Best bang-for-the-buck foods

[catherine]

What are your favorite inexpensive nutrient-dense foods?

(As you can tell from recent posts I'm in belt-tightening mode following my DD's wedding.

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[Tybee]

THAT DRESS!! Oh you guys outdid yourselves, it is stunning.

Okay--just made a jarrahdale pumpkin soup, and combine that with homemade whole wheat bread--dh uses the recipe from the King Arthur Cookbook with molasses and honey--I like a mixtrue but the latest loaf was only molasses and it was very rich and dark, perfect for fall.

[Jane v2.0]

Ground beef, 80/20.

[catherine]

What is jarrhadale?

Jane, you and DH should be culinary partners. He would go 75/25 if he could. There was a Halal market near us in NJ that sold ground beef with that much fat, and DH overlooked his somewhat biased views to patronize the market regularly.

[Tybee]

What is jarrhadale?

Jane, you and DH should be culinary partners. He would go 75/25 if he could. There was a Halal market near us in NJ that sold ground beef with that much fat, and DH overlooked his somewhat biased views to patronize the market regularly.

It's the only kind of pumpkin I grew this year, so it wouldn't cross with anything, and damned if it didn't cross with some squash my husband grew over by the barn:

[catherine]

Wow, that looks delicious--pumpkin soup with homemade bread, molasses and honey!

If you have a good recipe for pumpkin soup, please share.

BTW, thanks for the compliments on the dress.. it was very stressful and if I had it to do over, I'd have done a lot of things differently--mostly allowing myself more time. But as long as it looks good on the outside...

[Tybee]

It looks amazing; seriously, you could do that for a living.

All I did was saute onions and celery in olive oil with salt and pepper. Added the precooked pumpkin (I put it in a turkey roaster in slices with water to cook it, then scoop out the cooked soft pumpkin.) Then I added milk and cooked that although you are actually supposed to cook it in water the add cream at the end because it's not supposed to be good to cook milk as it breaks down or something? But I didn't feel like taking the extra step. I added more salt and pepper and 2 tsp of ginger at that point. Cook it all together until celery is soft and then serve with shaved parmesan cheese on top.

[herbgeek]

WOW THAT IS AN AMAZING DRESS.

For food: I point you to the Prudent Homemaker site, I've made a few of her recipes and they are pretty tasty. https://theprudenthomemaker.com/ She has a weekly blog entry, where there are a lot of ideas from her and others on saving money. She's got a great series on eating on 40 cents a day, as well as seasonal menus and a couple of weeks of menus for eating from food storage.

[frugal-one]

I make a variety of soups that fit the bill. Soups are usually easy to make and go a long way. We usually eat soup twice and then freeze the remainder. There are times when I have 15 or more varieties of soup in the freezer. DH's favorite is taco soup. You can add more beans and use less meat just for the flavor.

Beautiful dress!!!

[razz]

More wedding photos would be wonderful if that is OK to ask for.
I take any squash, add to onions which have been sauteed in butter, sprinkle some pepper, salt and thyme to taste, add some chicken bouillon (Better than Bouillon), heat, blend and eat. Cumin is a nice alternative spice as is ginger. One time I threw in some applesauce and they are all tasty and nutritious.