buy growbag in springtime and plant some tomatos and onions. each day a cheap meal is required in the summer your veg are free and only a stretch from the kitchen

I'll even give you my recipe since I posted on my food blog on exactly this last night!

The Empress Eats - When lamb is expensive, go legumes

In fact, I'll even give you a whole website full of recipes - the post before the last one has leek and asparagus risotto, aglio, olio e peperoncini spaghetti and a great, quick, easy tomato spaghetti from Jamie Oliver.

The Empress Eats

Dinner for two under 10.... Fire up the grill!

Season pork chops with salt and pepper on both sides.
In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger.
Grill pork and when almost done, brush the glaze on.
Serve with grilled veggies of your choice and steamed rice.

Happy eating.

All these for less than 10chfs? Where do you shop?!?

Well, I'm assuming that you already have the honey, soy sauce, ginger, and rice... Too presumptuous perhaps. I'm Asian - soy sauce, ginger, and rice are staples in the kitchen. But you can get a package of 4 pork chops for around 10chfs at Coop. So, two pork chops for 5chfs, a few more chfs for veggies.

Ok... so more than 10 chfs, but you'll have honey for tea; soy sauce, ginger, and rice for future meals.

Dinner tonight was avgolemono. I cheated quite a bit (detailed below) but even if I hadn't it would have come in well under CHF10 for two.

Avgolemono Soup
-------------------------------------

1 L of chicken broth. I used soup cubes tonight, for a cost of CHF0.50. With more time and better planning I'd have bought a frozen Suppenhuhn from Migros (something like CHF6/kg) and made my own stock plus had leftover stock and leftover chicken meat for another meal.
100g of diced chicken. Leftover, raw, doesn't matter. I bought the frozen pouletgeschnetzeltes from Migros and chopped them a bit finer once they were thawed.
a good handful of rice - half a cup or so, probably. Er, that's 120ml to all you Yerpeens. No idea what it weighs, sorry.
a teaspoon or so of lemon zest. You can buy this in little jars in the baking section. I keep some on hand in the back of the fridge, as I don't always have a lemon kicking about when I want one - tonight for example.
100ml of lemon juice. Should have been "juice of two lemons" but ditto the lemon zest, I didn't have two lemons in the kitchen tonight and so half an emergency squeeze bottle it was.
a chili pepper. Dried or fresh, doesn't matter. Mine are usually dried just because they keep better that way.
3 eggs. Don't penny-pinch on the eggs, you'll really taste the difference. Get farm fresh if you can, free range otherwise.

Directions:
Bring the chicken broth to a boil, add the chili pepper and the rice, cook until the rice is almost tender. (This depends what kind of rice you have, check the package directions and subtract 2-3 minutes to get an idea.) If the chicken is raw, now's the time to throw that in as well.

While that's going, break the eggs into a bowl, beat them with a whisk (or in a pinch, a fork - takes longer though) until they are light yellow and frothy. Add the lemon zest and slowly add lemon juice, whisking the whole time. Whisk it a little more for good measure and set it aside till the rice is almost done.

Ladle out a spoonful of the chicken broth (mostly broth, but don't worry if there are a few bits in it) and very slowly pour it into the egg mixture, whisking the whole time. You don't have to drip it in but it should be a very thin stream.
Do the same again with a second ladleful of broth. The egg mixture should be smooth, not quite as frothy. It should not be curdled. (If it is, you added the hot broth too fast. Don't panic, it will still taste OK, just learn for next time.)

Now reverse the procedure, add the egg mixture slowly into what's left of the chicken broth, whisking the whole time. Put it back on medium-low heat (if you're using diced leftover chicken instead of raw, now's the time to add it) and heat it, stirring constantly and WITHOUT letting it boil at all, until it becomes slightly thickened and creamy (it should coat the back of a spoon.)

That's it! Total cost was something like CHF5.20... and this makes about five cups of soup, more than enough for two hungry adults and any leftovers will be even better the next day.

Yeap thats how my mom makes the recipe You saved me from having to call and ask for instructions. She cooks the chicken separately though but thats because we need a whole chicken :P

There are some lovely fresh sardines around at the moment which come from the North Atlantic.
Around Sfr.3.50 for 4 large ones.
They're very quickly prepared and very healthy.

but the real question is "how was the facial mask?"

Oh chicken egg fried rice. Extra cheap if you have left overs. Delicious if done right!!
Failing that.... 2 pot noodle

Delightful, thank you. It's one of those zinc-and-clay affairs that heats up once you put it on. Ten minutes of sheer gorgeous wonderfulness tempered only by that inevitable maddening itch just above one eyebrow, or in front of your ear, or somewhere else you can't scratch because it's coated in facial gloop which you'd rather not have all over your knitting..

Go on then, you can't just leave us hanging! I like egg fried rice just about any way I've had it, but what's the secret?

And, did you swallow?

Tom

(how many threads does one have to read to understand this discussion?)

She did.

(You're talking about the soup, right?)

Steal

• 3 pounds of beef
• 6 onions
• 4 or 5 white turnips
• potatoes
• salt

from Migros or Coop.

Cook beef a la mode.

i just th8nk you dont have any money

Does anyone have any money in this country?

Yes, my ex has mine.

A whole chicken is usually about 7 chufs at Migros. Using that, some rice, carrot, onions, and celery, you can usually swing a nice hearty french-ish dish for under ten. Pre- cook the veggies in a bit of oil, add chicken rice and water, boil all together. (maybe toss in a boullion cube feeling brave) especially good when you're sick.

If you have the time, pre-roast the chicken pieces in the oven first (highest heat, till golden). This really brings out fantastic flavor for soups and stews.

That, or pan fry them to crisp and seal them in your soup pot. This saves you having to clean the oven pan.

Tom