Stocking a kitchen for $5 meals

I heart food

Hey All,

Part of learning to live on a budget is learning to spend money in the right places. The "right places" might differ from person to person. For me, and I think for most graduate students in NYC, this spending the money to make a number of cheap meals a week and budgeting to eat in restaurants a few times a month. Even the lowest end food is pretty amazing here. You wouldn't want to live here and miss it.

With that balance in mind, I post the occasional $5 and $10 meals for 2-4 people on this blog. Part of making low cost meals is gradually building a pantry and fridge with basic goods.

It occurred to me that my list of must haves might be useful for anyone cooking $5-10 meals for the first time.

Pantry

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Good for everything but deep frying. I prefer Greek, as I use Olive Oil in a lot of cold dishes

Sesame Oil

A little indulgence I keep for Asian recipes

Basalmic, White Wine, Red Wine, Rice and White Vinegar

I use the first three of these vinegars in salad dressings, sauces and marinades. I use white vinegar for candy making.

Soy Sauce

For Asian recipes and sometimes as a replacement for salt

Tamari

A small luxury for Asian recipes

Tomato paste, Tomato sauce, Diced plummed Tomatoes (all canned)

I keep these stocked in the winter time for sauces, soups and stews where the featured ingredient is not tomato.

Black Olive Paste/Tapenade

Used for pasta sauces, sandwiches and entertaining

Honey

For baking, sweetening tea...stealing the occasional spoonful. I love clover honey, but I try to get wildflower (allegedly better for the bees).

Baking chocolate

For all kinds of bakey goodness

Fridge

Anchovies in Oil

I used these in dressings and pasta sauces..the occasional homemade pizza

Eggs

I try to get free range organic, cash permitting

Skim milk and greek yogurt

Drinking, baking and dressings

Miso

For Asian and Western soups and marinades

Red and White wine and beer

For cooking and entertaining

Bulgarian Feta, Sheep milk and Argentinian Reggiato cheese

For salads, snacks and pasta dishes. The flavours vary and these particular cheeses are very, very cheap. I usually only have one around at a time.

Butter (salted, unless a recipe really requires unsalted)

Baking, baking, baking

Dry Goods

Brown, Basmatic and Sushi Rice

For sides, main courses and - sushi, of course

Wheat berries

For protein rich salads and stuffing

Dry whole wheat penne and spaghetti

I often make fresh pasta, but some recipes really are better with dry pasta. Some of the top restaurants in NYC use dry pasta for some of their dishes...so if it is good enough for them...

White Unbleached Bread Flour

For cookies, bread and biscuits

White Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

For cakes. If I make a chiffon or angel food cake, I might pick up a few cups of pastry flour

White, Confectioners and Brown Sugar

For baking, coffee...top of oatmeal

Baking Soda and Baking Powder

For cookies and cakes

Cream of Tartar

I keep this around because I make candy and it is a good binding agent.

Cocoa Powder

ALL KINDS OF BAKING!! I usually have dutch processed kicking around, though apparently alkaline processed powder can be found easily now.

Oatmeal (traditional, not quick oats)

For breakfast and baking

Coffee beans

It is so much most cost effective to brew my own (50 cups for $14, versus $1.50 a cup at Starbucks). I have a soft spot for Dean and Deluca House Blend, but recently I've been getting the considerably cheaper Zabar's House Blend.

Spices

I accumulated these spices over the first 6 months of setting up shop in my own apartment in NYC. They get cycled out about once a year. The ones with a star beside them are the ones I bought on the first grocery trip - starter spices, I guess.

* Ground Cinnamon (occasionally cinnamon sticks)

Cloves (whole)

* Nutmeg (at the moment, ground)

* Coriander (ground and whole)

* Cumin (ground and whole)

Star Anise (a luxury)

Ginger (ground and occasionally fresh)

Tumeric

Green Cardamon (ground - whole when I can find it cheap)

Mustard (ground)

* Red Chili peppers (ground, whole and flakes)

* Cayenne pepper

Saffron

Fennel seeds

Caraway seeds

Kosher Salt (and sometimes sea salt)

Black Peppercorns

Allspice

* Bay Leaves

* Oregano

Garlic powder

Curry Powder (make my own)

Baking Goods

Raisins

Dry Cranberries (on occasion)

Chocolate chips

Almonds

Peanut Butter

Vanilla extract

Molasses

Basic Fruit and Veg

(This is the basic stuff always in my fridge. I supplement every week with various berries and cool veg when it is in season or on sale. I'm on a kick about white nectarines at the moment).

Roma tomatoes

Grape tomatoes

Bananas

Green Apples

Lemons

a lime

Bulbs of garlic

Basil or Cilantro or Tarragon or Thyme or Dill

Shallots

Cucumber

Onions (Vidalla or purple)

Sweet potatoes

Leafy greens - spinach, kale, red lettuce, mesclun mix and the like

Freezer

Chicken and Vegetable stock

made during the winter from my scrap chicken bones and ends of various vegetables

Bananas (and other fruit on the verge)

Luxury Items that come and go

(We buy meats opportunistically)

Soda stream flavour mixes

All sorts of fantastic but seasonal fruit and veg - like figs, pomegranites, rhubarb, fava beans

Prosciutto, panchetta and cured meats of the like

Marscapone, various fancy cheeses

Heavy cream

Pita Bread, Wasa crackers of Finn Crisps - most bread products

Black cardamon

Special salts

Green and Red Curry Paste (for Thai dishes)

Fish Sauce (for Thai dishes)

Fenugreek seeds (for Indian cooking)

Coconut milk

Sweetened condensed and evaporated milk (for holiday baking)

Agave nectar

Maple syrup

Anything else? What do you keep on hand

Budget friendly dinner: Cucumber, Apple and Dill salad

Graduate students can eat healthily without racking up credit card debt on groceries. Every now again I throw up a recipe on this site that demonstrates my point. This is a quick and dirty meal for hot Summer days and tight wallets. It is budget friendly for two reasons a) I didn't have to heat up the house to make it (and therefore didn't have to turn on the air conditioner to cool it down and b) the total cost of the ingredients came to a little over $5.





I ate this on Sunday night with a microwave-poached egg.


Cucumber, Apple Dill Salad (serves 2-4)


2 cucumbers, deseeded and chopped into 1 inch by 1/2 inch pieces

1 green apple , chopped into similarly sized pieces

3 gloves of garlic, chopped

3 scallions, chopped

3-4 tablespoons of fresh dill, chopped

1 cup of 0% fat greek yogurt

salt and pepper to taste




As you can see, the recipe involves a lot of chopping :)


Mix the yogurt, scallions, garlic, dill and salt and pepper together. The longer you let this mixture sit, the more garlic-y it will become. I let it sit for about 5 minutes. Toss the cucumber and apple together in a separate bowl. Combine the two mixtures.

Warning: the salt will draw water out of the cucumbers, so serve right after you combine the two mixtures.

Damn tasty and it cooled me off to boot!

Garlic Kale with pine nuts - budget friendly dinner

I've been writing quite a bit lately. Between publications, book stuff and the biiiiiiig paper, I haven't been hitting the gym as much. I used to go for 2 hours a day. Now I sit in one position, and putter about looking for grants and whatnot. This is the recipe I go to on the days when I'm pretty sure I blew my calorie allowance by noon.

I think I came across this recipe during my running days. It's iron rich and filled with fiber - all things runners need. It's pretty simple

2 Tbsp olive oil

2-4 gloves of garlic diced

1 bunch of kale

2 Tbsp of pine nuts

2 Tbsp of dried cranberries

2-4 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the oil on medium heat. Add the garlic and wait until it is almost brown before adding the kale. I usually cover for 2 minutes while the kale cooks down. Take the cover off and let the kale cook for 3-4 more minutes. Add the pine nuts and cranberries. cook for a minute. Add balsamic and cook until the kale starts to turn brown. Take off the heat and season to taste.

I sometimes eat this with a little chunk of bread or pasta and a poached egg on top. Cost comes to about $5 for two people. Done and done.

I'm pi$$ poor. Let's crock pot

It has been a really long time since I've updated this blog. As my repertoire of graduate jobs has started to dwindle and I enter the cold and money-poor month of January, I have been forced to squish my New York City life into a shrinking budget.

Luckily for me, Christmas brought the gift of slow cooker. NYC kitchens are tiny. As a result, I'm a bit of a fascist when it comes to determining what appliances will and will not be in my kitchen. For years I lived with a kitchen-aid mixer and an electric nettle. I lived that way very happily. Since moving in with my bf, my kitchen has been hammered with appliance gifts. Everything from food processors to toasters. Someone has even given me a knife sharpener...presumably for my one and only knife.

This Christmas my grandmother gave me a crock pot. At first, I was horrified - where-the-hell-am-I-going-to -put-this horrified. I quickly warmed up to the gift as it would give me two greater presents a) cheap tasty food and b) boyfriend cooking time.

Despite having owned an antique Westinghouse meter tall slow cooker for years, I've never actually cooked anything in a slow cooker. I used the Westinghouse machine for storage until I had to store it in my grandmother's garage pre-NYC move. Turns out, it's like an idiot's kitchen. I can throw anything in there and it, more or less, comes out ok.

Tonight I decided to work the crock pot to save cash on something on which I typically spend lots of cash - eating in Indian restuarants. NYC has a slew of great Indian restaurants. It is really easy to blow my weekly budget on one night of chicken makhani and a couple of Taj mahals......so I busted out the crock pot and it was cheap and amazing. Here is how I did it.

Most of these ingredients I had at home already - starting from scratch would be a bit of an investment.

Chicken Makhani a la Crock Pot

1/4 Ghee or oil (I'm really lazy about this. I usually throw in 2 Tbs of butter and 3 Tbs of olive oil)
2 lbs of chicken thighs, bones in, skin on (skin and rinse the thighs before cooking)
1/2 cup of onion minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp of ground cayenne
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch of fresh ginger, minced
2 tsp of curry powder (You can also buy this - old stuff will taste bad. I make my own by roasting until fragrant but not burnt 1/4 cup of coriander seeds, 2 Tbs of cumin seeds, 1 Tbs of black peppercorns, 2 tsp fenugreek, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 Tbs of ground tumeric, 2 tsp of ground green cardamon or crushed pods, 1 tsp of whole cloves, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 dried red chili pepper with stem or a 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. Fenugreek is really important to this recipe as it gives most Indian food found in U.S. Indian restuarants its characteristic flavour. Check your health food store or an indian food store for it. It is pretty cheap. Grind witha mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder).
2 Tbs Greek yogurt
1 cup of canned tomatos (diced. I used cherry tomatoes, but plum or beef are fine)
2 Tbs of butter (I almost always use salted, but you can sub unsalted)
1/4 cup of water
1 tsp garam masala (you can buy this but I have the stuff to make my own - toast until fragrant 3 Tbs of cumin seeds, 1 Tbs coriander seeds, 1 stick of cinnamon, 1 tsp of green cardamon powder - or 5 crushed cardamon pods, 5 cloves, 1 tsp of ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp of allspice, 1 tsp of black peppercorns, half a star anise, 2 bay leaves. Grind with a mortar and pestle or with a coffee grinder.)
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp hot paprika
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Skin and rinse chicken thighs before placing in pan. Fry the chicken on both sides until cooked and light brown on outside (about 15 minutes). Remove the thighs and place them in the bottom of the crock pot, leaving the oil in the frying pan. Add minced onions, salt and cayenne pepper to the pan and saute until onions brown slightly. Add garlic and ginger and saute until fragant, or about 2 minutes. Add curry powder and saute for 30 seconds. Add greek yogurt and saute until it is well asborbed into mixture (there should not be excess liquid). Add tomatoes and butter and saute until bubbling. Remove from heat. Add garam masala, paprika, and bay leave. Pour onto chicken in crock pot. Pour water into the frying pan to rinse the remaining mixture off of the pan and then pour into crock pot. Add 1 cup of heavy cream to crock pot and mix gently. Cook at high heat (setting 2) for 4 hours.
Serves 6 people.

I served this on whole grain basmati rice and it was soooooo good. We have tonnes for lunch tomorrow.

I had the spices before I made the dish so the total cost was a little lower than it might be for someone else.

2 lbs of chicken thighs - $5.50
1 cup of heavy cream - $1.50
2 Tbs of yogurt - $0.50 (2 cup tub of greek yogurt was $2.49)
ginger - $0.50
1/2 cup of onion - $0.40 (whole onion $0.80)
Butter - $1.00 -(two sticks $3.00)
Diced tomatoes - $1.00 (2 cup can ~$3.00)
2 cup of dry Basmati rice - $2.00 (2 lb bag $5.00)

Total cost - $12.40 for 6 people...not bad. Salt, bay leaves and premixed spices would cost another $10 in total. The amount used in this recipe is about $1's worth.

Most importantly, a Taj Mahal will run about $4. A double Taj Mahal beer will cost about $7 in a grocery store.