Hannaford Good Deal: Whole Chicken for $0.69 a pound

One of my favorite local supermarkets here in the New England area, Hannaford, is having a great sale on whole chickens this week for just $0.69 a pound. I picked up a chicken for $3.05 (over 4 lbs), which I'm roasting as I write this entry. Roasting a chicken is wicked easy. Just follow the instructions on the package.

I'm serving this chicken with white rice and asparagus, which I bought for $2.99 for the bunch and should last two meals for the two of us.

I plan to strip the meat of the chicken and save the bones for stock again. I expect the chicken can last us two meals as well.

So, tonight's dinner will cost about $1.75 per person.

Hmmm... the chicken sale ends this Saturday. I'm thinking of going back to buy a few more and stock up the freezer. Given that I only have 4 more days left in the month, and I still have $28 left in my groceries budget, I can afford to do this!

Ginger Garlic Bluefish Recipe

Tip: this recipe calls for ginger and scallion. As with scallions mentioned in an earlier article, grate the ginger root until you're sick of grating, use the portion you need, and store the rest into a Ziplock bag in the freezer so it doesn't spoil.

I'm posting this recipe because I wrote about how bluefish can be purchased for as little as $2.29 a pound in Boston.

Ingredients:

• Bluefish fillet (or whole, cleaned mackerel)
• Salt
• Garlic
• Cooking oil
  
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger (preferably fresh)
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
  
• 1/4 cooking rice wine/sherry (optional)
  
• A few drops of sesame oil (optional)
• Chili sauce (optional)
  
• A sprinkle of scallion (thinly sliced)
  

Like mackerel, bluefish is a fishier tasting fish, and some people are turned off by it. But making blue fish with ginger and garlic will diffuse the strong taste. This will also work on a whole mackerel. You can choose to grill, broil or bake the fish, but I prefer grill or broil, as the charred taste complements the fish.

1) Marinate the fish.
When I cook, I usually improvise, so these measurements don't have to be exact. Take your bluefish fillets and dust a light layer of salt and garlic all over it (can be substituted with garlic salt). Brush some cooking oil on both sides of each fillet. Let it sit in your refrigerator for a few hours.

2) Make the sauce.
Whisk together the ginger, soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine, sesame oil, and chili sauce in a small bowl. Sprinkle the scallion into the sauce.

3) Brush more oil over the fillets. Grill/broil/bake the fish at a high temperature (preheated to 450 F). Check after 8 minutes. If you're using a whole mackerel, you may want to turn it over after 5 minutes and return it to the oven for another 5. The fish is ready when you can see that it's flaky. Fish does not take very long to cook.

4) Remove fish from oven. Spoon sauce over the fish. Serve hot. It's very good with white jasmine rice and green, leafy veggies.

New York City Chinatown Supermarkets: New York Supermarket v. Hong Kong Supermarket

Along East Broadway in New York City's Chinatown, there are various stores and markets, selling everything from baked goods to fish balls. I stopped by two of them today to comparison shop.

New York Supermarket
75 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002

Located in a slightly hidden mini-mall directly under the Manhattan Bridge, you have to get past a corridor with small stores that smell of perm solutions (appetizing, no?) to get to the New York Supermarket. Don't worry - the market itself doesn't smell or seem to be contaminated. The fruit section of the market is in a covered, outdoor area, but the vegetables and other food are located inside the store. This supermarket has the usual Chinese fruits - Durian, Persimmons, Kumquats, etc. - and vegetables - bok choy, pea shoots, winter melon, etc. Everything looked pretty fresh. I found scallions at a great price (3 for $1.00)! The space itself is well-lit, but the aisles are a little tight.

Hong Kong Supermarket
109 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002

The Hong Kong Supermarket is the 800 lb. gorilla of Chinatown supermarkets. They have a huge space and a ton of selection. Reviews on the internet of this supermarket are unfairly harsh. People think that this is a dark and dirty spot. I'm not sure what standards they are applying because I find the Hong Kong Supermarket to be brighter and cleaner than most American supermarkets in the city.


Comparison
Interestingly enough, the fruit selection (located outside of the Hong Kong Supermarket) was much bigger and better than the New York Supermarket, but the vegetable section (again, located inside) was not very good. The aisles were bigger than the New York Supermarket, and just because the sheer size of the place, Hong Kong Supermarket has much more selection.

As for prices, I found that noodles (both fresh and dried) were slightly cheaper at New York Supermarket than at Hong Kong Supermarket. However, for other goods, Hong Kong Supermarket served a beat down to New York Supermarket by a wide margin. Here is a quick comparison:

Fresh Lo Mein Noodles ($1.39 at New York Supermarket, $1.49 at Hong Kong Supermarket)
Gold Key Dried Mangoes ($4.99 at New York Supermarket, $3.49 at Hong Kong Supermarket)
Kadoya Sesame Oil ($4.19 at New York Supermarket, $3.99 at Hong Kong Supermarket)
25lb. bag of Golden Crown Brand Jasmine Rice (N/a at New York Supermarket, $14.99 at Hong Kong Supermarket)

As a side note, do you know how difficult it is to carry a 25lb. bag of rice around NYC? It must be like carrying a small child around with you everywhere. Now, I understand the plight of young mothers with their small children on the subway! Except, I would imagine that young mothers can't (or shouldn't!) throw their small children on the ground like I did with my bag of rice.

Note: This blog is in no way affiliated with either of these businesses mentioned in this post. This is the sole opinion of Mystery Ter.

Fresh Bluefish at $2.29 per pound

It's astounding how few varieties of fish most supermarkets carry. I often wonder whether it's really the consumer demands that generated our "over-fishing" problems, or whether it is the lack of demand-generation effort on the part of the retailers to encourage consumers to eat types of fish that are plentiful from our oceans.

On a good day, if you go to a general supermarket in the Boston area (e.g., Stop & Shop, Hannaford, Wholefoods, Shaws, Foodmaster, Roche Brothers), you may find one kind of fish for $5.99 a pound (even cat fish costs this much these days), but most will priced around $8.99 a pound. The varieties are usually limited to salmon, tuna, swordfish, cod, haddock, catfish, tilapia, trout, and your usual New England shellfish. Recently, I've been seeing more swai and pollack as well. But generally these are it. And they're expensive. For convenience sake, sometimes, I'd end up buying fish there, but I usually wait until I have to shop at Kam Man, the large Chinese Supermarket near my home in Quincy. I'm lucky that I live in a very racially diverse enough town where there is such a supermarket.

There are many, many more varieties of fish there at Kam Man that you don't see at other supermarkets. These are usually the plentiful fish and are the bargain items. The salmon is generally not much below prices at other supermarkets.

Most of this fish are very fresh–some (such as tilapia) are even live in tanks. You have to choose a fish, pick it up with a pair of tongs (as pictured above) and put it into a basket and then ask the clerk to clean and cut it for you. For bigger fish such as salmon and grouper and carp, you can get it by the pound, but for smaller fish, you have to pick a whole fish, which they weigh entirely and then cut and clean. Yesterday, I ended buying a 3.25 pound bluefish for $7.42 (@ $2.29 a lb). I had the clerk filet it, keeping the bones in the bag. Each filet will be served as entrées for two (a total of 4 servings), and the bones, head, and tail I plan to keep for fish stock.

My message here is: open your mind to ethnic supermarkets. You're likely to find good quality produce. More on how I prepared the bluefish later.

$5.99 for a Good Bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Any Contenders?

I have embarked on a quest to find the least expensive, best quality 500ml bottle of extra virgin olive oil.

Pictured here are two bottles of 500ml extra virgin olive oil in very similarly shaped bottles. Both were priced at $5.99.

The bottle on the right, labeled Vitarroz, was bought from an ethnic (Asian) supermarket and imported from Turkey, while the bottle on the left labeled Morbido Riserva Antico Frantoio Di Mezzane, Frantoio Veneti Redoro, 100% product of Italy, was bought from T.J. Maxx's clearance shelf located in their specialty foods aisle. Both bottles are fresh-dated with at least another year before the expiration date.

While both oils were good, the T.J. Maxx purchase was really exceptional. The green nutty flavor was wonderful with blanched dark leafy greens and fresh ground sea salt and pepper. The unfortunate thing is that I'm not sure if I'll be able to find another bottle exactly like this one. T.J. Maxx does not seem to always stock the same items.

So far, I am unable to find ANY 500ml extra virgin olive oil below $5.99 ($1.20 per 100ml). This search will continue.

Even at this price, e.v.o.o. is more than double the price of canola oil, which I use for regular cooking and pan-frying. But a good e.v.o.o. makes vegetables taste so much better. A 500ml bottle can generally last a month and can still fit within our tight budget.

Saving Turkey/Chicken Bones for Stock

After you carve away your turkey or chicken meat, don't throw away the bones! If you are not in the mood to make soup/stock with it right away, just store it into a large Ziplock bag and throw it into the freezer. This can store for months.

We usually get a pretty small turkey, and the entire rib cage can fit nicely into a one gallon freezer bag, but if your turkey is larger, simply hack it up into a couple of pieces.

That's what I did with my turkey after Thanksgiving, and this morning I decided to make some stock with it. It's absolutely fine.

I put the entire rib cage into a large pot. It's frozen and so initially, approximately 1/3 of the rib cage was sticking up above the pot. I submerged as much as I could in water, threw some kosher salt into the pot, and began boiling the water.

I brought the water to a boil on high heat, and the turkey softened as the frozen meat melted away. Eventually, the turkey will get enough below the water so the pot may be covered with a lid. At this point, turn down the heat to simmer and just keep it going for a few hours. Keep tasting it periodically and add seasoning and salt to taste.

Finally strain away the bones and you'll have a pot of stock! As mentioned before, you can use this stock to make your ramen noodles a lot healthier. http://frugalmeals-frugaleating.blogspot.com/2009/02/ramens-undeserved-stigma.html

Crepes are French Tortillas!

A simple cheap dessert recipe for crepes. But note that this basic crepe can be used for either savory crepes or sweet! I prefer mine with either dulce de leche or nutella and banana.

2 eggs, beaten
1-1/2 cups milk
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Combine eggs, milk, flour, oil and salt. Beat until smooth.
2. Grease a medium sized (about 6 inches) skillet with butter. Heat skillet. Remove from heat. Spoon in 4 tablespoons of batter. Lift and tilt skillet to spread the batter until the bottom of the skillet is covered evenly. Return to heat. Brown on one side only (it's important that you don't flip it) and invert onto plate when the up side is no longer gooey. Butter pan occasionally in between crepes. Fill with filler goodness to your liking!

You can store any extras you make in the freezer. Just remember to separate each crepe with waxed paper in an airtight container. Thaw for an hour before eating.

Summer Rolls (not the ones you find when you put on a bikini!)

I find eating summer rolls to be extremely refreshing, the perfect combination of cool and salty. Of course, eating these in the summer would probably be a better idea than eating them in the dead of winter, but inspiration struck last night.

I cooked the shrimp and split them lengthwise in half. I got the wrappers for $1.25 (for about 30) and the rice sticks for $0.89 (for 8 bunches). I soaked the rice sticks in hot water for 20 minutes and dipped each wrapper individually to soften it just prior to wrapping.

Cost breakdown:
Shrimp ($19.99/2 lb bag. I used about 1/4 lb) = $5.00
Scallions ($1.19/bunch. I used about 1/10th) = $0.12
Rice Sticks ($0.89/package. I used 1/4 package) = $0.22
Wrappers ($1.25/package. I used 1/3 package) = $0.42
TOTAL = $5.76

I made so many that I ate some for lunch the next day! Yum!

The Mighty Dollar Store

I've become a fan of Dollar Tree, a chain of dollar stores with branches around the Boston area. And the items there are actually $1 or less, unlike some chains that call themselves dollar stores but in fact have items that are mostly above $1.

I have to pause for a moment and amend what I said earlier about shopping with a grocery list. You can't really be strictly sticking to a list at a dollar store, nor a place like HomeGoods/T.J. Maxx/Marshalls (yes, they have a few food items there too, and I'll talk more about that later). I would recommend keeping in mind a general idea of what you need. For example, pasta, sauce, canned vegetables, soup, etc.

I had been shy about buying food from the dollar store until a few months ago when I finally took a look at the variety they have and the dates on the cans. So far, all the dates I've seen are indeed guaranteeing the cans to be fresh. The more surprising, however, are the name brand products I found on the shelves. Among them were Swiss Miss hot chocolate, Healthy Choice soups (which can cost around $2 when not on sale at a regular supermarket). The VanCamp's Chicken of the Sea smoked sardines were actually priced at $.79. I even bought a pack of artist brushes (that's my only taxable item, as all food items are non-taxable in Massachusetts) for a dollar there. Excluding the paint brushes, the bill was under $15. That's 4 cans of soup, 3 cans of smoked sardines, 3 cans of smoked oysters, 1 can of chili, 1 can of beef stew, 1 package of thin spaghetti, 1 can of meat sauce and 1 box of hot chocolate.

Just the spaghetti and the meat sauce alone can provide 2-4 meals for one. Each can of soup, chili and stew can be supplemented with bread (6 meals), Each can of sardine/smoked oysters can be supplemented with rice and vegetables (6 meals). I always try to make fresh green leafy vegetables to add to dinner. Nutrition is important, and we need to be mindful of that. Fresh vegetables can be purchased cheaply as well. More on that in a later entry.

So, I just counted 14-16 meals from the purchases above from our purchases for under $15. Oh, and the hot chocolate, of course, is a little bit of luxury.

To Splurge Or Not to Splurge: Coffee

I'm going to talk a little about lifestyle adjustment. I used to be an IT professional with a decent regular paycheck. Then back in 2002, after the dotcom bubble burst, I decided to pursue my dream to become a full-time visual artist. It was a huge lifestyle change for me. I had never budgeted before, and I was used to having a Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts coffee every morning. $1.50 - $3.50 (latte) a day didn't seem like much money to me, but what that really amounted to was $47-$109 per month just on coffee – That's $564 - $1308 per year. JUST. ON. COFFEE.

It's mind-boggling. Upon first making this shocking discovery, I swung heavily in the direction of skimping. Buying the cheapest (usually the nastiest-tasting) coffee available in the supermarket. Then I realized how stupid that is. You should not think of saving as self-punishment. There are plenty of great off-the-shelf whole bean or ground coffee choices available. If you really like your Starbucks coffee, you can even buy the Starbucks take-home beans or ground coffee to help you transition.

I think it's still okay to treat yourself to a latte once in a while, but budget for that too. I limit myself to once a month.

I guess I'm lucky that my favorite brand is not exorbitant. It's Yuban (pictured here). I had it the first time when I bought it on sale and then just fell in love with it. Unfortunately, not every supermarket sells it. When not on sale, a 12-oz can is around $4.50 ($.15 a cup) and can last a month. The only other cost is a basket coffee filter for my coffee maker. $3 for 100 count ($.03 a cup).

So, that's $.18 a cup. $5.60 versus $47-$109 per month on coffee.

Eating on $1 a Day?

Two social justice teachers experimented to see if they could eat on $1 (or less) per day. They had some rules:

1. All food consumed each day must total $1 each.
2. They could not accept free food or “donated” food unless it was available for everyone in their area. (i.e. foraging, samples in stores, dumpster diving)
3. Any food they planted, they paid for.
4. They did their best to cook a variety of meals; ramen noodles could only be prepared if there was no other way to stay under one dollar. (Sorry, Ms. FrugalMeals!)
5. If they decided to have guests over for dinner, they had to eat from their share; meaning they don’t get to eat their own dollar’s worth of food.

This is similar (in some ways) to the Morgan Spurlock "Super Size Me" experiment.

Except I don't think these people got fat.

(NOTE: Frugal Eating does not recommend or condone trying this at home.)

Scallion Saver

Random tip of the day (week? month? however often I feel like it?):

I like to buy stalks of scallions, and then, to keep them from going bad if I don't use them fast enough, I chop them up, put them into a plastic container and stick it in the freezer. When I need to use them, I just take out the container a few minutes before throwing a handful of them into a dish.

While I realize that scallions are not that expensive (according to Ms. FrugalMeals, they are $0.89 per bunch in Boston, but I find that they are $1.19 in New York City on average), this is not just a money saver, it is a time saver as well.

Similarly, I buy jars of minced garlic so that I don't have to bother with the cloves.

Ramen's Undeserved Stigma

Yes, we all wrinkle our noses when we think of our late nights in college when we resorted to instant ramen noodles for a quick bite. But we have to admit that ramen noodles taste good, and it is really okay to eat it once in a while.

If you really need to watch your sodium, you could trade in the MSG packet for broth or stock that you made yourself. But I personally don't think that MSG is really that terrible for you as long as you don't eat it everyday. I seriously doubt that anyone living in Japan can go through one day without any MSG (it's in almost everything they eat), and yet they generally live longer than Americans.

In fact, there are restaurants in Japan that serve instant ramen noodle soup with different toppings. Here's an interesting article from the Cape Cod Times about a ramen noodle restaurant. http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080716/LIFE/807160301

So, this is what I just had for lunch. A bowl of ramen noodle soup with a poached egg and some leafy green vegetable, with a sprinkle of sliced scallion. Let's do a cost analysis.

I purchased a 6-pack of Nissin's Top Ramen for $.99 from the soup aisle in the supermarket. I used only 1 pack, making it $.17.

The scallion was $.89 a bunch. I used just a few sprinkles. Let's say, 1/30 of the bunch, making it $.03.

I used one medium egg. $1.99 for a dozen medium white eggs. That's $.17.

Leftover green leafy vegetables. In this case, I used an Asian vegetable called Shanghai choy, which was $1.49 a lb. This is about 1/10 of the 1-lb package. $.15.

My lunch was $0.52. The preparation time was 10 minutes. It was filling, warm, and perfect for a cold winter's day. In terms of calories it's about 500. Not ideal, but still better than McDonald's in nutrition and in price.

Grocery Budget of $325 a month for 2 people and 2 cats

I'll kick off this blog with my entry. There are two people including myself in my household. I have a monthly budget of $325 (that's only $2 more than the amount of food stamps allowance for a 2-person household in Massachusetts, even though we are not on food stamps), covering groceries and pet food/supplies for our 2 cats. We eat pretty well. I want to show how this can be done.

WRITE DOWN NUMBERS. The biggest trick is logging in your receipts each time you shop. It's amazing how you can stick to your budget just by writing down numbers. I'm a total, complete slob and it took me a while to get used to this, but having a little notepad with you can really help.

GO INTO THE GROCERY STORE WITH A PHYSICAL SHOPPING LIST. The shopping list gives you a guideline to prevent you from impulsively picking up that "sale" item that you really don't need.

COOK MORE THAN ONE MEAL AT A TIME. Make a lot of food and store them in plastic containers.

I think these three are most helpful tricks for me. I will share what I make and how much everything costs as we progress.