2 Bucks

I mentioned a little while back that I'd be doing a post on a $2 dinner party. I was driving down Whyte Ave yesterday when I remembered a) that I hadn't done the post yet, and b) that the dinner party was this weekend and I hadn't planned anything yet! Crap.

Anyway, the $2 dinner party is essentially a cost controlled potluck where no meal component costs more than $2 a serving. The party host provides the main course, and a topic of conversation to discuss. Everyone else brings either an appetizer, salad, dessert, or something else to add onto the meal. Since the number of people attending will vary from party to party, your available funds for preparing the meal is going to vary as well.

The friend who originally came up with the idea hosted the first party in March. She prepared chicken pot pies with a biscuit topping, and rosemary focaccia bread to start. I believe she had $12 to work with, and she only went over budget slightly because she threw in a sweet potato she had on hand that wasn't actually required (there was more than enough food, trust me!). It was a tasty success.

I checked the attendee list yesterday (we organize it on Facebook), and I had 3 people attending, with 2 maybes. After asking the maybes to give me an idea if they were going to be able to make it, I had one attendee drop out, one maybe bump up to attending, and one non-response bump up to maybe. So, I'm again back to 3 attending and 2 maybes. Ah well.

I'm going to assume that 1 of the 2 maybes will actually show up, so I'll be feeding 4 people. That gives me $8 to work with for the main course. My first thought was a pasta dish, such as a carbonara, which is still my standby if need be. I can get good pasta and individual slices of bacon cheap at the Italian grocery store. However, I'm thinking more along the lines of Indian food this go around. My goal meal for the party is to do vegetarian samosas, dal (daal, dhal, dahl, etc...), and naan bread for under $8.

I'll put the price breakdown for what I end up making on here for you guys when I'm done.

If I buy something that doesn't get used in it's entirety, I'm only going to be counting that fraction of the price towards my total. I'm already planning to take the remaining tomato paste and turning it into pizza sauce for leftover naan bread pizzas anyway(Om Nom Nom). Because there are so many different spices in small quantities (does 1/4 tsp of cinnamon even register on a bulk scale?), I'm going to assume my spices/salt/pepper will cost me $0.75. That may be a little on the high side, but oh well.

So, I'm off to the grocery store this morning. Wish me luck!