Frugal Food Series Part Six: Breads, Potatoes, Pasta and Rice

Here we are in week six of the Frugal Food Series-the series where we all help each other stretch our food budgets in these times of rising prices. This week we are attacking starches and grains. In previous weeks we have compiled great frugal recipes from around the web on Egg, Tuna, Bean Ground Meat or Chicken .

One of the first tips that you run across in frugal meal planning is to use the more expensive items-like meat-as a side dish, and to bulk up your veggies and starches to fill people up. Americans (and many folks in other nations) eat way more meat & protein than we need most days. Potatoes, pasta and rice are very filling, available year round and usually quite cheap.

Of course how you buy it effects the price. Personally I buy my rice at the local Asian Grocery store for about $19 for a 2o lb bag of short grain Asian rice. Pasta I stock up on when I find the whole wheat kind on sale-otherwise I buy the Aldi’s brand for cheap. Potatoes I buy at Aldi’s (and this year grown my own!) in 5 lb bags. More than that and I run the risk of growing shoots before I use them up.

The typical breads made and used in our house are:

1. Regular slicing bread-the dough in the breadmaker, the baking in the oven
2. Pizza dough-also in the breadmaker
3. Biscuits-quick and easy to make
4. Impossible Beer Bread
5. Corn Bread
6. Muffins

The ways we use potatoes are:

1. Baked
2. Mashed (either as a side dish or on top of a cottage pie or casserole)
3. Boiled with butter, salt, pepper and parsley
4. Homemade Oven Fries
5. Homemade Gnocchi

The ways I use rice are:

1. Plain (w/butter as a side dish or to ladle chili, pea/lentil soup, stirfry or curry over)
2. As a component of casseroles
3. As a crust for my quiche
4. For Ongiri or Sushi (very occasionally)
5. “Pizza Rice”-rice w/spaghetti sauce & cheese
6. In stuffings for stuffed peppers, cabbage rolls, grape leaves etc

Of course I have a million different pasta dishes, as I’m sure many of you do. The most typical are:

1. All Day Macaroni and Cheese
2. Spaghetti & Meatballs
3. Lasagna
4. Under Stroganoff, as a component of a casserole, or in a soup
5. Spicy Thai Noodles
6. Macaroni Salad
7. Spaghetti Carbonara

So now it is your turn. What fabulous, family tested, frugal recipes do you have? Don’t feel limited to the starches I’ve mentioned-maybe you have a fabulous quinona recipe? Or couscous? Go ahead and add it

Remember, post a link to the recipe at your blog in the Mr. Linky below (again-please link directly to the post and not just to your homepage). If you don’t have a blog-don’t worry! You can still play. Simply post your recipe in the comments section or email it to me and I’ll post it for you. A backlink to this post is appreciated as well.

Remember as well-it isn’t too late to post your fabulous Egg, Tuna, Bean Ground Meat or Chicken recipe. Those posts are still accepting links, so feel free to head on back and add your link. When the Frugal Food Series is done, I’ll be writing and overview post and then placing a permanent link in my sidebar-so those posts should get frequent traffic long after the series is over.

Next week is the final installment of the Frugal Food Series-a catch all for any frugal recipe you have that didn’t quite fit in the other categories. Do you have a fabu snack, appetizer, potluck favorite or company fare to share? Get ready to link to it next week!

Note: Photo is a compilation of Creative Commons licensed photos from Darwinbell, Mr. Kris, Tanya Dropbear and Visual Panic.