My search for the perfect frugal snack: A mystery solved

By jove I did it! As most of you know, I have been searching for a homemade snack that satisfies my cravings.  My latest pretzel endeavour didn’t go over so well so I’ve been hunting for a tasty alternative.

Finally, I found a delicious snack that satisfies deep junk food cravings, and costs, well, nothing! It’s easy to make and uses up leftovers – that’s my favourite kind of cooking!

The answer? The homemade cheese spread.

First of all, let it be known that I love cheese. I mean it’s really the cow’s gift to humankind. So when Alton Brown (yes, I realize his name has come up quite a bit on this blog, but I spent last weekend on an Alton Brown bingefest, so forgive me, please) provided a recipe for his favourite cheese trick – a homemade cheese spread – I was intrigued. 

You know all those cheese bits you have lying around? The teeny chunks leftover from cheese platters you served at parties, or in my case, just bought for yourself to enjoy? Maybe the rinds of parmesan that didn’t get eaten right down to the nub, or the extra mozzarella that didn’t make it on the homemade pizza? Those crumbly little bits from old cheddar, too awkward to slice into sandwich? These lost little cheesy bits can be saved from them from their destiny of winding up, undigested, in the garbage can.

How, you ask? It’s easy!

Simply gather these bits and throw them into a food processor. If you have any particularly hard cheeses, such as parmesan, grate it first. (This is important because otherwise it will stay in a clump.) If you have a pound of cheese, add 1/4 cup dry white wine (I actually added a little extra), 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter (I added a little more, once again), some parsley, and one small clove of garlic. Blend in the food pro until smooth. Presto, you have yourself a delicious – and I mean delicious – cheese spread.

I love this because it uses up the old bits of cheese, along with any leftover wine you have (as Alton points out, it’s quite common to have leftover wine from a wine and cheese party, but it’s also easy to find that you have just a little extra wine in a bottle.) Since it uses up these extra ingredients that might otherwise go to waste, you’ve got yourself what is essentially a free snack.

My only suggestion is to eat while it’s fresh.  Alton says that you can refrigerate for up to a week.  I refrigerated for a few hours and, while it was still tasty, the texture was too firm – the cheese cracked – and the flavours seemed to diminish a little.  

What to serve it with? If you have a leftover crusty bread or baguette, follow my recipe to make baguette chips -they are ever so satisfying and perfect for a spreadable cheese. Plus, if you make them because you are using up leftover bread that has gone stale, you are once again using up a product that will otherwise have a date with the trash can.

Don’t forget to save your plastic containers. This leftover container from spreadable goat cheese fit the bill perfectly.

Eat and enjoy!  After all, not only are you saving money by eating in and using up ingredients instead of consuming expensive, store-bought snacks, you are relishing real, pure, good food.  The flavours of good quality cheese and wine will definitely satisfy the craving for a rich, flavourful snack.  This outshines a $3 bag of chips any day.

The unsuccessful hunt for a tasty homemade snack

Snack foods are expensive.  If you want to trim down your grocery bill, snack foods are a great place to start.  Not only are they filler foods, loaded with preservatives, sodium, and well, all kinds of crap, they are unbelievably over priced.  I just saw a sale from a nearby grocery store showcasing chips that were being sold, two for $6.  When did $3 get to be a good price for a regular sized bag of chips?

But we all need some junk food now and then.  Besides, the winter months bring increased movie watching and board game playing, which pretty much require a plate of snacks within reach.  I’ve written on my favourite homemade snack foods before in the post “Snack Happy” in which I share my secrets on making salsa, hummus, guac, Babaganoush, microwave popcorn and more.  But salsa is expensive to make these days because tomatoes are out of season, and avocadoes are not cheap either.  So I’ve been on the lookout for tasty, cheap homemade snack recipes.

On the weekend, we took the plunge to try out Alton Brown’s pretzel recipe.  This was fun.  Rolling out long pieces of dough and twisting them into pretzel shapes, how could that not be fun?  In the end, though, it didn’t work out.  Yes, the pretzel dough itself was tasty.  The process was fun and fairly simple.  But two major errors were made.  One, we didn’t roll the dough thin enough. We were supposed to roll each pretzel stick into 14″ pieces but just estimated on the length of our pretzels, and, once I realized we were only rolling them to about 11 or 12″ pieces, it was too late.  As you can see, they turned out looking like bread sticks, which made the pretzels just a little to thick to enjoy as a light, crunchy snack.  

Furthermore, we improvised using organic sea salt, which was chunky, almost like rock salt, instead of “pretzel salt” – yes, there is such a thing.  Apparently kosher salt is far too fine.  Unfortunately, our salt was far too crunchy.  One bite would have you puckered in a salt overdose; another bite would be bland and boring.

Not satisfied with seeing anything go to waste, the pretzels are currently sitting in an open faced container, which will then be transfered to the food processor to form a nice pretzel crumb coating for a lucky piece of chicken or pork.

The recipe could be salvaged with thinly rolled pieces and proper pretzel salt.  So if anyone wants to give it a go, be my guest.  (We may even try it again another time.)  

In the meantime, please share:  What is your favourite recipe for homemade snacks?  I need something to replace the crunchy, salty goodness of the over-priced potato chip.

Wingin’ it in the kitchen – on a budget

Eating vegetarian is a great way to cut back on your grocery bill amongst rising food costs.  Swapping meat for dried beans, lentils and tofu is a strategy that will not only stretch your grocery budget, it will provide nutrition, can lead to weight loss, and if you are not used to eating vegetarian, experimenting with veggie cuisine will lead you to discover exciting new flavours in the kitchen.

But if you are going to eat meat, cheap cuts such bone-in chicken, like drumsticks and wings, are economical choices.

On Saturday, Josh and I hit up our local farmer’s market, this time remembering to bring our cloth bags and coffee mugs to fill with fair trade coffee. One thing I love about our new home is the proximity to the market – only a 5 minute walk. There we bought 10 large chicken wings.  While chicken wings are normally quite cheap, we paid more for ours because they were from a local organic farm, however the wings were deliciously meaty. 

Chicken wings are much less expensive that boneless, skinless breasts, but if you are concerned about consuming dark meat and skin, with a higher fat content than white meat, simply try to balance your meals with vegetables and whole grains.  If you are restricting your meat consumption, a little dark meat here and there won’t hurt you.

The recipe below for chicken wings is also a lot healthier, not to mention cheaper, than eating out at a pub or even home deep-frying.  We used Alton Brown’s no-deep-fry recipe.  Think that baked chicken wings inevitably sacrifice flavour and crispiness?  They do not!  Our wings came out perfectly – fully cooked, with nice crispy skin on the outside, and delicious, juicy, moist meat on the inside.  Far better in fact, than any deep fried wing I’ve ever eaten.

The wing process is pretty easy and all the prep work can be done in advance if you are looking to serve these for a party.  Essentially, you butcher your wings, steam them in a basket for 10 minutes and set them in the fridge for an hour. Then, you bake them in the oven for 40 minutes and coat. The steaming is a valuable technique that eliminates a great deal of the fat, and prevents smoking in the oven.

I recommend that in addition to following the recipe below, courtesy of the Food Network, you watch the show – Alton does a great job of showing how to easily butcher a chicken wing, and besides, he’s cool.

My only complaint was that we did not have any hot sauce, so we opted to create our own concoction using butter and barbeque sauce.  Our sauce turned out much runnier than it really should have been.  We put an extra dish of sauce on the table for dipping. 

Ingredients

• 12 whole chicken wings
• 3 ounces unsalted butter
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Place a 6-quart saucepan with a steamer basket and 1-inch of water in the bottom, over high heat, cover and bring to a boil.

Remove the tips of the wings and discard or save for making stock. Using kitchen shears, or a knife, separate the wings at the joint. Place the wings into the steamer basket, cover, reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the wings from the basket and carefully pat dry. Lay the wings out on a cooling rack set in a half sheet pan lined with paper towels and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Replace the paper towels with parchment paper. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook another 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through and the skin is golden brown.

While the chicken is roasting, melt the butter in a small bowl along with the garlic. Pour this along with hot sauce and salt into a bowl large enough to hold all of the chicken and stir to combine.

Remove the wings from the oven and transfer to the bowl and toss with the sauce. Serve warm.

A delicious, healthy meal for less than $1.50

Okay, so you’ve all heard me rant and rave over the popularity of so-called cheap convenience foods, arguing that meals can be made for the same price or less than the cost of a box of Kraft Dinner.

In order to prove my point  offer some helpful suggestions for those of you interested in cheap, healthy alternatives, I thought I would share with you a few meals I’ve made recently that have cost less than $1.50 a serving.

I love eating food that is frugal, simple, easy to make, but full of flavour.  I like taking short-cuts in the kitchen, and I especially love making use of what I already have.  If a recipe calls for something that requires a new trip to the store, forget it.  I prefer to make one trip a week, give or take, and just make the best of what I’ve already got.

Here is one meal I made this week, with a little mild experimentation on my part, as an attempt to use up foods in the cupboard and fridge, without sacrificing taste or nutrition.

The prices will vary depending on where you live. I have included the price I paid for the ingredients, divided by the quantity it yields.  Remember that cheap meals are made cheaper by creative shopping.  Stock up on the great deals, search the flyers, use coupons, buy in bulk when practical, and buy generic.  

1. Curried chickpeas & tomatoes

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas – 69¢ (Cheap Tip: buy dried chickpeas and save.)

1 can diced tomatoes – 79¢

1 cup Basmati rice – 50¢ (approx.)

1 green pepper – 89¢

1 onion – 10¢

1 garlic clove – 3¢

spices – 1 tbsp curry, 1 tsp coriander, large pinch kosher salt, pepper, ginger – 10¢

Directions

Cook the rice according to package directions.  Drain about 90% of the liquid out of the can of tomatoes and rinse the chickpeas. Pour the tomatoes with liquid and chickpeas into a large saucepan; add spices. Cook on a medium-low temp and let simmer for about 15 minutes, allowing the mixture to reduce.  Meanwhile, sauté the onion and peppers until done – I like them slightly crunchy – and then add to the tomato/chickpea mixture.  Instead of green pepper, you could add broccoli, red pepper or whatever veggies you prefer. (I used green pepper because it was what I had.)  Add minced garlic and veggies and stir. Season with the above spices to taste – you may want to add more as you go.  After the mixture has reduced to the point where there is only a little liquid in the pan and chickpeas are a nice bright colour, you’re done – just add on top of the rice. Easy, huh? 

Makes 4 portions.

Total cost: $3.10, – or 78¢ a portion.

2. Cucumber salad

This side dish is a pleasant addition to the Curried Chickpeas & Tomatoes above.  

Ingredients

1 English cucumber – $1.79 

1/2 cup plain yogurt – 54¢

1 garlic clove – 3¢

Spices – large pinch s&p, 1/2 tsp coriander, pinch cumin – 9¢

Directions

Cut the cumber lengthwise and then widthwise in order to make thinly sliced triangles.  Mix with the yogurt, along with minced garlic and spices.  You will have to season to taste as my spices are just estimates (I taste as I go along).

Makes 4 portions.

Total cost: $2.45 – or 61¢ per serving.

Added with the Chickpea & Tomato dish above, the meal comes to $5.55 in total or $1.39 per person.

What is your favourite frugal meal? Have you priced out the serving cost? 

A delicious stew recipe from Mom

My mom is very health-conscious, and has become an ultimate soup master.  For Christmas, she prepared 9 scrumptious, super healthy, individually portioned frozen soups.  I’m still waiting to get the recipes from her, but in the meantime, I’ll share this tasty recipe with you.  She occasionally passes recipes my way, and this time even took a photos so I could share it on my blog!

Here is my Mom’s recipe for a frugal chicken stew straight from a recent email.

1 cup all purpose flour , 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, 2 tbsp butter, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt znd 1/2 cup milk. In a food processor, or by hand combine everything but the milk..stir it in last and drop in stew by tablespoons.. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until dumplings have risen. Don’t think I’ll do this, as it doesn’t add any nutrition, but it would be very stew like!

***

Tips from the author to frugalize this soup further:

- Make your own chicken or veggie stock. To learn how, see my earlier post, My Day in the Kitchen, or visit Fighting Forclosure to read How to Make Your Own Vegetable or Meat Stock.

- Pick and choose your veggies depending on what is on sale this week, or what you have the fridge.  Not all ingredients are required, and on the same token, lots of other veggies could be included.

- Freeze your kale when it’s about to turn.  It will come out nice and crispy, making it easy to just flake off into the soup

I hope you enjoy!

How to have your own pub night at home

On Friday, Josh and I decided to avoid the cold, stay inside and save money. But that that didn’t mean we didn’t feel like going to the pub.  So we re-created the scene at home!  Our menu:  veggies with blue cheese dip, chicken fingers, crispy bread chips with two dips – guacamole & hummus.  (And beer. but we didn’t make that ourselves.)

Here is a step-by-step guide to how to have your delicious pub-food that is far healthier, tastier, and cheaper than the real thing!

1. Veggies with Blue Cheese Dressing

Chop up a variety of veggies – we used the old pub standby, carrots & celery.  No further instruction required.  I used Martha’s dip recipe – it was unbelievably good!

Ingredients

An extra 5¢ makes peppermint hot chocolate

Are you craving the gourmet goodies that you used to indulge in at your favourite coffee shop?

If you’re giving up your Starbucks addiction, fret not.  You can make yummy drinks that will warm your soul right at home.

One of my favourites: Peppermint hot chocolate.

First, whip up a batch of instant hot chocolate powder (see the recipe I use here) and spoon a few heaping tablespoons into a mug.

Then add one peppermint teabag.  Remember to seek out the best deals here so you are not over-charged. Hint: don’t pay more than 99¢ for 20 bags.

Alternatively, if you have a grow mint in the summer, you can dry the leaves and then steep the water using a tea ball.  If you have an indoor greenhouse or a window sill that gets a lot of light (or if you live in a southern climate) you can do this right through the winter, enjoying fresh mint for an initial outlay of about $2.

Then add boiling hot water from your kettle to the mug and stir.  Let the tea bag steep a little as you normally would, and remove.  You can add a little milk if you desire.

The peppermint flavour really comes through and is not at all smothered by the chocolate.  

Enjoy this delicious winter treat by only adding an extra 5¢ to the cost of your hot chocolate.

Easy bread crumbs for meat or fish

Cross bread crumbs off your grocery list for good.  Tasty bread crumbs are easy to make with leftover ingredients around your kitchen, and they take mere moments to prepare.

If you have stale white bread lying around, don’t pitch it. Just cut off the crusts, throw it in the food processor along with some fresh herbs (I used parsley here) and parmesan cheese, and you have yourself a delicious breading for fish, pork or chicken.

The inspiration comes from Gordon Ramsey’s Fast Food – a great recipe book that encourages you to cook at home, using simple but delicious ingredients.

Bread crumbs might not cost a lot to begin with, but this recipe provides yet another example of how we can waste less, spend less, and all the while eat food that is fresh and flavourful. 

The high cost of “low-brow” foods

On Monday, the Globe and Mail published an article titled, “Really cheap eats: how low will we go? Sorry foodies, canned meat, condensed soup and Jell-O are making a comeback.”

Sigh.

Apparently the economic recession has led Kraft foods and other makers of cheap crap pre-packaged processed convenience foods, to score massive profits as consumers mistake their products for affordable, nutritious foods.

The spokeswoman for Kraft said that, “we certainly are benefiting as consumers eat at home. We feel that in this challenging environment we’re well positioned to win.”

I wrote the following as a letter to the editor in the Globe and Mail:

Why are shoppers purchasing processed foods when they can boost their budgets by going back to basics? Relying on convenience food is the single biggest mistake you can make when attempting to cut costs. Baking supplies, legumes and root vegetables may appear more expensive because they are sold in larger quantities than single-serving convenience snacks. But compare the cost-per-serving and you will see the difference. To get more for your money, I recommend keeping things simple. Survival foods like carrots, cabbage and chickpeas will stretch your meals and stave off hunger. Dried lentils and beans provide protein for pennies, and homemade stews will go much further than single-meal soups from Campbell’s. The added bonus? These nutritious foods will cut, not contribute to, your health care costs.

It bothers me to think that people who are trying to get by on less are automatically fueling up on goods that can be, depending on how frugal and creative you are in the kitchen, more expensive that home-cooked meals. But the problem doesn’t stop there. As was pointed out in the Globe article, empty carbohydrates that come from, say, Kraft Dinner, leave you hungry and sluggish, leading your productivity at work to wane, and providing you with cravings for more food a few hours (or minutes!) later.

But what really bothers me about this is the idea that being frugal means self-deprivation.  Cheap eats can come in the form of delicious, warm and satisfying meals, shared with your family, and lovingly made. It doesn’t have to come in a box or a can that leaves you starved for flavour and texture.  A lot of our daily pleasure comes from food. By relying on powdered cheese for flavour, you are ignoring other delicious culinary delights that can spice to your life. Deprivation will leave you desperate for a boost and you won’t come out ahead.

Comparing Campbell’s to the real thing

Price Chopper had a sale on this week – Campbell’s soups were 2/$1. Great deal, right?  Well, let’s compare the price to a delicious homemade soup – one of my favourites – Coarse carrot and ginger soup.  Ironically, I found this recipe in a magazine – it was in a Cambell’s soup advertisement for Carrot Ginger Soup.

Let’s compare the costs of our soups.

Coarse Carrot and Ginger Soup – courtesy of Campbell’s

2 cups coarsely chopped carrots

Price Chopper had a sale on this week – 5lb bags of carrots, onions or beets were $1 each. Purchased 5lb bag at Price Chopper and used 3 carrots – each carrot approx. 7¢ – 21 cents

3/4 each, coarsely chopped onion and potato

Purchased 5lb bag of onions at PC and used 2 onions, or 1/5th of the bag – 20 cents

Purchased 5lb bag of potatoes for $2.99 – use 1 potato, or 1/25th of the bag – 12 cents

1 tbsp butter

Purchased butter for $4.19 after coupon – use 1 tbsp – approx. 8 cents

1 carton Campbell’s Ready to Use Organic Chicken Broth

Make your own from chicken bones and vegetables that have already turned (free) plus one onion – 10 cents

1 1/2 tbsp minced fresh ginger root

Bought .055 kg of ginger for 12 cents – use 1/3rd for 4 cents

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Purchase in bulk – one cent

1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Could easily omit this since a lot of people hate this herb, but I love it and think it’s worth the money – assume a price of $1.69 a bunch in the winter, use 1/10th – 17 cents

Your total price: 93¢ - But this recipe serves FIVE – where as the Cambell’s soup serves two, at best.

The price of the homemade soup: 17¢ per person

The price of the Campbell’s soup: 25¢ per person. We’re also assuming here that the soup you bought is mixed with water only. If it is a cream based, add more cost for the milk. We’re also assuming that no taxes apply.

Not only is the homemade soup cheaper, it is far more nutritious, hearty and packed with the delicious flavour of ginger and cilantro.

The bottom line: eat and enjoy yourself. It’s not just about eking out an existence, it’s about finding ways to experience great flavours – and all the other joys of life.  And you can do so without compromising your budget.

Take the high cost out of high tea

My post on how to host a cost-effective tea party was a big hit.  Ever since then, I’ve been meaning to follow-up with the scone recipe I used.  

I relied on good old Alton Brown, who is, by the way, a genius when it comes to cheap and cheerful cooking.  His recipe is as follows:

• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 3/4 cup cream
• 1 egg
• Handful dried currants or dried cranberries

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix well. Cut in butter and shortening. In a separate bowl, combine cream with beaten egg then add to dry ingredients. Stir in fruit. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll dough out and cut into biscuit size rounds. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown.

My grandmother's strawberry jam - the perfect compliment to the cream

To make the cream:

•  4 ounces mascarpone
• 1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 or 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
• Zest of lemon or lime (optional) 

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and beat until the mixture holds its shape and looks like softly whipped cream. Use right away or cover and refrigerate the cream until serving time. Makes about 1 1/2 cups. 

As you can see, the ingredients required to make the scones are simple and modest and not expensive.  The only expensive thing on the list is the mascarpone.  However it does last quite a while in the fridge, so you can use it when making other kinds of desserts too.