Yesterday we got some good news. Maor will be losing his licence for 30 days but hes been issued a permit to drive 6 out of 7 days of the week. I can understand that maybe the state just wants to put its foot down on people driving without insurance but honestly, when they give out permits that allow you to drive on every day but Sunday when your licence is revoke, what is the point? He did everything he had to do and paid his fines so just let him drive.
So we wont need to worry about going broke during the month of October....unless business really dies with the cold weather...but thats a whole other uncontrollable issue.
During our week long panic wondering how we were going to make enough to keep a roof over our heads Maor and I started looking over everything we do and thinking of ways to stop every dollar that goes out the door.
One idea was to start making more food from scratch.
There is a slight problem with this. We kinda suck at cooking. We both have 1 individual dishes that we rock at and everything else is hit or miss. Im awesome at making chili from scratch and Maor makes an awesome BBQ chicken.
So our first order of business was to see if making something simple, like a loaf of bread, was even doable with our schedules and complete lack of baking skills. It took and internet recipe and both of us trying to decipher baking terms but we did make a pretty tasty loaf of bread in about 2 hours. We figured out after putting it in the oven that we fucked up some of the instructions but it still turned out.
I think I'll be adding bread making to our list of weekend chores.
Bread might not be cost-effective in terms of time invested vs. money saved. When I heard about your Jewish mother-in-law coming to visit for a while, I was going to make a joke about chicken soup... but, dammit, soup is one of the easiest and most cost-effective things to make. Make a big pot in one afternoon and eat for a week!
ReplyDeleteChicken soup:
legs or thighs of chicken with bones in (6-12)
carrots
parsley (whole sprigs, washed)
salt
whole peppercorns
whole allspice
noodles (make separately)
Soak the chicken legs in salted water for an hour or two. Drain the water. Remove the skin from the chicken and discard. Add to large stockpot full of cold, salted water and increase heat. Skim off scum as water heats up, but do not bring to a boil.
After scum stops forming, add peppercorns, allspice, salt, and sprigs of parsley to soup pot. How much is up to you, but I would recommend at least a tablespoon of each for two or more gallons of water. (Remember, you can always add salt to individual bowls of soup, but you can't take it away!)For the parsley, about six inches of leaf and stem. Add three to six cleaned, sliced, carrots. Simmer at least two hours, never allowing to boil.
Make the noodles separately. Add to bowls and ladle soup over them.
Of course, your MIL will probably have a much better recipe, but this should get you by until she gets there!
You can find more simple recipes on my blog under the Recipe label:
http://anothermonkey.blogspot.com/search/label/Recipes
One of the easiest, cost effective ways to cook good, healthy meals on a budget and time constraints is using a slow cooker or crockpot.
ReplyDeleteHere is a great source.....http://allrecipes.com/recipes/everyday-cooking/sensational-slow-cooking/main.aspx?prop24=PN_2.4.8_SN.Slow-Cooker
Home baking bread, unless you have dietary restrictions or eat a ton of bread really is usually not cost effective. I love to bake bread with my son but it averages out to $4 a loaf or more.
Good luck! Cooking can be a great tool to keep a relationship strong if you do it as a couple.
OK. This made me hungry. I'm now 90% done with making soup.
ReplyDeleteForget what I said about never allowing to boil. Boiling a little is the best way to get the scum to rise to the top. Also, scum will continue to form even after the first big foaming and you've added the other ingredients. It will look like a layer of fat forming on the sides, but it will come out like a skin. Just draw out carefully with a spoon, trying not to throw out too many peppercorns or allspice cloves or pieces of parsley.