I personally know some folks who spend all their money on fast food, and then online it seems pretty common folks not knowing how to cook causes massive financial problems.
My super duper cheap meal that takes no effort is “lazy rice veggie soup”: Can of peas and carrots cooked with a bouyon cube until cube is dissolved Add cooked rice to mix, and heat until rice is flavorful with absorbed broth
I do a cup of dried rice, and a can of peas and carrots which means the soup has 800ish calories and I think it’s pretty good as it’s either 2 small meals that you can have sides with, or one large one!
So what are your cheap meals you like to make? The less well known, the better!
Off-topic but this could be interesting: https://traumbooks.itch.io/the-sad-bastard-cookbook
Nope, most on topic link I’ve ever seen.
Also:
"Cheap. The Boomers destroyed the economy. Sorry to any Boomers reading this. We don’t like that you did it either. #NotAllBoomers. But if you voted for Reagan, Mulroney, or Thatcher and you don’t regret it, this cookbook isn’t for you. "
I like these people.
This is one of the best reads I’ve had in a while! Free download everyone, be sure to check it out. Especially people with depression or executive dysfunction that makes it hard to feed yourself.
thanks for this, can never have enough cheap eats cookbooks
Delightful! Thanks for sharing! I just bought the printed book from Barnes and Noble.
Gruel! Three spoons of oatmeal in a bowl, pour about 500ml (~1 pint) of boiling water on it. You can put a bit more oatmeal in, but if you go too far you get porridge. You’re aiming for thin or miserly porridge.
For a mild seasoning, you can cry over the bowl, and let the salt from your tears enhance the subtle flavours. If you’re feeling rich, salt can be purchased from shops and used instead.
For optional nutrients beyond simple survival, you can then throw any leftover or past-best veg, precooked meat or edible garden plants in the bowl. For deliciousness, you can add a bit of butter, or even cheese.
Heat it in a pan on the hob, whilst stirring, for as long as you can be bothered waiting. Cooking for longer tends to make it taste better. Alternately, microwave it for a few minutes.
You’re ultimately going to end up with something like a thick soup (or a luxurious cheese sauce, depending on ingredients) that’s surprisingly filling, and significantly nicer tasting than you might expect from the description.
Gruel. It sounds shit, but it’s ace.
You managed to turn the ship around from that first paragraph, impressive. I thought I’d like it as much as hardtack.
The Victorians considered gruel to be health food. Mind you, they also thought granulated arsenic was a good substitute for sugar.
Some kind of broth or bouillon would be good in it too. Hot sauce. Garlic.
I add those kinds of things to porridge too sometimes. Savory instead of sweet porridge should not be ruled out.
Here’s an another idea for oats: basically make Mac and cheese except with oats instead of pasta. Whole oats if you can get them.
I like the way you think. I’m on board with all of these.
potato
i love potato
Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.
that isn’t super common
Bananas, potatoes, corn, oats, bread and rice are all pretty cheap. When I’m trying to not spend any money I’m fine with a bowl of oatmeal with some sliced bananas in it.
I’m more of a “cook over ripe banana into the oatmeal” person.
Gives it good flavor and a bit of sweetness.
I read this at first as an ingredient list,band I was so concerned for your health and stability. Lol.
Just mash it and cook until it looks as sad as you feel looking at it. Then cry while eating it right out of the pot on the kitchen counter.
“Carbs, carbs… carbs, more carbs and oh! I almost forgot carbs.”
Simple vegetarian chili:
1 cup dried pinto beans
1 cup dried navy beans
1 cup dried lentils
1 cup dried or canned corn
10 cups of water
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2-4 tbsp ground cumin (by bulk bags online for $7 instead of overpriced jars in store and grind yourself with a cheap Mr. Coffee)
10 tsp or to taste of vegetable better than bouillon
Black pepper, chili powder, paprika to tastePut in instant pot, pressure cook normal for 45 minutes, natural steam release, switch to slow cooker on low until meal time.
Makes multiple dinners for a family of 5. Serve on its own, over rice, or in burritos. Pairs well with sour cream, diced peppers, siracha, etc.
Obviously the more you can but in bulk the cheaper it gets per person.
Vegetarian black bean soup:
1 pound dried black beans rinsed
1 large onion peeled and diced
2 medium bell peppers seeded and diced
2 quarts vegetable broth
1/3 cup Franks Cayenne Hot Sauce
6 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Salt and pepperCombine in instant pot, pressure cook normal for 45 minutes, natural steam release. When done, use inversion blender until smooth.
Possible Toppings:
Chopped scallions
Cilantro
Jalapeno slices
Shredded cheese
Lime wedges
Sour cream or plain yogurt
FritosI think it’s called an immersion blender. Unless you want to turn those beans inside out.
Lol, you are right but I like the kind of weird the typo brings to the recipe. 😂
Chilli is s great thing to learn to riff with. You almost can’t go wrong adding things to it. What you list here is a good starting point, but I’d almost certainly add onions and peppers to it.
Farro or cracked wheat can add a little meaty texture to a veg chili. The best veg chilli I ever had had sweet potato, something I’d never have thought of.
Don’t be afraid to “dress up” box dinners like Mac n cheese or suddenly salad. A handful of beans, tomatoes, onions, carrots, or whatnot can stretch it and make it healthier.
Cooked and then refrigerated Quinoa, Bulgar, and Couscous make great salad bases for something different than lettuce.
Savory oatmeal is supposedly a thing, but I’ve never tried it.
A quarter pound of beef in Mac and cheese is ace and still super cheap.
Or can of tuna.
Personally, I like “White Trash Heaven”- it’s just mac and cheese with fried Spam slices.
Franks red hot sauce with Mac and cheese is amazing. If you want more protein, grab one of those already cooked chickens from the grocery store, rip it apart with your hands, and toss it in too.
True . Baked potato, homemade fries or chips , mashed potatoes. So many ways to cook they and most of them don’t require much else .
Oh yeah adding a half can of Chilli makes it feel like a full and tasty meal!
I actually just cooked like 2 frozen hashbrowns with a can of Chilli yesterday and it was super tasty.
Rice burgers. Cooked rice, some grated cheese, an egg, a grated carrot, add salt and some seasoning as see fit. Mix using a hand mixer with those spiraly dough mixing things. Form burgers. Fry in pan. Doesn’t taste like burgers at all but I like it.
I don’t know how common it is, but I like carrot stew (EDIT: hutspot). 1kg carrots is around 1.30€ here, a bag of 2.5kg potatoes is around 5€, peel and cut it all, add a chunk of smoked bacon for flavor (ca. 2.50€ per piece) add water, broth, salt, a bit of pepper, maybe parsley, and just boil it all until it’s soft. Onion and garlic to taste - they don’t need to be fresh. Freeze-dried works just as well.
You end up with ca. 3,5 kg for 8.80€ and If you go by 500g per serving, that’s 7 servings for 1,25€ each. A little more if you buy the onion and garlic fresh, but it doesn’t make much of a difference both in taste and price, so I usually go with the freeze-dried stuff. If there happens to be too much broth, you can just dump a bag of mashed potato powder into the pot.
If you have a freezer, you don’t need to cook everything at once - get some zip bags, fill them with the peeled / cut raw ingredients in equal parts and store it in the freezer. If you want to cook it, just dump the contents of a bag into a pot, add water & spices and boil - no need to thaw first.
I used to cook this whenever we got together for roleplaying sessions and it was my turn to host. ;) It’s not difficult to cook, cheap, tasty and feeds a bunch of nerds for the evening or supper for yourself for a week.
PS: 1.00€ = ca. $1.07
Looks a lot like the classic Dutch meal of “hutspot”.
Huh…it does indeed. Never knew it had a proper name - thanks for telling me ^^
The price on rice goes down dramatically when you go bulk. A cup of rice out of my 25 lb bag costs a few cents.
Rice and beans, rice and eggs, dirty rice, add tomato and Sazon for Mexican rice, Japanese barbecue sauce and you have hibachi rice, Korean sauce and a little sprinkle of some form of protein and you’ve got bulgogi. I’m starting to feel like Forrest Gump talking about shrimp.
Nothing makes me feel more secure than looking over at my giant bag of rice leaning against the kitchen wall.
how do you keep it and how long does it last?
The other commenter gave a good rundown, but you don’t have to get that scientific about it. I just use a large coffee mug to eyeball how much rice I want, and use the “finger method” to measure the rice to water ratio in the pot. Cook on high until boiling, cover and turn to medium for fifteen minutes, turn off heat and wait five minutes before uncovering and fluffing with a fork.
For storage I put the large coffee mug back in the rice bag, give it a twist and seal with a chip clip, and it’s ready for the next time.
As to how long it lasts, that will depend on how much you eat and how big a bag you get. ;) But it will last you: a long time.
Rice with sunny side up eggs and soy sauce. Pop those yolks, mix, mmmmm.
This was my parents’ idgaf meal, and as a kid I loved it both because I didn’t get it often, and because it had no veggies.
Add some furikake (Japanese rice topping) and a drizzle of sesame and chili oil! I do this every so often and it’s great.
Can you get chicken for 2 bucks? If you have eggs and rice already you can get some chicken and make up a cheat’s oyakodon. Braise the chicken in some water, soy sauce, and a little sugar and/or an oxo cube if you have one, and then when the chicken’s just cooked drizzle your eggs in and then slide onto rice. Also if you want to add veggies, slice up an onion and cook that in the sauce
(…I have no idea what food prices are like in the US 2 bucks would barely get you a can of beans where I live I think the only meal you could make under 2 dollars is “cup of straight cheap stock” or “one pizza bun”)
Ghetto pizzas. Make some toast put tomato sauce or ketchup on it then sprinkle with cheese. You can nuke it to melt the cheese or if you want to spend more effort pop it in the oven. Also if you have more than 2$ you can put toppings like veggies and pepperoni on it.
Edit I just remembered another poorman meal I used to eat all the time. Boil ramen and strain. Add tomato sauce and cheddar. It’s like really shitty spaghettios or regrettios if you will. Cheap filling and full of sodium
You can do this same recipe with the great big burrito tortillas, too.
You can make “Toast Hawaii” the same way: Slice of toast, put ham on it, a ring (or pieces) of pineapple on top, cover with a slice of cheese, pop it in the microwave for a minute or two until the cheese has melted. One of the rare “non traditional” meals my grandma used to love, and super easy to make.
1lb Ground turkey, 6oz crushed Frito corn chips, 2 cloves minced garlic, pinch red pepper flake. Combine, form 4 thin patties, and fry. Serve on toast with or without cheese. Great burgers, and super cheap.
1lb Ground Turkey: $3.17
6oz Fritos: $2.92
2 cloves garlic: $0.10Total Price: $6.09 / 4 burgers = $1.50 per 1/4lb patty.
Chickpeas, lentils, beans!
Edit: although these thing are pretty common for a fair chunk of the planet
I mean yeah, but what do you like to cook with them! I cook with them a lot, usually I’ll make a “burrito bowl” just in rice with black beans.
Chickpeas I like to use in curry.
Do you have a favorite cheap meal with lentils?
https://hewww.com/posts/dal-makhani https://hewww.com/posts/ful-medames https://hewww.com/posts/potaje-de-garbanzos https://hewww.com/posts/alubias-de-cantabria
I’ve been working on a collection of my go-to recipes. Not a ton up there at the moment, but I’ll be adding lots more.
I make a lentil salad from time to time. Just cook the lentils (I like red lentils for this because they cook so much faster), crumble some feta in when it has cooled off, olive oil, lemon juice and whatever you find and fancy. Shredded carrots work nice, some parsley, maybe rocket, diced tomatoes, walnuts, …
Chocolate oatmeal. Grab a box of rolled oats, a bag of sugar, and a thing of cocoa powder from Aldi. Put half a cup of oats, a couple of teaspoons of sugar, and about half a teaspoon of cocoa powder in a bowl. Add enough water or milk to cover the oats. Stir, and microwave a minute at a time, watching g the bowl to make sure it doesn’t boil over. When the oats are soft, enjoy!
Can be breakfast or dessert as needed!
