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Your very favorite as-cheap-as-possible recipe
I am starting to compile the grocery list for the week, and since we are retrenching, I am looking for rock-bottom price recipes. Nutritional main dish recipes that you actually like. Kid-friendly and easy a particular plus.
I remember one we ate pretty often when I was a kid, a fondue recipe we called "Blushing Bunny." I think I got it from Camp Fire Girls. Why the weird name? I think it is meant as a sort of sideways joke, a tip of the hat to the better known fondue "Welsh Rarebit," which a child might hear as "Welsh Rabbit."
Take a can of Campbell's tomato soup. Do not dilute it. Stir in one egg, well beaten and shredded cheddar cheese (I think we'd put in somewhere between a half cup to a cup or so). Heat gently until hot and thickened. Serve by pouring over toast and eat immediately. I think this serves 2-3, depending on whether you are serving kids or adults.
Like I said, I remember loving this one as a kid, but when I mentioned this one to Delia, she wrinkled her nose in disgust when I made the mistake of telling her the ingredients list. I know that adding the egg to the soup sounds disgusting, but when it is stirred in and heated up, you really can't tell it's there at all. It just is there to add protein and thicken it, I guess. I might make it anyway and insist that they try it at least. It is certainly dead cheap.
Mom used to serve spam and rice pretty frequently, but I'm not quite tempted to revisit that old memory. Rob remembers dinners of fried boloney when he was growing up, but I don't think he's nostalgic for that one, either.
How about you? My kids are picky, but give me your best shot anyway.
Edited to add: All three hate onions, broccoli and mushrooms. The girls hate potatoes (yes, potatoes!), brown rice, and bell peppers. Delia hates cooked tomatoes, cooked apples and cooked oranges and is very unpredictable about meat. She has tried and rejected a number of meat substitutes--impossible to predict, but she doesn't seem to like tofu-based products very much. She is hit or miss on most other vegetables, but less likely to eat them if they are cooked.
Fiona would eat nothing but carbs (pasta) if I let her. White, of course. I prefer whole wheat pasta, but they are much more reluctant to eat it.
Beans are also unpredictable. Rob will eat lentils, pinto beans and kidney beans (reluctantly); girls will not. The girls adore baked beans, however. Go figure. Rob will eat green beans (even canned!), girls, there is no predicting.
Rob will eat kale reluctantly, girls will not.
Edited to add again: My personal favorite suggestion, among all these comments, is![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
moony's suggestion that I teach the girls basic photosynthesis: "You're hungry? Go stand in the yard for an hour."
I remember one we ate pretty often when I was a kid, a fondue recipe we called "Blushing Bunny." I think I got it from Camp Fire Girls. Why the weird name? I think it is meant as a sort of sideways joke, a tip of the hat to the better known fondue "Welsh Rarebit," which a child might hear as "Welsh Rabbit."
Take a can of Campbell's tomato soup. Do not dilute it. Stir in one egg, well beaten and shredded cheddar cheese (I think we'd put in somewhere between a half cup to a cup or so). Heat gently until hot and thickened. Serve by pouring over toast and eat immediately. I think this serves 2-3, depending on whether you are serving kids or adults.
Like I said, I remember loving this one as a kid, but when I mentioned this one to Delia, she wrinkled her nose in disgust when I made the mistake of telling her the ingredients list. I know that adding the egg to the soup sounds disgusting, but when it is stirred in and heated up, you really can't tell it's there at all. It just is there to add protein and thicken it, I guess. I might make it anyway and insist that they try it at least. It is certainly dead cheap.
Mom used to serve spam and rice pretty frequently, but I'm not quite tempted to revisit that old memory. Rob remembers dinners of fried boloney when he was growing up, but I don't think he's nostalgic for that one, either.
How about you? My kids are picky, but give me your best shot anyway.
Edited to add: All three hate onions, broccoli and mushrooms. The girls hate potatoes (yes, potatoes!), brown rice, and bell peppers. Delia hates cooked tomatoes, cooked apples and cooked oranges and is very unpredictable about meat. She has tried and rejected a number of meat substitutes--impossible to predict, but she doesn't seem to like tofu-based products very much. She is hit or miss on most other vegetables, but less likely to eat them if they are cooked.
Fiona would eat nothing but carbs (pasta) if I let her. White, of course. I prefer whole wheat pasta, but they are much more reluctant to eat it.
Beans are also unpredictable. Rob will eat lentils, pinto beans and kidney beans (reluctantly); girls will not. The girls adore baked beans, however. Go figure. Rob will eat green beans (even canned!), girls, there is no predicting.
Rob will eat kale reluctantly, girls will not.
Edited to add again: My personal favorite suggestion, among all these comments, is
moony's suggestion that I teach the girls basic photosynthesis: "You're hungry? Go stand in the yard for an hour."
no subject
When the kids were babies and we were living on nothing I think we sort of started with the diet above, and then branched out to other legumes and grains, adding fresh vegies and fruits based strictly on price, and buying the kind of meat that is usually used for soup stocks. We bought ramen noodles and packaged mac&cheese and used them as cheap ways to add flavor.
Eggs and canned tuna are cheap perfect protein. Meat and cheese are luxuries, used in small quantities for flavor rather than as the basis for a meal. Shopping at the coop makes vegetarian-based food more fun. Casseroles are great for using up leftovers of any kind and disguising the beans and grains. Less obvious, you can mix almost any kind of mushy cooked vegetables in with potatoes and onions and fry them into yummy vegie patties.
Baking your own bread doesn't actually save you much money, it turns out. However, growing sprouts, making your own yogurt from dried milk, and (I swear to God we did this) making your own tofu are all big savings. Ditto for home-made granola and home-baked crackers or flatbread. All of this stuff takes time, though, possibly more time than it's worth unless it's fun for the family to do together.
I thought it was lots of fun, but I was staying home with my babies and had plenty of time on my hands. I remember those days fondly. Now we have enough money to just go to the grocery store and buy anything that looks good, and I'm frequently appalled at how much money we spend on food. We could easily live on a quarter of what we're spending now for food, but we don't have to, so we don't.
no subject