Pokin' Around On-line...

...I found this: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/007341cooking_on_a_budget.php
I've only looked at a few recipes on the actual website, but I thought I'd share this because she seems to have some good ideas. Including this one: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/002135rustic_onion_tart.php
I'm thinking of making this tart later in the week. During toddler naptime today, I decided to "get ahead" with some grating of cheeses and I made a batch of Martha Stewart's pate brisee.

From that first link, I found this: http://hungerchallenge.blogspot.com/ , which has people spending $3 a day per person. That's gotta be tough.

Which brings me to how our 30 Day Dinner Challenge has impacted the Hunt family financially. So far, our most expensive meal at home has cost us about $18.32. I've been saving our shopping receipts to help break down the cost of each meal, but it's been tricky. Some items used were purchased or made pre-challenge, such as a can of beans, or some chicken stock that I made and froze. Then, there are things like a cup of carrots; the carrots come from our CSA, which comes in a bunch in a box of other vegetables, and I don't have a breakdown of what each vegetable costs. Or, stuff like butter, salt, pepper, olive oil, etc. I leave the costs of those out, unless it's a large amount, like butter for tart dough. Or, there are things like a tablespoon of dried cranberries or a 1/4 cup of toasted pecans that are tossed into a salad. I just take a guess, especially if it was bought last month.

Some of the ingredients that drive up the cost of a meal aren't what you would expect. Our $18.32 meal was a panade. [I was just going to link that word so that you can see what it is, but it looks like what I've thought of as "panade" actually isn't what it is. So, my version is basically sort of a bread casserole. It's hearty, comforting, and yummy.] What made this panade so expensive was the bread. I had a mix of different partial loaves of artisan breads in my freezer, including a cherry pumpernickle from Tall Grass Bakery. Although I only used about 1/3 of that loaf, it was a $10 loaf of bread. YIKES!

Then, there are ingredients like cheese. The gruyere cheese I bought at $12.99/pound amounts to $.81/ounce. An ounce here, and ounce there, and you've spent a few bucks!

So, at the end of all this, I do plan to attempt to breakdown my grocery bills, and take into account our Thundering Hooves meat orders and Oxbow Farm CSA, and try to make some sense of how this challenge has affected our pocketbook. It's just an extra something I want to do for my family. My hunch is that cooking at home is more affordable, but by how much?