What meals do you cook when very low on money?
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I have to admit that I do not do beans nearly as much as I should. I think it is because canned beans are not nearly the deal money-wise as dried beans are ... and I am not good at letting beans soak without forgetting them and ruining them.
I started vaguely planning my meals by the week sort of by accident. A friend made me a "weekly planner" whiteboard that had a "menu" section I thought would be totally useless.
But I started jotting down some ideas there, just on a whim, and I'll be damned but I love it!
I don't always follow my own plan, and I often just write the main/protein part and wing it a bit, but it's great having at least an idea what's coming down the pipe for the week, so I can actually plan prep and shopping, and use up what I have. It looks something like:
MON lentils TUE beans WED tofu ....Etc, so like now I know to soak beans overnight on Monday, and go buy tofu before Wednesday.
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I can get many varieties of squash and brassica cultivars locally for a ridiculously low price as most of the entire county I live in used to be all farmland and we have a ton of actual farmers markets that aren't fully commercialized
So I eat a lot of acorn and spaghetti squash, broccoli and cabbage in many forms, peppers are usually cheap as well as carrots. Onions are cheap as well as bananas
Beef and chicken bouillon for cheap flavor, whatever fruit is on sale for desert
Tofu for protein as I can't stand the texture of beans
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Soup with lots of root vegetables, cabbage, lentils etc. whatever is in season (a tip is to roast the veg in the oven first for better flavour and mouth feel). I always have some good sausages in the freezer that I buy for 50% off because they're close to expiration. Thaw them and fry them pretty hard before joining the soup. I can easily feed myself and my gf for a week from one batch. A boring week for sure but you do what you gotta do. Mix it up with some different toppings or other flavourings during the week.
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I imagine the right answer differs from country to country, as prices can be pretty different from place to place.
But in the U.S., when I was poor I'd often use regular boxes of dried pasta and add canned chili to them, and maybe shred a little bit of cheddar on top, add hot sauce to taste.
0.5 lb (230g) of pasta: 800 calories, 28g protein. Approximately $0.50 ($1/box).
15 oz (425g) of canned chili with beans: 460 calories, 29g protein. Approximately $3.
4 oz (113g) block of cheddar cheese: 440 calories, 24g protein. Approximately $1.50 ($3 per 8 oz pack).
That's a 1700 calorie meal with 81g of protein, for about $5, that takes about 12-15 minutes. It requires only a single pot and a cheese shredder if you prefer shredding it yourself (you can also buy pre shredded for maximum ease/convenience).
Obviously you can portion down in size, or keep some leftovers, if you're not the type of person to need a 1700 calorie meal in a single sitting.
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Pot of beans with chicken meat in it. A rotisserie chicken is pretty cheap. You can also do a lot with meat, rice, and gravy or sauce. Asian recipes do a lot of delicious things with a little, too.
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Oatmeal. Lentils. Beans and rice. Pasta.
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Chili, chili, chili! No ground beef? No problem! Make a bean chili!
I love ban chili, it's relatively cheap, vegetarian and incredibly versatile. Meaning that with one big pot of chili you can have 3-4 different meals without having the feeling of eating the same thing over and over.
I usually make a big pot and then the first day we can make burritos with tortilla shells, the next day nachos, you can eat it with rice, a baked potato use it as a base for soup or make vegetarian burger patties with it.
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I can cook rice OK, but it's never really enjoyable to eat. Always too bland. Never tried cooking with dried beans and lentils so I'll have to explore that. Cheers.
Lazy mexirice: get a cup of rice or whatever amount you like, pour it over a hot pot already coated in hot olive oil. Shake it or stir the rice continuously in high heat. Keep looking at the oil wet rice. It will go from being fully clear to an opaque white. You can stop at white or continue until they get a more toasted brown orange color. At that point pour a good amount of ketchup from a squeeze bottle. Immediately following that with a cup of hot water. Now lower the heat fill the pot with enough hot water to cover the rice,. Finally cover the pot and wait 20 minutes. Add water if it dries too much.
You could toast a tomato and then add onions and such, buy ketchup is the lazy way. I do add some garlic powder.
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Microwave meatball subs and raw broccoli.
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Microwave meatball subs and raw broccoli.
I don't have a microwave. Sounds good, though.
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Here is my list of cheap foods I tend to keep on hand for making inexpensive meals.
Non perishable: Rice, Beans (black, chick pea, and lentils), dry mixed beans, bulk flour, bulk sugar, cans of tomato paste, cans of diced tomato, dried red chills, dry noodles, (like soba noodles or ramen noodles,) cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, vegetable oil, white vinegar. (I don't really eat traditional pasta, but that is also a cheap, non perishable.)
perishables: Onions, garlic, cilantro, carrots, Asian cabbage like nappa cabbage, green onions, green bell peppers, corn, potatoes, ginger root, soy sauce, ketchup, mayo, mustard, worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, yeast, bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, seasonal squashes, seasonable fruit.
More expensive optional perishables: Block of store brand cheddar and mozzarella cheese, eggs, butter, condensed milk, sweetened condensed milk, plain yogurt
spices: Salt, pepper, paprika, chill powder, oregano, basil, cumin, coriander, garam masala, tumeric
With that list of ingredients I can make these things: Fresh breads including naan, sandwhich bread, flour totillas, banana bread. Cheese pizza, vegetarian Chinese dumplings with dumpling sauce, felafel, channa masala (a chick pea curry I eat with rice and naan), black bean burgers, black bean chilli, spiced lentils, Dahl (a type of lentil soup), Raita which is a condiment made with yogurt, spices, and veggies, Vegetable yakisoba, cheap ramen enhanced with egg, corn, carrot and green onion, home made brownies, tomato soup, cheesy baked potato, mashed potato, home made caramel to serve with brownies, or fruit, or mixed into yogurt with fruit. With the seasonal squashes I can make a squash bisque using butternut squash, or veggie soup using the mixed dried beans with the squash and other veggies.
When it comes to spices, I find that they are cheaper in my local asian grocery than the standard grocery store. When it comes to ketchup, mustard, and mayo, I get that for free just by asking at fast food joints, or grabbing them when they are freely offered in fast food joints.
The other thing that keeps the cost of the foods I eat low, is the fact that I am making it all from scratch. You can see that I am primarily cooking vegetarian, because meat is really fucking expensive. PM me if you would like the recipe for anything I mentioned.
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I just found a great cheap meal that's tasty, healthy, easy to cook, and ridiculously cheap. I thought I'd share it as so many people have shared theirs.
I bought a bag of dried peas, added to cups of cold water, bring to boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. You now have a pan full of peas to use any way you wish. I decided to make a pea soup. So I added a bunch of stuff I had in my kitchen already: garlic, sugar, ginger powder, a dollop of margarine to make it taste not so watery, and cornflour to thicken it a tiny bit. It cost almost nothing to make, and I'll get 3 small meals out of it (all accompanied with bread). I might try a similar thing with lentils, to build my confidence cooking with them.
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I just found a great cheap meal that's tasty, healthy, easy to cook, and ridiculously cheap. I thought I'd share it as so many people have shared theirs.
I bought a bag of dried peas, added to cups of cold water, bring to boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. You now have a pan full of peas to use any way you wish. I decided to make a pea soup. So I added a bunch of stuff I had in my kitchen already: garlic, sugar, ginger powder, a dollop of margarine to make it taste not so watery, and cornflour to thicken it a tiny bit. It cost almost nothing to make, and I'll get 3 small meals out of it (all accompanied with bread). I might try a similar thing with lentils, to build my confidence cooking with them.
So I added a bunch of stuff I had in my kitchen already:
In a lot of discussions about cheap food, that phrase is often replied with "man, I wish I had anything lying around in the kitchen already"
But seriously, investing even a little bit in spices whenever you happen to have the money does go a long way! Having decent access to salt and pepper does wonders, and I guarantee it's all up from there. I'm always wondering, like, "am I brave enough to check if this stuff tastes good with hot sauce? Guess today is the day we'll finally find out!"
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I keep a bunch of macaroni in the cupboard as the last resort. I tend to get potatoes, maybe some mayonnaise to go with it, and whatever special I can get on the cheap (e.g. sausages). Lots of squinting at the current deals!
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So I added a bunch of stuff I had in my kitchen already:
In a lot of discussions about cheap food, that phrase is often replied with "man, I wish I had anything lying around in the kitchen already"
But seriously, investing even a little bit in spices whenever you happen to have the money does go a long way! Having decent access to salt and pepper does wonders, and I guarantee it's all up from there. I'm always wondering, like, "am I brave enough to check if this stuff tastes good with hot sauce? Guess today is the day we'll finally find out!"
Yeah whenever I have a less crushing pay period, I make an effort to buy some long-term ingredients. It adds up if you keep doing it.
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I keep a bunch of macaroni in the cupboard as the last resort. I tend to get potatoes, maybe some mayonnaise to go with it, and whatever special I can get on the cheap (e.g. sausages). Lots of squinting at the current deals!
Rice and flour (for fritters) are my default back-ups in case the poo REALLY hits the fan. I chose those because I really dislike cooking them, so I can resist the urge to use them up when other food is available.
Mayonnaise is very expensive here for some reason, but this week I managed to find a cheap(ish) one. Needless to say, I have been enjoying my mayo meals so far this week!
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Life of Boris has a funny (and actually useful) series on budget cooking if you're into that. Great watch imo
Haha CH33KI BЯ33KI haha! He inspired me to binge on butterbrot with doctor's sausage and mayonnaise. Teaches poor people how to not starve, AND entertains them too. Thanks for the recommendation!
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TIL, thanks
In general, when looking for ingenuous "hacks" in food, start with the originating culture. Thousands of years of poor people making the process more efficient, reliable, and just plain better? Sign me up.
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Update:
I cooked a batch of lentils, just to show myself I could, and experimented with adding spices etc. I ended up spraying them with mayonnaise and eating them semi-cold. Not great, not terrible.
So today I was a little bit more ambitious: I made rice (a little slooshy but it's the best rice I've ever cooked!), cooked some lentils and used them as a meat substitute for spaghetti bolognaise (with rice being the substitute for pasta). To the lentils I added frozen vegetables with fried onion, garlic and a can of tomatoes. I need to fine-tune the recipe a bit, but it tastes pretty good! This bowl I'm eating now is filling me up very quickly, and I still have a lot for tomorrow.
Here's a photo of what I'm eating now. It doesn't look great, but I'm just happy it turned out edible!
Thanks for all the suggestions and well-wishes!
