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I was under the impression that slow cookers are intended for stewing things for long periods of time or braising as mentioned earlier. This makes it an excellent candidate for hearty soups and stews but inadvisable for some of the other things that have apparently come up in discussion in this thread. It's a fairly cheap and more portable substitute to using a pressure cooker, which, while also cheap, requires a stove. If you're considering using a slow cooker on a budget consider using chunky vegetables and potatoes to round out most anything you're doing with it. Bullion cubes are very inexpensive and can be combined with pasta such as dry tortellini, water, a meat of some kind, green vegetables, and peppercorns to make a very nice savory soup that can be stretched for some time. Stews are dead easy and people who are not really cooks will think you are a wizard for making them, since the longer they cook, the better they taste. Stew beef is among the cheapest red meat you can buy (quite versatile, too) and goes fine with any vegetable that you can tolerate. Coarsely chopped potatoes will soak up the flavor while cooking and become very tender with the beef, so it can be prepared in the morning to enjoy in the evening, and can be packed for successive lunches and dinners throughout the week. I prefer mine with peas! You can further extend your stew repertoire by utilizing spice combos like garam masala or just store bought curry roux cubes. Carnitas, pulled pork, and other slow-cooked meats are best enjoyed with rice, tortillas, or other carbohydrates/starches. They are also pretty straightforward, and crock pot adaptations do well for them. If you are truly pressed for time and still don't have a stove range ready, consider the electric burner mentioned earlier and cook aldantefax fucked around with this message at 05:59 on Aug 21, 2012 |
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Aug 21, 2012 05:57
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Crockpots are especially awesome. http://www.amazon.com/Crock-Pot-SCR300SS-3-Quart-Manual-Stainless/dp/B003UCG8II/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1345527910&sr=8-3&keywords=crockpot $20, plug it in, cook all the things. It's pretty drat easy to clean too. Pretty much anything can be chucked into a crock pot with water and seasoning and made delicious. If you really want to get fancy on a budget, buy two. Make a stew, make a starch.
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Aug 21, 2012 06:46
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The Tinfoil Price posted:Crockpots are especially awesome. gently caress off (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Aug 21, 2012 06:50
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The Tinfoil Price posted:Crockpots are especially awesome. $20? Get out of your cave, you could get six crockpots for that down at the thrift store, easily. And a Jesus on black velvet, if you're lucky
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Aug 21, 2012 06:57
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redmercer posted:$20? Get out of your cave, you could get six crockpots for that down at the thrift store, easily. And a Jesus on black velvet, if you're lucky Depends on where you live I guess. I've never seen any functioning crockpots at my local thrift store. Too many thrifty folks in the area I suppose. 
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Aug 21, 2012 20:55
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So, an interesting thing happened at work today, and I thought I should share it. I work as a sample guy at the grocery store near my house, and was doing a taste test comparison when a customer walked by with a bag of chips in her cart that were similar to the ones I was sampling. I told her about the offer we had going on, and she mentioned not being interested as she, "only had $20 to get her through the week, and she had nothing left in the pantry." Once she said that, I figured I'd show her the first page of this thread. I think she got out of the store having only spent $15. She was really grateful for the help, and left with this huge smile on her face. Anyway, thought I'd let you all know that she said thanks to you too.
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Aug 28, 2012 05:46
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Why wouldn't you just turn your slow cooker to high (which should be around 300 on most models, much higher than the necessary 212 to boil water) and boil the pasta instead of making some horrible slow-cooked starch mess?
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Aug 28, 2012 06:24
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TheSoundNinja posted:So, an interesting thing happened at work today, and I thought I should share it. Dude that is fantastic - it's too bad that supermarkets have a strong incentive to sell people the pricey processed foods. Good on you for getting someone started on the path to good cheap eats. Also, in the vein of cheapish eats. Making your own yogurt is a good way to save cash. This guy goes a little overboard on the sterilization (I just use clean quart jars and don't bother with boiling them - seriously people have made this stuff for thousands of years without sterile technique). For bonus points, make the yogurt the night before, incubate overnight, take it out of the cooler and dump it into a colander lined with butter muslin, place the colander over a large bowl and put it in the fridge. When you get back from work you'll have Greek yogurt, a lot of it. Logiwonk fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Aug 28, 2012 |
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Aug 28, 2012 14:04
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feelz good man posted:Why wouldn't you just turn your slow cooker to high (which should be around 300 on most models, much higher than the necessary 212 to boil water) and boil the pasta instead of making some horrible slow-cooked starch mess? Nooooo slow cookers reach 190-200 on High and 170 on Low. What model is your cooker that reaches 300???
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Aug 28, 2012 15:29
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A pressure cooker at 15lbs will only push 240F. Pasta only really needs boiling water; 212F (100C) I do use the oven between 300-400F when I make a Kugel with elbow macaroni: Cup or so of macaroni, can of cream soup, some sort of cooked meat (leftovers), chopped veggies (chop small), and dried fruit (golden raisins and go from there) Mix well and bake in the oven for an hour or so covered, and if you are interested, crumble up crackers for a topping and broil for a couple of minutes to darken it. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Aug 28, 2012 19:34
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That sounds terrible.
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Aug 28, 2012 19:36
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My slow cooker boils on high. It takes a few hours to get there, but it does eventually!
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Aug 28, 2012 21:14
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All this pasta-in-slow cooker talk has reminded me. My former housemate bought a giant Crockpot because it was on sale for $2 or something and he thought it would be nice to have a large pot for cooking stuff like spaghetti.   - Oh hey cool, you got a Crockpot! - Why yes, I thought it would be nice for large quantities of pasta, but it took a very, very long time to boil. - Uhhh, that's because it's a slow cooker. - I see... - Yeah... if you wanted something for pasta you should have just gotten a big stock pot. Well, have fun learning some slow cooking recipes.Anyhow, the poor Crockpot lived for a long time unused on top of the fridge and down in the basement, until I remembered it was there, then my other housemate and I would occasionally use it to make stuff like braised oxtail and epic black beans. I tried to buy it off him for $10 when he moved, but he wouldn't even consider selling it (for a profit) despite never using it and believing it was appropriate for cooking pasta. Whatever, I have a huge Dutch oven and my new housemate brought in another Crockpot.
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Aug 28, 2012 22:38
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The only thing I use my slow cooker for is making oatmeal because I'm lazy in the morning and never feel like making anything. Completely different outcome then making it on the stove. The only thing is that you have to use those slow cooker bags otherwise half the oatmeal will stick to the side of the pot and it's really hard to get off.
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Aug 28, 2012 23:47
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Thank you thread. The wife and I had gotten our food budget down to around $200/mo. (ignoring fast-food, alcohol...) and thought we were doing pretty well. Finding out this is a ridiculous amount of money for two people made a big difference. We've been living off one chicken, some beans, and garden peppers for going on two weeks. It has been wonderfully delicious.
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Aug 31, 2012 17:16
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TannhauserGate posted:Thank you thread. The wife and I had gotten our food budget down to around $200/mo. (ignoring fast-food, alcohol...) and thought we were doing pretty well. Finding out this is a ridiculous amount of money for two people made a big difference. $200 is a ridiculous amount for 2 people? Uhoh. I usually spend about $150 on groceries per month as a single college student. >_>
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Sep 3, 2012 19:40
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The Tinfoil Price posted:$200 is a ridiculous amount for 2 people? Uhoh. I usually spend about $150 on groceries per month as a single college student. >_> It depends on where you live, really. Some places you can get veggies and such cheaper than others. It's honestly tough if all you have is the local wally-world or whatever.
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Sep 4, 2012 01:59
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The Tinfoil Price posted:$200 is a ridiculous amount for 2 people? Uhoh. I usually spend about $150 on groceries per month as a single college student. >_> The USDA publishes food cost indices: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/usdafoodplanscostoffood.htm In July, a family of two between the ages of 19 and 51 on the "thrify" plan could expect to spend ~$350 on groceries. So, on average, $200 is not at all ridiculous for 2 people.
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Sep 4, 2012 12:42
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Zuph posted:The USDA publishes food cost indices: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/usdafoodplanscostoffood.htm http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/MiscPubs/TFP2006Report.pdf That's their thrifty plan, which includes things like fruit juice (which costs a fortune, which is why I'd sooner just buy the fruit), enormous quantities of dairy (I don't think one person could ever consume that much dairy), canned condensed soup, dried soup, and frozen meals. Mind you, not huge amounts, but there they were. They also assumed like four or five pounds of meat per person per week. If that's the sort of stuff you're buying, your monthly bill is definitely bound to be high.
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Sep 4, 2012 14:38
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dino. posted:http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/MiscPubs/TFP2006Report.pdf There's some great poo poo there. "Getting the recommended amount of potassium would require buying, like, fruit and poo poo, and we know that isn't going to happen. Thus, we relaxed the potassium requirements." "We eat too much salt, but most of it comes from food-processing methods. Eliminating that salt would require everyone making bread and pasta from scratch. Sounds like a pain in the dick, so we just ignored sodium intake." I mean, I get where they are coming from, and kinda agree with both of them, just strikes me as funny. I'm kind of surprised they didn't budget for a daily multi-vitamin. Or maybe they did and I missed it in skimming. Those things are expensive, though.
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Sep 4, 2012 16:14
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USDA meal plans are heavily adjusted for how money is distributed across food lobbies. Look toward places where people are healthy for your meal plans.The Tinfoil Price posted:$200 is a ridiculous amount for 2 people? Uhoh. I usually spend about $150 on groceries per month as a single college student. >_> If that $150 includes alcohol, etc then it's probably very good. Expanding to two people doesn't have to add all that much. You don't have to worry about bulk goods going bad, when you're tired the other person is willing to cook, etc. Then again I'm sure someone who could stick to a meal plan written weeks beforehand would tell you one person can eat well on significantly less than this. My roommate is teaming up with some family contacts, so we're looking at getting a dirt-cheap kegerator system. Long-term my beer costs might just be part of my regular grocery bill.
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Sep 4, 2012 17:56
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TheNothingNew posted:I'm kind of surprised they didn't budget for a daily multi-vitamin. Or maybe they did and I missed it in skimming. Those things are expensive, though. Uh, not really. You can get 90 days of a multivitamin for like 4 dollars, unless you think what brand's on the label actually means something.
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Sep 4, 2012 18:54
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TannhauserGate posted:USDA meal plans are heavily adjusted for how money is distributed across food lobbies. Look toward places where people are healthy for your meal plans.
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Sep 5, 2012 01:58
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dino. posted:Wait, what? Why would they do that? I thought they're supposed to be this public service group.  lookit dis guy who thinks Government things are honest and unbiased. 
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Sep 5, 2012 03:25
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GrAviTy84 posted:
It would be cute if it wasn't so sad.
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Sep 5, 2012 03:57
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dino. posted:Wait, what? Why would they do that? I thought they're supposed to be this public service group. 
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Sep 5, 2012 06:12
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hello all! I'm in dire need of some quick easy prep recipes that are cheaply priced. I dont eat red meat often, mostly chicken and grains. Recently I started working after classes and have about an hour and a half break before leaving for work. I get back late and dont have the energy to cook let alone force myself to do studies, so anything that is protein-rich and will keep me trucking through the day would be great. I get about $20-30 biweekly for groceries from my parents, which is tough, but hey, its a college budget. any help?
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Sep 26, 2012 19:56
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This recipe is CHEAP! And on weekdays it's FAST (~20 minutes). 2 Bags of Pinto Beans - ~3-4 dollars Bag of Onions - ~3 dollars Hot Sauce - ~3 dollars Celery - ~2 bucks? Bag of Corn Tortillas - ~2 bucks So if you already have hot sauce then you get more than a week worth of dinners for ~10 bucks. If you buy a sack of cheap rice you can stretch that for lunch/dinner for a week no problem (unless you are a runner or something). Spices are key though - Bay leaves, chili (you can substitue you favorite chili mix for the chipotle powder or go with chipotles in adoboe sauce in the can but be careful cause that stuff is crazy hot), cumin, oregano - BUY THESE AT A MEXICAN/INDIAN/ETC grocery they are MUCH cheaper. Go in on it with a friend to start and split the crazy large bags of spices and split the price. If you don't have a pressure cooker - YARD SALE - Because for cheap eats you can't beat beans and beans = you want a pressure cooker cause it takes 1/10 the time to cook beans. Recipe for Lazy Man Tacos with Pinto Beans On the Weekend: Get two bags of pinto beans, pour them out on a cookie sheet and check for rocks (seriously don't skip this step) then pour into a pressure cooker and soak overnight(I have a huge pressure cooker so you might want to check that yours can handle two bags of beans). The next morning pour off the liquid and cover with new water until there is about an inch of water above the beans. Then add 5-10 bay leaves per your personal taste. Close the pressure cooker and blast with heat on the stove. Once it get's up to pressure, adjust the heat if necessary and cook for 20 mins. Turn off the heat and go do laundry or something while it cools (DON'T OPEN BEFORE THE PRESSURE RELIEF BUTTON HAS DROPPED). Then scoop out 1 cup volumes of cooked beans, drain the liquid, and place in a freezer bag. Fill up your freezer with 1 cup measured cooked bean bags. Now you can make a tasty dinner in about 15-20 minutes on a weekday (that's a real 15-20 minutes not I'm a pro chef 15-20 minutes). On the Weekday: Serves 1, 1 serving, ~600 kcal. Ingredients: 1 Cup bag of pinto beans 1 Med - Large Onion 1 Stalk celery (optional) 1 TBSP oil (vegetable/olive/canola/whatever) Salt to taste ~2 tsp. Cumin Powder ~1 tsp. dried Oregnao ~2 tsp. Smoked Chipotle Powder ~1 tsp. Garlic powder Get home from work and pull a bag of beans out of the freezer, it goes in the microwave for 2 minutes on high. Meanwhile, dice a medium to large onion (and the celery if you're using it) and saute in a pan with 1 TBSP oil. Break out your bag of corn tortillas and preheat a nonstick pan on high, then toast the tortilla until it's slightly brown in spots on each side - remove and put tortilla in between a towel to keep warm (do four of these). When the onions are slightly translucent, dump the beans in and add the seasonings (salt, cumin, oregano, chipotle powder, and garlic powder). Saute for a few minutes and serve on tortillas with HOT SAUCE! Notes: I frequently add diced tomato to the tacos because it's nice. The celery is optional but is really nice. Logiwonk fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Sep 26, 2012 |
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Sep 26, 2012 20:06
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Hat Butt posted:hello all! I'm in dire need of some quick easy prep recipes that are cheaply priced. Braising chicken in a sauce is always a cheap and tasty way to go. It then comes down to how much effort you want to put in. Taking the time to learn how to break down a chicken can really make your meals more interesting, though. I can write up a few ideas, from simple to a bit more complicated but not too far fetched to learn. Easy: Chicken soup - a simple soup can be made by just throwing the whole chicken into a pot with the ingredients and dealing with picking the meat later. If you want to put in a bit of effort up front in exchange for a less rustic finish it's not too difficult. I like to break the chicken down into breasts, thighs, wings, and carcass. I'll then debone the thigh and leg, skin them and the breasts. Place the carcass and neck in a pressure cooker (or stock pot) cover with water and bring to pressure, cook for 45 min (admittedly this isn't very quick in a stock pot, you'll need to let this go for at least an hour and a half). Strain and reserve. Render the fat from the chicken skin and sautee the mirepoix in it. Then add the stock and cook the veg through. Basic continental/American chicken soup: Celery, onion, carrot, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf, water. Modifications: noodles, dumplings, potato, rice. You can thicken it with some cornstarch+water or make a roux and put it in a pot pie (or lazy it up and just bake some crust circles to put on top of a bowl of chicken soup). Adding some tomato paste, chile powder, fresh chilies, cilantro, and cumin and topping with tortilla chips will give you tortilla soup. You can also add black beans if you want, or corn. Chinese-type chicken soup - Onion, garlic, ginger, scallions. Serve with long egg noodles or cook rinsed short grain rice 1:10 in it until it disintegrates (congee) Serve with shredded chicken, hard boiled egg, scallions, chili paste, or whatever. Pho ga - cilantro stems, star anise, cloves, coriander seed, fish sauce, sugar, onion charred lightly on your burner or under a broiler, ginger. Serve with rice noodles and the usual accompaniments Tom yum gai - onion, scallion, tomato, mushrooms, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, ginger, fish sauce, chili paste, chilies, cilantro, sugar, lime juice. Coq au vin isn't too much of a stretch if you are willing to do tom yum gai. Nor is doro wat. If you are willing to break down and debone a chicken, well you have a shitton of options. Basically anything stir fried, grilled chicken to go into sandwiches/tortas/banhmi, on rice (like halal cart food), into tacos, skewered like yakiniku, shawarma, etc. And of course fried. Southern fried chicken to chicken katsu, fried chicken is pretty easy and very fast. You can make a roasted chicken ragu which is awesome albeit time consuming, but not particularly difficult. I know you said you only have 1.5 hrs a day, but if you break up the work over two days, or cook on the weekend for the week, you can do a lot more interesting things. Specifically prepping veg and stuff or parcooking things and putting into tupperwares. That way all you need to do is finish the cooking.
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Sep 26, 2012 20:37
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I've been making Kedgeree recently since my oven conked out -I started with this recipe: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10421/kedgeree But ended up pretty much doubling the spices and cooking the rice in fish stock instead of water, and it is delicious, cheap and wholesome. This is what I do: For 2 helps: 150g smoked haddock, cod, coley etc, 1/4 cup milk NO eggs handful chopped parsley FOR THE RICE 1 bay leaf 2 tbsp ghee 1 large onion , finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp ground turmeric 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 2 tsp curry powder 150g easy-cook long grain rice , rinsed under running water Bit of creme fraiche For the rice, heat the oil in a large, lidded pan, add the onion and garlic then gently fry for 5 mins until softened but not coloured. Add the spices and bay leaf, season with salt ( personally I don't add salt because fish + stock are already pretty salty ), then continue to fry until the mix start to go brown and fragrant; about 3 mins. Add the rice and stir in well. Add 300ml fish stock, stir, then bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, then cover for 10 mins. Take off the heat and leave to stand, covered, for 10-15 mins more. The rice will be perfectly cooked if you do not lift the lid before the end of the cooking. Meanwhile, put the smoked fish into a pot. Cover with the milk, then poach for 10 mins until the flesh flakes. Remove from the milk, peel away the skin, then flake the flesh into thumbsize pieces. Gently mix the fish, parsley, and rice together in the pan. Throw in 2 heaped teaspoons of creme fraiche if it's around . Stir it all about and stuff it into you. Edit: Properly kedgeree has hardboiled egg slices sitting on top but I don't really see why - they just break up and are messy if you stir them in, and if you don't they just sit all incongruously on the top? Pookah fucked around with this message at 20:48 on Sep 26, 2012 |
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Sep 26, 2012 20:42
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So I recently started college, and the meals here are obscenely expensive. I brought a rice cooker, a microwave, and I have a mini-fridge I share with my room mate, but I don't have a kitchen. There's a grocery store less than a mile from the university, but I can only carry back what fits in my backpack. Is there any bulk meals I can make to last me through the week and still be cheap/filling? I've been spending about $20 on groceries a week, but I'm willing to spend more. I have a huge bag of rice right now too, and I can have my family bring me my spice collection next time they visit. Any suggestions?
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Sep 26, 2012 21:14
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Caxixi posted:So I recently started college, and the meals here are obscenely expensive. I brought a rice cooker, a microwave, and I have a mini-fridge I share with my room mate, but I don't have a kitchen. There's a grocery store less than a mile from the university, but I can only carry back what fits in my backpack. Is there any bulk meals I can make to last me through the week and still be cheap/filling? I've been spending about $20 on groceries a week, but I'm willing to spend more. I have a huge bag of rice right now too, and I can have my family bring me my spice collection next time they visit. Any suggestions? You can microwave fish with excellent results I used to make rice bowls a lot in college, using a george foreman grill to grill meat. You can also cook beans and other legumes in a rice cooker. You can poach eggs in a microwave. Perhaps get a toaster oven, then you can make flatbreads and mini pizzas. Getting a hot plate, you can do a ton more, but that is arguably more involved and requires more space for prep work.
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Sep 26, 2012 21:23
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GrAviTy84 posted:You can microwave fish with excellent results I used to make rice bowls a lot in college, using a george foreman grill to grill meat. You can also cook beans and other legumes in a rice cooker. You can poach eggs in a microwave. Perhaps get a toaster oven, then you can make flatbreads and mini pizzas. Getting a hot plate, you can do a ton more, but that is arguably more involved and requires more space for prep work. Thanks! I forgot to mention that my rice cooker also works as a slow cooker, so hopefully that can widen the range of what I can make. Toaster ovens and hot plates aren't allowed in the dorms, but the microwave meals are helpful!
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Sep 26, 2012 21:27
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Fork potato fork holes in potato, microwave until it's what you want. 3 minutes 5 minutes and you have baked potato. Add bacon and cheese maybe some green onions and of course lots of butter. Any meat can be cooked in a microwave. Just add water. It won't have the seer on it so chopped, diced or pulled and then added to whatever you have in the rice maker which is just a steamer with a name. See if they will let you have a waffle maker too. If not, keep dry cereal in stock. Cereal is good in the morning or for late night munchies. Easy and ready to go.
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Sep 27, 2012 02:08
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Awfull Ioci posted:Any meat can be cooked in a microwave. Meat can be made hot in a microwave, but I would not go so far as to say it has been cooked.
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Sep 27, 2012 05:21
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Pookah posted:I've been making Kedgeree recently since my oven conked out -I started with this recipe: I would imagine that kedgeree has the eggs because it is traditionally a breakfast food, and the Brits who invented it couldn't stomach the thought of not eating eggs at breakfast.
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Sep 27, 2012 14:56
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Caxixi posted:Toaster ovens and hot plates aren't allowed in the dorms, but the microwave meals are helpful! I bet weed and beer aren't allowed either.
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Sep 27, 2012 15:14
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bunnielab posted:I bet weed and beer aren't allowed either. Get a window fan and blow the delicious smells out. That way your RA won't be suspicious any cooking, especially if you're not on the ground floor. Then again, your RA might think you're smoking pot if he sees the fan from the outside.
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Sep 27, 2012 18:58
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Meat can be made hot in a microwave, but I would not go so far as to say it has been cooked. It's not exactly the best way in the world to cook it, but a good friend of mine used to cook pork steaks in a microwave because he lived in the store he ran and didn't really have anything else other than the microwave and the FRIDGE. It doesn't exactly put the tasty crust on the outside, but it's servicable EDIT: God drat it redmercer fucked around with this message at 21:16 on Sep 28, 2012 |
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Sep 28, 2012 19:30
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What was wrong with the stove?
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Sep 28, 2012 19:48
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