Cheap Eaten

[worth1]

Here it is the ramen.

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[worth1]

Pictures are self explanatory.

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[worth1]

Total cost of this all I'm not gonna eat fried shrimp is about 8 dollars.
Must be close to 40 good size shrimp in that bowl.
Homemade dipping sauce.
Ketchup.
Horse radish.
Gochujang.
Polar brand soy sauce.

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[worth1]

Wanted something fast and easy and built on it.
The soup is over the top delicious.
It has.....
Water.
Beef bullion powder.
Fresh chopped ginger so when you get one you know it.
Fresh garlic.
Chipotle powder.
Black pepper.
A sliced red skin hot link.
A Fresh tomato chopped and put in right before serving.
Polar soy sauce.
Dried onion flakes.
Green salad olives.
Gochujang.
Chopped up lasagna noodles.
Totally just used what I had around the house.
It's like a flavor explosion in your mouth.
Been cooking with a lot of green olives lately and glad I have.
What a treat.

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[AlittleSalt]

Old People Food

Have you ever thought about food that you would be eating when you get older? For some reason I have for most of my life - I have no idea why, but it's happening. I just wrote on our whiteboard that we need crackers, peanut butter, dry beans, ham, cornbread, sardines, etc. cheap foods. This does come from necessity, and logic, but also we just don't eat as much. My wife makes $13 an hour and we we are feeding 6. It probably figures in.

Since 1990, I have weighed around 235 to 243, but I've lost weight to 222 over the past 7 months. I don't know if it's an aging thing or whatever it is. Why are saltine crackers preferred over chips? Beans over fatty meat? Peanut butter over hot pockets and hotdogs - It's not a health-thing for me or a money thing, Maybe it's an old person thing planted in my mind decades ago?

[worth1]

@AlittleSalt
People's tastes change.
I don't really care for ham anymore.
Never was a big fan of it though.

[Tormahto]

Why are oxtails 15.99/lb, here?

I'd like to try to replicate my mom's soup. She had no recipe, so I'd be running some expensive experiments. I'm remembering the flavors of oxtails, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and thyme, 40 years later.

Back then, they were likely about .99/lb.

[worth1]

@Tormato
Food network and the likes.
All of this stuff has became popular.

[pepperhead212]

Plus, a lot of those meats like oxtail, that used to be cheap, are very popular with ethnic groups, and the demand has gotten very high, and look at how little there is on each animal! Most of those things that used to be dirt cheap are like this, and demand has way exceeded the supply.

Sort of an ironic thing - a lot of those traditional ethnic recipes were made with some meats because they were so cheap. Now, look how much it costs to make those "peasant foods", so to speak.

[karstopography]

I haven’t checked on veal or lamb shanks lately. Have those gone through the roof? Osso bucco can be veal or lamb and is a winter favorite.

I went shopping today at Aldi. Bought a 4.5# whole chicken for $.95/#. Whole chicken can go in many directions. Bought 2# of 85/15 grass fed beef for 5.35/#. Cooked one pound for 3 hamburgers tonight. Bought other stuff, pickles, jalapeños, cream cheese. A pound of butter $1.99/#. Prices up overall, but deals still out there. I’ll eat chicken or whatever. I’ve got my son working on securing some venison. I’m in charge of the fish.

[Julianna]

We just had to pay 4.51/lb for chicken and i am not sure what the lamb was that my husband just got other than it is two bone in pieces for $20. He put it away somewhere in his mammal meat space in the freezer.

[worth1]

I might have Chinese ribs.

[GoDawgs]

@Tormato
Food network and the likes.
All of this stuff has became popular.

They also ruined the prices of chicken wings, short ribs, pork belly etc by making them into foo foo fads. Lamb is generally not available in stores here except around Easter. No middle eastern ethnic groups or whatever here to support sales. This is pork and poultry country!

[Tormahto]

@Tormato
Food network and the likes.
All of this stuff has became popular.

They also ruined the prices of chicken wings, short ribs, pork belly etc by making them into foo foo fads. Lamb is generally not available in stores here except around Easter. No middle eastern ethnic groups or whatever here to support sales. This is pork and poultry country!

Buffalo, NY ruined the prices on chicken wings. I don't mind, because it contributed to the lowering of prices for the other pieces. I like bone in, skin on, thighs. I toss about 99% of the skin after cooking. I'm thinking about learning how to bone them, but then realize I was Captain Hook, here, for awhile.

Comfortably frugal is the best description that I've read of how I live. While shopping for other things, I look for what's on sale that can go into the freezer. Whole chickens, chicken thighs, whole turkeys all at .49/lb, pork chops and boneless country ribs at .99/lb, 80/20 ground beef at 1.49/lb, fish is free for the catching. Also, I just bought a year's supply of various pasta types, all .49/lb.

But, there are also things that I won't skimp on, like it has to be a whole fowl (an older, beyond high production laying bird) for chicken soup. Those usually go for about 1.69/lb, and rarely make it to the expiration date discount. Back to the chicken wings. They are never on sale, and go for about 2.99 a pound the last time I looked. Don't eat 'em, so don't price 'em very often.

[GoDawgs]

Comfortably frugal is the best description that I've read of how I live. While shopping for other things, I look for what's on sale that can go into the freezer....

Same here. I'll buy whole pork loins, cut a roast off and slice the rest into chops. Boston butts get processed several ways. Some or all of one will be ground up and packed up in 1 lb lots as I make my own sausage patties. The rest will get cut up into chunks for crockpot use or into thick strips for char siu. I'm partial to bone-in, skin on thighs and love my wings but want the boneless breasts for pounding into thin pieces for piccata, Kiev or other recipes. It's rare when I buy any meat not on sale. We're all good on pasta, rice and beans.

Of course, being a data junkie I have an inventory of meat (qty, date, etc) in the freezer posted on the freezer door. It gets redone probably quarterly because there are always a few times when something gets removed to be cooked and the quantity doesn't get changed.

[worth1]

Comes from the same part of the critter just pork not beef.
Pork was at least 1 1/4 thick cooked medium rare.
Topped with fried pecans in olive oil and pork fat.
Fresh carrots and corn cooked in olive oil.
Cost about 6 bucks.

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[Tormahto]

Comes from the same part of the critter just pork not beef.
Pork was at least 1 1/4 thick cooked medium rare.
Topped with fried pecans in olive oil and pork fat.
Fresh carrots and corn cooked in olive oil.
Cost about 6 bucks.
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Medium rare is not descriptive enough. What was the internal temp near the bone, if it can even be measured accurately?

[AlittleSalt]

Looks really good.
I miss the good old days of West Texas Blue Quail hunting.

I agree it looks great.

When I was an older teenager, I shot my first two quail. I'm not a hunter per-say, but I wanted to know what they tasted like. I cleaned them like I did rabbits and asked my aunt how to cook them. She was unsure, but a little salt, pepper, and flour did the trick. She fried them in shortening, and I offered her one, but she wasn't interested. But those quail are the closest thing I've ever eaten that should be considered gourmet. (Not comparable to chicken as we grew up listening to lol).

[worth1]

Comes from the same part of the critter just pork not beef.
Pork was at least 1 1/4 thick cooked medium rare.
Topped with fried pecans in olive oil and pork fat.
Fresh carrots and corn cooked in olive oil.
Cost about 6 bucks.
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Medium rare is not descriptive enough. What was the internal temp near the bone, if it can even be measured accurately?

About 135 but I should have pulled it sooner.

[worth1]

The next of the two steaks will have a green vegetable with it.
Plus homemade hand mashed potatoes.
The green vegetable will be my last two pablano chilies toasted in the skillet.