This is a busy, busy year for FBC Members on the publishing front and we couldn't be more excited! You've already seen Aimee Wimbush-Bourque's new book, Brown Eggs and Jam Jars. Tara O'Brady's new book, Seven Spoons: My Favourite Recipes for Any Day and Every Day will be coming out in April, as will Sweetapolita Bake Book by Rosie Aylea.
And this month, we're really excited to welcome Well Fed, Flat Broke: Recipes for Modest Budgets and Messy Kitchens by Vancouver FBC Member, Emily Wight.
If you haven't met Emily yet, be sure to check out our feature on her this week. Not only is she a mean cook in the kitchen but she's a smart and witty writer. The recipe headnotes and chapter intros are some of the most entertaining we've read.
Living in one of the most expensive cities (if not the most) in North America with some of the smallest kitchens, cooking from scratch might seem impossible. Especially when the month lasts longer than your paycheque. And, you have a picky toddler. And a Type 1 Diabetic husband. But Emily shows you it can be done, it can taste fabulous and you won't have to be in the kitchen for hours every night. You might have a few dollars left at the end of the end of the month
Emily's book is already available for purchase via Amazon.ca or Chapters Indigo but we have a copy to give away right now!
All you have to do is enter through the Rafflecopter widget below (Canadian residents only please!) before end of day April 3, 2015. That's it!
Big thanks to Emily's publisher, Arsenal Pulp Press, for supplying us with a copy to give away.
Vancouver Launch Party
If you live in Vancouver and would like to meet Emily and attend her launch party you can! Here's the details:
- When: Sunday, April 19, 2:00-3:30pm
- Where: Barbara-Jo's Books To Cooks | 1740 West 2nd Avenue
- (please note - the Sunday Social Supper at Barbara Jo's for Well Fed, Flat Broke is SOLD OUT)
casserole! 😛
My favourite fairly thrifty things to make are smoothies and good hearty salads when local produce is in season & the markets are full of colour
I love making big batches of pasta at home! So much cheaper than eating it at a restaurant.
Beans and Rice!
Eee so excited to read this
My favorite low cost thing to make is homemade flatbread and pizza dough – SO much less expensive than store bought, healthier and really fast.
My favorite low cost thing to make is goulash – and it can feed a lot of people. Also uses up leftover vegetables and meats.
generally some sort of a pasta, we experiment with the sauces!
Hearty vegetable soup with rice
Soup, you can pretty turn anything into soup.
Curry tofu and vegetables. And it is quick too!
any type of pasta
Spicy red lentils!
Curried scrambled eggs with veggies. Served with roti or naan.
Vegan stews or chilis – full of cheap veggies, beans, and seasonings.
Pasta
Soup! Any time of the year.
I like to roast a chicken and get as many meals from it as possible.
Day 1 Roast Chicken Dinner
Lunch Day 2 Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Dinner Day 2 Pasta dish with chicken
Day 3 Make chicken stock for soup
I make my own soup stock and lots of it, about 8-10 liters. I then freeze it in 1 cup cubes to use in all sorts of recipes. Cheaper, healthier and tastier than the stuff that comes in a can.
Baked beans.
Broccoli soup whizzed together in the blender.
Pasta
My favourite thrifty meal to make in bulk is soups. They can be extremely inexpensive to make and freeze really well.
One pot pastas!
My favourite thrifty dish is usually soup, a favourite in our house is chicken soup.
fettuccinni alfredo
Cottage Pie or pasta with our homemade sauce.
Mine is lentil soup.
Pasta
Soups (I can generally get a big pot of soup made for less than $10 that will last us 2 days and that includes meat and tons of veggies); I love to buy a whole chicken and then turn that into 3 meals: chicken soup, chicken & dumplings and chicken pot pie (It works out to be 3 meals for around $15).
I cook in bulk for the week for two. I shop frugally, buy what I can on sale and will cook often based on what was on sale. I also collect PC Plus points and get $20 off my groceries about once a month.
A while ago I wrote a post about how to eat healthy with little money and determined that I spend about $130 for two per week, which also covers purchases like toilet paper, Kleenex, mineral water and every once in a while basic household supplies like sponges or dish soap.
That’s $65 per person/week which gives us breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks!
Spaghetti is usually thrifty although you can jazz it up.
I stirfry because it allows me to stretch the budget by using less meats and more veggies.
That’s good for the waist line too!
Fav thrifty dish is a roast chicken… can use the bones to make broth afterwards.
Usually spaghetti with zucchini noodles and homemade sauce!
I mix soba noodles with sesame oil, rice vinegar and kimchi.
This sounds like a great book and I’d love to have it in my collection. Congratulations, Emily!
And oops, my favourite thrifty dish to make at home is my Red Lentil Dahl, full of flavour for the cost of some lentils, a small onion and a few spices – practically free!
The best borscht ever! Lots of short ribs and beets. Delish!
My favourite thrifty meal is an omelet. You can add whatever leftover veggies you have in the fridge. Tasty, filling, easy to make and cheap!
Beef stew is good.
fried rice with leftover veggies, chicken etc.
I love to make cheesy garlic tea biscuits from scratch!
I like to make brown beans in the crock pot. They’re filling, go a long way and you can use the leftovers in chili.
Tacos 🙂 Lots of protein!
Cheap pasta with veggies!
our favorite low cost meal is homemade naan margherita pizzas! It’s less than $10 to make
mac n cheese
Lately, quinoa casseroles with vegetables and ‘cream’ sauce made from nutritional yeast.
Spaghetti Bolognese
Definitely a veggie omelette with toast and canned beans.
croque Monsieur
A quick noodle bowl is my favourite thrifty dish! It’s made in ten minutes using whatever veg is in your fridge with some Chinese noodles, broth and hot sauce. Yum!
stuffed peppers
Soup is high on the list. A large pot lasts us days. I also love to use any left over meats (steak, chops, chicken or roasts) an use them the next day in wraps. The fillings are always inexpensive yet it never ever feels like you are eating leftovers. The flavor combinations are long and you can add a lot of variation.