frugal feast shopping tips
Apr. 28th, 2008 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyjadwigaSome things I came up with in response to a question on the SCA cooks list:
1. Shop at discount stores. You must know what stores are likely to have what before you start.
2. Plan 2 or more alternative seasonal vegtables so you can use the one which you find at the best price/quality
3. Bulk buy-- case prices can be significantly cheaper.
4. Resell/split overages from bulk buying, either to another group/event or to local cooks.
5. Make drink syrups instead of using drink mixes.
6. Peas and lentils are still inexpensive in relative terms. So are favas. Try dishes with these ingredients. If you have to offer a vegetarian and non-vegetarian version, it's still worth it.
7. Grains, especially specialty grains, are underused. Try barley, millet, barley groats, buckwheat etc. Use them with AT least a homemade vegetarian stock, or make one pot vegetarian and the rest meat, and serve your meat ON the meat stock grain.
8. Make stews rather than roasts. Leg quarters are the cheapest part of the chicken.
9. A Gallon can of pomace olive oil from the Middle Eastern or Hispanic grocery is still cheaper than 2 quarts from the regular grocery.
10. Skimp on the dessert. A dessert served buffet style is completely documentable for the end of our time period, and can be used to lure people away from tables.
11. Greens and salads are still inexpensive. Plan a half head of lettuce or equivalent for each table-- mixing lettuce, spinach and spring mix makes a great salad, and dressed with kosher salt, cheap red wine vinegar
and pomace oil, goes over really well.
Someone else posted:
> 1) Make your own broth from suitable feast ingredients-appropriate
> bone/skin/fat/peels.
I responded
Curiously, we use paste 'base' at home and for feasts. At $5.99-$7.99 a pint, and only a few spoonfuls needed to make the difference between veggies in water and soup, we find it saves us significant cost in making
soups and stews for lunches. A pint lasts us about a half year! We get Minor's Chicken and Beef base from B.J.'s; I need to find a source for Minor's ham flavor.
I collect ham bones for stock from events we've done and use it for soup. If you cook the ham for the dayboard ahead of time, you can cut it off the bone. Dump the bones in water in a crockpot overnight and you get amazing soup base for something like pea or lentil soup. I float some ham cubes or pork neck bones, which are very cheap, in the soup to make it clear it's a meat dish.
I'd suggest that making your own vegetable broth is really the only way to go for SCA purposes: i've not found a vegetable broth that completely avoids tomato, pepper, and/or potato.
1. Shop at discount stores. You must know what stores are likely to have what before you start.
2. Plan 2 or more alternative seasonal vegtables so you can use the one which you find at the best price/quality
3. Bulk buy-- case prices can be significantly cheaper.
4. Resell/split overages from bulk buying, either to another group/event or to local cooks.
5. Make drink syrups instead of using drink mixes.
6. Peas and lentils are still inexpensive in relative terms. So are favas. Try dishes with these ingredients. If you have to offer a vegetarian and non-vegetarian version, it's still worth it.
7. Grains, especially specialty grains, are underused. Try barley, millet, barley groats, buckwheat etc. Use them with AT least a homemade vegetarian stock, or make one pot vegetarian and the rest meat, and serve your meat ON the meat stock grain.
8. Make stews rather than roasts. Leg quarters are the cheapest part of the chicken.
9. A Gallon can of pomace olive oil from the Middle Eastern or Hispanic grocery is still cheaper than 2 quarts from the regular grocery.
10. Skimp on the dessert. A dessert served buffet style is completely documentable for the end of our time period, and can be used to lure people away from tables.
11. Greens and salads are still inexpensive. Plan a half head of lettuce or equivalent for each table-- mixing lettuce, spinach and spring mix makes a great salad, and dressed with kosher salt, cheap red wine vinegar
and pomace oil, goes over really well.
Someone else posted:
> 1) Make your own broth from suitable feast ingredients-appropriate
> bone/skin/fat/peels.
I responded
Curiously, we use paste 'base' at home and for feasts. At $5.99-$7.99 a pint, and only a few spoonfuls needed to make the difference between veggies in water and soup, we find it saves us significant cost in making
soups and stews for lunches. A pint lasts us about a half year! We get Minor's Chicken and Beef base from B.J.'s; I need to find a source for Minor's ham flavor.
I collect ham bones for stock from events we've done and use it for soup. If you cook the ham for the dayboard ahead of time, you can cut it off the bone. Dump the bones in water in a crockpot overnight and you get amazing soup base for something like pea or lentil soup. I float some ham cubes or pork neck bones, which are very cheap, in the soup to make it clear it's a meat dish.
I'd suggest that making your own vegetable broth is really the only way to go for SCA purposes: i've not found a vegetable broth that completely avoids tomato, pepper, and/or potato.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 01:51 am (UTC)I would suggest research first (with food prices in mind) and then to look out for the best prices. Nothing beats serious and long term planning, not even generic salad dressing :P
for soup base, I like to bake my bones for chicken or smoke them for ham...mmm yummy
no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 02:16 am (UTC)More later, but...
Date: 2008-04-29 01:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 01:19 pm (UTC)Do not EVER buy spices or herbs at grocery stores. For fresh herbs, go to a farmer's market or ethnic grocery store. Fresh herbs will be 1/2 to 1/3 the price there. For dried spices, go to the ethnic grocery store or order from an online Indian grocery supplier if you don't have any large urban centers near you. There are dozens of them, and you can buy huge amounts of very fresh spices for a fraction of what you will pay at a grocery store.
For "exotic" meats- first, ask around for hunters. If you can't find any hunters, call every single independent butcher you can reasonably drive to. Independent butchers will often get animals dropped off and never picked up which they will sell you for the butchering cost. You can also source whole animals through butchers, like whole pigs, at a fraction of the grocery store price... and you can get exactly the cuts you want. Look around for producers and try to buy directly from the farm, especially if you are doing a large feast. If you can take the meat without packaging or need large cuts, a farm will sell to you at a lower prices because they save on labor and packaging costs.
Try to find a halal butcher or carniceria. Halal butchers usually have goat and lamb at incredible prices,and they will cut it exactly how you want if you can actually go in and talk to them in person and establish a relationship. Carnicerias will have the best prices on fresh sausage meat and usually pork.
Cheese is, in my experience, the most expensive single item to buy in quantity. I have never found decent cheese for less than $6 per pound, while I get meat regularly for wayyy less per pound. If you have cheese dishes, buy good cheese and make a little go a long way.
Think about portion sizes very carefully. I see such a ridiculous amount of waste at almost every feast I have ever been to because the cook got paranoid about there being "enough food". I am extremely guilty of this, myself.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 01:38 pm (UTC)For fresh herbs, I actually have a local grocery (2 locations) that I go to for what I can't grow-- 1.39 to 1.79 a LARGE package; I pay about 50 cents a bunch for parsley. For things where I need only a handful of leaves, I use stuff from my garden (for instance, sage).
no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 01:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 01:35 pm (UTC)2-3 bunches of celery leaves and small stalks, chopped up.
1 lb carrots, chopped up
3-4 large onions, chopped
2-3 turnips (depending on size)
1-3 parsnips
parsley
random greens
1 bulb garlic, peeled and smooshed
Parsley root if I can get it
For a mushroom soup, I'll add mushroom ends (the bits you cut off the mushrooms when prepping them)
Salt
Pepper if I can get away with a little, depending on the recipe.
1 part veg to 2 parts water. Cook until it is enough and strain out vegs; discard.