Tue 21 Apr 2009 12:24 am
For years, I’ve been saying that we could cut the chaos in our lives in half just by planning and cooking meals ahead of time. The first day of United Way’s Hunger Challenge proved me right in the worst way. Let me just confess up front that my kids had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner, even though the adults did — well past the children’s bedtime — get a nice vegetarian stew. No one went hungry, but the diet could have been far better balanced.
(I know this isn’t a contest, but, sheesh, Gastrognome — you made mayonnaise?!) And Lara, you’re roasting your own espresso? Clearly I need to take some notes here.)
I had a vague idea of what to cook for the $7/day challenge ($22/day in my case, for a family of four) but decided to food shop before making firm plans, under the theory of cooking whatever was on sale. I visited Fred Meyer, PCC, and Trader Joe’s for supplies, and later this week I’ll probably restock at Ranch 99. This is actually no more insane than my usual weekly shopping routine, but I realize it’s a luxury in itself — the time to visit multiple stores, for one thing, and a reliable car to get to them. When doing the actual cooking, though, time is a substitute for money in a lot of ways: Soaking beans, braising meats, baking bread… oh, the bread, which I put it out of my mind until Sunday night.
I had planned on making a 3-loaf batch of Robin’s Bread to get through the week on budget. That was a problem. The bread needs to rise overnight before a second rise and bake. No way could I get it done in time for lunch sandwiches on Monday. My faster standby, the Buttermilk Honey Bread, called for, well, buttermilk and honey, and I didn’t want to incur the extra cost. So I went searching on the King Arthur Flour site Sunday night for a basic, reasonably fast recipe, and wound up with this “Classic Sandwich Bread,” then stayed up until 1 a.m. for it to come out of the oven. I briefly panicked when it barely changed shape on its first rise — it’s never a good idea to test a new recipe when you really need something to work — but it did fine on the second rise, and came out of the oven lovely and toasty and tasting great. I’ll be making it again (note that I used vegetable oil instead of butter, and substituted whole wheat flour for half the white flour). Total cost: About $1.50 per loaf, including 65 cents worth of flour from the bulk bins at Fred Meyer and 40 cents worth of organic milk I feel good about. Throughout the day, as expected, the fresh and organic ingredients wound up costing the most.
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Posted by Rebekah Denn under Recipes, Vegetarian
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