Here’s another example of how you can enjoy healthy organic food on a budget
When you think of eating organic, you probably don’t think of a meal for two for less than $5. To learn the basic principles and tips for eating organic healthy food for less, check out our
Ethical Food On A Budget section. Here’s an example of what an inexpensive, quick, nutritious and organic meal looks like.
Curried Squash Soup
Cost of ingredients
- Small organically grown butternut or other orange flesh squash $3
- Shredded organic coconut for home made coconut milk (bought from the bulk bin) $0.50
- Added goodies of your choosing (pumpkin seed garnish, croutons, slivered almonds) $1.50
Recipe instructions
Roast your squash. I like to roast squash whole (don’t bother peeling or cutting) on a baking sheet at 375° F until done. The time will be different depending on how large your squash is, so just check to see if it’s soft. If it seems soft when you squeeze it (with oven mitts!), put a slender kitchen knife into the center and if it goes right through, the squash is cooked.
While your squash is cooking, make your coconut milk. You can look at the general technique
here, just make one or two cups of coconut milk for this soup.
Take the roasted squash out of the oven when it’s done and let it sit until it’s cool enough to handle. Some people like to cover the squash or put it in a paper bag. This steams the skin a bit and makes it peel off easier. I don’t usually bother with this. When the squash is just cool enough to handle, I cut it in half and scoop out and discard the seeds with a spoon. Use the spoon to scoop out the cooked flesh for the soup.
Blend cooked squash flesh with your
home made coconut milk to whatever consistency you prefer. I like mine pretty thick, but you can control how thick your soup is by adding more or less coconut milk. I use a Vita Mix, but all the ingredients are soft, so any blender will do. I add Indian curry powder to taste (I like Sambhar curry powder for this soup), fresh black pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt.
Add your extras: sprinkle with Austrian pumpkin seeds, croutons or chopped up dried sour cherries.
This will make two huge meal size bowls, or four side dish sized portions.
Delicious. Easy. Inexpensive. Organic.
Grow your own
If you have some sunny space in your yard, growing squash is easy to do from seed. You can easily grow pumpkins, butternut or other orange winter squash such as carnival. Growing from seed is easy and practically free, and squash plants are unfussy, easy to care for and prolific producers.
Using your home grown squash makes this meal nearly free. If you use heirloom seeds, you can easily save seed to regrow the next year.
Enjoy!
