November 2011
54 posts
3 tags
Why does SF buckle under to McGiant?
Re:SF Upstate Chapter Leader Janette Wesley proving that ANYONE can take the $5 Challenge - Ronald McDonald stands for EVERYTHING that slow food is not: expensive, highly processed, highly salted, high fat, unhealthy, mass produced, factory farmed, etc I’m appalled that you chose to display this picture which is simply free advrtisement for the chain, AND the concept of FAST FOOD. Shame on...
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Lentils for supper; way less than $5. each
Lentils for supper- get out a big heavy covered pan.
In 2Tbsp olive oil saute a chopped onion for 2 mins. Add 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp ginger, 1tbsp cumin, 1 tsp salt (optional), saute till fragrant. Add 1 cup lentils, 1 cup rice (brown or white), 1 can chopped tomatoes, 4 cups water or broth, and 1 can drained rinsed garbanzo beans (or cook your own). Cover and cook till rice is tender. serve...
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Seasonal cooking !
I have always slow cooked, using our local farmer’s markets for in season foods to cook for now and freeze for later. We joined a CSA three years ago and now I process our share for the two days after we receive it; enjoying fresh produce when it is in season and freezing the extra to use for the rest of the year. I use the Farmer’s market all year to fill in what I can with fresh...
4 tags
Oatmeal for All!
I love oatmeal! it is cheap and easy to cook~ I buy rolled oats for
.99 /pound, or steel cut oats for a slightly higher price and they take longer to cook.
For 1/2 Cup of Oats, I add 1 Cup water cook until it is the consistency that I like and then I add a teaspoon of butter or coconut oil, 1/4 Cup milk, a teaspoon of cinnamon, and a tablespoon of honey.
This costs less than $2 to make!
...
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Hearty healthy breakfast
Heat cooked black beans and barley (or rice) with a low saturated fat oil in pan with lid on. Then scramble one egg with additional water and pour over the hot beans and barley. Continue heating until egg is firm. Season to taste. I use a little Mrs Dash because I like the taste and I like getting the additional herbs into my diet but anything or nothing is fine.
Serve with salsa, or honey, or...
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Infinite Varieties and a $5 Challenge
Cross-posted from my blog.
I organized another installment of “Shop Like a Pro at a Farmers’ Market” today. After leading the group through the Union Square Greenmarket, I began my hunt for the best end-of-summer produce. A wonderful thing about a farmers’ market is the seemingly infinite varieties of many vegetables and fruits. From S & So Produce Farms, I grabbed a...
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The $5 challenge, vegetarian style.
Beet chips, zucchini and scallion fritters, and nectarine granitas—a simple late summer vegetarian meal that was affordable and delicious in equal measures.
Read more about it here: http://www.amblingartichoke.com/2011/09/up-for-a-challenge/
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The $5 meal challenge: Artichoke Risotto
Food and price have an interesting relationship. For something we value so importantly as our nutrition, you find that supermarkets mostly sell and market their products on a cost basis. I read an interesting passage in the ‘Omnivore’s Dilemma’ by the pastoralist farmer Joel Salatin who once told a customer that clean, ethical and/or sustainable food is actually the cheapest food you can buy. He...
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Hearty Land-locked Jamabalaya
At first glance, the $5 challenge seemed daunting. After hearing so many jingles for Dollar Menu ads, you start believing that fast food is in fact the cheaper, more logical, answer to today’s nutritional and health issues.
Recently, I met the challenge unknowingly. After making dinner for a group of friends and checking the receipt the next day, I realized we had eaten a hearty,...
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Easy Peasy Pasta Carbonara
This is cheap, easy, and kids love it. Even if you use supermarket bacon and frozen peas, this is a nutritious, delicious meal.
You’ll need:
Enough dry pasta to serve 4. Any shape is fine—you can use whole grain or regular.
1/4 onion
6-8 strips bacon (or some diced ham)
Grated parmesan to taste
1C frozen peas
Fresh chopped parsley—-or not
Some kind of pasta lubricant....
Lunch for the Everyone
Every few months, a couple of workers chemical plant where I work will propose cooking lunch for anyone that wants it. They will collect names during the week and cook on Thursday, the end of the work week for the daylight shift. The meal is always filling, if not always balanced. Most recently we had chili and chili dogs. The cost was reduced because someone contributed ground venison, but...
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Lentil Soup
Bring 1-1/3 cup lentils and 4 cups of water (in a large pot) to a rapid boil. Then turn off the heat, cover the pot and wait for 1 hour. (This method is good for all bean soups and eliminates the “soak overnight” step.)
Next add one medium onion, one rib of celery, one large or two small carrots, one leak, one large or two small potatoes — all diced to approximately mimic the...
4 tags
$5 Slow Food Challenge: Jambalaya and Community
The concept of community is relatively new for me, but I’m learning to embrace the idea. I’m lucky, because my neighbors are warm and welcoming - something that I’ve not always been completely familiar or comfortable with. I’m getting there, though - more and more every day. I signed on with Slow Food USA about a month ago to take their $5 challenge. I had these grandiose...
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Tip
I can always find meat marked down at HT or SuperTarget or offered free with purchase at stores like EarthFare with a coupon printed from their website or stock up when it is a super buy. I don’t EVER buy meat at regular price or anything else for that matter. You can also find the rotisserie chickens marked down when they have been out for a certain length of time at HT, late afternoons...
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FRESH AND EASY
For me, the easiest way to go is to keep it fresh and simple. A visit to the local produce store is the first stop for reasonable local produce. I’ll decide on my menu as I shop. Being creative is essential. At home, we have an herb garden, lemongrass and a kafir lime tree for the flavorful leaves. Other staples inlclude a good olive oil, various hot sauces, ponzu sauce, various vinegars,...
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Use CSAs or Farmers Markets' Organic Produce and...
I cook fresh daily by using seasonal, organic, local produce either from CSAs or Farmers Markets and by following the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Department’s Healthy Eating Pyramid (available online) guidelines. That means less meat and more fruits and veggies. One pan is frequently all I use to first saute in olive oil the aromatic veggies, then add the main veggies. I...
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slow food challenge
I buy a whole free range chicken, roast and debone, while it is cooking i make homemade pasta and boil. Take cooked, deboned chicken and cut or shred to bit size pieces. Put cut chicken in pan (wok is better) and stir fry with olive oil. drain pasta and add to chicken. then add what veggies from garden you like (onion, pepper, squash, chard’s, spinach, ect…..) cook till greens are...
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Delicious lunches from leftovers
My husband cooks all our suppers from scratch, using mostly low cost ingredients, excellent use of spices, and fresh herbs from our garden during the growing season. He’ll usually make a batch of something that will last the two of us for two days. Often there is a delicious broth left, or maybe even some of the main ingredients like a bit of cooked rice.
My husband is a pbj fan for...
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Retired Cooks Weekly Dinners
Myself along with several friends have weekly dinners. The cast changes by the week. Three of us are former restaurant line cooks. We are the most consistent attendees. Generally 6-8 people attend the dinners. We devise a menu and assign people a course/ingredient to bring to the meal. It keeps it interesting, since the meals have a bit of a surprise factor. Be it that either the meal, dessert, or...
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Cooking from Scratch
I grew up in Australia before fast food eating delicious home cooking which included fruit and veggies from our backyard garden. We are a family of 8 so eating out is not in our budget and home cooked food is so much more delicious and nutritious. My favorite cooking utensils are my wok, rice cooker, my cast iron pans and my oven. These enable me to prepare food quickly. We love brown rice and...
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Plan-(Stick to it), and save...
New to cooking for yourself/Family? First plan your meals for the week, shop accordingly (at one time if possible-daily trips add to food bills with those “extras) and stick to the plan. I cannot stress how important it is to stick to the plan. That means if you plan Mac’n’Cheese for monday with a salad, make it, don’t decide you’d rather have pizza (and don’t...
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Plan out a week of Menus
One trick I use personally and teach clients is taking a few minutes to plan out a week’s worth of menu’s - breakfast, lunch, dinners, snacks as well as any special items needed (ex. bake sale at school or guests for dinner). Write down all ingredients needed for a shopping list, working with the sales that week if possible - don’t forget to work with what might already be in the...
Is $5 per person supposed to be some kind of good...
We have 4 people in my family, and yes, we cook almost every meal. However, I consider $2.50 per person for a dinner a good deal. Once in a blue moon for a special occasion we may cook something really pricy like good seafood that might come out to $5.00 per person. That is not a realistic goal for daily dinners though. For someone like me who cooks day after day, if I am going to splurge and...
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We live the $5 challenge every. It’s as easy as 1,2,3. 1. Start at farmers market, or your closest farm stand and buy what looks good. 2. Make a menu from your purchases (factor in your busy schedule). 3. Prep as much as you can as far in advanced as you can. 4.(Bonus) If it’s in season buy extra and put it up for winter. Right now I’m freezing whole cherry tomatoes for...
buying in bulk
If you have access to a good food co-op, they usually have bulk bins for dry goods like beans and oats that are much cheaper. In addition, my local co-op has a member sale once a month and I stock up on items that I use a lot of like beans, grains, rice. We eat mostly vegan and I am a huge fan of one pot meals like stews and chillis in the colder months, and stir fry or grilling with my summer...
Under $5? Easy!
we have a large vegetable garden. This time of year, between that and our local Farmers’ Market, i always have more than enough food for dinner for just $2 or 3. Per person. Tonight I made brown rice & black bean burgers, served on good organic rye bread, with tomatoes and lettuce from our garden.
We usually have corn on the cob and new baby potatoes several times a week in August &...
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It's that good!
Indian Dahl and rice. It’s the cheapest most delicious most healthful way I’ve found to eat. Simply cook yellow or orange lentils, fry up some onions, add curry seasoning and mix together. Top it over brown rice (really yummy with more sauteed onions added to it). This is less $$ than a cheeseburger costs.
Slow food on a budget - how about just food on a...
1980-1998 We didn’t have money for extras. No one was talking about slow food and we didn’t have money for fast food.
A large bag of potatoes, large bag of onions, large bag of rice, you get the picture. Add the tiniest amounts of beef or bacon fat or ham hocks for flavor. Lots of cabbage, canned tomatoes and greens for veggies.
There wasn’t any discussion about whether or...
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Use every part of the plant, animal you grow, get...
Most of the veggies we grow or purchase come with stems, stalks, leaves that I use to toss in the compost, until I learned how great they taste. Now I use the chard stems for a separate dish (bite sized pieces, steamed until tender, plunged in cold water, drained, add a small amount (tablespoon for the stems in a bunch) of vinaigrette, cool for several others then serve at room temperature.) I...
How we do it,
First we buy dried goods in bulk, thus reducing the cost and the waste in volved in smaller packaging.
Next I make large batches of soups and stews that are frozen in single servings for lunch at the office.
We cook larger amounts of rices, pastas, potatoes, etc. and have left over nights 2 days a week. This saves energy and time on busy nights.
All in all we eat for less than fast food more...
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Potluck Challenge with Four Friends
Four friends took the $5 challenge and had a feast - Ginger Miso Wraps, Bean and Escarole Soup, Egg and Zucchini Puff and Poached Pears with Dark Chocolate. Each of the dishes cost $5 or less. Five of us shared the food and had some left over.
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Bella Cucina Maria takes the challenge!
I recently started a blog for college students who just moved in to an apartment and need a little help with cooking. I focused this week’s blog entry on the Slow Food Challenge. Over the last weekend I headed up to the University of VT to my step-daughters kitchen and cooked for 7 of her friends, showing how easy it was to get to a healthy and tasty $5.00 dinner. You can read the full blog...
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Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
1/2 whole chicken $2.50
Green beans, onions, carrots and garlic from the garden $1.50
Rice, 1 Cup, $0.30
Three eggs $0.50
Two lemons $1.20
Bread $2.00
Total for four people: $8.00
Cut the chicken away from the bones. Put bones in a pot and cover with water. Make chicken broth, using onions and carrots from the garden. Cook for 1 1/5 to 2 hours, skim fat and remove veggies. Cook the...
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A Provençal Picnic in Manhattan - $3.97 per...
I made some delicious Ratatouille from a recipe by Melissa Clark. My friends and I made a picnic out of it and headed to a park by my house for dinner. This is an inexpensive, satisfying meal! It just happens to be vegetarian and can be made vegan simply by omitting the goat cheese at the end.
http://www.culinary-librarian.com/2011/09/5-challenge-and-melissa-clarks-genius.html
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Natural Farmacy Takes On The Slow Food USA $5...
The challenge: host a dinner party based around locally sourced ingredients that support the slow food vision. The philosophy of the slow food movement—“food that is good for those who eat it, good for farmers and workers, and good for the planet”. My vegetarian dinner party for 6 was created for less than $5 a person and was inspired by seasonal produce from my farmers market or what I could...
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Natural Farmacy Takes On The Slow Food USA $5... →
The challenge: host a dinner party based around locally sourced ingredients that support the slow food vision. The philosophy of the slow food movement—“food that is good for those who eat it, good for farmers and workers, and good for the planet”. My vegetarian dinner party for 6 was created for less than $5 a person and was inspired by seasonal produce from my farmers market or what I could...
2 tags
Chicken, Rice and Autumn Vegtable Casserole...
Chicken, Rice and Autumn Vegetable Casserole
Serves 11, estimated cost of $18.03
For this dish the rice, chicken and beet stems can be prepared a day or more in advance so the casserole can be put together quickly from already prepared ingredients. For richer flavored rice, use the chicken stock created when preparing the cooked chicken. The casserole can be fully prepared then refrigerated...
2 tags
Roasted Beet, Shallot and Toasted Walnut Salad...
Roasted Beet, Shallot and Toasted Walnut Salad
Serves 8 side salads, estimated cost of $5.40
Most of this can be made ahead of time. If making on September 17, be sure to start 2½ hours before you need to head to the $5 challenge event to allow time for roasting and to allow time for the flavors to combine.
1/4 cup walnuts
1 lb medium sized Chioggia and/or golden beets, tops removed (save...
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Potato, Leek, Onion& Tomato Gratin (serves 10 at...
Potato, Leek, Onion & Tomato Gratin
Serves 10, estimated cost of $13.50
2½ lbs. medium potatoes, unpeeled, cut into halves
3 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 medium leeks, thinly sliced into rounds
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Salt & pepper to taste
1½ lbs ripe tomatoes, stem end removed and thinly sliced (1/8th in thick)
1½ to 2...
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Zucchini Bread with Dried Cranberries and Vanilla...
Zucchini Bread with Dried Cranberries and Vanilla Bean Glaze
Serves 10, estimated cost of $11.62
From Food Network Magazine. Can be mixed by hand – good to make with kids.
For the Bread:
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled (or 1/2 cup vegetable oil), plus more for the pan
1¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour or a mix of whole wheat and all purpose flour
¾ cup brown...
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13 tips to be cheap and Slow!
We shared these tips at our meal in Madison with over 100 attending! roast pork shoulder with herbs and capers, white beans with aromatics, squash and sage, plus fresh peaches and ice cream, all local!
Buy close to the earth: don’t buy things like pre-peeled garlic; buy unprocessed food and don’t pay the labor and packaging costs.
Own good tools and you will enjoy the challenge of...
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Garden Bounty
We set up a fun way to do this on a local message board. We trade what extra veggies and fruits we have in our gardens. This makes making a $5.00 meal so easy. You can use the Meetup groups website to make a garden swap meetup and post it on Craigslist and Freecycle in your area. I wound up with squash, tomatoes and eggplant and eggs. All, I had to buy was some local day old bread and some cheese...
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Vegans eat practically free!
By far the most expensive items on the shopping list are meats, booze, and dairy ~ in that order. If you eliminate meat and dairy, your grocery visit will be so inexpensive that you can hardly make excuses to not go organic. Throw in a little wine on occasion, and it’s still more like $5 per meal instead of $5 per person. Bon appetit!
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Homemade pizza, homemade crust, and salad
1/2 hour, $10 altogether for 5 people
Preheat oven to 425.
In a medium-sized bowl mix 3 cups flour, 1 cup water, 1/3 cup olive oil (or safflower oil or corn oil) and a pinch of salt. When it pulls away from the side of the bowl pour a handful of flour on the countertop and spread it around. Tip the dough out onto the flour and knead it hard for about two minutes (push down on it, fold it over...
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Corn and Black Bean Salad
This was a post on my website:
Slow Food USA recently had a $5 challenge. From their website: “The goal is to take back the ‘value meal’ – because slow food shouldn’t have to cost more than fast food. We’re asking people to share what they do in their kitchens and with their families to cook fresh, healthy food on a budget. Together, we’re learning what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to...
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Dinner Salad
After sharing duties with a neighbor for growing a home garden, I made a dinner salad for a group of 10 for under $1/person. The salad, and homemade dressing, was a hit at a potluck dinner. Here’s how I did it…
Fresh greens including spinach, red leaf and butter lettuce.
1 chopped tomato, 1/2 chopped red onion, 1/2 chopped cucumber, 2 T raisins, 1/2 cup cooked garbanzo beans,...
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A Book of Ideas and Recipes, by Chattanoogans of...
http://mainstfarmersmarket.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Going-Local-Cookbook1.pdf
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Fall Harvest Menu
4 Servings
1 Butternut Squash $3
1 Vidalia Onion $2
2 Granny Smith Apples $2.50
1.25 LB Boneless Pork Tenderloin $6
Salad Greens $3
Olive oil & seasonings $3
Peal and cube the butternut, onion and apple. Roast in baking dish with OO, S & P @ 350 for 25 min.
Rub Porkloin with OO, S & P, roast @ 350 for 30 min.
Serve with salad greens and simple vinaigrette.
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I've avoided fibromyalgia by eating Slow Food for...
Back in 1984, I switch my diet to one that requires real, whole foods, mostly protein and veggies, cooked at home. I have mostly eaten that way all these years. Yes, I’ve splurged with fun meals at restaurants or had to eat the standard American diet of processed foods when absolutely necessary. In 2008, at a time of grief and loss, my chronic fatigue syndrome flared up after being dormant...
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