$5 Challenge

Three weeks ago on Saturday, September 17, 2011, I hosted a “$5 Challenge” dinner for myself and two of the luckiest people I know. *tooting my own horn*

Before we move too fast into the ideal future of food that is at the heart of this challenge, perhaps I should provide you with a little history.

When traveling abroad, I used to consider the “golden arches” of McDonald’s not a site for sore eyes, but rather as one for a set of American eyes longing for a “taste of home”—that is to say, junky fast food.  However, three months in Southeast Asia clued me in to the depressing international prestige that has become associated with eating at one of the many fast food joints we have exported.  While changing politics and expanding economies are highly associated with this trend, as is a population's diet becoming more protein heavy, so is the subsequent “epidemiological transition”—the transition of the primary type of diseases affecting a population from being infectious (e.g., cholera, malaria) to chronic (e.g. cancer; diabetes; heart disease—that has begun in the urbanized areas of many developing countries. 

Need I mention Popeye and the value of spinach again?

While perhaps none of these factors were on the mind of Carlo Petrini when he protested the opening of a McDonald’s near the Spanish Steps in Rome in 1986, the abasement of the traditional Italian cooking (and eating) style by international corporations like McDonald’s undoubtedly was.

When I fantasize about Italy, France, Spain, Greece, and so many other countries, admittedly the first thing I always think about is, well, food.  (Surprised?  I think not!)  While the second is typically wine and the third architecture, somehow I always make it back to an image of myself sitting at an outdoor café, musing at the passersby, and enjoying something delicious slowly and with attention to its magnificence.  Although my daydreams may seem fanciful, they are actually representing what was once a core value of every society: cooking.

These days, the word "cooking" comes out sounding like "convenience" instead from the tongues of many people.  And for many reasons, why shouldn't it?  Government subsidization of crops are in all of the wrong places; the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) classifies fruits and vegetables as "specialty crops", which has ramifications on the cost of these items for everyone; and there are food deserts (places where people do not have access to a grocery store within a reasonable distance by foot or car) throughout this country.

Whatever you take away from this post, please do not underestimate the impact that these issues have on how we live our lives, and even more importantly, on our health. 

Government subsidization of crops makes it more economical to by refined grains like cereals than fresh vegetables.

The USDA's classification (or rather, mis-classification) of fruits and vegetables has had a direct impact on the amount of funding available for these items for people who use SNAP vouchers (the new term for "food stamps").  As such, it can be difficult for these people (and believe me,  individuals who require nutritional assistance are not people stereotyped as being "bums" or homeless; they are your neighbors who have jobs that just do not make the bills).

It is no coincidence that the map of food deserts in the US overlaps a little too perfectly with that of obesity trends in the US. 

Not scared yet?

A 2008 study from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimated that if historical and current trends continue, by 2030, 86.3% of adults will be overweight or obese, and more than half will be obese!

But there is hope...

Over the last 25 years, the Slow Food movement had expanded internationally.  Indeed, without realizing it at the time, when I called for you to get rid of all of your pre-packaged, frozen meals in my first post, I was actually asking you to join the movement!   The concept of slow food is one that really struck me for its sheer simplicity.  Slow food is just the exact opposite of fast food; it is food that is prepared from good, fresh ingredients in your own kitchen (Sorry Ramen eaters! That does not count as “cooking”).  The bottom line here is simple: CARE about, ENJOY, and KNOW what you put in your body.

All right; go ahead; you will not be the only one thinking it: “But cooking at home is time consuming and expensive.”

As I have written before, I agree that cooking takes more time than picking up dinner at a drive-through, fast food restaurant on the way home.  However, I have also described techniques I use to make cooking more efficient.  As a quick reminder: 1) plan your meals ahead of time; 2) make enough leftovers for lunch the next day so you are not stuck making two meals every day; and 3) enjoy yourself in the kitchen (“time flies when you’re having fun!”) 

To the second argument that eating and cooking at home is expensive, I wholeheartedly beg to disagree (as do many other people).
 
Before I make any more claims for my argument, let us transition back to the 17^th of September.

Slow Food USA put out a challenge to prepare a meal for less than $5 per person (“$5 Challenge” is a great title for this, right?).  While I consider myself to be a relatively conscientious shopper, and I have always believed that cooking at home is more economical than eating out in any form (fancy restaurant or the local greasy spoon), the truth was that I generally had no idea how much a single serving of a meal costs.

While many European cities are much more “single person” friendly in that grocery stores have a wider selection of individualized items (e.g., ONE piece of chicken; ONE steak; cheese cut to the quantity you want), most of the grocery stores I have been to here in the US are not like that.  Accordingly, it can be very expensive for a single person to plan meals and figure out how much each will cost.  Think about it.  A typical package of chicken costs $10 and has enough meat to feed several people.  Indeed, this is one of the most common arguments I have heard against cooking at home when you are a single person.

Nevertheless, call me “Doubting Alex” if you like, but I wanted to see how shopping and cooking at home actually prices out for myself.

The Challenge: $5 per person

The Challenge Meal: Roasted Chicken with Wild Rice and Squash Compote, and baked pears for dessert

Roasted Chicken with Rice and Squash Compote

Time to Prep: 15 minutes
Time to Cook: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable stock (this is in lieu of more butter)

1 Tbsp butter

½ Lb butternut squash

1 large shallot

1 Granny Smith apple

¼ Tsp ground cinnamon

¼ Tsp cayenne pepper

1.5 cups golden raisins

½ cup dry white wine (like sauvignon blanc or chardonnay)

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tsp chopped fresh thyme

Salt and Pepper, to taste

1.5 cups wild rice

3 cups water

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

8, 6-ounce, bone-in chicken thighs

1)  Peel the squash and carefully cut in half.  Remove the seeds with a metal spoon.  Cut into ½-inch pieces (no bigger or the squash will take too long to cook).

2)  Mince the shallot very fine.  From tip to the end of the stem, pull off the thyme leaves and chop.

3)  Peel the Granny Smith apple when you are ready to begin cooking.  Cut into quarters, cut off the middle core with seeds, and then chop the apple into ½-inch pieces like the squash.

4)  Preheat the oven to 350’F.  In a medium pot, add the rice, water, and salt to taste.  Bring to a boil and then lower the heat so that the rice is just simmering.  Cook like this for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and allow the rice to sit and absorb the remaining water for 10 minutes.

5)  In a large skillet, heat the stock and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted.  Then add the squash and sauté until almost tender, about 5-8 minutes.  Add more stock as needed if the compote becomes dry or the vegetables begin to brown too quickly (or even worse, burn!).

6)  Add the shallot to the squash and cook for 1 minute until softening, but not browning.

7)  Add the apple, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper to the compote.  Stir to coat well and continue cooking for 1 minute.  Then add the raisins, wine, honey, and thyme and cook until the wine is almost evaporated.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

8)  In an ovenproof skillet (like cast iron or any other than does NOT have a melt-able handle), heat the vegetable oil over medium high.  While heating, dry the chicken with a paper towel (this will help prevent too much splattering with the oil and help the chicken brown well) and then season the chicken with salt and pepper.

9)  When the oil is fragrant and shimmering (but not smoking!), add the chicken to the skillet SKIN SIDE DOWN.  Be prepared with a splatter screen!!  Cook over medium high heat until the skin is browned and crispy, about 5 minutes.  Then carefully turn the chicken over with tongs (or two wooden spoons) away from you, with the splatter screen between you and the skillet so you do not get splattered with oil.  Place the skillet (oven proof!) in the oven and roast for 6 minutes, until cooked through. (The best way to check if chicken is cooked through is to cut into the meat at the thickest part and see if the juices run clear, versus bloody).

9)  Reheat the compote slightly (if needed).  In a warm dish, add wild rice, top with the compote, and finish with 1 piece of chicken at a time.  People can always go back for seconds.

Baked Pears

Time to Prep: 5 minutes

Time to Cook: 1 hour

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

4 Bosc bears

¼ Lemon

¾ cup dry white wine

2/3 cup sugar

1 cinnamon stick

zest from 1 orange (use a zester to remove from the orange)

1/6 cup orange liqueur (like 1 Grand Marnier nip)

2 cups water

1)  Heat the oven to 375’F.  Peel the pears, but leave the stems for moving the cooked pears around later and for decoration.  Place them in a bowl of cold water with the lemon juice (“acidulated” water, which prevents the pears from browning). 

2)  In a medium saucepan (a little pot), add the wine, 2 cups water, sugar, orange zest, cinnamon stick, and liqueur.  Bring to a boil and dissolve the sugar.  Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

3)  Place the pears in a baking dish and pour in the syrup.  Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes.

4)  Uncover the baking dish.  Then gently turn the pears over.  Re-cover and bake for 20-30 minutes more until the pears are very tender.

5)  When they are finished baking, remove the pears and set aside, allowing them to cool (but not cold).  Return the syrup to the original saucepan and boil until it thickens (like at a point between honey and caramel), about 10 minutes.

6)  Serve the pears warm with the thickened syrup.

All said and done, I sat down with my receipt from the grocery store and broke down the costs based on the amount of food I used for this meal out of the total cost for shopping.  That is to say, where I bought a whole tub of wild rice, I calculated out how many 1.5 cup servings there were in the container, and then divided the cost of the item by the number of servings to figure out how much the rice used in this dish cost.

Here is the breakdown for the costs of this meal:

Wild Rice $1.75

Vegetable Stock $0.50
Butternut Squash $1.18

Chicken Thighs $2.80

Honey $0.37
Golden Raisins $1.82
White wine $0.83
Thyme $0.40
Apple $0.90
Shallot $0.50
Butter $0.27
Pears $1.61
Lemon $0.50
Grand Marnier $4.00
Orange $0.50
Total = $17.43


Divided by the four servings this meal made, and the cost per person for dinner and dessert was $4.36!


While I already had cinnamon sticks (although ground cinnamon would have worked just as well), ground cinnamon, sugar, and cayenne around the house and did not include these in my math, these items would not have bumped up the cost  much.

I could not believe it!  As far as I was concerned (and my guests agreed), this could have easily been a $20 meal in a restaurant, if not more (plus tip!).  We had paid only a fraction of what it would cost to eat out, and most likely, this meal cost less than the average "value meal" (NOT!) at a fast food restaurant.

Furthermore, this was a FANCY meal.  From the type of rice I purchased to the golden raisins to the Grand Marnier, the cost of this meal could have been $1-2 LESS per person had I chosen a cheaper rice, plain (not golden) raisins, and scrapped the liqueur entirely.  But as it stands, we met the challenge and definitely came out on top!

For me the $5 Challenge was more than just another afternoon in the kitchen; it was also a mental exercise to get a better handle on what I am spending to eat, and put an accurate price tag on what Slow Food USA is referring to as “the new ‘value meal’”.

Value is a key concept in the push to lead a healthier, tastier, home-cooked sort of life.  It was easy for me to accept that slow food is incredibly cheaper than eating out when I compared my meal to the price of one I could eat out at a restaurant (a $20 difference perhaps).  I also recognize that I love to cook, so the time and effort I put in to planning, preparing, and enjoying this meal was a perfect example of what those MasterCard commercials would term “priceless”. 

The reality is, for every single person out there I meet who views cooking as too difficult or not worth the effort, YOU are the reason I write this blog, volunteer in the community, and want to become a doctor.

Maybe after learning new cooking techniques and trying new foods you still  will not fantasize about your upcoming meals while on the treadmill at the gym like I do.  I accept that.  Still, I pose a challenge to you: on Monday, October 24, 2011 (Food Day!), take the next $5 Challenge for yourself and tell me all about it!

And always, remember that no matter what, you can eat and be healthier while fully enjoying a taste of each and every good bite.