As an artist, my income is mostly nonexistent, so I've learned how to eat for literally next to nothing as well as fast, since I'm usually working or tired from working and don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen.
I've found that I can purchase a 50 lb bag of potatoes for about $12 that will last me a couple months. Potatoes keep very well for a long time, even unrefrigerated. Get the classified rated potatoes, too, if you're buying a big bag. The unclassified ones aren't any good to eat unless you're farm animal. As for storage, they'll start to grow after a while, just knock off the white roots and it's good to cook with still. If they get shrivelled up a bit after a while, they're still good to eat, especially for soup, which is what I made last night for dinner.
It's a simple, easy recipe:
Put enough water in pan to cover your washed potatoes. It doesn't matter how many, two or ten, depends if you want leftovers and if you're feeding more than one person. I'd go at least two potatoes per person, no matter the size; Leftovers are always yummy if you have any. Turn on the heat on your stove and let it boil. No peeling, no cutting. Just boil the water with the potatoes in it. How easy is that? ok, now, to make it tasty, add some kind of oil, I like butter and use anywhere from four to eight tablespoons (a half or a whole stick, depends on my mood). You can use whatever, experiment, you'll find a glob of bacon fat is pretty good in there, too, if you're like me and you keep the bacon fat to cook with later. No, it's not bad for you, either, that's B.S. from the big pharmaceutical companies - if you eat margarine (which is basically flavored petroleum, yuck) and when you get sick, you can take pills and give them higher profits. Stick with millenia of evolution, mother nature is pretty dang smart - your body knows how to digest fat, trust me. I'm thin, I eat whatever whenever, and no one in my family has EVER died of a heart attack from high blood pressure or high cholesterol, not one, and I have a HUGE family. Ok, back to the soup:
Ok, this *might* sound like it takes more time than it does, but again, trust me, it's a couple seconds per spice you'll want to add, really! So, grab your spice bottles, or pinch some off your plants, and throw it in the boiling water with potatoes. I like to put some sage in there, if you have to measure, try about 1/4 plus 1/8 teaspoon of it. Same for white pepper. and black pepper. I believe in pepper, it's delicious. Salt if you like, I use 1 tsp or so of it. I like the Kosher kind - it's yummy. Next, put in 1/4 teaspoon each of rosemary, oregano, thyme and basil. I use fresh, because it's so insanely easy to grow, I have pots of herbs I grow outdoors in the summer and I bring them in in the winter, put them in front of any window that gets sun, water once a week (make sure there's a drain hole, so you never overwater - it drains out, heh). Dried herbs will work just as well. Don't forget the garlic, too - I use three fat cloves, or a half teaspoon powdered, depends on if I've got the energy to chop it or not.
I almost always add some onion, too, or leeks, which I grow in my garden and can pull and use year round. I plant them in the spring, they're so tiny, like little chives or blades of grass. They grow anywhere easily with zero maintenance, at least in Michigan, where I'm from. When you want to eat them, literally pull it up with one hand out of the dirt, shake it off, cut off the roots, give it a rinse and chop it up. Throw it in the soup. With a regular onion, I cut off the top and bottom where the roots are so it sits flat, I cut it in half and turn it onto the larger flat area I just cut, then I cut 1/4 inch slices, keeping it all touching and still together so I don't "cry", turn it all, and cut it again the same way into perfect little cubes. Takes all of a minute.
Next, I take a fork, and spend maybe about five minutes mashing the soft and cooked potatoes right there in the pan while it's still boiling, just be careful and use your noggin! Now I've got a creamy, nutritious soup that's delicious and cost me probably less than a dollar and under 15 minutes of my time to make.
Enjoy!
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