Trying to Eat Cheap: Dinner, Day 15—Potluck

You may notice there is no post for "Trying to Eat Cheap, Day 14"--that's because I was treated to dinner and drinks at the local wine bar. Actually, the local wine bar was closed, so we went across the street to a place that serves small gourmet dishes and also good wine. Yum! We tried a couple different reds, and had a mushroom tart, littlenecks in a greens & bacon broth, and a white truffle VEGAN pate. It wasn't exactly frugal, but my companion very generously covered us both. I'd been looking forward to our get-together all week and it was great.

Day 15 is another interesting twist on frugality--mixing things up with a potluck. It was a surprise birthday potluck, so I made a cheesecake with chocolate crust and chocolate marbling.



I'd say the ingredients for this cheesecake cost around $8.50. In exchange, we had a full meal of all the other potluck items--salad, lots of great cheeses and breads, pasta with some sort of caponata sauce, hot cheesy bean dip with chips (that was my favorite!), plus all manner of other desserts. What a selection and what a deal! Probably having a weekly potluck with a group would be a great way to eat cheap and get a LOT to eat. Maybe this will be one of my "save my sanity" projects as the dark days of winter close in on us.