The Cost of Cooking Tofu, Broccoli, Orange Bell Pepper, and Peanuts With Chow Mein Noodles

After I tried Sally Sampson’s sesame-crusted tofu recipe in the Lenny Letter’s Shop Like Your Mom Meal Plan, I got really into cooking tofu and vegetables.

Testing the Lenny Letter’s “Shop Like Your Mom” Meal Plan: Sunday and Monday

I am pretty sure I’ve eaten some kind of tofu and vegetable mixture every week since January. (Often twice or three times a week, since these things yield multiple meals.) I’ve baked, fried, and steamed tofu with peppers, broccoli, snow peas, green beans, yellow squash, carrots, and tomatoes.

Here’s how much it costs to do the version with broccoli and orange pepper:

O Organics Cubed Tofu Extra Firm, 8 oz: $1.99

Orange bell pepper, one pepper: $1.99

Broccoli, one head: $1.38

Signature Kitchens Crushed Nut Topping, 2 oz: $1.49

O Organics Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 tablespoon: $0.10 (probably? I don’t have a record of how much I paid for the bottle because I bought it before I started tracking all of this)

Salt, pepper, crushed red pepper: $0.10 (I never know how to accurately calculate the cost of spices)

Cost per two-portion batch: $7.05

Cost per portion: $3.53

This is a super-simple dish to make, and with the nuts added it’s thick enough that it turned out to be 2.5 portions for me and could easily be three portions with a side dish. Here’s my version:

• Add olive oil to skillet. Add spices and crushed nuts, and turn on the stove.
• Cut tiny slit in tofu package. Squeeze out tofu water over sink. Squeeze really hard. Don’t worry about letting your tofu sit between paper towels for 30 minutes. Dump the tofu into the skillet and stir it around so it picks up the olive oil, nuts, and spices, which will start to burn in a minute anyway if they’re not stirred. If a little extra tofu water gets into the skillet, don’t worry about it. It’ll help with the steaming.
• Consider cutting up the broccoli and then just rip the florets off with your hands. Add the florets to the skillet. Give everything a good stir so the tofu doesn’t start to burn.
• Slice up the orange pepper and add it to the skillet. Stir everything one more time, then cover the skillet and let it sit for 15 minutes or so, stirring once halfway through.
• Serve over chow mein noodles, rice, whatever you want.

Here’s what the meal costs when you add chow mein noodles and wine:

La Choy Chow Mein Noodles, 1/2 cup: $0.20 (from $2.50 12-oz package)

Yellow Tail Sweet Red Roo, 3 oz: $0.75 (from $5.99 24-oz bottle)

Total meal cost: $4.48

So yes, I eat this every week. Also I guess I really do eat most of my meals with a titanium spork, which I’ve decided is just fine.

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