Extreme Cheap Eating

5 gallons of milk a week?

We get through 2 a week - and we don't even have any kids!

5 gallons of milk a week?

I spent a summer caring for three children, and after that could very much believe that number with a family of seven! Kudos to Becky for doing so well! In very slim times I do recall getting by on rice, ramen, eggs, along with a combo of veggies. If it were today I would stick to beans, rice, whatever veggies and also whatever possible meat I could get on sale (the entire reason I have a seperate freezer), and sales! Sales combined with coupons can go pretty far, I have done a VERY nice Christmas dinner, including disposable supplies for about 100 EMTs more than 3 years now on around $500 by planning ahead that way. I am also growing things for the first time at an apartement this year, so we'll see how that goes

Cheap eats huh? Mac and cheese - and now the good stuff is cheap thanks to the Kroger Brand knock-offs. In college we lived off the powder stuff (4 or 5/$1.00) and added tuna when our parents sent care packages. It was better than peanut butter...

and we go through 3 gallons of milk a week easy with 4 of us.

Great post, Brian! I've probably mentioned this before, but even though I was brought up with a mother who was a great cook, a foodie father who loved to try new things, and a rather eclectic diet, I really learned to cook when I was poor. Make inexpensive ingredients taste good - that was the challenge. But I still relied on a lot of the standards - beans/rice (I learned about the complex proteins through necessity), pasta w/homemade marinara (much cheaper, better), lots of eggs/quiches (I would make the quiche crusts from instant mashed potatoes that Mom would sometimes send back with me. the only decent use for them, as far as I could tell). New potatoes fried with onions, garlic, and curry powder in a pita with plain yogurt was great. And ramen noodles with chopped hard-cooked egg, green onion, and lime juice added, tastes a little like poncit. I also would make 'country-style' green beans with ham hocks, and be sure to get every bit of meat off the ham hock that I could. I didn't buy much meat then, so this was my inexpensive indulgence. Tuna for salads or a casserole, canned salmon for salmon cakes, with crackers from the cafeteria... That's also when I discovered the old food co-op on Frankfort, and how to make my own hummous (however you spell it) and falafals. I also worked at restaurants that would give you a meal for your shift (soup, baked potato, or bbq sammy), which helped. But mostly lots of fresh veggies cooked with garlic and onions, and whatever else I happened to have.

Now, I try to get things on sale, mostly, and stock up, and go with what's in season.

In my college years, when the end of the month came and I discovered that I had squandered too much of my food money on beer, I would go to the student union cafeteria and make "tomato soup" in a cup with hot water, ketchup, salt, pepper and hot sauce and a bunch of crushed saltine packets.
...pitiful, but free

Entree salads: a large salad with 3-4 ounces of protein grilled & sliced on top and a home made vinaigrette salad dressing. That's cheap and nutritious. CD

When I think back to my grad. school days, I think the best thing I did to make the homemade cheap eats tasty was to keep a row of herbs in my kitchen window. I can't remember what my choices were then, but now I'd choose rosemary, thyme, chives, Italian parsley, and cilantro.

toasted supermarket bagel with your favorite marinara and Parmesan cheese. It's cheap, tasty and filling!

I've been doing a few things to cut our food budget:

1. We've started eating old fashioned oatmeal instead of pricier commercial cereals.

3. Make your own bread. I've been using the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day method. It's super duper easy and if you buy big containers of flour it's really cheap. I simply mix up the dough in the morning (takes maybe 5 minutes) and throw it in the oven later. I've also been making things like pizza crust and even pita bread using this method.

4. Buy from the bulk bins. Whole Foods is generally pricier than Kroger, but when I buy stuff like black beans from the bulk bin, it's definitely cheaper.

5. I've started doing a Square Foot Garden to grow things mostly for canning and to supplement our CSA share. I'm hoping I can put up lots of tomato-based sauces that we use regularly - salsa, pizza sauce, pasta sauce. Seems like we go through a LOT of that. I just canned for the first time last year using the hot water bath method and found it to be surprisingly easy.

Firstly, all vegetarian of course. Many many cheap dishes to choose from.

Get a big pot, toss in rice, lentils, veggies of choice. Don't forget the onions and garlic (saute them first if you want to get "gourmet"). Add curry spices (turmeric, cumin, coriander). That gives you a massive pot of veggie pilaf, for a few bucks. Five plus meals for under five bucks.

Don't forget Spaghetti (pasta of choice). You can make your own sauce if you want to get wild, or buy a variety of relatively cheap ones off the shelf. Quick, easy, dirt cheap.

Good old beans and rice. You can use tortillas and veggies for more variations.

Fruit, whatever is cheap/in season/available locally.

Potatoes!!! So many variations. Mashed with some garlic...mmmmmm...we're talking comfort food, and virtually free! (ten pounds for three-five bucks!!)...you can make has browns, home fries, you name it. I like to just toss a potato in a microwave, bake for a few minutes, cut it open, toss on some bac-o's (fake of course and dirt cheap in the large containers at Kroger), add some salt pepper and garlic powder, and maybe some earth balance (margarine). Yummy. For a treat, I crumple a veggie burger on top, but that'd add to your expense. But even with the veggie burger (buy them in bulk) you're in the dollar range for a big plate of food.

Curries, stir fried vegetables, all very very cheap!!! Add tofu, seitan (you can make it yourself), tempeh, etc....broccoli, kale, mushrooms, whatever is on sale......

Etc, etc, etc....I could ramble on for days

Veggie cooking can be very very cheap....we're talking $2-4/day per person. Serious athletes will need to eat more, so it'll obviously cost more.

Good luck....

-Nimbus
(former college student who scraped by because he spent his money on other more fun stuff)

Firstly, all vegetarian of course. Many many cheap dishes to choose from.

Veggie cooking can be very very cheap....we're talking $2-4/day per person. Serious athletes will need to eat more, so it'll obviously cost more.

Good luck....

-Nimbus
(former college student who scraped by because he spent his money on other more fun stuff)

From your post, I take it that you might be a vegetarian. My sister is a vegan. We are planning a trip to Texas to visit her and she has requested that we respect that she does not cook meat in her house, she actually said lunchmeats were okay. My reply to her was that I didn't know if I could go because I couldn't afford to feed my four children a vegetarian diet. Well, she replied that they actually eat very cheap and went on to give me a rundown of their meals. They sounded very tasty. Alot of stirfrys, fruit desserts, now she does buy some meatless things, such as veggie burgers, riblet somethings, but she said that they get along fine without those.

We compromised and she is going to allow eggs, cheese, and milk in her house which will make it a lot easier for us. It will be an interesting few weeks as we are shocked into vegetarianism. Funny thing, she said that we would probably get healthier in the few weeks that we are there eating like she does. lol

Firstly, all vegetarian of course. Many many cheap dishes to choose from.

Veggie cooking can be very very cheap....we're talking $2-4/day per person. Serious athletes will need to eat more, so it'll obviously cost more.

Good luck....

-Nimbus
(former college student who scraped by because he spent his money on other more fun stuff)

From your post, I take it that you might be a vegetarian. My sister is a vegan. We are planning a trip to Texas to visit her and she has requested that we respect that she does not cook meat in her house, she actually said lunchmeats were okay. My reply to her was that I didn't know if I could go because I couldn't afford to feed my four children a vegetarian diet. Well, she replied that they actually eat very cheap and went on to give me a rundown of their meals. They sounded very tasty. Alot of stirfrys, fruit desserts, now she does buy some meatless things, such as veggie burgers, riblet somethings, but she said that they get along fine without those.

We compromised and she is going to allow eggs, cheese, and milk in her house which will make it a lot easier for us. It will be an interesting few weeks as we are shocked into vegetarianism. Funny thing, she said that we would probably get healthier in the few weeks that we are there eating like she does. lol

She's probably correct about ya'll getting healthier while you're there. I initially went vegetarian primarily for health reasons. I was fairly serious athletically at the time (marathons, long distance biking, basketball) during graduate school at Purdue. All of my research kept pointing away from eating meat. Later on, I added ethical and environmental reasons (after more thought and research).

I'm close to vegan now. Cheese is my only weak link. Veggie cheese just doesn't come close (and it is pricey - to stay on topic). (I spent too much time in France I guess - fresh baguette every morning(price controlled by the gov't), and dirt cheap camembert or brie)...mmmmmm

She's probably correct about ya'll getting healthier while you're there. I initially went vegetarian primarily for health reasons. I was fairly serious athletically at the time (marathons, long distance biking, basketball) during graduate school at Purdue. All of my research kept pointing away from eating meat. Later on, I added ethical and environmental reasons (after more thought and research).

I'm close to vegan now. Cheese is my only weak link. Veggie cheese just doesn't come close (and it is pricey - to stay on topic). (I spent too much time in France I guess - fresh baguette every morning(price controlled by the gov't), and dirt cheap camembert or brie)...mmmmmm

Nimbus, I am sure it is healthier to not eat meat, because you can find protein in eggs, beans, etc. But my biggest discussion with my sister is that many of the fillers that she uses in her cooking, i.e. potatoes, pasta, bread; I cannot eat much of. I am diabetic, so for me it is better for my sugars to eat lets say a large chicken breast with a small baked potato as opposed to a large baked potato loaded with veggie toppings.

Nimbus, I am sure it is healthier to not eat meat, because you can find protein in eggs, beans, etc. But my biggest discussion with my sister is that many of the fillers that she uses in her cooking, i.e. potatoes, pasta, bread; I cannot eat much of. I am diabetic, so for me it is better for my sugars to eat lets say a large chicken breast with a small baked potato as opposed to a large baked potato loaded with veggie toppings.

You could suggest some alternatives. Huevos rancheros - heat up a flour tortilla, fry a few eggs and top with smoked gruyere. You put some black beans on the tortilla, top with the eggs and melted cheese and top the whole thing with a yummy green chile rellenos sauce. The only "bad" thing in that is the tortilla.

I'd think vegetarian chili would be diabetic friendly. I use garlic, onions, lots of kidney & black beans, cans of tomatoes, chopped bell peppers, corn (which you could omit) and lots of spices. Then you could top it with cheese, jalapenos, sour cream, whatever you each want. I like to eat mine with corn tortilla chips, but you could forgo that.

This time of the year we often eat a big salad. That could easily be customized with different protein sources - from nuts to garbonzo beans, cheeses, hard boiled eggs...

In other words, I think if your sister is creative, she could come up with some solutions that will appeal to everyone.