Inflation, the war, and tariffs got you down? Here is a fancy-sounding dinner that costs pennies yet will impress.
Risotto is delicious, but who wants to spend 25 minutes stirring a pot? But if you use an electric pressure cooker (AKA Instant Pot), you just press a few buttons, and the machine does the rest.
I have been using some sort of pressure cooker for the last 50 years, but I’m trying to expand my recipe horizons with these wonderful machines. There are so many dishes that you can make beyond soups, curries, and stews.
I cook dinner on Sundays, and now that it is just Julie and me, I thought I’d make something a bit fancy. Risotto is just a rice dish, but its creamy texture and long preparation elevate it.
This recipe is from the website Spend With Pennies. I didn’t choose it because it used the cheapest ingredients; I chose it because it made a smaller quantity. I’m trying to be more cognizant of not wasting food, and I’m not sure how well risotto reheats.
Let’s take a look at the ingredients!
Here is a visual of the ingredients. It looks like a lot, but it really isn’t. The must-have is the arborio rice. It is plump and starchy, and it makes all the creamy goodness.
Although this is an Instant Pot recipe, I’m using a Brand-X machine. I’m slowly writing an article on how to buy a cheap electric pressure cooker. I found this one on eBay for $38, which included shipping. How well did it work, and did I have to change any cooking times? The answers are: 1. Great, and 2. No!
Place the electric pressure cooker (EPC) on sauté and let it heat up for a minute or two. Sauté the onion and mushrooms in a little EVOO for about two minutes.
Add the uncooked rice and sauté it for a minute or two. Stir to prevent burning.
Deglaze the pot with 1/4 C of dry white wine.
Now add your chicken stock. Mine is dark because I made it from a Costco rotisserie chicken carcass. However, you can use boxed, bouillon, or Better Than Bouillon.
Add your garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme.
Cancel sauté. Set your pressure cooker on high pressure for 5 minutes. Make sure your pot is on sealing (not venting). After the 5 minutes are up allow the risotto to stay in the pot for an additional 10 minutes. It will continue to cook during this time. Carefully, release any remaining pressure using the steam release valve. Open the pot.
Add the butter and stir it in.
Add the Parmesan Cheese and stir it in. Taste and adjust your salt and pepper.
Here is the risotto plated up and served with a poached egg on top. It is accompanied by a tomato and avocado salad dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette and toast points. It was delicious and looked very fancy, but it was easy to make with an electric pressure cooker.
I’m doing a few other tests with this $38 Instant Pot clone, but it clearly seems to be a competent device. Now that the Instant Pot craze is fading you can snap up a used electric pressure cooker or even a new one for a little more than a slow cooker. An electric pressure cooker is the one cooking appliance that I could not live without.
I was rooting around my basement shelves looking for something, and I came across an item that I had forgotten that I bought. It was a 7″ spring form pan. When did I buy this? Then it came to me, I bought it during the pandemic because I was going to try to make a dessert in my electric pressure cooker. However, I never got around to it.
Supposedly, pressure cookers are great for making cheesecakes. Baking a cheesecake in the same high pressure pot where you make a chuck roast? That sounds counter-intuitive. However, cheesecakes are often made in a water bath, and the steam in a pressure cooker provides a similar environment.
My sister’s birthday was coming up and I wanted to make her a cake. Finding the spring form pan had to be fate. She loves cheesecake, and now I had the tool to make it.
Some people change out the sealing ring when going from savory to sweet foods, as they are afraid that the ring, which retains smells, could transfer those smells to the dessert. My ring had a slight savory food smell, but it was the only ring that I had so I had to risk it. Thankfully, it had no impact on the flavor of my cake.
Let’s get into the recipe. It is from the Instant Pot website. My electric pressure cooker is not an Instant Pot, but most electric pressure pots cook very similarly so I’ll follow the recipe with no change in cooking times.
Here is everything that you need. The ingredients are pretty simple and not very expensive, I’m guessing less than $7. This makes a 7″ cheesecake, so I thought I would search for a 7″ cheesecake online. What would one cost?
Holy cow, look at these prices! I’m not saying that my homemade cheesecake will be as deluxe as any of these, but wow!
Let’s start by crushing the graham crackers. I’m using them instead of digestive biscuits, as I already had a package. One hundred and fifty grams is about one of the packages that is in the box (there are usually three). I put them in a zip lock bag and used a can to crush them. You could also use a rolling pin, or just beat the heck out of them with your fists. Pro tip: My crackers were very slightly stale so I fanned them out on a plate and microwaved them for about 30 seconds. I then let them dry out for a minute or two, and they were as good as new.
I melted the butter in my microwave, added the graham crackers, and mixed it all together.
I well-greased my spring form pan with butter, and added the graham cracker mix and flattened it out with the bottom of a glass. It is OK if the crust goes up the side a bit. I then placed the pan in the freezer to harden the mixture. and continued on with making the batter. 450 g of graham crackers = 16 ounces.
The recipe called for softened cream cheese, so I left the bricks out on the counter for an hour or two. It also called for using a food processor, so I brought out my ol’-faithful and very old Cuisinart. I’m sure a hand mixer would also work.
I blended the cream cheese bricks together. This only took a couple of seconds.
I then added the eggs, one at a time, and blended them.
I measured out 60 g of sour cream, and blended it into the mixture. Sixty grams is around 1/4 of a cup.
I then measured out 100 g of white sugar, and blended it into the mixture. One hundred grams of sugar is about 1/2 cup.
I added the zest of one lemon and the juice of 1/2 of the same lemon. This is less than what the recipe called for, but that’s OK, as this is just a flavoring. A Microplane is great for zesting, if you don’t have one you can peel off the lemon skin (avoiding the white part) and finely chop it with a knife. I blended it all together.
I then added a splash of my homemade vanilla extract. I added a bit more than what was called for in the recipe because I’m a big vanilla fan. Lemon and vanilla are flavorings, so altering them to one’s personal preference isn’t a big deal. I added the 1 and 1/2 T of flour, and the 1/2 t of salt, and blended the mixture until it was smooth. This only took a few seconds.
I prepared my electric pressure cooker (AKA Instant Pot) by adding 1.5 cups of water (to make the steam) and inserting a trivet. In my case I’m using this steaming rack, but any type of heat resistant trivet would do. Many electric pressure cookers include a trivet when you buy the unit. If you don’t have one consider getting one. They are both useful and inexpensive.
I took the spring-form pan out of the freezer and filled it with my filling. I then placed it in my electric pressure cooker. There is no need to cover the spring form pan. Many will construct a sling out of aluminum foil to make it easier to remove the hot pan once it is cooked. I didn’t, and manged to remove it, but it was hot!
I closed the lid and made sure that the pressure regulator was on seal. I pressured cooked the cake for 25 minutes on high with the keep warm setting off. I then let the pot naturally release its pressure. That process didn’t take long as I had only added 12 ounces of water. Still, I opened the regulator valve to confirm that there was no more steam and I made sure that the float valve was down before attempting to open the pot.
I let the cheesecake cool on the counter for 15 minutes, and then transferred it to the fridge uncovered for 1 hour. I then covered it and let it chill. You want to refrigerate the cake for at least 4 hours, I let my chill overnight.
Here it is out of the spring form pan and ready to celebrate my sister’s birthday. This size cake will make 7-8 slices. It would be delicious with a topping like canned cherry pie filling, but we ate it as is.
A rich and delicious cheese cake that came together in no time, and that was made in a pressure cooker. It was perfectly smooth and crack free. Who knew!
I’m not claiming that this $7 cheesecake is as good as those that selling for $60, but it was still rich, luxurious, and delicious. Inflation, the war, and every changing tariffs are getting many of us down. For very little money you can put a moment of sweetness back in your life.
The separation had to happen, it was our only solution. Julie went her way, and I went mine. We both knew that it would work out in the end.
I think I just wrote a bit of click-bait, so sorry about that. A few months ago we accepted an invitation to go to a nearby family campout from my family, and a few weeks after that we received an invite for my nephew’s baby shower in Minnesota. The kids and Julie went to Minnesota, and I went local to my side’s gathering.
I would be arriving home before noon, and the rest of the family would return around 3 PM. I wasn’t sure which one of my kids would be staying for dinner, but I did know that they would be hungry. I also knew that I didn’t have time to shop, so it was time to shop my freezer. That is the advantage of always having basic staples on hand.
I found a couple of packets of stew meat that I vacuum sealed almost a year ago that I could quickly defrost. I also had some vegetables on hand. Their combination would make a decent stew in my electric pressure cooker.
I’m following a recipe from the Salty Marshmallow loosely. I be using the recipe as a guide, but I will be making adjustments. When it comes to soups and stews there is a lot of leeway.
Here is the recipe
Let’s get started.
I defrosted the meat and then patted it dry using a couple paper towels. This will result in less spattering when I brown it. I also seasoned it with a little Season all. Salt and pepper would also work. Like a lot of stew meat that is precut, these chunks are large. If I cut them into smaller pieces they will pressure cook faster. However, I need to make a quick and easy dinner so I’m leaving them as is.
I placed my pressure cooker (EPC) on saute and I added some cooking oil. I browned the meat in batches. If you crowd the meet too much it will steam and not brown properly. I removed the meat to a plate after it was browned.
While the meat was browning I chopped up some vegetables. This is one onion, 3 stalks of celery, and 4 carrots. You can vary the amounts within reason. I’m cutting the carrots large because I’m leaving the meat chunks large. It will take longer to cook the meat and I don’t want the vegetables to turn to mush. I could also partially pressure cook the meat under pressure, depressurize, and add the vegetables for another round. That is a better idea, but it is also more work. This option works too.
In goes the onion. I’ll cook it until it softens, just a couple of minutes. You may see some burnt food on the bottom of the pan. That is actually call fond and will add flavor to the stew. I will need to scrape it off in a process called de-glazing. Otherwise, it may cause the pot to give me a “burn” warning. A burn warning shuts down the pot, at which point I would have to scrape off the bottom anyway.
I’m now adding a heaping tablespoon of garlic (really jarlic, as it is jarred garlic), as well as approximately one teaspoon (rounded) of Italian seasoning. I’ll cook this just until I can smell the spices and then go on to the next step. As far as spices are concerned, there are many options: thyme, rosemary, oregano to name a few. They could be used singly or in combination. A bay leaf could be added, but I didn’t because I was in a hurry. You can also use just salt and pepper if that is what you have on hand. Bonus tip: you could use dehydrated onion instead of the onion, and garlic powder instead of the jarlic. This will alter the flavor a bit, but the stew would still be delicious. If you were using dehydrated onion and garlic add them when you add the broth.
I’m adding about one-half of a cup of a dry red wine and scrapping off the fond. Acidic liquids are great for de-glazing. If I didn’t want to add the wine I could have use some of the beef broth. That works well enough.
Now a tablespoon or two of Worcestershire Sauce. Worcestershire Sauce adds umami to a dish.
I’m now adding around 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. I’ll also add around the same of salt. I always go light on salt because I use bouillon for broth, and that is already salty. I’ll adjust for salt at the end of cooking.
I added a bit over 3 cups of beef broth that I made from beef bouillon.
The recipe calls for 10 ounces of tomato sauce. I had a 15 oz can, so that is what I added. It is all good. Instead of tomato sauce I could have used a can of diced tomatoes, or even a can of condensed tomato soup. It is fine to be creative if you stay with similar substitutions.
Back in goes the browned stew meat. I had quite a bit of stew meat as I wasn’t sure how hungry everyone would be. I’ll add a bit more broth than what was stated in the recipe to compensate for this increase.
Now the vegetables that I chopped earlier.
I had these baby potatoes around, so I used them. They are prewashed, making my life a bit easier. I did examine them and cut off any dubious parts. I’m keeping them whole for the same reason that I cut the carrots large. It will take them longer to cook this way allowing me to add them at the start of cooking. I could have used regular potatoes cut up and peeled if I wanted to.
This is what we have; it already looks pretty tasty. Note that I’m below the max fill line. Pressure cookers need some space to create steam.
The recipe called for 35 minutes at high pressure. I usually manually put in the pressure cooking time, but this time I used the preset button. If I had cut the meat and vegetables smaller I would have lowered my time to around 25-30 minutes depending on how soft I wanted the vegetables and meat. Remember to put the exhaust valve to “seal.” I had a lot of liquid volume so it took around 15 minutes to reach pressure. After the pressure cook time completed I waited 5 minutes for everything to settle before I moved the exhaust valve to “vent.” I made sure that no more steam was venting and that the float valve was down before I attempted to open the pot.
I tasted and adjust the seasoning. I needed a bit more salt. I put the pot back n saute. I mixed up a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch with the same about of cold water and mixed it into the bubbling stew to thicken it.
Earlier in the day I made a basic white bread in a bread maker. However I added 1 teaspoon of Italian Seasoning to turn it into a herb bread.
The herb bread baked up beautifully. I’ll serve it with the stew.
Here is my rustic stew served up with my homemade herb bread. Everyone said it was delicious.
Costs got you down? Feel like you are living paycheck to paycheck? Inflation, war, tariffs, they all combine to shrink you available cash by increasing the costs of necessary items. I don’t have the power to fix those things, but I can pass on tips to make your dollars stretch further.
Bread is the staff of life, and has always been considered an inexpensive meal extended. You can still buy a loaf of bread for around $2, but the quality of that bread is quite literally rubbish. I recently searched the website of a local grocery chain and the average brand name breads cost between $3.50-$6.50 a loaf.
I have made many excellent breads in a bread maker for much less than that, but I wondered how inexpensively I could make a decent loaf of bread now, as prices for basic ingredients have climbed.
Most bread recipes use bread flour due to its higher gluten content. However, bread flour is more expensive than all-purpose flour, and may be harder to find in some locations. AP flour can be found in every grocery store, dollar store and even some gas station grocery sections.
I researched bread recipes that used AP flour and settled on this one from the YouTube channel, “Robyn On The Farm.” I have made other recipes of hers with good results. I’ll be making a 1.5 pound loaf, as that most closely approximates a typical bread. I’m sourcing my prices from Aldi, Walmart, and Amazon websites. I’m rounding up, so it is likely that the actual cost of a loaf will be slightly lower than what I’m calculating. Let’s take a look at the recipe.
This is the recipe screenshot directly from “Robyn On The Farm.” We will be making the 1.5 pound loaf today. I am making one substitution, using cooking oil instead of butter. I’ll also show the price of the bread if you use butter later in this post.
Let’s take a look at the ingredient costs:
We will use 2T of cooking oil instead of 3T of butter. Why the volume reduction? Butter actually has water in it where cooking oil does not. If you need to make a conversion from butter to cooking oil reduce the amount by 1/4th to 1/3rdwhen making bread. Cost of the oil used for this recipe = 8 cents.
We are only using 1/4th cup of milk, which is around 5 cents worth.
The Aldi website had 5 pounds of AP flour for $2.15, but my store sells it for less than $2. At the $2.15 price the amount of flour being used is 30 cents.
Only 2T of sugar are used in this recipe. The cost based on the above is around 4 cents.
I didn’t calculate out the cost of the salt, I’ll generously assume that it cost around 2 cents/loaf.
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You will save a tremendous amount of money by buying yeast in a bulk package instead of those little envelopes. I store my yeast in the freezer, and I am using yeast that I opened almost a year ago. Cost of the yeast is around 4 cents.
Total cost for a loaf of bakery quality bread = 53 Cents
You will also need a bread machine. You can pick one up at a thrift store for pennies on the dollar.
This KBS machine was $20 at a thrift store, but everything is half off on Mondays, so I paid only $10 for it. You may have to do a little hunting, but you will eventually find one. I wrote a whole post on buying used machines, so use my page’s search tool if you need some tips.
Lets get into the recipe!
It is always a good idea to gather your ingredients and equipment. I’m reading the recipe off my computer.To be honest, it would be a much better idea to print it up. Computers and cooking don’t always mix well.
Add the 3/4 C water to you bread maker’s pan. I add all the ingredients with the pan outside of the machine to avoid spilling something into its electricals. We have chlorinated water which can inhibit yeast growth, so I use the filtered water from my fridge which I warm up in the microwave to “baby bottle” warm.You could also use bottled water, and many filtered water pitchers will remove chlorine.
Now add the 1/4 C of milk. You also want this warm. If it burns your hand it will kill the yeast. If it is too cold it will retard the yeast’s growth. A few seconds in the microwave should do it.
In goes the 2T of sugar.
Now the 2T of cooking oil. I’m substituting oil for butter as it is less expensive. I’ll also give the cost of a loaf using butter instead of oil at the end of this post.
I always weight my flour; 314 grams = 2 5/8 C. I’m off by 3 grams, but that is less than a 1% variation, and therefore insignificant.
I’m adding the 1 and 1/8t of salt. Always level off your measuring cups and spoons. Salt can kill yeast if it is too concentrated, so I’ll keep them separated in the pan. I’m using fancy pink salt. However, any salt will do, this is just what I grabbed.
Now the 1 and 1/8t of yeast. I buried the salt in the flour, but I could have also poured it into one corner and the yeast in another.
Place the baking pan in the bread machine and select the “Basic” or “White” bread cycle, 1.5 pound loaf (750 grams), and medium crust (or your choice of crust). Press start.
After the bread has mixed for a short amount of time, I’ll use a spatula to knock down any errant flour towards the dough ball. This isn’t absolutely necessary, and in most cases that flour will eventually mix in. However, I want all of the flour incorporated to check the dough ball consistency.
The dough ball is just about right, but a little slack as it isn’t forming a ball. This is despite weighing the flour. I’ll add 1T of flour, wait around 30 seconds and add more if needed. If the dough was too dry I would do the same with water, 1T at a time.
The dough ball now looks perfect. Round and slightly tacky. Now I can close the lid and go on to another project. The machine will handle the rest, and I’ll have real bakery quality bread in around 3 hours.
Here is the bread out of the bread maker. It looks great, but how does it taste?
Honestly, it tastes great! AP flour has less gluten, so the dough is a bit weaker which yields a more open loaf. It is also a bit softer, and less chewy. Using butter instead of oil would add some additional richness, but it tastes wonderful as it. This bread is definitely bakery quality.
Changes and additions
You can add or substitute some ingredients as below:
The original recipe called for 3T of butter which costs around 30 cents. If you made the loaf with butter instead of oil the loaf’s cost would be 75 cents. Still a bargain!
Adding 1T of instant potato flakes will keep moisture in your bread and it will stay fresh longer. This adds about 3 cents to the cost of a loaf
Other additions
Vital Wheat Gluten can be purchased in most grocery stores, but you will find much better value on-line. Adding around 1T to your bread makes the dough stronger; similar to the results that you get from using bread flour. Adding 1T of VWG adds around 8 cents to the total cost of the loaf.
-You can also dress up your bread by topping it with seeds.
-You can make it an herb bread by adding 1t of Italian seasoning, or turn it into an onion loaf by adding 1t of onion powder.
-I often add 1-2T of ground flax seeds for added taste and health benefits.
-You can choose the dough cycle instead of the bread cycle. When the cycle completes take the dough out and form it into hot dog or hamburger buns on a greased baking sheet. Cover and allow the dough to rise for around 30 minutes and bake at 375F (190C) until done, around 14-18 minutes.
-You can use the dough as a base for a homemade pizza.
The options are as varied as your imagination.
You can have warm bakery quality bread for around 1/4th of the cost of crumby store bread, or 1/12th the cost of a premium store loaf. Think about that. All for about 5 minutes of work!
Dear readers, my mission to help people to save money continues. You may wonder when this journey started. The country had an economic downturn in 2008. At that time I was very active in my work life. My private practice was in an affluent area, still, many lost their jobs and were suffering. Since their compromised finances were impacting their mental health it became an important topic for psychotherapy. I was surprised how many didn’t know the most basic ways to live frugally. They were used to going out to restaurants, having a cleaning service, and paying others to care for their children. That is when I started my now dormant YouTube channel “Saving Savvy With Dr Mike,” with its first three installments on how to save money by packing a lunch.
I was raised in a family of seven with one income, and my parents were the product of the Great Depression. Frugal living was a normal part of life; it just made sense. However, what was easy for me seemed foreign to the former affluent. I have said many times that my jam is to learn, teach, and create. What better goal then to help someone feel a bit more economically secure while also teaching them a new skill.
With current governmental policies that promote inflation we are once again in difficult economic times, hence all of my emphasis on simple ways to save money.
My son moved out to his own apartment in the city a week ago. He proudly told me that he took the bus to go to Aldi, and even sent me a photo of his $33 haul. My one daughter sent me a photo of her batch cooking of breakfast burritos. She will freeze them and have quick and easy breakfasts for the next week. My other daughter visited yesterday. Recently, she picked up an Instant Pot on sale. She was staying for dinner, and I wanted to use my electric pressure cooker (an Instant Pot clone) to continue her familiarization with that device. My kids saw me using a pressure cooker a thousand times when they were living at home. However, it still can be intimidating when you have to use it on your own. I think that is the way with most cooking. I made the following dinner with her to continue her familiarization with this awesome appliance.
By the way, if it isn’t obvious, I really love my kids and I’m incredibly proud of them. They have turned out to be amazing and accomplished adults.
My son sent me this photo of his Aldi haul. He shops just like I do!Simple ingredients that can be transformed into many different meals.
Many of the things that an individual likes resonate from their early years. Music and foods come to mind. Since my mom was a great cook I love the dishes that were popular in the 1950s-1970s, including the iconic Stuffed Peppers.
Making Stuffed Peppers isn’t too difficult, but it does involve a bit of work. This soup is inspired by the classic dish, it is incredibly easy to make, and it only requires 10 minutes of pressure time (plus the pressure building and rest times). With an electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot) you press a button and the machine does the rest. This recipe is from the “Salty Marshmallow” website. There are many other recipes for Stuffed Pepper Soup; I’m choosing this one as it tastes good and it is simple to make. If you don’t have an Instant Pot like device, you could make it on the stovetop, but you would need to adjust cooking times. Let’s get started!
It is always a good idea to gather the items that you need before you start cooking. It makes the process faster and reduces errors. In this case I’m using some hot sauce instead of red pepper flakes. I’m also adding 1/2 of a small chopped onion to the recipe. The half-onion was lonely in my fridge, so I thought I would introduce it to the other ingredients. The hamburger was frozen in my freezer. It had been their for over a year, but it was perfectly good as I had vacuum sealed it. Beef is now very expensive; a vacuum sealer saves money two ways. It allows me to buy meat in bulk, and it prevents me from throwing it out due to freezer burn.
Here are the spices that I’m using. Nothing special, but they add interest and flavor. If I didn’t have Italian Seasoning I could have used some oregano. To be honest, I started to pre-measure spices mostly to have a photo for these posts. However, I have discovered that it is a good idea for cooking in general.
I washed, de-seeded, and chopped up my sweet peppers. You can use any color peppers that you like.Green peppers will be the least expensive, but somewhat stronger in flavor. I think it looks nice to have several colors of peppers, but that is mostly for aesthetic reasons.
I’m starting by placing my electric pressure cooker in saute mode and adding cooking oil. In goes my little onion to soften, and after a bit I’ll added the spices to bloom them. If I was following the recipe exactly I would just be using onion powder, so I would eliminate this step.If that was the case I would add the spices at the next step.
Now its time to add the hamburger and brown it. You can dump the excess fat or keep it. It is up to you.
In goes the beef broth. I’m using Better Than Bouillon, but you can use bouillon cubes, boxed broth, or homemade.
Instead of red pepper flakes I’m adding a few shots of hot sauce. It is OK to substitute ingredients as long they are not too far afield. I can’t tolerate super spicy foods, but a little heat adds interest. You can eliminate this ingredient if you choose.
Now I dump in a can of tomato sauce. I like to stockpile a few cans of tomato products as they are used in so many recipes.
Next goes in the sweet peppers.
Finally, the rice. I used whatever rice I had on hand.
Stir it all up. Cancel the saute function and put on the lid. Make sure that the lid is set to “sealing.”
Set your electric pressure cooker (AKA Instant Pot) for 10 minutes on high. It will take a bit to reach pressure. Once the cooking cycle is done wait an additional 5 minutes and then release the pressure. Make sure that the pressure indicator is down before attempting to open the pot. You don’t need to have the Instant Pot brand. There are many electric pressure cookers on the market and they all cook the same. Mine is a Mealthy brand that is now 8 years old.
Here is my Stuffed Pepper Soup plated up with some shredded cheese as a garnish. I’m serving it with some of my homemade bread. I have posted a lot about the benefits of making your own bread. It is very easy and automatic with a bread maker, and you can pick up a bread maker for pennies on the dollar at thrift stores. Homemade bread tastes better than the store stuff, it is very economical to make, and it is free of any additives.
There you have it, another simple recipe. This recipe said it feeds four, but that must be for bigger eaters. Three adults ate it, and there is plenty leftovers for possibly three more lunches. It was delicious and definitely has the vibe of stuffed peppers, but it was even easier to make than that classic dish. Cooking from scratch becomes almost effortless once you do it regularly.
Inflation continues, and it is unrelenting. We all have to eat, yet food costs continue to rise. There are many ways to economize on these expenses, one being to reduce our dependence on prepared foods.
Most of us eat sandwiches. They are easy to prepare, transport well, and can be delicious. Sandwiches are inexpensive, but all costs add up over time, and even humble lunch meat has become ever more pricey.
This Applegate oven roasted turkey breast costs over $18 a pound!
This house brand cold cut is on a special sale at $4.99 for 9 ounces, or almost $9 per pound. Many cold cuts are made from a meat slurry where odds and ends are ground with spices, placed into a form, and steam cooked into a loaf. There is nothing wrong with that, but the meat on your sandwich may not be what you think it is.
This is a real turkey breast, it is fully cooked, and cost $4.99 a pound. That’s less that $5 for a whole pound of real meat. But, how do you turn it into lunch meat?
What I am about to demonstrate is an advanced method to save money. The actual process is extremely simple, however it involves buying some equipment, so it should only be undertaken by those serious in their frugal habits. The pieces of equipment can be used for a variety of different tasks, and they will pay for themselves over time. However, if you are new to frugal living it is best to start your journey with options that use behavioral methods rather than equipment purchases.
This is what you will need:
A food scale. I found this one on Amazon for less than $6. I have used my current food scale for many years and I’m certain it cost less than $10. Food scales are useful for many tasks.
Alternatives: You can just eyeball quantities.
A vacuum sealer. This is the kind that I have, it is called a chamber vacuum sealer and it is fantastic. It is also very expensive. I have been a vacuum sealer user since the late 1980s and this habit has saved me many thousands of dollars. I can buy in bulk and divide up an item into smaller packages. I have used hamburger from my freezer that was over 2 years old, and it tasted as fresh as the day that I packed it. This type of sealer has many advantages, including the cost of the vacuum seal bags. The bags that I’ll be using in this post only cost around 4 cents each.
Alternatives:
A external sealer will also do the job. I found this one on Ali-Express for $10.38. The high quality Food Saver brand has models that sell in the $100 range, but there are many less expensive yet quality alternatives between this bargain and a FS machine. The bags used for external vacuum sealers have to be specially made, and they are more expensive than the simple bags used for a chamber sealer. If you buy a generic bag in bulk they will cost you around 9 cents/bag for the size needed for today’s example. Do you know that all of my kids have vacuum sealers? They saw how useful there were by my example and they use them for a variety of tasks, including breaking down bulk products into more manageable sizes.
The simplestoption is to use freezer bags. These bags are just a bit over 11 cents/bag. They will work for this task, but they are more prone to freezer burn over time. If use decide to use freezer bags try to force out as much air before sealing the bag and try to use your frozen lunch meat withing 4-6 months or less.
The first two item categories can be used in dozens of ways. The next item is more task specific, although it also has many uses. However, this is the one thing that you need to easily convert bulk meat into lunch meat.
This slicer costs $51 on Temu. You can buy a similar one on Amazon for around $60. These machines are built for consumer use. For a few hundred dollars you can buy a more robust slicer, but that is likely unnecessary. Slicers can be used for many slicing tasks: lunch meat, roasts, cheese, bread, vegetables. Anything where uniformed slices are needed.
Alternatives:
I came upon this slicer on Walmart.com. It has a folding design. I have no idea how well it works, so it may makes sense to pony up the additional $15 and to go with a known commodity.
OK, now that the logistics are out of the way, let’s get into it.
This is the slicer that I have had for years. There are many very similar units being sold and I suspect that they are all made in the same factory. This one has worked pretty well for the light duty work that I subject it to. As you can tell it is very similar to the Temu unit. I think I got mine on a Black Friday sale.
Since this turkey is already cooked all I had to do is remove it from its package and cut it into sizes that would fit on my slicer. Costco also had boneless ham that was very reasonably priced. You could turn any meat or cheese into a cold cut. Pick up a pork tenderloin on sale, bake it, chill it and slice it. Buy a block of cheese and slice it. Uncooked boneless turkey breasts often go on sale during the holidays. Buy several and freeze them. Defrost one, and toss it in a slow cooker on low for 5-6 hours for super simple preparation, then chill it, and slice it. You can rub any spice that you like on the turkey breast to add some variety to your lunch meat. Your options are only limited by your imagination.
We are ready to rock-an-roll! This is a top view of the slicer. Note the plate to catch the slices. The red arrow points to the thickness adjustment knob. You can have very thin slices or very thick slices. Thick slices can be cubed for salads or casseroles. The thicker option also works for slicing bread. This particular slicer came with both a smooth blade for cutting meat, and a serrated one for items like bread. Always use the guard when slicing anything. That rotating blade can’t distinguish between a turkey breast or a finger.Always unplug the unit when not in use, and unplug it when you are going to disassemble for cleaning.
Here are the slices coming off of the slicer. They are real meat, not some steamed slurry.The total time to cut 4 pounds of turkey breast was under 5 minutes.
Now it is time to package the lunch meat. I’m going to pack it in 8 oz amounts. I’ll vacuum seal 7 packages for the freezer, and place the 8th portion in a zip lock bag for the refrigerator. Always label your packages with the item and date. Trust me, you don’t want to play, “What’s in the package?” This meat will stay fresh for years in the freezer if it is vacuum packed. If using freezer bags expect about 4-6 months of freshness.
I’m using my kitchen scale to measure out 8 oz portions. This doesn’t have to be exact. You can eyeball a half pound too.
With the turkey portioned out it is now time to vacuum seal the individuals packages. I have this very fancy chamber vacuum sealer, but that is completely unnecessary. You can use an inexpensive external sealer, or even freezer bags.
All done. I’ll store the vacuum sealed packages together in a grocery store plastic bag. This makes it easy to know when I’m running low and need to make more lunch meat. The turkey in the sandwich bag will go into the fridge for immediate consumption.
This slicer breaks apart very easily. All washable parts go into some hot sudsy water. The machine itself is cleaned with a damp sponge. I’ll use a toothbrush to knock out any errant meat crumbs from the slicer. That blade is super sharp, so use common sense and caution when cleaning.Some use cut-resistant gloves, even when washing the blade. I don’t, but I’m very careful.
All clean and ready to reassemble.
Cleaned and assembled, and ready for its next job.
Cutting your own lunch meat can save you 50% or much more. The whole operation took me less than 40 minutes from start to finish. And, the quality is much better than most commercial deli meats.
Clearly, this is an advanced frugal technique as it requires some serious equipment in the form of the slicer. However, if your family eats a lot of sandwiches it may be worth the $50-$60 investment.
Happy slicing!
Mike
Images are used for educational and entertainment purposes only. They are my own or downloaded from commercial websites.
I went to make some toast this morning and discovered that we were out of bread. No problem, I’ll just make some. Now, you may be thinking that making bread from scratch would be an all morning operation, however, the whole process is only going to take me around five minutes actual work.
If you have seen some of my other posts you know that I’m a big fan of bread makers, and I have more than one. I usually find them at thrift shops and I have bought working bread makers for as little as $4.99.
Today, I’m going a bit upscale and using one of my Zojirushi bread makers. These are considered the best of the best, and they have a price tag to go along with their title. New versions of this bread maker sell for around $455, with the ceramic non-stick version commanding an eye watering $500! Used Zojirushi machines also are resold at a very high price, but I was fortunate to get a deal as my used machine has a dent. It doesn’t impact its performance, but it does impact its resale value. I paid $70 for this classic gadget.
If you want to enter the world of easy bread making you don’t have to spend that much. I have purchased a number of bread makers for less than $15 at thrift shops and they all make a nice loaf. Why do I have more than one bread maker? I’m just a chronic comparer who enjoys playing with different machines.
It takes me about 5 minutes to pull and measure the ingredients to make a loaf. I do check on the dough very early on in the mixing process too. However, everything else is automatic from mixing, to kneading, to baking. It is a super easy process.
Today’s recipe is from Betty Crocker. Naturally, I have modified it a bit, and you can see my changes in the photos below.
I have a couple bread maker cookbooks, but you can find hundreds of recipes for free just by searching the internet. The reason I like cookbooks by Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens is they are well tested and it is likely that they will make a delicious loaf.
You may ask why I make my own bread? It is simple:
-What smells better than bread baking?
-I produce a premium loaf for next to nothing in cost.
-I can modify my loaf in many different ways.
-I can make other types of bread, like hamburger buns, hotdog buns, or pizza dough that are significantly better than the store-bought stuff.
-Beyond regular white bread I can easily make whole wheat, rye, cheese bread, Sally Lunn, herb bread, dill bread, raisin bread, and many many other types of bread.
Let’s take a look at the recipe:
Here is the simple recipe. On the left are the ingredients for a 1.5 pound loaf, and on the right are the ingredients for a 2 pound loaf. I’ll be making a 1.5 pound loaf today which resembles a typical loaf. The two pound loaf would be much taller. Excuse my sloppy numbers, they indicate the ingredients in grams. It is much easier and faster to weigh ingredients, and it is more accurate too. You can buy a food scale for less than $10 and it will useful for many other recipes and kitchen tasks.
Here is the baking pan minus the kneading paddles. I like to spray a little cooking spray on the shafts, as it can be hard to remove the paddles if you don’t do this. This particular machine has two paddles, but most others have just one and they work well too.
I added the softened butter and I’m starting to pour in the water. I’m doing this by weight, adding 236 grams of water. Our water is heavily chlorinated, which slows down the yeast, so I’m using the filtered water from the fridge which I then warm to a “baby bottle” temperature in the microwave. Too hot, and you will kill the yeast. Too cold, and the yeast wont grow fast enough.
You can see that I got the water measurement just right. However, when dealing with weights over 50 grams a few grams one way or the other won’t make much of a difference.
After I measure each ingredient I hit the “T” button which tares the scale back to zero making measuring the next ingredient easy.
Next, I add the flour. I need 360 grams. It looks like a half of a spoon more will do. I keep this spoon in my flour canister. By the way, I’m using bread flour which has a bit more gluten than standard AP flour. You can buy bread flour inexpensively at Costco, and also on Amazon. Naturally, most grocers also sell it, but it will cost you a bit more. A 5-pound sack has around 21 cups of flour. Since this recipe uses 3 cups of flour a sack could make up to 7 loaves.
This recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of powdered milk. I measured this by weight. Many products give a weight measurement on the Nutritional Facts panel. In this case 1/4 cup is 23 grams in weight. Three tablespoons is 3/4 of this amount, so 23 grams x 0.75 is between 17 and 18 grams. I’ll use 18 grams of powdered milk for this recipe. You can also find volume to weight conversions on the internet. They are usually in grams, making measuring even easier. Most food scales can be switched between Imperial units (pounds/ounces) and metric units (kilograms/grams). In goes the powdered milk.
When it comes to the salt and the yeast I use standard measuring spoons. They weigh very little and I don’t think my scale is super accurate with tiny amounts. Always level off your measuring spoons for the best results.
I buy yeast in a block as it is much less expensive than those little envelopes. I always keep my yeast in the freezer. Doing so it will stay active for a very long time. I started to use this batch of yeast almost a year ago and it is still good.
I’m going add some of my own extras to this recipe. I’m adding around 2 tablespoons (roughly) of ground flax seeds. The fax seeds add fiber, Omega 3 FAs, and antioxidants, plus they add a nice flavor and a homey look.
I’m also adding 1 tablespoon of instant potatoes (dry). The flakes hold onto water and will keep my bread fresher a bit longer. Remember, this bread has no preservatives. It will dry out much quicker than a commercial loaf. If you eat just a little at a time, freeze the remainder. I keep mine in a breadbox and it is good for up to three days, and toastable for a day or two after that. Note that I keep the salt and yeast in separate corners of the pan. Salt can kill yeast if too concentrated.
The pan goes into the machine, I press a button or two, and I’m almost done. Total time to measure the ingredients? Around five minutes.
There is one more important thing to do. I use a spatula to knock down any errant flour off the sides of the pan. After the dough has been mixing for a few minutes I check to see that it has formed a slightly sticky (to touch) ball. If it looks too dry and raggy I’ll add water one tablespoon at a time until it looks like the above. If it is too loose/wet and not forming a proper ball I’ll add flour one tablespoon at a time until it looks right. This is an important step. If you weigh your ingredients you will make no adjustment or only minor adjustments.
I walked away and did some other tasks. After a few hours I started to smell the delicious aroma of bread baking. A bit over 3 hours from the start and I had this wonderful loaf.Bread for pennies? Even more important now that inflation is out-of-control.
Making bread is a fun hobby, and I have been baking bread for at least 40 years. I have used a food processor, a mixer, and bread makers. All have their advantages and disadvantages. However, when it comes to simplicity and ease you can’t beat a bread maker. We will be enjoying this loaf for the next few days. When it is used up I’ll simply make another one. And, yes, it tastes so much better than that stuff that is wrapped in plastic at the grocery.
Holy cow, it seems like grocery prices go up every single week. However, cooking from home still saves you money. Have you gone out to eat at a restaurant lately? You need a second mortgage to pay for dinner!
You may recall that when my wife returned to the paid workforce my kids were up in arms. They had been used to homemade meals and now they felt assaulted by having to eat fast food and frozen pizza. My work schedule had changed as I was on the forefront of using telemedicine and was home at dinner time a few days a week. They asked me to make dinners, but I refused! Well, actually I didn’t refuse, I said that I would start cooking, but they would need to become my assistants. I had the devious plan to teach them how to cook real food from scratch. I also wanted to educate them on my way of cooking. I shop frugally, plan carefully, and clean up as I go.
Despite my crafty subterfuge they seemed excited to join “Cooking with Dad, Thursdays.” In reality, we had a lot of fun as I taught them practical cooking skills. Over time, my cooking role increased to more days a week and each time I would post a gather time on our group chat, and they would show up. We talked, told jokes, and laughed as we cook and it was everyone’s responsibility to clean up after we ate. They all became competent cooks.
This weekend brought a special treat as two my my daughters were visiting, and my son was home. It was time for a special edition of “Cooking with Dad.”
I like to eat out of my pantry and so I gathered the ingredients that we needed to make a hearty chicken and dumpling soup (or stew if you make it a bit thicker). I always like to credit the originators of a recipe, but I can’t in this instance as I heavily modified it and I can’t remember the original source. Alas.
This is a very flexible recipe that uses simple ingredients and an electric pressure cooker. You could easily adjust the time and make this dish in a Dutch oven on the stove if that is what you have. The ingredients are very flexible, so I won’t list quantities, but I’ll be more specific in the photos.
Ingredients
Butter and oil
Carrots/Celery/Onions
Chicken/Chicken Broth
Seasoning
Dumplings
1 and 1/4 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1t salt
2T melted butter
1/2 C warmed milk
Place your electric pressure cooker on saute and add some cooking oil and butter.
Add cut up/chopped onions, carrots, and celery. The amount we used was 1 onion, 3 stalks celery, and a small bunch of carrots. You can vary your amounts based on what you have on hand. These amounts were what we had on hand. Soften the vegetables for a few minutes.
I added a big spoon of “jarlic,” but fresh garlic or ever garlic powder would work. Cook for another minute. If you are using powdered garlic, just add it and go to the next step.
I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper. I had eight chicken thighs, but you can use less, perhaps four if that is all you have. You can use any type of chicken: a cut up chicken, breast meat only, chicken strips, whatever you have on hand. I removed the skin and bones after the chicken was cooked.
The seasoning is simple. I added a heaping teaspoon of poultry seasoning. You could add a little more or a little less, and it would be fine. I added around 1/3 of a teaspoon of black pepper and about 1/2 of a teaspoon of salt. I also added a bay leaf. I went light on the salt as I would be adding bouillon, which is salty. I adjust the spices at the end of cooking. I mixed the spices in and cooked them for about 30 seconds before moving on to the next step.
My daughter mixed up 5 cups of water with some chicken-flavored, Better Than Bouillon. If you had homemade broth or boxed broth that would work too. If you use less chicken, go with 4 cups of liquid.
I added the chicken into the pressure cooker (Instant Pot) and pressure cooked for 13 minutes. These were large thighs, if I had smaller pieces I would have pressure cooked for around 10 minutes. I immediately released the pressure when cooking time was done.
This is what the dish looked like after pressure cooking.
My son removed the chicken and shredded the meat using two forks. He discarded the skin and bones.
I mixed up the dough ingredients. You don’t want to over mix; it will look a bit rough.
I took the dough out of the bowl and folded it over a few times to form a ball. Then I placed it on a floured surface and rolled it out to no more than 1/8″ thick. I have a rolling pin, but you could use anything heavy and round, including an old wine bottle. You can see that this isn’t a professional rolling job. It doesn’t matter. I cut the dough (very roughly) into 1″ x 2″ squares. A pizza cutter would be ideal, but I just used my knife.
The pressure cooker was placed again on saute until the contents were bubbling. Then my other daughter added the dumplings individually so they wouldn’t stick together. She pressed them down in the liquid with a spatula to gently submerge them. The dumplings were cooked for 10 minutes to fully cook them.
Towards the end of the dumpling cooking time I added around 2 tablespoons of corn starch mixed in a equal amount of cold water to the bubbling mixture. This will thicken the soup.
I put around 3/4 of a cup (you can vary this from 1/2 C to 1C) of sour cream in a bowl and added around 1/3 cup of the hot soup to temper the sour cream. This will prevent it from curdling when you add it to the soup. I added this to the soup for a creamy quality. If you don’t have sour cream you could use heavy cream, half and half, whole milk or even condensed milk. each would impart their own quality, but it would still be delicious.
Here it is ready to be served. Oops, I forgot to remove the bay leaf! I do that now.
All served up. My daughter made some cornbread. I like adding a slice to the soup and breaking it up. My wife contributed by making an excellent tomato, cucumber, and avocado salad. It was a delicious dinner. It fed 5 adults, and there are leftovers for around 3 lunches.
This is a great recipe because it is so flexible, and it uses ingredients that most have around the house. If you have less chicken use a little less broth (4 cups instead of 5). Use whatever chicken you have, it is all good. Vary the vegetables quantity (within reason) as you wish. Use homemade both, boxed broth, or (as I often do) water plus bouillon or Better Than Bouillon. Don’t have sour cream? Try heavy cream, or even evaporated milk. I bet cream cheese would work.
Add a simple bread product (even crackers) and the meal is complete. My wife’s salad was a wonderful addition, but it is an extra and not required as the soup already has vegetables in it.
Don’t have an electric pressure cooker? You can certainly make this on the stove, it will just take longer to cook.
This seems like a winter soup, but we just had it on a hot August day. We enjoyed it just as much as if we made it in January.
Don’t be afraid to cook, you have to start somewhere. Give this soup a try.
With the astounding inflation that we are experiencing, one pot meals offer both convenience and value. When I was at the market yesterday, I spied a two-for-one sale on chicken breasts. Perfect! I thought. I had just watched a video where the presenter made a complete pasta and chicken dish in their Instant Pot. Simple, filling, and delicious. I already had most of the ingredients, and I could fudge the ones I was lacking. Dinner was about to be served!
When I use the term “Instant Pot” I’m actually referring to any electric pressure cooker. They all work very similarly.
Here are the ingredients as well as the name of the YouTube channel that originally published the recipe:
The ingredient list may look long, but the recipe is really very simple. Putting the dinner together took me about 10 minutes.
Here we are, ready to go. Cooking is easier if you gather all of your ingredients beforehand. I had everything needed except the chicken, which I picked up on a 2 for 1 sale.
The only real work for this dinner was cutting up the chicken and chopping up an onion. Let’s face it, that isn’t too much to do.
I had a two-pound box of macaroni, and the recipe called for 1 pound. I could have eyeballed it, but I have a kitchen scale, which is useful for so many things. Kitchen scales are very inexpensive. I think this one was around $10 (I have had it for a long time and don’t remember the exact cost).
Place the Instant Pot (or any electric pressure cooker) on sauté and soften the onion for a few minutes in some olive oil. You can use any cooking oil that you have on hand, but olive oil is nice.
Add the spices and cook them for about 30 seconds. This will bring out their flavor, but don’t let them burn.
Add the garlic. Fresh garlic is nice, but I’m using “jarlic” (garlic in a jar). In a pinch, you could use granulated garlic. Cook this mixture for around a minute. If using granulated garlic, just mix it in and move on to the next step.
Add the chicken and sauté it for a few minutes. Naturally, stir it around.
Add the spaghetti sauce and the water/broth and mix. In this situation, my sauce was a smaller bottle than what the recipe called for, so I added some tomato sauce to bring the total up to 40 oz. I added the 2 cups of hot water with the amount of chicken bouillon enough for one cup. I wanted the richness of a broth but I didn’t want the pasta to be too salty. Remember, you can always add salt when the dish is complete. I also added about one teaspoon of oregano to the tomato sauce to simulate a pasta sauce. I think I could have used the spaghetti sauce that I had and just added water to make up the 40 ounces too. The dish would have had a little less tomato flavor, but it would still be delicious. Remember, this is family cooking. It just has to taste good.
Add the dry pasta. Don’t mix it in, instead gently submerge it in the sauce. I used macaroni, but any small pasta would do. If you mix the pasta in some of the pasta could burn to the bottom of the pot.
The original recipe advised cooking under pressure for 5 minutes and then releasing the pressure. I like less al dente pasta, so I cooked it for 6 minutes. However, I felt it was still too hard. No problem, I just turned on the sauté function for a few minutes (with the lid off) until the pasta was the perfect texture. Many times it is possible to save a recipe with just a little problem-solving. After the pasta was completely cooked, I canceled the sauté function. Different shapes of pasta cook at different times, so you may need to adjust your pressure cook time a minute or two one way or the other once you have the recipe down. Additionally, you can always go with 5 minutes and use sauté to complete the process if necessary. Remember, you can always add time, but you can’t subtract it.
Here I’m using my scale again, this time to measure out 8 ounces of Mozzarella Cheese. I wouldn’t add more than this. If you don’t have 8 ounces, a few ounces less would also work.
I added both the Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses to the pot and covered it for a few minutes to let the residual heat melt them. Once melted, stir the mixture. It will thicken as you stir it.
Here you can see the finished pasta. Very rich and creamy.
Earlier in the day, I threw together the ingredients for my flax seed bread in a bread maker. Measuring the ingredients took around 5 minutes. I then pressed a button and walked away. Three and a half hours later, I had a fresh loaf of homemade bread. It was still warm by dinner time.
Here is the cheesy chicken pasta, plated with some of my homemade bread. It was delicious, but the recipe made an absolutely massive amount of food. My wife and I both had it for dinner, but we barely put a dent in it. We will eat some of the leftovers over the next two days, but we can only eat so much. I hate to waste food, and I’m unsure how well this dish would freeze. Next time I will half the recipe.
Inflation continues, and many are struggling. This is another post in my series to help people get through these difficult times by using common-sense principles.
By now you know that I’m a fan of soups and one-pot meals. I have made a number of bean and lentil soups, and they are all similar, yet a bit different. Bean soups are extremely flexible and forgiving. Ingredients can be added or removed, and you can still get an excellent, delicious end product. Bean soups can also be extremely economical. A 20-ounce, 12-16-bean variety sack costs only a few dollars; the vegetable ingredients are cheap, and the meat can be anything from an Easter hambone to cut-up hot dogs.
This recipe made over 5 liters of soup, plenty to feed a large family. Only two of us were home when I made this, so we had quite a bit left over. The good news is that this soup freezes well!
Recipe adapted from the website, “Valerie’s Kitchen”
Cut up the vegetables. Exact amounts are not important.
Prepare your spices. Don’t add salt until you can taste-test at the end. The ham is already salty, as is the broth.
Here is the meat that I used. The ham bone was a gift from my sister, who had it left over from Easter. I froze it and used it all of these months later. I also had a couple of strips of bacon in the fridge. I used these for their grease and for their bacon flavor. If I didn’t have the bacon, I would have used vegetable oil. The meat that you use can vary. Try sausage, other smoked meats, or even sliced hot dogs. You can also omit the meat for a vegetarian dish. However, the meat adds a lot.
You will need around 6 cups of liquid for the recipe. That can be 4 cups from a box of stock plus two cups of water, 6 cups of broth, or, in my case, 6 cups of water with some chicken bouillon granules. I only used about a tablespoon of the granules, as they are pretty salty.
Here are the beans that I used. They are the Aldi brand and were of very good quality. I believe they were a couple of dollars. You should dump the beans and sort for broken/moldy ones as well as small rocks. This bag was very clean, and I only had about 5 beans to discard.
To soak or not to soak? That is the question. With a pressure cooker, you can use unsoaked beans by extending the cook time. I tend to soak when possible, as I believe that it makes the beans more digestible and less… hmm. Well, you know what beans can do. Pro Tip: I added a pinch of baking soda to the soak. This helps old beans hydrate better. I soaked the beans in plenty of water, overnight in a covered bowl.
Here are the beans after a night of soaking. I drained off the old water and rinsed them before adding them to the soup.
The recipe calls for 8 ounces of crushed tomatoes, but I used a whole can. If I didn’t have these, I would have used any tomato product or even condensed tomato soup. Remember, you are cooking for a family and not following some sort of heirloom recipe.
I also used my usual jar garlic. Would fresh be better? Likely, but this works too. If I didn’t have this, I would have used powdered garlic granules.
Let’s go! I rendered the bacon for its fat using the sauté setting on my electric pressure cooker (think Instant Pot). Don’t worry about the crispy stuff on the bottom of the pot; I will take care of that in a bit.
After the bacon rendered, I added the onions and cooked them for a few minutes to soften them. The onions released a lot of liquid, which made it easy to remove the fond (the flavorful, burnt-on crust) with a wooden spoon.
In went the carrots and celery, as well as the garlic. I continued to cook this mixture for a couple of minutes.
Then my spices. If you cook the spices for a bit, their flavor is intensified. However, be cautious, as you don’t want to burn them.
Now the soaked beans. Remember, you can use dried beans too, you would just need to cook them longer.
Now the chicken broth and the can of tomatoes.
Lastly, the ham bone. My electric pressure cooker is pretty full. Perhaps a bit more than it should be. However, we are going for it. A pressure cooker should be no more than 2/3 full. Probably less if I were just making the beans alone.
All of this is very simple. Now it is time to place the cover and pressurize. Since these beans were soaked, I cooked them for 25 minutes. When the cooking was done, I let them sit for at least 15 more minutes before releasing the steam. If the beans were not soaked, I would pressure-cook them for about 45 minutes and also let them rest for 15 minutes.
As an aside, I looked up this pressure cooker, and I have been using it for over 8 years. I can’t say enough about how useful pressure cookers are. Stove-top units last forever, but you have to watch them. These electric ones are also very robust. It seems that the Instant Pot craze is waning, and you can buy a new 6-quart electric pressure cooker for well under $100. I checked Facebook Marketplace and saw several used 6-quart models (a good size) selling for between $20 and $50. The Instant Pot brand is good, but so are many other brands. My unit is not an Instant Pot, but it works great.
After cooking, I took out the hambone and removed any meat, which I added back to the soup.
I tasted for seasoning, and no salt was needed. I did add a few shots of hot sauce (optional). I used a stick blender to blend some of the beans to thicken the soup. You could also mash the beans using a wooden spoon, or just leave the soup as is.
Here is the soup, plated and served with some of my homemade whole-wheat bread. The bread was made with a thrift-store bread maker that cost me $6.99. Why an avocado garnish? It was going ripe, and I needed to use it up. Necessity is the mother of invention! I also added a little grated Parmesan cheese. The soup was extremely filling and really delicious. There will be leftovers for several lunches and for freezing for a future meal.
Making food from scratch is much more economical than eating ultra-processed foods. Additionally, the food tastes so much better. I put together the bread’s ingredients in less than 5 minutes, pressed a button, and had a fresh loaf 3.5 hours later. The soup took less than 10 minutes to prepare, and then the pressure cooker took over automatically. Easy peasy.
Times are tough, but cooking from scratch and shopping at Aldi can save you both money and frustration. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can make this soup on the stovetop; it would just take longer (4 hours?). I’m pretty sure you could also make this soup in a slow cooker on low for 8-10 hours. If you go with either of these two methods, you will need to soak your beans overnight.
