Latest news with #budgetmeals
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Recession Recipes Are Taking Over TikTok This Summer
All indicators are that the U.S. economy is at high risk for a recession sometime this year, with forecasters estimating the chances at anywhere from 40% to 90% due to tariffs and trade wars. You may want to recession-proof your pantry by purchasing cheap non-perishables in bulk, but it'll also help to have a source of wallet-friendly recipes on tap. Naturally, TikTok has stepped in to supply them. Since successful content creators need to read the room, they've figured out that audiences no longer want indulgent recipes calling for two sticks of butter and half a dozen eggs. Instead, we're all out here trying to figure out what to do with dried beans and bologna, and savvy TikTokers have increased their output of videos with the #budgetmeals hashtag. (Its usage increased by 20% between March and April of 2025.) Many budget meals on TikTok are bean-centric -- now that eggs are so pricey, they're the ultimate low-cost protein. One such recipe calls for flavoring beans with smoked pork neck bones, while another mixes them with creamy sauce and cornmeal so they can be formed into a loaf. As for that bologna, there's a Mexican-inspired sandwich where the lunch meat is fried alongside jalapenos and onions. Of course, there's also Dollar Tree Delight, a take on pizza made with the chain's Texas toast, pasta sauce, cheese, and frozen meatballs, as well as a simple meal of nothing more than boxed mac and cheese mixed with ground beef. One of the bigger and cheaper dinners, however, is an extravaganza of chicken legs, macaroni and cheese, and assorted frozen vegetables that apparently feeds two adults and six children for about two bucks apiece. Read more: 6 Canned Meats You Should Be Eating And 6 To Avoid During the 2020 pandemic, it wasn't so much food prices as food shortages that had people worried, although more than nine million people also lost their jobs that year. Combine these concerns with the fact that students and anyone not employed in healthcare or other essential services suddenly had a lot more time on their hands, and what do you get? A bunch of newly-fledged TikTok creators sharing recipes for such Great Depression-era classics as prune pie and slumgullion, a stew made with ground beef, canned vegetables, and potatoes or pasta. (Fun fact: This dish features in the 1947 movie "It Happened on 5th Avenue.") Other recipes that hit big at the time included wacky cake, a chocolate dessert made without eggs or dairy, and water pie, which "magically" transforms a rather wet flour and sugar paste into something more or less edible. The obvious reason why so many Great Depression recipes were popular during the pandemic is that they tended to be made with limited ingredients that weren't too costly. Another, subtler reason might have been that making recipes passed down from your grandmother -- or even some total stranger's grandmother -- can be comforting because it's a reminder that others have lived through hard times before. It can be said to foster a sense of community, even with people who may have long since passed on. It's good to know our Depression-era ancestors (or somebody's) will have our backs in the coming recession, too, with recipes that can carry us through until we once again have fully-stocked store shelves filled with affordable groceries. (Or so we hope.) For more food and drink goodness, join The Takeout's newsletter. Get taste tests, food & drink news, deals from your favorite chains, recipes, cooking tips, and more! Read the original article on The Takeout.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Through nonprofit, chefs teach families to feed themselves on a budget
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Karey Wilmott used to be a frozen veggies girl. 'I hate to admit it,' says Wilmott, mother of two daughters, Maleah, 16, and Madison, 6. 'But, now I love my fresh veggies, and I definitely attribute that to the Get Cooking program.' Now in its second year, Get Cooking is a nonprofit program designed to help under-resourced families at four central Florida schools (Orange County Public Schools Academic Center for Excellence, Ocoee Elementary and both Evans and Jones high schools), teaching them how to budget, shop for and prepare a dinner for a family of four for $20 or less. Nearly 800 families have benefited since the program kicked off in March 2024, teaching its virtual cooking classes from Valencia's College of Hospitality and Culinary Arts. Participants like Wilmott love what they're learning — and eating — eagerly looking forward to the last Tuesday of the month, when they pick up a bag loaded with groceries and find out what they're going to make. Ingredients, as well as other operational costs, come courtesy of sponsors including Kroger Delivery, 4Roots Farm, Florida Blue and the Orlando Magic. Recipes come courtesy of Orlando-local chefs. Participants this year have included Reyes Mezcaleria (and soon, Sparrow) chef partner Wendy Lopez, Bruno Fonseca of Foreigner Restaurant and Matt Hinckley of Hinckley's Fancy Meats. It was Florida's most famous chef, in fact, Norman Van Aken, who helped Stacie Archer bring the program to Orlando last year. But it's not the white-tablecloth dishes that any ever bring to the table. 'Everybody goes back to their roots,' says Van Aken. Indeed, Lopez crafted Mexican puerco rojo, Fonseca, a moqueca, fish stew from his native Brazil. 'They think about what their families ate, their ancestral dishes. In Italy, they say 'cucina povera,' the kitchen of the poor, ' Van Aken notes. 'In Latin and Caribbean countries, it's the same thing. These are not places known for exorbitant ingredients, they're known for making do with what they have.' And what they have when in their bags at pick-up, says Wilmott, is seriously impressive. 'I wasn't expecting to get so much!' she says. She's only missed a couple of livestreams since the program started. Literally every ingredient is provided. If the recipe requires boiling water, participants will find water in their bags to take home. 'A lot of times, you don't know if a family has access to clean water. They might have had theirs turned off because of not being able to pay bills, especially in a Title One area like we're in. It's really important.' Archer, a single mother of three, understands the difficulty of getting a good meal on the table. Especially these days, with food costs continuing to rise. 'Everybody is feeling the pain at the cash register and we're trying to help families stretch their budgets,' she says. 'The recipes are designed that way and, more often than not, stretch beyond feeding the family that night. Often, there are leftovers. And leftover ingredients. And that's the added bonus, learning to reuse ingredients, create different dishes with leftovers.' Jesus Mayoral-Salinas, a junior at Jones High School, would say that tracks. 'I live at home with four siblings and my mom,' says the 17-year-old, who also noted surprise at the inclusion of water. 'It was more than enough to feed us all.' Mayoral-Salinas, who heard about Get Cooking in his leadership class, loves to cook. 'I was thinking that since my mom does a lot of cooking, I could surprise her and make something before she got home.' Though he missed the first two live streams, instead following the recipe cards to make meatloaf and Fonseca's moqueca — '…it was like a fish soup and had rice … it was kind of fancy and really good' — he recently was able to make one of the group Zooms, this one led by Olive Garden executive chef Terrence Tookes, who brought a chicken cacciatore recipe to the virtual kitchen. 'We got to watch how to cook and learned about the origin of the meal,' Mayoral-Salinas said. 'They gave us a step-by-step, and we had the paper with directions, too, but if you fell behind, you could ask for help. I was glad they took a break and helped by going over the previous steps. And of course, it was fun.' Tookes, whose Darden tenure began in 2008 as an Olive Garden culinary manager, felt similarly. 'The experience was great. There were about 80 students on the call and they were very engaging and asked very poignant questions about creating the meal and my career journey. Everything was very casual, and I honestly felt as if I was a part of their home experience, being able to offer advice when needed.' Mayoral-Salinas' excitement was palpable. He sent several photos of the meal, unprompted, around 9 p.m. on the night of the class. 'Here's the food!' he wrote, noting that it was late and he should be asleep. 'It was delicious.' His favorite yet, though he's enjoyed everything the program has brought, quite literally, to his table thus far. Last year's coconut curry chicken, a recipe by Ravenous Pig executive chef Clay Miller, was the Wilmott family's unanimous favorite. 'I have learned a lot doing the classes,' says Wilmott, who says she now buys many more fresh ingredients for her kitchen than she used to. 'And also it kind of gives us the opportunity to not only spend time together but to sit and eat together as a family, which is something that we weren't doing as much previously.' Though interest in the program was a slow burn at first, says Archer, word of mouth spread. Now, there's a waiting list. Repeat participants, says Archer, have reported they're now cooking dinner at home an average of 3.5 times per week, up from 1.4. Fast food consumption, meanwhile, has declined. 'The demand is there,' she says. 'And with more support, we can afford to provide more meal kits to [meet it].' They're hoping to reach their goal of serving 100 families per month by year's end. Tookes, who was eager to participate, said he could see his young self reflected in many of the students on the call. 'I understand exactly what food insecurity can be like,' he said. 'I grew up with it and also saw it first-hand when I traveled around Asia in the United States Marine Corps. Food insecurity should not be a thing. Everyone deserves proper nutrition.'
Reuters
14-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
McDonald's India operator posts higher quarterly profit as cheaper menu draws consumers
May 14 (Reuters) - Westlife Foodworld ( opens new tab, the operator of McDonald's (MCD.N), opens new tab in parts of India, reported a jump in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, as its cheaper menu items attracted budget-conscious consumers. The restaurant operator's consolidated profit after tax rose to 15.2 million rupees ($178,163.28) for the quarter ended March 31 from 7.6 million rupees a year ago. Indian operators of U.S. chains of KFC (YUM.N), opens new tab and Burger King ( opens new tab are launching more cheaper items, including $1 pizza and burger, to compete with local rivals at a time when the high cost of living is prompting consumers to cut back discretionary spending. During the quarter, Westlife actively advertised its breakfast options and coffee, starting at a little more than $1. The efforts helped the franchisee report a 7.2% increase in revenue from operations to 6.03 billion rupees. Westlife's shares were up 0.2% after the results. ($1 = 85.3150 Indian rupees)
