Baked rice with currants and chickpeas: 77 cents/serving

Every now and then I like to go through the cupboards and challenge myself to use up the various little baggies of bulk odds and ends I’ve accumulated over time. Sometimes the yield can get a little random, as was the case in the most recent cleanout: half a box of currants from whole-grained stuffed cabbage rolls and a little baggie of dried chickpeas from creamy farro & chickpea soup. Thankfully I remembered seeing this recipe in Claudia Roden’s The Food of Spain; it’s sort of a vegan/vegetarian paella, which of course is up my alley given that I don’t like seafood; it makes a ton, which is perfect for lunches for the week; it looks cool coming out of the oven; and it’s truly delicious—currants and garlic are not something I would’ve thought to pair, but now that I’ve tried it I can’t believe it’s not used more often.

Sweet corn risotto: $1.36/serving

Is anyone else having as much trouble as I am procuring decent corn this summer? It happened (albeit slightly early) with the corn & prosciutto crisp last month, and it happened again this week: I go to the store expecting bins overflowing with cheap, fresh, delicious corn and find a sad little pile of overpriced, desiccated cobs that look destined for someone’s bird feeder. I specifically don’t grow corn in the yard because it’s always so cheap, abundant and delicious elsewhere, and this is the first year it looks like that decision is going to come back and bite me in the butt. I might have to do without, or at least play pretend with a few bags of frozen corn. So, dear readers, if you have access to plump, fresh, juicy ears of corn, this recipe is for you. It’s intentionally simple to bring out the sweetness of the corn against the savoriness of the Parmesan.

Arroz con pollo: 96 cents/serving

There are a lot of variations floating around out there for Latin American arroz con pollo—saffron, achiote paste, long-grain rice, arborio rice, peas, olives. My version, of course, is what I feel to be the best-tasting arroz con pollo for the least amount of money. No extraneous gewgaws or pricey ingredients—just a sofrito of bacon and vegetables; some oregano, cumin, chicken, rice, broth, and tomato paste; and a bottle of beer. Simple, satisfying, and one-pot. It also makes a ton, so it’s good for a crowd or potluck, or for heat-and-eat lunches throughout the week.

Roasted carrot & thyme risotto: $1.19/serving

We buy 10-pound bags of carrots at Costco (only 50 cents a pound!) for juicing, so since they’re always around, I find myself on a neverending quest for creative and delicious ways to use them in meals (see: carrot ragout, carrot ravioli, carrot soup, carrot pickles, carrot muffins, carrot sauce for pasta….). This time up, I decided to use one of my favorite blank templates for flavors: risotto. I simply roasted the carrots with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme from the garden, processed them with a little cream until creamy but still slightly chunky, and stirred them into risotto with some Parmesan to highlight their sweetness. I have to say, it was pretty darn good, especially for only costing less than $2.40 for the entire pot.

Red beans and rice: 62 cents/serving

Because of red beans and rice’s highly desirable price-to-tastiness ratio, I’ve been experimenting with it for years, and let me tell you: Despite the seemingly simple lineup of ingredients, there are many, many opportunities for things to go wrong (slow cooker vs. stovetop, red beans vs. kidney beans, rice cooked in-pot vs. separate, ham hock, no ham hock, different kinds of sausage…). This recipe, in my opinion, is both the most authentic and the best-tasting. It eschews the slow-cooker; uses small red beans, which cook up creamier than kidney beans; includes ham hocks and sausage; and has the beans served over the rice, which is the only way I’ve ever seen it in Louisiana. Don’t be afraid to make up a double batch—it tastes better the longer it sits.

Red-lentil dal with apples: 55 cents/serving

I don’t cook a lot of Indian food (no particular reason why; I just don’t find myself drawn to it), but when I do, it’s usually some variation of dal, a simple, usually vegan lentil stew that can be made using whatever vegetables or lentils one happens to have on hand. This red-lentil version was born to use up half a can of whole tomatoes I had languishing in the freezer, as well as some of the 4 lbs. of Granny Smiths we bought this weekend at Winco; the apples add a sweet tang that goes perfectly with the earthiness of the lentils. It’s quick, warming and healthy—perfect for a rainy weeknight. (Yes, I know the Pacific Northwest is probably the only place in the country right now where it’s still raining and 55 degrees, but just humor me.)

Szechuan chicken: $1.44/serving

I have a complicated relationship with this dish, which originally came out of an old Jeff Smith “Frugal Gourmet” paperback (I couldn’t tell you which one; I threw out the book long ago and kept only this page) that belonged to my mom. Though she wrote on this very recipe (“great!”) and I remember eating it growing up, she denies ever having made it. I started cooking it myself about a decade ago simply because it was easy, but B. is, has been, and probably always will be completely obsessed with it. He can eat an entire pan by himself, and for some reason never tires of what, to me, is a depressingly rudimentary flavor profile of pepper, soy sauce, and sherry. That said, it is a simple, tasty, cheap weeknight meal that can be used as a template for whatever you have on hand—feel free to add greens, vegetables, garlic, ginger…whatever strikes your fancy. Or keep to the original recipe, in all its original glory. It just might become an unexpected favorite in your house as well.

Vidalia onion, cheese & rice bake: 94 cents/serving

Let me be straight with you: This is not something I would normally make. It’s very casserole-y, for starters, which is not really my style, and it contains sour cream as a binder, something that always has and always will feel deeply wrong to me. (It’s been only recently—the past year or two, in fact—that I’ve been able to abide sour cream’s existence at all. I mean, it’s soured cream, people.) That said, I’ve been struggling a bit lately to find new and inventive meatless dishes (if you’re wondering how this is even possible, look at my recipe index—what haven’t I tried at this point??), since meat has been quite expensive lately, and when I saw a version of this dish on The Homesick Texan‘s blog, I thought I’d give it a try. I had sour cream on hand from another dish and I had cheese, so I only had to pick up some Vidalia onions to make it work (Walla Wallas would have been the more locally appropriate choice, but alas, they’re not in season). It took me a few bites to warm up to it, but once I did, I was sold; it was extremely filling, so I only needed a small serving to feel satisfied, and the sweet onions contrasted nicely against the heat of the chipotles.

Citrus risotto: $1.03/serving

Risotto is a lot more versatile than people realize. Like soup or soufflé, it’s an inexpensive blank canvas for whatever you happen to have on hand—including, as I proved last year with strawberry-basil risotto, even fruit. The idea of incorporating citrus came from Judy Rodgers’ Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Between the quality of fruit I used, my inauthentic risotto method, and my jury-rigged mascarpone, Judy would be perfectly justified in coming up here to slap the book right out of my hands and hit me upside the head with it, but for a slightly modified budget meal, this was just as delicious, different, and refreshing as I had hoped. It’s probably best made during the winter, when citrus is at its peak (at least, it is around here), but if you’re going to make it now, ensure you at least find fruit that’s thin-skinned (less pith) and quite heavy for its size (more juice).

Stir-fried cabbage with ginger, chilies and rice: 70 cents/serving

This is not the first time I’ve set out to prove that if you have a head of cabbage, 20 minutes, and some pantry staples, you have a meal (see: pickled cabbage stir-fry, white beans and cabbage), but it bears repeating because this dish is so surprisingly good and involves so few ingredients. And in addition to costing under $1 per serving, it’s versatile—B. had leftovers the next day on bread with a fried egg on top and declared them even better than the night before. It may not be the photogenic bowl of food, but part of this is because the cabbage is so well-cooked and deeply flavored that it doesn’t even look like cabbage anymore, let alone taste like it.