To work, to work, the wolf is at the door!

[RevDahlia]

So we just moved, and moving was hella expensive, even more than we'd anticipated; hubby is doing contract work, with no guaranteed hours, and my job doesn't start until the 21st. What this means is that we? Are poor. Really, really, really goddamn poor. Like about as poor as I've ever been, even when I was teeny and my parents were grad students. Poor.

Please, put any and all recipes that require minimal financial outlay here. Epicurious ain't helping, and I don't want to resort to MFK Fisher's "Sludge" just yet.

Just to get the ball rolling, here is something I came up with that is cheap and good.

Lentil Soup with Chorizo and Beet Greens

1 cup lentils
1 quart water
2 bouillon cubes
1 onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
Greens from 2 bunches of beets, tough stems removed (use the beets to make borscht)
1 small package chorizo
A little oil
A bay leaf
Pinch thyme
Pinch oregano
S&P

Heat oil in the bottom of a stockpot over medium-low heat. Add chorizo and vegetables, cover and sweat until onions and celery are translucent. (You can use really nasty, tough, cheap veggies for this.) Add water, bouillon cubes, herbs and lentils, and simmer for about two hours or until lentils are very done. This is better if you make it a day ahead, but it's pretty good either way. I like it with a lot of hot sauce and some plain yogurt on it. You could probably swap out the beet greens for collards, chard or kale, depending on what is on sale.

[dave_a]

What this means is that we? Are poor. Really, really, really goddamn poor. Like about as poor as I've ever been, even when I was teeny and my parents were grad students. Poor.


I am too lazy to post recipes, don't really have any since I just make stuff up as I go, but to eat really well on a budget try gardening. If you have a yard you are all set, if you don't many communities have plots you can rent for a nominal fee and garden there.

Most herbs grow very well in poor quality soil so you don't have to do much work, just put in plants or sow seeds. Tomatos are really easy to grow and as long as it isn't too hot lettuces of all types are also very easy so you will never have to do without a great, fresh salad.

Most of what you will grow can be had early in the season on the 10 cent seed rack at drug stores and discount stores.

[Dingfod]

Gardens are a long term solution to a monetary shortfall. Short term, you can hardly go wrong with beans and rice.

[RevDahlia]

Gardens are a long term solution to a monetary shortfall. Short term, you can hardly go wrong with beans and rice.
You speak the truth, but we've been living on beans and rice in some form or other for a week and a half now... I was hoping that the culinary wizards of FF might be able to come through with something I hadn't yet thought of. But you're right; beans and rice are reliable, and not too bad.

Gardening is out of the question. I have a black thumb. I can kill a plant dead just by walking by it. The only exception was this ficus I had one time, and you can't kill a ficus with a blowtorch.

[Dingfod]

...you can't kill a ficus...Wanna bet? Mr. Brownthumb here can kill dead plants just by being in the same county.

[wade-w]

Consider yourself lucky to be able to eat beans and rice. I haven't even been able to afford the beans lately. For the six or so, I've been living on plain rice.

[Dingfod]

You can afford rice but not beans? You're kidding, right?


FYI: According to netgrocer.com, the cheapest white rice, Minute Rice is $1.96 a pound, raw pinto beans are $0.89 a pound. Even if a pound of cooked rice twice the weight of dry, rice is still more expensive than beans per pound. Eat them together for best results.

[wade-w]

1 cup of rice makes 3 cups cooked, so it's not twice the yield, it's three times. Thus making rice cheaper.

[Dingfod]

Yeah, but 1 cup of raw beans makes 2 to 2-1/2 cups cooked. Thus making beans cheaper yet. Source. (http://www.organictrading.com/cooking.htm)

BTW, beans are packed with nutrition. White rice is almost pure starch and has to be fortified to have anything worthwhile in it at all. Like I said, eat them together, they're both better that way.

[wade-w]

OK, so next time I buy beans instead of rice. But that's assuming the prices you quoted are similar to what I find here in the sticks (I had no idea food costs so much more here than it does in a city).

[LadyShea]

Buy whole chickens or turkeys. You can get several meals plus sandwhiches and soup if you boil down the carcass.

[Dingfod]

I'm pretty sure, even in BFE you can buy pinto beans cheap. You can get the best beans in the world, Anasazi Beans, for $1 a pound or less from Adobe Milling (http://www.sundancemall.com/adobemilling/) in Dove Creek, Colorado if purchased in 10 pound quantities or more. Their regular pinto beans can be had 20 pounds for $11 plus shipping, way cheap.

[freemonkey]

Sorry things aren't so great right now. I've been there, living on rice & beans. Mostly beans. Hope it gets better soon.

No recipes from me, but do you have a BigLots (http://www.biglots.com/) nearby? I've found some great deals on food items there. Everything from soups, crackers, breakfast cereals, canned fish, condiments, spices, etc.... Sometimes they even have a fairly well stocked gourmet section.

The local chain grocers around here always have a rack of day old bakery, usually at half price. I've found some of my favorite baked goods that way.

I'll second the soup route. Leftover meat, any kind of veggies, beans, rice, barley & some seasonings, and you can make a nice filling soup that'll last days. I always try to make a turkey carcass soup after T'giving.

[Dingfod]

I don't think theres a Big Lots within two hours drive of Wade, but I buy lots of stuff at Big Lots, condiments, canned salmon and tuna, and some spices too. They're cheap, cheap, cheap. I've been on the rice, beans and cornbread diet myself once for about a year. It was when I lived in the little Colorado town where Adobe Milling is located. Right at the end of our financial woes there, I won $100 worth of groceries in a customer appreciation drawing. That was the best prize I could've won right then. I was hungry... and tired of beans.

[livius drusus]

Have you been to Boggy Creek Farm (http://www.boggycreekfarm.com/)? I have no idea if the prices are good, but even just checking out the place would be blast, and I'd hope there'd be some savings to be found. Also, don't forget it's Graze Fest (http://www.westlakefarmersmarket.com/index.html) this weekend.

Other than that, just for a little bean variety, if you can get ahold of some fava beans, you can make a delicious, incredibly filling breakfast spooge with them in all of 5 minutes.

Fava Bean Breakfast Spread

1 (15 ounce) can fava beans (they're cheaper dried, of course, but very hard to find in my neck of the woods. YMMV)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large tomato, diced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
ground red pepper, to taste
whole wheat pitas

Pour the beans into a pot and bring to a boil. Mix them well and add onion, tomato, olive oil, cumin, parsley, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and red pepper. Bring the mixture back to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Let the mixture cook 5 minutes. Serve warm with grilled pita.

[beyelzu]

I have nothing to add as far as recipes but when I am poor, I eat ramen. In truth there is a fuckload of cheap pasta options.

[beyelzu]

thought of a recipe of sorts

Dawg Snack served at the Bulldog Cafe at the Tate Student Center at UGA.

Rice, black beans, some diced tomatos and cheese.


It is seriously good eating.

[Noodlenader]

Rev, where did you move to? I might be able to help you out with some stuff :) :) :)

[Godless Wonder]

Hmm, I'm trying to think what we used to eat when we lived in that cabin in Arkansas.

Lots of potatoes, cut up and fried (not deep fried like french fries though) with ketchup.

Lots of peanut butter sandwiches, sometimes with honey.

We had a big garden, so, veggies in the summertime.

My mom used to make cornbread and "cornbread fritters", which was basically fried cornbread batter, looked kind of like a McDonalds hasbbrown, but made of cornbread. Put some jam on that, and it wasn't bad. Oatmeal was another thing we ate a lot of.

If you can find Marquez brand frozen burritos (and if you can stomach them) I see them priced three for a dollar pretty often where I live. Three of those will fill you up for a dollar. They're improved vastly with the addition of taco bell hot sauce (free -- sorta) or equivalent.

[viscousmemories]

I have nothing to add as far as recipes but when I am poor, I eat ramen. In truth there is a fuckload of cheap pasta options.
Yup. When I was in my early 20's I bought Ramen by the case (10 cents a pack) and had two packs for lunch, two for dinner. For a long time that was all I had.

[JoeP]

...you can't kill a ficus...Wanna bet? Mr. Brownthumb here can kill dead plants just by being in the same county.
Warren, why's your thumb brown? :innocent: This is the food & drink forum.

[Petra]

I hear ya, Rev! I was as poor as a church mouse all winter, and lived primarily on porridge and noodles.

Porridge is pretty good, actually, and at least keeps you warm and gives you energy. The noodles just filled me up but left me without any energy.

Fresh seasonal fruit can be a good cheap source of vitamins and stuff - bananas and apples are usually cheap.

The other thing you can do is sneak out in the night and raid peoples vege gardens - but only if they have plenty to poach. And try to leave a thank you note; it's the polite thing to do. :wink: :D


Oh, and what Lady Shea said about whole chickens - they can really go a long way if you're smart about it.

[Dingfod]

Cornbread, rice and beans left me wanting as well. My first purchase with the $100 grocery prize? Steak. Big fat, juicy ribeye steaks. Second? Beer.

[viscousmemories]

Oh, and what Lady Shea said about whole chickens - they can really go a long way if you're smart about it.
The hardest part is getting the saddle on 'em.

[Petra]

:giggle:

Silly man!

[Lauri D]

:chuckle:

[RevDahlia]

"Getting the saddle on them"! Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

I totally forgot about cornbread -- and polenta, which doesn't even take an egg and can serve the same purpose. I just shook all the change out of my winter coats, went up to the supermarket, and procured some cornmeal and a bunch of onions (to make the inevitable beans more interesting.)

My dad keeps ducks, and he fished a sad little corpse out of the deepfreeze for us; since our own freezer (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/journal.php?do=view&journalid=32#Where%20Appliances%20Go%20to%20Die) probably has woolly mammoths embedded in there somewhere, I cut up the duck, salted him down, and poached and embedded him in a mixture of his own grease and lard. Julia Child assures me that he will keep forever that way.

Long story short, I feel like Ma Ingalls. But we probably won't have to resort to ramen for awhile.

Keep 'em coming, guys.

[Dingfod]

...you can't kill a ficus...Wanna bet? Mr. Brownthumb here can kill dead plants just by being in the same county.
Warren, why's your thumb brown? :innocent: This is the food & drink forum.I was going to say Mr. Brownjeans, but I thought better of it. I didn't conceive that anyone would possibly construe something other than a notable lack of gardening skill. I must say, you've derailed the thread better than I possibly could have.

[Talulah]

When I was poor and living in an apartment with only electricity, and no gas (so no stove and no hot water), I would buy a loaf of bread and go to McDonalds and filch jelly, ketchup, and salt and pepper packages and have jelly sandwiches and ketchup sandwiches alternately. I don't remember what I used the salt and pepper for. Peanut butter is also pretty cheap and lasts a while. There is also Ramen, which I attempted to eat raw for a while, though I distinctly remember living mostly on bread and jelly for a while and those little bitty packages of Walmart brand lunch meat that are like 25 cents apiece for meat. Course, I couldn't cook because I had no gas. It changes if you can cook. Later on when I got a bit more money I bought generic hot pockets for $1.50 a box and that was two meals.

I swear, my grocery bill now staggers me. I remember going and spending 20 bucks and having food that would last for a while.

[Petra]

Stumbled across this site and thought it looked useful: http://www.cheapcooking.com/

[freemonkey]

I just thought of something that's tasty, the basic recipe is versatile, filling & is actually good for you. I haven't had one in awhile, but I want one now.

Frittatas!! Eggs, a little milk, sausage, cheese, fresh or frozen veggies like spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, anything you can scrounge. I even like to put pasta in mine. It great hot or cold.

I stopped eating Ramen when I realized how many calories it has.

[lisarea]

Is it too late to get big cheapassed pumpkins?

If you can get them cheaply still, you can just plain bake them like squashes, or you can make soup. Just peel it, then boil it in that duck broth or water + spices until it's cooked. Then blend it with the water, plus milk, broth, or water as necessary to get it soup texture. I like squash soups curried, but I know people sometimes make a sweet soup from it, with cinnamon, so it's like pumpkin pie. If you curry it, though, eat it with cracked black pepper on top, and sour cream, if you have any. Plus, you can toast and salt the seeds.

It's yam and sweet potato time now, too, so those should be cheap and plentiful. Get the very orangey ones (oddly, I've seen regional variations in whether they call these 'yams' or 'sweet potatoes.' I'm pretty sure they're sweet potatoes, but just whichever are the ones with the bright orange insides). Those are pretty good as far as staples go.

I'm trying to think about how poor third world people eat. Poverty has many rich and varied culinary traditions.

You could be a poor African one day. Take cheap frozen fish, sweet potatoes, and peanuts or even just chunky peanut butter, spice it up real good with chile powders and stuff, slow cook it into a stew, then put it in a bowl and maybe add a big scoop of rice.

Then be a poor Mexican and have beans and tortillas, or a poor Korean and have a bibimbap rice stir in thing, where you just cook up whatever greens you have with some vinegar, marinated meat scraps, and anything else you can find, sauteed, then topped it with a fried egg (and kimchee, if you have it). Plus that chile sauce with the rooster on it if you have any of that around.

Plus, you can't go wrong with a bigassed bucked of peanut butter.

You could probably also score a 20+ pound turkey about now for a few bucks.

[livius drusus]

How about miso soup? Lisa's cool It's A Small, Poor World post just reminded me of it. A 20 oz container of miso (enough to last months) costs like two bucks. Add a couple of teaspoons to water or stock with carrots, garlic, green onions, mushrooms, daikon, potatoes, ginger, tofu, fish flakes, spinach, seaweed, a wee splash of sherry and/or whatever else you've got lying around and voila: umami on the cheap.

[pescifish]

Stumbled across this site and thought it looked useful: http://www.cheapcooking.com/ Hey, cool site. Thanks, luna.

[lisarea]

Oh, man. Miso. Food of the gods. The first time I made the ODB try Japanese food, he almost died from how sublime miso soup is. I bet I could make him go out and fetch some of that.

I thought of a couple of other things:

1. If you have a middle eastern market nearby, you should be able to pick up some bulgur pretty cheaply. You can use it almost exactly the way you use rice, but it provides a little variety. You can eat it like breakfast cereal, with toppings like rice, or pretty much whatever you want. I also use Kashi like this sometimes, but that stuff is like a million dollars a pound. I figure you could pretty much substitute any kind of chewy-ish cooked grains. ME markets usually have big bins of bulk stuff you could try for a quarter a pop or so.

2. Vegetable soup! Just get a can of tomato juice, add some stock if you like, or water, then throw in whatever vegetables are cheap. Diced potatoes, and whatever other fresh, frozen, or even canned vegetables you either have around or can get cheaply (and, obviously, ones that would go well in soup). Throw in a soup bone, or dog bone, or whatever they sell cheapest at your grocery store, spice it up, and eat with toasted day-old bread, or garlic bread. You can even throw in cheap stew beef or something, if you want more substance.

And just soup in general, as others have mentioned. It's foolproof, endlessly versatile, and you can stretch it out with water and cheap starches like potatoes, barley, and things like that.

[livius drusus]

Oh! Oh! Barley! Barley makes the best, bar none, cold grain salads and you can buy it by the metric ton using loose change. All you have to do is cook it up like rice (I cook it in vegetable stock rather than water, just cause it absorbs the yummy really well), let it set, and then mix it up with whatever you've got in the fridge and a nice homemade dressing (olive oil + vinegar of any kind, fresh minced garlic, fresh minced shallot, s&p is my fave).

Some great combinations I've tried include:
sauteed mushrooms, garlic, green onions
roaster red peppers, gorgonzola, chunks of salami, slices of Italian chicken sausage
feta, spinach, olives, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes
romaine, gorgonzola, bacon fried up separately and broken up into bits, tomato chunks

Toss and serve. It fills you up with its barley goodness, and makes a great lunch the next day. Or two.

[freemonkey]

Oh! Oh! Barley! Barley makes the best, bar none, cold grain salads and you can buy it by the metric ton using loose change. All you have to do is cook it up like rice (I cook it in vegetable stock rather than water, just cause it absorbs the yummy really well), let it set, and then mix it up with whatever you've got in the fridge and a nice homemade dressing (olive oil + vinegar of any kind, fresh minced garlic, fresh minced shallot, s&p is my fave).

Some great combinations I've tried include:
sauteed mushrooms, garlic, green onions
roaster red peppers, gorgonzola, chunks of salami, slices of Italian chicken sausage
feta, spinach, olives, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes
romaine, gorgonzola, bacon fried up separately and broken up into bits, tomato chunks

Toss and serve. It fills you up with its barley goodness, and makes a great lunch the next day. Or two.

Oooh, I love, love barley. I'm gonna try some of these recipes. Thanks, liv!

[RevDahlia]

These are all great suggestions. Barley and bulgur, huh? I've never cooked with barley before, but there's no time like the present, and, in the bulgur realm, parsley is cheap and tabbouleh is an option. I bet one or the other would also go nicely in lisarea's vegetable soup.

One question:

Is it too late to get big cheapassed pumpkins?
I thought the big cheapassed kind of pumpkins, jack o'lantern pumpkins, were no good for cooking. They're still around, but I bet all the pumpkin suggestions would also work with winter squash, which is cheap and abundant.

I am not sure about pumpkin and fish, but pumpkin and chicken would probably be great.

[Dingfod]

The pumpkins are great. Just scrape out the insides, peel off the rind, and cut up the rest and use the same as squash in any dish, soup, stew, whatever. Freeze what you don't use right then. Good stuff, pumpkin. [he said, as he took a bite of Braum's Pumpkin Ice Cream]

[lisarea]

These are all great suggestions. Barley and bulgur, huh? I've never cooked with barley before, but there's no time like the present, and, in the bulgur realm, parsley is cheap and tabbouleh is an option. I bet one or the other would also go nicely in lisarea's vegetable soup.

Ooh, yeah. Remember, barley expands like rice and stuff do--maybe even more--so it's really easy to turn soups into barley casseroles accidentally.

You can probably guess how I know that.

I thought the big cheapassed kind of pumpkins, jack o'lantern pumpkins, were no good for cooking. They're still around, but I bet all the pumpkin suggestions would also work with winter squash, which is cheap and abundant.

Yeah, I've heard that, too, but I think they're just a little stringier and the flesh isn't quite as thick or something. I can't exactly compare, because I rarely get an actual cooking pumpkin to compare them to, but they're edible.

Although any kind of squash works for soups. I just use the rule of finding whatever has the deepest colored flesh, cause those have more vitaminks or something, I guess. (And all squashes have yellow in them already, so curry doesn't make squash soup look pukey. Which bothers me sometimes.)

That parenthetical reminded me of something pukey-looking that's still really good:

Hamburger, browned in EVOO with garlic. Then you add curry, milk, more honey than you think is wise, and lemon juice, even just the kind from the little plastic lemon if you want, plus whatever else you add to your curry to tweak it (usually cumin and white pepper is what I add to the stuff I have now). Cook it for a long time and then glop it over rice. It is the ugliest food in the world, but it's crazy good, so you get over the ugly part.

(Oh. You should probably add chopped onion with the garlic, which is what I would do if The Little Muffin were not a big baby about onions.)


I am not sure about pumpkin and fish, but pumpkin and chicken would probably be great.

Oops. Yeah, pumpkin and fish would be weird. I meant yam and fish. Look up recipes for "groundnut stew." Groundnut is what they call peanuts in Africa, and I'm pretty sure there are versions with chicken instead of fish.* That stuff just plain rocks, and I'd reckon it's pretty nutrient-dense for the money, too.

Man, I wish I were poor so I could make some of that.

Oh, wait! I AM poor! YAY!

*EDIT: I am fucking INSANE. Groundnut stew is with chicken, you intuit-it-all. There are African dishes with fish and yams, peanuts and fish, and chicken, yams, and peanuts, but I am finding nothing on peanuts, fish, and yams. I swear I've had it, and even made it, but maybe I'm just INSANE.

[Dingfod]

Stumbled across this site and thought it looked useful: http://www.cheapcooking.com/Don't forget Cheapskate Monthly (http://www.cheapskatemonthly.com//member.asp), they have lots of money-saving tips and recipes.


Uh, strike that, the fucking cheapskates made the site for members only, members that have ponied up a subscription fee, the cheap bastards.

[RevDahlia]

Maybe the peanuts/fish/yams combo would work with some kind of salty dried or smoked fish, for additional flavor -- not fillets of cod or anything.

But you gave me an idea. Peanut stew, with or without chicken, and nam pla, fermented fish sauce, for flavoring. Kinda like a Thai peanut sauce? Yum.

[Beth]

I read what Wade had written.

When I am broke and cannot afford to feed my veggie self and feed my carnivorous family as well, I make an omelette. Very cheap to do. I buy bags of potatoes from the fruit stand for around $2.50 for a ten pound bag, a couple onions, and about eighteen eggs.

I peel the potatoes(I do two, if it is dinner and I forgot to eat that day. If I have not been eating well, I leave the peel on to get extra nutrition), slice the potato up and dice it, chop about a fourth of an onion, and fry it in a little butter or oil.
I salt and pepper the onion and potato mixture well and cook till browned. As I cook, I make sure I scrape the pan well with the spatula to keep the potato from sticking... I use a cast iron skillet.

After the potatoes are done, I place them on a plate lined with a paper towel and crack four eggs, removing yolks- for diet's sake, most people can just use a couple whole eggs, if not worried about clogged arteries. I whip the eggs, adding pepper, but not much salt since the potatoes were well salted, and cook the omelette. This is done by pushing the cooked egg on the outside edges of the omelette to the center, allowing for the runny, raw egg to fill the gap and cook, I keep doing that until the egg is nearly cooked through and then add the potatoes and fold the omelette over and then put it on a plate and eat. The meal is filling, nutritious, and not costly.

Tastes better than rice all week long and might leave you feeling better. You can also make baked potatoes during the week. If you cannot afford sour cream, either use butter or just plain salt and pepper. Try to eat the skins because they contain nutrition and fiber and, for me, potatoes help lift my mood a little.

If you can afford bread, you can also make fried egg sandwiches, fried egg and potato sandwiches, like I did when I was a kid, or even French toast and steal packets of ketchup to use for the top.:p Or eat it plain if it is repulsive. Anyway, for under five bucks a week, you can eat real food.

[livius drusus]

That looks dee-licious. I'd have to add some garlic (and possibly some shallots) to the potato-onion sautee, and I'd definitely stick with whole eggs. It reminds me of the big rustic frittatas of my youth. :hungry:

[Beth]

It reminds me of the big rustic frittatas of my youth. :hungry:
Hehe. I think it is called a country style omelette here. Most people add cheese as well, but if someone is on a budget or a diet, then it can be excluded.

My hubby loathes the potatoes in the omelette, but my kids enjoy it... to each his own.;)

[wade-w]

I'm very glad to see you back and posting again, Beth!

That kind of meal (along with beans and rice) was what I was eating back when I was getting unemployment. However, I used up all of my benefits long ago. So $5.00/week has been a bit too extravagant for me. I was lucky enough to have someone help out recently, so I have been able to go back to that type of diet for now. And I have a project in the works that will make me self-sufficient again, but that won't bear fruit for another two months or so. Hopefully I will be able to hang on that long.

Liv, if you really want to fancy up Beth's recipe, along with the shallots and garlic in the potatoes, add a little half and half to the eggs when you beat them. That will make the omelette much fluffier, with a smoother, lighter texture. Milk will work too, but half and half gives you better results. If you really want a souffle like omelette, after folding place the skillet in a 350 degree oven for a few seconds.

[livius drusus]

Bearing fruit sounds very good to me, wade. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works out well and soon. :crossed:

Thank you for the half and half tip. I dimly recall my dad using milk to fluff up an omelette, but since I tend to suck at folding them, I very rarely make them myself.

[Dingfod]

I use 100% whipping cream in my omelets, they're so light and fluffy you have to lay your fork across them to keep them from floating up to the ceiling... or just weigh them down with good stuff like ham, sausage, cheese... or whatever floats your omelet. They aren't low fat, but they are gooood.

[viscousmemories]

I've always used milk to fluff up scrambled eggs, but I wasn't aware that half-n-half does a better job of it. Thanks for the tip, wade. :yup:

Oops, xposted with warren. That sounds good too.

[wade-w]

Yeah, the higher the cream content, the fluffier and lighter your eggs will be. So I'd expect whipping cream to make therm practically float.

[wade-w]

Bearing fruit sounds very good to me, wade. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works out well and soon. :crossed:

Thank you for the half and half tip. I dimly recall my dad using milk to fluff up an omelette, but since I tend to suck at folding them, I very rarely make them myself.

Thanks liv. I do too. But as I said, it will be a minimum of 2 months before I see any money. Until then I am still completely reliant on charity. And I absolutely despise, hate and cannot bear being a burden to anyone.

As for folding, just allow the omelette to slide out of the skillet in as nearly a horizontal angle as you can. When you have about half the omelette over the edge, then flip the skillet over. It'll fold itself.

[Beth]

It is nice to see you too, Wade. :)
I always thought it was water for omelette and milk or cream for scrambled eggs.
Also, I let the omelette fold by itself whenever I just do a cheese omelette, But when I lod it with potatoes, I get a huge disaster, so it is easier for me to fold it over in the pan and whatever egg the is uncooked cooks into the potatoes and kinda holds them in.

Glad things are a little better right now. Sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and accept help.