Thursday, October 1, 2015

Not raw, Totally Affordable Mac and Cheese

     Sustainable living, not so sustainable blog. I find myself doing a lot of the same things over and over because there's only so far a 30 dollar grocery budget can go. I tend to make large meals that last me a week at a time. Last week I had meatballs for DAYSSS. I could not look at another meatball after three days of them. This happens a lot. I'll be making a chicken fricassee with some chicken thighs tomorrow and it will have to last until my next day off. Ultimately I only cook once maybe twice a week.
     I'm sure that will change though as will my grocery budget. My fiance and I are looking for our first apartment and he's a big guy. He can eat through a three day meal in one. To be fair it takes a lot of energy to move around a muscular 6' something body. Last night, however, I splurged. When I splurge it's usually for a really good cheese for my favorite dish. Macaroni and Cheese is my all time favorite meal.
     This is just an extension of an old favorite.

8 ounces of gluten free pasta (or gluten pasta if you can have it)
Slightly less than half a block of Syrah Toscana
Four Slices of Cheddar Cheese
Some powder Parmesan
A table spoon of olive oil or butter (I usually use olive oil, but I invested in a stick of Kerry Gold Irish butter and it makes a world of difference)
1/4 Cup of milk (adjust as needed depending on the amount of cheese actually in the dish)
1 teaspoon of garlic
1/4 teaspoon of pepper

     The last two ingredients are really to taste. I know I use more garlic than most people would like to consume in any given meal. If I was a vampire I'd be a terrible one. Although it sounds like a costly, fancy macaroni and cheese the amount of food I get from the ingredients makes it more than sustainable. I will make mac and cheese at night to have a few left overs. I had half the left overs this morning with some eggs and will have the other half as a snack before I go into work at night. I still have enough of the ingredients to make this dish two more times. Which means I can get approximately 9 meals out of that one dish. Adding up the cost of ingredients and dividing it by how many meals I get from them I wind up with a grand total of $2.00 per meal. I think $2.00 a meal (rounding up it actually came to a bit less) is pretty sustainable when I want to be fancy.
     Have fun with some fancy mac and cheese and don't forget to jump over to my new genealogy blog. Here I posted some awesome research about things you find in your kitchen that can help save your life. Holistic medicine can be a powerful thing and I guarantee you have these three things in your kitchen.