The Real Food Cart 7/11/24

Image description: shredded chicken thighs with air-fried tofu puffs and bok choy on a blue plate.

Highlighted Meal of the Week

Sticky Filipino Chicken Over Tofu Puffs

Ingredients: chicken thighs, coconut milk, maple syrup, Adobo spice, fried tofu puffs, green onions, rice vinegar, Shanghai bok choy and soy sauce. Cost: $9.05 for two and $4.53 per person.

When we have a recipe that requires a new spice blend, Charles does research to figure out what the contents are. He found many versions of Adobo spice that you can buy that is prepared, but Charles created a low salt, no-sugar added blend that was exquisite. It included a small amount of Kosher salt, paprika (see note below), ground black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, chili powder, cumin and turmeric. I think we’ve discussed paprika in another post. Neither Charles nor I enjoy it; in fact, we both find it tasteless, so we have created what we refer to as “fake paprika spice blend”: garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and chili powder. The importance for us is in getting spices at an inexpensive cost and avoiding added sugar and salt, so we tend to make our own spice blends rather than using prepared spice blends. We get spices from our local Asian grocery store, Kowloon, Bulk Barn, Your Independent Grocer and Walmart. Spices tend to be cheaper at stores in the culture they are commonly used. So ginger powder is super cheap at Kowloon; whereas cumin and turmeric at Massine’s Independent Grocer, which has the Siraj brand, is quite inexpensive. If you have more disposable income, and don’t mind buying spices online, I’ve been told that Silk Roads is quite good. They also have some interesting recipes.

This recipe includes maple syrup for the sticky effect. We are very careful with sugary foods. We used only a tablespoon of dark maple syrup and my blood sugar levels were excellent: 5.1, which is amazing. I was able to eat a sweet and sticky chicken dish without using a lot of sugary syrup that would increase my blood sugar levels unreasonably.

I also use a teaspoon of maple syrup in my oatmeal breakfast daily. Maple syrup is a Canadian delight and there are many opinions about ensuring that you get a good quality syrup. I will let you go down the rabbit hole for that. We use Metro’s “Irresistible Dark Maple Syrup.” It is on sale this week for $13.99 for a bottle of 500 mls. We have been able to obtain it at $5.88 for a can of 540 mls and bought many cans which we store in our pantry, we refer to as Narnia. We got this deal at Food Basics several months ago. It is a non-perishable item so we can store it.

Image description: a bottle of Metro’s Irresistible Maple Syrup

I believe we’ve talked about our use of fried tofu puff which we get at Kowloon and airfry and use instead of rice to keep my blood sugar levels down, and the inexpensive and delicious Shanghai bok choy that we obtain from Kowloon.

Image description: I am standing in front of the tofu puffs and holding two bags in my hands at Kowloon. I am wearing a red and black vest, a red leather jacket, a pink mask. Photo by Charles Earl from a few years ago.

This Week’s Shopping Cart

Stores considered this week were Metro.ca, Walmart, Massine’s, Isabella Loblaws, Kowloon and Farm Boy, which are within walking distance, and the Real Canadian Superstore, Metro Rideau and Food Basics, which are accessible to us by public transit.

If we could get the cheapest price at all the stores, the total amount would be $135.19.

By combining delivery from Walmart and the Real Canadian Superstore, plus a few strolls to local stores, Charles has obtained a price of $143.69 for this week’s shopping list, only six percent higher than the cheapest price if we could shop all the stores.

This week again Walmart was missing a few too many key items so it couldn’t be included in the chart but did very well price wise for the items that were in stock and continues to be the backbone with its weekly grocery delivery option.

This week most stores fell significantly short of the thirty-one items we were looking for with only Metro coming close at twenty-nine items. In this week’s chart each store on its own will cost a shopper anywhere from eight to thirty-four percent more or an extra $46.36. Any store that provided less than twenty-five of the thirty-one items we were looking for was disqualified.

I wish you nutritious, delicious and affordable meals, lingering conversations with loved ones, joy and whimsy.

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