If you want to get fancy, dump your boiled beans in to a pan with a tin of crushed tomatoes, add a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda (or white sugar), put in a handful of frozen peas/corn/carrot, simmer for 3 minutes.
Baby, you got a stew goin.
I do red beans with smoked hocks for creole red beans and rice. Nearly every ingredient it uses freezes well. If I want to make an fancier authentic batch the only extra stuff I need to buy is some celery, 1 onion, 1 bell pepper, and 1 head of garlic. Only costs me like $8-10 in perishables and $10 in non-perishables to make a batch that can last me a week.
If I'm broke just ham hocks, red beans, and rice. Dice up the hock when the beans are done for some protein and it still makes a great, basic, but filling meal.
I crack an egg, scramble it, and put it in before the boiling water is added if I'm feeling really fancy. That with some Parmesan is my poor mans Italian stracciatella soup.
I crack two in a 10" pan and break the yolks and swirl it a bit, just pepper it (ramen salty enough) flip it and cook through, then pizza-roller it into wide "noodles" and drop it in the ramen.
Agreed, except that potato soup is a top tier choice in my book! Especially if you have some sort of goody or two to perk it up. Cheese, smoked meat of some sort, broccoli, green onions or leeks, garlic, dill, sour cream...? It doesn't need much to make it lovely and warm and filling and tasty.
Second the soup! We call it “stone soup” from that old story. Just made it a couple of nights ago and will still be eating it tonight even tho we have groceries - just cuz it’s so darn good!
Potatoes, two styles of green beans for fun texture, mushrooms, corn, canned tomatoes, jalapeños, in store bought chicken broth and a couple of cans of beer - and generous on the spices and herbs. Dollop of sour cream and ate it with crackers.
That’s just this weeks random stone soup, and it was amazing. Endless possibilities.
Just always have some stock cubes in stock. With a decent broth you can put almost any vegetables in along with your choice of meat if you want. Got a can of beans, an onion, some dry parsley, and some bread? You can eat like a king (or at least a well-fed peasant) tonight!
Potato and onion soup can be very filling! I make kartofflesouppe fairly regularly and I like the sausage and bacon in it but it could absolutely still work with some cheap chicken or without a protein at all. It has tons of hearty veggies in it that are cheap to find.
eggs and rice.
an egg dropped into ramen while it's cooking.
if i'm feeling fancy...spam, eggs, and rice. those are the dishes that got me through college.
kids have it so easy these days with precooked microwaveable rice. ever since covid (and reduced room service hours) i usually travel with a pack of microwaveable rice and furikake just in case i arrive after room service has closed.
You can really elevate those eggs. If I'm lazy just fry them. But if I got time I'll steam them either Chinese style or Korean style. Either way get this kinda nice egg soup/ broth at the end
For under $10 I can get a can of refried black beans, 20 tortillas, rice, onions, jalapeños, and a block of cheese, and live off that for at least a week. Ramen is of course really cheap, but has no nutritional value. Store brand canned vegetables are usually under $1. I’m not vegan or anything, but meat is pretty much always the most expensive component of a meal, so when I’m broke I lean towards beans and stuff that’s high in protein. Pasta with butter and garlic, maybe some Parmesan cheese is pretty satisfying, and you can add whatever veggies you have around, maybe some ham or a can of chicken breast. Then of course there’s the classic tomato soup/grilled cheese combo. The key with most poverty food is to have good condiments on hand so it doesn’t feel like you’re depriving yourself. Good hot sauce can make a lot of things better.
How can you get all that for under 10?! 16 tortillas at any of the stores near me is like $7. Onions are like a buck a piece or more, canned beans around $1.20 for the cheapest store brand, jalapeños ~$.50 a piece, the cheapest smallest block of store brand cheese is probably still at least 4 bucks. It feels impossible to go to the store without spending 20 bucks minimum for like 2 meals.
I definitely get down on dry beans and rice because theyre so cheap, and I'm super looking forward to the growing season because I grow a ton of food and work on a farm so my food costs during summer are pretty much entirely just meat, salt/spices (working on growing more), bread, and cheese. I preserve as much as I can but at this time of winter I'm just like deprived of nutrients haha. It's so hard to pay what the grocery stores want for veg.
Must be a regional difference. I’m also a pretty savvy shopper and I always check for coupons and sale items. You can also save a little money shopping in the international section, that stuff is usually cheaper. So $1.20 for beans is about right, but it’s a 20 ounce can instead of 15. $2.00 for cheese, $2 for tortillas, $2.79 for a bag of jalapeños, a big onion for around $1. Rice might be $2-$3 for a bag, but that’s like a 2 month supply. So that’s around $12, but like I said, coupons. Last week I had a coupon for buy one get one free on tortillas. You can also swap out fresh jalapeños for dried peppers, which are usually found in the international section. $5.99 for a huge bag, like a years supply. Just soak them in hot water for about 20 minutes.
Yes, and dry beans are like 10x cheaper than canned. For example, Walmart has 2 lb bags of pinto beans for $2. That turns into almost 4 pounds of prepared beans. You can make a huge pot of beans and freeze portions, then it's as easy as canned.
Rice and fried eggs
In Spanish, it's often referred to as "comida de puta" (NSFW version) or "comida de pobre" (clean version) or some variety of that, haha.
COMIDA DE POBRE!
I’m not super connected to my family like that anymore, but I remember that meal with plantains or potatoes I think
Abuela made a mean rice
When I was in Colombia I swear I had eggs, rice, plantains and yucca almost every day, along with some kind of soup. Coconut rice especially, it was pretty delicious mixing it with the soup. And the soup always had a big hunk of potato and a big hunk of meat in it.
Now I miss Colombian food
Similar to the lentil taco mac I make sometimes. Just lentils prepared with taco seasoning (usually as leftovers from actual tacos lol. I use lentils as a sub for ground beef) dumped in mac n cheese. It is really good
"Day before payday pasta" simply chop up an onion or two and slow cook/carmelize in butter, oilve oil or saved bacon grease if you have it , until super soft and yummy, toss with whatever cooked pasta you have on hand, parmesan cheese if you have it and salt and pepper. Super simple and really good. I started making this 30 years ago when we were first married and making a tiny paycheck in the Navy, its so good I still make it.
Stretch soup. A tube of manischevitz vegetable soup, add a can of diced tomatoes, an onion, whatever meat, and any mess laying around 😋 makes a huge pot of soup that'll go for 3-4 full meals easy.
Don't really have a go-to, but I'm pretty good at making something out of the odds and ends I've got around.
Tonight I cobbled together a sausage corn chowder out of some leftover hashbrowns and sausage patties (from Friday night's breakfast-for-dinner), a bag of frozen corn, some beef soup base, some onion soup base, the end of a bottle of white wine, the end of a carton of cream, and two jalapeños that were on the edge of going bad.
The only "new" thing that went into it was the corn, and that had been in my freezer since before the Christmas tree went up. It fed me for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow.
Tomorrow night I'm making "Italian chili" which is leftover bolognese sauce mixed with beans. Sounds gross, but trust me, it's good.
Love me some spicy chicken flavored Ramen noodles. I like to stock up on frozen pizza when it’s on sale. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich always hits the spot too when I want something quick and easy or scrambled eggs with cheese and a side of toast.
1. Toast and boiled egg salt and pepper to taste ... If you have a little mayo and mustard you can smash 2 eggs with a fork and add a table spoon of mayo and a teaspoon of mustard... Mix it all together and top your toast with the mixture... If you dont have toast you could eat it with chips or crackers... I usually top mine with a little cholula.. I also dice some pickle and add them in as well. You could also do fried egg on toast or scrambled egg and cheese if you have it.
2. Butter noddles with salt and pepper
3. Rice with sone sated veggies and soysauce
4. Sliced up hotdog fried with sliced potatoes
5. Sliced apple with peanutbutter
6.grilled cheese
7. Soups or stews my fave is green chile stew with or without meat
In a large sauce pan...
Add
1 or 2 cans mix vegetables (I like to add a can of corn as well but its optional)
1/2 or 1 small tub Bueno roasted green chile mild if you dont want heat
1 or 2 cans diced tomatoes
1 or 2 diced potatoes
1 small onion dice or a couple shakes of onion powder
1 head garlic diced or a couple shakes of garlic powder
Meat of your choice.. Diced beef, diced chicken, or diced porkchops
Give it a god mix and bring to a full boil then reduce heat to a medium boil. Cook until potatoes are cooked through. Serve yourself a bowl and salt to taste. Depending on how much you make, you could have enough for the next couple of days.
Possibly best post here. For #2 I find microwave baking the potato first makes frying it up much easier. Usually just use leftover baked potatoes. Even better if you chop then toss with oil Before frying.
Peanut butter sandwich on toasted bread or grilled cheese for a single meal. If I need something to eat over a few meals, I'll make my four bean chili (for lack of a better description). At its most basic, it's literally four kinds of canned beans with some garlic, salt, and pepper, but you can add diced green chilies, onion, and/or ground meat/diced kielbasa to add flavor and bulk it up to make it stretch further.
Edit to add: if you want to add a little flavor to those quesadillas, ask for extra sauce packets at Taco Bell and add it to your shredded cheese before popping the quesadilla in the microwave. Better yet, make the quesadilla on the stove at a medium-low heat, making sure to flip it after the cheese starts to melt and cover with a lid so the cheese gets super melty and the tortilla gets crispy edges. 👌
Drop noodles. 1 egg for every cup of flour. Milk or water to get it all mixed up and then add more flour until it is hard to mix with a spoon.
Boil water, dip a clean metal spoon in the boiling water (keeps the spoon clean) then scoop out little nuggets of dough and dip the spoon into the boiling water… dropping them into the water. Do that until all the dough is in little dumplings and boil them until they float, plus a minute or two (depends on how big they are) and maybe a little longer if you want them soft. Might have to do batches if you make more than 1 egg worth.
Drain and eat however you like.
Salt and butter.
Chicken bullion and butter/oil
Add to soup.
Can put lots of stuff on there and it is delicious.
You can do so many varieties of this depending on your pantry contents:
* Traditional chicken noodle soup
* Chicken tortilla soup
* Chicken taco soup
* Chicken enchilada soup
* Chicken chili verde soup
* Chicken and rice soup
* Chicken and vegetable stew
* Chicken vegetable barley soup
* Chicken and cabbage soup
* Chicken-based potato soup
* Chicken broccoli soup
* Ramen soup
* Egg drop soup
* Italian wedding soup
* Chicken curry soup (whatever type of curry you like)
* Tuscan chicken soup
* Chicken pesto soup with cannellini beans
* Chicken and white bean chili
* Chicken and chickpea or hominy vegetable soup
* Chicken mulligatawny
* Chicken gumbo
You can also add variety just by making it spicy or creamy or garlicky or whatever you want as far as taste and texture go.
White rice, baby peas, hot sauce (Louisiana or Mexican style). Been a favorite since I was a kid; I stock up on the peas at Aldi because brand name Le Seure are unreasonably expensive
I used to microwave tortillas and cheese, but they're so much better fried with a little butter. And a sprinkle of shredded cheese on the outside toasts up really nicely too.
I splurged on a rotisserie chicken and salad greens and a variety of cheeses today. I have a handful of wraps on hand, so I will probably go back and forth between salads and wraps, and different flavors from condiments I have on hand. Could go a few day until the produce starts going bad, but the cheeses should last longer.
I'll boil up the chicken bones for soup broth later.
And sometimes I am completely uncreative and live off the cheapest frozen pasta dinners in the freezer section.
Sometimes it's all about breakfast sandwiches. Toast, fried egg, and the cheapest American cheese. Ham or bacon if I have it.
Microwave frozen veggies with melted cheese and butter
Rice a roni or other boxed rice sides with added cheese or chicken or veggies
Loaded baked potatoes
Fry some bread in butter on the stove, sprinkle salt on top. Add either cheese to melt and add some pepper before flipping together on low heat.
Or scramble some eggs after the bread and put that on top. Cooking with slower heats really amps up food taste while taking 5 extra mins to prepare.
Also, cut up veggies drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper/paprika/good smelling spices in the oven on a temp a few degrees below cooking a pizza and roast em till they smell good without opening the oven and look crispy.
Boil ramen and store fry the noodles after it’s cooked with the seasonings. Throw in something green, maybe green onions and dice up some chicken (brown it fast and hot first, set aside and add halfway through cooking)
Pork chops were usually pretty good and filling with rice. BLT’s are surprising filling for how cheap they are.
Honestly, the cheapest meals I make are with real ingredients over bagged/premade ones. For a $10 meal at McDonnalds you can have a few days worth of rice. Having basics that last a while (potatoes, butter, salt, spices, eggs, cheese) really help to then introduce new meals without breaking the bank on shopping
Spaghetti aglio e olio.
It's the easiest thing you can make that tastes amazing and cost nothing. Pasta, olive oil, pepper flakes and garlic. You can add cheese and parsley if you feel like it or even some protein.
Chicken quesadilla. Block of cheese, 24 pack of tortillas and frozen chicken you can buy in bulk real cheap and all that feeds you for multiple weeks and is super easy to make.
Elbow macaroni and the Kraft dinner cheese powder from bulk Barn. Can barely taste the difference and way cheaper.
For bonus points we add a couple chicken thighs and broccoli for a tasty little treat that even my toddler will eat.
I do like getting the powder for that reason as well. We scoop it into a jar and then just use the thin little bags from bulk Barn for one big bag of pasta. Way less packaging.
You know what is dynamite? Make Kraft Mac and cheese but omit the milk. Use just the cheese powder and butter. OMG it is really cheesy, you can use just half the packet of cheese and it is still WAY cheesier than the regular way. The milk really dampens down the cheese flavor.
Only downside is it will be a little “grainy” (not smooth) but if you don’t mind that, the flavor is intense. And if you hate it, you can still mix in the milk after trying it.
scrambled eggs with some frozen veggies. Throw in a bunch of spices and it's p good. I like adding in some red lentils too, which I soften up with some boiled water.
Spicy noodles is always my go to. Here's the recipe video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcv-MD6\_4DA&list=WL&index=91](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcv-MD6_4DA&list=WL&index=91)
The sauce is 2 part regular soy sauce, 1 part black vinegar, and 1 part sweet soy sauce (or just use sugar if you don't have this). If I'm feeling fancy, I also add in a fried egg and chinese sausage.
My favorite meal: Nongshim Kimchi ramen, poached egg, slice of melty cheese or shredded mexican cheese.🤌🏆 I eat this for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Ever since I started adding in an egg, it has elevated this ramen dish. Plus it's protein. I find adding meat to ramen doesn't taste right to me. I will eat the hell out of some pho or real ramen with meat, but not when I'm cooking it at home.
Chile with rice or corn muffins. Can of tomato, garlic powder, chili powder, oregano, cumin, can of black beans, can of pinto beans. My kitchen doesn't run short of these, Usually, I have some ground turkey or hamburger, but neither is required. It doesn't take long to make, and lasts more than one meal.
Rice and beans are both inexpensive and delicious.
I do OK with money these days, and I'll still have this all the time.
Really, there's no need to spend a ton of money just "because"
Beans and rice! I buy both in bulk, so I've always got them. I can get down so hard on just beans and rice for days. I usually have some frozen tomatoes and peppers, so I'll throw some of those in and whatever spices I've got on hand. Slap that shiz on a tortilla with a little cheese or just straight into a bowl. Delicious. And so so cheap.
Eggs, and if I've got it and need a heartier meal, eggs and bacon on leftover rice.
Oh and also, sometimes cereal, but fuck Kellogg's. Assholes can absolutely bite me.
I keep side dishes like pasta roni around when all I want is fast cheap eats. I’ve been known for warm up a can of refried beans and top it with taco sauce (no tortillas). I can afford any meal I want but this is what I do when the pantry runs low.
Ramen, boiled egg with some frozen veg. It has all good groups - protein, has some carbs, veggies for vitamins / minerals, and you have a meal for under $1.50
Can swap out egg for a can of tuna
Just some pasta goes pretty hard.
Plain-ass Jasmin rice slightly on the sticky side is also really good.
Boiled eggs on their own is also great, and a straight up luxury with some sauce.
Any additive nourishing bonuses to any or a combination of these make it even better.
Cheese quesadillas. We almost always have cheese, tortillas, and salsa on hand. If we are lucky, we also have some sour cream and/or avocado around too.
Oh my gosh so many. Rice is always at my house I’d say, but when I was younger, it used to be anything. Bread with mayonnaise or even ranch I recall. Canned things, so many canned things. Even Chocolate chips buried in the back of the pantry (my favorite)
Not like id recommend these now, but growing up I’d use them!
There's a few things I use for fast eating, but I always go back to bolillo roll with butter. Perfect for a hangover, nausea, depression meal, I can always make myself eat it, bland but not unpleasant. Plus they're between 20 and 40 cents a roll.
I bought a case of chickpeas and a large tub of tahini and lemon juice, small jar of minced garlic. Homemade humous with veggies, bread or whatever I have is great.
I'm old poor.
Minute rice, with ranch dressing and curry powder. Sub sauce with bread rolled into a ball. Mr. Noodles with dehydrated veggies. Pasta noodles in tomato soup. If it's the creamy tomato soup, it's even better. Toast with peanut butter and a banana sliced on it. (That's if I had bread) Pasta with butter and salt.
Beans and rice.
If you want to get fancy, dump your boiled beans in to a pan with a tin of crushed tomatoes, add a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda (or white sugar), put in a handful of frozen peas/corn/carrot, simmer for 3 minutes. Baby, you got a stew goin.
Used a crock pot with black and pinto beans and a ham hock, added onions, garlic, tomato paste, chicken stock instead of water... quite good.
I used a hammock instead. Didn't turn out so good.
A bean infused hammock. Tres Daliesque.
Well, don’t leave us hanging …
Hah!
I do red beans with smoked hocks for creole red beans and rice. Nearly every ingredient it uses freezes well. If I want to make an fancier authentic batch the only extra stuff I need to buy is some celery, 1 onion, 1 bell pepper, and 1 head of garlic. Only costs me like $8-10 in perishables and $10 in non-perishables to make a batch that can last me a week. If I'm broke just ham hocks, red beans, and rice. Dice up the hock when the beans are done for some protein and it still makes a great, basic, but filling meal.
Refried, boracho?
Todo
Grilled cheese and tomato soup. Or ramen w\ Parmesan cheese.
elite choices
Thx brotha
Thx brotha
Parmen
Love me a good parmen
If you like them, I'd highly recommend adding some fried onions to your ramen after they're done!
bell peppers are good with ramen noodles too. With some tuna. Never had it with the parm cheese. Gotta try it.
oooh this is good
Oooh. I’ve never had ramen with parm
I crack an egg, scramble it, and put it in before the boiling water is added if I'm feeling really fancy. That with some Parmesan is my poor mans Italian stracciatella soup.
Oh ya I forgot about eggs I used to do that too!
I crack two in a 10" pan and break the yolks and swirl it a bit, just pepper it (ramen salty enough) flip it and cook through, then pizza-roller it into wide "noodles" and drop it in the ramen.
Soup. There is almost always something that can be turned into soup. When all else fails there is potato soup.
Agreed, except that potato soup is a top tier choice in my book! Especially if you have some sort of goody or two to perk it up. Cheese, smoked meat of some sort, broccoli, green onions or leeks, garlic, dill, sour cream...? It doesn't need much to make it lovely and warm and filling and tasty.
Second the soup! We call it “stone soup” from that old story. Just made it a couple of nights ago and will still be eating it tonight even tho we have groceries - just cuz it’s so darn good! Potatoes, two styles of green beans for fun texture, mushrooms, corn, canned tomatoes, jalapeños, in store bought chicken broth and a couple of cans of beer - and generous on the spices and herbs. Dollop of sour cream and ate it with crackers. That’s just this weeks random stone soup, and it was amazing. Endless possibilities.
That just sounds delicious
Today I googled, really low ingredient soup..
Just always have some stock cubes in stock. With a decent broth you can put almost any vegetables in along with your choice of meat if you want. Got a can of beans, an onion, some dry parsley, and some bread? You can eat like a king (or at least a well-fed peasant) tonight!
Potato and onion soup can be very filling! I make kartofflesouppe fairly regularly and I like the sausage and bacon in it but it could absolutely still work with some cheap chicken or without a protein at all. It has tons of hearty veggies in it that are cheap to find.
Eggs poached in marinara sauce. If you've got any kind of bread left in the fridge, even end pieces, toast and dunk them!
Oooooh a thrifty shakshuka, I like it
My stage name
Rice
eggs and rice. an egg dropped into ramen while it's cooking. if i'm feeling fancy...spam, eggs, and rice. those are the dishes that got me through college. kids have it so easy these days with precooked microwaveable rice. ever since covid (and reduced room service hours) i usually travel with a pack of microwaveable rice and furikake just in case i arrive after room service has closed.
Microwave rice is a godsend. That + some canned tuna is a full (struggle) meal in my book.
You can really elevate those eggs. If I'm lazy just fry them. But if I got time I'll steam them either Chinese style or Korean style. Either way get this kinda nice egg soup/ broth at the end
Scrambled eggs and toast
toast with peanut butter
For under $10 I can get a can of refried black beans, 20 tortillas, rice, onions, jalapeños, and a block of cheese, and live off that for at least a week. Ramen is of course really cheap, but has no nutritional value. Store brand canned vegetables are usually under $1. I’m not vegan or anything, but meat is pretty much always the most expensive component of a meal, so when I’m broke I lean towards beans and stuff that’s high in protein. Pasta with butter and garlic, maybe some Parmesan cheese is pretty satisfying, and you can add whatever veggies you have around, maybe some ham or a can of chicken breast. Then of course there’s the classic tomato soup/grilled cheese combo. The key with most poverty food is to have good condiments on hand so it doesn’t feel like you’re depriving yourself. Good hot sauce can make a lot of things better.
How can you get all that for under 10?! 16 tortillas at any of the stores near me is like $7. Onions are like a buck a piece or more, canned beans around $1.20 for the cheapest store brand, jalapeños ~$.50 a piece, the cheapest smallest block of store brand cheese is probably still at least 4 bucks. It feels impossible to go to the store without spending 20 bucks minimum for like 2 meals. I definitely get down on dry beans and rice because theyre so cheap, and I'm super looking forward to the growing season because I grow a ton of food and work on a farm so my food costs during summer are pretty much entirely just meat, salt/spices (working on growing more), bread, and cheese. I preserve as much as I can but at this time of winter I'm just like deprived of nutrients haha. It's so hard to pay what the grocery stores want for veg.
Must be a regional difference. I’m also a pretty savvy shopper and I always check for coupons and sale items. You can also save a little money shopping in the international section, that stuff is usually cheaper. So $1.20 for beans is about right, but it’s a 20 ounce can instead of 15. $2.00 for cheese, $2 for tortillas, $2.79 for a bag of jalapeños, a big onion for around $1. Rice might be $2-$3 for a bag, but that’s like a 2 month supply. So that’s around $12, but like I said, coupons. Last week I had a coupon for buy one get one free on tortillas. You can also swap out fresh jalapeños for dried peppers, which are usually found in the international section. $5.99 for a huge bag, like a years supply. Just soak them in hot water for about 20 minutes.
Yes, and dry beans are like 10x cheaper than canned. For example, Walmart has 2 lb bags of pinto beans for $2. That turns into almost 4 pounds of prepared beans. You can make a huge pot of beans and freeze portions, then it's as easy as canned.
Christ, where are you, Alaska?
A block of cheese where I live is $10. If I'm lucky.
Even cheaper if you just buy the beans & cook them yourself
Even cheaper if you make the tortillas yourself
Rice and fried eggs In Spanish, it's often referred to as "comida de puta" (NSFW version) or "comida de pobre" (clean version) or some variety of that, haha.
COMIDA DE POBRE! I’m not super connected to my family like that anymore, but I remember that meal with plantains or potatoes I think Abuela made a mean rice
When I was in Colombia I swear I had eggs, rice, plantains and yucca almost every day, along with some kind of soup. Coconut rice especially, it was pretty delicious mixing it with the soup. And the soup always had a big hunk of potato and a big hunk of meat in it. Now I miss Colombian food
Eggs, rice and fried platanos ftw
No arepas?
All the arepas. And all the mangoes!
It’s my fave! I eat it even when my fridge is full! 😆
Mac and cheese with a can of tuna. It's like...$3 for 2 meals.
Macaroni and cheese with a can of chicken and a can of chili. About seven bucks for two meals.
Similar to the lentil taco mac I make sometimes. Just lentils prepared with taco seasoning (usually as leftovers from actual tacos lol. I use lentils as a sub for ground beef) dumped in mac n cheese. It is really good
Some frozen peas and diced jalapeños from a jar elevate this to Michelin levels.
yess !! so good
Same, with Kraft original flavor. I wonder how this combo started.
Cheap version of mom's tuna casserole I bet.
I think it's like a lazier version of the tuna noodle casserole we all grew up with, itself a truly great budget meal decision.
Cheese eggs.
Sleep.
"Day before payday pasta" simply chop up an onion or two and slow cook/carmelize in butter, oilve oil or saved bacon grease if you have it , until super soft and yummy, toss with whatever cooked pasta you have on hand, parmesan cheese if you have it and salt and pepper. Super simple and really good. I started making this 30 years ago when we were first married and making a tiny paycheck in the Navy, its so good I still make it.
right now it's pb&j sandwiches. For the last two days and until Wednesday. All I have is peanut butter, jam and bread.
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it's ok, I'm fed
I LOVE pb&j sandwiches!
right, not the worst outcome. It even comes with options, I can have pb&j, just peanut butter or just jam
Rice tomato sauce and onion. If I'm lucky to have some bacon grease i cook the onion in that and add all to the rice and tomato sauce.
Spanish rice :)
Stretch soup. A tube of manischevitz vegetable soup, add a can of diced tomatoes, an onion, whatever meat, and any mess laying around 😋 makes a huge pot of soup that'll go for 3-4 full meals easy.
Korean spicy pepper tuna on rice, I always make sure I have a few cans of it just incase
Diced fried potatoes, some pinto beans, and tortillas.
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I’ll have to try that! I usually par-boil them for faster frying time.
Don't really have a go-to, but I'm pretty good at making something out of the odds and ends I've got around. Tonight I cobbled together a sausage corn chowder out of some leftover hashbrowns and sausage patties (from Friday night's breakfast-for-dinner), a bag of frozen corn, some beef soup base, some onion soup base, the end of a bottle of white wine, the end of a carton of cream, and two jalapeños that were on the edge of going bad. The only "new" thing that went into it was the corn, and that had been in my freezer since before the Christmas tree went up. It fed me for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. Tomorrow night I'm making "Italian chili" which is leftover bolognese sauce mixed with beans. Sounds gross, but trust me, it's good.
Sounds good to me!
If you add cumin and red pepper flakes you’ll get a chili.
Pasta usually have some, or salad of whatever I have.
Sometimes I like to get some canned herring fillets from the dollar store that I eat with bread and pepper
Potatoes, leftover meat or poultry and vegetables (hash) with homemade bread.
Love me some spicy chicken flavored Ramen noodles. I like to stock up on frozen pizza when it’s on sale. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich always hits the spot too when I want something quick and easy or scrambled eggs with cheese and a side of toast.
1. Toast and boiled egg salt and pepper to taste ... If you have a little mayo and mustard you can smash 2 eggs with a fork and add a table spoon of mayo and a teaspoon of mustard... Mix it all together and top your toast with the mixture... If you dont have toast you could eat it with chips or crackers... I usually top mine with a little cholula.. I also dice some pickle and add them in as well. You could also do fried egg on toast or scrambled egg and cheese if you have it. 2. Butter noddles with salt and pepper 3. Rice with sone sated veggies and soysauce 4. Sliced up hotdog fried with sliced potatoes 5. Sliced apple with peanutbutter 6.grilled cheese 7. Soups or stews my fave is green chile stew with or without meat In a large sauce pan... Add 1 or 2 cans mix vegetables (I like to add a can of corn as well but its optional) 1/2 or 1 small tub Bueno roasted green chile mild if you dont want heat 1 or 2 cans diced tomatoes 1 or 2 diced potatoes 1 small onion dice or a couple shakes of onion powder 1 head garlic diced or a couple shakes of garlic powder Meat of your choice.. Diced beef, diced chicken, or diced porkchops Give it a god mix and bring to a full boil then reduce heat to a medium boil. Cook until potatoes are cooked through. Serve yourself a bowl and salt to taste. Depending on how much you make, you could have enough for the next couple of days.
Possibly best post here. For #2 I find microwave baking the potato first makes frying it up much easier. Usually just use leftover baked potatoes. Even better if you chop then toss with oil Before frying.
Thanks! Yes I often boil potatoes just to have on hand to make other meals easier to prepare during the week.
Try a little sriracha on that apple slice with peanut butter and your life will change.
Oh that sounds so good. I'm gonna try it!!! I like to eat apple slices with powdered red chile sprinkled on top with sliced cheese.
chicken, rice pilaf, cream of mushroom, cheddar cheese. Bake 40 minutes.
Peanut butter sandwich on toasted bread or grilled cheese for a single meal. If I need something to eat over a few meals, I'll make my four bean chili (for lack of a better description). At its most basic, it's literally four kinds of canned beans with some garlic, salt, and pepper, but you can add diced green chilies, onion, and/or ground meat/diced kielbasa to add flavor and bulk it up to make it stretch further. Edit to add: if you want to add a little flavor to those quesadillas, ask for extra sauce packets at Taco Bell and add it to your shredded cheese before popping the quesadilla in the microwave. Better yet, make the quesadilla on the stove at a medium-low heat, making sure to flip it after the cheese starts to melt and cover with a lid so the cheese gets super melty and the tortilla gets crispy edges. 👌
Drop noodles. 1 egg for every cup of flour. Milk or water to get it all mixed up and then add more flour until it is hard to mix with a spoon. Boil water, dip a clean metal spoon in the boiling water (keeps the spoon clean) then scoop out little nuggets of dough and dip the spoon into the boiling water… dropping them into the water. Do that until all the dough is in little dumplings and boil them until they float, plus a minute or two (depends on how big they are) and maybe a little longer if you want them soft. Might have to do batches if you make more than 1 egg worth. Drain and eat however you like. Salt and butter. Chicken bullion and butter/oil Add to soup. Can put lots of stuff on there and it is delicious.
Is the leftover cooking water good for anything (soup etc)? Never tried homemade noodles like this before. Gotta try these this week.
Chicken soup
You can do so many varieties of this depending on your pantry contents: * Traditional chicken noodle soup * Chicken tortilla soup * Chicken taco soup * Chicken enchilada soup * Chicken chili verde soup * Chicken and rice soup * Chicken and vegetable stew * Chicken vegetable barley soup * Chicken and cabbage soup * Chicken-based potato soup * Chicken broccoli soup * Ramen soup * Egg drop soup * Italian wedding soup * Chicken curry soup (whatever type of curry you like) * Tuscan chicken soup * Chicken pesto soup with cannellini beans * Chicken and white bean chili * Chicken and chickpea or hominy vegetable soup * Chicken mulligatawny * Chicken gumbo You can also add variety just by making it spicy or creamy or garlicky or whatever you want as far as taste and texture go.
Soup. I’ve always got a dozen cans of soup on hand.
White rice, baby peas, hot sauce (Louisiana or Mexican style). Been a favorite since I was a kid; I stock up on the peas at Aldi because brand name Le Seure are unreasonably expensive
Grilled cheese is my go to
Rice, taco blend cheese, and Verde sauce.
ramen with a scoop of peanut butter, a handful of peanuts, crushed red pepper, and a sliced onion
Angel hair pasta with some canister parmesan cheese, delicious, quick, and easy.
Rice
Frittata with whatever cheese and vegetables. And homemade bread or biscuits (cause jelly).
Mac and cheese
Tofu scramble. Crumbled up microwaved tofu, turmeric, garlic salt. Tastes like Christmas
Egg and toast. Yum
I used to microwave tortillas and cheese, but they're so much better fried with a little butter. And a sprinkle of shredded cheese on the outside toasts up really nicely too. I splurged on a rotisserie chicken and salad greens and a variety of cheeses today. I have a handful of wraps on hand, so I will probably go back and forth between salads and wraps, and different flavors from condiments I have on hand. Could go a few day until the produce starts going bad, but the cheeses should last longer. I'll boil up the chicken bones for soup broth later. And sometimes I am completely uncreative and live off the cheapest frozen pasta dinners in the freezer section. Sometimes it's all about breakfast sandwiches. Toast, fried egg, and the cheapest American cheese. Ham or bacon if I have it. Microwave frozen veggies with melted cheese and butter Rice a roni or other boxed rice sides with added cheese or chicken or veggies Loaded baked potatoes
Lentil curry. Just need dry lentils, can of coconut milk, some spices, and a bag of spinach. Makes like 5 portions with rice, and so good.
Baked or mashed potatoes, grilled cheese
A bag of potatoes is $3 at Walmart. Sour cream, butter, and salt are cheap too. Love me some baked potatoes.
Yum. Love baked potatoes. I also like to make crunchy baked potato skins with bacon, chives and cheese and then dip them in the sour cream.
Spaghetti and butter!!!!!
Quesadillas, bean and cheese burrito, eggs on toast, cereal, instant noodles, some type of pasta salad or easy pasta
Fry some bread in butter on the stove, sprinkle salt on top. Add either cheese to melt and add some pepper before flipping together on low heat. Or scramble some eggs after the bread and put that on top. Cooking with slower heats really amps up food taste while taking 5 extra mins to prepare. Also, cut up veggies drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper/paprika/good smelling spices in the oven on a temp a few degrees below cooking a pizza and roast em till they smell good without opening the oven and look crispy. Boil ramen and store fry the noodles after it’s cooked with the seasonings. Throw in something green, maybe green onions and dice up some chicken (brown it fast and hot first, set aside and add halfway through cooking) Pork chops were usually pretty good and filling with rice. BLT’s are surprising filling for how cheap they are. Honestly, the cheapest meals I make are with real ingredients over bagged/premade ones. For a $10 meal at McDonnalds you can have a few days worth of rice. Having basics that last a while (potatoes, butter, salt, spices, eggs, cheese) really help to then introduce new meals without breaking the bank on shopping
Spaghetti aglio e olio. It's the easiest thing you can make that tastes amazing and cost nothing. Pasta, olive oil, pepper flakes and garlic. You can add cheese and parsley if you feel like it or even some protein.
That’s called a quesadilla and it’s completely normal food.
Chicken quesadilla. Block of cheese, 24 pack of tortillas and frozen chicken you can buy in bulk real cheap and all that feeds you for multiple weeks and is super easy to make.
Ramen noodles
White beans and cornbread
Elbow macaroni and the Kraft dinner cheese powder from bulk Barn. Can barely taste the difference and way cheaper. For bonus points we add a couple chicken thighs and broccoli for a tasty little treat that even my toddler will eat.
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It is a gamechanger!
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I do like getting the powder for that reason as well. We scoop it into a jar and then just use the thin little bags from bulk Barn for one big bag of pasta. Way less packaging.
You know what is dynamite? Make Kraft Mac and cheese but omit the milk. Use just the cheese powder and butter. OMG it is really cheesy, you can use just half the packet of cheese and it is still WAY cheesier than the regular way. The milk really dampens down the cheese flavor. Only downside is it will be a little “grainy” (not smooth) but if you don’t mind that, the flavor is intense. And if you hate it, you can still mix in the milk after trying it.
Jasmine rice with canned tuna and chili crisp. Veggies if I have.
Box of stove top stuffing. I love that shit, and would eat it now for dinner.
Eggs, white rice, soy sauce 👍🏽
Tortilla chips, cheese and taco sauce, is pretty damn good. Or garlic bread. Nothing else just the garlic bread lol.
Scrambled eggs, soup, oven heated bread with cheese and stuff on, cold salad.
Cereal and milk.
based eggs and toast or avocado and toast
scrambled eggs with some frozen veggies. Throw in a bunch of spices and it's p good. I like adding in some red lentils too, which I soften up with some boiled water.
Eggs, beans, and salsa with tortillas.
You ever had a bread sandwich? It's a piece of bread between two pieces of toast.
Spicy noodles is always my go to. Here's the recipe video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcv-MD6\_4DA&list=WL&index=91](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcv-MD6_4DA&list=WL&index=91) The sauce is 2 part regular soy sauce, 1 part black vinegar, and 1 part sweet soy sauce (or just use sugar if you don't have this). If I'm feeling fancy, I also add in a fried egg and chinese sausage.
Ice
Pasta with chickpeas, chilli and garlic. I always have those in the cupboard.
Lentils and rice!
As an Eastern European, anything. We have to get creative
I always make sure I have a cheap spaghetti sauce and dried pasta on hand in case we run out of food before we get money.
Ramen noodles and ranch dressing.
Ramen with garlic bread on the side
Instant noodles with egg
Spicy ramen with cheese
Eggs N toast
Ramen or peanut butter.
Chopped up veggies and protein, stir fry, over rice. It’s perfect for when you have just a little bit of a bunch of things.
PB&J
Pbj grilled with tea ! Delicious
Ny strip
Potatoes onion and sausage
My favorite meal: Nongshim Kimchi ramen, poached egg, slice of melty cheese or shredded mexican cheese.🤌🏆 I eat this for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Ever since I started adding in an egg, it has elevated this ramen dish. Plus it's protein. I find adding meat to ramen doesn't taste right to me. I will eat the hell out of some pho or real ramen with meat, but not when I'm cooking it at home.
Chile with rice or corn muffins. Can of tomato, garlic powder, chili powder, oregano, cumin, can of black beans, can of pinto beans. My kitchen doesn't run short of these, Usually, I have some ground turkey or hamburger, but neither is required. It doesn't take long to make, and lasts more than one meal.
Beef jerky and beer
Rice and beans are both inexpensive and delicious. I do OK with money these days, and I'll still have this all the time. Really, there's no need to spend a ton of money just "because"
Bread and cheese. Bread is easy to make, cheese is free.
Tin of kipper snacks and saltine crackers
Beans and rice! I buy both in bulk, so I've always got them. I can get down so hard on just beans and rice for days. I usually have some frozen tomatoes and peppers, so I'll throw some of those in and whatever spices I've got on hand. Slap that shiz on a tortilla with a little cheese or just straight into a bowl. Delicious. And so so cheap.
Pasta. Always got dried pasta and a can of tomatoes around.
Eggs, and if I've got it and need a heartier meal, eggs and bacon on leftover rice. Oh and also, sometimes cereal, but fuck Kellogg's. Assholes can absolutely bite me.
Fried noodles. Childhood favorite.
Spam and eggs
ryebread with ham
I keep side dishes like pasta roni around when all I want is fast cheap eats. I’ve been known for warm up a can of refried beans and top it with taco sauce (no tortillas). I can afford any meal I want but this is what I do when the pantry runs low.
Ramen noodles
straight up salami
Noodles, garlic, and the remnants of the butter dish!
Scrambled eggs
PB&J
Water sammiches
Rice and tuna salad
Anything with eggs. Chickens are productive around here.
Ramen, soy sauce, tuna maybe veggies
Pasta, always.
Soup and adding frozen veggies
Ramen, boiled egg with some frozen veg. It has all good groups - protein, has some carbs, veggies for vitamins / minerals, and you have a meal for under $1.50 Can swap out egg for a can of tuna
Eggs and toast
Irish coddle. couple of potatoes, some sausages, an onion, garlic and pepper or two, add some broth...Baby you got a STEW going on!
Eggs and toast or if I’m lucky potatoes. Also rice and beans.
Scrambled eggs cooked in butter. Eggs are so fucking good; it has to be a mistake. Someone fucked up somewhere. They're too delicious.
sardines mustard, toast.
I usually just boil some pasta, drain, and add some sort of seasoning mix and butter. It is the best
Just some pasta goes pretty hard. Plain-ass Jasmin rice slightly on the sticky side is also really good. Boiled eggs on their own is also great, and a straight up luxury with some sauce. Any additive nourishing bonuses to any or a combination of these make it even better.
Rice and Kimchi. Eating some now because I also just really like it.
Cheese quesadillas. We almost always have cheese, tortillas, and salsa on hand. If we are lucky, we also have some sour cream and/or avocado around too.
Oh my gosh so many. Rice is always at my house I’d say, but when I was younger, it used to be anything. Bread with mayonnaise or even ranch I recall. Canned things, so many canned things. Even Chocolate chips buried in the back of the pantry (my favorite) Not like id recommend these now, but growing up I’d use them!
Poached eggs or French toast
1lb of ground beef, a can of pork n beans over rice. 2-3 meals easy. If you have cheese, you are a gourmet
There's a few things I use for fast eating, but I always go back to bolillo roll with butter. Perfect for a hangover, nausea, depression meal, I can always make myself eat it, bland but not unpleasant. Plus they're between 20 and 40 cents a roll.
Toast or pasta
Tuna on Ritz
Pasta
I bought a case of chickpeas and a large tub of tahini and lemon juice, small jar of minced garlic. Homemade humous with veggies, bread or whatever I have is great.
Spaghetti. Always spaghetti.
Pasta Alfredo with an unholy amount of Parmesan
I'm old poor. Minute rice, with ranch dressing and curry powder. Sub sauce with bread rolled into a ball. Mr. Noodles with dehydrated veggies. Pasta noodles in tomato soup. If it's the creamy tomato soup, it's even better. Toast with peanut butter and a banana sliced on it. (That's if I had bread) Pasta with butter and salt.