Cheap Eats: Oatmeal!

The Topic: The Cheapest Breakfast Around

The Dish: Sitting down and tallying up how much I actually spend on eating eating out (hello, sandwiches and Thai food), it seems overwhelming to think of cutting my food budget to an actual budget. I have friends attempting to spend only $21 a day who report struggling; I can't begin to imagine eating on a dollar a day. But there are plenty of versatile staples that cost pennies, and my co-worker Liz recently reminded me of a tried-and-true favorite: oatmeal. Skip the boxed variety with its excess packaging and budget-breaking sticker price. An 18-ounce canister of quick oats goes for $4.09 at my local Safeway. Grab a bag and fill up at the bulk bins—you can take home a pound for only 99 cents, which is about 11 servings. At less than 10 cents per serving, that's hard to argue with, especially considering oats have magical staying power to get me through midmorning snack time.

If you're a plain oats type of person, that's one cheap meal. Even if you like to jazz things up, throwing in what you have handy or investing in a few add-ins from neighboring bulk bins won't raise your cost too much. Personally, I'm a peanut butter and raisins fan. Liz's signature bowl takes things to the savory side, which I had never through of before (surprising, considering my love of savory breakfast dishes). A touch of salt, pepper, and 1/4-cup nutritional yeast is all you need for a filling breakfast.

A final tip for the best oats ever? Skip the microwave. I'm not here to lecture you on its potential dangers or domination of counter space. In my opinion, I just dig oats made on the stovetop more. Start with this simple base for the best breakfast ever.

The Best Stovetop Oats

This water-to-oats ratio makes for a more porridge-like base, so feel free to adjust the liquid to your liking.

Serves 1

What You Need:

1 cup water

1/2 cup rolled oats

Salt, to taste

What You Do:

In a small pot, bring water to a boil. Add oats and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a pinch of salt, sugar, or any other add-ins, and enjoy!

The Final Word: Oats are also great for bulking up morning smoothies to keep you full longer if that's more your morning routine. Any way you have them, they're a cheap, healthy way to start the day.

Cheap Eats: Fried Green Tomatoes

The Topic: Summertime Specialties

The Dish: If there's one thing I miss about living in Missouri, it's my parents' summer garden crop. Those two have been exercising their green thumbs for as long as I can remember, and I never really appreciated it. Gardening wasn't my thing, but the endless supply of tomatoes it yielded? I could get behind that. I know a surprising amount of people who don't fawn over the total deliciousness of a ripe tomato, which I will never understand. Sliced up with some garlic-pepper salt? That might be the best snack ever.

And of course, I can't mention my love of this fruit without touching on a childhood favorite—fried green tomatoes. When you grow your own, it's easy to have dozens of green lovelies, ready for pan-frying at a moment's notice. The batter is super simple to whip up, without any costly ingredients. If you can get your hands on some unripe tomatoes, this is a total treat. While it's a bit harder to hunt them down in San Francisco, I'm determined to enjoy these bad boys this season. Or, I might just have to take a trip home before Missouri's hot weather—and our crop—disappears.

Freakin' Delicious Fried Green Tomatoes

What You Need:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic-pepper salt
Dash paprika
4 green tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 cup nondairy milk, unsweetened
1 teaspoon salt
Olive oil, for frying

What You Do:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, corn meal, pepper, garlic-pepper salt, and paprika. In a separate bowl, pour nondairy milk.
2. In a medium skillet over medium heat, add salt. Wait 15 seconds, then cover pan in olive oil. Dip tomato slice in milk, then dry mix, and add to skillet. Repeat until skillet is full, and cook tomatoes 2 to 4 minutes, until brown. Flip, cook an additional 2 to 4 minutes, and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and cook. Repeat, eat, and enjoy!

The Final Word: One dip in the batter will provide a light, crispy coating. If you want to go heavy on the crunch, double dipping is allowed—just quickly go back to the milk, then dry mix, once you've completed the first round of coating. Feel free to add whatever spices you like to it, as well. For the finished product, I love these with hot sauce, vegan sour cream, ketchup—pretty much any condiment will do.

Cheap Eats: Kale Chips!

The Topic: Replacing the Beloved Potato

The Dish: Lately, my savory-snacking side has trumped the usual gravitation towards sweets, sending me to the likes of my ultimate weakness, Salt & Pepper Baked Kettle Chips (a bag can be considered dinner, right?). Holy crap, those things are good. But, much like vegan cupcakes, they're neither a huge nutritional hero or very budget-friendly. The simple, tasty, two-syllable answer? Kale chips.

I don't know when I first tried a kale chip, but I know kale itself was completely foreign to me before going veg. And now, it's true love for the leafy green in all its forms. These crispy, healthier-than-potato chips are really making themselves known, from VegWeb recipes to retail launches. The VN crew saw a few varieties at Expo West (one of which may have made our list of Best of Show winners), and I loved them. However, the price for prepackaged is definitely steeper than flat-out buying a bunch or two of kale, which is almost all it takes to make your very own at home.

This crunchy, savory, satisfying recipe hails straight from VegWeb, and it just took top honors in the VegWeb Recipe Showdown, winning as the Amazing Appetizer (pick up the May+June issue of VegNews for the rest of the winners!).


Kale Chips
by yesterdaygirl

Serves 4

What You Need:
2 large bunches kale, washed and destemmed
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon oil
Coarse salt, to taste, or seasoning blend

What You Do:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop or tear kale into chip-size pieces. In a medium bowl, combine kale, apple cider vinegar, oil, and salt or seasoning. Mix to coat.

2. Onto a baking sheet, spread kale and bake for 10 minutes or until crispy. Serve immediately.

The Final Word: My advice? Take the serving size with a grain of salt. Personally, I could take down one—if not both—bunches of kale in one sitting. Again, that's dinner, right? The recipe is too simple not to make, and too freakin' tasty not to become a potato-replacing staple.