Makin' dough

Let's just say that my experimentation with bread and sourdough wasn't simply for the joy of cooking (though that was a large part of it). All told, I'm not sure homemade bread is much cheaper than the low-end storebought stuff, but it tastes scads better.

Minimally processed foods in general are your best calorie|nutritional value for the buck. Rice, beans, canned tomatos, and a healthy selection of spices, with the odd bit of meat tossed in for flavor got me a long ways. Pasta. Make frugal dining a family game. I note that (on the few occasions I do shop at a "discount card" store) my savings on a $75-$100 purchase are rarely more than a dollar or two. The discounted items are usually in the processed/prepared food category. I don't buy that crud.

Odd note. Two of my food addictions are directly attributable to poor-as-a-dog college days. Grape Nuts (at about $0.13/ounce) are one of the best cereal bargains (in an otherwise expensive food category) and espresso. Plain old coffee doesn't do it for me, and the double-ex was the least expensive of the high-octane boosts I could find. I generally only do two mugs a day, rather than staying on a constant caffeine drip.

Walking or cycling places saves gas, gives exercise, and in my experience does wonders for my sanity.

Besides what Karsten said, with his ingredients, you can start a dinner in a crock pot and keep adding stuff to it for a long time, on the principle of the "ever simmering cauldron" many medieval and not-so-medieval inns once had. Liquid level a bit low? Add some water or broth. Didn't get enough meat chunks in the last bowl? Throw some in. Contents getting a bit thin? Add a couple sliced potatoes, or beans. I'm not sure if I ever tried rice in a crock pot, but you can always make that as a separate dish.

Crock pots *aren't* much good (or at least I never liked it when I tried it) at cooking most greens and stuff, though I suppose you could call sauerkraut a green, even though it's yellow. Trouble with greens is they turn to mush more quickly than beans. Though I suppose that would be nutritious, if perhaps not that tasty.

Of course, although you can *do* it, it would be good not to leave a crock pot unattended for long (who knows what electrical thing might happen), and safe placement away from walls and other countertop items is good.

Everything except for Grape Nuts, the notion of Grape nuts in a crock pot sounds repulsive :=)

With vitamin supplements to cover what you might not be getting, you probably could live reasonably healthily like this for a long time. And it's very easy to cook - just throw stuff in. Just allow enough time for whatever meat you add to cook well.

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