The FOOD, INC. $11 Dinner for Four Challenge: Day Two Meal
[NOTE: If you're new to my FOOD, INC. $11 Dinner for Four Challenge, I recommend you read my prior post, Ground Rules and Day One Meal, as background before reading this entry.]
On the menu for day two's dinner is a spinach frittata followed by honeydew melon for dessert. Children and adults drink milk. Sorry, grownups, still don't have enough ducats to buy coffee for you. For this meal, I "shopped" at the 16th and Potrero and the Church Street Station Safeway's on July 1, 2009. Yes, two different stores. The Potrero Safeway didn't have everything I needed so I had to schlep on over to Church and Market. I'm beginning to think that Heather (see yesterday's comments) is right — time may be a bigger issue than money with this challenge.
Thanks to @podchef for suggesting the frittata (again, see yesterday's comments). I'd been thinking of doing something with eggs as they're cheap protein but wasn't sure what dish to make with them. A frittata is a great egg-based main. The only problem with the idea is that I had no idea how to make a frittata. So, I had to do something almost as embarrassing as asking for directions — I had to consult a cookbook. OK, not actually a cookbook. A recipe site.
Googling on frittata recipe yielded plenty of suggestions. I chose the second result on the SERP for two reasons: the spinach frittata sounded like something that, with a couple of alterations, I'd like to eat and Elise of Simply Recipes is a friend from way back when, although I haven't seen her for years and she had no idea who is the Grumpy Glutton.
For my faux preparation of the frittata, I'll use the Simply Recipes recipe with the following alterations:
1) The recipe calls for 1 lb. of spinach (about two bunches). Spinach bunches must be larger in San Francisco than in Sacramento 'cuz the ones at Safeway weighed in a darn near a pound. Ergo, only one bunch of spinach.
2) Ixnay the sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese. I don't like them and they don't fit into the budget.
3) I really hate to do it but I also have to omit the garlic. If I spend $0.50 for garlic, there's not enough money to buy the honeydew. I want that fresh fruit for dessert.
4) Couldn't afford salt and pepper. Pepper is surprisingly expensive.
5) Because omitting the items in 2), 3) and 4) may cause the dish to tend to the bland side, I'm topping the frittata with salsa after it comes out of the oven. Salsa contains salt and garlic (not to mention peppers if not pepper) so I think this is the right tradeoff to get flavor but stay in budget.
6) I'm substituting butter for olive oil. I can't find a bottle of olive oil for less than $6 and that won't work with the budget. Butter will do a fine job of sautéing onions.
Podchef suggested using potatoes in the frittata but I chose not to go that route, fearing that the starch would not be good for our family's diabetic father.
So, let's cost it out.
One bunch of spinach from the produce section ran $1.99.
A half-pound of Lucerne unsalted sweet cream butter cost $1.99. We only need a tablespoon so we'll have plenty left over for use later in the week. This choice kills me because I could get double the butter for an extra $0.50 (Club Card price) but I don't have the money.
Couldn't find medium onions, only jumbo so I figure we'll use half today and reserve the rest for the future. A 10 oz. onion @ $0.89/lb. costs $0.56.
A dozen Lucerne large AA eggs were offered for a Club Card price of $2.19. Three eggs will be left to use later.
We'll take the milk for the frittata from what was left over from yesterday. The remaining milk (a quart minus two tablespoons) is tonight's beverage.
A 3 oz. (3/4 cup) bottle of Safeway grated Parmesan cheese ran $1.99. I'd have preferred the 4 oz. container of Deli Counter shaved Parmesan cheese at a Club Card price of $2.50 but couldn't afford it. Still, we'll have cheese left to use in the future.
A 7.75 oz can El Pato Jalapeño Salsa went for $0.69. The label says 7 3/4 servings per can but I'm going to use all of it.
Adding it up, the frittata ingredients cost $9.41. I have $11.00 for today plus $0.52 left over from day one so doing the adds and subtracts, I have $2.11 to spend for dessert.
In day one's post, I rued not being able to take advantage of $4.00, buy one, get one free Club Card special on honeydew. I don't know if it was the new month or going to the Church Street Station store but the deal got better — two for $4.00 or one for $2.00, Club Card price. Great! Each person gets 1/4 of a honeydew for dessert. The melons sure looked nice in the store.
That brings us up to a grand total of $11.41 for today's meal. Including day one's carryforward, we have $11.52 to spend. So, we'll carry $0.11 into day three, plus 7 1/2 oz. butter, half of a jumbo onion, three large eggs and 5/12 cup of Parmesan cheese. (One thing this project is doing is making me remember how to subtract fractions!)
Per person, this meal delivers 508 calories, 18 g of total fat, 8 g of saturated fat, 594 mg of sodium and 7.75 g of fiber. Most of the nutritional information came from www.safeway.com or from reading labels at the store. To speed the process, I used my phone's camera to photograph some of the food fact labels. That drew some looks, like WTF is that guy doing??? Nutritional information for the butter came from www.thedailyplate.com, for the onion, spinach and honeydew from www.nutritiondata.com.
The meal hits the total and saturated fat goal and compensates for some of yesterday's sodium overload. But, it's a little light on fiber and way light on calories — while I don't want our family to gain weight, I'm not trying put them on a diet either. As with day one, I think I'm doing better than fast food burgers but there's still work to be done. Click here if you want to see a JPG of the spreadsheet used to calculate the per person nutritional content for the meal.
Estimated prep time for the meal is about 30 minutes. "Shopping" took me an hour at two stores. I've got to become more efficient with the "shopping."
I got a huge reality check while I was researching and writing this post. I bought two iced lattes and a taco for a total of $11.25, including tips. Translation: I frittered away on drinks and a snack than this family has to spend on dinner for four.
Now, what can I do with three eggs, half an onion and some butter???
[NOTE: As you've probably figured out, my posts for the seven days of the FOOD, INC. challenge will not appear on seven consecutive days. Real life has a nasty habit of intervening. Sorry.]
On the menu for day two's dinner is a spinach frittata followed by honeydew melon for dessert. Children and adults drink milk. Sorry, grownups, still don't have enough ducats to buy coffee for you. For this meal, I "shopped" at the 16th and Potrero and the Church Street Station Safeway's on July 1, 2009. Yes, two different stores. The Potrero Safeway didn't have everything I needed so I had to schlep on over to Church and Market. I'm beginning to think that Heather (see yesterday's comments) is right — time may be a bigger issue than money with this challenge.
Thanks to @podchef for suggesting the frittata (again, see yesterday's comments). I'd been thinking of doing something with eggs as they're cheap protein but wasn't sure what dish to make with them. A frittata is a great egg-based main. The only problem with the idea is that I had no idea how to make a frittata. So, I had to do something almost as embarrassing as asking for directions — I had to consult a cookbook. OK, not actually a cookbook. A recipe site.
Googling on frittata recipe yielded plenty of suggestions. I chose the second result on the SERP for two reasons: the spinach frittata sounded like something that, with a couple of alterations, I'd like to eat and Elise of Simply Recipes is a friend from way back when, although I haven't seen her for years and she had no idea who is the Grumpy Glutton.
For my faux preparation of the frittata, I'll use the Simply Recipes recipe with the following alterations:
1) The recipe calls for 1 lb. of spinach (about two bunches). Spinach bunches must be larger in San Francisco than in Sacramento 'cuz the ones at Safeway weighed in a darn near a pound. Ergo, only one bunch of spinach.
2) Ixnay the sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese. I don't like them and they don't fit into the budget.
3) I really hate to do it but I also have to omit the garlic. If I spend $0.50 for garlic, there's not enough money to buy the honeydew. I want that fresh fruit for dessert.
4) Couldn't afford salt and pepper. Pepper is surprisingly expensive.
5) Because omitting the items in 2), 3) and 4) may cause the dish to tend to the bland side, I'm topping the frittata with salsa after it comes out of the oven. Salsa contains salt and garlic (not to mention peppers if not pepper) so I think this is the right tradeoff to get flavor but stay in budget.
6) I'm substituting butter for olive oil. I can't find a bottle of olive oil for less than $6 and that won't work with the budget. Butter will do a fine job of sautéing onions.
Podchef suggested using potatoes in the frittata but I chose not to go that route, fearing that the starch would not be good for our family's diabetic father.
So, let's cost it out.
One bunch of spinach from the produce section ran $1.99.
A half-pound of Lucerne unsalted sweet cream butter cost $1.99. We only need a tablespoon so we'll have plenty left over for use later in the week. This choice kills me because I could get double the butter for an extra $0.50 (Club Card price) but I don't have the money.
Couldn't find medium onions, only jumbo so I figure we'll use half today and reserve the rest for the future. A 10 oz. onion @ $0.89/lb. costs $0.56.
A dozen Lucerne large AA eggs were offered for a Club Card price of $2.19. Three eggs will be left to use later.
We'll take the milk for the frittata from what was left over from yesterday. The remaining milk (a quart minus two tablespoons) is tonight's beverage.
A 3 oz. (3/4 cup) bottle of Safeway grated Parmesan cheese ran $1.99. I'd have preferred the 4 oz. container of Deli Counter shaved Parmesan cheese at a Club Card price of $2.50 but couldn't afford it. Still, we'll have cheese left to use in the future.
A 7.75 oz can El Pato Jalapeño Salsa went for $0.69. The label says 7 3/4 servings per can but I'm going to use all of it.
Adding it up, the frittata ingredients cost $9.41. I have $11.00 for today plus $0.52 left over from day one so doing the adds and subtracts, I have $2.11 to spend for dessert.
In day one's post, I rued not being able to take advantage of $4.00, buy one, get one free Club Card special on honeydew. I don't know if it was the new month or going to the Church Street Station store but the deal got better — two for $4.00 or one for $2.00, Club Card price. Great! Each person gets 1/4 of a honeydew for dessert. The melons sure looked nice in the store.
That brings us up to a grand total of $11.41 for today's meal. Including day one's carryforward, we have $11.52 to spend. So, we'll carry $0.11 into day three, plus 7 1/2 oz. butter, half of a jumbo onion, three large eggs and 5/12 cup of Parmesan cheese. (One thing this project is doing is making me remember how to subtract fractions!)
Per person, this meal delivers 508 calories, 18 g of total fat, 8 g of saturated fat, 594 mg of sodium and 7.75 g of fiber. Most of the nutritional information came from www.safeway.com or from reading labels at the store. To speed the process, I used my phone's camera to photograph some of the food fact labels. That drew some looks, like WTF is that guy doing??? Nutritional information for the butter came from www.thedailyplate.com, for the onion, spinach and honeydew from www.nutritiondata.com.
The meal hits the total and saturated fat goal and compensates for some of yesterday's sodium overload. But, it's a little light on fiber and way light on calories — while I don't want our family to gain weight, I'm not trying put them on a diet either. As with day one, I think I'm doing better than fast food burgers but there's still work to be done. Click here if you want to see a JPG of the spreadsheet used to calculate the per person nutritional content for the meal.
Estimated prep time for the meal is about 30 minutes. "Shopping" took me an hour at two stores. I've got to become more efficient with the "shopping."
I got a huge reality check while I was researching and writing this post. I bought two iced lattes and a taco for a total of $11.25, including tips. Translation: I frittered away on drinks and a snack than this family has to spend on dinner for four.
Now, what can I do with three eggs, half an onion and some butter???
[NOTE: As you've probably figured out, my posts for the seven days of the FOOD, INC. challenge will not appear on seven consecutive days. Real life has a nasty habit of intervening. Sorry.]
Great Stuff! We often have salsa on our fritattas to add to the basic eggs, potatoes & peppers or spinach or ?? we use.
I wouldn't worry about shopping at more than 1 store to save money--especially if those stores are within walking distance of each other & a bus stop or your "family's" home. By sticking to the outside of the store, and away from the inner isles full of processed foods, not only does shopping go quicker, but the food is healthier and lower cost. It's also quicker to get in and out of the market.
I would be more worried that a typical low-income family wouldn't have the pots & pans or skill 2 cook even something as simple as a fritatta. No sleight on them, but our society doesn't actually encourage or foster healthy cooking for those with limited skills and time.
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Podchef, you neatly summarize the dilemma.
When people shop rim of the store, the get healthier, lower cost (especially if they buy in bulk) food. However, shopping the rim requires more cooking skills to prepare the food safely and get a tasty result.
Shopping the core results in meals that require less cooking skill -- I'd call it heating as opposed to cooking -- but cost goes up (e.g., see my canned vs. dry bulk bean discussion, above) and healthiness is compromised (e.g., if you click through to the JPGs of my spreadsheets, you'll see that most of the sodium comes from items that reside in the store's core).
I'm formulating the hypothesis that an excellent project for a non-profit would be to run a short series of classes on basic food shipping and cooking skills for low-income people with -- and this part is very important -- a graduation present of a few basic pans (sauce, fry, pot), utensils (spatula, measuring cups and spoons, cooking spoons, colander, etc.) and supplies (olive or other cooking oil, flour, spices, condiments, etc.). The idea would be to remove the barriers to entry for home cooking that low-income folks face and allow them to do the best job they can of stretching their limited food dollars.
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