Day One's Menu

Pancakes

Chicken Rice Soup

Meatloaf & Taters

Here's to the first day of my Living Below the Line (LBL) menu! Sorry that there's not many pictures, my camera has been falling apart. Despite the set back, I thankfully managed to take some photos with my mother's phone.

Breakfast: Pretty Perfect Pauper's Pancakes
Yep good ol' pancakes will start off day one!

Serves: 4
Cost person: $0.39 CAD

Sifted the below flours together:

5/8 cup Tapioca Flour/Starch
8 tsp Amaranth Flour
4 tsp Whey protein powder

Combine with flour until smooth:

1 Egg
1 cup Milk
3 tbsp. Shortening, melted

Add:

2 tsp. Baking powder

Let pancake mix for 10 minutes to thicken. Meanwhile heat your frying pan (Ps. I'd like to know if you call it a frying pan or a skillet!).

Now with your eye divide the batter into quarters. Scoop that first quarter out onto your heated pan (you may use 1 tsp. of shortening to oil pan). Cook 1-2 minutes on each side. Serve warm! That is, unless of course you like cold pancakes then by all means serve them cold!

Lunch: Chicken & Rice Soup
Use your any of your budgets wiggle room to spice up this mild dish.

If you can bring down the cost of any of your groceries go for it because this means you can embellish these simple dishes. I suggest use any extra money on potatoes because they are very filling!

Serves: 6
Cost per person: $0.43

In a medium pot according to package directions cook: 

1/2 cup Rice

Meanwhile in 1 cup water gently boil:

113 g. Chicken

Remove cooked chicken from the pot and chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Return chicken to the soup pot. Add:

3-4 cups Tap Water
2 Onions, chopped

For my onions I used two of the six onions my dad purchased on the discount rack at Food Basics for .99 cents CAD.

Add your cooked rice. Serve hot.

Dinner: Meat Loaf & Taters
This ones easy, chances are you already make this often! You can prepare the taters (AKA potatoes) just you like.

Serves: 6
Cost per person: $0.73

Preheat your oven to 350f.

Okay here's my mom's favourite part: mushing all the ingredients with her hands! If you choose to use your hands instead of spoon, please be careful to wash your hands thoroughly before handling anything else! So here's what you're mixing:

300 grams Ground meat
1 1/2 cups Soaked beans
1 egg

Okay now put all meat into a lightly greased loaf pan (I suggest 1 tsp shortening, as it is the cheapest fat I could find but prices will vary depending on where you live). Baked meatloaf for 40-60 minutes, or until cooked thoroughly and pulling away from the pan.

Meanwhile, prepare:

1.25 lb. Potatoes

Choose whatever potatoes are cheapest for you to buy. For my family 1, 5 lb. bag Russet potatoes at Independent grocers was the cheapest option I scouted out. Remember unless you are buying in a bulk food store (such as the Bulk Barn) unit price (e.g. price per 100g) is not necessarily the most economical for the LBL challenge. What do I mean? Let's take a look at the images below.

The image to the left depicts (...okay that word sounds a little highfalutin for me) a 2 kg. bag of "Mama's Russet Potatoes" at .20 cents per 100g. The image to the right limns (okay I just looked up a rare word meaning "describes") a 5 kg. bag of "Big Brand's Red Potatoes" at .12 cents per 100g. The latter (not ladder) is .08 cents cheap per 100g (.20 - .12 = .08). However, when shopping on such the tight budget allow for this challenge, unless one (or more persons) wants to be eating potatoes in every meal it is better to buy the cheapest bag that has just the amount of potatoes you will be eating for these 5 days.

So that was not late night lecture on budgeting.

May God bless your heart with
compassion through this experience!
- Tamara