cheap but versatile food shopping tips

But, what, you want recipes? For good food with cheap ingredients?

i have friends who've lived for long periods of their lives by skipping for food/going freegan, but something tells me you won't be inclined to do either of those. also you don't really need to, and probably other people do.

if you're worried about things going off before you use them (before or after cooking) do this - whatever you're cooking make a shitload of it, then put portions of it in freezer bags and freeze them (putting the baggie inside some tupperware or one of those little tubs pasta sauce/hummus/etc come in then removing the box/tub once it's frozen will stop your freezer becoming chaos). that way you don't have to eat the same thing all week if you don't want to, either. it's a biggish initial lot of work but once you've done it four or five times you won't have to do it very often.

also, what gooblar said wrt stocked pantry. buy enormous sacks of rice and pasta at your local asian/turkish/whatever's relevant in hitchin supermarket for like £2/3 and they will last you for aeons.

And what g00blar said: rice and so on are rather cheap but you can use it in so many dishes.

Also, if you're using olive oil, wine or whatever in a recipe do not get the most expensive one cause it won't matter THAT much.

Also, homemade mean beans - fry onions and garlic in the bottom of a pot, then dump in a can of economy baked beans, chop up an apple and tip that in, too, if you like. Add spices to taste - cumin is a good one, maybe sliced up fresh chilli peppers, paprika, etc.

The secret to good, tasty cheap cooking is all in learning how to use spices. Experiment to find what you like. Find an Indian superstore - you can get cooking spices, rice, etc. at a deep discount, buy in bulk.

Fresh veg are ALWAYS going to be cheaper and better than your frozen alternatives, it's worth finding a greengrocer and buying little and often.

Stuff that is curried keeps for some time, even when it's not frozen. I tend to make a giant curry every Sunday, and then eat that for work lunches the rest of the week.

oh, and a good way of saving money is to take sandwiches to work (which it sounds like you're already doing) - people here go out every lunchtime which just burns money (even if they are just going out to tescos). but this can also get dull (which i don't mind).

(am curious as to where all DL's money is going having read the other thread. my increased monthly expenses (living alone, in london, about £850 a month in rent & bills) pretty much cancel out the difference in our salaries and i have no trouble - could easily pay off his loans in less than a year without cutting down. stand absolutely no chance of being able to afford a house mind but hey... besides property is theft)

xposts

My prob is I don't have patience or sensibility to make a shopping list and so I just wing-it at Tesco and get whatever I feel like when it presents itself to me. This makes sense to a certain extent because some things are cheaper at different times and there are offers and things. But I have a whole shelf devoted to spices and herbs, most of which I barely use but like the idea of having. Similarly, a lot of stuff just goes off before I get the chance to eat it and is therefore inessential and just felt like a good idea at the time.

I'm talking about a cheap weekly shopping list that comes to around £15 or less and takes into account something for lunch, brekker and dinner, manages to be fairly versatile (i.e. beans-on-toast every day is boring, but say bruschetta one day, home-made pizza another, tomato sandwiches, tomato pasta etc is fine). If it's healthy too would be good. And then I figure if I stick to this I can use these herbs and crap in different and interesting ways and maybe shell out on a steak or something once in a while.

xpost emsk

yes, there is a good veg market in Hitchin that's open Saturdays. I keep meaning to go but 4.30pm is almost always when something's happening. Still, if I make it a date then I can clear my schedule for that time to go food shopping. Nettos is up the road from market too - double whammy!

I've been interested in the idea of Freeganism but I've never seen these skips fulla food - even the italian restaurant downstairs doesn't appear to have that much healthy waste.

Good point on going to ethnic stores for rice and spices and stuff - it's always a lot cheaper than the supermarket.

It's incredible how much making your own lunch is. Problem is it can be hard to get into the habit. I always make my sandwiches last thing before bed and it's always too tempting to have a little snack at that point. Which all too often turns into a cheese, bread and ham extravaganza.

Oh a list is ESSENTIAL. This way you can plan what to eat the next few days. If you buy bread, then the old bread can always be used for french toast the last day or something.

Eh, I never buy frozen veggies. Y.U.C.K. :-)

Eggs are such an essential ingredient. As well as onions. Always have onions! :-)

You can use the leftover salad for the sandwich the next day!

Soups are also cheap and easy and and and YUMMY.

If it's winter, I like soup for my suppers - easy to prepare with bread after a hard day at work when I don't feel like cooking.

There's a version of Thing which is more soupy, as well. Use noodles instead of rice. Fry your onions and garlic, then boil everything together - noodles, broccoli, carrots, beans, etc. - add pepper and soy sauce (sesame oil if you're feeling posh) then break your eggs into the boiling mixture and let them solidify. Lovely on a cold winter night, and so simple! Oh, and Chinese Five Spice. That's great in Thing Soup.

Make a shopping list, even if it's just mental notes of what you need. Saves time, money, and NOT having piles of things going off in your fridge. (MIght as well throw money down the drain.) You can still make impulse buys, but make a list of things you ALWAYS buy.

make sandwiches before work - any snackage then becomes breakfast. (mine always went hard if i left them in fridge overnight anyway). these days it tends to be a bag of bagels in my drawer at work and cream cheese etc in the fridge (the cheese, laughingly, says 'eat within 3 days of opening' which is a fuck of a lot cream cheese per day but it's ok using it from monday to friday i find). bagels and cream cheese are available in variety of, er, varieties if you're some kind of epicurian. wouldn't recommend pineapple cream cheese with onion bagels though...

beans/lentils and rice are always a good staple, but not the be all end all of cheap eating. spices advice, incl garlic and ginger, otm.

i've coached so many friends on how to "eat cheaply" but when it comes right down to it, the things they were buying in the grocery store had crappy nutritional value anyway! cup-a-noodles or ramen is not actually cheaper than rice noodles you buy in an asian grocery store + soy sauce/other sauce, garlic, ginger, spices, + veg = cheaper, better, esp if you buy in season. meat always goes on sale, so buy what's on sale and deal. chips and cookies are over-rated - better to make your own baked goods anyway or if you're dying for a treat, go to a bakery and buy a cookie or pastry or whatever. or eat fruit.

the other thing: beer is expensive. i know in england, it's an important part of social life, as it can be here too, of course, but i find that no one really cares if you're slowly drinking water or juice. damn, 4 beers at a bar costs what i'd spend on the week's groceries. (i have also recently quit drinking and require realities like this omg. though i am feeling so much better healthwise, it's great. but hey. (i am treating it like a drug now. not gone, but v rare exposure.))

Main problem: room in the fridge for the big pot.

BASIC PASTA WITH TOMATO SAUCE
Put a pan of water on to boil. Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan until it starts to smell olivey. Add a quarter of an onion (chopped) and turn the heat down low. Let the onion sweat until it has has started to turn golden. Add a clove of garlic (smashed with the back of the wooden spoon, then sliced finely) and stir for another minute. Add half a tin of tomatoes (for extra frugality use whole ones and chop them yourself - the tins are about 2p cheaper). If you're using dried herbs, add a teaspoon of basil or oregano or a mixture of both at this point. Turn the heat up high until it starts to bubble, then low again

By now your water should be boiling. Add pasta (40p from Lidl).

Let the sauce bubble gently and stir every now and then for about 10 minutes. You'll notice it changes texture - it starts out watery, but gradually comes together and goes glossy. When it's glossy, it's time to serve. The pasta should be al dente by now too. Grate parmesan over the top. Parmesan is also cheap in Lidl.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME
Add:
Tuna and chopped black olives - stir into sauce towards the end of cooking
Anchovies - the anchovies go in at the same time as the onions and will break down so you just get a hint of the flavour
Chilli sauce (Tabasco or similar)
Peppers - chop up and put in with the garlic
Anything else your imagination conjurs up

RISOTTO
Put the kettle on to boil. Put half a chicken stock cube in a mug. When the kettle boils, fill the mug and stir well.

Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan until it starts to smell olivey. Add a quarter of an onion (chopped) and turn the heat down low. Let the onion sweat until it has has started to turn golden. Add a clove of garlic (smashed with the back of the wooden spoon, then sliced finely) and stir for another minute. Add a vegetable, chopped (see below). Add rice and stir around in the oil until it starts to go transparent. Pour on the mug of stock and stir it all around. Keep bubbling on a low heat, stirring more as it reduces. When a lot of stock has disappeared, taste the rice. If it's still crunchy, keep adding a little water until the rice tastes cooked. Grate some of your cheap parmesan and stir in. Serve with more parm on top if you like. Eccociqua.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME:
Mushrooms, sliced
Broccoli, chopped up
Fennel, chopped
Frozen peas
Celery (this on is extra good if you put some smoky streaky bacon in with the onions at the beginning and then stir in some chopped celery leaves at the end)
Anything else you fancy, but avoid anything that's going to disintegrate too much.

also, quick cheap lunches: peanut butter & jelly. unexciting, but very satisfying.

i am not the queen of cheap shopping, unfortunately. produce always seems to be the most expensive part of my shopping trips. i wonder if the vegetables and fruit i get from the supermarket are more or less expensive than from local farms (which are almost all organic and sell to rich hippie retirees).

The absolute bare essentials for my storecupboard are:
Salt
Black pepper in a grinder
Vegetable stock
Soy sauce
Olive oil
Wine vinegar (if you're going to eat a lot of salads)
Groundnut oil (has a higher burning point than veg oil, so better for stir fries)
Herbs and spices - initially just buy what you need for your recipes and build up a stock. Even if you don't have a local Asian shop to buy spices from, check the foreign foods section of the supermarket. My local Tesco has huge pots of spices at in the Hello Asylum Seekers! aisle at half the price of the teeny Schwartz jars round the corner.
Basmati rice
Risotto rice
Pasta
Tinned tomatoes
Frozen peas
Tins of tuna
Tins of sweetcorn
Tins of baked beans
Noodles
Mayonnaise
Long life milk, but only because I'm always fecking running out of fresh. I'm so bad at estimating how much I'll need.
HP Sauce

I think that's more or less it, but the storecupboard really grows as you go through phases. You end up with stuff like vanilla pods that get used twice a year, if that. You'll see ;)

Heat olive oil in a frying pan, then add anchovies and stir until they disintegrate. Add 1 pinch of dried chilli flakes, then 1 clove smashed garlic, then 1 courgette, grated. Cook on a low heat until the courgette relaxes and melts down a bit. Best served with orecchiette (but any pasta will do) and tons of parmesan.

marvellous, there :)

definitely get some smokey bacon in yr rissotto.

actually, buying bacon bits (sometimes "cooking bacon"), is another good tip, as it tends to be hella cheap and if yr going to chop it up to add to something else it don't really matter what it looks like innit.

1. chop aub into c. 2cm cubes
2. glug olive oil over aub
3. glug more olive oil on baking tray
4. put aub on baking tray
5. sprinkle with a little salt, maybe some cumin
6. bake for 15/20 minutes 'til the edges start going black
7. SCOFF!!
8. alternatively mix into tom sauce etc

Hollow out. Fill with cous cous. Grate some cheese on top. Stick in oven for a bit. Eat.

(couscous is also marvy and cheap and can have stuff mixed in it, or served with it, or have it stuffed into whatever veg you have.)

However, if you want to eat cheaply, but well, the general formula is: make lots of soups and pasta dishes, emphasize legumes and grains, use a lot of eggs, potatos, cabbage and onions. Avoid meat generally, but if you do buy some buy organ meats (livers, kidneys, tripes).

In the USA canned tomatos are better and cheaper than fresh tomatos for 11 months of the year. The cheapest condiments are salt, pepper, vinegar, soy sauce, and ketchup. (Hint: Vinegar is better than you think it is.)

Buy staple foods in quantity and on sale. Have a small pantry for what you don't use at once. Never, never, never buy on impulse. Force yourself to make your own snack foods from scratch, such as making tortilla chips out of bulk-packaged corn tortillas (brush with oil, cut into wedges and bake them), or by baking your own cookies.

We eat tons of chicken. chicken is boring.

xpost -- yes! My freezer is at least as important as the rest of my pantry.

First and foremost, the trick is to get your food budget under such firm control that the very concept of what is a luxury is redefined downwards. Not only does this cut back on your expenditures, but it makes you much happier with the small 'treats' you do allow yourself, by adding to their rarity. Thus, you can feel splurgy by buying a bag of hard candy, instead of Belgian chocolates, or a chuck steak instead of beef liver.

The liver is the body's factory for synthesizing a huge number of its complex molecules. It is chocked full of enzymes, hormones and similar hard-to-get specialty items. It is Nature's treasure trove of liverish goodness, not forgetting the double-handfuls of cholesterol!

Predators who eat large animals always eat the liver first, so remember - ten million lionesses can't all be wrong!

dog latin, "can't cook, want to learn" is your friend. i'm still not a very instinctive cook, but using this book gave me the confidence to go from following instructions to experimenting a bit and understanding a little more about ... i dunno, how and why different things work.

frozen veg is also your friend. i don't really see why fresh veg is intrinsically "better", especially if it's been sitting on some dude's market stall being pumped full of exhaust fumes all day long; sure, texture-wise you lose out with frozen stuff, but decent quality frozen veg tastes as good as pretty much anything you'll get in your local supermarket. sure, if you're cooking something a bit special, you might want to be getting some quality stuff in ... but then i wouldn't recommend supermarket veg for that at all. farmers' markets/decent greengrocers are way better.

but i digress. for simplicity, cost and day-to-day ease, frozen veg is what you need. spinach, broccoli, peas (natch), carrots ... stock up.

the other week we went to "oil and vinegar" and bought a jar of dried pesto. at six quid it's not cheap, but it lasts for AGES and is astonishingly versatile. it also means you can make as much or as little as you need.

but, as others have said, MAKING A SHOPPING LIST is key. begin there.

Makesa great pie filling the next day too.

Also I must state the case for poor old frozen veg, which I see got scoffed upthread. Did you know: frozen veg are harvested and snap frozen same day at the farm, usually. So they're premium fresh frozen when you cook them. Fresh veg are days or weeks or god only knows old, unless you can shop at a farmers market where you know produce is coming from nearby. OK some veg seem a bit ick from frozen (I'm not a fan of frozen spinach), but peas and corn are fine, and having that in bulk in the freezer also means they wont go off like fresh veg will.

Also I agree on the bulk staples: rice, pasta and lentils/chickpeas. Lasts forever.

i remember drinking dry milk once in a while. blargh. i'm going to ask my mom if she ever did the half-and-half thing hillbilly housewife suggests (sneaky.) but for baking, it seems like a good idea. my mom only went the margarine route for certain baked goods too, but not on the table for bread, etc. i guess both these things have improved since the 70s/80s though. i just use milk for tea anyway b/c i'm no longer keen on drinking a whole glass of milk, and take cal/mag (which is pretty cheap in comparison too.)

my zucchini omelette thing was good.

in a way, i wish i did have to cook for two - it'd be cheaper for each person and my sick mind thinks it'd be good challenge. uh.

http://static.flickr.com/65/224102011_9d62b92a46.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/83/224102013_86f4e40d6a.jpg

And the first results tonight:

http://static.flickr.com/47/224130929_d5ba5b0220.jpg

As I described the latter on Flickr:

"Took one of the orange tomatoes and chopped it up -- bread from Avanti makes the sandwich, along with an excellent cheese, more of the tomato, some spinach and a great homemade mustard from a friend. One of the peaches, some melba toast chips, more tomato, and the salad was a mix of the yellow pear tomatoes from the garden I'm in, the orange tomato, more spinach and some lettuce. Plus some red wine. Rock."

So, the question is -- what to do with the rest of it. I have plenty of ideas already, and more are welcome. I'll be getting similar baskets over the next three months every two weeks so by all means, anything goes...

organics boxes are great. i used to share one with my brother when we were housemates. the key to making it work efficiently is to remember, uh, not to buy as much at the regular grocery store b/c you've got all this food at home! even food you might not necessarily buy for yourself.

is that cilantro? you could make salsa. or a million other things, obv.

the key to making it work efficiently is to remember, uh, not to buy as much at the regular grocery store b/c you've got all this food at home!

No worries there! I *want* to try more at home with all this, especially stuff I haven't tried yet.

Keep in mind I also got this yesterday from a fellow gardener at the small organic garden I work in:

http://static.flickr.com/95/223369526_ffb991e135.jpg

A bread has been suggested. Hmmm.

CILANTRO YUM PUT IT ON BURRITOS AND IN A STIR FRY CILANTRO YAAY

xpost all around

Remy suggested the other week that as things start to go a bit to pulverize everything after roasting and make a gazpacho. A fine idea -- since I'm going home next Friday for four days I figure a week from tonight I shall reduce down what's left.

a related pasta suggestion - cut the zucchini in half and then the halves into carrot-stick-style strips. saute lightly in olive oil. toss with spaghetti and parmesan. deep is my repertoire.

(and garlic)

put it on everything!

(1) Quality
It's always tempting when you're skint to buy the cheap stuff, and as much of it as possible. (Supermarkets and fast food chains have known this for years of course, which is why kids are getting fatter.)
But the more you eat of this shite the more listless, empty, bloated and crap you'll feel. Plus, it's extremely unsatisfying. Plus, the more you eat the more your stomach swells, so the hungrier you get.
One thing I've found here in Melbourne (after 10 years of living in London) is that with food, less is always more.
So, rule #1 = It's better to spend your money on a few bits of quality than a lot of bad.
We used to go to the supermarket all the time in London and just buy crap (frozen pizzas, packs of sausages, 2-minute noodles, all those 'buy one get one free' offers etc) because we were terrified of being broke, and we thought we were getting a good deal. But it's all a false economy.
I know it's all really obvious, but it took me years to work out that you just need to:

- Buy a good wide range of fruit of veg from the market (as suggested above) - don't worry about buying too much (see rule #2).
- Instead of packs of wasp-filled sausages and alsatian burgeRs, get a couple of really choice cuts of meat (if you eat it) from the butchers - a chunky lamb chop, and a fat, interesting sausage.
- Get a good hunk of wholemeal bread, instead of pre-sliced.
- Half a dozen quality free-range eggs
- Substitute huge blocks of shrinkwrapped soap for a little bit of some really good, really tasty cheese that's you'll actually enjoy eating.
- Grow your own herbs and tomatoes too, its piss easy. Rocket too.
- If you like chocolate or sweet things, just buy a slab of the really good stuff (Green & Blacks, Lindt), and indulge occasionally - no more sweet cravings.

And so on. Because it's all higher caliber stuff (and local), you'll be far more satisfied, and therefore you'll also eat a lot less of it.

(2) Soup
If you've gone to the market and bought all those veggies in bulk but your good intentions didn't quite get so far as to eating them all, and they're about to turn, do this:

- Bit of butter with chopped onion and garlic in a saucepan.
- Stir in all the chopped / diced veg you've got for a few minutes. Anything is good: carrots, parnsips, potatoes, cabbage, courgette, fennel, caulifower etc (though you'll realise in time that certain flavours work better together: carrot & coriander, broccoli & cauliflower, potato & leek)
- Add water with veggie stock cube until veg almost (but not quite) covered.
- Boil for 20-25 minutes. Split into two. Mash one with potato masher. Combine the two together again. Season. Add some horseradish cream if you want. Add a splash of milk if you want.
- Eat some with crusty bread. Freeze the rest in bags or small pots. Cheap, convenient, easy, very very low in fact and incredibly good for you, especially if there's, say, 10 vegetables in there.

(3) Booze
Slightly off topic, but a good way to save money if you're a London Drinker. Fill up a child's plastic water pistol with Tesco Value vodka / whisky / gin etc (note: rule #1 about quality doesn't apply here). Spent night in pub with just 2 or 3 soft drinks and your flourescent "friend". (I'm fairly ashamed to say that at 32 I still occasionally do this.)

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://images.forbes.com/images/2001/10/12/bush_georgew.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.forbes.com/2001/10/12/gwbush.html&h=219&w=170&sz=11&hl=en&start=10&tbnid=6bHn-aW18VdZqM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=83&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbush%26imgsz%3Dsmall%257Cmedium%257Clarge%257Cxlarge%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG

This could get you killed in LA.

But SO OTM with respect to #1, Huey, and as much as i know it, I still gravitate toward the cheap.

point 3 is ... wow. i've never thought of doing that.

Next week - do the same with a chicken.

*contains witworth soup and broth mix, swede, leek, onion, carrot and loadsa ham, numnum

http://sparky.thehold.net/pix/fishsoup.jpg

My good friend Stripey, a cook supreme, gave me such a great slew of suggestions for the food that I must share:

----

Since those are heirloom tomatoes, I
recommend eating them as close to raw as possible, not putting them in any sort of
stew or soup, because although you will have a mighty-fine soup, you will not have
as much pure tomatoey goodness as you will just by slicing them up and eating them
raw . You can make soup with lesser tomatoes and it will still taste good. Or you
can make a raw sauce with them, just chopping them up into subatomic particles,
adding a little olive oil and mixing with a few herbs then pouring over cooked
spagetti noodles (that have been mositened with a tiny bit of olive oil). Garnish
with fresh basil. Heavenly on a hot day.

If you don't want them raw, salsa is the best "raw but tastes like it is cooked"
thing. I can send a recipe if you'd like, or there are probably a few good ones in
the "How to Cook Everything" book. Almost every issue of Sunset magazine has a salsa
variation too, it seems. Sunset is a great magazine for healthy California style
cooking (strong Mexican slant). I haven't checked, but I bet they have a website
with loads of recipes! If you want Cordon Bleu, then get "Saveur" -- the recipes in
that take _days_ to make, but are very cool. (Usually expensive too), but for
learning abuot cooking while making nummy recipes, you just can't beat "Fine
Cooking" it rocks! Both teh website and the magazine :

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/

BUt back to the basket :

Those carrots are amazingly beautiful and the fact that they still have their tops
on and the tops are fresh and green is proof enough of their numminess.If you can
resist the urge to nibble them raw like bugs bunny, there is a nifty little recipe
from the Tassajara Cookbook for cooked carrots that I can give you. You basically
just shred them with a grater then saute them in a bit of butter and yowza, they
become sweet sweet! A great simple side-dish for any entree. (Many people like
Laurel's and Moosewood for vegetarian recipes, but my favorite is Tassajara.
Estremely simple recipes with a lot of heart (and a bit of Buddhist philosophy, but
not so much as to be annoying)., I think Y's favorite veggie cookbook is her "monk
cookbook" -- a Franciscian monk write it, but I can't remember his name exactly.
Something like Brother Victor Antoine de Avilla Latourette -- something suspiciously
similar to a Ladyhawke character, eh?)). Let me know if you are interested and I'll
let
you borrow my copy of Tassajara. Jake borrowed it before and loved it, and I know
there's at least one other person on ILX who, when I mentioned it, went "Oh yes!
Love that cookbook!" and he seemed to be a professional cook (or at least a very
advanced hobbyist).

The broccoli, peppers and onions will make a nummy stir-fry, or you can chop them up
into small bits and add them and a scrambled egg to pre-cooked rice to get a nummy
fried rice dish. (*Pant!*). It's a little bit complex, but I'll be glad to show you.
You just have to remember to cook the rice the night before -- that's the hardest
part! It's not a "last minute" dish.

The onions can also garnish any soup, salsa, or potato. :)

Cilanto and Parsley are excellent garnishes too -- just think of the way these
herbs come in Vietnames restaurants and in Mexican restaurants and the uses will be
obvious to you. If you put teh stems in water like you would a flower, they will
last longer.

Awesome beans -- beautiful color too! Steam the beans. They will be crunchy that
way, and full of flavor /// Of course, if you are like my Pop, then you can always
boil the heck out of them for twenty minutes -- and lose all the crunch as well as
all the flavor as well as all the nutrients -- but hey, to each their own, eh? ;)

Fruit salad is a good idea, but I'm thinking that plums over plain frozen yogurt or
icecream would be a better way to enjoy the flavor of just one fruit and to beat the
heat at the same time. Chop them up into small chunks and mix them up so that you
have enough to get a little chunk in each bite. :) There are loads of recipes for
fruit boiled in wine desserts, but I've never tried them since I'm a novice when it
comes to wine. People say they are simple, delish and healthy. Check the back of any
of your cookbooks -- it's a French and Italian cooking staple as well as Veggie
cooking staple so I bet eacn of your cookbooks will have at least one recipe.

Now about that zucchini -- it is great in baked goods. I know that sound wierd, but
the mild flavor of it is completely absorbed by the baked goods and you don't taste
it, you only see little green flecks in the muffins, cakes, etc, which is kinda
cool. Anni's famous cake recipe came from Moosewood, but any veggie cookbook worth
its price will have a recipe for at least one zucchini baked good. Among the
cookbooks I gave you, check the Bittman book -- I'm sure he will have an entire
section devoted to zucchini. How to cook it how to store it, how to serve it ...
Just look in the index. That book will give you tons of advice about cooking,
storing, etc of almost any fruit and veggie, not just recipes for them.That;'s why I
wanted to give it to you -- because it is a great all-round cooking introduction.
NOt just recipes.

Marcella Hazan's cookbooks will also have many hearty zucchini recipes -- in fact
I think she has a zucchini, squash, pepper, tomato saute that I once sprung on you,
Brian, Ben, etc a long time ago when we were doing the "watch Iron Chef and trade
off dinner duties" thing. Zucchini is good in saute because it absorbs the butter
and oil and takes on the flavor of everything it is cooking with. The less you cook
it, the less it blends with other things. So if you don't like the flavor of
zucchini "in the raw", then cook the heck out of it, or vice versa.

Bananas -- cereal. Nuff' said.

(or you can peel them, freeze them, peel and freeze your peaches and kiwis too, and
toss them all into a blender with some apple juice for a killer smoothie. *dies
from thought of how enjoyable that would be on a hot day*). Hint : peel the kiwis
with a potato peeler. Chop the top off first then peel downwards. Very easy once you
get the hang of it, and no loss of fruit either, (there is when you try to peel them
with a knife).

lemons -- squirt them over any of the sautes or the beans or over chicken or
especially fish. They add "zip" to almost everything, but the trick is to add just
a little bit at a time. You can always add more, but it's not so easy to add less
if you've overdone it.

there's a Sunset cookbook somewhere out there, but I don't know if they still produce it - I think I got mine used somewhere.

Anyway, at a more basic, non-recipe level, here are some more basics:
1. Come to know your disposable food (trial and error). Know how long it'll last, then either use it (soup etc if it's past its best), or freeze it. An inventory of the fridge every other day is useful for this.
2. Don't be afraid to cut out bad bits: if you're doing roasting, baking etc, growths on potatoes don't matter. Cut bad bits out of fruit, and throw the rest in a blender if it seems overripe. Oh, and bananas last at least twice as long in the fridge.
3. (If you eat meat) know what a good price is, and what each cut is for. Ie. don't "treat" yourself to a steak is you're buying flank or something. it'll be bad. but in the midst of winter, don't make a beef casserole out of really good meat.
4. Have a basic idea of seasonal fresh food, and take advantage when it hits (for instance, load up on tomatoes now, then eat em, turn em into puree, freeze it, etc). By the same token, don't buy asparagus, squash, etc in winter.
5. Buy dry foods (rice, pasta etc) when it's on special. It'll last forever.
6. Avoid store made sauces (curry sauces, pasta sauces, etc). They're overpriced and you can do much better - promise.
7. A few frozen vegetables can be easier than fresh (peas, sometimes green beans). Keep em there for curries, stews etc.
8. Always have onion, garlic, oil, vinegar, chili, stock (powdered is fine). They form the base for so many meals. Sometimes it feels like I add oil, onion, garlic (sometimes ginger) before I know what I fel like making.
7. In other words, turn the shopping thing into a bit of a competition - they want your money and rely on (a lot of) shoppers having no idea. You're going to quickly learn what and how to buy, and beat em at their own game....

Yeah, that turned out to be exactly what I needed last night. I was so spoilt for choice I knew I had to take the simple approach!

Anyway, about to get some flour and ginger and other goodies here after leaving work. More shopping and experimenting tomorrow, and maybe tonight (I'm gardening with friends and other plans may suggest themselves).

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pasta tossed in olive oil with garlic and red pepper flakes.

hahaha, I bought 5 lbs. of fresh mushrooms today on a shopping trip to Memphisto. (2 lbs. white, 1.5 lbs. shiitake, 1.5 lbs. oyster) What to do! (At least part of the answer is going to involve some olive oil, a big branch of rosemary from the hedge-to-be in the garden, and the broiler in my oven.)

...i think i might start doing this.

Aw, thanks. :-)

Some more details about the photos -- the first is, indeed, Mr. Greendong as our own Mr. Crump put it, sliced up into 'steaks,' doused with oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and fresh oregano, then grilled. The second, a fresh salad with lemon cucumber as the core ingredient and a tomato bread that friend Stripey learned about in Barcelona (in brief, toast bread slightly, using a fine grater on a whole beefsteak tomato (or more as needed), mash the tomato into the bread just enough, then toast again a bit and add basil at the end).

That was all with garden stuff that I help grow -- the latter two are from my organic grocery pickup. The grapefruit was baked at 250 for a little while with honey and cane sugar on the top, to caramelize it slightly. The salad was lettuce and various kinds of tomatoes plus some leeks, while with the melba toast was a brilliant Saint-Nectaire cheese.

Meantime I also baked this yesterday, as muttered on the bread recipe thread:

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First time I ever baked a full loaf! Standard flour/water/salt/yeast recipe but I did toss in a bunch of parsley as well. Tastes pretty good.

More today, I'm pondering a variety of choices.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/R100423.jsp

More than just a dish, tomato-rubbed bread, or pa amb tomàquet, is a sign of national identity.

And now we all have knowledge.

Bon Appetit magazine suggests cutting the tomatoes in half instead of using the grater on one side, as do most of these recipes -- I'm not sure where I got the grater idea from, but I'm guessing it was Saveur magazine, and that the reason why was because it was less messy and and easier to hold than a halved tomato. They also suggest drizzling olive oil on both sides of the bread after toasting it. That sounds yummy, but also extremely messy -- you'll want to eat it with a fork and knife on a plate (like French Toast) if you try that.

Sheila Lukins, author of my favorite general internationl cookbook recommends oil only on one side, then also one clove of garlic scraped across the toast before the tomato is scraped across the toast. She recommends finishing it with a bit of sea salt too. That sounds yummy.

I found a recipe online that suggested toasting the bread in the broiler so that you could toast large amounts of it at once. That made sense, but would be tricky since but with that much heat you'd have to watch it like a hawk!

And on Food Network's website, there's a variation that Bobbby Flay has where you grill the tomatoes and then puree them in a blender, then grill the bread, then brush it with oil. Then you put the puree on the bread and layer some prosciutto and pine nuts and such. It sounds delicious, but it's more like bruschetta than like Catalan tomato bread.

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The fruit salad is exactly the one suggested up above by good Mr. Crump -- plums, peach, canteloupe, kiwi fruit, freshly grated ginger, a pinch of raw sugar. That's half of what I made -- the other half is in the fridge for tomorrow. The sandwich is my bread yesterday, plus homemade mustard from a friend, lettuce and heirloom tomato from the basket and Morbier cheese from Avanti. The rest of the tomato to the side and more red wine. Oh darn.

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Good weekend, this.

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Quite filling, quite delicious. The broccoli and pepper were both from the organic basket and both were barely cooked, as they should be -- lots of satisfying crunch and taste.

Pizza can be used for lunches etc. Made a chicken/mushroom stroganoff last night. I wanted to make loads but only ended up with enough for two meals in the end - never mind! I have loads of veg - never bought cauliflower before and I'm wondering how to approach it or what to do with it. Sounds like it's either gonna go in a soup or a cheese or even a rarebit.

Not as yet.

I imagine all that veg does keep the digestion going.

Now there is that.

Anyway, based on the good gabbneb's suggestion for linguine:

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As he suggested -- steam the beans, chop up the tomatoes, add some cilantro, finish with some melon. Quite delicious.

Thank yer, Gabbneb. Cilantro for the melon! Most intriguing...I will consider it next time.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/cash/story/0,,1859071,00.html

does ned eat everything al fresco?

Round two!

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"Red romaine and green leaf lettuce, gala apples, baby leeks, limes, mango, avocado, cauliflower, spinach, tomatoes, Italian parsley, cucumbers, peaches, assorted summer squash, cantaloupe, chard, plums, red bell peppers, local Bartlett pears," it said on the paper with. Made a basic sammich tonight:

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Again, more suggestions, if you all please! But here's the kicker, found at the library where I work:

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A great thing, since I live where I do, a major locale of the Iranian diaspora.

*flees*

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This salad is an Iranian one, salad-e shirazi -- cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Created this way earlier in the day and had been letting it sit for a get-together tonight, but it fell through. So no matter, swung over to my local Persian market and snagged some pita and tzatziki. Add in the peach and a hearty meal had. :-)

Are you vegetarian, Ned?

Moderation.

(Bread sliced too thick...)

No such thing. (I am a major bread freak.)

Are you vegetarian, Ned?

Nope, utterly omnivorous. I prefer not to cook with meat, though -- cheaper and simpler.

Moderation.

haha, you're getting over a hangover, i know it. don't let pain stop the decadence.

also good in moderation: meat. ooh, i can imagine thinly sliced steak sandwich with tomato and lettuce etc. i have not eaten red meat in so long that i will have to take a picture of it the next time i do and alter it in photoshop so it has rays of heaven coming out of it. that is how good it's going to be.

No, that was *last* night. ;-) And my headache this morning confirmed it, yeouch.

Anyway, give it to your meat impulses, give in. Bacon, mmm.

Actually given that most Iranian cuisine has meat as a key element I suspect I'll take the plunge here -- the market I mention has things like fresh lamb shank and the like, should I wish to experiment (and I do). Also, lots of rice.

LAMB - YES
BACON - YES (but not cooked in my house - too small to deal with the power of bacon)

i have been eating a lot of miso soup and this new discovery: shiritaki noodles. which are made of YAMS. JAPANESE YAMS. they are good. and weird! i went to the market today and bought a giant bag of green beans. and a lot of garlic. both were super cheap and fresh. yaay

(In the cauliflower -- tomatoes, onions, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese.)

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i am so excited, i moved into my house with my friends and some other random guys last week and we are cooking dinners for the house in pairs 4 nights a week! (at least that's the plan, we'll see how many weeks it lasts.) my first turn we made tilapia, rice, and sauteed squash and onions. it was a really simple meal but somehow people were impressed because it involved FISH. and this morning 7 of us went to church so i made pancakes beforehand, it was so nice and not college-like. i will have to take photos the next time.

the two bad things are that one girl is allergic to tomatoes (NOOOOO! there goes 75% of my recipes) and one guy hates mushrooms (there goes another 20%). it's time to find new recipes. any great ideas?

i haven't figured out how much weekly groceries are going to cost on this kind of cooking schedule, though. i'm especially worried about vegetables that i'll have to eat right away or else. i've already had some spinach go bad.

Aw, thanks!

Lunch!

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Homemade bread for the sandwich (cheese and lettuce in it), plus more salad and a lime for the water and etc.

Dinner was just some soup -- getting a head cold and wanted to clear it up a bit.

i discovered this *thai soup in a can* in this store that has all kinds of good japanese and korean and, obv, thai food things. it is perhaps not nec cheap but not expensive either - around the same price as chunky maybe? they have it in red/green/yellow curry and coconut (though there's coconut in all of them.) and no crap fillers/perservatives, no meat either (meat in canned soups kind of freaks me out). plus it is called Y&Y Brand. good when you are suddenly hit with autumn weather and need warm sunday night soup. i put fresh green beans and some frozen shrimp in too. awesome. yes, i am going to attempt my own thai soup soon, for sure.

i discovered the soup in the same place i discovered the YAM NOODLES. and the AWESOME KIM CHEE.

Finely dice onions, garlic, celery and carrots and cook until soft in a little olive oil, chuck in a tin of el-cheapo tinned chopped tomatoes, some oregano, black pepper and 250g of red lentils. Simmer gently in a covered pan until thick and soft, then layer between lasagne sheets (I used spinach lasagne for added prettiness) with a sloshing of cheese sauce and topped with grated cheddar. Bake in th'oven for about, oh I dunno, it was about 40 minutes I s'pose. Served with huge green salad and large glasses of icy cold Pinot Grigiot. Loverly.

1) a beautiful one-pound bag of field-fresh shelled butter beans, bought on a whim from the back of a farmer's pickup, and
2) no cooking skils or experience.

What can I make with these weird little baby-alien-looking things that will live up to their potential but still fall within the skill set of Microwave Man?

(nb I have pots and pans at my disposal.)

(sorry, I don't do recipes, I improvise with quantities and tastes and stuff)

they'd probably be nice stewed with some onion and garlic and bacon and stock (and a big bay leaf).

The farmer also had some giant brain-shaped tomatoes that were sports-drink orange, and that he only described as "heirloom, I guess". I cut those up with a pocket knife and ate them standing by the car.

These stew ideas are pretty tempting. I'm guessing this is the sort of thing that works well dumped on top of bowtie noodles.

Sam OTM: cornbread!

and bacon.

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Yum!

all my vegetarian indian experiments have come out extremely tasty AND cheap - lots of beans and lentils, and I've had lots of success with frozen veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, peas, and spinach.

Lunch today -- homemade cheese bread plus all this:

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Dinner was a homemade potato soup:

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Dessert I am considering for later.

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i'm beginning to feel like the day is not complete until i see pictures of What Ned Ate. and also, i feel like i need to stop using the One Big Bowl meal method, as comforting and simple as it is (i made a giant bowl of green bean, yellow pepper, mushroom, garlic, fish and shrimp + coconut milk indian curry tonight - awesome good but not so much a photographic moment). i really really want some cheese bread too now.

your lamb curry sounds great, maria. mmm, lamb.

:-)

i really really want some cheese bread too now.

It turned out tasty, there's still some left as well as some soup, so I'll have that for lunch tomorrow along with maybe some mango.

What's also been nice is that I've been able to pace and use everything pretty well over this time -- it's meant to be for two weeks, and while I might not get through everything before it goes or I prep and store it properly, I'm getting close. There's still some spinach and chard to go, among other things.

Last night was a cooking class at the cafe where I pick up my vegetable deliveries. In brief:

The mac and cheese they make for their deli, had beforehand to tide me over:

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The foccaccia panini I created (cooked and devoured for dinner tonight):

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The macerated fruit compote our group made:

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Stuffing for the roasted tomatoes:

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Vegetables cooked en papiote, topped with Brie and served:

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And the compote again with freshly made whipped cream:

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In sum -- nice. Very very nice.

It is, believe it or not, corn. :-)

NED MADE AND ATE THAT AND THOSE OTHER DELICIOUS LOOKING THINGS!

That I did.

mmm, corn

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And tonight's meal -- sandwich and salad is always a good basic standby after hauling all this stuff home (the loaf is a rosemary garlic one, and v. tasty):

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I think it's important to cook in a way so your stomach never knows your income level! But to keep it 'beer on a beer budget' and not Cristal, that's the hard bit for meeee.

p.s. adopt me

Mmmm, spelt bread is pretty cool. I had some Toscanini's green tea ice cream for dinner tonight, YUM.

join a csa for cheap organic fresh vegetables (maybe not always applicable?).

eat less food (a hard one!).

be vegan (everyone can not eat meat, cheese and eggs at least some of the time).

don't eat out (this is kinda by necessity for me, but its a money saver).

tonight i had rehydrated black beans on corn tortillas with lettuce and cilantro and habanero sauce (and beer!).

That said, I'm sure cutting meat out of the equation saves a lot.

its some work at first, but once you have some basic recipes and things down its really not hard. i can't speak for all vegans (wish i could), but i know it can be much cheaper. thing is you can be vegan and still eat fritos and shit. i was talking to some kids the other day who were ordering cheesless pizzas from pizza hut. that shows a lack of imagination! i stay away from junk food as best i can and pretty much never shop at the regular grocery store and i can make decent foccocia bread.

you can buy a pound each of rice and lentils for 3 bucks and add some onions, garlic, carrots, spices etc and thats like 4 meals! thats what i tend to do in the winter. in the summer i eat enormous amounts of vegetables (i get a food share which costs about 10 dollars a week for a bushel and a half or 10 to 12 lbs of veg). still my lifestyle revolves around food and if time = money i'm not saving anything (though being a student i think the exchange rate is in my favor).

i do try to buy local, organic produce and grains which cost more, but as soon as someone goes out to applebees or wherever they've already outspent me. i am a total miser, but food is the one thing i don't mind paying extra for. i think its too important for too many reasons. now my gf works at a coop and we have a garden which i am trying to extend into the winter (in mn), do canning and freezing and eventually the plan is to grow all our own vegetables so i am a special case maybe!

*scarfs a pb&j*

Consig: nice arrangement you have going there with yer food, I'm impressed! I don't know if I'll ever get that involved and rigorous with my shopping but certainly I do know that the organic program I'm in now has saved money and provided healthier eating, and I'm glad of it. Actually I've been spending more in other areas, specifically cooking equipment! I try and get a new key something every couple of weeks; yesterday I finally picked up a blender. Which I used to make wonderful Swiss chard rice, though I forgot to take a proper photo last night. I'll put up a photo of a smaller dish of it later today.

Just now I swung by my new mainstay, a small but well-stocked Iranian market, and loaded up on various grains and beans for soups. Plus some lime juice.

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Sunday lunch -- leftover Swiss chard rice with baby carrots:

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And sunday dinner -- ash-e kashkak, an Iranian vegetarian pottage. Thick, hearty and really tasty:

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The recipe's a good basic one:

1/2 cup chickpeas
1/2 cup kidney beans
1/2 cup lentils
1 cup bulgur
Salt and pepper to taste

You put it all in to simmer for an hour in 5 cups of water -- just the chickpeas and kidney beans first, then the rest after about 40 minutes. (Ultimately, get everything as tender as you can.) The final touch is sauteed onions, prepped up and mixed in just before you serve it (recipe recommends a large onion and 3 tbsp. butter/oil). Great big batch; I only ate half tonight and stored the rest for tomorrow or later in the week. My guess is that the basic recipe is easily varied up with any number of different spice/herb/meat/veg additions one could ask for; I added some shredded, herbed mozzarella on the top for a bit of flavor and bite, and it worked v. well.

incidentally, this is my favourite thread at the moment.

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Very indulgent, very delicious.

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Then I can continue to eat vicariously through this tasty thread.

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And meal from tonight:

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The core here was chard, since I like it but it tends to go quickly on me, so I used pretty much everything I had (some leaves I cooked up briefly and noshed on as a snack while the meal was coming together). The main dish are baked chard stalks in parmesan, the stalks themselves having been previously simmered in boiling water for a few minutes before cooking with a portion of the cheese at 450 degrees. The salad consists of the leaves plus tomato and dressing, and then the valencia orange and a glass of zinfandel wrapped it up.

While I'm at it, breakfast:

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...and lunch:

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Dinner tonight is with friends at a Malaysian restaurant, Tropika, which has rapidly won some attention.

but no, really, they look like quality baked goods. mmm, marmalade.

i ate at a place today called sandwichmania! they also had good buns. and avocado, tomato and warm roasted chicken. plus tortilla chips and salsa. and cheap! no photo evidence tho.

Ah no! Peach chipotle jam! :-)

More details about that specific jam in question:

Courtesy of Earth and Vine

Good stuff, folks!

Seriously Ned, I'm at Bake and Irvine and DON'T HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW!!!!!!

(I may just sleep the entire day, but let me know if an afternoon-ish pint might be possible with any of you LA area ilxors.)

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Okay, so tonight I was inspired by Haikunym's brilliant basil risotto with olives, celery, and edamame recipe elsewhere. Therefore, I now give to you, the thread reader, the step-by-step photo guide to cooking it, using his words. Because it IS that good, and it IS that simple, a mix of things I had around and a couple of things I had to pick up. Behold:

"0. pour self glass of red wine"

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"1. sauté 1/4 red onion with as many garlic cloves as you can handle in olive oil (also maybe a few slices from a red cabbage)"

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"2. add some red wine, let it sizzle in pan for a bit. also, drink wine."

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"3. slice and add two stalks celery, a couple sliced mushrooms if you have them, other leftover veggies that are about to go bad etc."

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"4. salt, pepper, lemon pepper, lemon juice, soy sauce"

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"5. add 1.5 cups risotto (short grain brown rice will also work), 2 cups water, four or five pinches of dried basil or three fresh leaves if you have them; stir, turn down heat to medium or low, cover pan"

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"6. after five or so minutes, add 3/4 cup red or green lentils (dry; also you can use a can of precooked but yuck)"

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"7. stir, re-cover, drink more wine, listen to Cheap Trick Dream Police"

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"8. check every so often, stir if it's getting too sticky"

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"9. when it's getting al dente-ish, add edamame (Whole Foods sells them shelled and frozen) and sliced up black or green olives (from a can okay), re-cover and cook for 3 more minutes"

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"10. remove from heat, pour in massive bowl, eat with huge wooden spoon"

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...and indeed, it was ridiculously good. :-)

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* don't throw away left over veggie bits, chicken bones, etc - these turn into soup
* when you make the soup, make a LOT of it, stick excess in freezer

ps how has Tep not contributed to this thread?!

I'll keep that in mind. Recent culinary adventures included going to the brilliant Shik Do Rak in LA on Saturday, thus:

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As for home, though, this was Monday night -- sauteed chard:

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And last night, broccoli, slightly stir-fried, with pine nuts and garlic:

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The stock lasts frozen for yonks, and it makes *such* a difference to things like risotto, way less salt and way more creamy texture.

(Also, your flickr pages full of daily meals have inspired the GF and I to get out of a food rut!)

Duk bo sam -- Korean BBQ.

Also, your flickr pages full of daily meals have inspired the GF and I to get out of a food rut!

:-D

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Now that's comfort food. (Greens included kale, komatsuma, tat-soi-is and arugula; the cheese should have been all mozzarella but I had to make do with a cheddar/mozzarella mix, plus parmesan; that's bread crumbs on the top.)

Amazing thread. Since returning to the UK I've fallen back into bad old ways (fear-inspired BOGOFs etc) despite my advice above. More tasty culinary adventures, please, especially more Neddish pictures.

I'm definitely going to have to come back to this thread, as my food budget has taken a big hit lately (hasn't everybodies?). I've lately been keeping the health/expense ratio skewed a bit more in the right direction by purchasing "cut off" vegetables from my local produce market. Some things may be a bit brown around the edges but, If prepared within a day or two, are usually just fine (especially when the veggies were going to be sauteed anyway). At a flat rate of $1 a bag, this has been allowing me to experiment a lot pan-asian vegetarian style with very little overhead. Perhaps you might check you local produce market for similar closeout prices.