Food is one of the places I find it fairly easy to save. When it come to our meals and what we eat, I try to plan ahead. I feel that by spending a bit of time on writing down a meal plan and a grocery list to go with it, I can save a lot of time and money and also almost don’t waste food.
The hardest part of all this is coming up with meals to cook; things that are easy to prepare, doesn’t take a lot of time, are nutritious and doesn’t cost a lot. Here is an example of one of those:
Indian Inspired Vegetable Curry Stew (for about 4 people)
Cost: About NIS 20 (USD 5)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
½ Onion finely diced
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp. fresh ginger finely diced
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 medium sized carrots diced
3 medium sized potatoes diced
½ cup frozen peas
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp dried coriander (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
400 ml water
1 can coconut milk
In a pot heat the oil and fry the mustard seed for a few minutes, then add the onion and continue to cook for a few minutes more. Add the ginger and garlic, the cinnamon stick and the spices. After about a minute, add the carrots and then the water. Let the carrots cook for about 10 minutes, then add the potatoes and the coconut milk. Let it continue to cook on low heat until the potatoes are soft – about 10-15 minutes. Towards the end add the peas. Add salt and pepper according to taste.
I went all in and prepared these Chapatis, but any store bought bread or cooked rice would go just as well with it.
The ingredient list may seem long, but is mostly spices and the dish itself is really very easy to prepare. I like it a lot, the kids a little less, but it might have something to do with the fact that I accidentally added cayenne pepper instead of sweet paprika 😉
You can read more about our food budget here or how we we save money on food.
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