on a lighter note

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
on a lighter note
16
Mon, 04-20-2009 - 10:07am

Four days into my "food stamp diet", still on track, but getting a bit tired of beans and rice and pasta and sauce. Dipped into some of this week's budget and made a loaf of banana bread, using the over-ripe, on-sale bananas. Came out pretty good:

5 large bananas $1.22
2 eggs $0.58
1 stick butter $0.99
3/4 cup sugar and 2 cups wholewheat flour $1.00 (estimate)
1 tsp. baking soda (count this as a freebie)

So the total is $3.79. The recipe said 12 servings, realistically I could get 8 servings from it. Not bad at $0.47 per slice; I have known to pay $3.29 a slice at the local health food store ...

The other thing I did over the weekend was forage. There is a place you could find wild asparagus. They taste slightly stronger than cultivated ones. Managed to get some good shoots. Also went to a friend's yard (he does not use any chemicals) and picked some young dandelion leaves for a salad. Theoretically the asparagus and dandelion are both free, but I think I spent closed to $4 on gas.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2008
Mon, 04-20-2009 - 1:14pm

The banana bread sounds great, but I'm trying hard to loose a few pounds.

Norma


"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus


iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
Mon, 04-20-2009 - 2:28pm

YUM, morels!

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2008
Mon, 04-20-2009 - 2:35pm

It was on TV, which I can listen to on my FM radio dial on the way to work.(Our local ABC station is on FM band 87.7).

Norma


"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus


iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
Mon, 04-20-2009 - 2:39pm

Thank you very much for the link, I will read it when I get home tonight.


Yes, take advantage of living in an area with great mushrooms (well, the gourmet types, not the pscyhedelic ones).

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
Mon, 04-20-2009 - 7:16pm

Hello Norma,

For some reason I am not getting the link from email, but goggle it and found the article. The menu looks reasonably tasty, but if this is the ingredients list, I am not seeing any vegetables other than a few chili pepper, one red pepper, and one onion - all for 4 people!

2 quarts chicken stock
4 chipotle peppers in adobo
1 tbsp red chili flake
1 tbsp chili powder
4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 two-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1 med yellow onion, diced
2 tbsps fresh ginger, julienned
2 tbsps paprika
2 tbsps red curry powder
8 whole cloves garlic, peeled
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 lb kielbasa sausage, sliced into 1-inch pieces
2 cups five-minute white rice

Back to foraging for wild greens and perhaps even berries! ;-)

I think one of the challenges to get people to consume more fruits and veggies is they are not necessarily cheap (compared to starches), nor are they filling. Someone with a VERY limited budget may want to spend money on bread or pasta instead of baby spinach.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-02-2008
Tue, 04-21-2009 - 8:10am

You could get 4 stick of margarine for a buck around here and a dozen eggs for .75.


Maybe you could get 2 loaves of banana bread out of that.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2008
Tue, 04-21-2009 - 10:45am

They are doing this all week long on ABC as a part of the Food Stamp challenge.

Norma


"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus


iVillage Member
Registered: 04-10-2003
Tue, 04-21-2009 - 10:58am

Nicely done.


I can't remember if it was in this thread or the other when you said your mind set changed from "will this make me gain weight" to "will this keep me full". It says a lot about the choices some people have to make.


Good for you for testing this out!


Bex -


"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift -thats why its called the present."


Bex -

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-04-2008
Tue, 04-21-2009 - 5:13pm

Hmmmm Norma (she says quietly under her breath) you can GROW spices.....(shakes her head looking at someone's green thumb.)


I have started: cilantro, oregano, basil, thyme and rosmary in my seed starter trays.




iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2008
Wed, 04-22-2009 - 9:59am

BUT, how much do the plants cost to start growing your own spices? $3, $4 or maybe $2.50 each, that cannot be taken out of the food stamp money, right?

Norma


"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus


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