Large Meals...Small Price

[Alterum]

I’m not much of a cook, but I was living with 5 other college-age guys over the summer and we were forced to make our own meals (gasp!). I wound up eating for under $4/day (which still seems rather remarkable to me given the price of our meal plan).

We bought most of our food in bulk from Costco. We ate tons of rice (really cheap) and pasta – adding meat and eggs whenever we could. Also, Costco will basically cut huge chunks of meat off of a cow and sell them at incredibly inexpensive prices. If you don’t mind cutting it up, it’s a great deal for a ton of meat.

 

[KaiteK]

Also, Costco will basically cut huge chunks of meat off of a cow and sell them at incredibly inexpensive prices. If you don’t mind cutting it up, it’s a great deal for a ton of meat.

Costco does have really good deals on meat. If you live in or near a rural area, look in the local classified paper they usually have a section titled “Good Eats” or something like that, it usually has listings from farmers who will sell you a quarter or half of a cow or pig. These usually turn out to be very good deals and the meat is a higher quality and you know where it came from. Of course this only works if you have a large freezer to store it in.

Keep an eye out for grocery stores that are having dollar days sales, they usually have really good deals on ground beef and pork chops.

 

[Zooey]

Here is a link to a recipe I like to use to make casseroles out of whatever I have in the pantry. (The mention of the Mennonites reminded me, its a Mennonite recipe).
lloyd2.home.mindspring.com/m5.htm

This a good way to use up what you have in the house…I have nevrr had a bad casserole dish from this, & since it uses up leftovers, it is thrifty to use.

 

[Lissla_Lissar]

Black bean soup. Cook two or three cups of black beans for an hour and a half or until they’re soft, in lots of water. Partially drain them, add a chopped onion, a couple cloves of garlic, some cumin, salt, pepper, and cayenne or ancho powder, some bouillon powder, and a can of tomatoes. Simmer until the onion is soft. Use a stick blender or a potato masher to puree the beans. Extremely good with fresh bread or cornbread.

Fried rice- make three cups of rice, and let it cool down. Fry some chopped celery, onion, peas, bok choy, whatever- in a few tablespoons of oil. Add leftover meat (ham, chopped chicken or turkey, pot roast) and a couple of eggs, and cook until the eggs are set. Stir in the rice, seasoning with soy sauce, a little ginger, and roasted sesame oil (if you’ve got it).

Focaccia and olive oil for dipping is a great, although not fast, snack or meal addition. You can make it with frozen pizza dough.