The Budget Challenge

Trying to devise a wholesome and delicious meal on a budget is never easy. One time-honored trick: use less meat. In stir-fries, soups, meal salads and pastas, for instance, meat is just one of several ingredients--in fact, it can be eliminated altogether. But the recent rise in produce prices has made budget cooking even more difficult. Working with $5 to feed four, for example, a head of lettuce that costs between $1.79 to $2.50 is out of the question. When money is tight, it’s important to plan your meals as you shop--not before. This isn’t a hardship--when you buy seasonal produce and inexpensive staples, your meals not only cost less, they taste better.

I planned this menu when I noticed that cabbage prices had remained stable at 49 cents to 59 cents per pound. I decided a cabbage salad (not coleslaw) would make a nice change from the usual iceberg salad. I paired it with a good thick lentil soup and homemade biscuits. The cost of the meal was just $4.99.

Here’s what I bought: 1 pound carrots, 49 cents; 1 (1-pound) bag lentils, 59 cents; 3 cans vegetable or chicken broth, $1.77; 1 small head cabbage, 75 cents; 1/2 pound bacon, $1.39. Staples included flour, butter, milk and olive oil (vegetable oil could be used instead).

There was no money left for dessert, but I discovered that the biscuits work not just as dinner rolls, but as a terrific base for shortcake too. By cutting the bacon out of the lentil soup--an excellent vegetarian option--I would have enough money in my budget to buy strawberries (about 50 cents a pint right now). I might even have enough for a half-pint of whipping cream, depending on where I shopped. Even without the whipped cream, fresh strawberries on split biscuits sprinkled with a little sugar is a wonderful way to end a meal.

Menu

Hearty Lentil Soup

Cabbage Salad

Baking Powder Biscuits

Strawberry Shortcake (optional)

SHOPPING LIST

1/2 pound bacon

1 pound carrots

1 pound lentils

3 (14 1/2-ounce) cans chicken broth

1 head cabbage

STAPLES

1 onion

Garlic

Dried thyme

Bay leaf

Olive oil

Cider vinegar

Salt

Pepper

Flour

Baking powder

Butter

Milk

GAME PLAN

2 hours before: Make lentils and let simmer until done. Cut cabbage and carrots, toss together and refrigerate. Mix vinaigrette and set aside.

30 minutes before: Make biscuit dough, cut out and place on baking sheet.

15 minutes before: Put biscuits in oven. Toss cabbage-carrot mixture with vinaigrette.

HEARTY LENTIL SOUP

It’s simple to make this recipe vegetarian--just eliminate the bacon and use vegetable stock instead of chicken broth.

1/2 pound bacon, cut into 1 1/2-inch dice

1 large onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

4 large carrots, sliced

1 1/2 teaspoons ground thyme

1 bay leaf

1 pound lentils

3 (14 1/2-ounce) cans chicken or vegetable broth

Salt, pepper

Saute bacon in large soup pot over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove with slotted spoon to paper towels.

Add onion and saute until tender, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, carrots, thyme and bay leaf. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until carrots begin to soften, 10 to 15 minutes. Add lentils to pot and cook until lentils are shiny and just slightly darkened, about 3 minutes.

Add cooked bacon and broth. Cover and reduce heat. Cook, stirring often, until lentils are soft and soup has thickened, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Add water to pot as lentils are cooking, if soup becomes too thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

728 calories; 1,587 mg sodium; 30 mg cholesterol; 28 grams fat; 78 grams carbohydrates; 44 grams protein; 6.99 grams fiber.

CABBAGE SALAD

1 small head cabbage

1 large carrot

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Freshly ground pepper

Cut cabbage into quarters. Remove and discard solid core. Slice cabbage very thin, as for coleslaw. Place in large bowl. Peel carrot and cut into thin matchsticks. Add to cabbage and toss to mix.

Mix together olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste in small bowl. Add to cabbage and carrots just before serving. Toss well.

Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

222 calories; 342 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 18 grams fat; 15 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 2 grams fiber.

BAKING POWDER BISCUITS

Double the recipe if you want to make both dinner rolls and dessert. When the biscuits are baked, set half aside. (Or bake half of the doubled recipe as dinner is being eaten.) When the main course is finished, split the biscuits in two, fill with sliced fresh strawberries and topped with whipped cream or a sprinkling of sugar.

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup butter, chilled, cut into small cubes

1/3 cup milk

Combine flour, salt and baking powder in bowl of food processor. Pulse once or twice to mix. With processor running, drop butter pieces into flour mixture and process just until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 6 to 8 seconds. Add milk and pulse just until combined.

Turn dough out onto floured board and roll out to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out biscuits using 2-inch biscuit cutter. Gather scraps of dough, roll out and cut out more biscuits. There should be 8 biscuits.

Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 425 degrees until golden, about 15 minutes. Serve at once.

Makes 8 biscuits.

Each biscuit contains about:

109 calories; 317 mg sodium; 16 mg cholesterol; 6 grams fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.04 gram fiber.