Something From Nothing (Well, Almost)

This definitely doesn't fit in the category of Real Food, but it does show how spending just a few extra minutes in the kitchen can make a meal out of stuff you find in the pantry. Dumb Parenting Move #23 involved me asking Tom what he wanted for lunch. His first answer was "Lollipop!" and after I rejected another half-dozen things he could think of instantly, he went to the pantry and started looking for something that he might actually get. I nearly said no to the packet of pumpkin cup-o-soup without even thinking, but caught myself and realized that I could turn that into something reasonable with just a little extra effort. So I told him he could have it, but that it would take a little while to cook. Then I boiled some water and cooked some elbow macaroni. Once that was done, I melted some butter and added flour to make a roux. Then I added in the pumpkin "soup" mix and some water, whisked that for a minute, then added the macaroni. I seasoned it with some onion powder, Italian herbs, and salt and pepper. Less than 10 minutes from start to finish, and Tom thought it was so good, that I dished up what was left for myself. From Food I'm trying to think how much this might've cost, and honestly, it's so cheap that I can't really work it out. The "soup" stuff came as a free sample with one of our grocery orders. There was maybe 10 cents worth of pasta in there.  Maybe 5 cents worth of butter, and maybe another 10 cents for the flour and seasonings. So lunch for both of us cost 25 cents.  So yeah, saving money is cool but eating "soup" that starts out as a powder (and has over 30 ingredients, with dehydrated pumpkin pretty far down the list since it only makes up 6.5% of the stuff) isn't ideal, but the main thing I like about this is that I realize that the more cooking I do, and the more new things I try, the easier it is to come up with ideas to make something out of whatever I've got handy.