Working alone is never as effective as a husband and wife teaming up to accomplish something, Gong Mingxia didn't dare to be greedy, after all, she was Xiao Xiao's only relative, if she failed, Xiao Xiao would have no one to take care of her, so after much thought, she had to give up on her idea of selling porridge in the evening.
But she dared not just lie down and sleep, so she quickly grabbed her wallet and started counting her money.
In 1997, the fourth series of RMB was in use, which had been issued in 1987, so the money she received consisted of both coin and note denominations, 50 cents, 1 yuan, 2 yuan, 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 50 yuan, and 100 yuan; they say counting money is always the happiest time, and Gong Mingxia felt the same.
However, just as she took out the money, she hesitated again because she hadn't calculated today's costs yet, so she decided to put the money aside and first calculate the costs of today's meal.
First, chicken 30 yuan + pork and pig lard 20 yuan + soybean sprouts, tofu, tofu skin, coriander, scallion 15 yuan + glass noodles, kelp, lotus root, tomato, potato 15 yuan + rice 23 yuan + flour 24 yuan + egg 8 yuan + oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and other seasonings, gas, coal balls, water, and electricity 10 yuan = 145 yuan.
The cost of setting up the stall came to just under one hundred and fifty.
The money earned from the stall was all here, she sorted it according to the denomination, and in the end, she counted a total of 288 yuan.
In other words, she earned 143 yuan today, essentially doubling her money.
Gong Mingxia was thrilled, continuously marveling that Southern people eat less; she sold about twenty-plus portions of rice and noodles today, all adding soup, she couldn't charge more for this, thus each sold for one yuan, purely vegetarian dishes sold about thirty portions, two vegetarian dishes and one meat dish plus soup cost three yuan, as did two meat and one vegetarian dish, so these sold the most, roughly around forty portions, amounting to about one hundred and twenty-three yuan, and the rest were purely meat dishes, contributing less than one hundred yuan, totaling up to 288 yuan, quite a substantial sum.
Although what she earned today, compared to her investment, was still far from enough, if she could earn one hundred and fifty yuan every day, within two months she could recoup her investment.
Today's sales gave her enough confidence; the consequent fatigue also lessened considerably.
The dishes she prepared today leaned more towards Northern tastes, but Southern people could also enjoy them; to better adapt to local preferences, she sat down and carefully drafted a menu.
Since many local dishes like West Lake Vinegar Fish, Hangzhou sauce duck, and Longjing shrimp couldn't be made in the Big Pot Dish style, even if they could be made, they wouldn't sell well.
Because the cost was too high, making them in Big Pot Dish style would lower their grade and affect the restaurant's reputation, so she could only make economically affordable Big Pot Dish to sell.
For eating with rice or noodles, there were these typical dishes.
Thus, the menu she drafted included Braised Pork Belly, Steamed Rice Flour Meat, sour and spicy potato shreds, dry pot cabbage/cauliflower, Fish-flavored shredded pork/eggplant, Mapo Tofu, potato beef, Tomato and Egg, Curry Beef/Chicken, Braised Pork with Shiitake, Stir-fried Green Vegetables with Shiitake, garlic green vegetables, vinegar fried cabbage, Beef Mince Stew with Potatoes, stewed chicken with soy sauce, stir-fried pork shreds with green peppers, Kung Pao chicken, green pepper and egg, stir-fried celery with pork strips; all these were hot dishes.
As for cold dishes, she didn't plan on making anything too luxurious: century eggs and tofu, scallion tofu, sour and spicy seaweed strips, cold mixed lotus root, onion with black fungus, cold mixed green/soybean sprouts, deep-fried peanuts, and more.
Today she even suddenly had the idea to buy more radishes and cabbage, to make Northeastern spicy cabbage and spicy radish, which could also be sold as a side dish, inexpensive and fresh.
Of course, radishes and cabbage were out of season now; it wasn't too late to buy them when the Northern vegetables were harvested, which would be sold for just a few cents per pound, enough for her to pickle plenty.
In Sichuan Province, there were many kinds of such small dishes, she had always loved watching cooking shows, so she needed to study how to make them taste good; furthermore, the original owners of the construction sites she worked at also included women from Sichuan Province, whose methods of making pickled peppers and pickles were abundant, she had the memories, just lacked the practice, so this was the perfect chance to give it a try.
Additionally, there were Seaweed Rice Balls and Seaweed Rolls from Stealing Country, simple to prepare, and could be sold as new dishes.
Moreover, in the current era of undeveloped internet, it might be possible to surprise and succeed.
After all, on this snack street, she wasn't the only one selling boxed meals. Get full chapters from novel⦿fire.net
Those from the South, who ran these boxed meal shops, were more in tune with current tastes.
Her Northern-style dishes, though not unsellable, definitely couldn't compete in popularity with those from the South.
So since she had delved into the study of cuisine, she had to commit her full energy to learning.
Of course, making Northern dishes was also a unique feature; perhaps Southerners might want to try the taste of Northern dishes?