Low Budget Shabbos Meal with guests

amother

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 7:25 pm

A review of our finances shows that we need to majorly cut down and cant really afford to invite people for shabbos or make entire seudas anymore. This week I already invited guests, we are having 4 older single girls who are eaters (as opposed to pickers Wink

for shabbos lunch. Any ideas of how to do this cheaply without "insulting" the guests or embarrassing myself? We do not make cholent and dont have the egg salad liver minhag either. Beans and pasta wont go over very well either.
amother because of the financial reference.

ilovestrollers

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 7:42 pm

Why don't you make cholent? Is it b/c you don't like it - or is there some other reason? If it is just that you personally don't like it, you can still make it for your guests. It is a relatively inexpensive dish to make and lots of people like it.

I also have to make inexpensive shabbos meals: I usually serve cholent, deli roll, salads and kugels. Sometimes I'll serve shnitzel.

Mrs Bissli

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 7:49 pm

Another vote for cholent. Beans are your best friend if you're trying to economise food costs.
If you really want to serve meat (it's shabbat after all), you can use mince and stretch out by adding rice. Stuffed cabbages or red peppers look very attractive.

Keep the main potions small but substitute with lots of sides. Cabbages, carrots, potatoes are all inexpensive veggies, don't bother with frozen veggies. Rice can be dressed up as fried rice (with eggs, salad onion, chopped veggies) or mushroom rice, or made into pilov with sauteed onions.

Reality

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 7:51 pm

Here's what I would do:
1. Serve ONE main dish. Make chicken, cheaper than meat & I think you can get away with bottoms.
2. Salads: Instead of the expensive fancy romaine lettuce, craisin etc.. you can make a cabbage salad (even cheaper if you buy a head & shred yourself) israeli salad, carrot salad, cucumber salad. Think cheap veggies & use those.
3. kugels: again think cheap, potato, lukshen. If you feel you need a little more exotic do carrot or whatever veg. is on sale this week.
4. Dessert: For sure make your own & choose wisely what you make. I would go with choco chip cookies or some other easy thing that most ppl. like (brownies) & cost very little to make.

Also try to shop in stores that have the best prices! If you are buying alot it may be worth it to go to a few stores to save money.

Good luck!

imasinger

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 7:51 pm

Not quite getting "won't go over very well." With whom? Your own family, or the guests? Hot bean or lentil soup can be delicious and inexpensive as an alternative to cholent. Anyway, how about potatoes, either oven roasted or potato salad? Kasha is good and inexpensive. Some produce places have cheaper prices for things that are starting to go; cut away the bad parts and the rest are delicious and cheap. We will often do sesame noodles (cold spaghetti, tahini, ginger and garlic sauce). Deviled eggs can look fancy. If you check out a vegetarian cookbook or recipe source, you will find lots of great main courses that are less expensive than meat or chicken.

amother

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 8:30 pm

op here
go over well means with my guests and family (they wont like it). I have had them over before and I always make nice meals with lots of good food and now I feel stuck. I dont serve cholent because no one eats it!
My typical meal would be:
challah and dips (homemade so cheap)
2 salads (if we have a lot of guests then 1 pasta or potato style salad too)
gefilte fish (not cheap but shabbosdik)
deli roll (not very cheap, dough plus deli)
1 kugel
1 side dish thats good cold, borekas or carrot muffins etc
Shnitzel (NOT cheap- need fleish and during the day no one eats cold chicken)
dessert

ra_mom

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 8:55 pm

how about this?

homemade challah and dips
cole slaw, cucumber salad, pasta salad (no added frills), potato salad
for gefilte fish, thaw and add lots of fillers. refreeze. cut int very thin slices. roll in bread crumbs. fry. kind of like pinktichel does.
if you insist on making deli roll, buy the cheapest cuts of deli (bolgna and turkey roll taste great in the roll) and make your own puff pastry.
if you need kugel to look extra nice, bake them in individual ramekins/muffin tins
carrot muffins should come out cheap (if you need a cheaper recipe, look one up). do not make borekas. for shnitzel, buy whole chicken breasts, and skin and debone them yourself to cut down on the cost. pound them super thin (it's amazing how full one can get full from a large but extremely thin piece of shnitzel - you'll see) or you can stretch it more by making your own kishka, and make chicken stuffed kishka rolls. they are a beautiful and delicious delicacy.
(I wasn't sure if you wrote that you need fleish for shabbos day or not. you might want to make a cold chicken salad. delish. try pinktichels version over asian noodles.)
for dessert make a brownie cake, and if you feel you must, top it with a scoop of homemade ice cream.
good luck

louche

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 8:59 pm

what about a chinese style main dish using cubed or shredded chicken (dark meat that you cut off the bone yourself) stretched with sliced or julienned carrots, celery, onion, even shredded cabbage or bok choy--all cheap veggies--and either rice or noodles? How do you think Chinese cuisine developed? It was a way to stretch expensive meat by using it as a flavoring ingredient rather than a main ingredient. Recipes abound online.

Money and time are often interchangeable. Cutting your own meat off the bone is way cheaper than buying boneless, slicing or shredding veggies way cheaper than those precut prepared salad fixings.

Cheap, cheap dessert: fruit juice ices. mix fruit juice with some boiling water and sugar. put in a pan in freezer, break up the crystals periodically till you end up with a kind of snow or slush. If you have some overripe fruit you can puree it and add it to this mixture, thus rescuing the fruit which might otherwise go to waste. Go online for recipes and adapt to your needs and budget. You can usually cut the sugar in a recipe by 1/3 and it'll still be good.

Presentation is all. A simple garnish makes the whole dish look more expensive. Try a mint leaf or half a strawberry (in season) on the ices. a sprinkling of slivered almonds, walnuts or peanuts (cheapest of all) on top of the chinese stirfried or salad. Not half a cup mixed throughout as the recipes call for, just a little bit right on top where it shows and makes an impression. The culinary equivalent of a comb-over.

You can put a lot of rice in meatballs for stuffed cabbage, which is cheaper than stuffed peppers (more patchkerei, natch).

PinkFridge

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 9:25 pm

Deli roll is pricey. You can make your own dough (much easier than you think) and use the cheapest deli.

And most girls I know LOVE pasta salad. You can add some special trimmings (say you find a deal on dented cans of olives, baby corn, who knows what; I always check out the reduced).

That's for starters.

OldYoung

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 9:55 pm

I second pasta salad or sushi salad- both are hits with girls! Even though you won't use pasta... Does that exclude lukshen kugel? I have an awesome sweet one posted on here- maple lukshen kugel. Or orzo, couscous, farfel? I remember my mother making a really great farfel recipe with mushrooms and onions.
Some more ideas-
Cucumber salad
Chinese coleslaw or regular coleslaw
Spaghetti squash
doughless potato knishes
deli potato salad
Sweet potato pie
Greenbeans- so many great recipes! A few off-hand- sweet and sticky, dijon, quick and easy garlic, tomato and basil.

I can post recipes if you want.

Marion

Thu, Sep 24 2009, 2:32 am

Rice. Stir fry. Pasta (rather than egg noodles) for the kugel. Whole roasted chicken. Homemade gefilte fish instead of rolls (4 fillets, eggs, onion, carrot, salt to taste, fry/bake in muffin tins). Mashed/baked/boiled etc. potatoes. Honey carrots (not tzimmes, the dried fruit is expensive). Cucumber salad, or plain green salad without the fancy lettuces/leaves.

And why can't they eat cold chicken? We do it all the time.

pinktichel

Thu, Sep 24 2009, 3:02 am

along the lines of Louche...

I've posted this so many times:

1 bag spaghetti, boiled and strained
1 bunch scallions, sliced
sesame seeds
chicken off the bone, cut in chunks/chicken breast grilled and sliced

1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. soy sauce
sesame oil (optional)

I find this very economical for a large crowd as I can use leftover chicken from friday night, and even if I grill a couple of chicken breasts, it goes much further than shnitzel.