It's time to admit the obvious: I will never make inspiring meals left to my own devices. It's not that I don't want to, but that I am in way over my head when it comes to actually creating meals (I personally find it much more impressive that I have lived off of my own cooking for the past 40 days than any feats I have managed with couponing) I miss the good old days when I was basically a human garbage disposal and ate whatever anyone else didn't which meant I didn't actually have to do anything in the kitchen except eat.
Coming to this realization, however, doesn't mean that I am giving up on still winning the challenge. It simply means I need to approach it from a different perspective to get the results I need. That's where you come in and for the request of help.
If you are the creative type with food (or know someone who is), I'd like to invite you into this challenge by creating a recipe utilizing what I have on hand that will not only outshine my meals (because that wouldn't be much of a challenge), but will also impress all those that are following this escapade.
Before you decide that it might be worth helping, you should keep in mind the following realities:
1. I don't know how to cook.
2. No, really, I don't know how to cook.
3. Oh, did I mention that I don't know how to cook?
What that means is that if it isn't as simple as making pancakes (remember, I just learned how to make pancakes for the first time this month), it's probably not going to turn out anything like you imagine.
If you choose to accept this challenge, you will have to work with what I happen to have on hand and create the recipe fairly quickly (or what I have on hand won't be there any longer). If you have a request of something that you think I need (not only for what you have in mind, but what you feel would be beneficial for all my meals), I will try to work it into my budget, but can't guarantee that I will be able to.
So if you are game, sent me an email at info@savingadvice.com letting me know if you would like to create a breakfast, lunch or dinner recipe for me. Not only will you earn the gratitude of me, you will also earn the eternal gratitude of all those that have had to look at what I have created over the last month. Are you up for it?
Update: Current List of What I Have (will be updated daily)
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Palates. Not “Pallets”!
Could you update the list of what you still have on hand? I looked back through the last few days, and didn’t see it. It’d make it easier for me (us?) to suggest things to buy and also decide if I’ve got any tasty & easy recipes for you. BTW, this has been a fascinating read! I tried the couponing thing a few years back, and finally decided it worked better if I just put in more hours at work. This is pretty inspiring, though, and gets me thinking about trying again – especially now that there’s four of us for me to shop for.
Hi Jeffrey. I found your site through Get Rich Slowly, and I just spent most of my morning reading through your archives. I’m so inspired by what you’re doing!
A site that might be really helpful for you is SuperCook. You input the ingredients you have on hand, and it gives you recipes that you can make with those ingredients. It’s worth playing around with and very addictive, especially if you only have a limited amount of ingredients on hand.
Good luck!
@your editor — fixed
What type (size) of cookware and bakeware if any do you own, that makes a big difference when creating new recipes, esp for a beginner like you who may not know how to take a recipe and adapt it to another size pan or dish.
Honestly, your food hasn’t looked that bad to me & has shown some creativity with what you’ve had. Sure, we won’t be seeing it on any 5-star restaurant menus anytime soon, but budget cookery isn’t necessarily gourmet cookery.
And I think your sister was crazy to say no one eats peanut butter and banana. Lots of people do. My oldest loves “peanut butter and banana burritos” — a whole peeled banana with a tortilla spread with peanut butter wrapped around it.
Don’t be discouraged, you’re doing really well! That being said, I’d be happy to help you come up with meal ideas.
Just spent the last few hours reading though your $1 a day journey. Very impressive for someone who is cooking challenged. The one thing you have going for you is that you are not a picky eater.
I think foraged foods can add a great deal of nutrition and variety to your diet and if you learn how to preserve some for future use it will add even more. Thoughts on a tree full of lemons. (I would kill for one, I live in the cold north, no free citrus for me) Here are sites with a couple of ideas for types of pickles made with lemons. One of them takes a lot of different spices. I buy spices from a store that lets me bag my own. Very cheap that way as you only need to buy exactly what a recipe calls for and often the weight is so little that it ends up being free because it won’t register on the scale.
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_preserved_lemons/
http://www.paajaka.com/2008/05/authentic-south-indian-lemon-pickle.html
Lemon curd is also great and is pretty easy to make. Lemon, sugar and egg.
http://www.joyofbaking.com/LemonCurd.html
If you get an excess of blackberries remember you can always freeze them and use them for smoothies once the blackberry season has passed. Blackberry cobbler made with the Bisquick would be good too.
http://www.free-old-time-cooking-recipes.com/desserts/blackberry-cobbler-with-bisquick.html
Also, keep an eye out for bananas that are over ripe. They freeze really well and are excellent in smoothies from the frozen whole state. You can freeze them with the peels on to keep the fruit from turning black. Just remove the skin when you pull them from the freezer and toss in the blender with the other ingredients. I recently scored a whole case of prefectly ripe, use them or lose them bananas, 40 pounds worth for $3. It will make smoothies and banana bread/muffins for months to come.
Potatoes- most useful veggie in the kitchen! One of my favorites is to roast them in the oven. Cube, slice or make french fry shapes. Coat in oil, I like olive oil but any cooking oil will work. Season, salt and pepper are good, rosemary is yummy too. Spread out on a cookie sheet in a thin layer. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10 min then stir them around and return to oven and repeat until nicely browned. They burn quickly near the end so keep an eye on them.
I have a million more ideas, but have gone on too long as it is already.
I would assume you’re already connected, but just to state the obvious… Have you checked in with other couponing/cooking blogs? $5 Dinners combines competitive couponing with tasty, balanced dinners. You might pull out some ideas if not tons of recipes that mesh well with couponing.
http://www.5dollardinners.com/
If you can get yourself an apple, you can make yourself baked apples. They’re really easy and taste like apple pie (without the crust).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JziRQDdyjk
Butter/margarine is nice, but you don’t NEED it. You can also just slice the apple in half, remove the core, sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar and bake skin side down. If you do it like that, you don’t have to deal with coring the apple as in the video.
I just realized you have everything to make cream of potato soup. The great thing about it is that you don’t need to get the measurements exact.
2 potatoes
1 small onion
1 cup milk
salt
pepper
garlic powder
dried onions (maybe)
Chop the potatoes into fourths and put into a small saucepan, with just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Dice onion. Add onion to the pot, boiling until potatoes are very soft.
Turn off heat and let cool slightly. Pour everything into your blender, add the milk. Blend until well combined. (Make sure you don’t completely seal the lid on the blender; hot food + blender will make it explode.) If it ends up like thick mashed potatoes, just add a little more water or a bit more milk until it turns to proper soup.
Pour this back into the saucepan, add spices to taste and heat on med-low heat until hot again. Stir a lot, the milk will want to stick to the pan.
This soup is REALLY filling and goes good with sandwiches or salads.
I don’t know exactly where to put this, but since it’s kind of a helpful suggestion, I guess I’ll put it here:
If you join the Chavrie goat cheese club, they send you a coupon that allows you to try their product for free:
http://www.chavrie.com/form.aspx
Iirc, Safeway carries this product, at least they did the last time I checked shop.safeway.com