I’m a little surprised how much I’ve been loving the challenge of feeding myself for $2 a day. It’s been refreshing to look at the world in a different way. It’s also been great hearing from people, especially their tips for saving money on food.
And after a wonderful long weekend eating and drinking my way around Melbourne, my bank balance was screaming out for a little moderation. So I’m back with one last $2 a day menu and a list of tips for minimising your food costs. Some that I use myself, other that I’ve picked up from readers both here on stonesoup and over at Casual Kitchen where my mate Dan put a call out to his readers for their own frugal food tips.
For those that missed the original post, you can read about how and why I’ve been taking the challenge to eat for $2 a day HERE.
18 tips to minimise your food costs
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Hot avocado isn’t something that I’m usually into. Guacamole, I love. Avocado on toast is a favourite breakfast treat. And who could forget the beauty of a classic BLT, turned into something really special with a little avocado and an unfortunate acronym (BLAT).
But when it comes to actually cooking avocado, I tend to steer clear. It could possibly have something to do with the disaster that was an avocado soup I made for a dinner party in the 90s when I was young and naive. Or it could just be that you don’t see recipes for warm avocado very often.
Either way, when I was reading Jamie’s America I couldn’t help but be intrigued by his ‘Mad Dog Salad’ that contained tortilla chips, melted cheese and roast avocado. Putting aside my hot avocado prejudice, I gave it a go. And while the avocado was surprisingly delicious. Still rich, but more interesting with its crispy edges. The texture meaty and substantial, not the greasy softness I was imagining. [continue reading this entry…]
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It’s a good thing that blogs have comments. I mean it’s a great way for me to learn from you guys as well. But it also keeps me on the straight and narrow – which is a good thing. You see if blogs didn’t have comments, I’d be getting away with outrageous things.
Like writing posts on how to survive on $2 a day by eating potato omelettes. Which might seem innocent enough, but when it comes down to it, you can only achieve the $2 limit if you use the cheapest eggs available – eggs from poor battery hens. [continue reading this entry…]
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After last week agreeing with Michael Pollan that junk food is OK as long as you make it yourself, it seems like the perfect time to share my new favourite technique for cooking burgers.
Normally if I were on a burger-flipping spree, I’d fire up my barbeque to get a nice crusty patty. But recently I’ve been spending a lot of time at my Irishman’s new residence in the Snowy Mountains which is between barbeques at the moment (not that I’m complaining, the kitchen is new and a dream to cook in – electric oven with a gas cooktop, say no more.).
So when I read about a technique for cooking burgers in a frying pan that give juicy burgers with a lovely meaty crust, I was very keen to give it a go. I picked the idea up from Robert Wolke in his great food-nerd, I mean kitchen science, book ‘What Einstein Told His Cook’.
The theory goes, that if you cook your burgers on a thin layer of salt, the salt initially draws out juices from the meat. It then quickly congeals the juices to form a crust that prevents further moisture loss. It also prevents the burgers from sticking to the pan and encourages all the delicious brown crunchy bits to stay attached to the burger rather than the pan.
The result? [continue reading this entry…]
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Michael Pollan is one of those food writers that I’ve been meaning to read for years. But there’s something that’s always held me back. I think it’s the whole food-intelligentsia vibe with his titles. Does anyone else feel a bit intimidated by the thought of ‘In Defense of Food’ or ‘The Omnivore’s dilemma’?
Recently, however, I stumbled upon a copy of his latest publication, a cute little book called ‘Food Rules – An Eater’s Manual’. At last. Something approachable.
I did feel a little disturbingly smug as I read through Pollan’s 64 food eating guidelines. I like to think that my diet is relatively healthy. But I would never have been able to capture it so succinctly. You have to admire his overarching answer to the eternal question of what to eat. Simple really:
Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.
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Here at stonesoup I love getting feedback from readers. Whether it’s a comment, a tweet, or even a direct email. It’s always nice to know that people are reading – even if it’s not all sweetness and light.
Since the release of my FREE e-cookbook, I’ve been getting more emails than usual which is great. The most common question has been from the sweet treats chapter. In particular, I’ve had a heap of people wanting to know about the different types of cream I use.
At first I was a little surprised, but thinking about it even on my recent trip to Ireland it took me a while to figure out which cream to buy when I was out shopping. So creams ain’t creams, and given the global nature of the stonesoup audience, I wanted to pull together a list of cream terms from around the world.
And as a bonus, I have a recipe for an amazing 3 ingredient cake. One that would be happy served with any type of cream. Yay. [continue reading this entry…]
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When an email popped into my inbox the other day with the title ‘What would you cook for $2 a day?’, my curiosity was immediately piqued. I mean $2 can’t even buy you a coffee these days, how could it be enough for food for the whole day. And why $2, anyway? [continue reading this entry…]
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Now I’ve always liked good old peanut butter, but my Irishman is a hard-core aficionado. To say he loves the stuff is a massive understatement. So it’s not really surprising that over the last month or so, our place has seen a lot of experimenting with homemade PNB.
My peanut-perfectionist still has plans for further research, but I suspect it could last a life time. So I thought I’d share with you the findings thus far. So much tastier than commercial peanut butters, and without the additives.
And while we’re talking PNB, I have treat for you as well in the form of super-simple little chocolate tartlets taken to a new level with a thin layer of homemade peanut butter. Sweet yet salty, smooth yet crunchy – serious adult fun. [continue reading this entry…]
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