[Sca-cooks] Favorite Frugal Pennsic Meals

[Volker Bach]

> On 6/5/06, Sharon Gordon <gordonse at one.net> wrote:
> >  Thanks for the ideas for a more frugal Pennsic kitchen.  My friends
> > thank you immensely.  Next they would love to know what one of your
> > favorite frugal meals is.

I like to go with pottage-type dishes and, if doable, breads. Flour, rice, 
bulghur, oats, peas, lentils and wheatberries are fairly cheap, and if you 
have time in advance you can also make your own bases tio substitute the more 
expensive stuff - milli fanti (breadcrumbs, flour and egg mixed into a 
crumbly mass and dried, then quickly boiled in water to make a rich, tasty 
goo), Kishk of the Turcomans (coarse wheat flour with yoghurt, dried in 
crumbs), or just plain homemade pasta.

I don't recall the specific recipes for the simple 'all-in-one-meal' versions, 
but that has never stopped me whewn working on a budget. I can attest to the 
fact that they work from back when i was on a $25/week general expenses 
budget. Some of my favourite things to do are:

Brown onions at the bottom of the pot with a dollop of oil (or some bacon, iof 
you want meat in it), add bulghur, then water, cook till done, and add 
yoghurt or curd cheese if desired. Spices ad lib (salt and pepper do nicely, 
all manbner of herbs go well with this). You vary the proportions of bulghur 
to cheese and meat depending on financial state. This one also works with 
rice, and simply changing the spices can make a lot of difference. I used to 
live on this stuff for weeks on end at times. Goes well with dried veggies, 
too, just add them with the water. 

Pulses lend themselves to fire and forget cookery.You soak lentils the evening 
before, then in the morning you top up the water, add whatever veggies you 
want (lentils are great with mushrooms and onions, we just had that a legion 
camp this Saturday) and place the pot in the low-banked firepit NOT touching 
the burning wood. Come back every few hours to add a chunk of wood, turn the 
pot, stir, and top up water. In the evening, season to taste and eat. 

Refried pasta is very good, and a time-saver. Pasta for lunch with whatever 
you eat with it, then in the evening, a bit of oil or bacon in the pan, 
leftiover noodles added, slightly fried,  with cheese, herbs, spices, some 
kind of sauce. 

If you can do it, baking your own bread can help keep costs down, but it's 
work. Oatmeal with salt and water makes nice unleavened flatbreads cooked on 
hot stones. leavened flatbread with just flour and water is also good. If you 
are as worried about timing as I am - I always keep bread in reserve in case 
I screw up -  you could also make a pudding-style levened dumpling. I believe 
that is what the twelfth-century 'bread cooked in water' may describe, though 
steamed or parboiled are also possible explanations.  Flatbread cooked in a 
pan with a little oil is also very tasty, and much easier to keep from 
burning, but it adds the expense of decent cooking oil. You don't want the 
cheap and nasty for this. 

You'll probably want to forgo period-ness for a more liberal use of sugar. 
it's lots cheaper than honey, reduced fruit juices or dried fruit even here 
in Europe, and it improves the flavour of many dishes, especially breakfast 
ones. Plus, it gives you a spurt of energy. Sweet hot tea is lovely on chill 
mornings, and you can prepare very lovely syrupos fairly inexpensively to put 
variety into your soft drinks (mint, ginger or lemon are all often available 
quite cheaply, and you get gallons of drink out of one bottle). 

Don't look sat me this way. I used to be seriously poor.

Giano


	

	
		
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