Random cooking-related question

[mousme]

Okay, folks. I know a lot of you there are fans of cooking, a few of you are members of food_porn, and so forth.

So, I'm looking for good recipes that can be done relatively cheap. Y'know, for those fo us who are financially impaired.

Know any websites? Have recipes of your own that you want to share? Please?

I'm trying to get back into cooking mode these days, and some exciting new recipes will definitely help with motivation. :)

Help?

Comments

[alcinoe.livejournal.com]

I might be able to help, but I don't know what is cheap in Canada. What is inexpensive foodwise here, may not be down here and vice verse, yk?

Just a general overview is good, like: meats, poultry, dairy and such.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Well, meat of any kind will be fairly expensive by my standards. Ground hamburger meat goes for about $4 Canadian for roughly 500g. Anything "fancier" than that goes up in price. Beef is as cheap as it gets, as far as I can tell, and then when you get into veal or lamb or what have you, it's not prohibitive, or anything, but it's only something one can get every now and again. Except veal cutlets. For some reason, those are cheap. I have a kick-ass wienerschnitzel recipe to use with that, but other suggestions are welcome.

Poultry is my friend, but I can't have it more than, say, twice a week. It's less expensive than red meat, though, which is a plus.

Dairy is cheap, unless you get into the really fancy stuff. Yay, government subsidies! It's been said that if the dairy farmers had no subsidies, milk would be more expensive than champagne. Scary, eh?

Vegetables, again, are pretty cheap if you stick to stuff that's pretty basic. Broccoli, green beans, lettuce, carrots, what have you. As long as it's nothing that's imported from Florida or Mexico, it's affordable. ^_^

[alcinoe.livejournal.com]

Here is one yummy dish that my family adores:

Corn Chowdah (ya, you have to pronounce it that way, it lends to the atmosphere)

1 onion small and chopped
bit of butter
2 cups chicken broth OR 2 cups of water with 2 boullion cubes, OR just water if you are really poor, it will still be okay, but not as good.
2 cups cubed potatoes (waxy is best, but whatever you have on hand will do)
2 cups frozen corn
2 cups half and half OR cream OR milk

saute the onion in the butter until the onion is translucent. Add the broth and cubed potato and a little salt if using low sodium broth or water. bring to a simmer, cover and let cook about 10 minutes until the potatoe is cooked. Add corn and milk, heat through. If you like it thick, mix some milk with 2 tablespoons flour and shake well until there are NO lumps (this is your ONLY chance to remove those lumps, so really shake it) and slowly add it to the steaming soup. Add a little at a time until it is as thick as you like. I personally don't like it thick, and if you use cream it will start out thickish anyway. Also, mashing some of the potatoes will thicken it.
This tastes best with some crumbled bacon, but is still quite good on its own.
You can fiddle with this recipe all you want to, make it your own. I had to write it off the top of my head 'cause that is how I make it. It is very inexpensive and is definately a "make do" sort of dish. I prefer frozen corn, but if all you have is canned, use it. If you have fresh, cut it off the cob and cook it a bit with the potatoes, see where I am going with this? Add seasonings as you wish. I usualy just add pepper and a bit more butter, as is traditional, but I have used tarragon which is yummy too.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Yay! Sounds yummy. :)

[striped.livejournal.com]

You a fan of Indian cooking?

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely. There are very few things that I absolutely will not eat. ^_^

[striped.livejournal.com]

Then you must try this: http://www.malasa.com/cookbook/Chats/Samosa.htm It's a samosa recipe, but if you want real food and not just pastry, you can take the filling and have it with rice, or even just by itself.

Then there's this one, also perfect as a samosa filling, with rice, or alone (recipe for two if eaten with rice, I think). Cheap, simple, easy, and deee-lishus:

1 dl lentils
1 dl rice
1 big carrot or 2 small ones
1 big onion
2 tsp grated fresh ginger or 1/2 tsp ginger powder
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of cardemon
1 to 2 tsp curry powder according to taste
1 vegetable... cube... you know? The things that you add to water to mave veggie... broth? Damn my vocabulary. Anyhow, this is optional.
1 tbsp wheat flour
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 dl water
1 tbsp lemon juice
some oil for frying

Boil rice and lentils together. Chop onions and carrot, heat some oil on a frying pan, fry onions, carrot, and gigner until onion is soft. Add curry, cinnamon, cardemon, flour and vegetable cube thingie. After a minute or two, add in other stuff. Fry for a few minutes. Voilà.


Oops, I realized I'm not sure which volume units you use in Canada. Well, 1 dl = a bit under 1/2 cups, I think, if you use the strange American units.

[sultrysong.livejournal.com]

I guess Kraft dinner -- my specialty -- isn't quite what you're looking for, huh?

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Hee! Not quite, no. Am pretty handy already with the KD, although I've been off the stuff ever since I discovered my last batch was invaded by weevils. >_

god bless epicurious

[luvenditti.livejournal.com]

http://www.epicurious.com

they have LOVELY soups

[alcinoe.livejournal.com]

Now for the chicken. You can make one whole chicken last you at LEAST three meals. Possibly more since you are only one person and I do this for four people.
First:
Roast your chicken. Find a recipe you like. Any recipe. Roast it, eat it with veggies of your choice. Enjoy.
Cut up all the extra meat and save the carcass. When you have an evening (if you won't for a couple of days, freeze the carcass for when you do have the time, along with a couple cups of meat for a soup)
Soup:
Place carcass in pot Add any bits and pieces of vegetables (other than cruciferous ones like cabbage or broccoli) that you have in your fridge that look like they won't make it to another meal) add one whole onion cut in half. Just cover with water. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for a few hours, skimming the top if it gets scummy. Strain and refridgerate. In the morning scoop off the fat (though leaving a teeny bit will add a bit of flavor, you can always use olive oil to add it back if you are afraid of animal fat for flavor, no harm, no foul)
If you find you have FAR to much broth, freeze it in 2 to 4 cup bits for later use. There are MANY soups you can make with this, and make it to your portion size so you won't be eating the same soup for a week.
For your single soup:
bring a couple cups of broth to a boil, add veggies to pot. what do you like? I usually add onions, carrots and celery to start. Sometimes I like to throw in some canned tomatoes, or if I have some that look like they may "go" soon, I cut them up and add them to the pot. Throw in your chicken and some pasta. Yummy!

Want pot pie? make a simple pie crust or biscuit mix. Throw a couple tablespoons of butter in a pot and let melt. Add some flour and cook it until it is creamy, then stir in 2 cups of broth. Add some chicken and cooked or frozen veggies. put in a baking dish and top with crust of biscuit dough. Bake in oven at 375 until crust is brown. Yum.

There are more soups you can make too, with some canned beans and a little parmesean and greens, there is minestrone, though typically made with beef broth it is a peasant dish so can be made with what is on hand. Ask your cheese merchant for the rinds of parmesean on the cheap. You can put them in your simmering soups and it adds richness to them for less cost. Just fish them out (don't eat them)

lentil soup

[longpig.livejournal.com]

So cheap to make, very filling and healthy, and you can eat it for like a week. It also freezes well. You just need a pretty sizable pot to make it in...

- green and red lentils
- yellow split peas, chick peas, whatever (optional)
- 2 ham hocks (or any ham on a bone)
- curry powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and peper -- all to taste
- 2 cloves garlic
- lg. can tomatoes.

Fill a soup pot with enough water to just cover ham bone(s). Boil low until meat is cooked & just starts to fall off the bone. Remove meat from bone & set aside (refrigerate). Put bones back in liquid. Chop & add 2 cloves garlic. Add lentils and peas (I never measure this... just.... a bunch). The red lentils will probably disintegrate but that is OK. They are mostly there to thicken the soup anyway. Add spices to taste, but check broth first - it may be salty. Add tomatoes. SImmer until soup reaches desired taste & thickness. Add reserved meat.

You can also serve this over rice if you want to stretch it even further.

spicy bean soup

[longpig.livejournal.com]

- as many or as few diff. kinds of beans as you like, totally 1.5 cups dry
- 1/2 lb ham pieces (optional)
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1 28 oz. can of tomatoes
- juice of one lemon (I just use realemon :P)
- salt, pepper, whatever other spices you like (chilies, basil, other 'green' herbs, tabasco and cayenne are all good)-- to taste
- 1 onion, chopped
- chopped bell pepper (optional)

Wash 1.5 c beans, cover with water, add 1 tbsp salt, and soak overnight. Drain. Put beans in 2 qts of water (can use 6 oz of V8 instead of some of the water). Add all other ingredients, and simmer on low heat for at least 4 hours, until desired thickness and flavour is achieved.

[miseri.livejournal.com]

My personal Ultra-Simple Improv Recipe:

Meat - quantity: enough. See notes.
Rice - half a cup, maybe less.
Peas - one cup.

Wash rice. Cook rice. When rice begins to boil, add meat and turn heat down to "simmer". When rice is fully cooked, add peas and stir. Wait 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Add whatever seasonings you fancy; I prefer garlic salt.

A note about the meat: "enough", for me, usually means about 200g of ground beef or ground pork. Or ground horse, as the case may be. Pork is cheaper than beef. Horse generally comes in smaller quantities. I buy a family-size tray (about 1.2kg) and divide the meat up into individual portions, and freeze them.

If you go with pork or medium ground beef, it is not only cheaper but you also won't have to use any cooking oil or butter. I used to add a spoon of butter to the mix somewhere between the meat and the peas, but no more.

You can also substitute in other things for the meat; I've substituted in canned salmon and italian sausage at various occasions.

[palmir.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, that sounds even cheaper than my version (which uses the same ingredients, in about the same quantities, but I cook the meat and peas in a pan with oil, the rice in its pot, then mix them together when everything's done). I also tend to use ground turkey or buffalo instead of beef, but that's just me - buffalo here is about the same price as beef, ground turkey's a bit more. Either way, it's a really cheap meal.

The casserole Connection.

[elanya.livejournal.com]

This is a list of things you can use to put together casseroles. You can mix and match as you like, and play around to find various combinations that you enjoy :)

I'll start with the base. This is the 'main' ingredient in the casserole. Basically, you can use Rice or Pasta. It doesn't matter what kind, and how much you use will depend on the size of your pot! This will be about 1/2 to 2/3 of the vollume of your casserole, depending on what else you are putting in it.

Next comes the meat. This *is* optional, you can probably make some pretty tasty dishes without it. And remember, these are options, not all of these different ingredients will work well together!
ground beef - you aren;t going to need a whole 500g. Usually, when I buy packages of beef like that, I divide it into halves or thirds for freezing.
Chicken, about one breast, cut up into pieces. Or if you decide to go mad and make a roast chicken, you can use pre-cooked meat from it (leftovers!). I suppose you coudl try getting thigh or leg meat, but it would orobably be a bigger pain. this is basically option expensive ;)
Tuna,
Other forms of beef.
Whatever else you might think of!
Meat should be cooked first, usually with spices, which will depend on what else you put in. These can be chili spices, garlic, oregano, whatever.

Veggies!
I usually use some kind of frozen veggies, because they are fairly cheap. Just 'eyeball' it, depending on what you like and how frugal you're feeling. You could probably use fresh (but you mght want to soften them first) or canned, as well.

Sauce! These are just a few ideas, feel free to experiment. I am always experimenting... :)
Cream of Mushroom, broccoli, celerey, etc, soup. (usually with milk)
Tomato soup
any other kind of pre-made sauce that looks good, probably including some kinds of salad dressings, and chinese food sauce, but that might be a bit pricey.

Other things you can add include: Salsa, worcestershire sauce, other kinds of hot sauce, soya sauce, other spices and seasonings, and cheese. If you want to bother with it, you can top your casserole with bread or cracker crumbs, and margarine to make them crispy. You can make your own with dried-out bred, or you can buy them, but I don't know how much they cost (Not much, I don't think).

Now, I will give you some examples:

Tuna casserole:
Pasta, 1 can of tuna, frozen mixed veg, cream of ____ soup, and cheese.

Beef Strganoff:
Egg noodles, ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, peas, worcestershire sauce, and soya sauce

spicy mexican casserole:
rice, groupnd beef cooked in lots of garlic and chili powder, salsa, cheese.

creamy chicken casserole:
rice, chicken (nutmeg goes well in this!), cream of chicken soup, mixed veg, cheese.

And so on! Hope this is helpful :)

Re: The casserole Connection.

[curtana.livejournal.com]

Actually, boneless chicken thighs are among the cheapest chicken parts you can get, as I recall from my days in Montreal.

Cheap recipes

[curtana.livejournal.com]

Cheddar Potato Soup:

1 medium onion
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tbsp flour
1 beef or vegetable bouillon cube + 2 1/2 cups of water
1 large potato
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or you can substitute swiss if you prefer)
dash of black pepper

Peel and thinly slice the onion. Melt the butter in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it begins to soften. Add the flour and stir constantly until it is fully absorbed (this is the trickiest part, avoiding making it lumpy). Add the broth and turn the heat up to high. While the soup is coming to a boil, peel the potato and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Add to the pot and wait until it returns to a boil. Then turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes. Turn the heat off and, using the spoon or whatever you've been using to stir it, mash a few of the potato pieces into the broth, where they will thicken it. (Note: you can put aside some of the soup at this point and store it for another day.) Add the cheddar cheese and stir for 1-2 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Season with black pepper and serve.

Pasta with Clam Sauce (not nearly as expensive as it sounds, canned clams are pretty cheap ;)

1 medium onion
5 garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp dried parsley
dash of black pepper
1 15-oz can ready-cut tomatoes
1 6-oz can chopped or minced baby clams
10 oz linguine, spaghetti, or other pasta of your choice

Cover a large pot of water and begin heating over medium-low heat. While you're waiting for it to boil, you can make the sauce. Peel and finely chop the garlic and onion. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, parsley, and black pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes and their liquid and the clam juice from the clams (reserve the clams themselves to add later). Cook uncovered over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken gradually (add a bit of water if it gets too dry). After the sauce has cooked for about 10 minutes, start to cook the pasta - this way, they should be done about the same time. Once the noodles are done and sitting draining, that is the time to add the clams to the sauce - much earlier and they will get tough, which you don't want! Turn the heat on the sauce up to medium-high and cook for 1 minute to heat up the clams. Put pasta on plate, add sauce - voila :)

Vegetarian Chili (makes a lot, easily 6 servings, freezes well)

1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
3 large celery stalks
3 large carrots
1 small head cauliflower
(Other vegetables can be substituted or added, including green beans, zucchini, red or green peppers, whatever you have around.)
2 tbsp corn oil
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 15-oz can ready-cut tomatoes
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1 cup water
1 28-oz can red kidney beans

Peel and wash all the vegetables and cut them up into bite-sized pieces. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and celery and cook for 1 minute, stirring often. Stir in the spices. Add the various other vegetables, tomatoes with their liquid, tomato sauce, rice and water. Drain the kidney beans, discarding their liquid, and add them to the pot as well. Mix everything thoroughly. When the mixture begins to bubble, turn down the heat to low, cover and cook, stirring every 10 minutes or so, for 20-25 minutes, or until the rice is soft. Serve immediately, topping with cheese if you like.

Other cheap meals that are easily put together include omelettes, casseroles, pasta, stir-frys...the kind where you just throw in whatever you happen to have - as I'm sure you know :)

[chasingthenuns.livejournal.com]

your post came at a good time since i'm also doing the cheap cooking thing. But, I need to know, do you have a crockpot (slow cooker)? And are tomatoes inexpensive? You also have to like pasta.

[joane.livejournal.com]

My usual mega-meal (make insane quantities, freeze in single-serving bags) is tomato and meat pasta sauce. From scratch is easy, and a lot cheaper than the bottled stuff. Better for you, too. :)

1 tin diced tomatoes (big tin)
1 tin crushed tomatoes (big tin)
1 tin tomato paste (really little tin - adds flavour)

Start the tomatoes simmering. Add (all quantities completely arbitrary and should be altered to taste) 1 tbsp oregano, 1 tbsp basil, 1 large bay leaf, few drops hot sauce (optional). Salt and pepper to taste. I've also added parsley sometimes, thyme, Rich has used paprika and worcestershire sauce... Oregano, basil and bay are my base herbs, and you go from there.

Saute:

1 onion (medium), chopped
1 clove garlic (more is great is you love garlic), chopped very fine
any veggies you want to add (I swear by half a green bell pepper - any more and it starts to taste like pizza sauce - and *lots* of mushrooms)

Add in to simmering sauce.

I brown a package of lean ground beef, drain the fat and add that in to the sauce as well. Pork would work just as well, I assume. My dad adds italian sausage.

Let sauce simmer on low heat for a while - anything over half an hour, the longer the better. Stir occassionally to prevent sticking and burning. Boil your favourite noodle, serve hot with sauce. The sauce tastes better reheated the second day, guaranteed. Also freezes very well (sans pasta - noodles tend to go soggy on thawing) in ziplock bags, so make a big pot and save the rest for quick dinners later.

Because college forces 'creativity'

[palmir.livejournal.com]

First, I'ma put this entry in my Memories so I can refer back to it when I decide I want variety.

On top of my slight variation to miseri's rice'n'meat thing, I'll throw in my simple pasta recipe, which is remarkably similar:

Change all sizes to whatever; I eat a lot, so I cook a lot.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb pasta (of whatever type; bowtie/medium shell size works well) (that's half of a 16oz/.4kg box, I'm not sure what kind of crazy measurements they sell pasta in up there)
1/2 jar pasta sauce of your choice (because... well, it's easier than making my own, and I like store-bought just fine)
1/4 lb ground meat of your choice (~100g, I buy 4-packs of ground buffalo and often use that)
A bunch of mushrooms (if you're into that sort of thing)
Olive oil

Cook pasta according to directions. As the water's nearing a boil (before you put the pasta in; or, if it's a pasta that requires more time, after the pasta goes in; timing can be hard), start cooking the meat in a pan over medium/medium-high heat. When the meat's done, pour some olive oil into the pan, wait several seconds for it to heat up, then add the mushrooms. Toss these together, maybe add some frozen veggies if your philosophy is "It all ends up in the same place." Ideally, the pan-stuff should be done cooking with a minute or three left for the pasta. At that point, add the sauce to the pan. If everything's timed right, you should be draining the pasta the same time as the sauce is nice and warm. Put everything together in the pot, eat. Put it on plates first if you're being fancy or have guests (or if you're using a non-stick pot). I top with parmesan cheese because... well, that's just what you do. Grating it first helps.

If this had been a while back, I would've said to put a clove or three of garlic in with the mushrooms, and I'm sure it'd work out well, but I haven't been cooking with garlic lately.

This recipe serves me for dinner, your mileage will probably vary (because I'm a shrinking boy and I need my food to keep M from yelling at me about it).


I'm finding that pancake mixes are very economical; one box works for many breakfasts. Try to get the kind that doesn't require eggs (or use egg substitute liquidy things) so that you can determine the size of the batch (even I need to do this, actually; I *can* eat an entire batch made with one egg, but it fills me to bursting). And you don't even need to feel bad about buying the expensive-ish good kind of pancake mix, since even they end up being cheap per meal. For a variation, use a sandwich maker to cook them (on mine, one section = one '4"' pancake according to the recipe).


That's about it for me, I think... I eat a pretty repetitive menu.

[mellybean71.livejournal.com]

I might have a couple of recipes you could use. I'll look later. Would you be interested in a really simple mix for white sauce that can also thicken soups and keeps for 6 months in the fridge? I have a great ham and cauliflower casserole that uses it and you can make chowders and stuff with it as well. Somewhere I also have an all-purpose biscuit, pancake, muffin mix that keeps for months.

In your other post you mentioned lentils-- did you want dry or canned ones? I have all these different dry beans and lentils I'll never use. I got them when my boss went to England and left us the contents of her pantry, spice cupboard and liquor cabinet.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

You have a LiveJournal! Why was I not informed? ^_-

Recipes are all welcome and encouraged. You have a recipe for white sauce that keeps? Holy cow. Mine doesn't really keep all that well.

I was looking for dried lentils and peas, actually. So, if you have no use for them, I'll happily take 'em off your hands. :)

[mellybean71.livejournal.com]

Ok Kewl! I may have some spices you can have too and who knows what else. I'll go through the cupboards and see. Want some whole nutmeg?

My Boss is a lovely lady (she reads and writes "genre" fiction so work was holding the baby and talking about books) and very down-to-earth but living in Westmount she has stuff that I'll never be able to put to use but is just too good to throw away. They had a 60$ jar of Foie Gras that had NEVER BEEN OPENED. Well, we opened it pretty quickly but I digress...

As for the recipes, I will look for them and get The Wife to type them in if she's willing. The white sauce mix is heavy on the powdered milk so might be costly but very handy. A lot of the recipes come from my collective kitchen and are designed to be simple, cheap and easy to store.

You can have the stuff by Tuesday if you like. Tomorrow I'm tied up with my Cub Leader duties.