Groceries.
Well, with groceries as expensive as they've gotten -- and I admit, The Omnivore's Dilemma has influenced me, and I am increasingly uneasy with the out-of-season availability of, well, everything -- I tested myself today to see if I could keep expenses down and plan for some of my own cooking.
Interesting -- I paid $29.63 total today, buying dry beans and rice (both state of Texas-grown, although not what one could call local precisely), a few ingredients to work with items I already have in the pantry (pasta, polenta, etc.), and so on.
(Admit I bought sweet tea, too, but that's made in Amarillo! *g*)
Anyway. Pinto beans to make tomorrow (with a ham hock and lots of pepper), will be making rice tonight, and using up the rest of last week's eggs and milk in another quiche. It's a lot of food, and it's pretty cheap food, but it's also stuff I like -- my parents make a big pot of beans once a week, and that rice recipe is delicious and simple (good for breakfast, actually, if you don't mind a non-American-traditional breakfast).
Not sure what I'll do with the polenta yet -- I think of 'em as grits, and you have those with eggs, but I'll be out of eggs, and I know there are tons of great polenta recipes out there. The pasta I'll use to make a big batch of garlic noodles -- I've found they're really good leftover, for lunches. (Also inexpensive.)
I told my mom earlier that by this time next week I'll be going, "WTF was I thinking??" and heartily sick of both beans AND rice. But after reading Omnivore's Dilemma even my dad said he just could not trust anything he didn't grow himself, and I'm bothered by the -- cornucopia at the supermarket, that is so dreadfully oil-expensive to provide. I don't know, in February we SHOULD be tired of what is available -- it's WINTER.
Maybe I'll call it the Emnivore Dilemma....?
Whatever. Time will tell. I'm just glad I cut my grocery bill this week.
Interesting -- I paid $29.63 total today, buying dry beans and rice (both state of Texas-grown, although not what one could call local precisely), a few ingredients to work with items I already have in the pantry (pasta, polenta, etc.), and so on.
(Admit I bought sweet tea, too, but that's made in Amarillo! *g*)
Anyway. Pinto beans to make tomorrow (with a ham hock and lots of pepper), will be making rice tonight, and using up the rest of last week's eggs and milk in another quiche. It's a lot of food, and it's pretty cheap food, but it's also stuff I like -- my parents make a big pot of beans once a week, and that rice recipe is delicious and simple (good for breakfast, actually, if you don't mind a non-American-traditional breakfast).
Not sure what I'll do with the polenta yet -- I think of 'em as grits, and you have those with eggs, but I'll be out of eggs, and I know there are tons of great polenta recipes out there. The pasta I'll use to make a big batch of garlic noodles -- I've found they're really good leftover, for lunches. (Also inexpensive.)
I told my mom earlier that by this time next week I'll be going, "WTF was I thinking??" and heartily sick of both beans AND rice. But after reading Omnivore's Dilemma even my dad said he just could not trust anything he didn't grow himself, and I'm bothered by the -- cornucopia at the supermarket, that is so dreadfully oil-expensive to provide. I don't know, in February we SHOULD be tired of what is available -- it's WINTER.
Maybe I'll call it the Emnivore Dilemma....?
Whatever. Time will tell. I'm just glad I cut my grocery bill this week.