It is time to assess my first week of my meal challenge. I hope I don't bore you with it but I think my meal planning and cost analysis fits into the weekly post.
The first step to eating well, using all your hoarded food and seeing if you are being cost efficient it to prepare at least a weekly menu. I try to do a month so I don't get caught in a rut of eating the same thing every week. I only do this for our main meal at night. I know another list that hangs of the refrigerator.
So here goes nothing.
Thursday night was Dried Beef with Milk Gravy in Patty Shells and canned green beans from the garden. This was a bit extravagant in price but we do love it. This meal fed 2 for dinner plus one 1 lunch. Dried Beef was around $4 I think, Gravy was $.06 and I estimate the puff pastry to be about a $1 for 4 patty shells since I don't know the cost of cake flour. The regular flour and margarine (which I used in place of butter) came to $.36 so total estimated $5.42.
Friday night was company night so fed 3 adults and on toddler. Dinner fare was pot roast with gravy, dilled carrots fresh from the garden and boiled potatoes from the root cellar. Cost of meat $6.00 and you will see this reappear a couple of times.
Saturday night back to our usual 2 for dinner and it was comfort night. We had chili. Dried beans, home canned tomatoes, and tomato sauce came from the pantry. Green peppers and ground beef from the freezer, and onions and rotele tomatoes from the store. To round out the meal we had Johnny Cake. Cost of Chili was $3.00 and Johnny cake $3.47. Total $6.47.
Sunday was Baked Pork chops with Stove Top Stuffing (didn't have any of my own on hand) and cream of Mushroom Soup and cole slaw made with fresh cabbage. Don't have exact cost on this as chops were in the freezer from a former purchase of a whole boneless loin but estimated at about $2.00, soup and stuffing $1.69. Cole Slaw was $.15 for the Mayonnaise. Total $3.84
Monday leftover Chili and Johnny Cake.
Tuesday Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches, fried potatoes and dilled carrots. All left from Friday's dinner. Made bread for the sandwiches and that cost was $.42
Wednesday I eat alone. Had stuffed green peppers from the freezer that were made last year and french fries (potato from the root cellar)
Total for a week $15.68 DB also ate Johnny Cake for breakfast 3 mornings.
Other things made this week
Buckwheat Pancakes
Recipe makes 12 pancakes using 2 oz. laddle
Cost $1.20
English Muffins
11 muffins $.64
Breakfast egg, cheese and muffin sandwich
cost $.22
Puff Pastry
Ingredients
-
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp/4 1/4 oz/120g all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
-
1 cup/4 1/4 oz/120g cake flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
Directions
Put the flour, salt, and chilled butter into a large bowl and rub them together with your fingertips until they resemble fine bread crumbs. Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the water. Mix with a knife, then bring the dough together with your hands.
Squidge into a ball, then wrap in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for 25 minutes.
Unwrap the dough ball and use a knife to score a large cross in the middle of it, cutting no more than halfway through. Lift all four corners from the middle of the cross, then pull them up and out to make the cross big enough to put the softened butter into.
Add the butter, then fold the corners of the cross back to the center, covering the butter so it is completely enclosed. The corners should overlap in the center so no butter is showing. It is important that the butter is not too hard or too soft, otherwise it will escape through the dough when you roll it out and the resulting pastry will not rise as well. If it's too hard, let the ball of pastry stand at room temperature until the butter inside has softened; if it is getting too soft, pop it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to firm up a little before rolling.
This next process is called "rolling and folding" (or "turns") and it creates the characteristic flaky layers of puff pastry. Begin by rolling the pastry out away from you on a well-floured counter to a rectangle roughly 3 times as long as it is wide (don't turn the pastry when rolling). Keep the corners square and edges straight by pressing a spatula or rule against them. Lift the dough occasionally to make sure it isn't sticking; flour the counter again if necessary and sprinkle with more flour as you go, dusting away any excess with a pastry brush. Take the short edge of the pastry nearest to you and fold it up a third, then fold the top edge down a third to give a rectangular block. Turn the dough 90 degree and then repeat the rolling and folding.
You have now given the dough two "rolls and folds." Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator. Chill for 20 minutes.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator, then unwrap and give it two more "rolls and folds." Wrap and rest in the refrigerator for at least another 20 minutes. The block of puff pastry can at this point be kept in the refrigerator for a day or two, or frozen.
Remove from the refrigerator, then unwrap and give the dough a final couple of rolls and folds. Roll it out to the size desired for your chosen recipe. Place on a baking sheet, then cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before using.
Also no baking temp or time. I baked at 425 for 20 minutes. I could have gone 25 I think. I also brushed the patties with egg wash before baking. They came out great. I am going to make croissants with the remaining dough.
All prices were calculated using
Pound-to-cup-conversion-chart found on this blog.
Be sure to visit our host
and see how others are using their cupboards this week.
