Cheap Eaten

[karstopography]

Eating insects…do I hear crickets. The japanese hornet nest thing sounds amazing. The Japanese culture seems to embrace the ultimate of foodies and foodiness. This hornet liquor they make, I must try some.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-42639877

I’ve nibbled on dry wood and subterranean termite swarmers. Fruity flavors, not bad. About the size of a grain of rice so you need a lot.

[worth1]

Sweet tater and a hotlink.

[worth1]

Deboned three chicken thighs for Asian food and experiment fries on reserve.
Krispy Krunchy fried chicken skin with my modified Tajin on top.
Nice snack.

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[karstopography]

Cooking a couple of split chickens on the BGE. One of the whole chickens had 2 livers and a heart packed with it, I threw those on the grill along with the chicken halves. Oh my, those livers and the heart were great as a prequel. Whole Chicken is 95 cents/#. Wife is making a slaw from an All seasons cabbage from the garden as a side.

Winter garden has been a hit. Seems like we are using something fresh out of the garden most nights. Not having to buy as much produce is nice.

[Danny]

My partner made a test dish for her TOPs group with unripe jackfruit. She did a marinade and then stewed it in a beef broth/veg mix. It made me think of beef mostly, shredded. Would be good on a taco or tostada or enchilada maybe, not bad at all. I thought it would be awful after looking at it in the pack, but would eat it again.

[Tormato]

Duck soup. Been boiling the remains for days until everything left fell off the bones. Picked out the bones - most of them anyway. Frozen tomatoes, fresh local carrots at the end. Was tempted to use pasta but in the end I went with some pearl barley.
The duck wasn't cheap to begin with, it fed three of us plus one meal of leftovers, and the soup makes another three servings I reckon. So that gets it down to... oh a bit less than $3 a serving. Yikes.

Do you recommend any herbs or spices for the soup? I'll start shopping for my yearly frozen duck in a couple of months and put it in the freezer until fall. I'll likely make three, or so, broths to trial, one about 50/50 chicken & duck stock, one about 75/25 chicken/duck, and one 100% duck with tomato. I like pearl barley in lamb stew, so that sounds good. A typical chicken or turkey soup, for me, has carrots, celery, and onions for starters. I also add about 1/2 pound of cooked and pureed sweet potato to 4 quarts of stock. Then it's either noodles, rice, or meat tortellini. Wild rice might go good with the duck, too.

[bower]

One thing I always liked about duck, @Tormato , is that it takes seasonings really well. I personally love a roast duck seasoned with lots of garlic black pepper bay leaves and rosemary. We were aiming for a more Asian seasoning this time, so garlic ginger coriander bit of garam masala, sesame oil type flavors iirc, and these lingered faintly but not enough to define the duck flavor in the soup. I do rarely make soup so I don't claim to be a master of it, but iirc I did lean on the summer savory again this time for the herb. Local favorite. I put frozen tomatoes in as well as lots of onions and carrots. I could see using basil as a flavor alternative. Things like parsley and celery are also always welcome in soup if you have em, very classic. That barley worked great for my 'don't like soup' attitude - it's way more substantial. I bet wild rice would be fantastic with duck!

The frozen tomatoes disappear completely into soups and stews but really amp up the flavor without somehow tasting of "tomato". It's like a secret weapon in everything. Made a bulk batch of chicken thigh curry on the weekend, lots of tomatoes in that too. It makes a huge difference.

[worth1]

Look at the marbling in this USDA Select.
T bone side of a chuck roast.

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[worth1]

I had 1.5 pounds of the lower half of the chuck roast left.
Cut it up into thin strips and cut again.
Added a can of red enchilada sauce la Victoria brand.
Salt.
Water.
Some but not much chili powder.
No cumin.
Garlic powder.
Dried onion.
MSG.
Let simmer.
Serrano chiles.
One diced avocado because it needed a home.
About 3 handfuls of raw peanuts.
This will stay on low for quite some time.
It is a thin soup not a thick Texas chili.
Nor does it taste like chili.
Probably add some small shell macaroni later but not many.

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[bower]

I bet the Serrano chiles are gracing the leading role there!

[worth1]

I bet the Serrano chiles are gracing the leading role there!

Not really if I don't cut them up.

[bower]

I forgot about your high tolerance level.
IDK if I have eaten Serrano but I bet they are flavorful. All the Mexican chilies I ever tasted were very uniquely flavored, not just hot.

[worth1]

I forgot about your high tolerance level.
IDK if I have eaten Serrano but I bet they are flavorful. All the Mexican chilies I ever tasted were very uniquely flavored, not just hot.

Not really if you don't break the flesh open it won't ruin the food.
They are to be dipped out if you choose.
I have no idea what's going on with serrano chiles but they are getting crazy big lately.

[worth1]

I might just have to grow the serrano this year for the red ripe ones.
Talk about sweet and flavorful.
I ate one with a bowl of the soup.
Which by the way is some of the best soup I have ever made.

[karstopography]

Serrano peppers are great. They thrive here on the coast of Texas. They are a pepper popular in Tamaulipas and the city of Tampico, Mexico, right below the border on the Gulf of Mexico.

One serrano plant in the garden is plenty for me. They produce all summer and are prolific in the heat. Serranos are great in pico.

[Sue_CT]

Very easy to grow even here in CT. I have some trouble getting the fully ripe red ones though. I usually just get them late in the season.

[Danny]

Pepperpot soup the other night, good even when it is hot out. Tonight it is supposed to be a HUGE roasted chicken, cornbread stuffing, craberry sauce,gravy and cauliflower roasted in the chicken drippins. It is so HUGE, 7 pounds, that some will end up as frozen cheater dinners. Partner in crime scored some 2 section freezer things, big enough to have a few ready meals in them.

Ms. Chicken is salt brining right now, in the sink, and had a HUGE heart, almost 3 inches long, and a normal sized neck. No gizzrd or liver. Had to pull some quills left on one leg, but that was all. She is so big, could have a party and still have left overs.

Ooops cheap eats as the chicken was 1.14 a pound and so many meals to come from it, plus stock.

[worth1]

I had leftover fried chicken.
Leftover rice.
Made a white gravy to go on the rice.
And some crispy French fry sticks.

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday Pickles scored an anaconda for 99 cents a pound! The IGA has something called digital coupons where you go on their website to the Coupon tab and click the "snip it" button on each item that has a discount and that is applied at the register. The $1.99/lb pork loin had a $1/lb off coupon so the $18 pork loin cost $9. Wow!

It has to be canned because there's no room in the freezer. We just bought one that Pickles canned up with TexMex seasoning for lunch burritos. This one she will put up bbq style. She's guessing maybe 8 to 9 pints of good stuff. Ya get while the gettin's good!

[bower]

Well it turns out I was right about not shopping on a Saturday.
Shopped today thursday. Scored whole chicken at 5.49 kilo, also pork sirloin roast and steaks at the same price, sirloin tip beef roasts at $11.00 a kilo (that would be regular price here for pork or chicken) and a pack of bone in chicken breasts at 9.00/kilo. I was looking for something bulk to cook for quick dinners, and so here comes the bulk roast-a-thon. What I'll do is freeze the right size portions, which I know from experience will just thaw and heat perfectly in the 30 minutes/toaster oven 400F it takes to cook a sheet pan dinner of chipped potatoes and veggies, without getting tough or losing quality.
This works really well with bone in chicken, salmon steaks, even beef or pork roast chunked at an inch thick, and takes minimal prep time just to chop the spuds and veggies (cauliflower and peppers work the best for me).
So... bulk roasting of at least two items in the big oven should be a save of energy cost, even though the extra meals are reheated from frozen - time it would take anyway to cook the vegs and spuds which can't be cooked in advance. Anything bone in I like to cook the day I bought it, because thawing is such a PIA.
I need to check my weights and roasting time just to make sure I don't combine the wrong pieces and overcook something.

The biggest savings with bulk cooking is my time.
I love to cook especially when I have guests and lavish time on it, but many days I'm working and not ready to give it up when I start to get hungry.
Okay that's my way of delicately saying I'm lazy. Very lazy about food. Stomach growls, I want to eat. I want ten minute prep time, most of the time.
Since I'll never buy a frozen dinner, ever, I have to make my own.
There seems to be two basic versions of frozen dinner. Freeze the meat, oil pan and chop your spuds and vegs in 10 minutes, wait 30 to eat. That's this one. One pan to wash afterwards.
The other is either with rice or with noodles, and makes a 'bucket meal' that you reheat in one pot with a little water. Curry and rice, chili and rice, various stews or chinese dishes plus rice, or goulashes with noodles, which reheat from frozen surprisingly well. These take about 20 minutes or more to slowly thaw and heat through, which is time to make a salad or chop some fresh veggies to throw into it.
Third fast food - pastry is another one. Freezes great, reheats perfectly. But they reheat in about 15 minutes, and tend to get et without sides.

I am not often inclined to eat the same thing the day after, although some things if it only makes two meals I'll keep it for next day. But usually I'll cook more than 2 meals at a time and freeze it so I can mix it up.
Et voila, cheap eaten for my time.