What's for tea?

Putting nutritious food on the kitchen table is one of the tasks a homemaker must repeat every day. I cringe when I think of the many times I asked my mum "What's for tea?". That's the Australian way of asking what we would be eating for dinner that night. Both my mother and father were very good cooks and it wasn't a problem for them to cook whatever we wanted. The difficult part was deciding what to cook, doing it every day of the year, and making it nutritious, tasty and cost effective.

My mother's answer to my constant question was "What would you like?" and I'm pretty sure I always said I didn't care. Of course, my mother was trying to get some ideas for that night's meal, but I didn't make her job any easier with my answers. I rarely asked my children what they'd like for dinner, except when it was their birthday, then they could choose their favourite dinner and whatever it was, I'd put it on the table.

Now there is just Hanno and I and I try to cook meals that combine ingredients from the backyard with those from the pantry. This post will document one day last week and I hope to give an accurate costing of the food I served.

BREAKFAST

Porridge (oatmeal) soaked overnight and cooked with half water, half milk, served with some stewed apples, and black tea. Cost: about 55 cents.

MORNING TEA
Pikelets with homemade jam, and tea. Cost: about 40 cents.

LUNCH
Freshly baked bread with cheese, tomato and onion. Piece of fruit. Glass of water. Cost: about $1.20

DINNER
Pasta with fresh tomato and mushroom sauce.

Cut up two onions, a capsicum (pepper), crush garlic and add it to a fry pan with a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper while you cook. Seasoning your food with salt, pepper, spices or herbs makes the world of difference to a meal, particularly those with no meat or fish. Please find yourself some good salt - I cringe when I see table salt in a home. It's got anti-caking agents and who knows what else in it, when all you need is pure sea salt. Now, that can cost you an arm and a leg but it's also what old fashioned cooking salt is - it's just pure sea salt. I use the Australian brand Olssons and have always been happy with it. Learning how to season food during the cooking of it is one skill all good cooks need.

Add plenty of tomatoes and herbs - I used what I have growing in the garden, oregano and marjoram.

Cut up mushrooms. Never wash mushrooms because they act like a sponge and when you add a washed mushroom to your pan it will hold a lot of water. Get a clean dishcloth and wipe any dirt off, if you want to peel the top, do that. I find wiping is fine and so far we haven't died. ; - )

Stir the ingredients in a pan and add a small amount - ¼ teaspoon (at the most) of sugar. This will take the acid taste from tomatoes that are not home grown. You are not wanting to add sweetness.

Cook on a low heat for about 20 minutes - or until the tomatoes start to break down. Then pour over cooked pasta and add grated Parmesan cheese. Cost: about $4.

Fruit salad and yoghurt. Cost: about $3.

I slightly over estimated the cost of my ingredients and it comes out to $9.15. So on that day, from morning to night, it cost $18.30 to feed both Hanno and I. This is the most expensive time of the year for us with our food because we have very few vegetables ready for the table. As the year progresses, the cost of feeding us goes down, due to what we grow in the backyard.

This is a major challenge for us homemakers. Not only do we have to feed our families healthy meals they'll actually eat, but it also needs to be done within the confines of our budgets. And sometimes that's a hard task. I tend to make traditional home cooked meals and although I used to add interesting new recipes to my rotation in the past, I'm over that and now cook our favourite meals. We have enough of them to provide a variety of tastes and keep it interesting.

If you're trying to cut back on your home costs, food is a great place to start. But you have to develop a good range of wholesome cheap meals your family will eat - that, my friends, is the challenge. Putting those meals on the table that you know they love, but with a cost that won't break your budget is a task we all need to work on, but when you get it right, it makes a real difference. It's easy to barbecue a steak or roast some beef, add a side dish and you know they'll eat it. It's more difficult when you need to concentrate on cheaper cuts of meat or fish - or no meat at all. The recipes are out there, and there are many cheap recipes here on my blog, it's up to you to find those recipes your family might enjoy, test them at meal times, then, if they're a success, add them to your meal rotation. I'd be happy for any of you to share a particular family favourite in the comments. We might find some new favourites from something that is shared here.

I'll be back soon to answer the questions from the previous two days. Thank you for the sweet and generous comments and welcome to the newcomers.