Chinese Food: inexpensive, nutritious, delicious... and fun!

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In addition to the above benefits, I've reaped a certain amount of satisfaction from my steadily-increasing mastery of the art of Chinese cooking. Once you get into preparing CF s" think that you, too., will remember with pleasure the day when you're finally able to slice both meat and vegetables evenly into 1/8"-thick pieces . . . or when you discover exactly the diagonal angle at which produce must be cut to appear most appetizing.,

And finally, I don't think I could be as enthusiastic about Chinese cooking if it didn't taste so good. Some dishes are more appealing than others, of course, but I'm usually pleasantly surprised by each new recipe I try. In fact, since I have a CF cookbook with 1,000 recipes, it's been difficult for me to work my way back to the dishes I've already tried and liked. Even though most Chinese recipes utilize the same basic ingredients, there's such a great variety in the finished dishes that I have no fear of ever growing tired of CF.

Sure, I still have an appetite for good old roast beef, beef stew and steak . . . but the Chinese have outstanding recipes for these traditional North American meals, too. The 2,000-year history of CF cooking can't be all wrong, in other words, and since I've switched to eating Chinese food . . . darned if I'm not about convinced that it's the only way to eat!

The above is a fair approximation of my initial shopping list for CF ingredients. Of course, total costs for such a quantity of any food will vary, depending on the individual and where he lives . . .but this chart will give you a good idea of what to expect.

I would like to emphasize that the column stating length of time each ingredient lasts represents both how long an item will keep before it deteriorates and how long one can expect to have a quantity of that ingredient on hand with normal use. In the case of canned vegetables (shoots, mushrooms, chestnuts, etc.), I've indicated the number of meals per can and-as long as they're canned—such items will keep indefinitely. (They'll also keep once opened, if covered with water and stored in the refrigerator. Change the water daily.) Since I've assumed that fresh vegetables will not keep for longer than one month, the designation "one month" means that the item in question will keep that long if not used sooner. For an ingredient that keeps well and isn't used in large enough quantities to require regular restocking, I've used the notation, "several months". The rest should be self-explanatory.

The above-indicated quantity of meat usually lasts me two months and my monthly meat bill is only half the listed figure.

I believe that, with $25, you can stock up on enough food (for one person) to get you started and through your first month of Chinese cooking. You could probably get by with an even smaller investment but you wouldn't have as much fun. If you can spend more, so much the better! Your food bills will go down after the first month, of course, since some of the entries on this list are items which must be purchased only occasionally.

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