The trouble with inexpensive food is that it costs a lot in time. I mean you can make your own baked beans for about 10% of what canned ones cost, but it takes 12 hours soaking and then three hours cooking. Also, it isn't healthy, you pretty much can't do both at the same time.
And cheese is expensive! Tinned food is expensive! I've fed three people on fifteen pounds a week, and those things were just out of reach -- cheese was a rare treat.
Almost everything I cook has onions in it, and so isn't much use.
But how about "2 meals for 4 from one chicken"?
You buy a chicken for about $10. You prod it with a fork, sprinkle salt&pepper and whatever herbs they'll sit still for and roast it for an hour at 200C/400F. When it's nearly done, you tip all the fat it has created into a wok on medium heat, and add finely chopped carrots and whatever other vegetables they'll stand, garlic if that's OK, and 3 ounces of white basmati rice per person. Stir, a lot. Boil a pint of water and add a tablespoon of soy sauce. When the rice starts to show signs of sticking slowly add this water so it can absorb it as it cooks. Meanwhile, the chicken will be done. Cut up all the breast meat, including the skin, and add it to the wok. Refrigerate the rest of the chicken. When the rice looks like rice, and all the liquid has been absorbed, serve, calling it risotto. You're basically eating a pile of rice with some bits of meat and veg, but it's surprisingly tasty and filling, and as it has cheap root vegetables and rice, which is essentially free when bought in bulk, you can consider that the whole meal for four cost about $6.50.
The next morning, take the rest of the chicken and put it in a large saucepan. Cover it with water. Add an ounce of pearl barley per person and some salt, and bring to the boil. Add carrots, rutabaga and whatever else in the way of cheap root vegetables they'll sit still for, also herbs. Simmer at a low boil for an hour and a half. You can not do this in a microwave, you need a saucepan and time. When it has cooled, remove the bones if your family are picky about bones in their food like mine. (If I'm eating it myself, I just spit the bones out as I go.) Half an hour before you want to eat, heat it up again and when it's boiling, add macaroni-type pasta and let that cook in the liquid. Call it chicken stew. This also can be considered $6.50, or $7.50 if you serve it with bread... or you can make soda bread to go with it, and you can call it $6.75. (Will they eat soda bread? Want a recipe?)
no subject
And cheese is expensive! Tinned food is expensive! I've fed three people on fifteen pounds a week, and those things were just out of reach -- cheese was a rare treat.
Almost everything I cook has onions in it, and so isn't much use.
But how about "2 meals for 4 from one chicken"?
You buy a chicken for about $10. You prod it with a fork, sprinkle salt&pepper and whatever herbs they'll sit still for and roast it for an hour at 200C/400F. When it's nearly done, you tip all the fat it has created into a wok on medium heat, and add finely chopped carrots and whatever other vegetables they'll stand, garlic if that's OK, and 3 ounces of white basmati rice per person. Stir, a lot. Boil a pint of water and add a tablespoon of soy sauce. When the rice starts to show signs of sticking slowly add this water so it can absorb it as it cooks. Meanwhile, the chicken will be done. Cut up all the breast meat, including the skin, and add it to the wok. Refrigerate the rest of the chicken. When the rice looks like rice, and all the liquid has been absorbed, serve, calling it risotto. You're basically eating a pile of rice with some bits of meat and veg, but it's surprisingly tasty and filling, and as it has cheap root vegetables and rice, which is essentially free when bought in bulk, you can consider that the whole meal for four cost about $6.50.
The next morning, take the rest of the chicken and put it in a large saucepan. Cover it with water. Add an ounce of pearl barley per person and some salt, and bring to the boil. Add carrots, rutabaga and whatever else in the way of cheap root vegetables they'll sit still for, also herbs. Simmer at a low boil for an hour and a half. You can not do this in a microwave, you need a saucepan and time. When it has cooled, remove the bones if your family are picky about bones in their food like mine. (If I'm eating it myself, I just spit the bones out as I go.) Half an hour before you want to eat, heat it up again and when it's boiling, add macaroni-type pasta and let that cook in the liquid. Call it chicken stew. This also can be considered $6.50, or $7.50 if you serve it with bread... or you can make soda bread to go with it, and you can call it $6.75. (Will they eat soda bread? Want a recipe?)