Fall is when many of us start to slow down and at the same time get a hankering for foods that warm us up on a crisp and chilly day while filling the kitchen with wonderful, comforting aromas.
If it's easy to prepare, even better. And when said meal doesn't cost a proverbial arm and leg? That's a definite win in these economic times, when chasing down bargains in your local grocery store or farmers market has become both a sport and a necessary evil.
In this week's Dinner on a Budget, the goal is to create a filling three-course meal for two -- hopefully with some tasty leftovers for lunch the next day -- for around $15.
Cooking to the season, we decided to build the meal around a classic fall dish: a small-batch pot of beef and bean chili.
Something hearty
Ground beef, like everything else, has gone up in price the past few years, but it's still among your more affordable proteins. Usually you can find it for about $5.99 a pound, which isn't too bad considering a 16-ounce package can easily be stretched into four servings with the equally budget-friendly addition of canned tomatoes and beans.
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Chili is the perfect dish for economical cooks because it's user-friendly and versatile, lending itself all different kinds of vegetables and proteins.
While ours is made with a can of fire-roasted tomatoes, chopped green pepper and red kidney beans along with the requisite garlic and onions, you can throw in anything you might happen to have sitting on a pantry shelf or tucked into your fridge's vegetable cooler -- think lentils, canned corn, squash, celery and even sweet potatoes.
It tends to taste even better the next day, once the flavors have really melded, and leftovers can be used as a topping not just on hot dogs or french fries but also enchiladas, tacos and baked potatoes. You also can bulk up a bowl of mac and cheese with a few generous spoonfuls.
I tend to have a heavy hand with chili powder and cumin, which adds a nutty, smoky flavor, but that's the beauty of chili. You can tame it by dialing down the spices or crank it up to five-alarm level by adding a sprinkle or two of cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes and/or chipotle in adobo sauce.
Something sweet
The accompanying baked dessert -- individual chocolate cakes made in 5-ounce ramekins and painted with a sweet coffee glaze -- was almost ridiculously cheap and easy to pull together. One of the main ingredients, cocoa powder, costs only about 8 cents per tablespoon. And because the recipe makes just two servings, you don't need a lot of sugar, flour or powdered sugar (all pantry staples), either.
The most expensive ingredient, in fact, is a single egg yolk that cost 29 cents. Plus, chocolate cake is just plain delicious, especially if you eat it warm and use coffee for the frosting.
Something fresh
What was most surprising and also a bit of a challenge when pricing out these recipes was working fresh fruit and veggies into the menu. A single, baseball-sized apple will still put you back at least $1 these days at most grocery stores, and onions -- a workhorse kitchen staple for many home cooks -- are nearly as expensive, especially if a recipe calls for more-delicate red onions.
Small packages of salad greens also tend to be pricey since you're not getting the same economies of scale as when you purchase a family-sized container. The 5-ounce package of spinach I used with a green apple and a red onion I already had in my refrigerator crisper cost $2.99 on sale, or almost double the cost per ounce of a 16-ounce container priced at $5.99 (37 cents per ounce).
The takeaway: If you have room in your fridge and like to plan meals a couple of days in advance, it's probably always better to spend a little more on a bigger box or package to save yourself some money in the long run.
The total tally for the chili dinner, using some ingredients already on hand, a half-can of beans and store-brand tomatoes instead of the fancy organic name brand I really wanted: $15.05, or just a nickel over.
Insist on rounding out the meal with some carbs? If you add a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix to your shopping list, you'll add another buck to the cost of dinner, which you can offset by using a little less ground beef or opting to go bean-free.
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