Make a bountiful, affordable post-Helene Thanksgiving dinner

For a few years, local food writer Jonathan Ammons has produced an ongoing series of social media posts titled “Struggle Meals,” offering advice for home cooks on preparing high-quality dishes on a tight budget and with minimal waste. In the weeks following Tropical Storm Helene, with no water or electric service, he transitioned the series to “Disaster Zone Cooking,” focusing on meals made from the contents of his cupboard or donated foods found at relief sites and cooked with limited potable water over a butane camp stove. Ammons wrote this special Thanksgiving installment for Xpress.

Let’s face it, Tropical Storm Helene was a terrible tourist. She came for a visit, got hammered and wrecked our power grid, roads, homes, livelihoods — even our entire water system. 

In the wake of the storm, many have been struggling to get food on the table. The city’s water advisories tell us that we can drink it if we boil it and that we can use it for washing dishes, but only if your dishwasher reaches 170 degrees. Not to mention, with many unable to access unemployment benefits and with dwindling D-SNAP, a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner seems like a pipe dream. 

But there are a few simple strategies for making a cheap mess of food to feed a holiday crowd without making a pile of dishes in the process. A key part of affordable cooking is using the same ingredients across a range of dishes to prevent waste. It’s also all about leaning heavily into items already in your pantry or refrigerator. 

Looking in the crisper, there’s a cucumber, carrots and celery — maybe a bell pepper. In the pantry, we find a couple of onions, fingerling potatoes, canned tomatoes, canned white beans and pasta. Peek in the freezer to find some frozen corn. That means we only need to pick up our protein, lima beans, some fresh tomatoes, garlic and maybe some citrus to make the meal complete. 

Here’s what we can make:

(Note: Measurements are purposely vague in an effort to encourage home cooks to use whatever they have available rather than buying specifically for the recipe. Cooks are urged to rely on their common sense, instincts and judgment. Also, keep in mind that the ratios will vary depending on how many people you need to feed, but the process is the same.) 

Roasted chicken thighs with succotash 

Chicken is a far more practical and affordable alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving turkey. Plus, I would argue that it is far tastier than the dry, vapid bird of typical holiday fare. Buying a whole chicken can still be costly, but you can easily find enough bone-in, skin-on thighs or a pre-cut roaster chicken for a fraction of the price by weight. Just keep an eye on the prices and find what fits your budget — the important thing is that it be bone-in, skin-on.

This recipe is ideal for a cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven because you can just wipe them out and reseason them afterward rather than having to wash them. This dish alone makes for a wonderful one-pot dinner.

Let’s start by making the marinade. Add the following to a gallon-sized zip-close bag: 

• Two parts cooking oil (Depending on how much chicken you are preparing, the amount will vary: Think around 1 ounce of oil per pound of bird.)
• One part lemon juice or vinegar (white, red wine or cider vinegar is ideal, but use what you have)
• Four to five cloves of crushed and minced garlic
• A teaspoon-esque dollop of Dijon mustard
• A generous pinch of oregano

Generously salt and pepper your chicken thighs, then stuff them into the bag with the marinade. Seal and shake vigorously, moving the chicken around until it is nicely coated. Marinate in the fridge for anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours. 

Meanwhile, chop an onion, a large carrot or two, and a couple of stalks of celery. Smash and dice three to five cloves of garlic. 

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. While that heats up, brown the chicken in a ripping hot skillet or Dutch oven with a little oil, starting with the skin side down. Flip and brown the thighs on the other side before removing and setting aside. 

Reduce heat to medium and sauté the veggies until they release their liquids. Pour in a handful of corn and lima beans from the freezer and simmer. Pour in a can of tomatoes and a little water — just enough to cover the veggies. Add salt and pepper to taste, then season generously with oregano or thyme. 

Set the chicken back into the skillet/Dutch oven, and toss it in the oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 160 degrees. By then, the dark skin should be nice and crispy and the chicken moist and tender. Serve in the skillet, allowing guests to help themselves to a thigh and as much succotash as they’d like. 

The succotash makes a beautiful stock, which braises the chicken, leaving you with the most flavorful, juicy chicken and delightfully crispy skin. You can also use this same method with Cornish game hens if you’d like to have the full-bird (albeit smaller) experience for an equally unique but affordable centerpiece. 

Smashed and roasted potatoes

These tubers became famous as Stanley Tucci’s favorite potato recipe. For a long time, they struck me as too complicated to attempt until I finally made them — my God, are they a great bang for the minimal amount of buck. The best part is that you can do the first step the day before the meal so the last step is only about warming and crisping up the taters. 

Start by boiling fingerling potatoes in a pot with enough salty water to cover them. Boil for 15-30 minutes, or until they pierce easily with a fork. Remove from the water (save the water in the same pot for another use), place them on a baking sheet lined with foil and lay another sheet of foil on top. 

Next, smash each potato into a nice, 1-inch-thick puck using a grill-press, if you have one. If not, you can use a book or other weighty object. Remove and discard the top layer of foil.

Brush each of the potatoes with the low-smoke-point fat of your choice — olive oil, melted butter or bacon grease — then season with salt, pepper and a little paprika. At this point, you can refrigerate them on a plastic-wrapped baking sheet overnight or bake them immediately. 

When the time comes, throw the potatoes into the 450-degree oven along with the chicken and succotash for the last 10-15 minutes of their cooking time. The potatoes should brown and crisp up nicely. 

Pasta salad

Every holiday dinner needs a chilled side dish. The best part about this one is that you can make it in the same dish you’ll use to store the leftovers. As far as the exact amount of vegetables to use, tt’s like the late painter Bob Ross would say: However many happy little trees your heart desires — but with tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumber.

Into a large storage bowl with a lid, add the following:

• Two cups of cooked pasta (I use rotini, but macaroni, penne, farfalle or other bite-sized noodles will suffice — feel free to cook the pasta in the same water in which you boiled the potatoes). 
• Chopped tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes, halved).
• Chopped bell pepper.
• One can of beans (chickpea, navy or cannellini beans are best).
• Chopped cucumber, if you have it. 

In a cup, whisk together a smaller batch of that same basting dressing we made for the chicken and drizzle over the pasta salad. Cover the bowl with a lid and shake the hell out of it until everything is thoroughly coated in the dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

The meal

The nice part about this meal is that you can serve everything family-style in the dishes in which the foods were cooked, making cleanup a cinch. For the potatoes, just throw away the foil. Wipe out the cast-iron skillet from the chicken and succotash. Store leftover pasta salad in the bowl you made it in. The only things requiring a proper wash should be the pasta/potato pot and any utensils used in the process. 

In addition to being remarkably affordable for the number of mouths it can feed, the whole process of cooking this meal requires minimal potable water. It’s the perfect disaster zone meal to satisfy a small crowd on this very unusual Thanksgiving Day in Western North Carolina.