recession recipes

[meggo]

what are your favourite meals to make when you're on a tight budget?

we tend to go for chicken & rice concoctions and soup, but we need some fresh ideas.

thx!

[bouche]

shop exclusively in chinatown. done.

[Ms.Huxtable]

Whenever we have a tight budget, we head straight to China Town for a weeks worth of groceries. Variety of meat, veggies and ingredients is endless and doesn't necessarily confine us to Asian dishes.

Also making large portions of rice dishes and pastas allows us to bring them for lunch the next day.

[meggo]

innnnnteresting... where are your favourite places to shop?

[TheAlphaNerd]

Sheppards pie!

[SaggyBalls]

Rice is big...but get good rice...avoid Uncle Ben's - any rice that you have to wash will probably save you money and taste better.

Basmati or Jasmine rice mixed with peas, sesame seeds, and raisins as a pilaf for shredded red cabbage sauteed in bacon fat (or coconut oil when bacon's not on sale) with cashews or almonds.

spice either ingredient to taste...chicken boullion works great for rice...

for added flavour, you probably know as well as anyone, cooking onions and fresh garlic are cheap and flavour oil really well. You could even remove them from the oil before adding the cabbage/almonds/what have you.

...but without the nuts, dried fruit, and stock, try adding in other vegetables or legumes.

Eggs are really cheap and entirely versatile.

So are potatoes.

If you get dry beans, sprout them before using them for your recipes...as long as they're not all sprout, they can generally be used the same way...chick peas in hoummous, beans in soups, stews...but the less you can cook them the more energy you'll get from them.

beans and peas are cheap and if you can get more energy from your food it'll stretch longer.

If you're looking for something sweet, grab a yam and bake it to mush, scrape it out of its skin, and then broil it into candy on a cookie sheet with some sesame seeds and nuts on top.

though...therein lies another bitch of an expense...do you pay for hydro?

(well...ask yourself that question before making yam candy)

[Ms Zimmy]

Cooking a whole chicken instead of just breast saves $

Jambalaya recipes are versatile.

Sandwiches and sweet potato fries or wedges fries are a great meal. (we make avocado club with tomato, red pepper, lettuce, cheese and spicy mayo)

Chick pea curry with rice and veggies.

Dinner salads with veggies, avocado, broken up tortilla chips and dressing.... can add chicken, bacon

[bouche]

market 361 (or whatever it is called) on the other side of the bridge on somerset is my favourite. Phuc Loi and Kowloon are good markets too. (BBQ pork from kowloon is great in dishes)

[meggo]

right on, thanks bouche. that one is actually really close to where we live, i walk the dog past it all the time. it kinda smells when you walk past the fans on breezehill.