Cat Cora's Greek Cinnamon Stewed Chicken WINS A+++++++
Ok, so my enthusiasm for Cat Cora's budget-friendly 7-day menu was dimming...UNTIL I TRIED THIS CHICKEN! Please, please, please, if you make nothing else ever again in your life, make this. It's not hard, but it does take some time if you've never made it before. As I was doing it, I kept thinking "This will be even easier next time, because I'll be familiar with it." I followed the recipe she gave on Oprah, but I noticed that if you Google the recipe title, you can find other places where she uses white wine, and broth instead of water, and things like that. I certainly understand the flavor impact of using broth over water. I even amended an earlier of my recipes to point out how much better it was with broth instead of water, but this recipe exactly as it is listed on Oprah is so full of the best flavor in the universe. Don't bother making it more expensive. The flavor is not lost. Or, at least, I can't tell what I missed, because this was the best dish I've made all year, no joke. The only thing I did differently was make rice instead of Orzo, and add a side of green peas. And it was very cheap, with lots left over for lunches. My husband was up on the roof blowing all the pine tree debris out of the gutters, and he said the smell from the kitchen exhaust fan, which exits through a pipe on the roof, was driving him insane with hunger. And when he climbed down and came in to eat, he took one slurpy bite and looked at me as if I literally sprouted another head. His only comment: "Our new favorite." The boys, EVEN the picky 2-year-old, took seconds and thirds. The sauce is to-die-for.
With that firmly established, I'll go on ahead and say don't bother making her Southwestern Tuna Casserole from the same budget-friendly Oprah menu I mentioned the other day. It's simply that canned tuna and chili powder taste exactly how they sound. And there's way too much corn kernels and onions in that recipe. It was merely serviceable, but not great. I won't be making it again. The boys refused to eat it, opting for cereal instead. It was cheap, though...
On that note, I give myself an A+ for cutting the grocery bill by more than half. I worked really hard planning a menu for the week, and then only buying ingredients for my planned list, including snacks for growing boys and their growing mama. I spent $89 at the grocery store, and $15 on produce at the outdoor, open-air produce market two blocks away. I also planned for eating out twice, which saves me energy and dish washing, and can also be done cheaply. We will do our In-The-Car-Pic-Nic at Dick's Drive In and feed all four of us for around $12. We raise the back hatch on the station wagon, spread the blanket in the back and eat while watching folks come and go. The boys love to see the inevitable Police Cars and Construction Trucks pull in for meals. It's a winner. And last, there's a new place that opened called Square Meals. It has advertised itself as a take-out and catering joint with good healthy food at a fair price. A meat and 2 side dishes is $7.99. I figure two of those will feed the whole family, and that will be about $5 per person with tax and tip. I'll have to report back on that, and report on whether the groceries I bought actually lasted the whole week. So far so good. If my math is right (a rarity), that's somewhere just under $140 for the week of food for the four of us. Is that good? Can we do it even cheaper? I mean without having to eat stone soup and drink nothing but water and never have a snack, etc. Is $140 for a family of four reasonable?
--Sweet B
J. Andreas on April 20, 2009 at 11:15 PM
hmm...it`s like very delicious..I like that..!
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Sarah on April 21, 2009 at 06:04 PM
My mom used to use $1 per person per meal as a guideline - we ate a lot of cereal and oatmeal and refried beans (as in we bought dried pintos and put them in the crock pot for a day and so forth) and that was the early-mid 1990s. Today I figure $1.50 for breakfast, $2.50 for lunch, and $3.50 for dinner (per adult, and exaggerating a bit to account for snacks and the like) but I still don't eat much meat at home and often skip meals in order to splurge on others (in college I used about 12 out of my 19 meals each week,) so I actually spend far less on groceries. Assuming kids cost about 65% of adults when making meals for an entire family, those numbers come out to $173.25 for two kids and two adults who never skip meals.
I find it easier, by the way, to first build nice meal plans, then figure out what each meal costs, and then arrive at a total - then I cut back and mess around with things to get the totals to look reasonable. When I first started buying food for myself I tried shopping with prices per meal in mind, and found myself eating a lot more Ramen than I had meant to. Only $.10 per meal if you get it on sale and don't buy any vegetables! Woot!
Nitemare on April 22, 2009 at 12:16 PM
I loved the chichen too. Sweet B - I usually shop ONLY sale items - and manage - with 2 'out of house' meals a week for less than $100 - how - my freezer. During 'season' I stock up on veggies - to cook off season - buying chicken only when it is super cheap - and making a roaster last 6 (Yes 6) meals minimum. I ALWAYS buy whole chickens - cutting them up when I get home - and make stews, pot pies, etc from them. I do make chicken salad for lunches - plus I ALWAYS make stock from the bones and 'yucky' pieces (backs, necks) - for a big pot of soup. I freeze at least one container of soup for those 'sick' days - of flu etc that growing boys get. By the way - I am feeding 6 - 22, 19, 15, 14 and us (mom and dad). We can afford more - but use the savings for family vacations on cruise ships - with two rooms - one for us - one for the boys. As my college senior says- man - you have managed to send us to private school, great colleges, and have fun - for so little! Keep up the good work - you can find lots of cool recipes online to stretch that dollar.
Sweet B on April 22, 2009 at 12:53 PM
That is wonderful encouragement, Nitemare. Especially since you are so far into it, and I am only just starting, with little-boy appetites instead of teenage-boy appetites. Don't know how you pull that one. Don't they eat something like 3 boxes of cereal apiece at every breakfast? That's what I hear. Since I'm still in my first attempts to squeeze food dollars to the very utmost, I believe I will get better at it. In any case, it is an absolute necessity that I do get better. So thanks for those tips.
Lori on July 30, 2009 at 07:10 PM
This dish of Cat's Rocks!!!!! Try it!!!! It's my new favorite.