A Pot of Beans -- The Real Value Meal

An Applebee's commercial has been annoying me recently, something about "A night out for the cost of a night in!" But they're advertising 2 meals for $20. I can't remember the last time that I spent anywhere near as much as $20 on a home-cooked meal for the two of us.

One of the lighter moments at our Book Club last night (we discussed Race Matters by Cornel West, which is not a light book) was when we were discussing the state of the economy and one of the black women bragged that black families know how to make a meal on a budget, "serve 10 from a chicken breast!" Another black woman countered, "...from a chicken bone!" I'm going to have to get recipes from Antona and Gretchen to do that well, but I got four servings from a chicken breast earlier this week and I routinely get two servings per breast with stir-fries like the greens and chicken dish.

The locally grown, organically raised chickens that I buy whole and cut up are about $11 each. Typically, we get eight servings from one chicken plus chicken stock. So, even using some of the best meat I can buy, the chicken works out to less than $1.50 per person. Add a few other ingredients, and we still easily get meals that are less than $3 a person -- that's considerably less than you can eat at Applebee's, or would typically spend at McDonald's.

Now, let's talk about beans. In Mark Bittman's new book, Food Matters (yes, I did manage to read Race Matters and Food Matters back-to-back and learned from both), Bittman says "I'm on a mission to make sure every fridge or freezer in America is stocked with a container of home-cooked beans." The book is new, so he wrote it before this current economic crisis fully hit. His argument is that beans are a healthy source of protein with a low carbon footprint. For the economical cook, we can also add that they are cheap.

I have less experience with beans than chicken. The package says I'll get 12 servings from this pound, but I suspect those are side dish servings. Let's assume I'll get 8 main dish servings, just like my chicken. I bought this bag of beans for $1.34 today. Now we're talking a serving price of under 20 cents! I'm planning to make tostadas on Sunday -- adding a tortilla, some lettuce, some cheese, a bit of home-made guacamole and this meal is going to cost less than a $1 per serving. Later in the week, I'll try Alanna Kellogg's new black bean burger recipe for a similar cost.

So, don't buy the hype that restaurants, including fast-food ones, are trying to sell that they are a good value. If you don't believe that you can have a meal for $1 to $3 a person, just ask some home cooks -- and make sure to ask some black home cooks!