A three-​​course meal for two, for $10

Update: this post won the most frugal award in the competition!

Nuffnang, a blog advertising community of which I am a member, ran an interesting contest: given a $10 Coles Group/Myer gift card a) spend it most creatively, or b) spend it most frugally. I got my $10 in the welcome pack recently.

Actually, the second challenge — the frugal one — states, “How far can you stretch $10 and what can you make it do?” (emphasis mine). Being the literalist that I can be at times, I was considering buying paperclips and stringing them together. This bears some thought: a packet of 100 paperclips, at Coles World Square, costs $0.64 – so with $10, I’ll be able to walk away with 1500 paperclips. With each paperclip spanning 2.8 cm, a little bit of arithmetic tells me that I should be able to string together something over 40 m long — beat that! But a little bit of arithmetic also tells me that I’d be stringing together paperclips for way too many hours, so we moved on from that idea pretty quickly.

I suppose, in this world of heightened awareness of financial prudence, it would be rather passé to exhibit any form of conspicuous consumption: out with the caviar, in with the roe. With that in mind, and Curtis Stone’s omnipresent smile at Coles, we designed the perfect night out: a three-course meal, for two, for ten dollars, no cooking required. And where else would you eat such a frugal meal, apart from on a picnic rug in Hyde Park, right in the middle of Sydney?

(Note: apart from the following photos, I had photos of us shopping, but… shit happens. I took them on my camera phone. I lost said phone on the way home, on the train. Sigh.)

First course: Fresh mandarins in natural peel. Perfect for cleansing the palate, these mandarins, once peeled, transformed into succulent wedges of juicy fruitiness.

Two for only $0.54! (excluding laptop, and laptop bag)

Second course: Crusted bread, with roast chicken, gourmet lettuce and avocado dip. Simple, understated, irresistible. I suppose the name of this delicacy speaks for itself.

It’s an easy dish to prepare — here’s an easy-to-follow visual guide as to the assembly of this dish in case you think this is all way too complicated:

The dip made all the difference I think, adding contrasting textures and flavours (a hint of onion — oh my!) to the crusty bread.

Third course: Cinnamon doughnuts. If there was a 1 in front of the doughnuts, that would accurately describe our three-course meal: 100… percent!

So, we managed to fit in all the main food groups, I think — all for $10. Eat like a king, without the price tag. Just look at our beaming smiles!

The food: $10. The experience:

And here’s the receipt, to show that everything is above board. (Auditing is fun, I’m told.)

21 cents spare.

(more photos)

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