Here we are
again joining
Foodbuzz and their wonderful
24, 24, 24 event that they so graciously fund.
This time around I decided to take on a recruit. I was looking for a challenge of the utmost kind; make it tasty, make it fun, make it all from the dollar store. I asked my friend Jamie if she was willing to play along. Seeing that she had nothing better to do (school, 2 kids and numerous pets can get boring you know) she decided to play along.
Our challenge was to each create a lunch meal for us and our kids using ingredients mainly from the dollar store. We were allowed $5 dollars each to spend outside of the dollar store to buy no more than 4 items. We were also allowed to use minimal pantry ingredients that we already had. We decided to each make one main dish, one side, drinks and of course dessert.
Jamie, being the savvy shopper and genius she is, told me that there was a dollar store that carried produce as well. This was beyond any dollar store I have ever been in.
It was a
99 cent only store and it was huge. I felt like I was cheating. How could I have never heard of this? My little dollar store I run to for dishwasher soap emergencies is like a spec inside one of these.
Upon later research I've found that not only are these stores found in 4 other states, but there is a cookbook dedicated to ingredients found only in 99 cent only stores.
After this weekend I'm for sure going to check out this book. However, I have since learned a bit about dollar store dining after our challenge.
Insight #1: the toy section could be dangerous to you and other shoppers when you bring in little ones . Every toy becomes a weapon of the sword kind.
Literal swords are in abundance in the toy section as well. It's around this time I think every other shopper was hoping we would take our kids and our dollar finds and get the heck out.
Insight # 2: This is by far what one should live by when shopping at the dollar store - Simplicity wins the game. Keep it simple, and I'm about to show you why.
This is what Jamie picked up for her lunch meal:
Strawberries, lemonade, ice cream cones, turkey dogs, cookies (oreo knock offs), can of black beans, can of corn, katsup, mustard, relish, garlic, and onions. Oh yeah, not pictured here is 2 boxes of chocolate pudding.
Jamie's meal consisted of turkey dogs with all the fixings, the buns were the only ingredient from another store. Black beans and corn, strawberry lemonade and a very fun and super cute dessert.
Simple straight to the point, and I must say after you see the meal, a clear winner of the duel.
This is what I bought:
Onions, 10 lb bag of potatoes (10 lbs - 99cents!!!), muffin liners, cake mix, frosting, jam, panko bread crumbs, cumin powder, red pepper flakes, Tapatio hot sauce, mushrooms, cilantro, tuna, onions, pasilla chiles, gorditas, mineral water, and cranraspberry juice.
This is what I ended up making: Salmon croquettes, roasted pasilla chile potato salad, cranberry and tea sparkler, and peanut butter and jelly cupcakes.
Oh yes, and bubble making fun for the kids:
Ingredients in hand, we were ready to cook. And cook we did.
The end result was delicious.
There were some minor issues, and the main reason I believe keeping it simple is key. My cumin powder was more like sawdust with licorice flavor. It was a very sad day seeing as I had already added some to my potato salad without realizing this oddity. What would have been a lovely potato salad was rudely taken over by licorice flavored wood shavings. I think Jamie had a better plan when staying with minimal, no fuss ingredients. In fact she only used 3 ingredients not found from the dollar store - milk, chocolate and buns.
Her desserts were a also the cutest, and cheapest idea for a party.
These pudding filled ice cream cones were such a hit with everyone.
She just rimmed the edge with the chocolate and cookies, but we agreed that it was the best part and needs more. I think that either adding layers of crushed cookies in when you add the pudding, or lining the entire inside of the ice cream cones with chocolate and cookies would send these over the top.
Pudding Cones
4 Vanilla cookies
4 chocolate cookies (of the Oreo type)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
6 ice cream cones
1 box of instant pudding made according to package directions
Crush vanilla and chocolate cookies into small crumbs. In a microwave safe bowl (or over a double broiler) gently melt chocolate chips until they are smooth. Dip rim of cones in chocolate and then in crumbs (I highly recommend coating the inside too). Let the dipped cones cool so the chocolate sets while you prepare the pudding. Just before serving, spoon the pudding into the cups layering with some more cookie crumbs.
These were really adorable and I think you could do so many different things - layer in some whip cream, top with maraschino cherries to look like a sunday, or set out some toppings for everyone to sprinkle. If you were super crafty you could whip up some colorful paper wrappers to put around them. Oh the possibilities.
Her hot dogs were self explanatory right? I don't want to tell you how to eat your hotdog, but a grill and some toppings is where it is at!
How about a very easy side with your dog?
Black Bean and Corn
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 can corn drained and rinsed
1/2 small onion chopped
chopped garlic (this was our first experience using jarred, we prefer the real deal. One clove here would be good)
Saute onion and garlic in a pan with a small amount of oil. Add beans and corn, heat through. Salt and pepper to taste.
Strawberry Lemonade
1.5 liter lemonade
24 oz fresh strawberries
Puree strawberries until smooth. Add to the lemonade. She did not add any sugar because the strawberries were very good, you may want to test yours first.
Now on to my meal where some other interesting things were gleaned. I bought panko bread crumbs expecting light and airy crumbs. Not so bobby joe. They were very hard styrofoam like beads. Not the worst thing in the world, but my advice is to buy the familiar and the simple. The croquettes still were very tasty and we decided that with some creamy cabbage slaw on top these would really rock. The tuna was only 79 cents by the way.
Tuna Croquettes
3 small cans tuna drained
1/2 small onion diced
1 package mushrooms diced
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 cup panko bread crumbs (divided)
2 eggs beaten
3-4 dashes Tapatio hot sauce
salt and pepper
In a small pan saute the onions, mushrooms and red pepper flakes for 4-5 minutes. Add mushrooms to tuna in a large bowl. Mix in cilantro, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, beaten eggs, hot sauce and salt and pepper. Heat 1/2 inch canola or vegetable oil in a heavy bottom skillet. Add remaining bread crumbs to a shallow bowl. Form small cakes in your hands with the tuna mixture and press crumbs onto cake. Add to hot oil and cook until browned about 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve with pita or gordita bread. Some lime squeezed over the top and a quick slaw would taste very good.
This salad would have been perfection. I may have won on this salad alone had it not been for the crazy cumin. I'm giving you the recipe in hopes that your cumin does not taste like dusty licorice. Pasilla peppers are fruity and sort of bitter raw. When you roast them the heat comes through and the fruitiness mellows out. When they are dried these are known as chile negro.
Pasilla Chile Potato Salad
2 whole pasilla chiles roasted and skinned then diced(poblanos would work too)
6 medium potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk
1/4 small onion grated
1/2 cup cilantro chopped
2 teaspoons cumin powder
salt and pepper
Boil cut potatoes for 15 minutes or until tender, but not falling apart. Put back into the hot pot to remove water and season with salt. In a small bowl mix together mayonnaise, milk, cumin powder and grated onion. Add potatoes to a large bowl and mix in mayonnaise mixture, cilantro and chiles. Season with salt and pepper.
Cranberry and Tea Sparkler
2 Pomegranate tea tea bags
2 cups water
32 oz cranraspberry juice
2 cups Sparkling water
Heat water and pour over tea bags, let steep for 15 minutes. Remove tea bags and chill. Make 12 ice cubes out of juice. When you are ready to eat pour chilled tea into pitcher, add remaining juice and cubes. Pour over sparkling water and serve.
My dessert was also a theory that I was working out in my head, and I just should have researched first. I made the cake mix and added some jam to the cupcakes when they were half way filled and then topped them off. I baked them according to the directions. Then I mixed together half the can of frosting with equal part peanut butter. This wasn't the cupcake of my dreams.
The jam sank to the bottom, and the frosting was very thick. This was not a total loss, and lucky for you I'm a bit obsessive compulsive. Later we found that this mixture of frosting mix and peanut butter makes fantastic homemade peanut butter cups. Just form this mix into a ball and dip in melted chocolate. YUM!
Because I can't let things go I did some PB&J cupcake research. Thank you
Tyler Florence.
I just had to give it another go. I used a gluten free mix instead of Tyler's recipe for cupcakes, but his method of squirting the jelly in the already cooked cake was perfect.
These were the cupcakes that were running around in my head. His frosting recipe is unbelievable. I only made half of the recipe and still had too much for 12 cupcakes. I am not complaining as I'm sure I can find another use.
Insight #3: The dollar store isn't always cheaper. You still need to do some shopping around to make sure you are getting a deal. When you walk in you are swept up that there are so many items, all for 99 cents. When we stopped and thought about it, some items can be found for a better deal. Often regular grocery stores will have a sale on a case of name brand beans for example, this will bring the price down to much lower than 99 cents per can.
Let's take a look at the grand total of this event:
Jamie's bill: $19.96
My bill: $29.31
Pantry: $10.00
Total: $59.27
This number is so exciting. We created a healthy, fun and delicious meal (well 2 of them) for under $60. Not to mention many of the ingredients we bought could be used for more than just this meal. I mean a 10 lb bag of potatoes can make a lot of potato salad.
Another reason this number is so great is that I am donating the rest of my $250 stipend to
Share Our Strength. So many children in our country are faced with hunger and I'm so blessed with abundance that I feel I need to share in some way. If you are able to, please think about donating. If money is not something that you can part with, they have other opportunities like holding a bake sale, or volunteering.
Thank you Jamie for going along with my crazy ideas, as always. Thank you so much Foodbuzz for funding these ideas. I hope we've inspired you to get creative with what you have. So many people have nothing that even what seems like a bare cupboard is a gold mine of opportunity. Be thankful for what you have, give what you've got, and love what you do. Life is still sweet!
