Last night we had one of those end-of-the-budgetary-week dinners where I scrape together whatever I can find to avoid adding to this week’s grocery tally, when it occurred to me that our dinner was one that could easily be served at a fallout shelter, assuming you had some propane for cooking. (This is what I get for reading Stephen King’s “Under the Dome,” not to mention the occasional dose of “Coast to Coast,” that late-night radio show where the advertisers are always trying to sell you what you need to survive the end of the world.)
The menu: Mexican “meatloaf” made with texturized vegetable protein instead of meat, instant mashed potatoes and corn.
Ordinarily I crack an egg into our veggie meatloaf, along with breadcrumbs. I didn‘t have either of those on hand, so after letting the dry TVP granules soak in hot water, I added salsa from a jar, canned refried beans, a bit of olive oil, a chunk of boxed Velveeta-style spicey cheese and, for thickening, some flour stirred with a bit of water to form a paste. Tasty. And I wasn't the only one who said so.
Our corn was frozen, but it could just as easily have come from a can. And for the mashed potatoes, I mixed dry milk powder and water into the potato flakes, along with a touch of salt and a couple of bullion cubes to add flavor to make up for the missing butter. (Another possible fallout shelter-flavoring for nonbutter mashed potatoes: bottled Italian salad dressing.)
We came in 17.33 under our weekly budget of $90, by the way, bringing our dining fund tally to $53.71. So this might be the weekend we hit the Chinese buffet, if the kids are willing to forego soda and just order ice water. (The nice thing about this project is that they’re in charge of all the dining-fund decisions, so I don’t have to be the bad guy telling them they can’t order root beer.)
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