I really really felt like cooking this weekend. I’m always in charge of doing Sunday dinners, and this week I really wanted to give myself a challenge, so I set a goal for myself: an Italian dinner, but every single edible thing on the table had to be made from scratch, and on a budget.
Originally I wanted to go all out, with drinks, appetizers, entrees, sides, and desserts, but I didn’t have the budget nor the energy to commit to all of that, plus, none of us were really keen to have cocktails on a Sunday night anyway. So I ended up sticking to bread, spaghetti, and red sauce.
If you attempt to do this, I highly suggest making the pasta and the bread dough a day in advance, it will save you from spending hours in the kitchen the day of.
Here’s what you need for each part of this dinner:
Artisan bread (this is the recipe I used)
- A Dutch oven to cook the bread in (or other oven-safe dish with high walls and a lid)
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon yeast
- 1.5 cups warm water
- parchment paper (optional, but helpful)
How long does it take to make? The bread has to rest for at least 8 hours, but can go up to 24. After that it has another 30 minute rest after you turn it out, and then it’s in the oven for around 35 minutes (the recipe says 45, but mine always reaches my desired color after 35).
The pasta (I used the recipe from the Binging With Babish Carbonara episode, the Master of None one, not the basics ep, but I’m sure you can use either)
- Stand mixer with dough hook (optional, but will make your life easier)
- Pasta extruder of some sort (optional, but will make your life easier)
- 1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 and 3/4 cups semolina flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
How long does it take to make? You’re supposed to knead the dough either by hand or via dough hook for around 5 minutes (it ends up taking me longer, because my dough is always too tacky at first) you let it rest for 30 minutes, and then I’d say it takes me around 20 minutes or so to get the pasta rolled out and cut. Cook time is anywhere from 2-4 minutes.
The sauce (I followed the first one from Joshua Weissman’s $2 pasta, but cheaper recipe, truly a budget dinner staple)
- 1 onion, cut in half with the root still attached
- 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 1 28oz can of peeled roma tomatoes
How long does it take to make? 45 minutes on the stove, and however long it takes you to open a can of tomatoes and cut an onion in half.
Now, I am fortunate enough to have had all of my ingredients on hand except for the can of Roma tomatoes and the onion. But a family dinner for less than $5 spent on ingredients is dang good I’ll say. Obviously the cost is much more if you have to buy every ingredient, so I’ll attempt to do some math here:
Cost breakdown:
- Bag of all-purpose flour ……………………………………. $1.89
- Active dry yeast……………………………………………………$1.34
- Eggs………………………………………………………………………$1.19
- Semolina flour…………………………………………………….. $5.29
- Onion…………………………………………………………………… $0.95
- Unsalted butter……………………………………………………. $2.99
- Peeled Tomatoes………………………………………………….. $3.69
Total: $17.34
Obviously, the cost is much higher if you want to buy a stand mixer or a pasta extruder or anything like that, but this can be done without them, it just takes more time, a little more work, and more patience. As I said before, I very highly recommend making the bread dough the day before and letting it rest overnight and making/cutting the pasta dough the day before, so all you have to do the next day is throw the bread dough in the Dutch oven, put your sauce ingredients in the pot, and throw your pasta in the boiling water. Then you’ve got a delicious home-cooked budget dinner!
If you do not currently have a Dutch oven, I use this 6-quart one from Lodge (any smaller and the bread would be taller rather than wider), you can get them at both Amazon and Walmart, I’d suggest wherever you can find the best price. I waited until this one went on sale, so either keep an eye on the prices, or if you have a browser extension that lets you droplist items, I’d highly suggest adding it to your droplist.