This post is long over due. We’re talking ridiculously long. The week 1 post was almost ancient history, but thanks to my readers who have pushed me to get the rest of this series out, I kept going. Cheap Food Here is showing our readers that it is possible to spend just $100 per person per month on food. Our week 1 post was created when we were living in Costa Rica so certain foods were cheaper (most produce and fruit) but certain other foods were more expensive (specialty items, imported foods, cheese, meat, seafood, etc) so it has surprisingly balanced out now that we’ve completed week 2 since moving to St. Petersburg, Florida.

Remember that eating out isn’t going to be possible on this tight of a budget. There’s almost no way to stick to just spending $100 per person per month for food if you even eat out once. Prepared foods are much more expensive than homemade and can ruin your whole food budget if you let it. It’s also much easier to spend less than $100 per person if you’re doubling the recipes listed and feeding more than just two people.

There are two great posts from last month for 5 ways to save money on food and 5 more ways to save money on food. These are perfect for those of you doing the $100 cheap food challenge.

Here is the video again for those of you who missed the week 1 post:

VIDEO: Can you live on $100 per month for food?

Reduce snacking and eating between meals.

One of the most critical ways to save money is to reduce snacking, especially processed food snacks. This experiment was much easier when we cut out all chips, granola bars, boxed crackers, bottled drinks and junk food and replaced it with nutritious snacks like fruit, homemade crackers, nuts and other cheap, but healthy snacks. This may sound impossible because you get hungry half way between breakfast and lunch and then twice again between lunch and dinner, but knowing what to eat to reduce hunger is critical.

A high protein breakfast is the easiest way to sustain you through the morning. This means eating eggs, beans, meats, whole grains and vegetables early in the morning and in decent quantities. This is a tough transition if you’re not a big eater in the morning but once you ease into it and have go-to meals to prepare in the mornings, you’ll notice that you don’t get hungry until it’s time for lunch. Stay away from just eating cereals, breads, bagels, pancakes, biscuits and other high-carb, sugary foods because your body digests these foods faster and we all know that high-carb diets are a cause for concern with weight and diabetes.

If you do need a snack during the day, which is bound to happen, stay away from carbs and try to eat vegetables or home made snacks that are inexpensive and provide nutrition. Something that is not just a temporary escape from hunger.

Week 2 Menu

Below is the cheap food menu I’ve put together to get you started and prove you can eat healthy and fully on $50 per week for two people. Some of the recipes in the list below are from Cheapfoodhere.com and some are from our favorite foodies. Try not to use canned goods unless you have them already, but know that you are getting less than half of the nutritional value from canned goods that you would from fresh or frozen produce.

With a lot of the recipes, it’s good to reduce the quantity of expensive ingredients (example: cheese or meat) or use a substitute for something less expensive and perhaps more healthy.

Breakfast

1. Fried Eggs with Spinach and curried garbanzo beans
2. All Natural Granola Cereal with Bananas and Craisins
3. French Toast with peanut butter, banana and granola
4. Fried Eggs with Spinach and curried garbanzo beans
5. Oatmeal w/Craisins and flax and an almond milk berry shake
6. Feta and chive biscuits (follow recipe but sub feta for cheddar) with scrambled eggs and turkey bacon.

Lunch

1. Homemade mini pizza with turkey bacon, feta and jalapeño (follow recipe but change out toppings)
2. Citrus Lentil Salad with homemade hummus and carrot sticks
3. Falafel with cucumbers
4. Leftover Slow cooker chicken tikka masala
5. Leftover Cornish Hen and Dumplings
6. Leftover Homemade Gnocchi with Lemon Sage Butter

Then, it just so happened that I spent some time with an Argentinean chef at one of the beaches here in Costa Rica that we know. I don’t know why I didn’t call him first without bothering with internet recipes. Once I talked to him about my recipe woes, my whole empanada world changed. If anyone knows about preparing those little pockets of heaven, it’s an Argentinian.

He explained a few things to me. First, depending on whether you’re going to bake or fry them, you need to prepare them differently. Fried dough should use solid shortening while baked dough uses butter. If you use butter in a fried dough recipe, you’ll most likely end up with it opening in the hot oil and making a crumbly mess. Shortening works okay in a baked dough, but it changes the consistency of the dough once it’s cooked so it’s best to stick to the rule of cold butter for baked and shortening for the fried variety.

The next key to the baked version of empanada dough is to keep all ingredients ice cold. So, use all purpose flour that has been kept in the freezer, butter that is fresh out of the fridge and ice water to mix. After it’s all mixed it’s crucial to keep the dough in the fridge for at least three hours before using it. This insures that the dough is the right texture and doesn’t become too elastic to work with.

Once you master the empanada dough recipe, you’ll want to explore the filling options for your taste. We have chicken empanada filling recipes, beef empanada filling recipes, pork empanada filling recipes, fish and seafood empanada filling recipes and vegetarian empanada filling recipes.

Here are the two no-fail recipes I use to get the restaurant-quality empanadas you can find at Argentinian steakhouses.

Baked Empanada Dough Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 Cups of Flour
• 1 Tbsp Salt
• 1-3 Tbsp dried herbs and/or (non-salted) spices as desired
• 1/2 Cup cold butter
• 3/4 Cup ice water

Directions

1. In a medium-sized bowl mix flour, salt and 1-3 tablespoons of herbs/spices to taste.



2. Cut the butter into small squares and place in bowl with flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter until you have a cornmeal texture. If needed break up large pieces of butter with your hands, but don’t bring up the overall temperature of the mix.



3. The mixture should be slightly lumpy and look like a coarse cornmeal with the butter well incorporated.



4. Slowly incorporate 3/4 cup of ice water, adding a little at at time until a dough ball forms. The dough should not be sticky and should be kneaded about 10 times. If needed, add more flour or water to reach the appropriate consistency.



5. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or at least 3 hours).

Fried Empanada Dough Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 Cups of Flour
• 1 Tbsp Salt
• 1-3 Tbsp dried herbs and/or (non-salted) spices as desired
• 1/2 Cup room temperature solid shortening
• 3/4 Cup luke warm water

Directions

1. In a medium-sized bowl mix flour, salt and 1-3 tablespoons of herbs/spices to taste.



2. Cut the shortening into small squares and place in bowl with flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, cut in shortening until you have a cornmeal texture. If needed, break up large pieces of shortening with your hands.



3. The mixture should be slightly lumpy and look like a coarse cornmeal with the shortening well incorporated.



4. Slowly incorporate 3/4 cup of water, adding a little at at time until a dough ball forms. The dough should not be sticky and should be kneaded about 10 times. If needed, add more flour or water to reach the appropriate consistency.



5. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using.

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Our post highlights a challenge to ourselves and everyone out there to live off of just $100 per person per month for food. Some people think it’s downright impossible to do and others know it’s possible but think they’ll be eating only rice and beans for the month. We’re out to prove everyone wrong and at the same time enlighten everyone, no matter what country you live in, that with the right planning, menu and shopping, you can significantly cut your food costs, all the way down to $100 per month.

We were inspired by the many people we saw and spoke to daily that spend a ridiculous amount of money on food because they go out to eat too much or just buy things frivolously in the grocery store. Creating a food budget is hugely important when you’re trying to pay down your debt and truly begin building wealth. It’s a major part of your monthly expenses and you don’t have to give up delicious food in order to save money.

Cheap Food Here is providing the menu, tips and support you need in order to cut your spending. We’re passionate about food and more passionate about saving money. So, if you have the time today, please vote for us so we can move on to Week 2 of Project Food Blog and check back here every two weeks for the next entry. Thanks to all of our readers and those enthusiastic about the same things we are.

As a backstory, I have been actively involved with the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover to plan my budget and pay off all my debt. I finally conquered Baby Step 2 this month and am consumer debt free! No more student loans, no more credit cards, no more car payments; just the mortgages are left. It was painful, but one of the most helpful parts was creating a food budget and planning out my meals.

I got anal with it and started shopping lists, spread sheets, figured out costs per portion, where to find the cheapest groceries, etc. I’m documenting everything for my first book to be published. It’s a huge help just to be conscious of the money being spent each month, especially on food. As I explained in my recent post about shopping at farmer’s markets, pricing items can be tricky and vary significantly from place to place. It pays to be diligent.

So, what I’m asking for are submissions of all the unique ways to cut corners on price but not on flavor. We’re not talking just spaghetti dinners and boring potato casseroles here. I am truly passionate about designing meals on a creative budget, and I’m sure there are others out there. Thanks for everyone’s feedback, small or large.

When I was living in Charlotte, I had organic produce delivered to the house every other week. The service was called Absolute Organics (the Web site leaves a lot to be desired, but the products are great) and they have several different packages you can sign up for, but the gist of it is that you get a box of produce either every week or every two weeks left on your doorstep. Wow, how convenient. I definitely ate better while receiving boxes every other week.

I will be placing my order with NaturaStyle this week and will let you know once it gets here how it turns out. I do need to make sure it fits within my monthly grocery budget. If you would like to see a list of organic food delivery services near you, see my page about it. If there is a company not on the list just shoot me a comment and I’ll get it posted.

http://www.endlesssimmer.com/2009/04/16/100-ways-to-crack-an-egg/

Well, I think I’m going to reconsider the anti-meat and animal products routine. I know there are substitutes, and I plan to use them when I can (soy milk, veggie burgers, etc), but in general I love being creative in the kitchen without hesitating to use certain ingredients because a book said not to. Now, I do plan on being as responsible as possible in choosing all natural ingredients (MSG and pesticides-ew!) and knowing where the animal meat came from. Being in Costa Rica, this is fairly easy, as most farms and markets are very accessible.

I just can’t let go of delicious foods like Parmesan and feta cheese, bacon bits, etc. And I shouldn’t have to. I will do what I can to avoid the mass-produced products (also easier to do in Costa Rica) and get organic products delivered to my house. That’s right, I am about to be a proud subscriber to NaturaStyle.com, who has all the natural products you could think of including meats such as fish, chicken and beef. There are a ton of home delivery options all over the US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc you just have to look for them. I have created an organic food delivery directory that will help you find what you need. If you know of something out there that’s not on the list, please comment and I’ll add it.

It’s hard to get a handle on the animal cruelty that happens in slaughterhouses all over the world, and not knowing if the hamburger your eating came from a screaming cow before it got to your plate is something I’ll have to consider. But, I’m feeling better about just doing research and knowing the conditions in which my food is coming from. Don’t trust government agencies to protect you, they only have dollar signs on the brain. Where there’s money, there’s corruption, so don’t think for a second they care about what you are ingesting. You need to be responsible for yourself and protect your health by eating all natural foods and organic products.

(borrowed from www.skinnybitch.net)

I just read the book called Skinny Bitch this week, and I think it has ruined me. Well, in an eating-junk-and-meat sort of way. It’s a good book with mostly good information, but written in an over-the-top California snobby super-model style. What I mean is, there is a lot of cussing and inappropriate language, for shock factor and humor, but it starts to grate on your nerves after a few chapters. Anyway, it reveals some pretty eye-opening statistics (cited and verifiable, of course) about animal cruelty in slaughterhouses; chemicals, hormones and pesticides that get into the meat, cheese, and eggs we eat; and how the FDA is a corrupt government agency that is being led and persuaded by the farm associations doing all the harm.

So, as a result, I am grossed out by meat, and more careful about the eggs and cheese I eat. Luckily (I think), I am in Costa Rica and there are many little farms here that are organic, humane, and healthier than the mass-produced animal farms elsewhere (although, I can’t speak for the cattle, most is sold to the US/Burger King companies). So, I am on the search for organic, healthy foods that exclude meat and it’s tougher than I thought, especially being in Costa Rica. Although, I am living in San Jose, which will have something even if the rest of the country doesn’t.

I found a great website for vegan/vegetarian recipes developed by the International Vegetarian Union (IVU). It can’t guide me on where to find items in Costa Rica, but I am determined to comb through all the local grocery stores. Each one has their own great features, which will be in a different post, but the organics sections are small! And so, the hunt for cheap organic food in Costa Rica begins.

A quick and striking example of how food production impacts the Earth includes a Michigan State study. This study shows eating a pound of beef is about seven times worse for the environment than chicken and 200 times worse than potatoes. To put it into context, it takes about 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef (per Dr. Georg Borgstrom, Chairman of Food Science and Human Nutrition Dept of College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Michigan State University) which is about the same as a year’s worth of showers for one person.

So, you could essentially stop showering for a year or skip 4 hamburgers to save the same amount of water. I think I’ll choose a veggie burger next time. Think spicy black bean burger at the Penguin (if you’re reading this in Charlotte).

On a more positive note, sustainable food is easier than you might think to incorporate into your daily diet. It could be as close as your back yard, in a patio planter or around the corner at the farmer’s market. You can be sure you are eliminating as much transit, handling, processing, and pesticides as possible by looking in your own garden. In case you are an urbanite and don’t have a yard, there are simple questions you can ask at the farmer’s market and grocery store as well. Just simply noting where the fruit or vegetables come from (I think they require a sticker with country/state of origin now) is a good way to gauge how far they had to travel to get to you. Some farmer’s markets have imported goods as well as local, so it’s good to ask. This also helps support your local growers.

So, all you men out there responsible for eating 75% of the beef in our country, maybe opt for an alternative to your regular quarter pounder with cheese. We all have a responsibility to our environment and our bodies to be healthy and conscious of the overall impact we each make in every aspect of our lives. Especially the ones we have the most control over, like our diet.

(This article was written and published in the April 2009 issue of Charlotte Health and Fitness Magazine)

Again…another night with nothing to be found in the pantry and a hungry husband. I remembered seeing a recent post made by a fellow foodie for some curried chickpea dip and saw that i had a can in the pantry, so i decided to take the inspiration of the dip and make a pasta dish. I wanted to stuff cannelloni noodles with a curried chickpea filling, but I ended up just layering the baking dish with the flattened noodles instead.

Here’s the cheap food here, on-the-fly recipe:

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

1/2 lb of Cannelloni pasta
1- 20oz Can of Chickpeas or Garbanzo beans
5- fresh mushrooms diced
1- medium sweet onion diced
4- cloves of minced or finely chopped garlic (more or less to taste)
1/4 C. crushed walnuts
3- Tbl of olive oil
1- Tbl of yellow curry powder
1- Tsp garlic salt
1- Tsp white pepper
1/2 Tsp ground cinnamon
2- ripe tomatoes diced
1 1/2 C. shredded cheese (I used peppered Gouda)

DIRECTIONS

1) Cook the pasta to al dente, drain and rinse.
2) Saute the garlic, onions and mushrooms in olive oil for 2-3 minutes on med-high heat. Add the garbanzos, curry powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper and mix well. Saute for 2 more minutes.
3) Reduce heat to medium and add the diced tomatoes. Let cook for 3-4 minutes and remove from heat.
4) Spoon out half of the chickpea mixture into a 9 x 9″ baking dish and layer cannelloni noodles on top. Spoon out the remaining mixture on the noodles and top with walnuts and cheese.
5) Bake on 350 for 15-20 minutes uncovered