ladyjanelly

A few days ago, a friend of mine (hi

eldercat! ) was talking to me about this show where two adults and their eight kids eat on $150/week and how boggled he was at that. And I was like "Seriously?" And went into low-cost meal planning, throwing ideas out to feed a family of 10 in a pretty nutritious and cheap way.

Now see, the thing is, durimg the time I was 19-28, I was continually broke (getting rid of my ex, and his salary, actually made it all better, but that's another story). During part of that time we were living on a mattress in a friend's dining room, and other deeply annoying places.

Anyways, I've eaten so much cheap-ass food that my tolerance is really low. I will never again be able to eat any of the following more than once or twice a year:

Box macaroni and cheese
Ramen
Cool-aid (generic)
Cheap-ass kielbasa
Those cheap rice or pasta mixes that come in a bag
Bologna
Jarred pasta sauce (except the kind you get at Central Market that runs like $5/jar, god I'm a snob)

So I started thinking of ways to make cheap food that doesnt look or taste cheap.

Quick pasta with tomato

1 box pasta shells
2 cans diced tomato
1 tsp chopped garlic in oil
6 lg white mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp olive oil
Mrs. Dash tomato, basil, garlic seasoning
McCormics traditonal italian seasoning

Cook the pasta according to box instructions, drain

In sauce pan, heat oil, add garlic and mushrooms, cook until garlic is all gold and stuff
Add spices (about 1/2 tsp of each)
Add tomato.
Cook until boiling.

Add pasta and eat.

It's all fresh-tasting, despite being from a can. Big flavor, little money. $3.50 for a side-dish for six-eight (assuming the oil and spices are already in your cabinet). Add cooked chicken breast chunks to make it a main dish.

Actually, Kendra and I each ate it for dinner, and I put away enough for two more dinners for me or her. So yeah. Pretty cheap.

Oh, buying your own fresh mushrooms in bulk instead of pre-packed, pre-sliced is about half the price and eliminates getting the styrofoam box that the recycle place near us doesn't take.

And I don't use the canned tomato that comes with the garlic and basil and whatever because 1) wow. Expensive and 2) Um, I didn't ask them to put freakin' corn syrup in my tomato mix. Fuckers.