Two Cheap Dinners

I do pretty much all the cooking in our house and we never buy processed food. In late summer and early autumn we eat a lot of food from our garden and orchard and some wild food, like blackberries. But for most of the year a lot of our food comes from our local branch of the German supermarket chain Lidl.

When we have no home produced food and depend totally on bought food, feeding our household of four costs just over ten euros per day.

Here are two chicken recipes, based on a five euro pack of chicken breasts. These two recipes are a particular favourites in our house. Chicken chow mein and chicken curry, both of these recipes will provide a main meal for four people at a cost of just over five euros. Take out the chicken and you have nice vegeterian meals at a cost of about two euro fifty cents or about sixty two cents per head.

Ingredients

Chicken	€5.00
Rice	€0.40
Noodles	€0.60
Mushrooms	€0.99
Onions	€0.60
Carrots	€0.20
Garlic	€0.30
Curry	€1.00
Soy Sause	€0.20
Milk	€0.50
Flour	€0.20
Olive Oil	€0.30
	€10.29

Chicken Curry

Fry two carrots, two onions and three or four cloves of garlic on a hot stove for several minutes. Add curry powder, we like it hot and add three heaped dessert spoons of medium hot curry powder. Fry for another few minutes. Add a half litre of milk and flour to thicken. Leave to simmer.

Fry two chicken breasts and chop into small pieces. Add to curry. Chop half a punnet of mushrooms and add to curry. Bring four cups of water to the boil and add one cup of rice. Boil rice until cooked. Serve

Chicken Chow Mein

Fry two carrots, two onions, three or four cloves of garlic and a half a punnet of mushrooms on a hot stove for several minutes. Add soy sauce to taste.

In another pan fry off two chicken breasts and chop into small pieces. Add to vegetables.

Boil water, cover packet of noodles in boiling water. Wait five minutes. Serve

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Last January we bought a Morphy Richards bread makers in Argos for 107 euros, it currently sells for 116 euros. With the bread maker it costs 1.85 euros to make a two pound loaf, we bake about one of these a day. This works out perfect for our four person household and keeps us in daily bread.

We use Odlums strong white flour which currently costs 2.69 euros for a two kilo bag, which will make 3.3 loaves. McDougalls yeast cost 2.95 euros a pack, which will make 16 loaves. The other main ingredient is Marvel powered milk at 1.98 euros for 198 grams, enough to make about 6.6 loaves. A pinch of salt, 4 spoons of oil and a spoon of sugar complete the ingredients. Total cost of ingredients 1.55 euros.

It takes about 1.5 units of electricity to mix, prove and bake the loaf, cost about 30 cents including vat. Total cost 1.85 euros per day for bread. Or 12.95 euros a week, or 56 euros a month, or 673.95 euros a year.

I love the bread maker, it takes all the skill and work out of making bread. Just throw in the ingredients, set the program and three hours later it’s ready. In some post peak oil future when I have to make bread in my solid fuel range I will think back wistfully to the age of plenty when I had a bread maker. This is one kind of modern convenience I will miss.

The Morphy Richards comes with a 2 year guarantee. Ours has now made around 300 perfect loaves and has worked flawlessly so far.


Available at Argos

Morphy Richards