Crooked Kitchen

Over on The Simple Dollar, Trent writes about Eating What You Have On Hand. He knows that eating at home saves a lot of money over eating out, but what do you do when you’re too tired/sick/lazy to really cook dinner?

Along the same lines, I’ve come to realize that I tend to snack on and eat whatever’s convenient. For lunch, I’ll usually eat leftovers because it’s easy - it’s sitting in the fridge and usually only requires a bit of pepper and a trip to the microwave. At snack time, I’ll look at the fruit bowl and flip open the refrigerator door and grab whatever’s quick and at hand.

So why not combine the two and really crunch your food budget?

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By a lucky coincidence, many of the healthiest foods are also quite cheap in their raw form.

So what I decided to do is start cooking some healthy and very inexpensive staple foods once a week in bulk, store them in containers in the fridge, and utilize them all throughout the week in various dishes.

He suggests cooking a big batch of a staple - something like beans, rice, or whole grains - then using that bit by bit through the week. You can combine it with any quick-to-cook vegetables you have on hand.

I like to do this too. I tend not to eat most leftovers, but if I have precooked base ingredients I’m happy to transmute them into something new.

Trent doesn’t mention meat. While cooking vegetarian meals is a really good way to save money, it’s not an option for me - not only because I’m a zealous omnivore, but I also need lots of protein from meat sources. In addition, his staple recommendations aren’t the best for me (I should be leaning more toward refined grains than whole grains), but for the average healthy person, his advice is very good.

One of the things I love is fragrant rice, either basmati or jasmine. When I cook rice, I’ll cook a big batch and save the extra rice. Reheated in the microwave with a bit of water, it comes back to life well enough to eat again plain. But my favorite thing to do with leftover rice is make fried rice. That uses up a good amount of rice, and little bits of leftover meat, vegetable, or practically anything else. Fried rice will be fully covered in another post soon.

Eating What You Have On Hand has made me think about what I currently have on hand. Tomorrow I’ll take a full inventory of my pantry, fridge, freezer, and spice cupboard, and see what I can make of that.

It seems to be a very basic thing, but many people find it hard to cook rice without it being hard or getting gummy or mushy. Using a rice cooker is the easy way to make rice - in most cases, just set it and forget it - but rice cookers take up counter space and their function can be duplicated with a single pan with just a little bit of skill and practice.

I cook rice in a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. My method is very simple, but results in perfect rice every time. The method varies slightly depending on the type of rice used. This is different than the pilaf method, which is often used to produce rice with things added - vegetables, spices, and herbs.

Continue reading for guidelines and a series of steps to create perfectly cooked rice »

The Sushi Bar

One of the reasons I want to save money is to be able to splurge every now and then. One of the things I like to splurge on is good sushi. Eventually, I’ll be able to have my kidney transplant, and unfortunately, the resultant anti-rejection drugs will cause me to not be able to eat raw fish ever again. So before I have my transplant, I’m planning a huge splurge at a top-quality sushi restaurant.

Over the last couple months, I’ve visited a few sushi restaurants in the Santa Barbara area and had some of their best. I’d like to write about the sushi I’ve had.

Continue reading for pictures of all kinds of sushi and sashimi »