I beleive the current internet terminology is "om nom nom" or, thrifty Chris is thrifty.

[mstakenidentity]

I have spent most of today cooking.

On Tuesday we had $35 worth of fruit and vegetables delivered to our house.

On Wednesday we went to the supermarket.

For the next seven days mc_shamo and I will both be extremely busy with shows, work, study and life in general- and often with all of these on the same day! We are also both trying to spend less money in a bid to actually be in a position to save for Fun Things like holidays and houses.

So today I cooked up a storm, and our freezer is well and truly stocked to survive the oncoming week. It contains:

-3 containers containing two home made burritos each
-2 containers of pasta with pumpkin, spinach and tomato sauce
-4 containers of morrocan vegetable stew with pumpkin, lentils, potato, chickpeas, tomatoes carrot etc. for the sake of using what we have this stew is accompanied by polenta instead of cous-cous.
-4 containers of thai fish curry with basmarti rice
-3 containers of stir-fried vegetables with tofu in hoi-sin sauce, with Japanese buckwheat noodles.

Of the vegetables delivered on Tuesday all that is left are three potatoes, a carrot and a tomato. So almost all perishables are used up, potatoes can be kept longer than a week and carrots and tomatoes make good snacks.

mc_shamo and I had fun with maths and have concluded that the cost of the above meals works out roughly to $3 a container on adverage. You should see the freezer! It's full to bursting point!

I feel very pleased with myself indeed. I am now less worried about my ability to stick to my financial plan.

I like cooking. By the way, none of these had recipes, but if you are interested I can let you know how I made them.

And the best bit? mc_shamo says he'll do the rest of the dishes!

Comments

[seagoon.livejournal.com]

Yummo. Feel free to brag, um, share recipes! Some of us need inspiration :-)

[mstakenidentity.livejournal.com]

Well, it so happens I'm on nightshift and waiting for a doctor to call back, so be prepered for recipes! Keep in mind I was cooking with what I had in the vegetable crisper and pantry, so substitute where needed/desired.

Burritos:

Saute a medium onion in a medium sized pan in about 1cm veggie stock. Slice up a zucchini and bung that in, along with three cloves crushed garlic, a hefty dose of paprika and a few dried chillis.
Drain a can of kidney beans and reserve the liquid, put the beans in the pan. Add a can of diced tomatoes. If needed use the kidney bean liquid to thin out the mixture, otherwise discard it.
Add corn kernals cut off the cob.
Let simmer for 10-20 minutes. Heat burrito tortilla in microwave for 30 seconds then place one in a container, spoon mix in and fold. Repeat so container has two burritos in it and continue until you've run out of mixture.
If not freezing make up burritos on a baking tray, top with cheese and put in oven for 15 minutes. Serve with salad and sour cream.

Morrocan Stew

Start with large saucepan with about 5cm veggie stick on medium heat. Add roughly chopped pumpkin, carrot, potato and onion. Add any spices that take your fancy (I used paprika, garam masala, a tiny bit of curry powder and pepper)
Drain cans of lentils and chickpeas and add these to stew.
Add celery and three chopped fresh tomatoes
Add pretty much anything you have in the vegetable xcrisper that you don't think you'll use up (and yet I still had stuff left over)
Let simmer for as long as you want, I left it an hour.
For freezing purposes I then tipped dry polenta straight into stew and let it expand and soak up the liquid, if serving straight away prepare polenta seperatley.

[mstakenidentity.livejournal.com]

Augh! I just wrote a comment with the rest of the recipes and lj ate it. Plus I've heard back from that doctor. If you're really interested comment and I'll tell you the rest.

[seagoon.livejournal.com]

Boo. No pressure, but the rest of the recipes sound cool too.