$300 a month to feed a family

Started by Akavit, April 10, 2015, 10:11:36 PM

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Chestertonian

i used to make challah with my mom every fridau for shabbatoccasionally she made rye breadbread for the week but that usually came from the grocery store..  good times
"I am not much of a Crusader, that is for sure, but at least I am not a Mohamedist!"

MundaCorMeum

Definitely agree on the breads, soups, and stocks.  I do homemade breads all the time.  They are excellent.  My sister in law gave us some homemade spicy, Rosemary olive oil that makes really good loaves of bread.  We do homemade pizza, too.  My husband made me a baking steel and pizza peel for our anniversary last year, and the difference in the crust quality is amazing.  He said it tastes very similar to the pizza he eats in Italy, when he was there for work....except for the cheese.  I'm working on learning to make homemade mozzarella.  That should help.  I haven't bought chicken stock in years.  I always have some in the freezer. 

As for beef,  I respectfully disagree, James  :). grass fed is awesome - steak, burgers, and all.  Granted, my husband raises the cows himself, so I trust the source ;). He does rotational grazing, which is supposed to really improve the quality of your pasture, and in turn, the beef.  We don't finish the cows on grain, either.  We have before, but we really couldn't tell a difference, so we don't waste our money.  Store bought doesn't even compare. 

Baldrick

#32
Quote from: Heinrich on April 11, 2015, 04:30:51 PM
Quote from: Baldrick on April 11, 2015, 01:21:43 PM
Prolly most peeps here know this but I also think that there are things that should ALWAYS be made at home:  soups and breads being the most obvious.  This is cheaper and generally of much higher quality.  There are some decent bread makers out there now and it is admittedly hard to replicate a real brick/bread oven, but still it's cheaper to make your own.  Soup is a no-brainer.  I don't know how peeps can eat that stuff out of a can.

What's a peep? Bread bakes well in the oven. You don't need a maker. Maybe we'll make some bread and soup before it heats up for the summer. I loves me some soup sammichez.

lol, a peep be u n me. 

What I meant about bread is, it's really difficult to replicate a real bread oven in one's home.  In villages in France, for example, people used to bring their dough to a central oven for baking.  Such an oven is too large and too expensive to run for one family's bread needs.  The heat is totally even all around the bread - they are very large ovens, usually made of clay/brick.  It's hard to replicate that in one's own home.  That's all I was saying.

What I meant by "bread makers" are good bakeries like, say, Iggy's here in the Boston area:  http://www.iggysbread.com  There are many others all over the US of course. 

Peeps be real.  Dis peep be done. 

Akavit

Quote from: Penelope on April 11, 2015, 12:12:09 AM
Well, okay. If you have to choose between not eating at all because you can't buy organic or buying a box of Top Ramen in order to survive, then the choice is obvious. But, in general, people can make cuts elsewhere and shop smart in order to buy whole foods. This idea that organic food is something reserved for those with tons of disposable income--quirky rich folks who have hobbies like environmentalism and whatever the latest work-out trend may be--is harmful. Poor people should be able to eat healthy food, too, and, particularly for certain foods, organics/non-GMOs are much, much healthier than conventionally produced foods. The woman in the article seems to rely a lot on apples, for example. Conventional apples contain some of the highest levels of pesticides of all produce. (Source: same author as article in OP.) She thinks she's feeding her family a low-cost and healthy diet, but how healthy are all those toxins on all those apples they're eating? People do what they need to do to survive, but for most families, even those with lower incomes, we're not talking about merely surviving here.

I make a sort of hobby of observing people and their eating habits.  While the number of people I can observe is pretty limited, the trend I've spotted is that people who eat lots of processed foods tend to get sick more often and develop chronic health problems at a younger age (40's-50's).  Those who eat more made-from-scratch foods with plenty of vegetables seem to stay mostly healthy into their 70's and 80's.

The difference between those who eat organic and those who don't bother to do so hasn't been enough for me to spot the difference with my non-scientific "experiment".  I suspect one reason is that avoiding food toxins doesn't eliminate contact with all the other chemicals that surround modern society.  You can't escape it.  Go out in the country and your neighbor will crop-dust your home.  Stay in the city and inhale the mosquito spray municipalities like to fumigate neighborhoods with.

It's also possible to be selective about which foods to buy.  Apples can be scrubbed and peeled at least whereas strawberries are too delicate for such operations.  Bananas and oranges have nice, thick peels shielding the fruit.  Some foods are super easy to grow and don't need to be purchased at the store.


Greg

Fat people retain their sanity.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32233571
Contentment is knowing that you're right. Happiness is knowing that someone else is wrong.

Limoncello

Quote from: Baldrick on April 11, 2015, 01:21:43 PM
Prolly most peeps here know this but I also think that there are things that should ALWAYS be made at home:  soups and breads being the most obvious.

So do you do this?

Quote from: LausTibiChriste on April 11, 2015, 04:54:19 PM
A good chicken stock can be done in a couple hours and last you a long time - they add a ton of flavour and body to dishes, are easy too make and relatively cheap.

Chicken stock might be cheap to make but it's a pain to store it. If you make a lot, it takes up a ton of space in the freezer. Plus there's the whole straining/cooling/parceling into freezer bags/having the place smell like chicken for days factors. Easier to buy Swanson organic stock. And really, the price ends up being the same, once you've factored in buying the meat, veggies, spices and freezer bags.

MundaCorMeum

Quote from: Limoncello on April 12, 2015, 01:00:18 AM
Quote from: Baldrick on April 11, 2015, 01:21:43 PM
Prolly most peeps here know this but I also think that there are things that should ALWAYS be made at home:  soups and breads being the most obvious.

So do you do this?

Quote from: LausTibiChriste on April 11, 2015, 04:54:19 PM
A good chicken stock can be done in a couple hours and last you a long time - they add a ton of flavour and body to dishes, are easy too make and relatively cheap.


Chicken stock might be cheap to make but it's a pain to store it. If you make a lot, it takes up a ton of space in the freezer. Plus there's the whole straining/cooling/parceling into freezer bags/having the place smell like chicken for days factors. Easier to buy Swanson organic stock. And really, the price ends up being the same, once you've factored in buying the meat, veggies, spices and freezer bags.

I won't argue the space and extra time and effort (which is not a crazy amount, but still something to consider before you make a batch).  But, if you are cooking chicken for your family anyway, it is definitely cheaper.  I mean, the bones just go in the trash, so you may as well get use out of them.  For me, it's basically a free by-product.  For the veggies, I just save scraps (and bones, for that matter) in ziplock bags in the freezer as I use them, then when the bags are full, I make stock. 

Chestertonian

the packaged stock is different from the homemade stuff

i could never digest the packaged broth i think because they add stuff

some of it even has sugar added.  the packaged stuff has more sodium with homemade you can control the salt level

the bone broth is a different product when you refrigerate it is like jello it's full of protein
"I am not much of a Crusader, that is for sure, but at least I am not a Mohamedist!"

Limoncello

Quote from: MundaCorMeum on April 12, 2015, 06:06:58 AM
But, if you are cooking chicken for your family anyway, it is definitely cheaper.  I mean, the bones just go in the trash, so you may as well get use out of them.  For me, it's basically a free by-product.  For the veggies, I just save scraps (and bones, for that matter) in ziplock bags in the freezer as I use them, then when the bags are full, I make stock.

I tried this and had a hard time getting a good flavor. It sounds like you're using more veggies than I did, though. I thought maybe I was using too much water so I looked up recipes online and they all recommend using whole pieces of chicken, which I ended up doing. For a while if I bought chicken I'd save a piece or two in the freezer, so that worked okay.

Martha Stewart has a chicken stock recipe that involves using like ten pieces of chicken, first browned or fried or something. I'm sure it's delicious but that's a whole other meal.

Limoncello

Quote from: Chestertonian on April 12, 2015, 06:46:38 AM
the packaged stuff has more sodium with homemade you can control the salt level

I try to buy the low sodium kind. Once I had found a supposedly organic and natural bouillon powder that tasted exactly like ramen noodles and made me thirsty, so that went in the trash.

Quote
the bone broth is a different product when you refrigerate it is like jello it's full of protein

Interesting.

Penelope

Quote from: Limoncello on April 12, 2015, 11:34:10 AM
Quote from: Chestertonian on April 12, 2015, 06:46:38 AM
the bone broth is a different product when you refrigerate it is like jello it's full of protein
Interesting.

It's from all the gelatin and bone marrow in the bones. It's what makes homemade stock healthier. My husband just made a stock from the Easter ham bone and he used it as the base for the pot liquor for collard greens, one of my favorite dishes. When I took the leftovers out to eat for lunch the next day, there was a thick layer of semi-solid material on top, which then melted back into the pot liquor when I heated up the greens.

Baldrick

Quote from: Limoncello on April 12, 2015, 01:00:18 AM
Quote from: Baldrick on April 11, 2015, 01:21:43 PM
Prolly most peeps here know this but I also think that there are things that should ALWAYS be made at home:  soups and breads being the most obvious.

So do you do this?

Bread yes, once in a while.  I've made soups but don't do it on a regular basis.  Growing up that's what my mother always did.  She also made her own pasta.  Pretty much everything actually. 

I'm a bachelor so don't do a lot of complicated/long term cooking for myself.  But I wouldn't buy canned/store soup unless someone had a gun at my head; and if I buy bread, which is rare, it's from a real bakery.  Anyway, I am soon to be married and she is an absolutely amazing cook.  I have a French chef in the family, among others who are well-accomplished in the kitchen (for example, my brother in law owns/runs a well-known chocolate shop in paris, 6th), so the bar is high, lol.   :)

At night I mostly eat out or go to dinners.  When I'm home it's often left overs from restaurants.  There's something about cooking dinner - not breakfast oddly - for oneself that's depressing. 



Baldrick

#42
Quote from: Greg on April 12, 2015, 12:16:42 AM
Fat people retain their sanity.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32233571

hmmmm.....well, that's weird.  Well, the obese have higher levels of estrogens.  And estrogens can be neuroprotective (indeed, they are interesting as they also double as neurotransmitters, especially e2 estradiol.)  So that's my bet. 

Limoncello

Quote from: Baldrick on April 12, 2015, 12:31:58 PM
I'm a bachelor so don't do a lot of complicated/long term cooking for myself.  But I wouldn't buy canned/store soup unless someone had a gun at my head; and if I buy bread, which is rare, it's from a real bakery.  Anyway, I am soon to be married and she is an absolutely amazing cook.

Bingo.  :lol: It's easy to tell people there's no excuse not to do something when you're not the one actually doing it.

Baldrick

Quote from: Limoncello on April 12, 2015, 01:41:12 PM
Quote from: Baldrick on April 12, 2015, 12:31:58 PM
I'm a bachelor so don't do a lot of complicated/long term cooking for myself.  But I wouldn't buy canned/store soup unless someone had a gun at my head; and if I buy bread, which is rare, it's from a real bakery.  Anyway, I am soon to be married and she is an absolutely amazing cook.

Bingo.  :lol: It's easy to tell people there's no excuse not to do something when you're not the one actually doing it.

haha  ;D 

I heartily commend to everyone the liberal use of the royal "we"   8)