dewluca

You could try Vietnamese homestyle cooking to keep costs down. Typically we'd have rice with a big pot of green vegetable soup and a small quantity of meat. You could get a few pounds of chicken leg quarters, cut the meat off and make something like ga kho My link. Take the bones and use to make a big pot of chicken broth and add a pound or two of green vegetables like mustard greens, or cabbage, cut up into bite sized pieces. You can really use any kind of veggie in this soup. I frequently use a mixture of daikon, cabbage, and green onions. I would think you could get at least 6 meals out of this.

3 lbs chicken quarters: can be found on sale for $.49 or less=$1.50

2 lbs veggies for soup: $1.50 or less if you shop at an Asian grocery store

2 lbs uncooked rice would make plenty, at $.50 a pound=$1.00

So about $4 for 6 meals, maybe bump it up to $5 to account for pantry items like fish sauce and salt and pepper and such.

Thanks VH . . . I do some Thai and Szechuan cooking, but haven't tried Vietnamese.

Around here (Minneapolis) rice, beans, and lentils are around $1 a pound, regardless of how much you buy . . .

and even the "family packs" of chicken are much more than you list, but I appreciate the recipe ideas.

Thanks!

WOW! Thanks for the quick responses.

@dcs -- thanks for the links, they will help

@ mdt -- I can bake my own bread and make my own pasta (though I wasn't thinking of doing either, so thanks for the reminder). I don't know about the $ conversions, but I think the $2 figure is actually what many people LIVE on (so would include things like cooking fuel and any other necessities beyond food). I think the point of the challenge is to become more conscious of our spending, regardless of the specific amount we end up spending . . . you can read more about it at http://2dollardifference.com/

@Sundae in the Park -- well isn't it timely that the book "On a Dollar a Day" came out just as I was contemplating this? . . . PERFECT! Thanks for the link!

This was my first post, so thanks again for all the positive responses.

This may deserve a separate topic (and I may create one), but given the post above about eating on $50 a week . . . here goes (my first post):

I'm considering attempting the "2 dollar difference" during Lent 2010. This challenge involves trying to eat on $2 a day (like so many people around the world do) and then donating the difference between your typical food expenditures and what you spend during this challenge.

I already cook almost all my own food, brew my own coffee, etc., but I'm sure I spend somewhat more than $2 a day. What I'm looking for are sites or suggestions for very low cost meals (less than $1 per serving) and/or charts that indicate the cost per serving of various ingredients. Sure, I could eat beans and rice for the entirety of Lent, but I'd like to try to be a bit more creative than that . . .

Any accounts of similar experiences would also be welcome.

Thanks!