Well, the main reason I eat so much is because I also work out all the time. If I didn't exercise as much as I do, my appetite would be nearly as large.
Cost-effective cooking
- Thread starter RoJoHen
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Honey...I was raised by a Native American mother, I know how to cook in bulk on the cheap!
-Awesome chili gets better as it sits in the fridge...a huge pot will last you at least a week. It's tasty, economical, and healthful:
In a huge pot:
1. Stir fry diced onion and garlic in some olive oil until they turn golden brown.
2. If you want meat, add now. I occasionally use ground turkey breast.
Add your choice of veggies, my faves include: chayote squash, green beans, and a can of corn. Add a small can diced (or dice your own chili peppers-mild to spicy, whatever you prefer).
3. Add beans. If you really want to save money, buy dried beans and boil them yourself, and don't drain. If you're adding canned beans, don't drain either, just dump it all in the pot. I use black and red beans, sometimes navy beans and chickpeas too.
4. Add one can diced tomato, or a couple of large freshly diced tomatoes, and one can tomato paste.
5. Add a splash of vinegar and season to taste using traditional Mexican seasonings (you can even buy "Mexican Seasoning" in many spice sections.
-Succotash (thestrangequark's version)
In case you don't know, succotash is a traditional Native American food cooked in some variation by most Indian tribes across N. America. Like fry bread, it's a classic. There are many variations, the only rule being it must have corn and lima beans. This is a great meal for a single health-minded person on a budget, because pretty much all the ingredients can be bought frozen, and it's quick and easy to prepare. This means you don't have to cook one huge dish that you'll be eating all week, while still not worrying about your food going bad:
1. Sautee chopped onion in 1 tbsp olive oil. Garlic too if you like.
2. Add some frozen corn, lima beans, green beans, green peas, carrots, broccoli, whatever frozen veg you like. I also like to throw in a few little grape tomatoes.
3. Add a can of chickpeas.
4. To cut on calories and add flavor, instead of adding more olive oil to keep things moist, try cooking in chicken brothI'd recommend Better than Bullion.
I can post more recipes too, if you like.
-Awesome chili gets better as it sits in the fridge...a huge pot will last you at least a week. It's tasty, economical, and healthful:
In a huge pot:
1. Stir fry diced onion and garlic in some olive oil until they turn golden brown.
2. If you want meat, add now. I occasionally use ground turkey breast.
Add your choice of veggies, my faves include: chayote squash, green beans, and a can of corn. Add a small can diced (or dice your own chili peppers-mild to spicy, whatever you prefer).
3. Add beans. If you really want to save money, buy dried beans and boil them yourself, and don't drain. If you're adding canned beans, don't drain either, just dump it all in the pot. I use black and red beans, sometimes navy beans and chickpeas too.
4. Add one can diced tomato, or a couple of large freshly diced tomatoes, and one can tomato paste.
5. Add a splash of vinegar and season to taste using traditional Mexican seasonings (you can even buy "Mexican Seasoning" in many spice sections.
-Succotash (thestrangequark's version)
In case you don't know, succotash is a traditional Native American food cooked in some variation by most Indian tribes across N. America. Like fry bread, it's a classic. There are many variations, the only rule being it must have corn and lima beans. This is a great meal for a single health-minded person on a budget, because pretty much all the ingredients can be bought frozen, and it's quick and easy to prepare. This means you don't have to cook one huge dish that you'll be eating all week, while still not worrying about your food going bad:
1. Sautee chopped onion in 1 tbsp olive oil. Garlic too if you like.
2. Add some frozen corn, lima beans, green beans, green peas, carrots, broccoli, whatever frozen veg you like. I also like to throw in a few little grape tomatoes.
3. Add a can of chickpeas.
4. To cut on calories and add flavor, instead of adding more olive oil to keep things moist, try cooking in chicken brothI'd recommend Better than Bullion.
I can post more recipes too, if you like.
@ thestrangequark - I love chilli. Will try yours.
Has anyone ever had Chicken Adobo?
It is a Filipino dish which is hearty, filling, and quite easy to prepare. Depending on your tastes, there are many different variations on the recipe and pork can be used as a substitution.
The dish is typically eaten with rice, as it is meant to cut the salty/savory taste the dish can have. If you are hesitant about the rice, brown rice can easily be used instead of white rice without any problem at all.
The dish is meant to cook slowly, and the meat is tempered by the cooking process to keep longer and can last in the fridge for about a week.
The following is my recipe and while tasty, it is not at all traditional. However, the ingredients are easily procured at any supermarket.
You will need:
1 whole chicken, cut and quartered
4 large baking potatoes
1 onion
2 heads of garlic
4 bay leaves
1 cup chicken stock
1 half cup of Seven Up or Sprite
A quarter cup of soy sauce
A quarter cup of white vinegar
A tablespoon of sugar
A tablespoon of pepper
A tablespoon of Black Bean Garlic sauce, Kikkoman Brand is common
A tablespoon of your favorite hot sauce
Some olive oil.
Preparation is fairly easy. Peel and quarter the potatoes. Quarter the chicken. Dice the onion and garlic. Using a large pot, add the olive oil, onion and garlic and bay leaves. Simmer slowly and allow the onion to brown and the bay leaves to soften. Add the dry spices and the wet condiments (i.e. Black Bean Garlic Sauce and Hot Sauce) to the pot, continue to simmer on low heat for a few minutes until everything is combined. Now for the final steps. Add the chicken and potatoes. Then add all of the wet ingredients. The object is to completely cover the chicken and potatoes in liquid, then to cook slowly until the liquid has reduced to a gravy-like state. By this point, the chicken should be falling off of the bone and the potatoes should be a deep brown color. Serve the dish over rice. The resulting meal should be tangy, salty and spicy.
A couple of tips, if you need more liquid, use additional chicken stock or water, remember to completely cover everything in liquid for best results. Cook it slowly. A slow cooker or crock pot works wonders with this dish, but you will have to ladle out the liquids and simmer them on high heat, to make a gravy, after the cooking process in the crock pot is done, as the liquid will not reduce fast enough otherwise. Finally, the vinegar and soy sauce are key components of the dish and cannot be substituted. Sodium content overall isn't that bad, as the sodium in soy sauce is actually better for you than using plain table salt. Lastly, pork can be used in place of chicken, for those who like it. Ingredients for the pork version remain the same.
If anyone tries it, please let me know what you think. Good Eating!
Has anyone ever had Chicken Adobo?
It is a Filipino dish which is hearty, filling, and quite easy to prepare. Depending on your tastes, there are many different variations on the recipe and pork can be used as a substitution.
The dish is typically eaten with rice, as it is meant to cut the salty/savory taste the dish can have. If you are hesitant about the rice, brown rice can easily be used instead of white rice without any problem at all.
The dish is meant to cook slowly, and the meat is tempered by the cooking process to keep longer and can last in the fridge for about a week.
The following is my recipe and while tasty, it is not at all traditional. However, the ingredients are easily procured at any supermarket.
You will need:
1 whole chicken, cut and quartered
4 large baking potatoes
1 onion
2 heads of garlic
4 bay leaves
1 cup chicken stock
1 half cup of Seven Up or Sprite
A quarter cup of soy sauce
A quarter cup of white vinegar
A tablespoon of sugar
A tablespoon of pepper
A tablespoon of Black Bean Garlic sauce, Kikkoman Brand is common
A tablespoon of your favorite hot sauce
Some olive oil.
Preparation is fairly easy. Peel and quarter the potatoes. Quarter the chicken. Dice the onion and garlic. Using a large pot, add the olive oil, onion and garlic and bay leaves. Simmer slowly and allow the onion to brown and the bay leaves to soften. Add the dry spices and the wet condiments (i.e. Black Bean Garlic Sauce and Hot Sauce) to the pot, continue to simmer on low heat for a few minutes until everything is combined. Now for the final steps. Add the chicken and potatoes. Then add all of the wet ingredients. The object is to completely cover the chicken and potatoes in liquid, then to cook slowly until the liquid has reduced to a gravy-like state. By this point, the chicken should be falling off of the bone and the potatoes should be a deep brown color. Serve the dish over rice. The resulting meal should be tangy, salty and spicy.
A couple of tips, if you need more liquid, use additional chicken stock or water, remember to completely cover everything in liquid for best results. Cook it slowly. A slow cooker or crock pot works wonders with this dish, but you will have to ladle out the liquids and simmer them on high heat, to make a gravy, after the cooking process in the crock pot is done, as the liquid will not reduce fast enough otherwise. Finally, the vinegar and soy sauce are key components of the dish and cannot be substituted. Sodium content overall isn't that bad, as the sodium in soy sauce is actually better for you than using plain table salt. Lastly, pork can be used in place of chicken, for those who like it. Ingredients for the pork version remain the same.
If anyone tries it, please let me know what you think. Good Eating!
Casseroles like shepherd's pie freeze very well. Get your hands on some freezer-and microwave-proof dishes in a size that would be single portion for you and you're set. Use your biggest casserole dish or even make 2 or 3 if you have the containers and storage space.
If ever you have the time, bake your own bread. I do this all the time, and even with top-brand organic flour it works our much cheaper than the store-bought stuff. It's also considerably healthier, tastes much better, fills you up better, and keeps much longer than store-bought bread despite all the preservatives and crap in the latter. My bread goes stale, and I think I've only ever had one remains of a loaf go mouldy.
I also make tomato/pasta sauces from scratch which freeze well. Let me know if you want any recipes.
If ever you have the time, bake your own bread. I do this all the time, and even with top-brand organic flour it works our much cheaper than the store-bought stuff. It's also considerably healthier, tastes much better, fills you up better, and keeps much longer than store-bought bread despite all the preservatives and crap in the latter. My bread goes stale, and I think I've only ever had one remains of a loaf go mouldy.
I also make tomato/pasta sauces from scratch which freeze well. Let me know if you want any recipes.
As I mentioned in the other thread, usually when I cook a dish I can stretch it out across three meals, but this is only because I make a conscious effort to do so. If I continued eating as much as I wanted in one sitting, I would probably get through at least half, maybe more of the dish. So, right after I have cooked it I set out two plastic containers and my plate/bowl and just divide it into three equal parts. I eat what's on my plate and not more. I could eat more if I wanted to, but the serving size I put out for myself is adequate and I am not hungry after eating it. Since you obviously seem to require more food than me in one sitting, if I were you I would cut each dish in halves or make double the servings.
I'd love a pasta sauce recipe! I make my own bread sometimes as well. So yum!
You can make a lot of cheap tasty meals around GIANT jacket potatoes 
... just top with things like tuna, cheese, bolognese sauce, chilli beans... goes well with almost everything.
... just top with things like tuna, cheese, bolognese sauce, chilli beans... goes well with almost everything.
I cook large batches and freeze the leftovers in individual portions because it's more cost-effective and less time-consuming. If you Google "once a month cooking", there are tons of sites devoted to sharing recipes that freeze well. Word to the wise, though, potatoes don't freeze well; they'll turn into mush. I learned that one the hard way.
Also, if you want crock pot recipes, the best place to go is A Year of Slow Cooking. The author makes a new crock pot recipe every day and blogs it.
Also, if you want crock pot recipes, the best place to go is A Year of Slow Cooking. The author makes a new crock pot recipe every day and blogs it.
Hey, thanks for this link. I'm a huge crockpot fan - I use mine all the time - more often than my stove and oven (excepting baking) combined! This site will be very helpful.
Eh, not the biggest garlic fan. It's okay, but not as a main ingredient.
We served 4 people this using 5 heads[not cloves] of garlic and it was oh so yummy. Mix in some green olives, some capers, fresh chopped green onions, and tomatoes with some Parmesan cheese ads more flavors and textures to the meal.
Not sure why, but I hadn't heard of these before. Granted, I don't do a lot of baking, but reading that lead me to some interesting google searches, and I think I'll be picking some up. Mini cake pans are a pretty nifty idea for not only portion control but also baking faster. Same total amount of meat loaf, for example, done in 18 minutes vs. 75 minutes. I don't see a downside there.
I just spent £25 on ingredients for finger food for 6 people. This is the opposite of cost effective cooking
That's not just cost-effective cooking, that's Marks & Spencers cost-effective cooking...
I blame the Italians and their tasty cured meats
What you do with Italian men in your own time.......
(...... is this the moment to confess to enjoying swalling a hot Spanish chorizo sausage a bit earlier on?
)
I could never figure out how to use my crock pot without everything tasting dry, overcooked, and shitty. It sits and collects dust in my basement.
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