Help! I'm poor and want to make good food!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Help! I'm poor and want to make good food!

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

I'd like to make that honey wheat bread using my stand mixer, but when it' a recipe for a single loaf I wonder if it's too little volume for it to mix properly.

Could I double the recipe and then freeze half of it for later? I just can't eat two loaves before they go bad!

# ¿ May 18, 2012 16:15

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 13:42

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

Charmmi posted:

How big is your stand mixer? I have a 5 gt stand mixer and 1 loaf recipes are not a problem at all. Also kneading by hand is always an option. I don't really like to freeze and thaw bread, it never tastes as good as fresh. Maybe you have a friend or neighbor who would like some tasty homemade bread.

I think mine is 5qt too, it's the Kitchenaid Artisan. I am working on little counter space and the majority of space I have is a bartop/island that is juuuuust a little too high to make standing and kneading/chopping comfortable.

I'll report back.

# ¿ May 18, 2012 18:34

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

Here's a recipe from cooks illustrated for black beans and brown rice - they had another one for cuban-style black beans and rice, but it was many more ingredients and steps, and you asked for basic.

Cooks Illustrated posted:

Why this recipe works:

To bump up the flavor of our basic brown rice recipe, we made a few easy additions. Caramelizing onions in a Dutch oven before stirring in the rice and incorporating chicken broth into the cooking liquid had a positive impact. Fresh herbs and a squeeze of citrus just before serving brightened our brown rice recipe.

Serves 4 to 6. Short-grain brown rice can also be used.

Ingredients

4 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup)
1 green bell pepper, chopped fine
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 cups brown rice, long-grain (see note)
1 teaspoon salt
1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 lime, cut into wedges

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 375 degrees. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned, 12 to 14 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds.

2. Add broth and water; cover and bring to boil. Remove pot from heat; stir in rice and salt. Cover and bake rice until tender, 65 to 70 minutes.

3. Remove pot from oven, uncover, fluff rice with fork, stir in beans, and replace lid; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in cilantro and black pepper. Serve, passing lime wedges separately.

There's probably some way to convert this to slow cooker/crock pot cooking if needed, but that's a science beyond my ken.

# ¿ May 20, 2012 03:36

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

Along those lines, here's the recipe from CI that I use for just that! It's super easy, just keep an eye on the teriyaki sauce so it doesn't reduce into sludge. Or, buy bottled sauce, but this is really good and not hard so you might as well make your own.

The only 'unusual' ingredient is the mirin, which is only a couple bucks and I've seen it at regular grocery stores, not only Asian markets.

Ingredients

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 5 ounces each), trimmed, boned, and skin slashed (I've also used boneless skinless, worked fine as well - I just sprayed a little oil on it to keep it from sticking, and keep in mind that it will cook faster. I'm sure any bird pieces will work - buy cheap legs, thighs, quarters, whatver.)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons mirin
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

Instructions

1. Position oven rack about 8 inches from heat source; heat broiler. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper; set thighs skin side up on broiler pan (or foil-lined rimmed baking sheet fitted with flat wire rack), tucking exposed meat under skin and lightly flattening thighs to be of relatively even thickness (see illustration 6). Broil until skin is crisp and golden brown and thickest parts of thighs register 175 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 8 to 14 minutes, rotating pan halfway through cooking time for even browning.

2. While chicken cooks, combine soy sauce, sugar, ginger, and garlic in small saucepan; stir together mirin and cornstarch in small bowl until no lumps remain, then stir mirin mixture into saucepan. Bring sauce to boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is reduced to 3/4 cup and forms syrupy glaze, about 4 minutes. Cover to keep warm.

3. Transfer chicken to cutting board; let rest 2 to 3 minutes. Cut meat crosswise into 1/2-inch- wide strips. Transfer chicken to serving platter; stir teriyaki sauce to recombine, then drizzle to taste over chicken. Serve immediately, passing remaining sauce separately.

Make some rice to eat it with. I've also bought cheap fish filets (I think they were tilapia?) and pan roasted them to eat with this sauce over rice, and it was really good too.

Very easy, not expensive, delicious.

# ¿ May 31, 2012 18:35

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

I've been cooking tons of indian food lately and it's super cheap and delicious.

I went to the Indian market and spent $20 on spices (and even the smallest bags were huge, so you could easily split these with 2 or 3 friends, a quarter of my bag of mustard seeds filled up a normal spice jar, will take me months and months to get through IF I cook Indian regularly). I also picked up some chiles that were like $0.30 for 6, and only didn't buy mangoes ($10 for a CASE) because I was carrying stuff home on the bus.

Pick up some rice and lentils (I bought urad dal and chana dal because I knew recipes for them) and you're on your way to delicious food!

I've made lemon rice, mattar paneer, and spiced urad dal so far (one recipe from a friend and the others just found on Google) and it was all delicious.

Tip: A lot of Indian recipes may avoid onion and garlic, and sub in hing (asafetida) instead. Unless you also refuse to eat onions and garlic, I highly recommend that you avoid hing. It's a substitute for delicious onions and garlic, but it smells like the devil's own rear end in a top hat. You can easily sub in garlic/onion powder (or better yet, fresh) in the recipes that call for hing.

I'm a raw beginner at Indian cooking, but I love how flavourful everything is and cheap and easy to cook.

Sorry for the crappy phone pictures.

Mattar Paneer:
Recipe: http://mydhaba.blogspot.com/2005/11/mattar-paneer-masala.html
(next time I am going to try making my own paneer as it was a little expensive for the cheese)

Indian Lemon Rice:
(recipe from a friend)

quote:

2 cups of cooked rice
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 1/2 tsp urad dal
1/4 cup peanuts (I had cashews on hand so I just used those)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 pinch asafetida (hing) (No thanks, I added a pinch each of onion and garlic powder)
1/4 c lemon juice
1 tsp oil (I used canola)
1 T salt
1/4 c coriander leaves (cilantro)

Fry the peanuts in the oil until they brown, on low heat.
Add the other spices and fry for 2 minutes
Mix in the rice and lemon juice, stir until uniformly yellow but try not to mush up the rice too much.
Garnish with Coriander leaves.

One change I would make would be to soak the urad dal for 5-10 minutes first. I didn't, and it was weird and crunchy the first time I ate the rice. Once it was leftovers a day later, I guess it had softened from the surrounding moist rice and was fine, but it was a little weird. When I made a recipe focused on Urad dal later that day, I found that they recommended soaking AND boiling it, so maybe my friend just forgot this step, or the texture didn't matter to her.

Spiced Urad Dal:
Recipe: http://www.indianfoodforever.com/daal/urad-daal.html

Dal on left, rice on right.

EVG fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Jun 17, 2012

# ¿ Jun 17, 2012 16:05

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

The Lord Bude posted:

If you are rejecting the notion that Asafoetida tastes like arsehole then you are correct. As far as recipes using it instead of garlic and onion, there is, as far as I can recall, a particular Hindi sect in the Kashmir region that doesn't eat onion and garlic for religious reasons, and they substitute Asafoetida powder, so many recipies that originate in that region would not use onions and garlic. This is however not true of the majority of Indian Cuisine.

Indian Cuisine is great for cheap and tasty cooking, and nothing beats it if you want to reduce your meat intake while still cooking lovely food. If you are the sort of person who likes having cookbooks, I really recommend this one for cheap, home style Indian cooking:

http://www.amazon.com/From-Mom-love-Complete-Entertaining/dp/0976185121/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340114172&sr=8-1&keywords=from+mom+with+love

It's a tad annoying for me, because I have to convert the measurements to metric but most of you reading this are American so it shouldn't be an issue for you.

I didn't say it tasted like arsehole, just that it smells like it. I don't want it around, a friend brought some over before and even through a tightly screwed jar within a plastic bag, it STANK STANK STANK. Of course everyone is free to choose what they want to work with, but personally I didn't think that the flavor it brought was worth keeping that stench around.

Back on the cheap eats, has anyone tried making their own paneer? It looks really easy based on the instructions I've seen online... and even from the Indian market it was still like $5/lb.

EVG fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Jun 19, 2012

# ¿ Jun 19, 2012 18:40

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

qxx posted:

Take the chicken, potatoes and garlic put them in a gallon zip-lock bag.
Put in enough olive oil to thoroughly coat it all (maybe 1/8-1/4 cup).
Put in salt and pepper to also cover it all [to taste].
Put in enough oregano to coat it all (a few tablespoons should do it).
Zip it up and mix it up until it's visibly well coated with everything.
Dump that in a 13x9 baking dish.

Looks tasty. You can also just toss the chicken-n-taters in a bowl with the olive oil and seasoning, save on a ziploc bag you'd have to throw away.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2012 22:57

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

Nathilus posted:

My dad and I used to hunt, and he always got annoyed when everyone tried to score venison thinking we got it for free. He ended up actually totalling the price per pound of meat for one season in which we used all our allotted tags and it was like 20+ bucks a pound. Think about all the stuff that goes into that. Food and gas for hunting weekends, hunting licenses and firearm permits, firearms and ammo, and definitely not least, leasing fees. You don't just go out into some forest and shoot at deer, you either need your own land or pay someone leasing fees for their game. Sometimes a lease comes with a hunting cabin. If not you get to camp out or stay in town. Also, even after sectioning your meat need to be processed, and that costs money too.

Venison is delicious, particularly when you killed it yourself and are hogging all of a barely cooked backstrap while everyone at the table who did not kill the animal stares longingly. Also hunting was a great recreational experience and bonding activity for my dad and I, so the price was worth it to him. But to suggest going out and hunting as a solution to cheap eats, as a city boy I find that pretty laughable. If you're a redneck and already have all your own guns and land and poo poo, and know the county game guy well enough that he won't pop you for hunting out of season on your own property, go hog wild.

A friend of mine had the brilliant idea of selling venison futures to whoever asked him for meat. It offset the cost of the trip, license, etc and came through even if he didn't bag a deer. Luckily he did and I made venison stew at the low price of $20 for 'a couple decent sized hunks'!

# ¿ Jan 5, 2013 21:59

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

As someone who volunteers weekly at a food pantry, PLEASE bring back any canned goods you really don't think you'll use.

My pantry recently switched over to a "Choice Method" where people can pick the groceries they want to take rather than getting a bag o' whatever, and it's really helped to see that people are getting groceries that they will use and not collect dust.

Before doing that we had to put out plastic rubbermaid tubs for people to drop their unwanteds into and others to sort through, because almost everyone had something they didn't want.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2013 20:15

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

Can we split the grocery story talk into another thread, and keep the cooking here? I don't know about anyone else, but I keep seeing new posts and getting excited, then scrolling past all the shopping talk and being disappointed.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2013 16:49

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

OK, understood. I guess I got a little frustrated coming back expecting recipes and just finding post after post about stores I've never heard of. But, it's not all about me.

Hollis posted:

I am currently getting 166 dollars for food. I have like 8 spices. I live in Chicago. I've heard that going vegetarian is the way to go to make food last. I live by a mexican market of sorts. I am trying to cut out red meat and pork. Any suggestions?

What neighborhood in Chicago do you live in? I live here too and can advise on great places to shop.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2013 16:39

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

If this is the first time you've made stock, it can be a surprise to fund that all of the (collagen? Gelatin? Whatever) cooks out of the bones and makes the stock a wobbly jello consistency. This is good and right! When you go to use it, it will melt again and give your dish a lovely velvety mouth feel.

Any fat that is in it will rise to the top and solidify as an opaque layer, but I can assure you that it's not ALL fat.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2013 12:34

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

I love buying chicken feet to give body to a stock. They're super cheap at the Asian grocer and then I can menace any passersby with the creepy claws.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2013 15:38

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

Haymaker_Betty posted:

Before I went vegetarian as a teenager, the wings were my favorite part. I also like the giblets, and anyone's skin they didn't want. I was the worst kind of meat eater. Chicken giblets wrapped in bacon... delicious. I never knew which organ I was eating and I didn't care.

Don't you mean BEST kind? The best part is that everyone else goes "ewwwww" and turns up their nose at those most delectable bits - which means more for me!

# ¿ Oct 25, 2013 22:49

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

Truth above. I have a bunch of 2c round tupperware that I fill with stock, freeze, then pop out and store in a ziploc bag. It's so easy to reach in a grab a stock puck and know exactly how much is there. So handy and much better than store bought.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2014 20:51

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

Summer - Pressure Cooker Stock for quick stock without heating up the house.
Winter - Slow Cooker Stock for a delicious smell of chicken soupy goodness all day long.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2014 16:00

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

Bean soup is delicious and costs almost nothing.

I made this the other day and it's very, very good. I tossed in some ham I had laying around, but it's not required.

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/09/slow-cooker-white-bean-soup/

# ¿ Nov 13, 2014 18:27

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

Leper Residue posted:

I've made this before and it was really tasty. The only problem I had with it was that I'd be hungry about an hour later. Beans just never fill me up for long.

That's what the grilled cheese sandwiches are for.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2014 04:16

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 13:42

EVG: Dec 17, 2005; If I Saw It, Here's How It Happened.

22 Eargesplitten posted:

I am also curious about sites that will compile a shopping list for you, but I came with another question.

I recently stopped eating pork, but I want to finally try making a good yet cheap red beans and rice. I probably have the spices, I have the rice and beans, but I don�t know what meat to use in place of the ham hock / bacon / andouille sausage.

I also want to make like a gallon of it preferably.

Smoked turkey leg?

# ¿ Mar 21, 2018 00:42

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