I've heard the saying for years, "When America sneezes the Bahamas catches a cold!" It's definitely true when it comes to our eating habits. You'd be surprise to know how many fast food restaurants are in Nassau, the capital city of The Bahamas. They're a number of Wendy's, Mc Donald's, KFC, Burger Kings, Domino Pizzas and countless Chinese take-aways, just to name a few. You can visit a different one each day of the week. My grandmother called going out to buy fast food "truckin". Growing up we'd do a lot of "truckin" because my mother worked full-time. So we'd eat out almost every evening.
Now a days I don't care for fast food as much, but I do get the occasional cravings. Today was no exception. I just had to visit one of my favorite Chinese restaurants for fried rice and honey garlic chicken wings. As I was thoroughly enjoying my meal I began to think about the food I ate on my trip to China. I was amazed that there wasn't any pork fried rice, kingdom ribs or fortune cookies. Then the thought came to mind, "Does anyone really know what Chinese food is?" because the food I grew up eating and loving wasn't real Chinese food. That made me realize something else my grandmother said about "truckin". She said we should stop "truckin" and start eating "real food". Fast food to her wasn't real food. She preferred cooking and eating at home, and would always cook special dishes for us. Our favorite was her Peas Soup and Dumplings. I didn't want to accept it, but what she was saying was true. As years went by there were rumors that KFC didn't serve real chicken and Mc Donald's chicken nuggets were ground chicken feet. "Real food" I think not! I keep these things in mind when I encourage myself to eat "real food", home cooked food and stop "truckin". I give in to the temptation less as time goes by and I truly enjoy the creations that are manufactured in my kitchen. I encourage you to do the same.
Showing posts with label dining out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dining out. Show all posts
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
A Wise Foodie!
Today I was talking to my sister on the telephone while was in line at Wendy's ordering lunch. I heard her say what when the cashier told her that her total was $8.18. She ordered a chicken sandwich, French fries and iced coffee. When she told me that I said "what!" I told her that I cooked Sunday dinner for five for less than that. So you may be wondering what did I cook.
I always look forward to Sunday dinner from a small child, this past Sunday was no exception. I prepared roasted chicken, pigeon peas and rice, coleslaw, mixed vegetables and pineapple lemonade. Now doesn't that sound delicious. It was not only delicious, but affordable. So how did I do it? Well let me take you through Sunday's dinner in Caribay's Kitchen. First let's start with the protein, the main item. I purchased a ten pound bag of leg quarters. There's about ten whole leg quarters in each bag. I cut them in half separating thigh from leg. So that gave me twenty portions instead of ten. Those portions are pretty big, even the leg, but for Sunday I keep the thighs and put up the other pieces. More importantly I cleaned and seasoned all of the meat before separating them into meals. Now when I go back to the freezer for the other pieces I only need to defrost and cook.
The chicken was $9.99 for 20 servings, which is $0.49 per serving and $2.49 for Sunday dinner protein for five. Next I prepared the rice. I used about 2 cups of rice and quarter can of green pigeon peas with the coconut milk already added. Five pounds of rice equals 10 cups of rice and 1 cup of raw rice yields about 4 servings of cooked rice. However, I always cook plenty of rice. So if I buy five pounds of rice for $2.50 I can prepare one serving of plain white rice for about $.06 per serving. The can of peas was $1.35 and I used a quarter cup so that costs me $0.34. When we are all done totaling the major ingredient cost, I am going to show you how to account for the minor items like seasoning and gas or electricity depending on what type of range you have.
Right now our Sunday dinner is up to $2.89 for 5 persons. Next is the coleslaw which the major ingredients are cabbage, carrots and mayonnaise. This week's cabbage market price was $0.49 per pound. I used about a quarter pound of cabbage. Remember cabbage when shredded is very light and it's just an accompaniment so you don't need to over do it. The carrots really give the slaw a vibrant color so we don't need much of that either. With about 3 tablespoons of dressing we are good to go. The cabbage ended up costing us $0.12 and the carrots were about $.50 each. You can use a half of carrot grated. Next we have the mixed vegetable that I got for $5.99 for five pounds. Vegetables are expensive so I would say I used about a pound of veggies which would have costed me $1.20 per pound.
Our meal right now is up to $4.46 for 5 persons. Wow! The beverage of the day was my homemade pineapple lemonade. I bought the 64 ounce can of pineapple juice for $.99 on special. Fresh limes were added with sugar and of course water. The sugar and limes that were used costed roughly $.81. I would say $.50 for the limes. They were in the store for 6 for a dollar and I used 3 for the gallon. I used 1 cup of sugar which sugar is about $2.50 for 4 pounds so that $.31 for the cup. Now like I said that for a gallon. I served my juice in an 8 ounce glass which is 6 oz of juice with some ice. So my gallon of juice was $1.80 and $.08 per serving. How did I get this total? There are 128 ounces in a gallon. So $1.80 divided by 128(ounces in one gallon) multiplied by 6(ounces in one of my serving) equals $.08. Great isn't it! Our beverage total for Sunday dinner is $.40.
Now let's tally up our entire meal. The roasted chicken is $2.49, pigeon peas and rice $.40, coleslaw $.37, mixed vegetables $1.20, and pineapple lemonade $.40. That gives us a grand total of $4.86. Then to account for seasoning and gas you add 3% to your grand total. If you are heavy handed you can add 5%. So let's go with the 5%. That gives us a grand total of $5.10, which is $1.02 person. Looks like you still have room for dessert. Let's go out there and become wise foodies and get the best for our buck!
I always look forward to Sunday dinner from a small child, this past Sunday was no exception. I prepared roasted chicken, pigeon peas and rice, coleslaw, mixed vegetables and pineapple lemonade. Now doesn't that sound delicious. It was not only delicious, but affordable. So how did I do it? Well let me take you through Sunday's dinner in Caribay's Kitchen. First let's start with the protein, the main item. I purchased a ten pound bag of leg quarters. There's about ten whole leg quarters in each bag. I cut them in half separating thigh from leg. So that gave me twenty portions instead of ten. Those portions are pretty big, even the leg, but for Sunday I keep the thighs and put up the other pieces. More importantly I cleaned and seasoned all of the meat before separating them into meals. Now when I go back to the freezer for the other pieces I only need to defrost and cook.
The chicken was $9.99 for 20 servings, which is $0.49 per serving and $2.49 for Sunday dinner protein for five. Next I prepared the rice. I used about 2 cups of rice and quarter can of green pigeon peas with the coconut milk already added. Five pounds of rice equals 10 cups of rice and 1 cup of raw rice yields about 4 servings of cooked rice. However, I always cook plenty of rice. So if I buy five pounds of rice for $2.50 I can prepare one serving of plain white rice for about $.06 per serving. The can of peas was $1.35 and I used a quarter cup so that costs me $0.34. When we are all done totaling the major ingredient cost, I am going to show you how to account for the minor items like seasoning and gas or electricity depending on what type of range you have.
Right now our Sunday dinner is up to $2.89 for 5 persons. Next is the coleslaw which the major ingredients are cabbage, carrots and mayonnaise. This week's cabbage market price was $0.49 per pound. I used about a quarter pound of cabbage. Remember cabbage when shredded is very light and it's just an accompaniment so you don't need to over do it. The carrots really give the slaw a vibrant color so we don't need much of that either. With about 3 tablespoons of dressing we are good to go. The cabbage ended up costing us $0.12 and the carrots were about $.50 each. You can use a half of carrot grated. Next we have the mixed vegetable that I got for $5.99 for five pounds. Vegetables are expensive so I would say I used about a pound of veggies which would have costed me $1.20 per pound.
Our meal right now is up to $4.46 for 5 persons. Wow! The beverage of the day was my homemade pineapple lemonade. I bought the 64 ounce can of pineapple juice for $.99 on special. Fresh limes were added with sugar and of course water. The sugar and limes that were used costed roughly $.81. I would say $.50 for the limes. They were in the store for 6 for a dollar and I used 3 for the gallon. I used 1 cup of sugar which sugar is about $2.50 for 4 pounds so that $.31 for the cup. Now like I said that for a gallon. I served my juice in an 8 ounce glass which is 6 oz of juice with some ice. So my gallon of juice was $1.80 and $.08 per serving. How did I get this total? There are 128 ounces in a gallon. So $1.80 divided by 128(ounces in one gallon) multiplied by 6(ounces in one of my serving) equals $.08. Great isn't it! Our beverage total for Sunday dinner is $.40.
Now let's tally up our entire meal. The roasted chicken is $2.49, pigeon peas and rice $.40, coleslaw $.37, mixed vegetables $1.20, and pineapple lemonade $.40. That gives us a grand total of $4.86. Then to account for seasoning and gas you add 3% to your grand total. If you are heavy handed you can add 5%. So let's go with the 5%. That gives us a grand total of $5.10, which is $1.02 person. Looks like you still have room for dessert. Let's go out there and become wise foodies and get the best for our buck!
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