Cheap spicy meal - Slow cooked curry

For about $10, you can make enough curry for at least 8 meals. If you want to lower the cost even more, use beans instead of chicken. That will drive the cost down to about a buck a meal and it will look like you have more food (because a pound of dried beans will increase in volume a lot). However, you'll have to boil the dried beans (about $1.39/lb) and then add them to the curry. You can also add a smaller amount of chicken for flavor and add a lot of beans.

The other great thing about making curry is that it is very easy to do. Just get a 6-quart slow cooker, dump everything in, put the lid on, and go away for about 3 hours. You might have to stir it around once every hour but that's it. If you have one of those cookers with an adjustable temperature knob, you can adjust the time it takes for the curry to cook. If you're in a hurry, you can probably eat in about an hour (if you don't keep opening the lid). The temperature can also be set to about 180-200F if you plan on going to work/school and coming back in about 6 to 8 hours. Just make sure you have enough water in there and the lid is on if you're going away for more than a few hours (because if all of the water evaporates, the curry will burn).

NESCO cooker with adjustable temperature knob

Possible ingredients:
Chicken (or other protein) - $2.50
2 lb vegetables (frozen veggies are good) - $2.50
onion (diced) - $0.50
3-5 cloves garlic (chopped) - $0.10
2 large potatoes (cubed) - $1
2 plantains (cubed) - $0.40
4 blocks of Japanese curry roux (e.g. Golden Curry) - $2 (for half a large box)
1 can light coconut milk (e.g. Trader Joe's light coconut milk) - $1
water (depending on how much sauce you want - start with 2 cups and add if necessary)

* Prices are approximate

Big pot of curry all ready to eat!

Small portion - veggies, potato, plantain, mushroom

Small portion - veggies, potato, plantain, mushroom

If you have room in your fridge, the whole pot can be stored in there. However, it's probably better to store it in smaller containers so that you can take a box to school or work the next day.

The potatoes and plantains are enough carbs for some people but having rice on the side would be how most Asians would serve this. A healthier alternative would be to have a side of mashed beans if you did not use that as the protein in the curry.

Growing your own scallions

This is not a new idea. Several others have made youtube videos about growing (by StarofParis) or regrowing (by TeeRiddle) scallions from the stumps. If you click on the links in the previous sentence, they will take you to their videos. Both of them are pretty good and give you step-by-step instructions on how to do this. I know that scallions are not the most expensive thing in the supermarket but it's just nice to be able to have fresh scallions whenever you need them. I often have to create uses for all the scallions that come in a bunch. Home-grown scallions don't take up space in the fridge and won't rot. It's also cool to be able to cut a fresh scallion and chop it up to throw on your wonton noodle soup. Just make sure you water them on a regular basis and you won't have to buy scallions for about a year.

The basic steps are:
1. Buy a bunch of scallions that still have the roots attached.
2. After using the scallion, plant the stump with the roots attached in a pot of soil (if you drink coffee, save the grounds and mix it in with the soil).
3. Water it.
4. Let it grow. It should take a week or two to see the green parts emerge. Just water them at least every other day and be patient.

Here are a couple of pictures of the ones I recently planted:

Lone scallion growing in the pot on the right

Added some new scallion stumps

Only 5 days later

10 days later - they grow very fast!

Asian Markets - a poor student's friend

In most large cities, there is at least one large Asian market that has a huge variety of products that you won't find at the other supermarkets, where anything that's remotely "ethnic" is premium priced. At the Asian markets, you can save a lot of money and have the opportunity to try new foods. In Boston area, there are plenty of stores with products from all over the world. There's an Indian store named "Shalimar" in Cambridge, a Korean store (forgot the name) near MIT, and Hong Kong Supermarket (formerly "Super 88") in Allston. At HK supermarket, you will find more than just Chinese products. They have Japanese curry and a small selection of Korean and other Japanese products. Their produce and meat sections are probably a lot more diverse and perhaps exotic than what you'd see in an American supermarket.

The fun part about going to HK supermarket is that they also have a food court attached to it, called "Super 88 Connection". I also noticed that they have a new Japanese restaurant there that serves rice (curry rice and "don") and ramen dishes but no sushi. The food court includes a Thai place, a Korean booth, an Indian booth, and a variety of Chinese booths. Dim sum chef has a pretty good selection of dim sum and they have pictures of the dishes on their menu, in case you don't know what they look like. They cook everything fresh, so you might have to wait about 5 to 10 minutes for your food. Fresh is good. Kantin is the place that has the roasted animals hanging in the window. Their menu is pretty long and has every Hong Kong style and Chinese-American style dish that you can imagine. That's the place I go to when I am very hungry.

Here is a selection of things I bought on a recent trip to HK supermarket:

1. Yeo's soy milk is made with Canadian soybeans. It comes in sweetened and unsweetened versions. The sweetened one can be a little too sweet so the unsweetened one can be used to make your drink less sweet by mixing it 50-50. The regular price is $1.29 for a 1 L box and goes on sale for about $1 now and then. It definitely tastes different from the stuff made by Silk or 8th Continent.

Yeo's soymilk - made with Canadian soybeans!

2. Shrimp flavored chips. These come in regular and wasabi flavors. Since they're baked, they're a little healthier than potato chips.

Wasabi flavored shrimp chips

3. Braised beef and wonton noodle soup (from Kantin, Super 88 Connection). If you get this to go, they will give you the soup part in one container and the rest of it in another container. This is so the noodles don't get too soggy and mushy by the time you get home. This is an awesome dish. Look for the booth with the roasted ducks hanging in the window. If you're coming from the supermarket, turn left after you go through the door that connects the supermarket to the food court. The booth is on the left.

Deconstructed Braised Beef and Wonton Noodle Soup

Braised Beef and Wonton Noodle Soup

Frugal Living (in general)

This blog is about living frugally (but well). In case anyone needs a stronger foundation for this kind of lifestyle, here's a great link: 7 Habits of Highly Frugal People. It's a summary of the book by that title. While I'm not trying to say that college won't lead to a higher salary (so that you can stop living frugally), there are reasons to continue living frugally even if you do end up making a generous salary after graduation. It's all about creating a nice cushion in your bank account so that you never really have to worry about money when you need it. Here are my reasons for living frugally (even if you can afford not to):

1. Save money for a rainy day --- Just think about all the people who have recently lost their jobs because of the economy. Many of them probably had high-paying jobs before they were laid-off. The ones who lived frugally are probably enjoying a nice "sabbatical" while they wait for a job opening. The thing about living frugally is that you will never worry about losing your job or about having enough money if the economy starts sucking because your savings account will always have a nice "cushion".

2. Being frugal is not the same as being "cheap" --- Being "cheap" is when you try to get discounts on things that cost only a buck or deprive yourself because you don't want to let go of your money. Being frugal is just shopping for the right prices and knowing where and how to do that. For a more official definition, the Free Dictionary defines frugal as, "practising economy; living without waste; thrifty". Economists like talking about maximizing utility. Being frugal is maximizing your dollar and not wasting it. If you make frugal living a habit, you won't have to say 'no' to going to a nice restaurant with your friends or getting that pair of shoes that you need for an important interview because your bank account will have a cushion. Also, if you're cooking your own meals and not eating at restaurants on a regular basis, the times you do go will be that much more enjoyable. If you get good enough at cooking, your own meals might even start tasting better than the restaurant meals!

3. It's good for the environment --- For every thing or service you save on, there's probably a benefit to the environment too. I'm not saying that everyone in the world seriously gives a sh*t about the environment, but if you do, living frugally will put less waste out there. Everything you buy has some kind of packaging that ends up either in the garbage or in the recycling bin. Yes, recycling is "good" but it also takes energy to process that recycling. This is why I love going to thrift stores - it maximizes my money but at the same time, I'm consuming something that would have gone to a landfill otherwise.

For more information on what materialism does to people, check out this video:

4. Never feel deprived --- Perhaps this one's a little more zen than some of my readers want to see, but living frugally is very much like vegetarianism. It's a way of thinking that non-frugal people might think is somehow depriving but it really isn't. I'm sure vegetarians don't miss meat after they get used to it. Similarly, I have everything I want, even though most of my possessions are second-hand and I spend less money than most of my friends. It's about re-prioritizing your desires so that your money goes where it needs to go. Restaurant meals might feel like a necessity until you realize that you can make the same thing at home and it's healthier, tastes better, and costs much less.

I'm not going to pretend that this post is going to convert everyone to "frugalism" overnight, but there are compelling reasons for doing so in a crappy economy. The working poor and many college students need to be frugal by necessity but it doesn't mean that others can't be frugal too. If we all think about what we're buying and how it affects our environment, maybe the planet will last longer. Think of frugalism as an all encompassing consumption diet - it will make you and the planet feel better.

Pizza - the cheapest meal in town

Most college students will have quite a few slices of pizza during their 4 years in the dorms or wherever they live. In one recent episode of the TV show, Nightline, pizza was shown to be in higher demand during recessions because it's such a cheap meal. So, it's no surprise that pizza is such a popular meal for poor college students. Unlike the rest of the population, there are fewer fluctuations in demand. This is why I thought that a post on pizza would be appropriate for this blog.

In my previous post on making pizza in the humble toaster oven, I didn't really get into the ingredients themselves. The point was to show you that the toaster oven can do things you might not expect were possible. This post is about the ingredients. At this point, you might be wondering why you should even consider making your own pizza? Getting a pizza delivered usually costs around $10. Depending on what you put on your pizza, you can make it at home for much less and with not much time or energy. The trick is to make a lot of dough at one time and then store it in the freezer. Defrost a portion in the fridge over night when you think you'll have pizza.

Get some Pizza Dough
Making the dough is what takes the most time. If you really don't want to make your own dough, you can usually buy the dough for very little money. Most supermarkets and Trader Joe's sell balls of dough for about $1 to $2 each. If you're willing to spend $2.50 (plus tax) for a ball of really tasty dough, try the balls of dough from Oggi Gourmet at Harvard Square. They're located in the Holyoke Center (by Au Bon Pain) and don't really advertise that they sell dough, but they do. Just ask for "a ball of dough". I try to get some every time I'm in the area. It's actually better than the stuff you get from supermarkets and worth the extra couple of bucks. It's still cheaper than ordering pizza! Most balls of dough from any place are enough for two medium to large thin crust pizzas.

For those of you who are willing to get your hands dirty and try making your own dough, a bread machine will save you a lot of time and effort. All you have to do with one of those is put the ingredients in the pan, choose the mixing function (so it mixes the dough but doesn't bake it), and start it. In about 1.5 hours, you have a ball of pizza dough! Go to any thrift store and there will probably be a bread machine selling for about $10 or less. As an added benefit, you can bake your own funny-looking bread in it too. Actually, it's better to mix the dough in the machine, take it out, put it in a baking pan, let it rise for an hour or more, and then bake it in the oven. That's just my opinion though - do whatever you have time to do.

The basic ingredients for dough are flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and water. Flour will be about $2 to $4 a bag and sugar is quite inexpensive at CVS. If you plan to make your own pizza and bread for an extended period of time, you can get 2 lb bags of yeast for less than $10 at BMS Paper Company or at haymarket in the middle-eastern store. Even though you don't need a lot of yeast for each batch, the stuff you get at the supermarket is not cheap. Try to find some friends who might want some yeast and divide that 2 lb bag. It freezes quite well. I've had the same bag in the freezer for over 2 years and it still works. Just take out a few ounces at a time and put it in a clean jar to store in the fridge.

Roll out the dough
If you sprinkle some flour on your pizza pan before rolling out the dough on it, you'll have an easier time cleaning up afterwards. Now, when I say, "rolling out," I don't really mean that you need a rolling pin to flatten it. All you really need to do is to press down on the dough on the pizza pan a little bit at a time and eventually, it will stretch out enough. If it doesn't seem to stretch out enough, let it sit for a while and then try stretching it again. When the dough gets to the edge of the pan, throw the toppings on and put it in the oven.

Throw the toppings on!
The toppings are relatively easy to prepare. Grate the cheese and chop up everything else. At haymarket, you can get a chunk of cheese (around 6 to 8 oz, depending on the type of cheese) for $3, 2 chunks for $5, or 3 for $7. If they have cheddar, muenster or mozzarella, that's going to be about 8 oz. You shouldn't need more than half a chunk for a small pizza. For sauce, buy the pasta sauce that goes on sale every now and then (usually 3 jars for $5). Go easy on the sauce though because too much sauce will make dough soggy. The thinner the dough, the lighter the toppings need to be. Otherwise, you won't be able to pick up the pizza and have it stay in one piece.

If all of these instructions are a little overwhelming, here's a video by Sousoukitchen to show you (in English and in French) how to make the dough using a food processor to mix the ingredients to get the dough together and the rest of the process step by step.

Average cost of a homemade pizza:
Let's say you make 6 pizzas with one bag of flour ($4 a bag), which comes to 67 cents a pizza. Two lbs of sugar at CVS is only $3 when it's on sale. There are 9 cups in one of those yellow Domino round containers. Let's say you use 2 Tbsp per pizza, which means it will be less than 10 cents a pizza. The yeast should also be less than 10 cents a pizza. For salt, if you seriously don't have any, go to your school cafeteria and take a couple of salt packets. Water is free. So, the dough should cost about  87 cents to make. The cheese is the most expensive part. If you use half a chunk of cheese, that's about $1.50 or less, assuming that you bought only one chunk of cheese at haymarket. The amount of sauce you use will be very little, so let's say that's about 17 cents (10% of the Ragu jar from CVS, on sale for 3 jars/$5). Tally it up and each cheese pizza costs only $2.54. Any toppings you add will be extra but probably won't add up to anywhere near $10. Now you know why Domino's makes so much money.

Save even more by using the toaster oven (to save electricity)
If you have a large toaster oven, you can bake a pretty big pizza and use less electricity that you would with your regular oven. If you have a smaller toaster oven, it's possible to make small pizzas that feed one person. Two personal pizzas can probably fit in a small toaster oven. It should take about 20-25 minutes at 400 F to fully bake the pizzas. Larger pizzas will take a few more minutes. However, each oven is different, depending on size and accuracy of temperature. Watch the cooking process closely at first to make sure you don't burn it.

Wide World of Affordable Tea

Asians have been drinking tea for thousands of years and in many Asian supermarkets, you can get quite a lot of tea leaves for only a few bucks. Why? Because Asians don't think of tea as some hoity-toity drink! When you go to a Chinese restaurant (an authentic one), the first thing the waitress/waiter does is to either put a pot of tea on your table or ask you what kind of tea you'd like. No big deal.

Of course there are all kinds of fancy tea shops in Asia but that kind of tea is not the kind that comes in tea bags, which are filled with a lower grade of tea than the loose tea. The best tea is always loose. That's the stuff that you can inspect and smell without a paper filter in the way. You're also paying for the ambiance there. In North America, if you go to Teavana or other fancy tea shops for loose tea, they'll also charge you for the ambiance and the brand. The same quality (or even better) stuff can be found at any Chinese supermarket (e.g. Super 88 or C-Mart in Boston, TNT in western Canada). If there are no Asian markets in your area, Coffee bean direct has a great selection of teas that are very good quality and reasonably priced. They also have some interesting flavors (e.g. raspberry rooibus, Earl Grey Zephyr, mint teas, etc.) that you won't find in Chinatown.

t-sacs (for making your own tea bags)

Earl Grey Zephyr tea - a little more fragrant than regular Earl Grey

Flavored rooibus tea

Green Jasmine tea - it's very fragrant. If you're concerned about the convenience (or lack thereof) of using loose tea, get a pack of t-sacs, which come in different sizes (from 1 cup to 12 cups). They're available at Coffee Bean Direct and other places too.

However, if you don't care about the quality of your tea and want the convenience of pre-made tea bags, those Chinese supermarkets will probably have green or jasmine tea bags for about 20 bags for less than $1. For about $3, you can get a box of 200 individually-wrapped jasmine tea bags. These are especially good for making iced jasmine tea in the summer. The flavor doesn't matter as much when it's hot outside and you just want to guzzle a glass of tea to quench your thirst. Save the good tea for drinking in the winter.

200 tea bags for about $3.

Another great drink to make in the summer is iced raspberry rooibus. It doesn't require any sweeteners but a little simple syrup, agave nectar, or honey will make it taste like (or better than) the more expensive bottled teas that you get at the store. You can brew a lot of tea at once and store it in glass or plastic jars or bottles (e.g. empty spaghetti sauce jars, glass milk bottles, etc.). This will save you a lot on bottled tea drinks and you won't be overdosing on high fructose corn syrup all summer. Unsweetened iced tea is surprisingly refreshing too. In Asia, it's common for people to drink bottled unsweetened iced oolong and iced jasmine tea. By making your own iced teas, you can slowly wean yourself off sugar by adding less and less sugar each time you brew. Then, you can save money on sugar! :)

Making chili in a frying pan

I am not a vegetarian and love to have a nice toaster oven-broiled ribeye steak whenever possible. However, once in a while, I like to pretend that I'm a vegetarian and eat a lot of beans. Usually this happens when my pants are feeling a little tight and the universe is telling me, "Hey! Lose some weight, fatty!" As you can see, the universe and I have a very frank and honest relationship. After about ten days of eating at least 2 meals that include beans each day, my pants start to feel a little looser. That's good because it's difficult to find pants for short people here. Eating beans is actually not as bad as it sounds. After all, beans are usually not the first thing one thinks about when someone mentions delicious food. As for the farting, that goes away after a few days. Just go outside to take a "break" once in a while. :)

The trick to making beans taste good is to use a lot of spices. A little olive oil can be nice too but if you're trying to lose weight, too much oil is not a good thing. Spices usually have 0 calories, so use as much of those as you like. The other seasonings that make beans taste almost gourmet are Frank's hot sauce and soy sauce, each of which has very few calories. I like to use soy sauce instead of salt because it's in liquid form, which means that it spreads out a lot easier. It should enhance the hot sauce but not do much more than that.

Good bean spices:
cumin
cayenne pepper (use sparingly) or chili powder
black pepper
paprika
curry spice (can be mixed according to taste): can include cardamom, turmeric, coriander, etc. (Click the link for Alton Brown's curry blend)
salt

Here's my recipe for "Addictive Bean Chili" (catchy name, eh?). It's great for using up leftover beans and vegetables. Think of it as a quick bowl of chili that you make in a frying pan. The Secret Sauce makes it addictive. I guess it's not a secret any more...

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

Part of the "secret sauce"

Secret sauce: Frank's hot sauce and soy sauce (start with equal parts, a few shakes of each, and adjust to taste)

Cumin or Curry spice (a little or a lot, depending on what you like - start with 1 Tbsp and add to taste)

Sliced or diced vegetables (however much you want - start with 1 cup and add more if you like) - if you'd like some suggestions: tomatoes, okra, mushrooms, eggplant, squash, zucchini, and corn
1 chopped/minced clove of garlic
1 diced potato
1 portion of cooked beans (any kind, whatever you can eat in one sitting) If you have a rice cooker, use that to cook dried beans.

Instructions:

1. On low-medium heat, in a frying pan, add the oil, the "Secret sauce" (Frank's hot sauce, and soy sauce), and cumin.
2. When you see the cumin sizzling a little, add the vegetables, garlic (and potatoes if using), and beans.
3. Cover the pan with a lid (or another frying pan that has been flipped over). Don't open the lid too many times because you're trying to steam the vegetables in the pan. If possible, don't touch this for 5 minutes!
4. After 5 minutes, the vegetables should have released some of their water and mixed with the Secret Sauce. There should still be at least a little liquid in the pan (unless you left the pan uncovered too long in the previous step). If all the liquid has been evaporated, add 1/4 cup water  and stir to deglaze the pan. The beans will absorb some of that liquid.
5. If there is too much sauce, let it simmer without the lid.
6. Serve and eat

 A 1-pound bag of dried beans will make 5 cups of cooked beans in a rice cooker. That's enough for about 5 large servings. The bag says that there are 12 servings but if the beans are the main part of your meal, there are 5 servings.

Time for a wash!

For this meal, I used a yellow tomato (they're less acidic than the red ones), a purple potato, 3 white mushrooms, some basil, corn, and garlic (last two were not the picture above because they were shy). I also grated some Irish cheddar on the plate.

The "Secret Sauce": Franks' hot sauce, cumin, soy sauce, and olive oil

Everything into the pan!

Two scoops of black beans and the basil join the party!

Add some corn, cover the pan, and don't touch it for 5 minutes!

Cook on low-medium heat!

Making a fancy plate with some grated Irish cheddar from haymarket.

This is what it should look like when it's done. Just make sure the potatoes are cooked.

This was about half the pan of food. There was enough for two plates like this.

This should be a delicious meal that fills you up. It's healthy and very cheap to make. If you have a small amount of jarred tomato sauce that you need to use up, throw it in! That can be used to deglaze the pan or added at the beginning to help steam the vegetables. Tomato sauce can also be a substitute for the hot sauce if you don't like that much heat. I've also used fresh basil leaves to add some extra flavor and freshness to the dish. Just use whatever you have in the fridge.

If you really want some meat in this dish, add it in the first part of the recipe with the vegetables. One strip of chopped bacon can add a good amount of smokey flavor to the dish However, I think the sauce and garlic makes it savory enough without the meat.

Cheese is another ingredient that can be added either to enhance the creaminess of the sauce or as a garnish when serving it (see picture above). Either way, grate the cheese or crumble it up into small pieces so that you can incorporate it evenly into the dish. Smoked gouda is good for adding the smokey flavor if you don't have bacon. Cheddar adds a nice bit of tang without being overpowering.

Enjoy!

Cheap bike basket

Ok, I know you can't eat a bike basket but I'm sure some people reading this blog might be interested in learning a new way to create a cheap bike basket. In Boston, if you want to get a bike basket, it will cost at least $30. If you have some cable ties and a cheap basket, you can make one for much less. I created a video illustrating this in detail. This video has been featured on other websites such as Bike Club Info.

Then, these people copied my idea of using cable ties and added some of their own ideas:

Fancy cornmeal for dinner

You might not want to eat only a bowl of boiled cornmeal (aka "polenta), but if you dress it up with some sauce and pan fry it to create a tasty crust on it, polenta can be a great side dish or even the bulk of a very cheap meal. This is especially good for students because it's the kind of thing you can make once and either eat it for 2 or 3 days, or freeze it for later. This is how I made the dish in the picture:

This is to be done ahead of time:

1. Boil 6 cups of water in a 3 quart sauce pan and add some salt (start with 1 tsp and add more later to taste).

2. Slowly pour in 2 cups of cornmeal, either whisking or stirring. A spoon might be easier as the polenta gets thicker. Cook for a few minutes.

3. Add some salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you like.

4. Take the pan off the stove, mix in 2 Tbsp of olive oil or butter, and pour the polenta into a lined or oiled baking pan. Let it cool to room temperature and store in the fridge until it's time to make your meal.

When it's time to cook your meal:

1. Cut the cooled polenta into triangles or squares.

2. Either brush the polenta with oil or pour some oil in a frying pan and fry the polenta on low-medium heat until it's light brown.

3. Season with salt and pepper while frying. Cumin works well too.

4. As the polenta is frying, turn on another burner and make the sauces.

For the hollandaise sauce, I used Tyler Florence's recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/hollandaise-sauce-recipe/index.html

You can cut down on the butter if you like. Just make sure you don't overcook this!

For the tomato sauce, just take a sauce from a jar and warm it up. This is where you can throw in some meat (e.g. bacon, chicken, pork, or whatever you have) to make it a meal and simmer it while the polenta is frying. When everything is cooked, serve and eat!

I hope you enjoy this dish. It could work with whatever savory sauces or grated cheese you like.

Welcome!

I've been a poor student for a long time. However, this doesn't mean that I don't eat well. Boston has some great food out there and this blog is about helping you, my fellow poor students, find some good eats without emptying your (or your parents') wallets. If you have tried any hidden gems, please let us all know! Tell us what you ate and give us an honest brief review (but keep it polite because my Canadian sensibilities don't respond well to nastiness). What drew you to the place? Finally, let's keep it under $10 for lunch and $15 for dinner, ok?

Click here to see the introductory trailer for the Poor Student's youtube channel!