Hearty and full of fiber, this bean stew with chicken satisfies a curry enthusiast. Visiting my dad’s house recently, I found the refrigerator quite empty. I didn’t want to go shopping so I scrounged for ingredients and came up with a delicious, main course I’d be happy to serve to guests. It involved canned black […]
Keep it Simple with Faux Shepherd’s Pie
True Shepherd’s Pie is simple stuff. This faux Shepherd’s Pie, the way mom used to make it, is even simpler. Better still: it’s inexpensive and delicious. I didn’t learn what Shepherd’s Pie was until I was 19 or 20 years old. I was disappointed. You see, when I was a kid, one of my […]
Stretch Chicken to Save Money
Roasting a whole chicken is easy to do and it provides the foundation for four meals for four people: an amazing bargain! When I was young, at least once a week we’d sit down to dinner and one of us kids would exclaim, “Awe, Mom! Chicken again?” Mom cooked a lot of chicken, I […]
Make Beef Affordable With London Broil
It often seems as though your efforts to eat inexpensively mean having to sacrifice what many of us see as standard fare. For example: What about beef? With the toughest cuts of beef starting above five dollars a pound, a juicy grilled steak will bust the $7 Dinner budget… or will it? Very recently, […]
Seven Dollar Dinners: Bean Soup
Being lazy, I’m happy to make a meal of a bowl of 15 bean soup on rice. But for the rest of my family, I often prepare a simple lettuce or cabbage salad as well. A meal for 4 costs about $3.20. For this seven dollar dinner, a hearty bean soup uses inexpensive salt pork […]
Seven Dollar Dinners: Burritos
Prepare beef and bean burritos for four for under $7. I love cooking shows on TV but am underwhelmed at the ambition of some television chefs. They often set crazy high spending limits for “budget” meals—$20 for dinner, or $15 when they really stretch. Rachael Ray tries harder when she offers meals using ingredients that […]
