You can feed 6-8 people a nice meal for only $2.00 using pasta salad mix from a dollar store and vegetables from your garden. If you don't have a garden, you can use whatever you have, of course. The most delicious combination is tomato and cucumber.
Not another cucumber?
By this time in the year, the tomatoes and cucumbers do not look quite as appetizing as they did earlier in the summer. They seem to come into my kitchen in bigger quantities as fall approaches. (Yes, my vegetables "come" into my kitchen; my husband is the gardener. I did walk down there once or twice this year!) You hate to waste these vegetables because you know the show is almost over until next year. It will be nothing but those hard, white old pseudo-tomatoes all winter long, and cucumbers will be almost a dollar a piece at the grocery store.
Happy accident
My family discovered this recipe by accident, and it is now one of our favorites. We added some leftover chopped cucumbers to our pasta salad, and it was so good. Cucumbers and mayonnaise are meant for each other! The creamy flavor just makes the cucumber taste so much better. We then started cutting several cucumbers up in pasta salad all the time.
More than a salad
After you prepare the ranch flavored pasta salad mix according to the directions, you will add more vegetables than you would ordinarily do for a salad. You should add at least around three cups of chopped cucumber and tomato, or whatever you like, to the mix. It should be almost laden with vegetables, and you can add some leftover chicken, ham, or bacon if you want. You will need to increase the mayonnaise a little at a time to accommodate the larger amount of ingredients in the dish.
You can add a few dried spices or herbs if you like. I have added minced dried parsley, onions, or garlic. These are spices that I also buy at the dollar store, and I find them very helpful in my daily cooking routine.
Hearty Meal
Add some bread, and you have a very filling, healthy, and hearty meal. Did I say cheap? In the Tri-Cities, people have been really hard-hit by layoffs, and they are looking for ways to save money on groceries. Gardening has become less of a hobby and more of a necessity, and those who don't are shopping at Farmer's Markets. Bristol, Johnson City, Kingsport, and Blountville still have farmers markets going on where you can buy local produce very cheaply. You can read about them here.
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