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dino. posted:If you need a helping hand, just let me know, and I can come out to Jackson Heights with you on Sunday, and show you the ropes. I know that the G train can get you to Court Square, which will get you to the E. E goes express to Jackson Heights. Thanks for the offer, this is why these forums are awesome 
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Mar 7, 2012 05:23
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Randomity posted:Cooking wine has a poo poo ton of salt added to it to make it undrinkable so it can be sold without a liquor license. I think the thing I hate the most about living in Pennsylvania is the loving liquor control board. Prohibition is OVER you assholes, just let me buy some Two Buck Chuck at Trader Joe's to put in my stew and don't make me pay your retarded state-sponsored monopoly prices. 
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Mar 7, 2012 05:47
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Authentic You posted:Yeah... that makes sense. I recall salt being on the ingredients label when I bought it (tried to pick out the brand with the fewest creepy-sounding preservatives in it).
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Mar 7, 2012 16:01
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scuz posted:We can't buy full-strength alcohol on Sundays or after 10PM in Minnesota unless we go to a bar. gently caress you, Volstead. gently caress you, buddy. It makes Wisconsin good for something, so there's that. (Also, it is 8PM in Minneapolis and St. Paul proper, except on Friday and Saturday)
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Mar 8, 2012 04:13
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scuz posted:We can't buy full-strength alcohol on Sundays or after 10PM in Minnesota unless we go to a bar. gently caress you, Volstead. gently caress you, buddy. It's been so long since I lived in Minnesota that I almost forgot about having to plan around bar/liquor store hours. The first time I went to a state where they sold regular beer and wine in a grocery store was like a revelation.
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Mar 8, 2012 04:47
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nm posted:It makes Wisconsin good for something, so there's that. (Also, it is 8PM in Minneapolis and St. Paul proper, except on Friday and Saturday) LyonsLions posted:It's been so long since I lived in Minnesota that I almost forgot about having to plan around bar/liquor store hours. The first time I went to a state where they sold regular beer and wine in a grocery store was like a revelation.
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Mar 8, 2012 05:35
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Try adding a little bit of Curry and Cumin to your rice! I make the following: 1/2c Diced Onions 1/4c Diced Carrots 1/4c cheap as poo poo Merlot wine ($4 bottles last for months) 1c favorite (cooked) bean (I precook and freeze) 2c White Rice 1/2c precooked cubed chicken Cumin/Curry/SAlt/Pepper Soften Vegetables in Oil Reduce wine in vegetables Add beans Add 4c water Add Chicken Add Cumin/Curry/SAlt/Pepper Once water boils, add 2c rice. Once done, eat.
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Mar 8, 2012 13:27
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Man, this thread has had some great ideas. I just went over the entire thing so I'm not sure if I remember the idea of freezer slow-cooker meals being touched on but here's some inspiration I got: http://www.aturtleslifeforme.com/2011/06/freezer-meals-on-cheap.html http://melissafallistestkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/09/freezer-cooking-slow-cooker-meals.html It's a really good way to "prepare" meals ahead of time using ingredients that are on sale. I'm also a fan of making mashed potatoes by the bulk and then freezing them in dinner portions and broiling them day of. Caramelized onions freeze well too and if you've got a free afternoon you can make a ton of them on a day bulk bags of onions are on sale and then add them to dishes as time goes by. Let's see, between the already mentioned food saver paying for itself I'd also add that reading Life Hacker sporadically can give you lots of great tips on saving money on cooking.
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Mar 8, 2012 17:43
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This was probably already answered. I looked over most of the thread but I am very tired and things just aren't sticking today. What are some staples that I should pick up at the store? My parents refuse to go grocery shopping and when we run out of things, they complain that it costs so much to go shopping. It costs so much because we run out of everything and wait until there is literally nothing left in the house to go shopping. So I've decided to buy my own poo poo and hide it. I have $30 for groceries this week. I know off the top of my head I should pick up things like dried beans and maybe some canned, coconut milk, tomato sauce, lean meats, and vegetables. Is there anything else I should add? I'm also trying to watch what I eat so I don't want to have meals consisting of only starch or only protein, and I'd like more leafy greens in my diet but those are much harder to hide. (Everything I buy gets thrown out almost the next day, I am not even joking about this.) I have a rice cooker so anything that can be thrown in there and steamed/cooked would be the best, but I'm also looking for things to make good food that don't take a lot of time, not bland veggies with a little bit of pepper on top. I also have a lot of spices that I keep hidden, things like thyme, cumin, oregano, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, chili powder, cinnamon, cardamom, tumeric, cloves, and ginger. I enjoy Indian/Pakistani, Chinese, and Thai cuisines. Please help.
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Mar 8, 2012 23:21
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Buying some ragi tapai may seem like an investment up front (because pretty much the only way to buy it involves usurious shipping fees) but once you've got your first batch, just keep a thing of rice going solera-style. Rice is very cheap. Boozy, sweet, yummy rice is delicious. There are no downsides. Aside from carb overload, but since the carbs have been delicately pre-chewed by some microorganisms there aren't as many of them!
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Mar 9, 2012 00:10
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silversiren posted:Please help. If you want to eat more leafy greens, get some kale and make this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/massaged-kale-salad-recipe/index.html I used to hate kale, but now I love it. Also it's very, very cheap. In regards to the recipe, if you can't get a cheap lemon, use some lemon juice concentrate, if you don't have honey/can't fit it in your budget, a bit of sugar and water should suffice (just sweetness to cut the lemon) and replace the mango with a much less expensive peach, pear, or can of mandarin oranges. This salad will also keep for a couple days, unlike lettuce salads. Your stuff gets thrown out and then your parents bitch about not having food/groceries being expensive? I'm confused. Maybe invest in a mini fridge and a lock for it so you can keep fresh stuff in your room? Also, if you want to go cheaper, get canned diced tomatoes rather than pasta sauce and add some spices and herbs, then simmer for a while. Downside is that it takes a while.
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Mar 9, 2012 00:52
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Authentic You posted:If you want to eat more leafy greens, get some kale and make this: I don't pretend to understand it, but this is really what happens. If I had the money to move out, I would do it right this very second, but I don't, so I have to find ways to deal with it. We have a few mini fridges around the house and I am thinking of moving one into my room, but I understand they give off a lot of heat and my room is the only room in the house that is not insulated and therefore gets very very hot during the day. My boyfriend and I did make out own pizza sauce the other day (and the resulting pizza got thrown out the next day because according to my dad, it got left out ... even though he was the one who put it in the fridge...) and it was tasty and delicious. I suppose I could do this and just preserve a bunch of my own sauce in some jars somewhere. It doesn't really need to be refrigerated, right?
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Mar 9, 2012 00:58
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silversiren posted:It doesn't really need to be refrigerated, right?  food poisoning is not fun, please put your homemade, non-pasteurized sauce in a minifridge and not just sitting out in the middle of your super-hot non-insulated room. Also try using the money you save to move out, that doesn't sound like a good living situation at all  .edit: I am bad at typing today. gmc9987 fucked around with this message at 01:18 on Mar 9, 2012 |
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Mar 9, 2012 01:09
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If you can the sauce properly in masonry jars, then it should be fine not refrigerated. Researching the proper process would be a good idea. My mom used to do this with okra and it involved having the jars of stuff in a big pot of boiling water, but I don't remember any specifics. If the mini fridge giving off heat is a problem, get a desk fan, and maybe close/block heating vents in your room so you don't have too much heat. Or, would your parents respect your food if you put it in clearly labeled containers that read something like, 'silversiren's food, please do not throw out' and asked them specifically not to throw them out?
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Mar 9, 2012 01:14
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Authentic You posted:If you can the sauce properly in masonry jars, then it should be fine not refrigerated. Researching the proper process would be a good idea. My mom used to do this with okra and it involved having the jars of stuff in a big pot of boiling water, but I don't remember any specifics. Canning your food properly would be fine, but absolutely do not store your unpasteurized food at room temp otherwise. Here is the canning thread if you want a resource.
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Mar 9, 2012 01:31
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dino. posted:Just experiment, and you'll find many lovely ways of cooking veg. These are just a couple. Thank you again for all the tips, it was your in depth post that inspired me to begin with! I still don't have a wok or a pan with a cover. I did try roasting some veg in the oven and it came out pretty well, but those spices do sound incredible. Do you recommend using the whole seeds over ground spices, or does it make much of a difference? I try my best to not use the microwave, and have been steaming most of my veggies so far. Someone had mentioned a pressure cooker earlier, and although I'm not terribly keen on spending 60$ it does seem like it would be useful. I started learning how to cook with a simple Betty Crocker cookbook (which I would highly recommend!) and the chapter and recipes were really well laid out with pretty basic ingredients. Does anyone know of a cookbook that focuses more on cooking staples like we've been discussing? It seems like most "health" food books are really gimicky.
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Mar 9, 2012 02:40
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silversiren posted:I don't pretend to understand it, but this is really what happens. If I had the money to move out, I would do it right this very second, but I don't, so I have to find ways to deal with it. We have a few mini fridges around the house and I am thinking of moving one into my room, but I understand they give off a lot of heat and my room is the only room in the house that is not insulated and therefore gets very very hot during the day. Do they check the freezer? For some reason it makes sense in my head that the kind of people who throw away food from the fridge would just never open the freezer. Sauce freezes well. So do meats (once! don't freeze meats more than once, they get nasty), and some veggies. Actually, anyone want to let me know if there's a rule of thumb for freezing veggies, or maybe some trick to it? I chopped up and froze some cauliflower and it turned out rubbery after I cooked it.
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Mar 9, 2012 02:51
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BingitsLola posted:Thank you again for all the tips, it was your in depth post that inspired me to begin with! I still don't have a wok or a pan with a cover. I did try roasting some veg in the oven and it came out pretty well, but those spices do sound incredible. Do you recommend using the whole seeds over ground spices, or does it make much of a difference? I own this one: http://www.amazon.com/Presto-8-Quart-Aluminum-Pressure-Cooker/dp/B00006ISG4/ It cost less than $40, and I use it literally every single day, because I'm on a pretty tight schedule. On the nights that I get home early, I want to knock up dinner quickly, because I've got so much other poo poo to get done around the house, be it cleaning the dishes, shopping for food on the way home (where I sometimes get distracted, and spend about 45 minutes rather than 5), or hanging out with friends. On the nights I work late (so that means I get out of home late), I'm generally trying to knock up food quickly, because when I work late the night before, my rear end is sleeping late the next day. If I need to be out the door by 1 PM to get to work on time at 2 PM, I'm not waking up till almost 10 or 11 AM. Either way, because I stack things in there, the 8 quart is the perfect size for me and my husband. When I need to make larger amounts, I simply use the entire thing without stacking anything in there. And some nights, when I'm really behind schedule because I forgot to soak or cook rice before leaving home, I can pressure cook rice in 15 minutes in a bowl floating in the bit of daal I've got going that takes 13 minutes. Both get done in about 14 minutes if I pour hot water over the daal, and cold water over the rice. It's worth every penny, because it's so useful. It's also the most handy little thing to make things like potatoes for mashing, because I can boil off a whole batch in 3 - 5 minutes. That's pretty amazing. The difference between the whole and ground spices is like the difference between a ripe, juicy tomato, fresh picked from your garden, and one of those bits of cardboard that masquerade as a tomato in the middle of winter, that have been flown in from Florida. Yes, you'll get a similar ballpark of flavour, but the smell that you get from popping whole spices is heady, and intoxicating. There is literally no comparison to the smell of freshly popped cumin and coriander seeds, and putting in ground coriander. Mind you, I'd rather you use any spices at all than keep things bland. However, if you can get the whole spices and pop them, please do. If your pot doesn't have a lid, use a plate or some foil to get the same effect. It'll be fine.
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Mar 9, 2012 03:02
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silversiren posted:I don't pretend to understand it, but this is really what happens. If I had the money to move out, I would do it right this very second, but I don't, so I have to find ways to deal with it. We have a few mini fridges around the house and I am thinking of moving one into my room, but I understand they give off a lot of heat and my room is the only room in the house that is not insulated and therefore gets very very hot during the day. I don't understand why you don't just tell your parents "this is mine, I paid for it, keep your hands off it." Seriously, I live with my parents, but if they threw out something i'd bought I'd pitch a fit, demand they reimburse me for them, have them reimburse fuel costs for going shopping and if I was feeling extra petty I'd demand they pay me for the time I wasted going shopping again. Grow a pair and stand up for yourself.(it's probably too late parents need to be house trained from an early age, getting them to behave will be an uphill battle now.)
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Mar 9, 2012 03:52
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The Lord Bude posted:Seriously, I live with my parents, but if they threw out something i'd bought I'd pitch a fit, demand they reimburse me for them, have them reimburse fuel costs for going shopping and if I was feeling extra petty I'd demand they pay me for the time I wasted going shopping again. Pitching a fit about something this trivial is pretty ridiculous too, just talk to them like a grownup.
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Mar 9, 2012 05:25
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Iron Chef Ricola posted:Pitching a fit about something this trivial is pretty ridiculous too, just talk to them like a grownup. Agreed. You're in a situation that sucks, but confronting someone with fire and fury is a good way to make everyone upset. And if my past experience is anything to go on, living rent free under your parent's roof as an adult often invokes the "You don't like it? Then get your own place Mr. Man." response.
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Mar 9, 2012 16:47
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Authentic You posted:Also, if you want to go cheaper, get canned diced tomatoes rather than pasta sauce and add some spices and herbs, then simmer for a while. Downside is that it takes a while. I use passata, which is creamed tomatoes, and I can get a carton that'll make a whole bunch of pasta sauce for about 30-60p (depending on the brand). Heat some olive oil, chuck in some chopped garlic and whatever herbs/spices you fancy, simmer for a few minutes (I usually put my pasta on to cook when the sauce starts bubbling), and there you have it. You can portion and freeze the sauce really easily, and actually making it doesn't take more than about five minutes.
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Mar 9, 2012 17:34
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silversiren posted:I have a rice cooker so anything that can be thrown in there and steamed/cooked would be the best, but I'm also looking for things to make good food that don't take a lot of time, not bland veggies with a little bit of pepper on top. I also have a lot of spices that I keep hidden, things like thyme, cumin, oregano, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, chili powder, cinnamon, cardamom, tumeric, cloves, and ginger. Sorry to read about this. I suggest getting big bottles of stock items, like soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, cooking wine, etc and only leave a small bottle of these visible to your parents. Keep the stocks somewhere else. Refill bottles as your parents throw things out. Steamed egg is a favorite no-frills dish in my family. 2 eggs, 1 cup of chicken broth, 2 tbsp of ground pork seasoned with salt, pepper, rice cooking wine, soy sauce, white pepper, ground ginger. Beat together, steam. Eggs are nice and cheap. Low effort veggies with a lot of taste and little prep time are strongly flavored and don't need much. Gailan can be steamed/boiled and eaten plain or with a bit of oyster sauce. I've been eating a ton of oven roasted brussel sprouts and broccoli, roasted in a toss of olive oil, salt, and pepper. $30 for a week... $2 for 12 eggs $4 for 2-3lbs of broccoli or green veg. $3 for 3 lbs of dried pasta. $5 for a bottle of olive oil. $3 for some cheapo parmesean cheese. $7 for a staple, like rice. $6 for 6 cans 24oz cans of crushed tomatoes. Maybe? it's a week of pasta and rice. I'm sure beans would work better and cheaper, but I don't eat beans often.
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Mar 9, 2012 17:48
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The Lord Bude posted:Seriously, I live with my parents, but if they threw out something i'd bought I'd pitch a fit, demand they reimburse me for them, have them reimburse fuel costs for going shopping and if I was feeling extra petty I'd demand they pay me for the time I wasted going shopping again. My parents do the opposite, though; they never throw out anything and they never remember what we have, so we end up with three bottles of mustard each 20-80% full, 4 half-loaves of bread, etc.
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Mar 9, 2012 18:31
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squigadoo posted:Sorry to read about this. I suggest getting big bottles of stock items, like soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, cooking wine, etc and only leave a small bottle of these visible to your parents. Keep the stocks somewhere else. Refill bottles as your parents throw things out. This is a list I can definetly do. As for asking/telling/writing notes, it doesn't work. They pretend not to remember or have read the notes. Believe me, if I could move out, I would. I just picked up a second job so here's hoping.
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Mar 9, 2012 18:53
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silversiren posted:This is a list I can definetly do. in retrospect, I'd swap some stuff out for a $1 loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter, but it was a fast thought thing. Also, dino has a great list on the first page of this thread. Good luck, shop the sales.
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Mar 9, 2012 19:45
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Does Walmart tend to be cheaper than Most other stores?
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Mar 9, 2012 20:31
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silversiren posted:Does Walmart tend to be cheaper than Most other stores? Don't shop at Walmart.
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Mar 9, 2012 20:37
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silversiren posted:Does Walmart tend to be cheaper than Most other stores? Yes.
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Mar 9, 2012 20:43
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Don't shop at Walmart. Unless you need cheap socks or diet coke or trash bags or tin foil or flour or any of the huge number of items that make much more sense to buy in bulk from a warehouse type store. Dude, we get it, the food industry in this country is horrid and it is better to do without then support factory farming, unsustainable production methods and unsafe/unethical butchering/packing. But, if one is poor enough for it to matter, buying poo poo like the stuff above for as cheaply as possible makes a lot of sense. If giving walmart money for stuff like this allows one to not buy factory farmed meat or veg that has been trucked halfway across the world then that would seem to me a pretty fair trade. Also if you would cut your damm hair maybe the nice old lady's at the door wouldnt think you were stealing?
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Mar 9, 2012 20:53
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bunnielab posted:Unless you need cheap socks or diet coke or trash bags or tin foil or flour or any of the huge number of items that make much more sense to buy in bulk from a warehouse type store. There's a lot more to it than that - Walmart also treats their workers terribly and we shouldn't contribute to that. And they're not always the cheapest place around for tinfoil and trashbags so that argument is out, too. Pretty much, Walmart is terrible in every concievable way and has no redeemable qualities, and the only reason for shopping there would be if one literally cannot get to anywhere else, and in my experience that's not very common at all. And I don't know what you're talking about with cutting hair I've had my head shaved for a couple of years now.
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Mar 9, 2012 22:00
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The redeeming qualities is that I don't have to drive all over the place to buy 15 different things and very often they are the cheapest when you don't really care about brand. If you can direct me towards a general purpose type store with decent labor properties then please do. I generally have enough money that I only shop at walmart for a few items (pistol ammo, dog food. vacuum filters, and bottled water) but getting all preachy about the evils of corporations to people with $30 a week food budgets is kinda dickish and counter productive. The hair thing was a dumb joke, irrc you and I have near identical hair/facial hair.
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Mar 9, 2012 22:18
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bunnielab posted:The redeeming qualities is that I don't have to drive all over the place to buy 15 different things and very often they are the cheapest when you don't really care about brand. Being broke is no excuse not to be moral, and no reason to get taken advantage of by faceless megacorps. As far as a good store, it depends on where you live. If I need aluminum foil and washing soda, I usually get it at the hardware store because they have the best price and I'm in there anyway. Maybe the feed store, too. If I lived in a big town out west (like Reno, for instance) I'd shop for those things at WinCo, which is employee owned, and a hell of a lot cheaper than Walmart. quote:The hair thing was a dumb joke, irrc you and I have near identical hair/facial hair. And that's why you're so cute.
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Mar 9, 2012 22:59
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If I shoot my own meat and get eggs from a local farmer and buy most of my veggies at Aldi does that make up for buying everything else at Wal-Mart?  Also I worked at Wal-Mart for a year. I stole a LOT of candy bars while I was working the register.
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Mar 9, 2012 23:11
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I would rather shop at Walmart than Publix, which is just as bad if not worse. E: where I live there aren't a lot of choices. It's Walmart, winn Dixie, target, or publix. That's it.
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Mar 9, 2012 23:19
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I don't make much money, but I avoid WalMart like the loving plague. I've seen it destroy a rural town over a decade, with the sole holdouts being the two local grocery stores (not a Supercenter... yet ) and the hardware store. The hardware store is literally the only store left on main street. After seeing that, I just feel like a horrible person if I so much as set foot in a WalMart. Also I read some terrifying accounts from goons in the old I hate working retail thread about management or lack thereof of perishable foods, and it was scary. Don't care how poor I get, I'm not ever shopping at that place. My city's new urban Target is pretty cool though. Lesser evil than WalMart, and with this Target, instead of descending on an area with good local economy and destroying it, it was built in a blighted urban area on the site of some old projects and has become part of a big improvement and upswing in the area. So I don't feel like a piece of poo poo buying household supplies and cereal and stuff there. Won't buy their perishable stuff though.
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Mar 9, 2012 23:24
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Someone told me that Target is anti-gun and has donated money to anti-NRA causes before. As a hunter (even though not the NRA member gun-totin' conservative redneck type) that's a decent enough reason for me to not shop there. Plus ours doesn't have a full grocery section.
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Mar 9, 2012 23:51
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Someone asked what you can do with a rice cooker earlier. The only answer to this question is "everything." As an undergrad, I had an internship that didn't pay me for months, and I was already completely broke. I brought a rice cooker and it saved my life. You'll learn to get all sorts of creative with rice cookers if that is all you have. Here is the magic procedure for a rice cooker: 1) Throw everything into the magic pot. 2) Press the button. 3) Eat when the pot says you can. Main recipe that I ate nearly everyday for a year: MAGIC GREY GLOP -One "cup" rice. (Use the measuring cup that came with the rice cooker) -One can of black beans. -One can diced tomatoes w/ green chilis -One can of chicken stock. Perform magic procedure. Eat it plain or on a tortilla. After a while (and after I had a little more money), I wanted to add some meat. But I have no stove! Solution: hold down the button and use the pot as a stove. Cooked a decent amount of chicken and beef this way. I then learned to cook up some meat ahead of time and make the rice/beans stuff for tasty burritos. Fried up eggs, cooked up burgers and made grilled cheese using my rice cooker too. Here are some more "magic procedure" recipes: MAGIC WHITE GLOP -Elbow macaroni -Can of cream of whatever soup -Frozen peas/carrots/veggies -Bit of water MAGIC RED GLOP -Broken up spaghetti -Diced tomatoes in italian seasonings -tomato soup -tomato paste -frozen peas/carrots/veggies MAGIC BROWN GLOP -Browned beef (browned in rice cooker of course) -Browned stew meat -Can of black beans -Jar of salsa MAGIC YELLOW GLOP -Macaroni -Cheese -milk -beer I think you get the idea. I didn't measure out the recipes above because after a while your rice cooker becomes a part of you and intuition takes over. Soon, you'll be mixing the glops!!! Brown-yellow glop will harden your arteries but it is good with chips. Red-white glop is pretty darn good too. A rice cooker is an adventure. EDIT: I should also note that holding the button down on the rice cooker is a dangerous activity that should only be performed by those who don't have stoves. Rusty Kettle fucked around with this message at 03:50 on Mar 10, 2012 |
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Mar 10, 2012 03:46
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silversiren posted:Does Walmart tend to be cheaper than Most other stores?
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Mar 10, 2012 04:59
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Rusty Kettle posted:
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Mar 10, 2012 05:39
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