Appreciation post: the $1.50 cabbage that fed me for 4 days straight
So last week at the produce market on 9th Street I was standing there trying to decide between a big bag of rice for about $6 or two heads of cabbage for $3 total. I went with the cabbage because I already had rice at home and honestly I was sick of eating plain rice bowls every night. I ended up making a big pot of braised cabbage with onions, garlic, and a couple carrots that were getting soft in my fridge, plus some cheap smoked sausage I got on sale for $2.50. That one pot gave me dinner for four nights and I even had some for lunch one day. The best part was the cabbage got sweeter the longer it sat, so by day three it tasted even better than day one. I think I spent maybe $8 total on the whole thing when you count the sausage and the veggies I already had. Has anyone else found a cheap veggie that just keeps giving like this? I feel like I've been sleeping on cabbage my whole life.
That bit about the cabbage getting sweeter on day three is real, that's the whole magic of it. Something happens when it sits in its own juices overnight, the sugars come out and the texture goes soft in a good way. I do the same thing but I add a splash of vinegar at the end of each reheat, just enough to wake it up, and it's like a brand new dish every night. By day four I'm usually throwing the last bit over rice with a fried egg on top. The savings stack up too, one head of cabbage is like three bucks and it feeds you longer than a bag of frozen stuff that costs twice as much.