Vol. XXIII · The Everyday Cook Plate 8 of 12budget cooking, cost per portion, cheap protein, legumes, lentils, eggs, tofu, cheap cuts, chicken thighs, food waste, value, seasonal, ¤TF

Cooking on a Budget.

The same stew for four costs about eight times as much with rib-eye as with lentils — and the lentil version still has about two-thirds of the protein.

A dish costs the sum of what goes into it: the price per kilogram of each ingredient times the amount used, divided among the portions. In most savoury dishes the protein is the largest share, so the choice of protein decides the cost. Tough, working cuts (XVIII.1) — shoulder, shin, thighs — cost a fraction of tender ones and are better in the long-cooked dishes that suit a budget (XVIII.9); legumes, eggs and tofu cost less again and give a great deal of protein (XX.8, XX.9). Vegetables in season and staples bought in bulk — rice, flour, oats, dried beans, onions, carrots, cabbage — form the cheap base.

The other half of budget cooking is waste. Food thrown away was paid for: a household that bins a fifth of what it buys pays a fifth more for what it eats. Planning (XXIII.1), using leftovers (XXIII.7), cooking stems, peels and bones into stocks and soups, and buying whole birds and joints rather than trimmed portions (yield, XXXI.4) all lower the real cost per portion. The workshop prices a stew.

Below: the cost and protein per portion of a stew for four — onion, carrot, potato and tomato with the protein you choose (illustrative course prices in a neutral unit ¤, compositions from USDA FoodData Central) — compared across proteins.

What you will learn
Workshop
Recipe bench: onion 150 g, carrot 200 g, potato 400 g, tomato 200 g, plus 500 g of meat or tofu, 250 g of dried lentils, or 400 g of eggs; four portions. Prices are the course's illustrative ones (¤ per kg), meant only for ratios; protein from USDA FoodData Central raw compositions.

Spend on the protein wisely, waste nothing

At the course's prices, the vegetables cost about 0.47 ¤ a portion and the protein decides the rest: a rib-eye stew about 5.5 ¤ a portion, lentils about 0.7 ¤ — with 30 g and 19 g of protein respectively. Chicken thighs (1.3 ¤) cost less than breast (1.7 ¤) and stay juicier in a stew (XVIII.7). Real prices vary by place and season, but the order rarely changes.

Habits that keep costs down: plan meals and shop from a list (XXIII.1); build meals on grains, legumes and seasonal vegetables, with meat as a flavouring rather than the bulk — as many of the world's cuisines do (Part Six); buy whole chickens and joint them (XVIII.10), and cheaper cuts for slow cooking; use every part — bones and peelings for stock (XXII.1), leftovers for new dishes (XXIII.7); freeze bread, meat and cooked portions before they spoil; compare unit prices (per kg), not pack prices; and keep a pantry of staples so you buy only fresh items each week (XXIII.2).

At the stove

Price a dish you cook often from your receipts: list the grams of each ingredient, the price per kilogram, and divide by the portions. Then try one cheaper protein in it.

The economist Ernst Engel found in 1857 that the poorer a household, the larger the share of its income it spends on food — Engel's law, still used to measure poverty; cooking skills are one of the few ways a household can stretch that share.

Terms

Cost per portion
A dish's ingredient cost divided by its portions.
Unit price
Price per kilogram or litre, for comparing packs.
Yield
The usable share of what is bought (XXXI.4).
Food waste
Bought food not eaten — paid for but wasted.
A dish costs the sum of its ingredients per portion, and the protein usually decides it. Cheaper cuts, legumes, eggs and tofu give much protein for little; planning and no waste lower the real cost further.

Sources

  1. USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018), public domain.
  2. A teaching value chosen for the course: the right order of magnitude and shape, not a measurement of a particular food.