$10 Weekly Menu Challenge - Take 2: $20 Windfall

[sabrelvssammy]

Are we able to rely on the hebs and spices that anyone of us would ordinarily have on hand... S&P, basil, oregano, garlic and onion powder, cinnamon, etc.?

Theresa

thanks for another fun challenge! HUGS!

Nope! You have picture that you have nothing in the house but what you bring home with your $10. No oils, spices, sugars, pepper....nothing. If you want them, you have to budget them in.

[Contrary Housewife]

I'm curious about how many fruits and veggies you could propagate at home this way. I could only think of two in a temperate climate (tomatoes and potatoes, though the potato that you use for eyes is one less that you can eat) and maybe pineapple in a tropical climate, though I have no experience with that. All of the easy to propagate stuff like lettuce, radishes, basil, etc, has to go to seed. Is there anything else that I'm missing?

Peppers are easy to propagate from grocery store produce. I'm growing some sweet red bell peppers now. Hot peppers will grow too.

Cucumbers and zuchini will grow *if* you can get a specimen big enough to have mature seeds. Also pumpkins, butternut and other hard squashes and melons. Melons are often hybridized though and may not grow true.

Old garlic heads that have started to put out green shoots can be broken up into individual cloves and planted and they will each grow a new head.

Sweet potatoes will grow like Irish potatoes, plant one and in 6 months you'll have several pounds ready to harvest.

Then there's the world of beans, peas and grains, which I don't have a lot of experience with.

Coincidentally, someone sent me this link this morning: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/ga...pagewanted=all

[shoiji]

Already have chives growing in a pot from last year but I would be looking for the wild onion grass to replant in a pot if I did not have any chives.

[Sophiasmama]

Oh my that is hard...didn't go shopping yet cause I'm trying to figure out what to buy lol...if you can believe those udon noodle packets are 99 cents for 1.

[my4littlebuffaloes]

I would stock up on baking supplies as they came up on sale. Flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. I think I would also buy a big bag of potatoes and hopefully some fruit/

Also, would splurge on a whole chicken. You could eat for a week on a whole chicken and still have broth left for many more meals. You can boil the bones for broth time and time again and still get nutrition and flavor out of them.

[Contrary Housewife]

Ok, on top of the $10 worth of lentils, ramen, eggs, frozen veg, etc from the other thread, this is what I would do:

1. Take ~$5 and buy seeds for mint, basil, parsley and lettuce from the 10c rack at Ace, then get a dollar or two each of seed potatoes (.69c/lb) and sweet potatoes to plant. It will be many months before harvest, but the return on investment is good.

2. With the remaining $15:

tea 1.99
sugar 1.88
hot dogs 1.00
buns .69
veg oil .99
flour 1.48
baking soda .49
salt .42
2 onions ~.99
12 Kool aid lemonade packets .96
2 cans tomato 1.00
sm bottle hot sauce .99

and with the last $2 I would either get a bag of fruit from Aldi or I would get a bag of cheap pasta and some celery. Leaning toward the fruit.

The hot dogs are a cheap meaty splurge and will make a couple of dinners. The lemonade I chose because it is sweet, but needs less sugar than regular drink mix. With the flour, soda and salt I can make biscuits or soda bread, with one of our eggs it can be pancakes and I can use caramelized sugar to make a syrup. Tomato, hot sauce, onion and oil are to make the lentils and rice more palatable for the remainder of the month.

[Rosebudget1]

This is a great thread! Love seeing what people come up with!

I don't know enough yet but would be at my Family Dollar store for sure. They have food and nothing is over a dollar.

[Contrary Housewife]

Just be sure you know your prices. I have seen a lot of stuff at dollar stores that was, yes, only $1, but was selling for .49 or .69 at the regular grocery.

[abeautifullife]

Peppers are easy to propagate from grocery store produce. I'm growing some sweet red bell peppers now. Hot peppers will grow too.

Cucumbers and zuchini will grow *if* you can get a specimen big enough to have mature seeds. Also pumpkins, butternut and other hard squashes and melons. Melons are often hybridized though and may not grow true.

Old garlic heads that have started to put out green shoots can be broken up into individual cloves and planted and they will each grow a new head.

Sweet potatoes will grow like Irish potatoes, plant one and in 6 months you'll have several pounds ready to harvest.

Then there's the world of beans, peas and grains, which I don't have a lot of experience with.

Coincidentally, someone sent me this link this morning: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/ga...pagewanted=all

Thanks for the advice! When I saw your comment on peppers, I felt a little silly - I've grown tons of peppers from seed and it should have come to mind before. But I had no idea you could grow sweet potatoes like regular potatoes, I'm going to try that!

[bookwormpeg]

My weekly $10 would purchase oatmeal, bananas, one loaf bread, cheese, butter, jelly, 2 ramen noodles, 5# potatoes, one onion, 1# carrots, 2# rice, 1# beans, 18 eggs. With the extra $20 I would buy flour, sugar, bk. powder, bk soda, oil, yeast, ev. milk, salt and vanilla. That way I could make bread and baking powder biscuits. This week hot dogs are 3 for $1 so I would buy 3 packages. Would use one package for the next three weeks. Also would buy tomato sauce (6/$1) pasta (4/$1) parm. cheese $1, Jiffy Muffin mix 4/$1, 3 cans veggies $1, peanut butter cookie mix, another 2# of rice for $1, and a can of tomatoes .50. That would take the extra $20. Would give me a little stockpile for the coming weeks.

[Holly]

well with the $20.00 I would go to the potato fearm up the road and get 50 kbs of potatoes for $15.00 and save the rest for a cheap peace of meat.
Not sure about the $10.00 still thinking

[Ali Lee]

My home store has boneless, skinless, chicken breasts 3# for 4.99. I would take the 20 & buy 4 pkgs.

[annymoll]

Extra 20 bucks so add to my weekly:

*20 lbs long grain white enriched rice($5.00 at salvage store)
*Vegetable broth cubes(.50 at salvage store)
* Tumeric,salt,black pepper, chipolte chili pepper(.50 each at salvage store. Total:$2.00)
*Wheat Groats for sprouting on counter.. Use as salad and for Vit C.(3 lbs for $2.50 at Amish grocer)
*Wheat germ, Ground Flax.( One dollar each at salvage store. Total $2.00)
*Local Honey(one lb at Amish grocer. $2.50)
*Canned Salmon,two cans.($1.00 at salvage store.)
*Saltine crackers(.50 at salvage store.)
*Lemon juice bottle.(.50 at Salvage store.)
*Peanut butterx2( $1.50 each at salvage store. Total-$3.00)

*Flour,5 lbs($1.00 at salvage store.)
*Baking powder(.50 at salvage store)
*Italian Spice mix(.50 at Salvage store.)
*Bunch bananas(.50 at Aldis)



I have a wrist rocket and could pop off a squirrel easily with no ammo other than a rock. Most people have squirrels and rocks, even in inner cities.Surely this would be okay?

[sabrelvssammy]

I have a wrist rocket and could pop off a squirrel easily with no ammo other than a rock. Most people have squirrels and rocks, even in inner cities.Surely this would be okay?

Nope, no fishing, or hunting of any kind. No roadkill either people ~haha... only foraging of wild edibles is allowed.

[monkeywrangler71]

Nope - I have to disallow the fishing & hunting. I thought about it, but it would be an unfair advantage to those that did not have access to guns, forests, lakes... Everyone can get to a grocery (or something of the like). Sorry~

Not everyone can get to a grocery store that sells food as cheaply as others. Isn't that an unfair advantage? A dozen eggs is $3 here, a bag of rice is $9.

Why can't we all use whatever resource is available in our area, whether it be ridiculously low prices at the grocery store, or an abundance of squirrels?