Tightwad Tips - Bean Me Up Scotty

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This is not a recipe blog, so I'm not going to bury the recipe like it's the nuclear codes. Francis and I have just been talking about how we can spread money-saving tips to the younger generation that didn't come of age with the LiveJournal poor_skills community. One of my most fun thrift scores of the past couple years is The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn, a compilation of an old-fashioned newsletter from the late 1900s. A lot of the tips are outdated, like mail order stuff, ancient computer tips, and day old bakeries, which don't seem to exist anymore. (Though we do have Too Good To Go!)

What is timeless is the tightwad mentality: every saved penny adds up. You're not meant to use every tip in the book, you're meant to change your entire way of thinking. And the more your thinking changes, the more fun it is, and sometimes the funnier it is to be a tightwad. So without further ado, here is my tightwad bean salad. There's not a print version for this because remember, it's not so much a recipe as it is a way of life.

Take any 3 cans of beans, and rinse them well. We used black beans, kidney beans, and garbanzo beans (chickpeas).

Add one small diced onion.

If you have something else around, like a cucumber or zuchini, dice that up and add it too. Cherry tomatos also work.  I saw a recipe that added capers but that seems pretty highfalutin'.

Look around in the fridge and see if you have a good dressing that will work with beans. Suggestions: honey mustard, any kind of vinaigrette. 

If this was a real recipe blog, I would give you a recipe for homemade honey mustard dressing. It's not, so I will tell you a tightwad tip I came up with. Average moms know that even when you're trying to save money, Happy Meals happen, especially when your kid is involved in sports. My kid does not care for sauce with her nuggies, but sauce is included. Don't let the store keep that sauce! Take it anyway and save it up for something else. In this case, honey mustard for your bean salad.

You can also add some seasoning, like oregano, thyme, or parsley, plus salt & pepper to taste. A little squeeze of lemon juice wouldn't go wrong but again, the goal here is to be cheap, so I'm not going to send you out to the store for fresh herbs and lemon zest when the dried herbs are sitting there getting dusty on your spice rack and your have lemon juice from concentrate in the fridge. Use whatever you have/sounds good!

The important thing is that this recipe, with 3 cans of beans and an onion, is 11-12 servings for about $5 when the rest of the ingredients are things you have on hand, plus it's low fat, high fiber, high protein, and even a good amount of iron. The key to cheap eats without running up medical bills for scurvy and gout is to make sure you're still getting good nutrition.

Bon appetit!