So why is "vegetarian" is quotes? Because this is not a true vegetarian chili. Though it technically doesn't have any meat, I use chicken broth in this recipe but please feel free to use vegetable broth instead!
And let me tell you, my picky picky meat and potatoes husband LOVES this chili. So I'm sure that you will to!
"Vegetarian" Chili
1 6oz can Tomato Paste
1 15 oz can Vegetarian Refried Beans
2 C or 1 15 oz can Chicken Broth
1/2 a medium green bell pepper diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/4 medium onion diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp seasoned salt
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
In a medium sauce pan heat your olive oil on medium heat. Add your onions, garlic, and green bell pepper to your oil and saute until translucent. Add your tomato paste and spices and stir until fragrant. Slowly add your chicken broth. And then add your can of refried beans. Stir everything together to break up the beans and the tomato paste and simmer on medium low heat for 10-15 minutes.
This is great over chips or baked potatoes, cut the amount of broth in half and it's a great burrito filling!
Showing posts with label food/recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food/recipes. Show all posts
Monday, May 18, 2009
Stir Fry
Use some of your bargain fresh veggies to create a quick and easy summer dinner for your family!
Sauce:
1/3 C Soy Sauce
1/2 C Water or Broth
2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
2 tsp Seasame Oil
2 Tbsp Corn Starch
1 Tbsp Green Onion
1 Tbsp Grated Fresh Ginger or 1/2 tsp ginger spice
1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Cilantro
Mix all ingredients in a lidded container and shake until combined. Taste and adjust your seasonings as nessesary. I also like to add some hot chili flakes to my sauce when I'm not cooking for my kids.
Basic Stir Fry Ingredients:
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 lb of meat sliced thin (to get your meat to slice nicely place in the freezer for 15-30 minutes prior to slicing. You'll be able to get nice thin slices easily)
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tbsp of green onions sliced
1 tsp ground black pepper
Put your oil, garlic and green onions into your pan on high heat. Stir occasionally until your garlic just starts to brown. As soon as your garlic starts to brown, throw in your meat (seasoned with the black pepper) and stir and fry until the meat is no longer pink. Once your meat has cooked throw in 4-6 cups of assorted sliced vegetables. Once the vegetables are crisp tender add your sauce and cook until sauce thickens and becomes glossy.
Serve over hot jasmine rice!
Stir Fry Vegetable Suggestions:
Zucchini
Onion
Green Bell Pepper
Red Bell Pepper
Celery
Carrots
Cabbage (Green or Napa)
Bok Choy
Bamboo Shoots
Water Chestnuts
Baby Corn
Mushrooms (White Button or Shitake)
Broccoli
You really can use whatever vegetables you like. I just throw in whatever vegetables I need to use up in the fridge. Our normal combination is Zucchini, Onion, Celery, Carrots, Broccoli and Bell Pepper. And if we have it on hand, Mushrooms and Baby Corn.
Sauce:
1/3 C Soy Sauce
1/2 C Water or Broth
2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
2 tsp Seasame Oil
2 Tbsp Corn Starch
1 Tbsp Green Onion
1 Tbsp Grated Fresh Ginger or 1/2 tsp ginger spice
1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Cilantro
Mix all ingredients in a lidded container and shake until combined. Taste and adjust your seasonings as nessesary. I also like to add some hot chili flakes to my sauce when I'm not cooking for my kids.
Basic Stir Fry Ingredients:
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 lb of meat sliced thin (to get your meat to slice nicely place in the freezer for 15-30 minutes prior to slicing. You'll be able to get nice thin slices easily)
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tbsp of green onions sliced
1 tsp ground black pepper
Put your oil, garlic and green onions into your pan on high heat. Stir occasionally until your garlic just starts to brown. As soon as your garlic starts to brown, throw in your meat (seasoned with the black pepper) and stir and fry until the meat is no longer pink. Once your meat has cooked throw in 4-6 cups of assorted sliced vegetables. Once the vegetables are crisp tender add your sauce and cook until sauce thickens and becomes glossy.
Serve over hot jasmine rice!
Stir Fry Vegetable Suggestions:
Zucchini
Onion
Green Bell Pepper
Red Bell Pepper
Celery
Carrots
Cabbage (Green or Napa)
Bok Choy
Bamboo Shoots
Water Chestnuts
Baby Corn
Mushrooms (White Button or Shitake)
Broccoli
You really can use whatever vegetables you like. I just throw in whatever vegetables I need to use up in the fridge. Our normal combination is Zucchini, Onion, Celery, Carrots, Broccoli and Bell Pepper. And if we have it on hand, Mushrooms and Baby Corn.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Frugal Recipes: Enchilada Casserole
Enchilada Casserole (from Weight Watchers Miracle Foods)
Cooking Spray
1 (10 ounce) package frozen southwestern style corn and roasted red peppers, thawed (such as Green Giant)
1 (19 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp salt
1 (15 ounce) can red enchilada sauce, divided
13 corn tortillas, cut in half
1 ½ cups (6 ounces) reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
½ cup fat-free sour cream
Coat a medium skillet with cooking spray; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add corn mixture, and cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes. Add black beans and salt; cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Remove from heat; set aside.
Spoon 1/3 cup enchilada sauce over bottom of a 13x9 inch baking dish; spread evenly. Arrange 8 tortilla halves over sauce. Spoon half of corn mixture over tortillas; sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheese. Repeat layer with 8 tortilla halves, remaining corn mixture, and 1/3 cup cheese. Top with remaining 10 tortilla halves. Cover with remaining enchilada sauce and remaining cheese.
Cover and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake another 5 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with sour cream.
Makes 8 servings
Nutrition information: 303 calories, 12 grams fat, 13 grams protein, 37 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams fiber, 32 milligrams cholesterol, 700 milligrams sodium.
This is one I have bookmarked but not tried. Weight Watchers recipes have a tendency to be a bit bland. Adding additional spices does not alter the nutrition information. If I were to add to this, I would probably add some oregano, onion powder, garlic powder and fresh chopped garlic to the corn and beans during cooking. But that’s just me.
Cooking Spray
1 (10 ounce) package frozen southwestern style corn and roasted red peppers, thawed (such as Green Giant)
1 (19 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp salt
1 (15 ounce) can red enchilada sauce, divided
13 corn tortillas, cut in half
1 ½ cups (6 ounces) reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
½ cup fat-free sour cream
Coat a medium skillet with cooking spray; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add corn mixture, and cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes. Add black beans and salt; cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Remove from heat; set aside.
Spoon 1/3 cup enchilada sauce over bottom of a 13x9 inch baking dish; spread evenly. Arrange 8 tortilla halves over sauce. Spoon half of corn mixture over tortillas; sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheese. Repeat layer with 8 tortilla halves, remaining corn mixture, and 1/3 cup cheese. Top with remaining 10 tortilla halves. Cover with remaining enchilada sauce and remaining cheese.
Cover and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake another 5 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with sour cream.
Makes 8 servings
Nutrition information: 303 calories, 12 grams fat, 13 grams protein, 37 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams fiber, 32 milligrams cholesterol, 700 milligrams sodium.
This is one I have bookmarked but not tried. Weight Watchers recipes have a tendency to be a bit bland. Adding additional spices does not alter the nutrition information. If I were to add to this, I would probably add some oregano, onion powder, garlic powder and fresh chopped garlic to the corn and beans during cooking. But that’s just me.
Frugal Recipes: Healthy Lasagna
Healthy Lasagna
7 ounces (1/2 package) firm tofu
1 pound bulk mild Italian turkey sausage
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 package (12 ounces) no-cook or oven-free lasagna noodles
2 jars (24 ounces, each) Barilla marinara sauce
PREPARATION: Remove excess water from tofu by wrapping in two layers of paper towels and place under a heavy weight for about 15 minutes. Once tofu is drained, crumble and set aside.
Meanwhile, in skillet, brown sausage over medium heat, crumbling the meat as it cooks.
Spray a 9-by-13-inch pan with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 jar of marinara sauce over bottom of pan, then layer with 4 lasagna noodles, lengthwise. Top with 1/2 cooked sausage, 1/2 of spinach, and 1/2 of crumbled tofu. Spread with another 1/2 jar of marinara sauce and repeat layers of noodles, sausage, spinach, tofu and sauce. Top with final layer of noodles and remaining 1/2 jar of marinara sauce.
Cover with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Let stand covered, 10 minutes, to allow lasagna to set before cutting into servings.
Makes 12 servings
Nutrition information: 282 calories, 12 grams fat, 13 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrate, 3 grams fiber, 17 milligrams cholesterol, 722 milligrams sodium
I usually add some garlic and onions to the sausage when it’s browning. I also divide this into two 8x8 pans. That way I have one for dinner and one to save for another day. This keeps really well in the freezer. I throw it into the oven frozen for 1 hour.
7 ounces (1/2 package) firm tofu
1 pound bulk mild Italian turkey sausage
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 package (12 ounces) no-cook or oven-free lasagna noodles
2 jars (24 ounces, each) Barilla marinara sauce
PREPARATION: Remove excess water from tofu by wrapping in two layers of paper towels and place under a heavy weight for about 15 minutes. Once tofu is drained, crumble and set aside.
Meanwhile, in skillet, brown sausage over medium heat, crumbling the meat as it cooks.
Spray a 9-by-13-inch pan with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 jar of marinara sauce over bottom of pan, then layer with 4 lasagna noodles, lengthwise. Top with 1/2 cooked sausage, 1/2 of spinach, and 1/2 of crumbled tofu. Spread with another 1/2 jar of marinara sauce and repeat layers of noodles, sausage, spinach, tofu and sauce. Top with final layer of noodles and remaining 1/2 jar of marinara sauce.
Cover with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Let stand covered, 10 minutes, to allow lasagna to set before cutting into servings.
Makes 12 servings
Nutrition information: 282 calories, 12 grams fat, 13 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrate, 3 grams fiber, 17 milligrams cholesterol, 722 milligrams sodium
I usually add some garlic and onions to the sausage when it’s browning. I also divide this into two 8x8 pans. That way I have one for dinner and one to save for another day. This keeps really well in the freezer. I throw it into the oven frozen for 1 hour.
Resolution Revolution
Happy New Year everyone!
New Year= Fresh Start= Resolution Season.
I am not normally a person who makes resolutions. I have a hard time sticking to my daily to do list so long term goals like lose weight and pay off debt, forget about it! But this year, I decided to go ahead and make some resolutions or rather long term goals.
Why? Because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. I haven’t changed the way I do things but I have been expecting things to magically change. Unless I change myself and the way I do things, I cannot move forward.
One of my long term goals this year is to lose weight and adopt a healthier lifestyle. But, I always make so many excuses. The two biggest ones are: not wanting to cook two meals (because my husband won’t eat “rabbit food” and tofu will kill him) and healthy food is expensive.
But excuses only serve to keep us subservient to our bad habits. So I sat and thought about those two things for a while. How could I overcome the daunting task of cooking two meals and the expense of good food. I like the idea of the Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig diets but both diets are so cost prohibitive. But they do solve the problem of cooking two meals. You cook for your family and then you have your own healthy meal in the freezer ready to go. So why can’t I make my own healthy meals in bulk and freeze them in portion sizes? Well, it costs too much to eat right! WRONG.
I sat down and started making a list of budget meals that I can make that are healthy and that will freeze well. I came up with a pretty long list. Things like enchiladas freeze well and if you skip the meat and use beans for protein and bulk it up with veggies, use salsa instead of enchilada sauce and sprinkle with reduced fat cheese, you have a healthy, filling meal that isn’t hard on your budget.
The same thing is true with lasagna. I came across a great, easy, and budget friendly lasagna recipe when I was excluding dairy from my diet while I was nursing my youngest. There isn’t any cheese in it and that’s what usually costs so much when you are putting together lasagna. It’s filled with spinach, tofu and turkey sausage and I promise you won’t miss the cheese! So what’s my point?
You can eat well, on a budget but you just have to get creative. My family’s weekly grocery budget is $60.00 and now granted I haven’t shopped for my freezer friendly healthy meals yet, but I can tell you through sales, coupons and smart shopping, I won’t be breaking my budget to lose weight. It just takes creativity and some time. I scour the web for easy meals that are budget friendly. There are little changes you can do to any of your meals to make them healthier. Ground turkey for instance is much cheaper than ground beef. You can get a pound of very lean ground turkey for $2.00 (at Walmart) and just substituting that for ground beef in a recipe will save you money and your waist line.
The biggest thing you can do for your waist line (and your wallet for that matter) is portion control. That’s the thing I have the hardest time with. I hate to watch my portions but when you are looking to lose weight, it is a must. I did Weight Watchers for a while and the thing that worked best for me was to actually measure out my portions and not eat anymore than that. It was hard for the first 2 weeks but I got used to it and managed to stick to my Weight Watchers plan for a couple of months until my husband came home from Iraq and declared that real Asians don’t eat brown rice.
But I’m not going to let my husband or my finances stop me from accomplishing my goal this year.
New Year= Fresh Start= Resolution Season.
I am not normally a person who makes resolutions. I have a hard time sticking to my daily to do list so long term goals like lose weight and pay off debt, forget about it! But this year, I decided to go ahead and make some resolutions or rather long term goals.
Why? Because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. I haven’t changed the way I do things but I have been expecting things to magically change. Unless I change myself and the way I do things, I cannot move forward.
One of my long term goals this year is to lose weight and adopt a healthier lifestyle. But, I always make so many excuses. The two biggest ones are: not wanting to cook two meals (because my husband won’t eat “rabbit food” and tofu will kill him) and healthy food is expensive.
But excuses only serve to keep us subservient to our bad habits. So I sat and thought about those two things for a while. How could I overcome the daunting task of cooking two meals and the expense of good food. I like the idea of the Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig diets but both diets are so cost prohibitive. But they do solve the problem of cooking two meals. You cook for your family and then you have your own healthy meal in the freezer ready to go. So why can’t I make my own healthy meals in bulk and freeze them in portion sizes? Well, it costs too much to eat right! WRONG.
I sat down and started making a list of budget meals that I can make that are healthy and that will freeze well. I came up with a pretty long list. Things like enchiladas freeze well and if you skip the meat and use beans for protein and bulk it up with veggies, use salsa instead of enchilada sauce and sprinkle with reduced fat cheese, you have a healthy, filling meal that isn’t hard on your budget.
The same thing is true with lasagna. I came across a great, easy, and budget friendly lasagna recipe when I was excluding dairy from my diet while I was nursing my youngest. There isn’t any cheese in it and that’s what usually costs so much when you are putting together lasagna. It’s filled with spinach, tofu and turkey sausage and I promise you won’t miss the cheese! So what’s my point?
You can eat well, on a budget but you just have to get creative. My family’s weekly grocery budget is $60.00 and now granted I haven’t shopped for my freezer friendly healthy meals yet, but I can tell you through sales, coupons and smart shopping, I won’t be breaking my budget to lose weight. It just takes creativity and some time. I scour the web for easy meals that are budget friendly. There are little changes you can do to any of your meals to make them healthier. Ground turkey for instance is much cheaper than ground beef. You can get a pound of very lean ground turkey for $2.00 (at Walmart) and just substituting that for ground beef in a recipe will save you money and your waist line.
The biggest thing you can do for your waist line (and your wallet for that matter) is portion control. That’s the thing I have the hardest time with. I hate to watch my portions but when you are looking to lose weight, it is a must. I did Weight Watchers for a while and the thing that worked best for me was to actually measure out my portions and not eat anymore than that. It was hard for the first 2 weeks but I got used to it and managed to stick to my Weight Watchers plan for a couple of months until my husband came home from Iraq and declared that real Asians don’t eat brown rice.
But I’m not going to let my husband or my finances stop me from accomplishing my goal this year.
Friday, March 20, 2009
What Does It Cost To Eat In America?
I ran across this website after watching an Internet broadcast of Fox and Friends. Its called One Dollar Diet Project. These two teachers decided to try an experiment. They wanted to see if the could eat for $1.00 a day per person for an entire month. Sounds crazy right. They blogged about their experiences. He lost weight (15lbs), they both were cranky, tired and irritable but they did it for an entire month. Why? Because people all over the world live on $1.00 of food a day. They were talking about how much food they wasted on a daily basis and wanted to see if they could live off of one dollar a day. So they tried it for a whole month and they were thankful when that month ended. So that got me thinking. How much do I spend in a month just on groceries.
My budget is $60.00 a week. Sometimes I spend a little more sometimes I spend a little less but it usually evens out to $60.00 a week. If you break that down per person, you come out with $15.00 per person, per week which is about $2.14 per day. Not too bad right? Granted two of the people in the house are tiny but they still eat A LOT. Just for breakfast today, Kylie ate 1 egg, a biscuit, a glass of homemade chocolate milk (milk, 1/2 tbsp baking cocoa and 1 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar) and about a half a can of fruit salad. Kaitlynn also had an egg, fruit salad and a biscuit. So they maybe tiny but they are not little eaters.
For $2.14 a day, we have plenty of fruits and veggies. Granted the veggies are mostly the frozen variety and the fruit mostly the canned. We have snacks, hot breakfasts, desserts. We have meat which is mostly cheaper cuts but its still meat. We eat really well for $2.14 a day per person. Most of that money is funneled into dinner. Breakfasts and lunches cost a lot less. We are not malnourished and no one here is losing any weight (yet, check back with me when the national body challenge starts next month).
A typical day for us looks something like this...
Breakfast
Either oatmeal in some form (baked or cooked with flax and cranberries, if its cooked instead of baked I usually throw some canned pumpkin in there) or eggs (we like green eggs: spinach, eggs and garlic pulsed in a food processor and then scrambled in the pan) and toast both served with some kind of fruit.
Lunch
Its a smattering of different things but always includes some kind of fruit: either apples, oranges or something from the can; and a veggie: carrot sticks, frozen peas and carrots or corn. The main dish varies from sandwiches (PB & J for Kylie, Sunbutter and Jelly for Kaitlynn who is allergic to peanuts), to chicken nuggets, leftovers from dinner the night before, soup (if I serve soup, I don't usually include a veggie side)
Dinner
Also a variety of things. I get bored easily with food so I try to vary the kinds of foods I make. I posted about the soup I made the other night. On Kylie's birthday (this past Thursday), I made spaghetti. We had this with warm pears (29oz canned pears in their syrup throw into a 425 degree oven with a little cinnamon sprinkled on top) and my quick greens recipe (I used frozen green beans this time. Green beans cooked in chicken broth with garlic, 2 pieces of chopped fried bacon, garlic powder, onion powder, and garlic pepper. YUM!) The price of this dinner?
Spaghetti
Sauce: $1.00 (purchased on sale)
Noodles: $.88 (purchased in bulk at Sam's Club)
1/2 lb ground beef: $1.50
1/2 chopped onion: $.02 (a 3 lb bag bought on sale for $1.00 6 onions in the bag)
1 tsp minced garlic: $.02 (1 jar of minced garlic bought for $1.00, 48 tsp in a jar)
Pears
29oz can of pears: $1.00 (purchased on sale last week)
Cinnamon: ? (I really couldn't tell you how much cinnamon I used so I can't really determine a price but I just sprinkled a little on top and the jar of cinnamon cost me about $1.25 at Walmart)
Green Beans
16oz frozen Green Beans: $1.00 (purchased on sale)
1 tsp minced garlic: $.02
1 can chicken broth: $.39
2 pieces of bacon: $0.16 (purchased on sale for $1.77, 21 pieces in a packages)
Spices: again, I don't know the quantities I used so I can't tell you exactly how much they cost.
Total price for dinner approximately: $5.99 or $1.50 per person, a lot less if you include that we had a lot of leftovers. It probably ended up factoring to more like $.75 a person just because we had 1/2 of everything leftover after we were done eating. We had enough food leftover for the girls to have it again for dinner on Friday and for Jeff to take the majority of it to work with him for lunch the next day.
So okay, typical long winded Kristi. My point is that $1.00 a day in our economic climate is extreme. Most people around the world live on $1.00 a day because they grow or gather their own foods, raise their own animals for meat or hunt for it. So meat costs them nothing to very little and the same goes for vegetables and fruits. It takes time and not much money but you are subject to low food supplies during times of extreme weather. I think in a truer $1.00 a day experiment, they should have grown some of their own foods. They would have been able to eat well while maintaining their budget. It would be interesting if they did this again but planned on starting a garden in spring. I wonder what their food intake would look like then.
**Cross post from my personal blog
My budget is $60.00 a week. Sometimes I spend a little more sometimes I spend a little less but it usually evens out to $60.00 a week. If you break that down per person, you come out with $15.00 per person, per week which is about $2.14 per day. Not too bad right? Granted two of the people in the house are tiny but they still eat A LOT. Just for breakfast today, Kylie ate 1 egg, a biscuit, a glass of homemade chocolate milk (milk, 1/2 tbsp baking cocoa and 1 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar) and about a half a can of fruit salad. Kaitlynn also had an egg, fruit salad and a biscuit. So they maybe tiny but they are not little eaters.
For $2.14 a day, we have plenty of fruits and veggies. Granted the veggies are mostly the frozen variety and the fruit mostly the canned. We have snacks, hot breakfasts, desserts. We have meat which is mostly cheaper cuts but its still meat. We eat really well for $2.14 a day per person. Most of that money is funneled into dinner. Breakfasts and lunches cost a lot less. We are not malnourished and no one here is losing any weight (yet, check back with me when the national body challenge starts next month).
A typical day for us looks something like this...
Breakfast
Either oatmeal in some form (baked or cooked with flax and cranberries, if its cooked instead of baked I usually throw some canned pumpkin in there) or eggs (we like green eggs: spinach, eggs and garlic pulsed in a food processor and then scrambled in the pan) and toast both served with some kind of fruit.
Lunch
Its a smattering of different things but always includes some kind of fruit: either apples, oranges or something from the can; and a veggie: carrot sticks, frozen peas and carrots or corn. The main dish varies from sandwiches (PB & J for Kylie, Sunbutter and Jelly for Kaitlynn who is allergic to peanuts), to chicken nuggets, leftovers from dinner the night before, soup (if I serve soup, I don't usually include a veggie side)
Dinner
Also a variety of things. I get bored easily with food so I try to vary the kinds of foods I make. I posted about the soup I made the other night. On Kylie's birthday (this past Thursday), I made spaghetti. We had this with warm pears (29oz canned pears in their syrup throw into a 425 degree oven with a little cinnamon sprinkled on top) and my quick greens recipe (I used frozen green beans this time. Green beans cooked in chicken broth with garlic, 2 pieces of chopped fried bacon, garlic powder, onion powder, and garlic pepper. YUM!) The price of this dinner?
Spaghetti
Sauce: $1.00 (purchased on sale)
Noodles: $.88 (purchased in bulk at Sam's Club)
1/2 lb ground beef: $1.50
1/2 chopped onion: $.02 (a 3 lb bag bought on sale for $1.00 6 onions in the bag)
1 tsp minced garlic: $.02 (1 jar of minced garlic bought for $1.00, 48 tsp in a jar)
Pears
29oz can of pears: $1.00 (purchased on sale last week)
Cinnamon: ? (I really couldn't tell you how much cinnamon I used so I can't really determine a price but I just sprinkled a little on top and the jar of cinnamon cost me about $1.25 at Walmart)
Green Beans
16oz frozen Green Beans: $1.00 (purchased on sale)
1 tsp minced garlic: $.02
1 can chicken broth: $.39
2 pieces of bacon: $0.16 (purchased on sale for $1.77, 21 pieces in a packages)
Spices: again, I don't know the quantities I used so I can't tell you exactly how much they cost.
Total price for dinner approximately: $5.99 or $1.50 per person, a lot less if you include that we had a lot of leftovers. It probably ended up factoring to more like $.75 a person just because we had 1/2 of everything leftover after we were done eating. We had enough food leftover for the girls to have it again for dinner on Friday and for Jeff to take the majority of it to work with him for lunch the next day.
So okay, typical long winded Kristi. My point is that $1.00 a day in our economic climate is extreme. Most people around the world live on $1.00 a day because they grow or gather their own foods, raise their own animals for meat or hunt for it. So meat costs them nothing to very little and the same goes for vegetables and fruits. It takes time and not much money but you are subject to low food supplies during times of extreme weather. I think in a truer $1.00 a day experiment, they should have grown some of their own foods. They would have been able to eat well while maintaining their budget. It would be interesting if they did this again but planned on starting a garden in spring. I wonder what their food intake would look like then.
**Cross post from my personal blog
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