Healthy Home Cooking for under a dollar a plate

Let's have a little bit of fun and inspire each other with our amazing home economic skills.

I'm of the opinion that even in the Western World, we can cook healthy, delicious, eco-friendly foods for very little money. But sometimes I need a little bit of inspiration. So, let's share with each other what we cook for under a dollar a plate - that is one healthy hungry person serving.

Cooking from scratch as much as possible is a bonus, as many people here can't eat processed or pre-fab foods due to allergies or other dietary considerations.

When pricing out your plate, please include all the ingredients you bought - including the price of leftovers or other food that would otherwise be wasted (waste costs money too).

Food you've grown yourself doesn't have to be included in the total cost, but should be mentioned "if I were to have bought this, it would have cost me x$ for the equivalent in the store".

You can include the cost of cooking fuel if you like.


I'll start:

For breakfast I am having Pesto with pasta

25 cents - The pasta I use is fancy imported stuff from Italy. It ends up about 25 cents per 1/2 cup dry pasta - which is about a serving. There are far more affordable pastas out there, but I splurge and buy this stuff. It has no additives and no government imposed nutritional supplements. What's more, it's the most delicious of the store bought dry pasta I can find.

20 cents - for a generous Tbs of pesto. Most of that cost is the almonds that are organic and cost at least $21 a kilo, and I used about 2 grams of almonds per serving - 10cent?. The garlic and kale in my pesto are from my garden. The garlic is a bit young, so I used the bulbs and the scapes. If I were to buy these, both kale and garlic, it would be about $10 for the batch of pesto, so about $1 per serving for the veg alone - if I had bought it. Olive oil is the second biggest expense. Again I splurge and buy the best tasting olive oil I can - at $40 per 3 litres, I am guessing 1 tsp would be about a penny. The cheese is from the heal end of a gooda that has gone quite firm and I'm guessing the Tbs of cheese I used per serving would be about 5cents. Salt and vinegar a few extra pennies.

For the total, I round up and claim that it's 50 cents per plate for today's breakfast.


What have you cooked lately that was under a dollar a plate? Or the local equivalent - euro, pound, 100 yen...



As you know, prices vary drastically from place to place. To make things easy, tell us the prices YOU paid and use this thread as a source of inspiration ...rather than a lament on how expensive quality food is where you live - apparently there are places in the world were one can buy organic eggs for under $6 a dozen.

Lunch was eggs with asparagus and oyster mushrooms cooked in grass fed butter. All was from the farm except the penny's worth of real salt. If I had to buy it, it would have still been right at a dollar a plate. A dozen eggs $4, asparagus $2, mushrooms $3, and Kerry gold butter $1. Served 10.

Dinner today is Chickpea Pasta Soup with a side of garden. Total cost, less than 15 cents per plate!

Quoting myself from another thread on permies

For example, my breakfast today cost me 75 cents in ingredients, plus 20 minutes cooking which is about a penny locally. Let's round up the total to say the pot of food cost 80 cents, 20 minutes cooking time and 5 minutes prep. I used the most expensive organic dried chickpeas I can find. Bacon, from locally raised organic pork. Garlic here is at skyrocketing high prices as it's out of season, salt, pepper, herbs, and whole grain, organic, imported, Italian pasta. 80 cents of ingredients will do me 6 meals, or 4 meals for a regular person. But because I hate leftovers and eating the same thing twice in a row, I will probably have two meals from the pot, and the rest as a side dish. That's 12 helpings for under a dollar, or an average of 6 cents per bowlful, for my personal style of eating. Or it would be if I had actually bought all the ingredients, but as it was, I grew the herbs and garlic. The bacon, I saved considerably on because I bought it by the side of pork, butchered it, cured and smoked it.

For this batch, I added some anchovy paste, bringing the cost up a touch. The sizes are larger too, so I'm going with 12 to 14 cents per bowlful. Again, the garlic and herbs I grew myself. Since I cooked it in the pressure cooker, it took 20 minutes instead of 4 hours.

Because it's dinner, I'm having a side of garden - which is basically, everyone goes out in the garden after dinner and munches on peas, other veg, and raspberries. If I were to buy these organic veg from the store, it would be about 2 to 10 dollars per person, but we probably wouldn't eat the veg if we had to buy it from the store.

Breakfast today was pulled pork and pesto pasta with a side of snap peas.

20 cents - for a generous Tbs of pesto, leftover from the day before.
25 cent - for some rice pasta. It's the chinese thin pasta you pour boiling water on and leave for a minute or two. $5 a bag of 20 servings. I mixed the pesto in with the pasta and put the other ingredients on top.
45 cents - about two Tbs of pulled pork. The pork is local, organic farm pork that I bought by the side and butchered myself. Per pound it was only $3.95. To make the pulled pork, I rubbed a stock cube on a shoulder roast - but could have used fresh herbs and salt. Put it in the slow cooker on low overnight with a splash of wine. When finished I shredded the pork and mixed it with some spicy sauce and some cooking liquid. This tastes so good and rich, that it makes an excellent side to a meal.
0 cents - a handful of fresh snap peas from the garden. If I were to have bought them it would have been about 50 cents.

Total for today's breakfast - 90 cents.

Breakfast today - well, actually Brunch which is my largest meal of the day.

Rice with chestnuts, and miso soup (for 2 people)

The rice
10cent - organic rice
99cent - bag of organic, roasted and pealed chestnuts, on sale because sale by date is this month
1 cent - soy-free soy sauce substitute, sake, and water

Total: $1.10 (for two servings)

The soup
10 cents worth of organic yam
15 cent organic potato
hot sauce (free because grew garlic and chilis myself, then made the hot sauce)
1 cent for home made (soy free), organic chickpea mugi miso paste (to buy the already made organic, soy free, chickpea miso paste would be about 25 cents for this much)

Total for soup: 26 cents (two servings)

While I'm at it, I think I'll cook some sprats. A package of frozen sprats from the Japanese food store costs about $5 ish for 50ish tiny fish that fry up so crunchy. 2 sprats a person, is 40 cents total.

That's a total of $1.76 for two servings, or $0.88 a meal.

Prep time, about 2 minutes, cooking time 20ish.

Healthy - yep
Eco friendly - yep
affordable - yep


What about you guys? What are you eating that is healthy, eco friendly and affordable? Can you cook a main meal of the day for under $1 a plate and have everyone full at the end of the meal?

Last night I made roast root vegetable soup and corn bread. Roots (carrots, turnips, jerusalem artichokes) grown by me (free), turkey stock left over from Christmas (free), cornmeal $ .16, flour $.05, egg (free), butter $.18. Total per person: $.39. I think.

Tyler Ludens wrote:Last night I made roast root vegetable soup and corn bread. Roots (carrots, turnips, jerusalem artichokes) grown by me (free), turkey stock left over from Christmas (free), cornmeal $ .16, flour $.05, egg (free), butter $.18. Total per person: $.39. I think.

Sounds delightful!

I'm kinda nervous about contributing here because I don't closely track my grocery costs, but I do have one recipe that when made with meat can come completely from a garden in my climate. Except the salt and cooking oil. Eventually I will be growing all of these, maybe even the olive oil.

Sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, and ginger, fried together until the sweet potatoes are soft and the onions are caramelized. I always have to make twice what you'd expect a serving to be per person because it goes so fast.

Casie

Casie Becker wrote:I'm kinda nervous about contributing here because I don't closely track my grocery costs, but I do have one recipe that when made with meat can come completely from a garden in my climate. Except the salt and cooking oil. Eventually I will be growing all of these, maybe even the olive oil.

Sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, and ginger, fried together until the sweet potatoes are soft and the onions are caramelized. I always have to make twice what you'd expect a serving to be per person because it goes so fast.

Casie

That sounds amazing! I'll have to give it a go. I love sweet potatoes with onions. Thank you for sharing.

I wonder if that sweet potatoes recipe would work with sweet winter squash? I have loads of squash...

It might. I adapted the recipe over time from my mother's breakfast hash which was regular potatoes, link sausage, onions and garlic. It was part of my experimenting with cooking sweet potatoes where I slowly increased the amount of sweet potatoes in ratio to the regular ones.

So glad you guys are chiming in.

To be honest, I'm very selfish starting this thread. I desire more inspiration and affordable cooking ideas. Can't wait to try the sweet potato... but alas, all I have in the house is a yam. Going to give it a try with the yam.

Today's brunch pasta

25 cent - organic pasta
10 cent - broccoli. Usually I use cauliflower but it's over $6 a head right now, almost $10 for organic. Of course if we grew it locally, it would be in season, but alas no. We import from Chili where it's NOT in season and therefore very expensive. But I digress. I'm also going to plant a whole whack of cauliflower in the garden next year
5 cent organic butter (good quality olive oil works well too, for a vegan meal)
1 penny salt, pepper, bread crumbs (made from stale, organic bread)
Garlic - home grown but if I bought it, let's say about a 1 to 5 cents

I cook the broccoli in the water, scoop it out and then cook the pasta. That way I can mash up the broccoli with the garlic, butter and salt. Mix it with a splash of pasta cooking water, and use it as a sauce. Top with pepper and bread crumbs. Delicious. Sometimes I top with cheese for added protein. A version of this mixed with broth/milk, leftover chicken, and cheese then oven baked makes a great casserole for taking to work.

Total: $0.41

Here's an example of money saved. In Victoria, at Thrifty Foods, large organic eggs cost $7.25. Jumbo eggs, which are bigger, cost $6.95.

I always get the big ones. They average about 30% larger, with less shell.

Last night: Parmesan Arugula Rice and Roast Winter Squash. Cheez (.75), arugula(free), rice (.05), squash (free). Total .80 per person.

I'm on a FODMAP diet, so no wheat/pasta. Also, other than the corn and potatoes this would be low carb and paleo-ish.

Breakfast: a bit of lard (can use butter, but I get free fat from a butcher), fry up some spinach and bell peppers (maybe 25 cents worth). When the veggies are unfrozen, add a quarter cup of cornmeal and a cup of water (maybe 10 cents). Stir that around, add spices & herbs, and cook it until it starts getting all absorbed. Add two eggs (the price quotes I've seen above are astronomical, I get mine from the farm) and scramble them into the mix. When the eggs are looking cooked, add a quarter cup or so of shaker parm (maybe 25 cents).

Lunch: a can of soup

Dinner: About a half cup of hamburger, a bit more than a cup of veggies, a half cup of potatoes, maybe some butter. Salt, pepper, Tuscan seasoning mix. Stir fry until the meat is cooked, then add a quarter cup of shaker parm. Not sure on the costs, but probably a bit over a dollar. But damn good and filling.

I try to only use frozen veggies or fresh from the garden. I've never been able to keep veggies - they always go bad and so get wasted. At least these days the veggies that go bad get composted.

This is my basic meal plan. I sometimes modify it by making my own crockpot soup or changing up the ingredients, but this is doing pretty well for me.

I'm also working on making my own corn chips (i.e. Fritos). I'm closing in on a good recipe but not quite there yet although it's basically just corn meal, salt, water, deep fried.

Thank you everyone for chiming in. I'm feeling very inspired by your meals.



Last night's dinner: Chicken noodle soup

A few days ago we had a roast chicken and I made some broth from the bones. Although these days, the carcass is considered a waste product, I still want to include it in the price because we pay for the privilege of wasting it. It was a medium chicken, $30. I would rather organic or at least hormone free, but with modern prices... box standard medium chicken in these parts costs $30+. The meat gave us 4 days worth of meals, and then the bones make broth... so let's pretend the bones come to $4.

Other ingredients in the broth included an onion, 10 cent, carrots and carrot peals from earlier in the day, 5 cent, salt, pepper, splash vinegar (to help extract more nutrition from the bones), spices, cost roughly a penny. 24 hours cooking in the slow cooker, about 25 cents.

Big pot of broth comes to $4.41 This does us 3 days of soup, 3 helping a day. About 50 cents a helping for the broth.

Add to the broth, noodles, hot sauce, salt, pepper and a drizzle of sesame oil in the final bowl, and we have a lovely basic chicken noodle soup for about 70 cents a bowl.

Even better, boil some veg in the broth, then add the noodles and such... still have a lovely soup for under a dollar a bowl.



Making broth in the slow cooker or the pressure cooker saves a great deal of electricity. Personally I like the taste better in the pressure cooker, but the slow cooker is less demanding. In the pressure cooker, the broth takes 45 minutes at high pressure, in the slow cooker I can strain the broth anytime after 6 hours, or leave it cooking as long as 24.

There are loads of things we can use broth in, I love it.

Roasting a chicken once a week is probably our biggest dietary expense. Yet, there are so many more meals we can make from the leftovers. A lot of recipes that want raw chicken, taste just as good or better with roast chicken meat. Chicken pizza, chicken curry, chicken pasta, chicken sandwich, cold roast chicken with Chutney, chicken soup, chicken casserole, chicken melted cheese on toast.

Venison Curry: Small chunk of venison (free), root vegetables - carrots, radish, onion (free), butter (.05), spices (.10), rice (.05), chutney (1.00). Cost per person .60 or so.

Tyler Ludens wrote:Venison Curry: Small chunk of venison (free), root vegetables - carrots, radish, onion (free), butter (.05), spices (.10), rice (.05), chutney (1.00). Cost per person .60 or so.

Sounds amazing!

Casie Becker wrote:I'm kinda nervous about contributing here because I don't closely track my grocery costs, but I do have one recipe that when made with meat can come completely from a garden in my climate. Except the salt and cooking oil. Eventually I will be growing all of these, maybe even the olive oil.

Sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, and ginger, fried together until the sweet potatoes are soft and the onions are caramelized. I always have to make twice what you'd expect a serving to be per person because it goes so fast.

Casie

i make this one quite often, only add in greens(garden grown chard, kale, mustard, etc) just at the very end, then throw an egg or two, the egg sorts of melts and disappears... topped with melted cheese and a bit of salsa...yumm =)

actually i make this one all the time, but with different ingredients. i love garlic and ginger and usually have some around, as well as onions...but the other ingredients shift depending on whats available. not quite as good with regular taters, but still quite yummy.

i'm rather the opposite of you r ranson, in that i love having leftovers...so i make big batches of everything and eat it for a few meals. right now its a big pot of jambalaya, well i will call it portuguese jambalaya....with chorizo...would also use linguica but i cant get any here...no other meat though.
had a craving for it so made a bunch. maybe under a dollar a plate??? not sure...but i think so...even with the sausage which can get pricey for the good stuff =)

includes -- peppers, onions, garlic, tomato paste/sauce/sliced tomato, pre fry the sausage with the onions,peppers and garlic...put it all together and throw in the rice and water, to soak up all the flavors, with a lot of spicy added to taste =)

then extra good-- melted cheese on top with a bit of salsa . i have a habit of putting melted cheese and salsa on everything =)

Made a big pot of chicken soup tonight. Half of it will be frozen for later, but the whole pot will cover at least 12 servings before it's gone. The chicken was the most expensive part at 5.50. Added three medium potatoes from a 10 lb bag and two small sweet potatoes. All the leaves and the end chops from three stalks of celery (center sticks are fed to the girls as constantly on hand snacks) a medium yellow onion. That's not more than five dollars worth of vegetables (I think).

Seasoned it with a little salt, minced garlic, and about half a cup of sage, lemon thyme and opal basil from the garden. Herbs were measured after pulverizing in a coffee grinder.

I've also started microwaving a potato and then stirring the chopped pieces with fresh dill and good quality butter. Makes a tolerable light lunch.

Tonight is Burn's Night.

There was an event/dinner to celebrate being held in the city nearby, with a ticket price of $25/person. Two of us plus gas to get there and back would have been close to $60.

While proud of my vaguely Scottish heritage, part of celebrating that heritage, for me, means not spending sixty dollars just to sit in a hall and listen to someone play the bagpipes and read a poem.

I decided to keep track of all our eats and expenses related to Burn's Night for the year.

About ten days ago, I thrift-scored a pleated tartan wool skirt for $3 including tax. Paired with a couple-of-years old blouse, "costume" done.

Entertainment - youtubed a few musical videos of dudes doing folksy music things. Will probably watch something sorta Scottish themed later tonight on TV. Let's call it $3 for the day's portion of cable/internet costs. (It's probably less then that, but there you go.)

Now the food!

Breakfast -

Steel cut oatmeal (of course.) with
Just-past expiration date local-ish milk (free! but I'll call it 25 cents.)
half a banana (sorry world) it WAS organic
1/2 apple, grown at most 20 kilometers away =1.10

and then 1/2 a cranberry muffin from the store on sale - 25 cents
and my multivitamin 10 cents. = 1.45

Partner takes some toast add another 25 cents to theirs, breakfast for two = $3.35

Lunch -

Left over dinner roll from two nights ago - 0.50
margarine (butter was unspreadable lump in fridge) - 0.05
leftover stew-y bits, slathered on roll - 0.25
spinach - 0.20
1/4 of a tomato - 0.20
some loose tea (rosehip and something) - 0.25 with water which we carry in from a dispenser downtown
and cherry strudel on sale from store - 0.50

Lunch for me - $1.95. Lunch for other was chicken on roll, probably - 2.25. lunch for two = $4.20


And Dinner for two -

Breaded MSC-approved but from the freezer section of the big box store haddock - $5
Last dinner roll, plus small amount bread-machined raisin/cornbread - $1 + marg again another 10 cents
Fancy purple/forbidden rice, organic, and something about reduced water usage in it's farming - $1.50
Yesterday's carrots (from in province) broccolli (probably Californian) and some mushrooms (0.35 cents, on sale, from in province) - 1.50
some lettuce and 1/2 a tomato plus salad dressing plus a sprinkly of homemade cheese - 1.50
plum sauce from the bottle because partner keeps buying stuff in bottles - 20 cents
some tomato juice - 0.40
the last of the expired milk - 0.25
1 and 1/2 muffins and a shortbread cookie for the two of us = 0.75

Dinner for two total = 12.20

There could be more tea later on - another 50 cents

Extra - two days ago I bought a box of shortbread cookies from Scotland for tonight, but we ended up not opening the box, still it was $4 intended to be partially consumed tonight

Total expenses for Burn's Night for two -

$30.25

Remarks - Poot, fish is expensive. I didn't realize how much per serving we were spending for one of those frozen boxes of fish. Hmm. It's so convenient to get fish that way though! I am really unskilled at fish preparations, it's basically the frozen prepared stuff from the box, or salmon or tuna from a can on a sandwich. Although I did make fish cakes once or twice a few years ago! I could do that more. It would probably save money and cut back on pre-prepared yicky stuff.

I was happily surprised that my breakfast just barely missed making the under $1US/serving mark! And it was okay health/environnmental impact wise to, right? Not perfect, obviously, because banana, and muffin but...

At least here in Texas if you pick up your seafood fresh from the counter they can usually give you cooking instructions at the same time. Broiling with butter, garlic and herbs is a fast an easy way to cook most fish. Only really good deal I've caught on fish was a discounted pack of salmon trimmings, and I still think it was over a dollar a plate.

Seriously, though. If you don't know how to cook something (meat, fish, veggies) go somewhere it's sold fresh and ask. Any halfway decent sales person will know their product well enough to make informed suggestions.

Polenta has become the new staple breakfast during the week in our family. My wife boils a cup of cornmeal (or corn we have ground for the purpose) and adds to it either a handful of frozen fruit or if I am feeling like I want something a little heartier she will put cheese and/or meat in it. It is like oatmeal except you can add veggies, meat, and or cheese to it instead of just fruit.

For lunch we have been sticking with soups (which of course are already under a dollar a plate) and for dinner we generally have a big dose of protein in the form of a chicken leg quarter or a slice of pork loin (both under a dollar if you wait until they are on sale) and a side of some extra veggies if we need more (we generally don't).

Venison Saag: Small chunk venison (free), large bunch greens (free), handful garlic chives (free), spices (.10), butter (.05), can of diced tomatoes (.70), rice (.10), handful cilantro (free). Cost per person .50ish.

This recipe as inspiration: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/92665/recipe/lamb-saag

I love watching this thread.

Just did a quick google and found this:


Super Cheap Meals: $1 or Less!

I've really been on a curry train these days so this one jumped out at me:

Chicken and Broccoli Curry:



Also mashed potato soup is always a classic that I make:



ALSO I LOVE MEAT - but I seriously am obsessed with bean burgers too:

One of my favorite things to make is after my family has picked a chicken clean, I boil the hell out of the carcass for a nice broth. We have eggs year round because we freeze them when we have bumper crops in the summer. I dry chives, peas and corn from my garden and keep a nice mix on hand at all times. So take your broth, take a couple of eggs and whip them. Boil your dried veg in your broth and add a bit of salt (only cost to me on this recipe). Bring it all to a boil once the veg is rehydrated and slowly drizzle the whipped eggs into the boiling liquid, stirring slowly. Home made egg drop soup. Super comfort food.

Cajun-seasoned Roast Squash and Salad: Squash (free), Cajun seasoning mix (gift), salad (free), olive oil (.10), balsamic vinegar (.05), garlic (.05). Cost per person: .10

Squash Curry and Rice: Squash (free), can-o-tomatoes (.67), garlic (.05), turkey stock (free), rice (.26) , spices (.10), chutney (.50). Cost per person .79.

$30? for a Chicken? Yikes!
.
I thought I would add some links and stuff, with trucking I don't
get many chances to prepare my own meals. I do have a fridge
in this truck, so I am hopeful when veggies are back in season of
doing some smoothie stuff. One driver mentioned losing 90 pounds
over the course of a year by just doing one NutriBullet Smoothie each
day. There is a great free Leanne Brown cookbook below, don't miss it.



For Recipe ideas Mr. Ranson I give you Recipeland.com
They have a meal idea feature where you insert your ingredients and out pops
a recipe.

Kickstarter had a gal do a recipe book on "Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4 Dollars a Day",
she gave the pdf version of the book away for free. Here is the link to her kickstarter
Good and Cheap Kickstarter

NPR did an Interview of the "Good and Cheap" cookbook HERE

Here is the link to the Kickstarter author's page where you can download the book for free.
.leannebrown.com/

Here are some more links on eating cheap

Eating Comfortably on 36 Dollars a Month

WebMD has it's 15 low cost foods 15 Nutritious Foods for About $2

The BBC has 33 Delicious Cheap Recipes

100 Cheap and Easy Recipes for Under $1

Allrecipe.com 's Budget Cooking with some very interesting recipe names.

the Simple Dollar's Dirt Cheap Meals with Prices of Ingredients

EatingWell.com 's Recipes

The greatist.com 's 400 Recipes that Wont Break the Bank

Neat smoothies. Thank-you for such an inspiring list. I'm going to enjoy going through them.

One of the troubles challenges I've had in the past with affordable recipes is that they often start with pre fab food, or require ingredients that don't come ready at the same time of year. Between my allergies and personal drive to eat local, I sometimes find it difficult to find affordable meal ideas. That's why this thread has been so fantastic for me. I enjoy reading all the personal experiences from people with similar values to my own.

Cauliflower has come down in price from 9 dollars to 3 per head, gonna celebrate Pasta Friday with some smashed cauliflower, garlic and butter pasta sauce. Just about a dollar a plate, but so worth it.

You're welcome.
I had read somewhere about cauliflower and a white bean being mashed together as a potato substitute, never tried it though. When I googled it I found this page mentioning cauliflower steaks, sounds good. http://www.yummly.com/recipes/cauliflower-white-bean

$30 for a GMO free pastured chicken is not unusual around here. Most go $3-4 a pound and can easily be the size of a small turkey. But I can get at least 3 meals for my family of 11 out of one of those (roast chicken with potatoes and gravy, BBQ or chicken salad sandwiches, bone broth chicken noodle soup) so it is cheap NUTRITION in the long run.

R Scott wrote:$30 for a GMO free pastured chicken is not unusual around here. Most go $3-4 a pound and can easily be the size of a small turkey. But I can get at least 3 meals for my family of 11 out of one of those (roast chicken with potatoes and gravy, BBQ or chicken salad sandwiches, bone broth chicken noodle soup) so it is cheap NUTRITION in the long run.

Nope, $30 for the box standard generic medium size frying chicken. Hormone free, starts at about $35 right now, but that's not guaranteed GMO free. Our local regs only require the Organic Chicken to not have GMO feed... and that... well... $43 dollars the last time I bought one of those. All these prices are for medium or small chicken, not a large size.

It's expensive to eat here. Farm fresh eggs are about $6 a dozen, in the good season. Right now, if you can find any, it's about $8 a dozen. That's not organic either.

Most fresh veggies are about half again as expensive as this time last year, and there are starting to be shortages in the store. A few years back, it was a month with no garlic - I was devastated. The year after that, no lemons or limes for about three weeks. A couple of weeks ago, they had 4 heads of cauliflower at $9 a head. And haven't seen a broccoli with a stem on it for about three weeks. I don't think people here have noticed it much yet, but the greater patterns of the world are having a direct influence on our shopping choices. And people wonder why I'm so desperate to grow my own food.

Sigh, here I am wondering off topic.

The point is, I lament that food costs so much more here than most of North America, but I also enjoy the challenge of making a health, earth friendly, meal for as little money as I can.

Our hunter just dropped off a big bag of frozen venison goodies, so stay tuned for cheap delicious venison meal ideas.

Tyler Ludens wrote:Our hunter just dropped off a big bag of frozen venison goodies, so stay tuned for cheap delicious venison meal ideas.

exciting! Please let us know all about it.

Not the healthiest dinner, maybe, but certainly frugal!

Rice and Gravy with Roast Squash: Rice (.26), turkey stock (free leftovers), squash (free). .13 per person.

Radish Curry and Rice: Old radishes (free), Canada onions (free), leftover gravy (free), rice (.26),spices (.20), chutney (.50). Cost per plate .48

Curry seems to be the cheapest thing I make.

Venison and Radish Curry: Venison (free), old radishes (free), cardoon (free), perennial leek (free), spices (.20), rice (.26), peach jam (gift). Cost per plate .23.

After seeing all your curry recipes I bought a small curry transplant yesterday. If the experience is like my other herbs, it'll probably be next year before I'm comfortable harvesting from it. After that, maybe it'll become as much of a staple as my thyme.

Curry plant smells like curry spices, but may not taste like them; it's supposed to taste more like sage. The spices I use are cardamon, ginger, turmeric, cayenne, coriander, sometimes cumin.