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!
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.
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.
Off-topic but this could be interesting: https://traumbooks.itch.io/the-sad-bastard-cookbook
Delightful! Thanks for sharing! I just bought the printed book from Barnes and Noble.
thanks for this, can never have enough cheap eats cookbooks
potato
that isn’t super common
Can’t remember it’s name. A Japanese dish. Put some leftover rice in a bowl, nuke it. Crack an raw egg on it and some Japanese soy sauce, mix it. Serve with an raw egg yolk and sprinkle some furikake on it
I grew up with polenta, so that’s an easy cheap meal I have.
For one serve mix roughly 3/4 cup of polenta with roughly 2.5 cups of water. Stir in a pot over a stove for about 10 minutes and you’re done.
It’s around $1 AUD per serve by itself. I usually add cheese so it’s a bit more for me.
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.
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”)
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.
Gotta be rice and beans for cheapest. Not sure what it comes to exactly but rice, some veg or other, and a protein (usually tofu) is my usual go-to when I’m cooking.
Obviously you can spice this a million deferent ways. Like tomato + cinnamon, or chili flakes and green beans, etc etc etc
E: oh I just read the part about about being uncommon. I’d say a rich tofu scramble with veggies. You can even do like half and half egg and tofu. Sometimes I’ll do that to like upgrade my morning egg
Chicken rice casserole. Basically imagine the filling for chicken pot pie but with rice.
Dice chicken thighs, cook with frozen vegetables in a pot. Toss in dry rice, add water plus chicken bouillon and some poultry seasoning. Cover and cook till rice has absorbed the liquid. Toss with a can of cream of chicken soup, and if you really want put it in a casserole dish and cover it with cheese, bake it until melty.
It’s a remainder of my Midwest heritage and you can use up whatever veggies you got.
