Poverty Win!
Or rather, hopefully this win will be an adequate defense against poverty. I just ad libbed a ramen noodle salad that's pretty cheap and amazing. To be sure, I did not invent ramen salad, but nevertheless, I always get excited when I make something without a recipe, based solely on a picture/vague memory.
Because that is exactly what I did last night. The veggies had all been bought for a party (but turned out to be unnecessary as liminalliz had an amazing platter), and ramen is you know, a constant in the pantry. I had no thought of combining them all when I went to the grocery store Saturday. Just wanted some snack veggies... But then I thought, "It's almost a salad, but for the lettuce..." and then Bingo.
Salad:
-Ramen noodles cooked without seasoning packet, drained (.16 cents)
-About 1/2 Cucumber, cut into ribbons (.50 cents)
-1/3 cup julienne carrots (~.45 cents for one carrot)
-1/3 cup julienne jicama (.45 cents for 1/2 pound of jicama, leaves some left over)
-6. oz shredded chicken ($2.50 for a can of chicken, leaves some left over)
-cilantro (.45 cents for a bunch, leaves some left over)
Dressing:
-Soy sauce (in pantry)
-Olive oil (in pantry)
-White Wine Vinegar (in pantry)
-Juice of 1 lime (.14 cents)
It's actually pretty fresh/tasty/healthy. The salad SHOULD have contained scallions, but I didn't have any, and the sauce probably could have used some red pepper. Or I could have made a sort of thai peanut butter sauce. Mm, that would be good...
But did I mention this salad makes TWO servings?
For under $5.00 bucks?
And if you wanted to up the amount of veggies (use the whole cucumber, and all of the jicama) you could easily stretch it to 3 servings?
I'm telling you, if ever I need to shave some dollars off the grocery budget I'm making this again. I also particularly like that, aside from the cilantro, none of the individual ingredients are inclined to go off very quickly. It could be sitting around in my fridge for a week patiently for a day when I'm dead broke and in need of some food.
Because that is exactly what I did last night. The veggies had all been bought for a party (but turned out to be unnecessary as liminalliz had an amazing platter), and ramen is you know, a constant in the pantry. I had no thought of combining them all when I went to the grocery store Saturday. Just wanted some snack veggies... But then I thought, "It's almost a salad, but for the lettuce..." and then Bingo.
Salad:
-Ramen noodles cooked without seasoning packet, drained (.16 cents)
-About 1/2 Cucumber, cut into ribbons (.50 cents)
-1/3 cup julienne carrots (~.45 cents for one carrot)
-1/3 cup julienne jicama (.45 cents for 1/2 pound of jicama, leaves some left over)
-6. oz shredded chicken ($2.50 for a can of chicken, leaves some left over)
-cilantro (.45 cents for a bunch, leaves some left over)
Dressing:
-Soy sauce (in pantry)
-Olive oil (in pantry)
-White Wine Vinegar (in pantry)
-Juice of 1 lime (.14 cents)
It's actually pretty fresh/tasty/healthy. The salad SHOULD have contained scallions, but I didn't have any, and the sauce probably could have used some red pepper. Or I could have made a sort of thai peanut butter sauce. Mm, that would be good...
But did I mention this salad makes TWO servings?
For under $5.00 bucks?
And if you wanted to up the amount of veggies (use the whole cucumber, and all of the jicama) you could easily stretch it to 3 servings?
I'm telling you, if ever I need to shave some dollars off the grocery budget I'm making this again. I also particularly like that, aside from the cilantro, none of the individual ingredients are inclined to go off very quickly. It could be sitting around in my fridge for a week patiently for a day when I'm dead broke and in need of some food.