How to Feed Eight People on the Cheap

[tobee43]

it would be delicious over roasted strips of eggplant...yummmmmmmmmm

[tobee43]

nom nom nom!!! We actually have been learning to cook as well (what?! You can make stuff using flour instead of cream of mushroom soup?! LOL?!?!)

My favorite cooking show is the chew on abc - i have learned sooooooo much! now my parents come to dinner at our house! hehe

i loved richards statement in reference to learning to cook as opposed to heating up food, that's an excellent point about today's generation.

BUT in defense of this younger generation they work and work and WORK and don't usually have time. although, if you really know how to cook one will understand it's not what time you eat as much as it is, what you eat at the time

[TheBajan]

it would be delicious over roasted strips of eggplant...yummmmmmmmmm

Yes it would. For nearly two years I was on an ALMOST vegan diet. I loved, loved, loved eating that way and I lost a ton of weight doing it. However, financially, we just couldn't keep doing it and the stress we were under at that time was too much for me. I fell back to eating the same ol' American diet of fast, convenient food with little nutritional value.

I love pasta and I don't count carbs, calories, fats, or anything else. I'm no good with diets that require that sort of maintenance. What I am good at is following one simple rule. For me that rule is to simply omit all processed foods. That means anything with preservatives, additives, stabilizers, colors, etc. Basically, almost anything with a shelf life. That includes pasta. So, if I'm going to eat pasta, I have to make it. Before I can make it, I have to ground the berries to make the flour. All that is a lot of work and therefore, I've got to REALLY be in the pasta mood before I eat it.

On the first of this year I started my mostly vegan diet again. I've lost 20 pounds in the last 16 days and I'm already feeling 100% more energetic. I can't afford to go back to eating the same way that I want to but I'm learning where I am willing to compromise to obtain better health. Compromising is a difficult thing for me. I'm sort of a all or nothing kinda person when it comes to something like this.

Anyway, I don't mean to hi-jack the thread. I just wanted to let Tobee know why I limit my pasta intake.

The Bajan

[tobee43]

TheBajan: For nearly two years I was on an ALMOST vegan diet. I loved, loved, loved eating that way and I lost a ton of weight doing it. However, financially, we just couldn't keep , I have to ground the berries to make the flour. All that is a lot of work and therefore, I've got to REALLY be in the pasta mood before I eat it.The Bajan

ground the berries!!!!!!!!!! reminds me when i use to make my own baby formula (since i was pg with another infant and couldn't nurse anymore, i was FREAKED out! they are 10.5 months apart)...i was the last person in my county to have home delivery of raw milk. i use to be crazy about it all. i still am to some degree and many call me a food snob, but, i think we really are what we eat.

i think this thread is about food, so it's really interesting to know about you grounding berries to get flour. too cool!! i'm so impressed!

[keepsmiling]

20 lbs in 16 days!!! Awesome!!!
Wish I had the what it takes to do that. Good for you, Baj!

[momofthree]

$25 for 1 meal is eating on the cheap? Holy cow, we would have to starve to death! I must be the mother of all cheapskates! lol. My goal is for each dinner to cost $5-10 (preferably $5, lol) for a family of 5. Then again, I homemake everything. I even make our own homemade salad dressing, which is not only more delicious than bottled, but much healthier as well. I must admit though, that we are also blessed to live in CA, where there is a lot of local agriculture, so fresh fruits and veggies are super cheap, which makes it easier to eat on a budget. I am now in the process of planting my own organic veggie garden. I can start planting next month and am super duper stoked.

[btbeme]

nice! i like the "some" wine ROFL!!!!!!!!

is a "some" more or less than a cup or two...or maybe three LOL! again, it LOOKS GREAT!

Maybe more. After all, one must make sure that the chef is properly sauced.

[RichM]

$25 for 1 meal is eating on the cheap? Holy cow, we would have to starve to death! I must be the mother of all cheapskates! lol. My goal is for each dinner to cost $5-10 (preferably $5, lol) for a family of 5. Then again, I homemake everything. I even make our own homemade salad dressing, which is not only more delicious than bottled, but much healthier as well. I must admit though, that we are also blessed to live in CA, where there is a lot of local agriculture, so fresh fruits and veggies are super cheap, which makes it easier to eat on a budget. I am now in the process of planting my own organic veggie garden. I can start planting next month and am super duper stoked.

Send me some eggplants, please!

[tobee43]

Maybe more. After all, one must make sure that the chef is properly sauced.

LOL!! right you are!

[tobee43]

Send me some eggplants, please!

me too! eggplant is a staple in this house! actually after moving to the south we are just about vegetarians, as the meat and fish are so terrible. some times when i can get to whole foods its alright, but OMGoodness...beef is SOOOOOOOOOOO awful here. and, there are a few people than just don't eat catfish! i mean there are other fish in the sea yikes.

also i have to go to the ends of the earth to get an actual white sweet potato, since they call yams sweet potatoes here. sweet potatoes usually found with ether purple or tan skins are by far the best nutritionally root veggie ever. mash, them, roast them, bake them or grill them! (when you can find them).

[Sammie]

We are both Italian, originally from NJ and relocated to NC 10 yrs. ago. The common joke in our area when my husband is asked "what is the best Italian rest. you go to"? He answers--"my house". He tells me that I make eggplant parm like his grandmother did, I don't know, I hate, hate, hate, eggplant, but everyone asks me to make it for them (inc. our Bk Attorney). What's wrong with this picture? It is just the 2 of us now, but everything from my spaghetti sauce, ect. is made from scratch. I don't bake, so there aren't any sweets in the house. Our dinners cost around $8.00 for the both of us.

Richard, thank you for the recipe. Yum!

I have a great Veggie Burger recipe that I got from a Chef in a NJ rest. if anyone would like it. It costs around $3-$4 (depending on your area) to make 8 burgers.

Eating on the cheap--Pasta Fagioli, Escarole and Beans many, many, nutritious Italian recipes and inexpensive.

Tobee--my father put yellow raisins in his Caponata--I will try & find the recipe. sammie

[RichM]

Eating on the cheap--Pasta Fagioli, Escarole and Beans many, many, nutritious Italian recipes and inexpensive.

Yes, those are on the agenda, too. Thanks!

-Richard

[tobee43]

well i wasn't italian but after over 44 years i am now by osmosis

the greatest compliment a woman can get from the relatives of their spouse when the are 200% Italian; is they are the best cook in the family LOL!!! funny i never cared for the food but it has grown on me after all these years and certainly is an inexpensive way to feed a large and or small family. i freeze now when i make a pot since i only know how to make one for 50 people LOL!!!

i like a little italilan sausage with my escarole and beans...just for flavor. pasta fagioli, funny i have seen that recipe change from family to family...his likes it with peas as opposed to beans?

[superwhite]

Do you know KHAO PAD , try it.