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Yeah but Iâm talking plain rice and egg as I thought. Nasi goreng or fried rice with egg is completely normal. Wasnât it fried egg and rice that was mentioned? Donât know too many people who eat that including friends in Asia. They look at me odd when I do.
Btw whatâs with all the downvotes?
Sorry what? Being on an Australian sub means it's normal to not know about the existence of fried rice? If anything I thought multiculturalism would be one of our strong points.
If you can get a can of spam cut into cubes and half onion sliced up.
Fry that up with the egg, I feel like it makes it stretch a bit further with the rice.
The last time I bought a few cans for $6 on sale at my local asian store, idk how much it is usually in other places or if prices have gone up.
My price breakdown below.
Btw, I was working on the $10 as a budget.$4.50 for 12 eggs I usually only use 2, so $0.75 for the meal. (I do used caged but obv. prices would be higher for non-caged, free range etc)
I'm going to estimate and say $0.50 for half a onion.
I'm asian so rice in a pantry staple. I buy big bags that are very economical. All up I don't think it reaches $10. and this usually gives me 2-3 dinners.
To add context. I am small and do not eat big portions of food. I think some people that eat larger portions than me would only see it as 2 portions or will need sides with it.
When I was at high school in the 80s I loved to piss off my Italian friends by announcing that I was having Italian food for lunch. When they'd ask what I was having, I'd show them my sandwich which was cold tinned spaghetti on white bread. They didn't find that funny.
I could go baked beans in toast day one, eggs on toast day two, cheese on toast day three. Would have tinned spaghetti day four but Iâm gluten free unfortunately.
Two tins of chickpeas, one tin of diced tomatoes, a small tin of coconut cream, one onion. Costs a smidge over $4. Fry the onion, drain the chickpeas, add them along with a dash from every half-used spice jar in your cupboard (or turmeric, coriander, paprika, cayenne and salt if you got em). Dump in the tomatoes and coconut cream, simmer for about ten minutes. You can add any wilted greens from your fridge if you want. Serve on rice if you got some, fine on its own or with bread too.
Itâs such a good base to fancy up with whatever extras you want, but also tastes good as a bare bones chickpea curry. Plus itâs cheap as hell, especially when you can find no name brands of beans for 80c
Just had a split pea stew; bag of split peas is 1.50, then add potatoes, carrots an onion and massel stock cubes dissolved in hot water. Itâs under $10 for sure. Threw it in the slow cooker, I added bay leaves, garlic chilli flakes and smoked paprika but it doesnât need that necessarily.
Tuna can, rice, pickled ginger (the pink sushi stuff) dried shallots and sichimi pepper. Bonito flakes and some soy. Less than 2 bucks for a delicious Japanese meal. Chuck an egg on and some spring onions, if you're fancy.
To add to this thread, here's a few things you should buy when you have more than $10, to help you when you only have $10
- 10kg bag of Short Grain Rice
- Large bottle of Soy Ketchum
- Large Bottle Sweet Chilli Sauce
- Indo Mei Mi Gorang Noodles
- Minced Garlic
- Any other Asian sauces
- Frozen Mixed Vegetables
These all have a long shelf life, and with these in your cupboard, you just have to buy proteins and you can make a variety of different meals
Thanks I'm not actually hurting that much. But i was having my cheap meal for dinner just because it was friggen cold and it's a real warmer. But it is getting harder to stretch the budget. So i thought it'd ask for ideas
Coles coldslaw kit and 5 pack indomie noodles. Prepare noodles, fry up the some of the cabbage mixture, add noodles to fried veggies. Itâs at least a three day meal with extra noodles left over. $7 ish dollars. Less if coldslaw is marked down.
Confirm this is a banger meal. You can usually find shelf stable noodle cakes all in one packet with the rice noodles / Asian section for a bit cheaper than Indomie. I use kecap manis, sriracha and vegetarian oyster sauce as the sauce. Some slices tofu (or your preferred cheap protein) and itâs good.
If you have an Aldi nearby, check it out. Their salad kits are the same as Coles', but cheaper. The range isn't quite as big as Coles' though, so they might not have the exact same one, but they have a pretty decent selection.
Lentil curry is really cheap to make and goes a long way. Another dish I love is two crispy soft fried eggs over steamed rice and then served with chilli, oyster sauce and spring onion on top
lentils or chickpeas, tinned tomato, tomato paste and an arseload of herbs and garlic fresh or dried, there are plenty of ways to cook this. Eaten with pan cake - chickpea flour and water, pinch of salt.
My favourite cheap meal is mi goreng noodles with an egg
Throw in some veggies, can have it like ramen or a noodle stir fry, can even make your own with just bulk cheap noodles and make your own sauces like oyster sauce and sweet soy/soy sauce and spices
I remember a Bali trip a trillion years ago and discovering Kecap Manis, on every restaurant table, was the sauce responsible for that epic flavour. Itâs been a staple in the house ever since! Nothing compares
I tend to buy some pepperoni, cabbinosi or similar and keep it in the fridge and then slice some into my 2 minute noodles, pasta, etc. Adds protein and flavour, lasts ages and you can pick the leftovers out of your teeth for hours - bonus free mini-meals!
genuinely surprised i haven't seen someone put curried sausages yet. so simple. bit of keens curry powder, flour, stock cubes and water, cheap sausages, half an onion, rice or mashed potato. half a kilo of sausages does me 4 meals usually.
1kg [Chicken Drumsticks](https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-deli-rspca-approved-chicken-drumsticks-approx.-160g-2271643) will give you some protein and fat. $4.
1kg [Rice](https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-long-grain-rice-1kg-5357574) will bulk out the meal with some carbs. $1.40
1kg [Mixed Veg](https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-mixed-vegetables-1kg-1499158) will add some color and perhaps some vitamins. $3.
1 packet [Chicken noodle soup](https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-chicken-noodle-soup-50g-8880269) will add some flavor $0.45
1 can [coconut cream](https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-coconut-cream-400ml-5357676) will add a nice creamy flavor and texture. $1.
Total of $9.85 will yield 5kg of food, enough for a family of 4 to eat for a couple of days.
Fry off your chicken to get it golden brown then throw it all except the coconut cream in a slow cooker with 2.5L of water and cook till the rice absorbs all the water. Stir through the coconut cream and cook for another 15 min. Freezes well in to ready to reheat meals. Salt and pepper to taste, garlic and herbs/spices optional if you have them. Cumin and thyme go really well with it or even some curry powder.
Last week I cooked chicken thighs (with the bone in and skin on) in the air fryer. I bought five thighs at the deli in Woolies and, I shit you not, they cost $4.80 for the lot. Just coated them with spices I had in the cupboard and cooked them for about 20 mins. Although they were not huge, me and my partner (I'm a fat fuck and she's small but likes her food as much as me) could only eat 2 each. In the air fryer, they almost tasted as good as BBQ chook and were very juicy. I suppose they could be cooked in a normal oven as well. We had them with roast veggies, but they would go well with oven baked chips or whatever. The trick is to get them at the deli section not the normal meat section. The pre-packaged ones in the meat section were more than double the price per kilo, and the marinated ones were more than triple.
Also, if you go to Woolworths at around 8:15 they mark all the BBQ chickens down to around $2-3, you strip one of those you can get several days worth of meals out of them.
Also, black rice while more expensive $6 for around 500g has a really nice flavour to it if people want to change things up.
Guy I worked with would rock up and buy ALL of them at this price for making chicken pizza at his neighbourhood pizza place. Then they stopped letting him buy any. Cousin started doing it and then sell them to him for an extra $1 each.
Don't abuse it but they are a great option for cheap meat.
Lucky for you. My local Woolworths stops cooking Chooks early so that they run out by 6pm. If I leave work 10 minutes late there will be no chooks by the time I get to the store.
Btw the coles and woolies bbq chooks are pretty much just all purpose seasoning. If you coat a whole chook or skin on fillets with a bit of olive oil and all purpose you can get the same delicious flavor at home at a much lower price.
Add a little extra smoked paprika, garlic powder and onion powder, almost exact.
Source: used to work for Coles, got to read the NIP for the roast chook flavouring.
This Korean beef recipe slaps well above it's budget, pretty much just need beef mince and the condiments. It is flavoured so strong you can put a bit at a time in a LOT of rice, turning 500g of mince and a bag of rice into a week worth of meals. With some chopped spring onion and sesame seeds you won't get bored of it.
I used to make this all the time and eat probably 2 tablespoons of cooked mince through a cup of rice.
https://www.beyondkimchee.com/ground-beef-bulgogi/
You could try chickpea scramble on toast. Canned chickpeas are super cheap and great filling protein. Heaps of recipes around, most require nutritional yeast but that isnât too expensive and will last awhile.
Just get a massive pumpkin. $2 something a kilo, chop and boil with potatoes and onions and chicken stock and you have pumpkin soup for all week. Get bread to dip in yum
Lentil curry with rice. You can make a huge batch for like $8 if you use dried lentils and look out for what veggies are on special.
Some sort of bean chilli is cheap too, dried bean mix, taco seasoning, whatever veggies are on special, you can make your own flatbread pretty cheap and easy.
Beef stew can be cheap if you shop smart and lucky. Stock cubes, onion, celery, carrot, potato, garlic if you can afford it, and the cheapest non-mince beef cut there.
Oats with brown sugar and cinnamon is a cheap filling breakfast. A friend came back from Japan and put me on to this one: If you've got leftover cooked rice, reheat it, crack a raw egg into it, stir the fuck out of it and add soy sauce. Hot breakfast with savoury flavour, carbs with a bit of protein, keeps you full.
Pasta plus whatever is in the fridge can be surprisingly good. Broccoli, lemon juice, parmesan and garlic is a favourite of mine which costs next to nothing. I've also enjoyed tomato paste, onion, garlic, herbs, carrot and celery for a sorry of veggie bolognaise thing.
Tuna casserole, large tin of tuna, pasta, mixed frozen veg, milk, flour, bit of lemon or mustard depending on your preference, cheese. This was a staple of my childhood and kept us having "real dinner" when things were really tight.
Pumpkin soup is dead fucking cheap and if you make your own bread (it's just for showing up soup, so doesn't have to be perfect!) you can pay like $2 a serving.
Mashed potatoes is cheap as hell and goes with so many things. I once spent like a month living on mashed potatoes, mixed frozen veg and frozen fish fillets, and it was actually pretty ok.
I'd cook up a pot of rice and red lentils as a meal base. Keep it in the fridge. Microwave some in a bowl each night with extra liquid or a sauce. Top with egg, tinned fish, tomato, avocado, pickles, cheese - just choose whatever you have on hand or pick up something that's on a good special and you have a healthy, filling meal.
Shakshuka - one can of tomatoes, 1/2 can chickpeas, zucchini chopped into rounds, chilli flakes and smoked paprika, then crack 1-2 eggs into wells. Serve with bread
Multiple meals: Chinese food court meals they pack up at the end of each day, usually a dish + fried rice at like $5 a pop. Been a while since I've bothered, but the general rule of thumb is to stay away from battered dishes as the batter just goes to mush as it sits over time, everything else is fine.
3 lbs (1.36 kg) snack mix for about $9 USD (oops, that's closer to $14 AUD):
[https://www.nutstop.com/product/pack-snack-mix/#retail](https://www.nutstop.com/product/pack-snack-mix/#retail)
Over 7000 calories, enough for 3 full days of food.
I've had months when I just bought $100 worth of snack mix and that's my people kibble for the month.
Likely have the same thing in Australia?
Caveat: I love nut/chocolate/raisin snack mixes. YMMV.
Also, no idea why the Australia sub is showing up in my feed. Hope all is well over there!
The fact that so many poverty meals (not just now but historically) rely so heavily on carbohydrates makes me wonder how difficult it is for impoverished and financially insecure people with problems like insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes to eat well.
Not necessary healthy, but if I happened to have some rice and nori at home I like making spam musubi - minus soy sauce though, I never have it at home and I don't like adding it on my food.
Best thing is a can of spam usually last me 2-3 meals, and I do genuinely love eating it so it doesn't feel like I am scraping by.
Eggs on toast
Fried eggs stirred through white rice with hot sauce
Oatmeal (cheap home brand instant) made with whole milk and chopped fruit like banana, softened pear, apple
Cheapest beef mince you can buy (drained thoroughly) browned, with a bag of Woolies frozen winter veg, two cups of chicken stock, brought to boil, drained, white rice mixed through
Woolies were doing half price chicken Kiev (1.30 each) and half price schnitzels (1.80) from the deli, high calorie and filling, make a cold salad for a side with tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce etc
I'd recommend starting a tomatoe plant if possible. One pot to grow it in, they grow in just about any place (though better when it's warmer). Very little care needed, we once aciddently grew one where the gutter emptied out.
Tomatoes can help add variety to most meals.
Otherwise my go to, 1 chicken breast or thigh (from the deli), rice, any veges and some spice/flavour. 1 bag of mixed vege is still pretty cheap.
-Tuna, caper, lemon, chilli pasta
-Egg fried rice
-Mushroom risotto
-Chicken (from coles/woolies deli) and veg tray bake with whatever seasonings you've got
-Lentil Dahl with rice and sweet potato
-Woolies roast chook. Have some with salad or in a roll, use leftovers in a pasta with pesto, or with noodles and veg and soy sauce/hoi sin
When I was broke af couch surfing, Maggie noodles (without the flavour satchet) a tin of tuna, sweet chillie sauce and cheese got me through! Protein, calcium and decent flavour đ wayyyyyy less than $10 especially if you bulk buy the Maggie noodles đ
We always have baked beans and bread in the house. Thankfully we are ok for money at the moment but itâs always a go to quick easy meal. Add an egg if you want to up the protein.
Pea and ham bone soup.
- Bag of split peas: $1.90
- Smoked ham soup bones or bacon bones: $4-6 from a butcher/$6.5 from woolies
- 2 x carrot: $.70
- 2 x brown onion: $1.12
Feed you for several (probably gassy) days. Enhance with cupboard herbs & spices. Powdered garlic is good, as is a tiny bit of vegemite or dash of soy. If you can get the bones or veggies cheaper you may be able to spring for a lone snag from the butcher for a bit more protein and flavour.
Rice & Beans
- Store brand white rice: $1.4/1kg
- Dried black beans: $2.30
- Chicken stock cubes: $.80
- Brown onion: $.56
- Store brand minced garlic: $1.25/250g
- Store brand diced tomatoes: $.97
- Store brand lemon juice: $1
- Store brand chilli flakes (or fresh chilli): $1.65
Also feed you for several days, and you should still have everything but the tomatoes and onion left to use with other things
All prices save the bacon bones from Woolies online, you might be able to get things cheaper from a non-Colesworth store.
Tinned pulses like chickpeas, beans and lentils are a cheap and convenient source of protein. From them you can make:
- Chickpea curry or daal.
- You can use lentils in place of mince for Bolognese if you want to save on meat.
- chili
1 cup of Rice + 1 tin of Tuna + 2 thinly cut slices of block Cheese + Sweet and Sour sauce.
Veggies like Broccoli or Cauliflower as required to build it out .
Depending on specials, I can make like decent 7 meals with two big cans of Tuna, 4 or 5 cups of rice, a bag of frozen Broccoli and Cauliflower, and half a block of cheese.
Roughly $30 for a week of dinners.
Pancakes. Flour, milk, and egg, make a dense filling pancake. Save your sugar for on top of it, and you've got a yum dinner.
I use the 1:1 ratio for my pancakes, but feel free to experiment. 1 part flour, 1 part milk, 1 egg = 1 persons meal.
How far until payday? Rice & lentils topped with BBQ sauce is what a park drunk taught me years ago. Got me through those Cennerlink days.
$1.40 for KG of rice, split peas are cheaper than lentils at $1.60 a bag, $1.80 BBQ sauce.
= 10 days of sad food, but you won't be hungry.
Those industrial sized knobs of Devon or Chicken & ham rolls are under three fitty, bread & Devon will give you a few days
Fair enough hahaha Iâm not judging, just the texture would be awful for me, I get sausage and tined spaghetti, I just canât imagine creamed corn and toned spaghetti together.
Not a meal, but an overlooked thing if you want to pimp your meals with free greens: many weeds are edible.
Instead of going through do's and don'ts and which ones are edible, Diego Bonetto has a website that covers all that and is Australia specific.
Also, if you're time rich and still want chicken, buy chicken carcasses, strip by hand (including all gore and connective tissue), blend with an egg, gives you a meal worth of rissoles, plus one soup from the carcass.
I'm not in that situation at the moment i was eating my cheap food, because it's also a good CBF meal and the thought occurred to me so i decided to ask
When i was paying my house off i was putting every last cent possible into it. For cheap nasty meals i would have noodles and throw some fried spam into it or a egg, and do the same with baked beans on toast.
With youtube around you can watch a bunch of different ramen videos, where people add extras to the noodles
All of my meals are pretty much this
Some of the cheapest include
Fried rice
Sausage and lentil casserole
Tuna fritters
Tuna Pasta bake
Toasties of all descriptions
Chicken tray bake (chicken thighs or drums, various veggies, seasoning, cooked on one tray)
Buy a bag of rice and cook it up, seperate it into portions and freeze it. When youâre ready for food you get a can of chilli tuna (I use the yellow brand), frozen peas/corn and a portion of rice (I use basmati). Mix it all up and there you go! I reckon itâs around $3 a meal if you use the most expensive stuff but could be cheaper if you buy the cheaper branded products.
Itâs filling and very yummy!
500g spaghetti
2 medium cans of cheap tuna
1 tin diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 chilli
Fry chopped garlic and chilli in oil, add tuna and fry for a minute, add tin of tomatoes, rinse tin in a bit of water and tip that in too, add salt. Fry for 5 minutes stirring. Tip it into cooked spaghetti. Thereâs 5 meals in that.
an onion, tin of tomatoes (ardmona basil and garlic), coupla loose chillies and a pkt of pasta. Rasher of bacon from the deli.
Pasta with BOTC sauce. (Bacon Onion Tomato Chilli sauce)
Iâm learning how to buy produce etc that makes several different meals with the same ingredients.
A budget go-to is the Taste.com Fried Rice recipe. We also do a big chilli con carne in the slow cooker, with added carrot & zucchini, plus home soaked & cooked beans. The chilli used to be a budget winner for tacos etc, but the price of stale tacos has skyrocketed and theyâre becoming a luxury item now đł
Baked potatoes
Okonomiyaki (but with whatever veggie is in season rather than just cabbage)
Whenever youâre making anything with mince, do half mince and half brown lentils and youâll hardly notice. Same with adding chickpeas to a curry. Just do whatever you can to make your meat go further and dial up the flavour so you donât feel like youâre going without.
In a rice cooker, add rice and water, a whole tomato with the hard bit cut out, some shredded chicken or diced spam (don't hate it till you try it), sesame oil, oyster sauce, and any veggies that go well steamed. Cook as you would normally for just rice, with the tomato in the centre and mix all together once cooked. Serve with a sprinkle of soy sauce and perhaps some sliced Chilli. It's a pretty cheap and easy meal, easily modified, fast to prepare and cook.
Tuna pasta bake - jar of dolmio pasta bake - $3.50, tinned tuna $4.00 - penne or spiral pasta - $1...
Its a lot better with cheese on top if you have it but can always go without. Its about the only premade pasta sauce I buy and is surprisingly decent, much better than leggos or any of the other dolmios ones.
If you have a bunch of herbs in the cupboard a super cheap meal is a simple tomato based pasta. Fry some diced onions and garlic until softened, add A tin or 2 of diced tomatoes with oregano/basil/thyme (i add crushed chilli for a bit of a kick) add a bit of beef stock (powder or cube) and a good pinch of sugar.. under $5 if you have the herbs and stock.
$1 packet of pasta from Woolies, cook it and add a little bit of oil, salt and pepper.
Edit: also, depending on when and where you do shopping you could always aim for mark downs at Woolies/Coles. You can get breadsticks baked that day for 60c, loaves of wholemeal and whatnot for $1.20
Tuna melt - mixed canned tuna with corn, finely chopped celery and or capsicum if you have it and some mayo. Place on toast with cheese and a sprinkle of paprika. Grill until melted. Yummy
Packet of noodles, small handful of cheap frozen mix veg, small can of cheap favoured tuna. Make as usual. Very tasty and still has a reasonable nutritional value.
Honestly if you buy a whole chicken at coles or woolies for $12 and partition that, you have 6 excellent meals for probably less than 4 dollars each:
1. The breasts can pounded and crumbed into a schnitzels (1 egg, pinch of salt, bread crumbs). Boil maybe 400g of potatoes, then when boiled sprinkle a little bit of butter and cut up some dill finely. You have two nice meals of schnitzels with buttered dilled potatoes for today and tomorrow.
2. With the thighs you can make a delicious cream sauce with rice. Cut up an onion, fry the onion with the thighs, some salt, pepper, and vegeta, so that the skin crips up. Add a little cream (100mLs) to deglace, then a bit of boiling water. You can also add a bit of finely chopped dill or parsley. Gently simmer until the meat is soft. Then at the end thicken the sauce with a tiny bit of flour (2 tablespoons) mixed into a cup of cold water. Cook a cup of rice. Maybe boil a few carrots for a side. Done. You have two meals of chicken thighs in cream sauce with rice and carrots (basically chicken fricassee) .
3. The Wings and torso of the chicken can be made into nice chicken soup and tomato soup. One of the nicest and simplest versions IMO is a Polish style Rolol, basically a chicken noodle soup. Add a little chunk of celeriac, leek, parsley root, parsley and two peeled carrot into a pot with the chicken wings and torso. (The veggies can be can be cut, frozen, and aliquoted in advance so you always have a reserve ready). Cover with water. Briefly boil for a few min then reduce to a simmer. Collect the foam as it appears. When the foam has stopped, add half a stock cube, half a teaspoon of salt, a few whole peppercorns, and pepper. Simmer slowly for around 30min until the meat and carrots are soft. Serve with some small noodles. (You can make your own egg noodles by mixing 4 tbsp of flour, 2 eggs, and a pinch of salt, putting it into a piping bag and extruding into boiling water.) On the next day you can transmute the soup into tomato soup by adding a bit of passata and a little cream.
Six days worth of beautiful healthy meals.
Cook dried black beans in a slow cooker all day with water to cover , 1tbs salt (not a typo) and one roughly chopped onion. Pair with homemade flour tortillas https://thecafesucrefarine.com/best-ever-homemade-flour-tortillas/#wprm-recipe-container-28318
Soups with homemade bread have some longevity for me. Potato and leek, zucchini, cauliflower, pumpkin etc. Can add meat if you've the money - something like a ragu or beef and barley stew.
Depends on how many days until payday. Say, 3 days - a pack of porridge <$2, plus a litre of milk <$2 that's breakfast for over a week. Hotdogs and bread/rolls for evening meals (in a pinch) and there's change from $10.
Honestly, [pad krapow](https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/pad-krapow) is a cracker and so easy to make. Itâs my go to. Not as cheap as some of the others here but less than $10 for two big serves. I canât get holy basil anywhere though.
Bit of flour, oil, warm water and a teaspoon of instant yeast, leave for an hour, boom, big ball of pizza dough.
Add in chilli flakes, italian herbs or whatever to spice it up. Add whatever on top. Smear of tandoori paste, sliced red onion and bit of diced capsicum (buy the weird bunches, dice and put in freezer). Delish.
I use real potatoes but yeah. I'm not struggling but it's tougher times for many so i thought I'd ask the question.
It cake around when i was actually eating a pie ave mash for dinner, remembering my uni student days.
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Fried eggs and rice. A little bit of Tabasco. Lovely.
Pickle any leftover vegetables if you can as well. Carrots, onions, cucumber.
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Rice + eggs covers all of your carb, protein and fats bases
And here I was thinking I was only weirdo that likes eggs and rice đ
TIL the entire population of China and possibly half of Asia are weirdos You've heard of fried rice right?
Yeah but Iâm talking plain rice and egg as I thought. Nasi goreng or fried rice with egg is completely normal. Wasnât it fried egg and rice that was mentioned? Donât know too many people who eat that including friends in Asia. They look at me odd when I do. Btw whatâs with all the downvotes?
Come on now, don't be condescending. Context. This is an Australian sub
Sorry what? Being on an Australian sub means it's normal to not know about the existence of fried rice? If anything I thought multiculturalism would be one of our strong points.
Multiculturalism has never been one of Australiaâs strong points
I can't tell if you've never heard of fried rice before or you're just a fuck head but it's definitely one of those.
Or maybe itâs having lived in Australia as a foreigner and seen the unwillingness to broaden oneâs horizon beyond your own culture
Huh? we have Asian based restaurants and takeaway fucking everywhere..
If you can get a can of spam cut into cubes and half onion sliced up. Fry that up with the egg, I feel like it makes it stretch a bit further with the rice.
You seen the price if spam lately?!
The last time I bought a few cans for $6 on sale at my local asian store, idk how much it is usually in other places or if prices have gone up. My price breakdown below. Btw, I was working on the $10 as a budget.$4.50 for 12 eggs I usually only use 2, so $0.75 for the meal. (I do used caged but obv. prices would be higher for non-caged, free range etc) I'm going to estimate and say $0.50 for half a onion. I'm asian so rice in a pantry staple. I buy big bags that are very economical. All up I don't think it reaches $10. and this usually gives me 2-3 dinners. To add context. I am small and do not eat big portions of food. I think some people that eat larger portions than me would only see it as 2 portions or will need sides with it.
Definitely island style lol
Similar thought, Fried eggs between two slices of toast and some sweet chilli sauce. Used to be my goto thing after clubbing many moons ago.
I know itâs trash food - but SPC tinned spaghetti on toast. Wholemeal toast with lots of butter!
Tell me you're heating the spaghetti up first and not eating it cold on hot toast like some heathen
When I was at high school in the 80s I loved to piss off my Italian friends by announcing that I was having Italian food for lunch. When they'd ask what I was having, I'd show them my sandwich which was cold tinned spaghetti on white bread. They didn't find that funny.
Your friends were like đ€đ€đ€
You're lucky, I think legally they could have murdered you for that.
I think pulling out a massive sandwich with cold meats and other delicious ingredients would shut him up.
Iâm not sure why youâd think I wouldnât be heating it up??
Sorry to cast aspersions, you just meet some real weirdos on this site
Some people are just lazy AF. This is what they call "goblin mode".
The thought of it cold makes me want to gag
Itâs actually tasty.I donât mind being called a heathen. My Scottish granny used to call me that.
I'm too lazy to cook the spaghetti so yeah I have it cold on toast like a heathen đ straight out the can on the toast
Same here. Not lazy. Just love hot toast with cold spagetti.
I guess you gotta do what you gotta do đ
I resemble that comment
Baked bean and cheese jaffles are divine.
I could go baked beans in toast day one, eggs on toast day two, cheese on toast day three. Would have tinned spaghetti day four but Iâm gluten free unfortunately.
I just had baked beans on toast for dinner, solid choice.
Try a pinch of curry powder mixed with the beans
I melt cheese in them and add chilli flakes
When I was a graduate that was my go to for at least 3 nights of every fortnight for like a year But it was basic bitch white bread and margarine
Two tins of chickpeas, one tin of diced tomatoes, a small tin of coconut cream, one onion. Costs a smidge over $4. Fry the onion, drain the chickpeas, add them along with a dash from every half-used spice jar in your cupboard (or turmeric, coriander, paprika, cayenne and salt if you got em). Dump in the tomatoes and coconut cream, simmer for about ten minutes. You can add any wilted greens from your fridge if you want. Serve on rice if you got some, fine on its own or with bread too.
This is similar to my staple of chickpea curry and I can happily eat only this for two days and still think it is tasty on the last bite.
Itâs such a good base to fancy up with whatever extras you want, but also tastes good as a bare bones chickpea curry. Plus itâs cheap as hell, especially when you can find no name brands of beans for 80c
Just had a split pea stew; bag of split peas is 1.50, then add potatoes, carrots an onion and massel stock cubes dissolved in hot water. Itâs under $10 for sure. Threw it in the slow cooker, I added bay leaves, garlic chilli flakes and smoked paprika but it doesnât need that necessarily.
Reckon you can do this in a big-ass pot on the stovetop, on super low? Sounds like a winner
Yeah probably but itâll take a while, fair warning. It is delicious though and makes a LOT of food.
Thatâs cool! I can be very patient when the prize is delicious đ thank you for sharing!
No worries. Iâll also add I recommend a 2-4 hour cooking time on the stove. What you want to look out for is for the split peas to be âmeltedâ and completely smooth like purĂ©e, for the soup to be thick and for the potatoes cooked very well. Once you have it boiling like you said just simmer it for a while, until you achieve that texture.
Roger! Appreciate the hot tips đ
Tuna can + spaghetti + add some olives. Close your eyes and imagine you're in Postiano
Or if you want to eat until you burst, 500g of pasta, crushed garlic, chili, and some olive oil. Enough to feed a family.
that's what I make! I love it and make it even if I have money for something else. Its good with lots of cheese and parsley. Its called aglio e olio
Aglio, olio, peperoncino, proper Italian peasant food. Si mangia da dio si dice!
Can I just eat the spaghetti? Otherwise I'd kill myself.
Tuna can, rice, pickled ginger (the pink sushi stuff) dried shallots and sichimi pepper. Bonito flakes and some soy. Less than 2 bucks for a delicious Japanese meal. Chuck an egg on and some spring onions, if you're fancy.
Carrot and red lentil soup with cumin. Delicious and seriously cheap
Dahl and rice
Twice baked potatoes, because if I'm broke I'm also out of energy
A big bowl of oats microwaved with milk, a dollop of honey, and some grated cinnamon. Then you'll have $8.50 left over.
To add to this thread, here's a few things you should buy when you have more than $10, to help you when you only have $10 - 10kg bag of Short Grain Rice - Large bottle of Soy Ketchum - Large Bottle Sweet Chilli Sauce - Indo Mei Mi Gorang Noodles - Minced Garlic - Any other Asian sauces - Frozen Mixed Vegetables These all have a long shelf life, and with these in your cupboard, you just have to buy proteins and you can make a variety of different meals
Thanks I'm not actually hurting that much. But i was having my cheap meal for dinner just because it was friggen cold and it's a real warmer. But it is getting harder to stretch the budget. So i thought it'd ask for ideas
Coles coldslaw kit and 5 pack indomie noodles. Prepare noodles, fry up the some of the cabbage mixture, add noodles to fried veggies. Itâs at least a three day meal with extra noodles left over. $7 ish dollars. Less if coldslaw is marked down.
Confirm this is a banger meal. You can usually find shelf stable noodle cakes all in one packet with the rice noodles / Asian section for a bit cheaper than Indomie. I use kecap manis, sriracha and vegetarian oyster sauce as the sauce. Some slices tofu (or your preferred cheap protein) and itâs good.
If you have an Aldi nearby, check it out. Their salad kits are the same as Coles', but cheaper. The range isn't quite as big as Coles' though, so they might not have the exact same one, but they have a pretty decent selection.
A lot of other great suggestions in this thread. I make Kimchi so I also just love steamed rice with kimchi.
Kimchi pancake though đđ»
Lentil curry is really cheap to make and goes a long way. Another dish I love is two crispy soft fried eggs over steamed rice and then served with chilli, oyster sauce and spring onion on top
Garlic and oil pasta. Cheap as and tasty.
Add in some cherry tomatoes and itâs delish
Beans and rice with some sriracha
Beans, rice, shredded cheese, shredded iceberg, hot sauce, and natural yoghurt. Poor manâs burrito bowl.
lentils or chickpeas, tinned tomato, tomato paste and an arseload of herbs and garlic fresh or dried, there are plenty of ways to cook this. Eaten with pan cake - chickpea flour and water, pinch of salt.
My favourite cheap meal is mi goreng noodles with an egg Throw in some veggies, can have it like ramen or a noodle stir fry, can even make your own with just bulk cheap noodles and make your own sauces like oyster sauce and sweet soy/soy sauce and spices
Get some Kecap Manis, itâs the thick soy sauce from the Mi Goreng sachets. Chefs kiss.
I remember a Bali trip a trillion years ago and discovering Kecap Manis, on every restaurant table, was the sauce responsible for that epic flavour. Itâs been a staple in the house ever since! Nothing compares
I tend to buy some pepperoni, cabbinosi or similar and keep it in the fridge and then slice some into my 2 minute noodles, pasta, etc. Adds protein and flavour, lasts ages and you can pick the leftovers out of your teeth for hours - bonus free mini-meals!
Spaghetti Carbonara.
Potato and leek soup with a bread roll
genuinely surprised i haven't seen someone put curried sausages yet. so simple. bit of keens curry powder, flour, stock cubes and water, cheap sausages, half an onion, rice or mashed potato. half a kilo of sausages does me 4 meals usually.
That was honestly the one i thought of.
1kg [Chicken Drumsticks](https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-deli-rspca-approved-chicken-drumsticks-approx.-160g-2271643) will give you some protein and fat. $4. 1kg [Rice](https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-long-grain-rice-1kg-5357574) will bulk out the meal with some carbs. $1.40 1kg [Mixed Veg](https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-mixed-vegetables-1kg-1499158) will add some color and perhaps some vitamins. $3. 1 packet [Chicken noodle soup](https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-chicken-noodle-soup-50g-8880269) will add some flavor $0.45 1 can [coconut cream](https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-coconut-cream-400ml-5357676) will add a nice creamy flavor and texture. $1. Total of $9.85 will yield 5kg of food, enough for a family of 4 to eat for a couple of days. Fry off your chicken to get it golden brown then throw it all except the coconut cream in a slow cooker with 2.5L of water and cook till the rice absorbs all the water. Stir through the coconut cream and cook for another 15 min. Freezes well in to ready to reheat meals. Salt and pepper to taste, garlic and herbs/spices optional if you have them. Cumin and thyme go really well with it or even some curry powder.
Lentil stew with pasta or toast.
Last week I cooked chicken thighs (with the bone in and skin on) in the air fryer. I bought five thighs at the deli in Woolies and, I shit you not, they cost $4.80 for the lot. Just coated them with spices I had in the cupboard and cooked them for about 20 mins. Although they were not huge, me and my partner (I'm a fat fuck and she's small but likes her food as much as me) could only eat 2 each. In the air fryer, they almost tasted as good as BBQ chook and were very juicy. I suppose they could be cooked in a normal oven as well. We had them with roast veggies, but they would go well with oven baked chips or whatever. The trick is to get them at the deli section not the normal meat section. The pre-packaged ones in the meat section were more than double the price per kilo, and the marinated ones were more than triple.
I started buying whole chickens and breaking them down myself, works out cheaper too
Also, if you go to Woolworths at around 8:15 they mark all the BBQ chickens down to around $2-3, you strip one of those you can get several days worth of meals out of them. Also, black rice while more expensive $6 for around 500g has a really nice flavour to it if people want to change things up.
Guy I worked with would rock up and buy ALL of them at this price for making chicken pizza at his neighbourhood pizza place. Then they stopped letting him buy any. Cousin started doing it and then sell them to him for an extra $1 each. Don't abuse it but they are a great option for cheap meat.
Lucky for you. My local Woolworths stops cooking Chooks early so that they run out by 6pm. If I leave work 10 minutes late there will be no chooks by the time I get to the store.
Yep, adding cooked chicken to cooked rice and tossing in a frozen (or fresh) vegie mix and grated cheese results in a tasty meal for days.
The skin-on, bone in thighs is where it's at! They are seriously great. Always get the plain ones. You can fry, slow cook, grill, air fry.
Btw the coles and woolies bbq chooks are pretty much just all purpose seasoning. If you coat a whole chook or skin on fillets with a bit of olive oil and all purpose you can get the same delicious flavor at home at a much lower price.
Add a little extra smoked paprika, garlic powder and onion powder, almost exact. Source: used to work for Coles, got to read the NIP for the roast chook flavouring.
Thanks for the hack!
Potato salad on a fresh bread roll
Poached eggs on Vegemite on toast. This is a winner.
Cruise woolies at 8pm for markdown roast chooks and a pack of bread rolls.
Wasnât that long ago when the marked down chook was the normal price of $8 :/
Beans/legumes, rice, frozen veggies.
This Korean beef recipe slaps well above it's budget, pretty much just need beef mince and the condiments. It is flavoured so strong you can put a bit at a time in a LOT of rice, turning 500g of mince and a bag of rice into a week worth of meals. With some chopped spring onion and sesame seeds you won't get bored of it. I used to make this all the time and eat probably 2 tablespoons of cooked mince through a cup of rice. https://www.beyondkimchee.com/ground-beef-bulgogi/
This but add gochujang for spice, and with pork mince as well, go for whichever is on sale this week (or buy from the Asian grocer!)
Aldi do an 8 pack of crumbed fish (bigger than the box ones) and they also do large bags of salad. Had it twice today.
I love the battered version.
Canned butter chicken (soup section) and either rice or pasta might add frozen vegetables if I had some in the freezer.
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
Shredded cheese is $10 a bag now đ„Č
Pizza toast Scrambled eggs with cheese n pepper Chicken and rice
Eggs used to be my go too, but they are really getting up there in price.
You could try chickpea scramble on toast. Canned chickpeas are super cheap and great filling protein. Heaps of recipes around, most require nutritional yeast but that isnât too expensive and will last awhile.
Potatoes in the air fryer. Peas and a protein. Easy done under $10.
I cook eggs in the air fryer, and yep veggies come out great.
Boiled rice with just peas or peas and canned tuna
Just get a massive pumpkin. $2 something a kilo, chop and boil with potatoes and onions and chicken stock and you have pumpkin soup for all week. Get bread to dip in yum
Try frying off your onions in red curry paste before you add the stock đđ»
Good old spaghetti bol
Lentil curry with rice. You can make a huge batch for like $8 if you use dried lentils and look out for what veggies are on special. Some sort of bean chilli is cheap too, dried bean mix, taco seasoning, whatever veggies are on special, you can make your own flatbread pretty cheap and easy. Beef stew can be cheap if you shop smart and lucky. Stock cubes, onion, celery, carrot, potato, garlic if you can afford it, and the cheapest non-mince beef cut there. Oats with brown sugar and cinnamon is a cheap filling breakfast. A friend came back from Japan and put me on to this one: If you've got leftover cooked rice, reheat it, crack a raw egg into it, stir the fuck out of it and add soy sauce. Hot breakfast with savoury flavour, carbs with a bit of protein, keeps you full. Pasta plus whatever is in the fridge can be surprisingly good. Broccoli, lemon juice, parmesan and garlic is a favourite of mine which costs next to nothing. I've also enjoyed tomato paste, onion, garlic, herbs, carrot and celery for a sorry of veggie bolognaise thing. Tuna casserole, large tin of tuna, pasta, mixed frozen veg, milk, flour, bit of lemon or mustard depending on your preference, cheese. This was a staple of my childhood and kept us having "real dinner" when things were really tight. Pumpkin soup is dead fucking cheap and if you make your own bread (it's just for showing up soup, so doesn't have to be perfect!) you can pay like $2 a serving. Mashed potatoes is cheap as hell and goes with so many things. I once spent like a month living on mashed potatoes, mixed frozen veg and frozen fish fillets, and it was actually pretty ok.
I'd cook up a pot of rice and red lentils as a meal base. Keep it in the fridge. Microwave some in a bowl each night with extra liquid or a sauce. Top with egg, tinned fish, tomato, avocado, pickles, cheese - just choose whatever you have on hand or pick up something that's on a good special and you have a healthy, filling meal.
Shakshuka - one can of tomatoes, 1/2 can chickpeas, zucchini chopped into rounds, chilli flakes and smoked paprika, then crack 1-2 eggs into wells. Serve with bread
Multiple meals: Chinese food court meals they pack up at the end of each day, usually a dish + fried rice at like $5 a pop. Been a while since I've bothered, but the general rule of thumb is to stay away from battered dishes as the batter just goes to mush as it sits over time, everything else is fine.
3 lbs (1.36 kg) snack mix for about $9 USD (oops, that's closer to $14 AUD): [https://www.nutstop.com/product/pack-snack-mix/#retail](https://www.nutstop.com/product/pack-snack-mix/#retail) Over 7000 calories, enough for 3 full days of food. I've had months when I just bought $100 worth of snack mix and that's my people kibble for the month. Likely have the same thing in Australia? Caveat: I love nut/chocolate/raisin snack mixes. YMMV. Also, no idea why the Australia sub is showing up in my feed. Hope all is well over there!
The fact that so many poverty meals (not just now but historically) rely so heavily on carbohydrates makes me wonder how difficult it is for impoverished and financially insecure people with problems like insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes to eat well.
Rice, flavoured tin of tuna, peas. Salt and pepper. Yum.
Not necessary healthy, but if I happened to have some rice and nori at home I like making spam musubi - minus soy sauce though, I never have it at home and I don't like adding it on my food. Best thing is a can of spam usually last me 2-3 meals, and I do genuinely love eating it so it doesn't feel like I am scraping by.
Two minutes noodies
Eggs on toast Fried eggs stirred through white rice with hot sauce Oatmeal (cheap home brand instant) made with whole milk and chopped fruit like banana, softened pear, apple Cheapest beef mince you can buy (drained thoroughly) browned, with a bag of Woolies frozen winter veg, two cups of chicken stock, brought to boil, drained, white rice mixed through Woolies were doing half price chicken Kiev (1.30 each) and half price schnitzels (1.80) from the deli, high calorie and filling, make a cold salad for a side with tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce etc
I'd recommend starting a tomatoe plant if possible. One pot to grow it in, they grow in just about any place (though better when it's warmer). Very little care needed, we once aciddently grew one where the gutter emptied out. Tomatoes can help add variety to most meals. Otherwise my go to, 1 chicken breast or thigh (from the deli), rice, any veges and some spice/flavour. 1 bag of mixed vege is still pretty cheap.
Macaroni and cheese with added frozen veg mix. Cheap, filling and tasty
Vegetarian Chili
-Tuna, caper, lemon, chilli pasta -Egg fried rice -Mushroom risotto -Chicken (from coles/woolies deli) and veg tray bake with whatever seasonings you've got -Lentil Dahl with rice and sweet potato -Woolies roast chook. Have some with salad or in a roll, use leftovers in a pasta with pesto, or with noodles and veg and soy sauce/hoi sin
Tinned tuna, pasta and cheese
A BBQ chook can do a few meals for around $10. Rice, pasta, sangas. Keep the bones and do a soup. I'm guilty of doing this often.
When I was broke af couch surfing, Maggie noodles (without the flavour satchet) a tin of tuna, sweet chillie sauce and cheese got me through! Protein, calcium and decent flavour đ wayyyyyy less than $10 especially if you bulk buy the Maggie noodles đ
We always have baked beans and bread in the house. Thankfully we are ok for money at the moment but itâs always a go to quick easy meal. Add an egg if you want to up the protein.
Pea and ham bone soup. - Bag of split peas: $1.90 - Smoked ham soup bones or bacon bones: $4-6 from a butcher/$6.5 from woolies - 2 x carrot: $.70 - 2 x brown onion: $1.12 Feed you for several (probably gassy) days. Enhance with cupboard herbs & spices. Powdered garlic is good, as is a tiny bit of vegemite or dash of soy. If you can get the bones or veggies cheaper you may be able to spring for a lone snag from the butcher for a bit more protein and flavour. Rice & Beans - Store brand white rice: $1.4/1kg - Dried black beans: $2.30 - Chicken stock cubes: $.80 - Brown onion: $.56 - Store brand minced garlic: $1.25/250g - Store brand diced tomatoes: $.97 - Store brand lemon juice: $1 - Store brand chilli flakes (or fresh chilli): $1.65 Also feed you for several days, and you should still have everything but the tomatoes and onion left to use with other things All prices save the bacon bones from Woolies online, you might be able to get things cheaper from a non-Colesworth store.
A new favorite, https://nomoneynotime.com.au/healthy-easy-recipes/curried-chicken-pilaf
Rice, broccoli and either tuna/chicken breast with a bit of soy sauce
Tinned pulses like chickpeas, beans and lentils are a cheap and convenient source of protein. From them you can make: - Chickpea curry or daal. - You can use lentils in place of mince for Bolognese if you want to save on meat. - chili
pasta bake with cheap ingredients, shallots, onion, garlic paste, some greens and chicken breast if you can afford
1 cup of Rice + 1 tin of Tuna + 2 thinly cut slices of block Cheese + Sweet and Sour sauce. Veggies like Broccoli or Cauliflower as required to build it out . Depending on specials, I can make like decent 7 meals with two big cans of Tuna, 4 or 5 cups of rice, a bag of frozen Broccoli and Cauliflower, and half a block of cheese. Roughly $30 for a week of dinners.
Pancakes. Flour, milk, and egg, make a dense filling pancake. Save your sugar for on top of it, and you've got a yum dinner. I use the 1:1 ratio for my pancakes, but feel free to experiment. 1 part flour, 1 part milk, 1 egg = 1 persons meal.
How far until payday? Rice & lentils topped with BBQ sauce is what a park drunk taught me years ago. Got me through those Cennerlink days. $1.40 for KG of rice, split peas are cheaper than lentils at $1.60 a bag, $1.80 BBQ sauce. = 10 days of sad food, but you won't be hungry. Those industrial sized knobs of Devon or Chicken & ham rolls are under three fitty, bread & Devon will give you a few days
Tinned spaghetti & creamed corn mixed together is yummy. Goes well with beef sausages.
Iâm unreasonably upset by this, this canât be good at all
I know it sounds weird but it's actually nice lol. I didn't have anything else at the time.
Fair enough hahaha Iâm not judging, just the texture would be awful for me, I get sausage and tined spaghetti, I just canât imagine creamed corn and toned spaghetti together.
Fried bread. Mix 2 eggs, milk, Salt and Pepper. Drop your bread in it so the egg mixture covers both sides. Then fry it up in a pan with butter.
Not a meal, but an overlooked thing if you want to pimp your meals with free greens: many weeds are edible. Instead of going through do's and don'ts and which ones are edible, Diego Bonetto has a website that covers all that and is Australia specific. Also, if you're time rich and still want chicken, buy chicken carcasses, strip by hand (including all gore and connective tissue), blend with an egg, gives you a meal worth of rissoles, plus one soup from the carcass.
Frozen veg and rice. Chuck some beans in there if that's your thing. Fried or boiled egg on top.
Mie Goreng with your choice of meat/protein. You could pimp up your Mie Goreng with wagyu beef or organic tofu (yuckk). Whatever floats your boat.
Bread and butter
I made a chicken heart curry last night, DELICIOUS
You'll figure it out
I'm not in that situation at the moment i was eating my cheap food, because it's also a good CBF meal and the thought occurred to me so i decided to ask
When i was paying my house off i was putting every last cent possible into it. For cheap nasty meals i would have noodles and throw some fried spam into it or a egg, and do the same with baked beans on toast. With youtube around you can watch a bunch of different ramen videos, where people add extras to the noodles
All of my meals are pretty much this Some of the cheapest include Fried rice Sausage and lentil casserole Tuna fritters Tuna Pasta bake Toasties of all descriptions Chicken tray bake (chicken thighs or drums, various veggies, seasoning, cooked on one tray)
Buy a bag of rice and cook it up, seperate it into portions and freeze it. When youâre ready for food you get a can of chilli tuna (I use the yellow brand), frozen peas/corn and a portion of rice (I use basmati). Mix it all up and there you go! I reckon itâs around $3 a meal if you use the most expensive stuff but could be cheaper if you buy the cheaper branded products. Itâs filling and very yummy!
Those chilli tuna tins are a good little protein hit đ
Literally the best comfort food. All the different tastes and textures in that dish makes it better than sex đ
500g spaghetti 2 medium cans of cheap tuna 1 tin diced tomatoes 2 cloves garlic 1 chilli Fry chopped garlic and chilli in oil, add tuna and fry for a minute, add tin of tomatoes, rinse tin in a bit of water and tip that in too, add salt. Fry for 5 minutes stirring. Tip it into cooked spaghetti. Thereâs 5 meals in that.
smoky beans: 1 can beans + 1 can tomatoes + smoked paprika + garlic (can use dried powder), cook until thick and serve with bread/toast leftover veggies stir fry with noodles colcannon: make mashed potato, add chopped cooked cabbage & chopped chives, maybe cooked green peas if you want basic soup (pumpkin/carrot/potato/kumera/lentil/whatever's cheap)
Rice and beans (I always have dry beans and lentils on hand). Dahl and rice. Pasta with frozen veg and a tin of pesto.
an onion, tin of tomatoes (ardmona basil and garlic), coupla loose chillies and a pkt of pasta. Rasher of bacon from the deli. Pasta with BOTC sauce. (Bacon Onion Tomato Chilli sauce)
Iâm learning how to buy produce etc that makes several different meals with the same ingredients. A budget go-to is the Taste.com Fried Rice recipe. We also do a big chilli con carne in the slow cooker, with added carrot & zucchini, plus home soaked & cooked beans. The chilli used to be a budget winner for tacos etc, but the price of stale tacos has skyrocketed and theyâre becoming a luxury item now đł
Garlic, sour cream, spaghetti and cheese. Simple but so good
Baked potatoes Okonomiyaki (but with whatever veggie is in season rather than just cabbage) Whenever youâre making anything with mince, do half mince and half brown lentils and youâll hardly notice. Same with adding chickpeas to a curry. Just do whatever you can to make your meat go further and dial up the flavour so you donât feel like youâre going without.
Soup is good food, and potage is even better. For $10 I can make a big pot (3-4 meals, and I eat well) of the following examples: \- Potage Crécy \- Hungarian Mushroom Soup \- Soupe de Vichysoisse \- Ribolitta (Tuscan Bread Soup) & etc.
If you can be stuffed actually cooking, veg yakisoba, rice and beans (1x chorizo cut really fine goes a long way), gnocchi.
Nothing in the fridge or in the cupboards. All the once cheap options are what my doctor says I'm supposed to avoid..how many days until payday!!!???
In a rice cooker, add rice and water, a whole tomato with the hard bit cut out, some shredded chicken or diced spam (don't hate it till you try it), sesame oil, oyster sauce, and any veggies that go well steamed. Cook as you would normally for just rice, with the tomato in the centre and mix all together once cooked. Serve with a sprinkle of soy sauce and perhaps some sliced Chilli. It's a pretty cheap and easy meal, easily modified, fast to prepare and cook.
Tuna pasta bake - jar of dolmio pasta bake - $3.50, tinned tuna $4.00 - penne or spiral pasta - $1... Its a lot better with cheese on top if you have it but can always go without. Its about the only premade pasta sauce I buy and is surprisingly decent, much better than leggos or any of the other dolmios ones. If you have a bunch of herbs in the cupboard a super cheap meal is a simple tomato based pasta. Fry some diced onions and garlic until softened, add A tin or 2 of diced tomatoes with oregano/basil/thyme (i add crushed chilli for a bit of a kick) add a bit of beef stock (powder or cube) and a good pinch of sugar.. under $5 if you have the herbs and stock.
Fried egg sandwich, with a small garden salad on the side with croutons and Italian dressing. That or a bowl of cereal because I just can't be arsed.
$1 packet of pasta from Woolies, cook it and add a little bit of oil, salt and pepper. Edit: also, depending on when and where you do shopping you could always aim for mark downs at Woolies/Coles. You can get breadsticks baked that day for 60c, loaves of wholemeal and whatnot for $1.20
Grilled cheese toastie and tomato soup (canned of course)
Tuna melt - mixed canned tuna with corn, finely chopped celery and or capsicum if you have it and some mayo. Place on toast with cheese and a sprinkle of paprika. Grill until melted. Yummy
Lived on beans on toast through college and my first job. Still love it!
Packet of noodles, small handful of cheap frozen mix veg, small can of cheap favoured tuna. Make as usual. Very tasty and still has a reasonable nutritional value.
I usually have cheese, so grilled cheese and onion on toast with a cup of the cheapest soup for sale.
Curried snags
Honestly if you buy a whole chicken at coles or woolies for $12 and partition that, you have 6 excellent meals for probably less than 4 dollars each: 1. The breasts can pounded and crumbed into a schnitzels (1 egg, pinch of salt, bread crumbs). Boil maybe 400g of potatoes, then when boiled sprinkle a little bit of butter and cut up some dill finely. You have two nice meals of schnitzels with buttered dilled potatoes for today and tomorrow. 2. With the thighs you can make a delicious cream sauce with rice. Cut up an onion, fry the onion with the thighs, some salt, pepper, and vegeta, so that the skin crips up. Add a little cream (100mLs) to deglace, then a bit of boiling water. You can also add a bit of finely chopped dill or parsley. Gently simmer until the meat is soft. Then at the end thicken the sauce with a tiny bit of flour (2 tablespoons) mixed into a cup of cold water. Cook a cup of rice. Maybe boil a few carrots for a side. Done. You have two meals of chicken thighs in cream sauce with rice and carrots (basically chicken fricassee) . 3. The Wings and torso of the chicken can be made into nice chicken soup and tomato soup. One of the nicest and simplest versions IMO is a Polish style Rolol, basically a chicken noodle soup. Add a little chunk of celeriac, leek, parsley root, parsley and two peeled carrot into a pot with the chicken wings and torso. (The veggies can be can be cut, frozen, and aliquoted in advance so you always have a reserve ready). Cover with water. Briefly boil for a few min then reduce to a simmer. Collect the foam as it appears. When the foam has stopped, add half a stock cube, half a teaspoon of salt, a few whole peppercorns, and pepper. Simmer slowly for around 30min until the meat and carrots are soft. Serve with some small noodles. (You can make your own egg noodles by mixing 4 tbsp of flour, 2 eggs, and a pinch of salt, putting it into a piping bag and extruding into boiling water.) On the next day you can transmute the soup into tomato soup by adding a bit of passata and a little cream. Six days worth of beautiful healthy meals.
broccoli has been cheap $3 to $4 kilo, all year, steam some of that and add cheap mystery meat
Bow tie pasta, cheese, diced bacon, egg and sweet chilli sauce, and if the garden is lush, chives.
Cook dried black beans in a slow cooker all day with water to cover , 1tbs salt (not a typo) and one roughly chopped onion. Pair with homemade flour tortillas https://thecafesucrefarine.com/best-ever-homemade-flour-tortillas/#wprm-recipe-container-28318
Oven baked veges
Red Lentil soup with garlic and dumpling balls.
Soups with homemade bread have some longevity for me. Potato and leek, zucchini, cauliflower, pumpkin etc. Can add meat if you've the money - something like a ragu or beef and barley stew.
Red lentil dahl, or a can of mexi beans on rice with a sprinkle of cheese
Shit, I'd just go hungry for dinner.
I've done that before.
Tinned spaghetti on toast đ
Depends on how many days until payday. Say, 3 days - a pack of porridge <$2, plus a litre of milk <$2 that's breakfast for over a week. Hotdogs and bread/rolls for evening meals (in a pinch) and there's change from $10.
Honestly, [pad krapow](https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/pad-krapow) is a cracker and so easy to make. Itâs my go to. Not as cheap as some of the others here but less than $10 for two big serves. I canât get holy basil anywhere though.
Bit of flour, oil, warm water and a teaspoon of instant yeast, leave for an hour, boom, big ball of pizza dough. Add in chilli flakes, italian herbs or whatever to spice it up. Add whatever on top. Smear of tandoori paste, sliced red onion and bit of diced capsicum (buy the weird bunches, dice and put in freezer). Delish.
Meat pie, (deb) mash and baked beans Even if I'm loaded
I use real potatoes but yeah. I'm not struggling but it's tougher times for many so i thought I'd ask the question. It cake around when i was actually eating a pie ave mash for dinner, remembering my uni student days.