wild here in the northeast USA, but, they are much smaller than their southern "cousins". But, just as tasty. It's not a very bony fish and can go by the french canadian name of "Hornpout" on account of three long and sharp spines that grow out of its side and top fins.
I'v got some tasty frozen aspargus waiting on the side to be cooked up.
A fairly fast, cheap and easy meal. Also low fat when baked in a shallow pan pre-sprayed with Olive Oil for non stick use.
Peace
That does sound ineresting, and tasty too, Ozy.... I don't think I'be ever seen catfish for sale in England.
That does sound ineresting, and tasty too, Ozy.... I don't think I'be ever seen catfish for sale in England.
I was wondering about that and unless it's imported from the US, I doubt that catfish is on sale in the UK. Farm raised salmon and trout maybe more to national tastes there.
On a side note I remember seeing an article about Ian Anderson the lead singer of Jethro Tull being a salmon farm owner.
Peace
Salmon, which used to be one of the most expensive and luxurious of fishes is now one of the cheapest in England, because of the huge scale of salmon farming in northern Europe. Cod is now more expensive than salmon and trout, whilst flounders like turbot are so expensive as to be the food of the well-to-do.
Imagine a large flounder baked in the oven in a great oval platter, with piped and patterned mashed potatoes around about, just touched with golden brown from the grill, and a few sprigs of parsely tossed onto it as if by accident! :smile:
I love cod, I dont like any of the alternatives for 'fish and chips'. Its amazing to think how its now so expensive. I find mackerel hard to find too. That is lovely just lightly cooked on its own.
Oh yes, Amy.... a mackerel split and grilled with butter and lemon.... but I haven't seen any fresh mackerel in the shops recently, but we don't have a fishmonger in Portslade-on-Sea anymore
Cauliflower cheese is a wonderful accompaniment to grilled mackerel, and it can be browned and crisped on the top at no extra cost if you already have the grill alight for the fish.
My husband absolutely freaks if he finds a fish bone in his meal. We mostly have frozen filets either salmon or breaded "mystery" fish, usually haddock. I usually have a few cans of tuna in the pantry for emergencies.
Actually, I have just reminded myself to change my big jug of emergency water that I store just in case of natural disasters or terrorist attacks or even bad snow storms, power outages.