Culinary Adventures with Camilla

September is Hunger Action Month. – a time to bring attention to food insecurity. According to the US Department of Agriculture, 1 in 8 Americans were food insecure in 2017. That’s 40 million people – more than 12 million of which are children – with a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. And Kate of Kate's Recipe Box levied a challenge to some blogging friends. The Challenge: "Create a meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) to feed 4 people while spending $5.50 or less (total, not per person). (A family of 4 receives roughly $16.60/day - which split evenly comes out to $5.53 per meal.)" This event is meant to acknowledge the difficulty of feeding a family on a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) budget and highlight organizations that help reduce hunger in our own communities. Kate suggested shopping discount stores, utilizing bulk bins for just the amount you need, and using coupons are all great techniques for this challen...

Next month several bloggers are tackling the challenge of creating nutritious meals that stay within the budgetary constraints of what a family of four receives on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) which is $5.53 or $16.60 for the day. Yes, really. Challenge accepted. For my first attempt at the challenge, I made Frugal Tuna Pasta with Roasted Brussels Sprouts that rang in at total of $5.13. With some of those leftover ingredients - the pasta and the sauce - I created a second recipe with canned sardines as my protein and a tossed green salad as the side dish. can of sardines, cost $1.29 pasta, package serves 8, so I used half (will use for another meal), cost $0.89 = $0.45 marinara sauce, used half (will use for another meal), cost $1.99 = $1.00 parmesan cheese, used one-third, cost $2.35 = $0.78 olive oil for pasta, cost negligible = $0.25 salt and pepper, cost negligible = $0.05 mixed salad greens, used one-third, cost $2.99 = $1.00 olive oil f...

Next month several bloggers are tackling the challenge of creating nutritious meals that stay within the budgetary constraints of what a family of four receives on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) which is $5.53 or $16.60 for the day. Yes, really. Challenge accepted.  For my first attempt at the challenge, I eschewed my usual grocery stop and headed to our local Grocery Outlet. There are good options there, including organic produce but it's not a consistent inventory. So I never know what I'm going to find. But, if you hunt, it's not bad...and it's a highly affordable option. I picked up ingredients to make a tuna pasta and roasted Brussels sprouts. The grocery bill was $5.66. And while I did add half of an onion, olive oil, salt, and pepper from my pantry and fridge, I went with serving sizes and only used half of the pasta package and half of the jarred sauce - which I will use for another meal. Plus we had enough leftover that my ...