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Grok posted:What are they actually asking for here? Cream of mushroom soup comes up in a lot of recipes, but due to some food allergies I can't just buy a can of Campbell's. I try to just add milk or something but it's never the same. I found this recipe: http://tammysrecipes.com/homemade_cream_chicken_soup and while it seems pretty ingredient - intensive, I think it really equates to a simple white sauce (flour, milk) with a savory flavor profile (salt, pepper, chicken stock, and onions/garlic). It seems to be the cheap quick replacement for a béchamel in many gratin type dishes - that green bean casserole at every potluck is nothing more than a no-frills gratin. My cheap meals: Baked potato (microwave for a few minutes, then finish in the oven for that good flavor) Weird vegetables: cabbage, brussel sprouts, and turnips and the like aren't super popular, but they are cheap and taste pretty good if you cook them properly Bacon-Garlic Rice: Dice a slice or two of bacon. Render it until there's a film of bacon grease in your saucepan, then add half a diced onion and cook it with the bacon til everything is crispy. Pour in 1 cup of rice and toast that for a bit in the onion/bacon goodness. Then, add your water and 1 or 2 unpeeled cloves of garlic. Once your rice is cooked, pick up the garlic with tongs (or your fingers) and mush it out of its peels into the rice, and throw the peels away. Mush the garlic into the rice. Salt and pepper to taste. and finally, BRAISE EVERYTHING. Cheap meat, tough vegetables, whatever - brown it in some fat til crispy, then cook on slow with a bunch of stock, wine or beer, and you'll have a delicious tender meal or (with more liquid) great stew.
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Jan 5, 2012 00:13
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Fenchurch posted:I knew someone would say that! I'm just too well indoctrinated from being raised in the fatfree! 80's. At least I use real butter? I don't like chicken skin but I definitely leave it on while cooking. It really eliminates the need for adding outside moisture to the chicken, and you can put all kinds of seasoning under there. I remove it right before eating - it just seems wrong to pull it off and then have to marinate and brine your chicken five ways from Friday just to keep it from drying out when it comes with its own basting layer already. Also, I don't mean to derail, but a lot of studies have found that a low-fat diet is not a super effective way to keep weight down - if you're interested check W&W, they have tons of resources. But yeah chicken skin grosses me out on its own but pan fry some skin-on, bone-in chicken pieces with some peppers, onions and olive oil and deglaze with a little white wine and mmmmmmm. edit: lentil flavorings: my favorite flavor combo was oregano and tomato paste. Get the tomato paste in the tube, it's more expensive but you don't waste any.
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Jan 6, 2012 05:32
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toanoradian posted:I have a question for the people of this thread. As a Muslim I can't eat pork, and my doctor had recommended that I avoid beef and lamb, so most of the food I cook use chicken. This thread had many helpful tips on how to choose, prepare and cook chicken, but what about fish? Is fish generally not suitable for low budget cooking? Fish is a great source of protein and absolutely acceptable for low budget cooking - but you have to be a little quicker to find it. Frozen fish is available but in my experience frozen fish is generally pretty terrible. What's better is to find fresh fish that has been heavily discounted, although fish goes bad very quickly so you should cook it within a day or so. Most fish is good with a little dab of butter and a squirt of lemon, fried up in a pan.
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Jan 18, 2012 13:57
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feelz good man posted:Salsa chicken rises from the grave once again I want to give the world an alternative to Salsa Chicken. 1. Poach some chicken. 2 thighs, 3 legs, whatever: bring some broth to a boil, add chicken pieces, turn it down to a simmer, poach til chicken is no longer pink. Then, shred into bite sized pieces. (Cut into 2" chunks then use a fork to pull apart). 2. In a cast iron pan, saute 1 chopped onion, garlic, and 1 or more serrano chiles til fragrant. Add 2 chopped Roma tomatoes and cook until about half-soft (you want some tomato chunks). Add shredded chicken. 3. Saute until most of the liquid is gone. Serve on soft corn tacos with some fresh white cheese, chopped cilantro, and limes. There. The chicken doesn't get overcooked, you don't rely on some crappy jar of Pace, and the whole thing is done in less than an hour. [edit] to add amounts but honestly you can add whatever amounts you want
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Jan 24, 2012 15:34
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Vegetable ideas! Parsnips: Peel with a vegetable peeler, cut into sticks 1/2" thick and 2-3" long. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and put in a 350 degree oven until they are brown on the bottom (~15 min?). They taste like a chewy, nutty, sweeter potato. I like to roast them this way with carrots. Cauliflower: Cut into florets, then add to boiling water and boil them until they are able to be pierced by a fork. Drain them, and then mash them. Add butter, salt, and maybe a little milk or cream while you mash them - keep tasting and adding more butter and salt until they are delicious. You can add boiled parsnips, turnips, carrots, or rutabaga to this as well - any root vegetable, really. Brussel sprouts: Cut off ends and slice in half. Cut 2 slices of bacon into small pieces, and fry them in a pan until there is a fair amount of bacon grease. Saute the brussel sprouts in the bacon grease til they soften up (you might want to remove the bacon pieces if they get too crispy, but you should be able to get the brussel sprouts cooked by the time the bacon is done)
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Feb 29, 2012 06:10
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Ethnic restaurants in the "lovely" part of any town usually have the best deliciousness:cost ratio. Making good food on the cheap is definitely something I personally strive for and take pride in but having some nice eating out options that won't empty the wallet is also hugely satisfying. Re: pork shoulder in the slow cooker: This carnitas recipe is the bee's knees and is super cheap. Pork shoulder around here usually costs between $15 and $25, but the per pound price is insane - that cost is for a huge shoulder that will easily last you several days if not a week or more. This recipe calls for 3 lbs, which should be about $5 worth of meat and will easily feed two for at least two meals. Have you been calculating your per meal prices? It's a bit complicated once you start cooking in large amounts but I find it's the best way to figure out good, cheap meals. With a bit more cooking and shopping under your belt, if you pay attention, you'll start to figure out what's a good price and base your meals around that. For example, I would never pay full price for a rotisserie chicken since they're always more per pound than a raw, whole chicken and the only difference is that the grocery cooks it for me. However, the smaller, local grocery near my house often puts their rotisserie chickens on 50% discount or more in the hours before closing - making it way more economical than even raw chicken. I can pick up one of those bad boys at 8 pm for $3, eat it for dinner that night, and have leftovers for sandwiches or salads for a day or two. Start keeping mental notes (or physical ones) of the per pound for various meats and cheeses and you'll begin to see patterns like this. Also, note where food is cheapest - my local grocery does specialty and prepared foods cheap because they have to move merchandise quickly, whereas the Meijer or Walmart doesn't have this problem. However, Meijer does have the best prices for produce and boxed goods. I'll make a trip out there once a month or so to stock up on those things and supplement it with the local grocery for other things. I'm not running all over town with a bagful of coupons or anything, just selectively shopping - and if I see a sale on something non-perishable (or slightly perishable, like Parmesan cheese wedges), I'll grab two or three. Frugality is often about what you eat, but it's also about when and where you buy. Pay attention to this and shop for the long haul (as long as space permits). Finally, if it's just you and your S.O., keep in mind that spoiled food = wasted money. I don't drink a lot of milk, so it would often spoil with more than half the container left. Now I buy organic milk, which is ultra-pasturized - it costs more per half gallon, but since it doesn't spoil, I can keep it much longer, which makes the extra dollar worth it. Likewise, invest in storage containers (even ziplock bags, a notorious money suck) - leftovers are worth it.
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Mar 6, 2012 01:42
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indoflaven posted:A lot of people, including me, no longer have a local grocery(I used to be able to do that like 10 years ago). Just a meijer or a Walmart. Which will be everyone eventually I assume.  This is why I give my local grocery lots of business even though they are rather spendy for off-the-shelf stuff. I can't afford to do all my shopping there but I try to do a lot of it there - it's too loving convenient, plus they've been super nice about accommodating my weird requests ("I need fish sauce and two pounds of cauliflower by tomorrow!"). Plus they get local baked goods and have a wine shop attached with some pretty affordable wines for cooking with (NOT cooking wine - just <$10 reds that are fairly tasty). If you have anything like this, seek it out, it's worth it. Oh, also, recipe idea: Thai curries require some special ingredients: coconut milk, fish sauce, and curry paste, specifically, which will require either a super upscale grocery or ethnic market. However, if you stock up, those three things allow you to absolutely transform boring meats and veg and will last a while. General idea: -Cut your meats into bite sized pieces and brown in oil. -Remove meat to a plate and add vegetables to oil, stir-frying lightly -Then pour over 1 can of coconut milk and start adding fish sauce teaspoon by teaspoon until it tastes good. Scrape pan bottom to bring up all the good meat bits. -Add meat back and bring all ingredients to a simmer. Simmer until meat and veg are done to your preference. -Add curry paste to desired level of heat and flavor. Serve over rice or as a soup. Sorry the recipe isn't more specific, but it's what me and the bf do a lot to leftover bits of this and that. It's not particularly authentic but it is a nice variation for when you want something hot and filling.
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Mar 7, 2012 00:35
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taqueso posted:These two seem to be at every grocery store, even out here in South Dakota. "Good" fish sauce is not super available - you want Red Boat brand. Coconut milk is totally available everywhere.
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Mar 7, 2012 01:16
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TheNothingNew posted:This is questionably true, but probably not the place for this discussion. Do you have any neighborhoods that are known for a high population of immigrants? They are the first place to look. Likewise, near high concentrations of ethnic restaurants - I know of three of ours are within spitting distance from a restaurant serving the same kind of food. Makes sense, especially if they're family owned and operated. How are you searching online?
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Mar 12, 2012 18:42
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GrAviTy84 posted:Now the whole Everything you say is true, esp. in regards to cooking as stress relief. Being able to focus on the basics of being alive - cooking, taking care of yourself with nutritious food and exercise, hygiene and taking pride in your appearance - is really helpful. It really goes much further than anyone would expect in getting your brain right. That said, I think it's a mistake to say that all convenience food is totally without merit. If we're talking strictly finances, having a frozen dinner or two in the freezer can be very helpful to someone on a budget - even if it is slightly more expensive than the raw ingredients. Keeping something handy that can be prepared quickly when you're totally drained can be a $3-$5 expense as opposed to a $10-$20 takeout expense. It's also nice to have some "quick meals" in the back of your head for those nights where you have the energy but not the time to soak some beans or roast a chicken. My quick meals: Breakfast for Dinner: bacon, eggs, toast Steak: cook a steak, saute some mushrooms in butter, make a pan sauce with the drippings from both, eat with a simple green salad or a baked potato (microwaved for quickness and then stuck in the oven for crispness) Simple Pasta: instead of a sauce, make a really quick pasta dish by sauteing cut up Romas with olive oil and adding any any other fresh vegetables, add parmesan, toss with noodles. In the summertime I like adding summer squash and shrimp. Salmon and Vegetables: Sprinkle salmon with any blackening spices (you can make your own or buy these), saute in a pan, add a baked sweet potato or some steamed broccoli.
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Mar 16, 2012 14:55
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noblesse posted:This is excellent advice. I'm one of those "dried/minced/powdered/sad jar" garlic users. I don't know any better, ok? Get a garlic press! This is the one I have and it's nearly indestructible. Peel garlic and pop cloves in whole and just smush them right into whatever. Faster and better than mincing, more flavor than pre-minced and just a smidge of  . Dishwasher safe too. That's a big one.
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Mar 19, 2012 14:44
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Can you use a spice grinder or coffee grinder for this job as well? I have a Blendtec, but uhhh, I'm not sure I could use it unless I was planning on filling a five gallon bucket of the stuff.
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Doh004 posted:Maybe it's just me, but I actually enjoy chopping/mincing garlic by hand? I find it's really good practice as I want to get better at it. That said, I'm still new to cooking and am still learning so I could see getting to the point where I don't need the practice and just want chopped garlic. ...I remember this. Yeah, it gets old after a while. Especially when I'm doing something where I want a lot of garlic, ie, everything. Mincing one or two is fine, mincing five gets old.
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Mar 19, 2012 16:11
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 14:55 |
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AA is for Quitters posted:the only thing that sucks is that 75% of cheap cooking involves ovens and my lovely studio doesn't have an oven. however, there are stovetop alteternatives to nearly everything. Like Pizza Quesadillas instead of pizza, The only thing I havent come up with a decent stovetop alternative for is roast pork shoulder. Stovetop Carnitas Is something like that what you're looking for? [edit] to say I already posted that recipe once, my bad, I just love it so hard for how simple it is. And delicious. vonnegutt fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Mar 20, 2012 |
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Mar 20, 2012 14:35
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