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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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).