This is the recipe I hand to anyone who says cheap food can't be good food. Creamy white beans go silky in garlicky olive oil with whatever greens are cheapest this week, and then — the move — the whole thing gets buried in golden, garlic-fried breadcrumbs made from stale bread you were about to feel guilty about. Crunchy, savory, rich. Nobody has ever asked me what it cost. I tell them anyway.
What it costs
| Ingredient | Amount | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| White beans (cannellini/great northern) | 2 cans (or 1 cup dried, even cheaper) | $1.78 |
| Greens (collards, kale, or chard — whatever's cheap) | 1 big bunch | $1.99 |
| Stale bread for crumbs | 3 thick slices | $0.60 |
| Garlic | 6 cloves | $0.40 |
| Olive oil | 4 tbsp | $0.72 |
| Lemon | 1 | $0.50 |
| Chili flakes, salt, pepper | pantry pinch | $0.10 |
| Parmesan (optional but worth it) | a handful, grated | $0.40 |
| Total — 4 servings | $6.49 → $1.62 each |
How to make it
- Make the crumbs. Tear the bread and blitz or hand-crumble it. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in your skillet over medium, add crumbs and 2 cloves of minced garlic, and stir until deeply golden, 4–5 minutes. Salt them, tip them into a bowl, and do not snack them all.
- Cook the greens. Same pan, 2 more tbsp oil, the other 4 cloves of garlic sliced thin, and a pinch of chili flakes. Thirty seconds, then add the chopped greens with a splash of water and a pinch of salt. Cover 3–4 minutes until silky.
- Add the beans. Cans drained (save a little liquid), beans in, plus a splash of that bean liquid. Simmer 5 minutes, mashing a few beans against the pan so it goes creamy. Taste; be generous with black pepper.
- Finish. Off the heat: a big squeeze of lemon, the parmesan if using, then the garlic crumbs over the top at the table so they stay crunchy.
Thrifty upgrade: cook a pot of dried beans on Sunday (about 60¢ for the same amount) and this dinner drops to roughly $1.30 a serving — and tastes even better.
Swap freely
Chickpeas instead of white beans. Cabbage instead of greens (shredded and cooked a bit longer — outrageous value). A fried egg on top adds ~30¢ and turns it into a brunch flex. Crackers or the end of a bag of tortilla chips can stand in for the breadcrumbs in an emergency. This recipe is a technique wearing a costume.
More like this: the Black Bean & Sweet Potato Chili ($1.48/serving) and the whole Cheap & Good index.