Cheap Eaten

[bower]

@worth1 the whole grain rice I bought was unpolished jasmine rice. It had the same quality of getting too soft, even in spite of the extra bran.
Whole grain rice, the only way to keep it is in the fridge.
But nothing on the supermarket shelves here is what you would call "fresh". I bought some couscous a while back as well, and it literally wasn't fit to eat. I won't personally tolerate any kind of rancid flavor in grain. It's really not good for you, besides tasting bad.
This is one reason I don't use whole wheat flour for baking, because it's never fresh enough, or if it's fresh when opened, won't stay fresh to the bottom of the bag.

[worth1]

There was some serious domestic squabbles going on between my wife and I over whole wheat rice and pasta.
She even tried to dictate that I use whole wheat in gravy.
Some sort of nasty soy pasta the dogs literally wouldn't eat.
No butter or lard allowed in the house.
100% lean ground beef.
No chicken skin.
No real salt.
No real sugar.
This list could go on forever.

[karstopography]

Chicken remains inexpensive here, pork is one notch up in price i do believe. They are pretty close.

I don’t like whole wheat pasta or whole wheat bread.

Love me some butter, lard, crispy chicken skin, salt, sugar, beef fat. Not trying to live forever or have my time here feel like a punishment by having to eat someone’s idea of what is and isn’t healthy. Doctors and experts go back and forth on these things anyway. Fat was the devil until it wasn’t. Eating Eggs was a trip to a quick death, but now eggs get the seal of approval.

[bower]

My own idea of what is fit to eat has never jibed with the medical fads either.
Bottom line, I'll eat what feels good and tastes good to me.
I've tried all kinds of stuff, no prejudice, and really I could hardly choke down those whole wheat pastas and such. The ancient grains pasta I tried was pretty bad as well. Too coarse altogether. The only flavored non plain pasta I've liked was tomato and basil in it with ordinary durum wheat. The durum is the best for pasta, that's why they grow it, and my stomach and taste buds say the same.
I used to do some baking with soy flour as an ingredient, back in vegetarian days. It was all experimental, and for me that means figuring out the ratio of ingredients to the point where they are agreeable to eat, delicious even. Sure you can add some whole grain or soy protein or extra nutrients to a biscuit and it's still good. Or you can throw away your common sense and make pure inedible bricks...
Many of the 'meat substitute' products on the market are also gross.
Ultimately quite a few of them end up in the 'ultra processed food' category, which is the latest thing they're warning about. I can agree with that one, only because I really dislike food additives and always have. The processed substitutes for this or that are pretty disgusting to me.
I definitely like the flavor of whole grains, but in bread it's 2 parts white to one part spelt or rye for me. That's the proportion that I find tasty and agreeable.
The whole wheat flour is not even whole wheat (unless you buy stone ground). They refine it and then add back the bran.
There's nothing agreeable about bran, it's not nutritious, it's basically like eating a pot scrubber.

[Sue_CT]

Worth, I was sitting on 40 lbs of it too but I went on a diet.

[worth1]

Worth, I was sitting on 40 lbs of it too but I went on a diet.

It takes me forever to go through a 20 pound bag of the basmati rice.
Over a year or probably way more.
Rice gets better with age.
Basically what I'm doing is aging my rice that's already been aged.
I just finished a bag I bought during the pandemic.
And another one is going to be opened that I bought at the same time.
Sounds crazy but I think years in advance.
I have hot sauce and cheese that is aging as well.

[Sue_CT]

I meant I was sitting on 40lbs in my butt, lol. I would be afraid they would get bugs.

[worth1]

I've never had a problem with bugs in the basmati rice.
In many ways it makes a far superior Mexican rice than regular long grain does.
Or you don't even have to make Mexican rice just toast it in oil like you normally would to make Mexican rice but add different if any spices.
Cumin salt and butter is a favorite for me.

[rxkeith]

for those of you who need to stretch every dollar, here is a way you can eat really cheap.
we have a restaurant here that serves turkey dinners every sunday. they have no use for the giblets.
if someone doesn't want them, they get thrown out. i can't pass up a deal, so i asked them if they would
save them for me, and they do. i call saturday afternoon to remind them, and i pick them up the last hour
before they close when the bus boys have them ready. i got ten lbs of necks and giblets. most of them went into
the soup, and the dog will get her share. she eats a raw diet.

so, find a restaurant near you that serves turkey dinners on a day of the week. ask them if they have giblets
available. if they toss them, they won't mind giving them away. be sure to call ahead of time, and ask when is
the best time to pick them up. a side bonus is plastic containers for storage, berry picking, whatever you need
a container for. a lot of places serve turkey dinners at thanksgiving. a day or two before would be a good time
to inquire about giblets
ya can't beat free.


keith

[worth1]

Right when I find a new way to cook chicken livers I can't find any at the store.

[MissS]

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[Sue_CT]

ON SALE FOR 4.99/lb with coupon at ShopRite this week. I plan to cut it into individual steaks, which I guess would make them rib eyes? Got the largest best looking one I could. 12.4 lbs, From 189.00 to 61.88. How though can it be prime and be choice at the same time? Either way I think it was still a good price. Butcitcwasxstill a splurge for sure. Merry Christmas to me.

[worth1]

@Sue_CT
Prime Rib is a name not having anything to do with USDA labeling of grades of beef.
Or at least that's what I read.
Good find.

[Sue_CT]

Figured it was probably something like that.

[worth1]

Homemade hamburger helper.
Less sodium.
Maybe a pound of ground chuck.
Heaping teaspoon of Knorr beef bullion powder.
Large amount of fine grind black pepper.
A few handfuls of wide egg noodles.
Easy melt cheese like Velveeta.
Shredded cheddar cheese.
Sweet paprika for top dressing.
Add water but drain grease first.
Y'all know the drill on how it's done.

Cooked in an old 8 inch cast iron skillet.

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[Uncle_Feist]

Cooked some pork bones until everything fell off the bones.

I then removed the bones and dipped all of the meat from the broth before cooking some cabbage and taters in it. I chose a few Amarosa, Rose Fin Apple and Pontiac for the waxy, hold up to boiling texture.

Served it all up with some cracklin bread made with freshly ground Texas Gourdseed cornmeal and some green tater onions.

The next day I added some BBQ sauce and broth to the leftover meat scraps and cooked it all down right thick like for BBQ sandwiches. Served it up on buns with some thin hand cut Kennebec fries fried in lard until crispy, and a national pickling cucumber pickle.

[Sue_CT]

Smoked spiral sliced ham for .99/lb. My sister works at the store, invited us over for some and alerted us to the deal. It was delicious. Unadvertised sale, just reducing too much left over inventory left after the holidays. My brother dropped this off, good guy that he is, and wouldn’t take anything for it. Should have cost him 9.23. I think he picked up 3 or 4 for the freezer for himself. Helps to have connections at the grocery store sometimes.

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[worth1]

Due to the rising cost of meat and the popularity of Mexican food I'm making poor folks carnitas.
It's probably more authentic than anything you might see on social media or food cooking shows.
Or it might not be.
I'm personally pretty excited about it.
Stay tuned to a cheap eaten post coming soon.

[worth1]

No way on earth am I going to fry all this stuff on a huge cauldron on the stove but it'll get there.
I'm using what is a scrap meat sold in the store as pork brisket strips.
Dollar 99 a pound.
It's got a lot of meat and fat but also bone and other cartilage.
Two green pork hocks.
Some peanut oil to get things going.
About half a thing of chichorrones.
They are fried pork fat with the skin still on and pretty darn hard.
An orange.
A shot of cola.
Various spices and herbs.
Traditional carnitas are the whole hog cut up and cooked in lard.
So I figured this would be closer to the flavor as opposed to a pork but.
I should have gotten some pigs feet.
By the way for those that don't know.
Le Creuset of which I don't have means the crucible or cauldron.

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[worth1]

Spices include and not uncommon are.
Freshly ground as always.
Cloves about 5.
Allspice about 5.
Black pepper a bunch maybe a tablespoon or more.
Granulated garlic teaspoon.
Mexican oregano half handful.
Salt teaspoon.
1 of each.
Pasilla chili.
Guajillo chili.
Puya chili.
Half cup or so of lemon lime soda.
The chichorrones have swollen up and rehydrated.
It was an experiment that worked out amazingly well.
Still got a way to go but getting there.
More like a stove top braise.

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