aussiebootstrapmeals

[aussiebootstrapmeals]

Curried pea and broccoli soup, 67c

This is a recipe I “invented” when I was living in the UK. It requires very little energy or preparation, and most of the time is just letting it do its thing on the stove. And if you eat it with bread, you’ve hit the ‘a green, a bean and a grain’ minimum of a vego meal.

I actually measured what I do for once, and as a result, it came out the nicest I think it’s ever tasted. It’s almost as though cooking in an organised fashion is useful and beneficial??

Makes 4 serves at 67c each

1 tbsp oil, 5c (15ml/750ml Woolworths Essentials canola oil, $2.25)

1 onion chopped, 44c (although truthfully I use frozen chopped onion, because fatigue)

2 tbsp minced garlic, 17c (35g//500g jar of Woolworths homebrand minced garlic, $2.40)

2 cups roughly chopped broccoli, 80c (roughly 160g/500g frozen broccoli florets, $2.50)

1 cup dried green split peas, 60c (205g/1kg McKenzie’s Green Split Peas, $2.90)

3 cups water

1 tsp chilli flakes, 16c (2g/23g Woolworths Select Chilli Flakes, $1.80)

2 tsp curry powder, 45c (9g/60g Keen’s Traditional Curry Powder, $3.00)

1 tsp salt, 1c (3g/1kg salt, 90c)

Freshly ground pepper

Fry the onion in the oil in a large saucepan until transparent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the curry powder, broccoli, split peas and three cups of water. 

Cover and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 45 minutes, or until the peas are soft. If you’re using frozen broccoli, it’ll take awhile to come to a simmer, and that’s OK.

Add the chilli flakes and puree (I use a stick blender). Taste & add salt and pepper, adjusting seasoning if necessary.

Notes

Checking out frugl.com.au, it looks like Clive of India’s curry powder is slightly cheaper, but I’ve got Keen’s, so that’s what’s there. Clive’s looks like it’s a bit lower salt, so if you use that, you may need to adjust the amount of salt you add.

If you use chilli flakes a lot, like I do, you can get them much cheaper in the Indian foods section (or at an Indian grocery), where it’ll usually be about $2-3 for 500g, instead of about $2 for 20g.

I’m also going to try a version with frozen peas, because I’ve got some shitty cheap ones that are too woody to be pleasant to eat on their own. I’ll update you when I’ve tested amounts.

[aussiebootstrapmeals]

Creamy coconut lentil curry

When I can afford it, and when it’s on special, I buy Hart & Soul soups. I’m regularly not well enough to cook dinner, or sometimes do much preparation of food at all, so I need to have food in the pantry that I can eat pretty much immediately.

This is a recipe I sought out because I fell in love with the H&S coconut lentil soup. It’s pretty dang good. As always, the recipe itself is at the link below. Prices all sourced from Woolworths.

Creamy coconut lentil curry, from The Endless Meal.com

Makes 6 serves at 94c each.

2 tbsp oil, 9c (30ml/750ml Woolworths Essentials canola oil, $2.25)

1 tbsp cumin seeds, 46c (6g/25g Hoyts whole cumin seeds, $1.90)

1 tbsp coriander seeds, 26c (5g/25g Hoyts whole coriander seeds, $1.30)

1/4 cup minced garlic, 34c (70g/500g jar of Woolworths homebrand minced garlic, $2.40)

800g diced tomatoes, $1.20 (two 400g tins of Woolworths homebrand, 60c each)

2 tbsp ginger, 57c (35g/185g Just Foods crushed ginger, $2.99)

1 tbsp tumeric, 42c (7g/25g Hoyts turmeric, $1.50)

2 tsp salt, 1c (6g/1kg salt, 90c)

1 cup whole lentils, $1.23 (200g/375g McKenzie’s whole green lentils, $2.30)

Opt: 1 tsp ground cayenne, 7c (2g/50g Hoyts cayenne, $1.64)

400g tin coconut milk, 95c (Woolworths homebrand)

Things easily skipped: handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped coriander to serve. I’ve made this without both almost every time, and you won’t miss it.

Things easily substituted: coconut oil. I actually usually skip oil entirely, but since coconut oil is expensive af, just use whatever cooking oil you usually use. It’ll be fine, I promise.

Things easily reduced: garlic. I wouldn’t remove it entirely unless you have dietary restrictions without substituting asaphoetida. But it’s entirely up to you. Also I buy my jarred garlic in kilogram jars, so I have 0 chill when it comes to this, obvs.

Good to know: In order for this to make 6 serves as the recipe says, you need to serve it over rice. I personally cook up a bunch of rice and freeze it in single serves to make this easier, since you can’t refrigerate rice safely for more than a day.

[aussiebootstrapmeals]

Three more years of misery

Hi guys! Looks like Morrison and his cronies are back in government, and you know what that means!!

Three more years of terrible economic management, tax breaks for the very rich, and many more of us sliding into poverty! And pretty much 0 chance of a meaningful raise to Newstart or any other pension!

So I’m gonna try to pick up this blog again. Fuck the LNP, and fuck poverty. Let’s make some food.

[aussiebootstrapmeals]

Thrupenny PBJ Cookies

Recipe at Cooking on a Bootstrap here.

Price breakdown

Makes 12, at 8c each

50g dairy-free margarine, 33c ($3.30/500g Nuttelex)

2 tbsp sugar, 3c ($1/1kg, Woolworths Essentials)

3 tbsp peanut butter, 36c ($2.40/500g, Woolworth Essentials)

75g self raising flour, 6c ($1.50/2kg, Woolworth Essentials)

4 tsp jam, 10c ($1.40/500g, Woolworths Homebrand)

Notes

The recipe says ‘4 tbsp’ of jam. It is wrong. I diligently spooned out 4 tablespoons and wound up using a third of that and promptly realised that it’s a typo and should be 4 tsp. Like, maybe a skerrick more wouldn’t go astray? But four tablespoons is A LOT when trying to plop it on top of biscuits that are the size of a squashed marble.

The biscuits look ridiculously small when you spoon them out!! Just so small!!! I nearly made them double-sized and was glad I didn’t when they E X P A N D E D in the oven. Not for nothing are you using self-raising flour.

Also these are very tasty and good and cheaper even than the knock-off ‘I can’t believe they’re not jammy dodgers’ I can get delivered from Woolies, so good job.

[aussiebootstrapmeals]

Husky Bean Soup

Another new recipe. Basic thought, ‘What if white bean dip, but as a soup?’ It’s astonishingly flavourful.

It’s called ‘husky’ partly because it’s thick, but mostly because it started as a Tuscan bean soup recipe before I decided to ignore all instructions. And I like wordplay.

This would look even prettier if I had used cannellini beans, rather than borlotti, which is what I had.

Price breakdown

Serves 2, enthusiastically, at $1.85 per serve

1 tbsp vegetable oil, 33c (Homebrand Blended Vegetable Oil, $4.40 for 2L)

1 onion, 41c ($2.5/1kg onions)

3 clove of garlic, 30c (90c per bulb of garlic)

1 small celery stalk, 10c ($2.90 for a whole bunch)

1 x 400g tin of cannellini beans, $1.50 (Annalisa)

1 x 400g tin of baked beans, 65c (Woolworths homebrand)

1 tbsp American mustard, 11c ($4.15/550g bottle Masterfoods Mild American Mustard)

1 tsp veggie stock powder, 8c ($3.70/250g Vegeta Gourmet Vegetable Stock Powder … I actually measured the weight this time)

1 tsp mixed herbs, 12c (Hoyts Mixed Herbs, $1.60 for 25g)

1 bay leaf, 1c (Hoyts Bay Leaves, $1.40 for 15g)

Ground black pepper, 4c (Hoyts Whole Black Pepper, $4.30 for 100g)

Smoked paprika to garnish, 3c (Hoyts Smoked Paprika, $1.47 for 50g)

Method

Mince garlic, chop onion & celery stalk. Set aside.

Rinse beans, and thoroughly wash baked beans to remove all sauce.

Heat the vegetable oil in a pot and cook onion and garlic until translucent. Add celery.

Add beans, mustard, herbs, bay leaf and stock powder. Add 2 cups of water. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, or until celery is soft.

Remove bay leaf. Puree (I use a stick blender). 

Serve, adding black pepper & paprika.

[aussiebootstrapmeals]

Nearly Minestrone

I thought I’d spend ages working through the Cooking on a Bootstrap site before posting things of my own, but uh. Nope.

This is a cut-down version of minestrone, with barley subbed for the pasta, largely because I don’t have small pasta in the house at the moment.

Price breakdown

Serves 4 at $1.02 per serve

1/4 cup of pearl barley, 17c (McKenzie’s Pearl Barley, $1.65 for 500g)

1 onion, 41c ($2.5/1kg onions)

1 fat clove of garlic, 15c (90c per bulb of garlic)

1 carrot, 37c ($2.20/kg)

1 zucchini, 48c ($2.40/kg)

1 x 400g tin of borlotti beans, $1.50 (Annalisa)

1 x 400g carton or tin of chopped tomatoes, 80c (Woolworths Select Diced Italian tomatoes)

1 tsp veggie stock powder, 8c/5g ($3.70/250g Vegeta Gourmet Vegetable Stock Powder ... I actually measured the weight this time)

1/2 tsp mixed herbs, 6c (Hoyts Mixed Herbs, $1.60 for 25g)

Ground black pepper, 4c (Hoyts Whole Black Pepper, $4.30 for 100g)

Method

Rinse pearl barley and put in soup pot with 3/4 cup of water while you prepare the veggies.

Mince garlic. Dice onion, carrot and zucchini. Add to pot.

Add beans, tomatoes, stock powder and mixed herbs, and two tins’ worth of water.

Simmer for half an hour, or until the barley is soft.

[aussiebootstrapmeals]

Mixed Bean Goulash

Recipe at Cooking on a Bootstrap here.

Ingredient substitutions

The original recipe calls for baked beans, since they’re supercheap in the UK. They are not similarly cheap here in Australia, but you can replace them with another tin of beans since the sauce is not used.

Stock powder seems to be cheaper than getting stock cubes, so I’ve used powder in the estimation below.

Price breakdown

Serves 4 at $1.48 per serve

1 x 400g tin of red kidney beans, $1.50 (Annalisa red kidney beans)

1 x 400g tin of baked beans, $1.50 (Annalisa borlotti/butter/cannellini beans)

1 onion, 41c ($2.5/1kg onions)

1 fat clove of garlic, 15c (90c per bulb of garlic)

4 tablespoons oil, 55c ($4.40/2L Homebrand canola or vegetable oil)

3 teaspoons paprika, 28c ($3.80/190g, Hoyts sweet paprika - you can get Hoyts sweet smoked for slightly more)

1 x 400g carton or tin of chopped tomatoes, 80c (Woolworths Select Diced Italian tomatoes)

1 tsp veggie stock powder 15c/10g ($3.70/250g Vegeta Gourmet Vegetable Stock Powder)

1 teaspoon sugar, 1c ($1/1kg, Homebrand white sugar) 

Total cost $5.93

Further notes

If you go to an Asian or Indian supermarket, you should be able to find cheaper paprika than Hoyts. 

If you can, go to Jack’s website and leave them a tip for the hard work they do for us.

[aussiebootstrapmeals]

Prologue

I’m a disabled guy on Newstart, and I plan on using Jack Monroe’s Cooking on a Bootstrap to 

not starve

not feel completely deprived

However, since I’m in Australia, much of their estimations for how much things cost don’t apply. 

I’ve already started doing some calculations of how much things cost in Australia, but can’t find the notebook since I just moved house, and thought I might as well make a blog so that other people can use the calculations too.

Things I won’t do: reproduce Jack’s recipes here. I’ll link back to Jack’s website instead. I haven’t asked their permission, and this isn’t meant to replace their website. If I wind up putting any recipes up, they’ll probably be my own, or things that you can’t find online.

Things to bear in mind:

I’m vegan, so stuff that isn’t easily turned vegan I’ll probs skip.

I have fatigue, and so this will probably be updated infrequently since I am usually lucky to cook twice a week, and I’ll probably revisit recipes regularly.

I’m intending to use Woollies as my baseline supermarket, since there isn’t lots of difference between the Big Two, and Woollies has been my local for the last few years.