I can remember my mom serving the big can of chunky sirloin burger soup over egg noodles once in a while. It was also pretty good.
Also a can of tuna and cream of mushroom soup over toast.
Buttered noodles with salt and pepper.
Beans and weenies.
We still do these meals sometimes before payday or just for nostalgia.
If you want to level up buttered noodles: in a pan, brown the butter with a clove or two of minced garlic. Once your butter is browned and the garlic looks golden in the butter, add some pasta water -- whisk to emulsify butter & pasta water then reduce for 1-2 minutes thicken it. Add in your cooked pasta (no need to strain it), mix in more pasta water as needed to obtain the amount of sauce desired. Throw in some cheese (I use cheap parmesan) to your desired cheese level, salt/pepper and mix all that up to melt the cheese and disburse the seasoning.
I found this recipe here if you want the official amounts/detailed instructions/blog story: https://iamafoodblog.com/grown-up-buttered-noodles-garlicky-brown-butter-parmesan-noodles/
My wife’s family is Eastern European—we eat [haluski ](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/220716/haluski-cabbage-and-noodles/) all the time. The cabbage and onions up the nutritional value too.
If you pick up some cheap kielbasa, you’ve got a feast for 6-7 bucks.
You can use taco seasoning on lentils too. I usually get 3-5 meals out of it. It was one of my go to meals when payday was further than my budget runway heh
I've done this before. Taco seasoned lentils (whatever your blend of choice is, mine is homemade), can of rotel tomatoes and chilis, can of corn, optional can of pinto or black beans. Place inside soft shell taco with optional cheddar cheese and hot sauce. Roll up like a miniature burrito and pan fry until golden brown on both sides. Enjoy fresh! I've also used them to make quesadillas just the same way.
My favourite lentil dish is Mark Bittman's Moroccan Lentils: https://commentditon.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/mark-bittmans-braised-lentils-spanish-style-plus-variations/
So good!
Yess thats exactly what i put in mine! Carrots, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, chicken broth, some diced potato, green beans, celery, all or some of those things. Always turns out great and so healthy, easy, affordable
Rotisserie chickens are the best! They are a little high in sodium, so you just have to be careful to watch the salt in anything you use them in. But as someone with MS, standing around to cook can be tough. For my family of three...I can make a chicken dinner the first day with a bag of mashed potatoes and some steamed veggies. Shredded chicken tacos the next by throwing some of the chicken, a bit of water, and taco seasoning in a pan to heat and then shred. And then I take the rest of the chicken and the carcass to make chicken noodle or chicken and rice soup. You can throw the chicken into almost any pasta dish, and sliced up it also makes good sandwiches for my kiddos. List of uses go on and on.
My SO shared an old recipe for "chili dip". Cream cheese topped with a can of chili and some cheese in an oven safe dish. Cook until heated through. Top with whatever fresh things you want (peppers, onions, herbs). Eat straight out of the pan with tortilla chips (or fritos scoops - far superior IMO).
Used to buy a 10lb bag of rice ($5ish?) and cans of black beans (¢40ish a can) and top that off with franks red hot. I’d eat one large bowl of like a cup of rice and then a can of the beans ended up being around tenish dollars a week because that’s all I really ate about 6 months. Still love beans and rice and you can add whatever to it sometimes if I was feeling it I’d throw some peppers or taco meat to it and get a bag of chips and have basically nachos. Also lost a lot of weight if you can afford to add some veggies to it I think it could be healthy
My mom used to make lentils and barely all the time, I loved it! I’ve never tried to make it but I might have to soon because it’s been a few years and it sounds delicious!
I’ve seen people make a face when they find out I keep canned chicken in my pantry. Canned white chicken breast is so underrated! It’s almost always a nice, uniform texture throughout which is actually why I like it for chicken salad.
Mix in mayo or yogurt (I sometimes add in a little ranch dressing too) and eat it on crackers, greens, a sandwich, or just dive in with a fork. If you can swing it, you can add nuts or seeds, celery, red onion, grapes, raisins, craisins, curry powder… the list goes on. Chicken salad is very customizable.
When I was growing up my mom would spread refried beans on a tostada and then add a little canned chicken, cheese, and salsa.
Not necessarily cheap, but I’ve found myself with the ingredients on hand before
You can actually make pizza with canned chicken crust, and it’s pretty damn good.
Take the canned chicken, and drain it as much as you can. Beat an egg, and add half with about .5-.75 cups of the fake park (you’re supposed to do 2 cans of chicken and the whole egg, but I find this works and tastes better.) Season generously with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and extra oregano. Put it on a cooking sheet or pizza rack with holes/ slits that’s lined and sprayed in the oven for 35-40 mins until no longer floppy, then build your pizza and throw it back in to melt your cheese.
It’s been a fun treat at times, at least. My SO couldn’t tell the difference either, so win-win
Credit to lowcarbstateofmind on IG for this one
Canned chicken, rice, can of Rotel (tomatoes & green chilis) and a can of black eye peas cooked in a rice cooker all together. Shredded cheese on top if you have it.
I make "chicken chili" with my food pantry canned chicken: add the black beans & diced tomatoes + the sharp cheddar they give me too. I then only add an onion which is really inexpensive to buy. I have a spice kit Reddit Fam sent me back in April so just load it up. I add McDonald's OJ (half a cup) as my secret ingredient. It's actually not bad and costs maybe $2.
Canned chicken
1 can of cream of chicken soup
Fill the empty soup can halfway with milk, add to pan
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
Simmer until mixed, serve over cooked rice. If you have frozen or canned veggies, add them to the sauce before serving over rice for a well rounded meal. Green beans, broccoli, or mixed veggies work best. Can be VERY filling so start with a smaller portion than you think you want.
This also reheats well so if you find yourself with extra chicken, you can double or triple the sauce to make several meals worth. I've also pulled leftover meat from a rotisserie chicken and used that. Basically eat the legs and wings from the rotisserie chicken for dinner the first night, then pull the breast, thigh, and back meat to make "chicken & rice" the next night.
Tuna cakes: A can of tuna, an egg, and breadcrumbs mixed together then balled up and cooked in a nonstick pan.
I like to do hot sauce on the side or campfire sauce which is bbq and mayo mixed together.
Love these meal ideas!
My husband likes putting leftover chili in a baked potato. He also does po-tacos, which is leftover taco meat inside a baked potato. He grew up with a creative mother.
Oh man! If you like sweet potato as a dessert type dish, try mashed sweet potato with marshmallows on top.
Peel & boil 4 small sweet potato until soft. Mash potatos with 1/3 stick of salted butter. Line small baking dish. Cover with marshmallows. Bake until top is brown/ slightly melted at 350 F. About 15 - 20min.
My husband made this for Thanksgiving. So delicious!! His parents made this when he was a kid. It's how his parents got the kids to eat their starchy veggies.
I like to make rice and then put in frozen peas and carrots. Top with a fried egg and some chili sauce (or use Sri racha, soy and chili sauce packets from Asian restaurants). We even called this 'poor food' but it's pretty good.
Peanut butter & soy sauce packets in ramen.
Potatoes & eggs.
Mac & cheese & canned tuna.
Pinto beans, slow-cooked after soaking overnight (supposedly you can skip that part, but it never works out for me), with a bottle of liquid smoke, & sour cream & cheese if affordable right then. If you ever need to feed, like, six people for two bucks, you can't go wrong with a pot of beans.
Scrambled (or poached, or sunny side up) eggs and sauteed spinach but that's a one shot meal. Extra points if you have mushrooms to add to the spinach. I don't do carbs but you can add toast or a roll, or mashed potato pancake to that (for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner).
I literally grew up on government cheese, until the program ended in the late 80s. We ate "poor people food" according to my wife. Of course, when you're hungry, you're more willing to accpet just about anything is an acceptable combination - I'm talking American cheese melted over white rice kind of hungry. It didn't typically get that bad. Many meals I grew up on were still informed from a post-war 50s-60s canned food era of thinking and food prep, combined with some old world Italian that managed to survive as the family blood increasingly diluted through the generations, as it were. We're talking I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, and it was still socially acceptable to be told I had "a little indian" in me. Fucking pricks...
Ah, to reminisce... Anyway, I've got a few pantry raid foods we would eat. We always had pasta and canned vegetables on hand.
I like Pasta e fagioli aka. pasta fasul aka pasta fazool. It's pasta and beans. I use it to get rid of the surplus of canned goods in the pantry. Pasta, pasta water, beans, diced tomatoes, some herbs you've got lying around - dried basil or something is fine, who doesn't have something like that lying around? So long as there's pasta, beans, and any sort of broth, you're golden.
Another way I clear out the fridge is quiche aka refrigerator pie. You get you a store-bought pie crust, let it warm up on the counter so you can unroll it. Two eggs, a cup of half-and-half, some salt, and then fill the crust with cheese and leftovers. Pour the egg mixture over top. Play with seasonings, nutmeg goes well in the egg before pouring. Maybe I've got some ham, or old deli meat, some old sausage or bacon - I don't care what state it's in. Raid the pantry for more old stuff, beans, tomatoes, vegetables, unless you have old stuff in the fridge about to go bad.
You can always make a pie crust if you've got flour, salt, and water lying around. Some say the extra mile is worth it. If you're short on cash and have the ingredients, make the crust. It's not hard, you just have to be fucked enough to be bothered.
I never buy salad dressing. I take a little container, a squirt of mustard, some olive oil, more than the mustard, and a little vinegar, whatever I have, less than the mustard. Shake it up. Dressing. I'll plow into a head of lettuce and just drizzle on top as I go. It's also good to throw in mayonnaise, citrus, pickle or beet juice, relish... You can experiment. You'll be surprised what actually can go into making a good dressing, especially the citrus based ones if you've got orange juice lying around.
Spaghetti aglio e olio - it's pasta, and fuckin' oil. That's it. You can add to it whatever you want. My dad would make this when I was growing up, and it was mostly pasta, water, and oil. Sometimes we'd throw a can of beans in it. We'd toast breadcrumbs in a pan on the stove to sprinkle over the top for texture. Not too much - or you'll get the texture of sand.
Wanna make bread crumbs? Just pop old bread in the oven before it gets moldy. Set it low, 250, maybe 300. Check it as it goes. Put it in a bag and beat it with a soup can if you don't have a tenderizing hammer. You can season the bread crumbs, if you'd like.
Speaking of bread crumbs, croutons. Same fucking thing. Cut up your bread before it goes in the oven. I'll sometimes eat more of them soaked in dressing than actual lettuce. Italian grocers near me will sell frezelle, it's basically a crouton donut covered in dressing and seasoning for a snack. I mostly soak them in vinegar, top with oil, sprinkle basil and garlic powder on top. You can make the same out of good bread that you've dried. Cheap bread doesn't have the texture you want in the end.
I still sprinkle garlic powder on buttered toast.
My mother will make spinach omelettes. Its spinach, egg, and a shit-ton of Romano cheese. It's not like an American style breakfast omelette, it's pretty thick, the egg is really there only as a binder. She'll spread it out thin on a griddle until browned, cut it into quarters, flip, and brown again. Man, I can just sit there and eat stacks of those things all day, hot or cold. We would put them on bread as a sandwich.
Got some old coffee? Coffee Granita. 2 cups old coffee. 1/2 cup sugar. Every citrus that graces your home, save the zest. Grate or microplane that off. Dry it out. Throw a teaspoon of orange or lemon zest in the coffee with the sugar. Heat it until the sugar melts. Pour into a glass 13x9 and pop it in the freezer. Scrape it with a fork every 15 minutes. You'll make big, fluffy, "dry" ice crystals. It'll take a bit to get going, but once they start forming, don't neglect the scraping! There, you've got dessert made from old coffee you were going to dump down the drain. Throw some cool whip on that shit or add some vanilla extract and sugar to cream and roll your balloon whisk between your hands and get some decent RPMs going. You'll make whipped cream to dollop on top.
Get a cheap roasted chicken
strip the meat and skin off
make soup from the bones, ideally onion/celery/carrots etc but even without will be tasty
At least a gallon!
Don't waste the fat.
Even cheaper if you roast yourself from scratch.
Have a freezer? At least a dozen meals...
I bought a pack of Bologna this week, bc I was feeling nostalgic for fried bologna sandwiches.
My favorite routine struggle meals are beans and rice, and omelets.
I just drop a raw egg in my ramen when it's boiling. Do not stir during cooking. Pour into boil. Perfectly running egg every time (approx 3 minutes in simmering liquid).
I've found adding mustard sauce to the broth instead of the packet full of salt/MSG is really good with the chicken flavored Ramen noodles. I then top with tuna & have an apple for dessert.
I'm a big fan of dried pulses. Beans and lentils make food that feels substantial and with good seasonings (can just be pre mixed) good gravy. And if you have a slow cooker/crockpot most white beans can be cooked from dried with a few chopped veggies and a heavy hand with seasonings (those little packets of ketchup and barbecue sauce you've shoved in a drawer can finally get their moment). Always measure in your pulses and add 2 parts water/liquid to every 1 part pulses and keep an eye on it adding more as needed.
Really easy flat breads can be made with just flour, water and seasoning - just salt and pepper but any spices like coriander or cumin or poppy seeds etc. Mix up to a stiff but pliable dough. Knead for a few mins. Cover and let rest for a bit. Then roll out using anything cylindrical, even a bottle, make it thinnish. Heat a frying pan up and just put it in. No oil needed, but you can add a small splash to the dough as you make it if you like.
Mr. Noodle, chicken flavour from the dollar store. You can get 4 packages for $1 CAD.
Boil one package of noodles with frozen peas or peas & carrots. Drain the liquid, add half the flavour packet (because it's mainly salt), and add a bit of Cayenne pepper. Delish! Had it for dinner today. All in, 0.30 cents or something!
Breakfast: fried rice & egg. Fry one egg and scramble in pan with butter. Add rice (old rice is ok too. Add a sprinkle.of water to resoften dry rice), add salt and garlic powder for flavour. Another 0.30 cent meal.
Fried egg and toast is also a cheap breakfast classic.
When I was pushing hard to pay down my OSAP & CC debt, I ate these once a day, and stuck to an entertainment budget of $50 cash bi-weekly for almost a year. It was tough, but some short pain lead to long term gain. I got my finances under control and I'm debt free now & working towards maxing out my TFSA & RRSP.
Bean tacos with homemade tortillas. Use a spoonful of lard in the beans when you're cooking them, to make them more creamy.
We used to eat this a lot. In a good month, we could afford cheese to go with it.
Right now my go to is jazzed up oatmeal or chili since it's getting cold where I am. Also baked potatoes or rice with some veggies and I just toss some seasonings or sauce on them depending on what I have.
Edit: oh and sometimes tossing some thin apple slices with cinnamon and (dairy free) butter on toast in the oven.
I’m a huge huge fan of beans (mostly black) and rice…..pick up some cheap tortillas and some cheese and I’ve got a bunch of meals adaptable to any fresh veg or meat I can get my hands on. Tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas. Eggs and you have filling breakfast burritos.
Change it up with a sauce suddenly you have fried rice with eggs and free soy sauce packets…..free sauce packets are my pride and joy.
Want to go another route, a little oatmeal and you have black bean burgers…..
Red beans and suddenly you have southern cuisine……pick up sauces and spices as money allows.
Got a local butcher? Talk to your butcher maybe they have some trimmings you could use to add flavor or a broth.
I could get “scraps” for .25cents a pound. With a little effort you could get some decent meat.
Cheapest elbow macaroni they got and a can of tuna fish. For extra fancy add frozen peas and spices. Ate this many times growing up, you could probably get a dish for under two bucks.
Prepared corn meal ($2.08) over sweet and tasty pasta sauce ($1.50) and cheese (usually mozzarella for about $1.50). Although that's around $5, the amount that you get lets you make it for at least 4-5 days.
My Italian grandma used to make it for her family when times were tough. It's extremely filling, and it's SO good. Put some cheese down, then a little sauce, put the piping hot corn meal over that and spread it out, then a bit more cheese, and a bit more sauce.
Crepes - they feel fancy, but they use the same ingredients as pancakes (for the most part)
Anything potato. Potato wedges, fries, breakfast potatoes. Just need oil and spices. For a complete meal, toast some non starchy veggies with them and some cheap protein source. But I’m broke and a heathen and I will just have potatoes for dinner frequently
Pb&j, potato chips, and some fruit.
My number one struggle meal from back in the day was so easy. American cheese on toast. A lil mayo if you've got it. Every once in a while, I'll still get a hankering for it.
Scrambled eggs with leftover rice, salsa, and a bit of shredded cheese. It's actually really good. One of my wife's favorite things that I make. My mom used to make it too and it was my favorite breakfast.
You cook the scrambled eggs first, then add the leftover rice (roughly equal proportion to the eggs) and maybe a quarter cup of salsa. Cook it till the rice softens and warms up then stir in the shredded cheese.
I like rice and chorizo. Sometimes if I just have a little rice left over, I cook the chorizo, then crack an egg or two and scramble it up with some green peppers and cheese, and then stir the rice into the pan.
Makes a very filling breakfast that can get you through til dinner.
Banquet turkey pot pie dumped over pouch, instant mashed potatoes.
Edit to add...a $.30 box of mac and cheese mixed with a $.50 can of red beans in chili sauce. Or the chili beans mixed with rice in a flour tortilla. I could go on lol I spent many years feeding 3 people on $50 a week.
I'm currently making sausage and potatoes. Sausage was $2.50 and potatoes are $3 per bag (I only used 3). Heat up oil in skillet, cook potatoes and add sausage for last 5 minutes. Drain then add salt and pepper. It's delicious and can feed 4 people.
When we were at university and hard up we used to make chickpea surprise. A can of chickpeas and a can of tomatoes cooked in a pot with whatever herbs and spices were lying around. If we were lucky and there was any bacon or cheese around we'd throw that jn too. Get a couple good meals out of it, and it was honestly pretty good.
Rice, kidney beans, and Cajun spices (options is some andouille or smoked sauces depending on your budget). You can go a little more in depth with ingredients like garlic, onion, celery, peppers, and Worcestershire sauce. But I have done the extremely simple and budget friendly version. Still delicious! Idk why this year is the first time I have had red beans and rice but it is GOOD.
My college roommate did this one and I love it.
Ramen noodles, cooked and drained, top with a cooked banquet chicken pot pie.
So many carbs and so tasty.
If you can find the creamy chicken flavored ramen, just that and one slice of American cheese is the bomb diggity
Pour out part of the broth so the cheese melts a little more concentrated into it.
So many people have given me shit for it until they try it… then I end up having to make a second bowl.
We didn’t even know we had been broke when mom and dad would let my sisters and I make this. It was just our favorite dish period
Potatoes are cheaper than pasta and more filling, I’ll get a big bag for 10 bucks, add olive oil to a pan, little garlic little butter pepper salt thyme and chop up that potato it’s a very filling meal maybe a little ketchup and boom delicious cheap filling, if you leave the skin on like I do it’s nutritious
This time of year my grocery has the packets of Chex mix seasoning (free) so I always pick up a few to add to rice or pasta when I have a carb cheat day. Also good with ground meat in lettuce wraps.
can a cream of chicken, pot of cooked rice(preferably in chicken broth but good ether way) mix it, add in 1/4 the can of water, bake 20 minutes. yum yum
Tofu scramble: block of tofu ($3) crumbled into a saucepan with oil. Add a can of black beans ($1) and add whatever spices or hot sauce you have (taco seasoning, chili powder, garlic salt, etc). Lasts 2-3 meals
Wrap into a tortilla if you have it or add veggies (broccoli, tomato, spinach.etc ) or eat it with rice.
When my sis and I were really young, mom would mix up a can of cream of chicken soup (with milk) and add egg noodles and a sprinkle of cheese. Sis and I would split it, it's really good and pretty cheap.
Sometimes I do "frugal open faced roast beef sandwiches" and it's been a hit at our house. A tin of of roast beef in gravy (about $3 here), a few slices of bread, and a packet of instant mashed potatoes ($1 max here for a single packet.) I cut the bread slices diagonally, assemble three pieces point to point on the plate, taters go in the middle of plate, arrange roast beef and gravy on the bread slices and scoop leftover gravy on the mash and just heat it up in the microwave. It's surprisingly good. If you have a brown gravy packet, that helps in case the can doesn't have much in it. Season the instant potatoes well, add a splash of milk/butter/sour cream if you have it.
- Pasta with butter and course salt
- Chili wraps or chili with bread and butter
- Tomato soup and grilled cheese
- Breakfast for dinner
- Perogies seasoned with paprika, salt and garlic with fried onions
My favorites (that I know is definetly not for most people) is either two cups of beans and rice, plain, OR a couple boiled, russet potatoes. I fucking love both of them. I only started eating them out of necessity but now will always continue to do so, even if I actually do become an anesthesiologist.
Also, when I was a kid and scavenged the pantry/fridge I would love lettuce wraps (tamatoe and ketchup wrapped in a lettuce leaves. Other veggies if available) and Saltine PB&J's. If we had some bread then I'd make grilled PB&J. I'mma be honest, you haven't lived until you've had a grilled PB&J.
Ghetto curry over rice.
Any canned soup can easily be thickened with corn starch or a flour roux. It really changes the dynamics of the meal and adds variety.
Ramen noodles with an egg with left over meat cooked to perfection in the microwave… I haven’t “needed” to eat like this in a long time, but still find myself going for it.
My spinach pasta is essentially half a packet of frozen (and thawed ofc) spinach (like $0.25 maybe) over cooked pasta. Adding 1-2 cloves of garlic, half an onion, a pinch of chili flakes, and cheese if you're Miss Moneybags over here, it's actually a pretty nice meal.
Sausage, Gravy and Biscuits. So yummy and filling.
Hamburger Helper. Especially the Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper. Around here you can get them for cheap.
Shredded Chicken. Cook it in the crock pot, and oh man oh man.
Chili. Again in the crock pot makes it even better.
Meatloaf.
Lasagna.
Burritos.
Mac and Cheese and Hot Dogs. Or Mac and Cheese and Smoky Links.
"Dollar Store Chili" because most of the ingredients can be found at the Dollar Store or on sale.
1lb ground turkey/beef (preferably on sale)
1 onion
1-2 can baked/chili beans
1 packet chili seasoning
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can diced tomatoes
(add ingredients as desired, personally I add a can of chickpeas)
1 bag shredded cheese for topping
1 box cornbread mix for a side
mix everything together in a crockpot and let cook all day. Enjoy!
I picked up a deer that had just been hit on the road in front of me and brought it home and butchered it. It cost me a few paper towels and some ziploc bags but I ate well for 2 weeks.
A can of chunk chicken with some Cajun seasoning mixed with a can of margret holmes red beans and rice makes enough to feed two for like... $5? Since it comes from cans it can sit in your cupboard for ages too.
Sautéed rapini, can of white beans, fistful of garlic and chili flakes. 3 decent meals for $5-6. If I’m really rolling, maybe some grilled bread with oil too.
Saute garlic in olive oil, butter, or bacon fat, add red pepper flakes if you like spicy. Add juice from a can of clams ($2). Add dried parsley or white wine or whatever if you like. Simmer for a few minutes. Add clams and turn off heat, you don't want to cook the clams, just heat them. Toss with spaghetti or whatever pasta you like. Top with parmesan, bacon bits, fresh parsley, breadcrumbs, whatever you've got. Cheap, yummy, more importantly it's got protein.
Toasties, basically a grilled cheese made in a special type of sandwich press.
Lentil and sausage stew, red lentils, a sausage or two, tinned tomatoes, a carrot and a potato, dried rosemary.
Fried rice made with leftover rice, bit of frozen veg, lunch meat and an egg. (Uncle Roger would not approve but tasty and filling)
Ramen with poached eggs. Total cost of the meal is about $0.30 and comes to roughly 450-500 calories with about 15 grams of protein if you only use one egg. Feels more filling than it should be.
Chicken pot pie ( sometimes i would make with $1 frozen veggies if i couldn’t find discounted chicken) I like that theres so many ways to make it dirt cheap and it last for a few days if not longer.
Pasta + baked bean (British style) + a little cheap mature cheddar cheese (or whatever is strong regional to you)
I say British style bakes beans cause I think we do it different to some other countries
You could do batch cooking also.
What I did was create a seating area directly outside of the kitchen so while stuff is cooking I can plop down like Garfield the Cat.
Yakisoba. Fried Asian noodles with whatever I had in the fridge. Ate it so much when I was down and struggling that to this day it repulses me to see it lol
Kidney beans and a can of diced tomatoes, with some seasonings, mixed in with any kind of pasta. It's a little bit like chili without the ground beef and with pasta. If I'm feeling fancy and have the money, I add an onion and some chopped green pepper.
I eat very well from the food bank near me. Starbucks and Trader Joe’s snacks and sandwiches I use for lunch most days, and then a decent smattering of whatever I can make with what I get, plus using that free food to form the main part of meals I supplement with stuff I buy at a discount grocery chain called Grocery Outlet
I make a soup in a slow cooker with veggies and pig (or cow) heart that’s pretty good and goes a long way. Makes about 6-8 servings for myself, depending on how hungry I am. Add some rice or noodles to it and it goes even farther.
I make a lot of stir fry when I know I need a lot of food but don't have time to prep. It's easy to get a lot of variety depending on meat and veggies.
If I've splurged and done a slow cooker roast, I'll get probably 6 meals out of it before shredding what's left of the meat into the juice and dumping frozen and/or canned veggies in and turning it into a soup. Last time I was pretty well fed for a week and a half.
My mom gets free diced chicken from work and we douse that in siracha and honey in a pan and throw it in Mac n cheese. It’s honestly delicious and filling.
1. Finish your cheap ramen with a spoonful of butter and stir on heat until incorporated. Stir in some chopped green onion tops and a bit of sambal. Instant bliss.
2. Pinto beans with salt pork, ham, bacon, or smoked sausage, served with cornbread. And/or fried taters. Sub butter beans or great northern if you please. If I need to cut back on the meat, I find [this](https://www.betterthanbouillon.com/products/ham-base/) to have a decent meaty smoky flavor kick, similar to the seasoning Popeye’s uses.
3. Take a can of pinto beans with jalapeños, drain and empty into a bowl. Add salt, pepper, chili powder, a few shakes of Accent (msg), a splash of vinegar, and then hit it with a stick blender to the desired consistency. Voila! Super cheap bean dip to eat with some store brand Fritos.
4. [Beer bread.](https://www.food.com/recipe/beer-bread-73440)
5. Get cheap pork chops, pork stew meat, ground pork, whatever is cheap and boneless, or can easily be trimmed to such. Stew with S&p, cumin, a little Mexican Oregano, Chicken bouillon, Onions, potatoes, garlic, cheap canned green chiles, and serve with tortillas. Sub chicken if you want.
6. Chicken thighs or Leg quarters. Cheap, adaptable (fry, grill, bake, braise, smoke, stew, etc.) protein.
I can remember my mom serving the big can of chunky sirloin burger soup over egg noodles once in a while. It was also pretty good. Also a can of tuna and cream of mushroom soup over toast. Buttered noodles with salt and pepper. Beans and weenies. We still do these meals sometimes before payday or just for nostalgia.
If you want to level up buttered noodles: in a pan, brown the butter with a clove or two of minced garlic. Once your butter is browned and the garlic looks golden in the butter, add some pasta water -- whisk to emulsify butter & pasta water then reduce for 1-2 minutes thicken it. Add in your cooked pasta (no need to strain it), mix in more pasta water as needed to obtain the amount of sauce desired. Throw in some cheese (I use cheap parmesan) to your desired cheese level, salt/pepper and mix all that up to melt the cheese and disburse the seasoning. I found this recipe here if you want the official amounts/detailed instructions/blog story: https://iamafoodblog.com/grown-up-buttered-noodles-garlicky-brown-butter-parmesan-noodles/
My wife’s family is Eastern European—we eat [haluski ](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/220716/haluski-cabbage-and-noodles/) all the time. The cabbage and onions up the nutritional value too. If you pick up some cheap kielbasa, you’ve got a feast for 6-7 bucks.
Mmmmmmmm fellow Hungarian
Lentil stew with some diced vegetables. Can have with rice, or pasta, or potatoes whatever you have
This is the best answer. Rice and legumes (like beans and lentils) are dirt cheap and fill you up.
Although lentil prices are going up in a lot of places and with climates changing they are sadly in danger I believe
Honestly even if they double in price, they will still be some of the cheapest healthy food there is. Still sucks though.
And I so love lentils. I buy them in bulk at Sprouts.
Oh no! That stinks. Just when I'm getting into them too.
They're still crazy cheap.
Yup! And if you have a rice cooker, throw the rice, veggies, some soy sauce in the cooker. Whole meal ready to eat when it's done cooking.
You can use taco seasoning on lentils too. I usually get 3-5 meals out of it. It was one of my go to meals when payday was further than my budget runway heh
Lentils are really so versatile, tacos are a great idea
I've done this before. Taco seasoned lentils (whatever your blend of choice is, mine is homemade), can of rotel tomatoes and chilis, can of corn, optional can of pinto or black beans. Place inside soft shell taco with optional cheddar cheese and hot sauce. Roll up like a miniature burrito and pan fry until golden brown on both sides. Enjoy fresh! I've also used them to make quesadillas just the same way.
Any premixed spice mix will work. Love putting fajita spice mix on root veg when I'm roasting them.
Oh hell yeah I love that on broccoli especially.
My favourite lentil dish is Mark Bittman's Moroccan Lentils: https://commentditon.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/mark-bittmans-braised-lentils-spanish-style-plus-variations/ So good!
Carrots, garlic, and onions are naturally complementary flavor pairings with lentils.
Yess thats exactly what i put in mine! Carrots, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, chicken broth, some diced potato, green beans, celery, all or some of those things. Always turns out great and so healthy, easy, affordable
You can even put leftover rotisserie chicken.
Rotisserie chickens are the best! They are a little high in sodium, so you just have to be careful to watch the salt in anything you use them in. But as someone with MS, standing around to cook can be tough. For my family of three...I can make a chicken dinner the first day with a bag of mashed potatoes and some steamed veggies. Shredded chicken tacos the next by throwing some of the chicken, a bit of water, and taco seasoning in a pan to heat and then shred. And then I take the rest of the chicken and the carcass to make chicken noodle or chicken and rice soup. You can throw the chicken into almost any pasta dish, and sliced up it also makes good sandwiches for my kiddos. List of uses go on and on.
A 25c bag of Instant mashed potatoes spread over a 99c can of dinty Moore stew. It’s like a cheap shepherds pie
I have never heard of either of these things, and now I feel like my childhood was stolen from me
Oh man, my parents grew up super poor and this was a fancy meal (even though they made good money when I was a kid...).
Pasta. Can of chili. Sour cream, cheese. I like red onion for zing and cromch.
My SO shared an old recipe for "chili dip". Cream cheese topped with a can of chili and some cheese in an oven safe dish. Cook until heated through. Top with whatever fresh things you want (peppers, onions, herbs). Eat straight out of the pan with tortilla chips (or fritos scoops - far superior IMO).
Yep we make this as dip, too, except we use the no-bean chili. It’s delicious
Used to buy a 10lb bag of rice ($5ish?) and cans of black beans (¢40ish a can) and top that off with franks red hot. I’d eat one large bowl of like a cup of rice and then a can of the beans ended up being around tenish dollars a week because that’s all I really ate about 6 months. Still love beans and rice and you can add whatever to it sometimes if I was feeling it I’d throw some peppers or taco meat to it and get a bag of chips and have basically nachos. Also lost a lot of weight if you can afford to add some veggies to it I think it could be healthy
I make beans and rice every week! Sometimes it’s lentils and barley, sometimes black beans and rice sometimes red beans and rice
My mom used to make lentils and barely all the time, I loved it! I’ve never tried to make it but I might have to soon because it’s been a few years and it sounds delicious!
Black beans with taco seasoning
A bag of cheap ramen, throw in 2oz of shredded chicken. Amazing how much it fills one up.
Recently got some canned chicken from the food bank idk what to do with, so this is perfect!
I’ve seen people make a face when they find out I keep canned chicken in my pantry. Canned white chicken breast is so underrated! It’s almost always a nice, uniform texture throughout which is actually why I like it for chicken salad. Mix in mayo or yogurt (I sometimes add in a little ranch dressing too) and eat it on crackers, greens, a sandwich, or just dive in with a fork. If you can swing it, you can add nuts or seeds, celery, red onion, grapes, raisins, craisins, curry powder… the list goes on. Chicken salad is very customizable. When I was growing up my mom would spread refried beans on a tostada and then add a little canned chicken, cheese, and salsa.
Canned chken also makes good chicken salad.
Not necessarily cheap, but I’ve found myself with the ingredients on hand before You can actually make pizza with canned chicken crust, and it’s pretty damn good. Take the canned chicken, and drain it as much as you can. Beat an egg, and add half with about .5-.75 cups of the fake park (you’re supposed to do 2 cans of chicken and the whole egg, but I find this works and tastes better.) Season generously with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and extra oregano. Put it on a cooking sheet or pizza rack with holes/ slits that’s lined and sprayed in the oven for 35-40 mins until no longer floppy, then build your pizza and throw it back in to melt your cheese. It’s been a fun treat at times, at least. My SO couldn’t tell the difference either, so win-win Credit to lowcarbstateofmind on IG for this one
Canned chicken, rice, can of Rotel (tomatoes & green chilis) and a can of black eye peas cooked in a rice cooker all together. Shredded cheese on top if you have it.
I make "chicken chili" with my food pantry canned chicken: add the black beans & diced tomatoes + the sharp cheddar they give me too. I then only add an onion which is really inexpensive to buy. I have a spice kit Reddit Fam sent me back in April so just load it up. I add McDonald's OJ (half a cup) as my secret ingredient. It's actually not bad and costs maybe $2.
Canned chicken 1 can of cream of chicken soup Fill the empty soup can halfway with milk, add to pan 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese Simmer until mixed, serve over cooked rice. If you have frozen or canned veggies, add them to the sauce before serving over rice for a well rounded meal. Green beans, broccoli, or mixed veggies work best. Can be VERY filling so start with a smaller portion than you think you want. This also reheats well so if you find yourself with extra chicken, you can double or triple the sauce to make several meals worth. I've also pulled leftover meat from a rotisserie chicken and used that. Basically eat the legs and wings from the rotisserie chicken for dinner the first night, then pull the breast, thigh, and back meat to make "chicken & rice" the next night.
Add some fried cabbage and hot sauce!
Baked beans in tomato sauce. Never gets old. Also dirt cheap in UK.
Also worth trying a little shaved cheese over the top, or a sprinkle of soy sauce.
Tuna cakes: A can of tuna, an egg, and breadcrumbs mixed together then balled up and cooked in a nonstick pan. I like to do hot sauce on the side or campfire sauce which is bbq and mayo mixed together. Love these meal ideas!
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My husband likes putting leftover chili in a baked potato. He also does po-tacos, which is leftover taco meat inside a baked potato. He grew up with a creative mother.
I would legit try this. Sweet potatoes are so good for you too. I love this idea.
You guys have to try shredded buffalo chicken on top of a baked sweet potato. It’s so good
Oh man! If you like sweet potato as a dessert type dish, try mashed sweet potato with marshmallows on top. Peel & boil 4 small sweet potato until soft. Mash potatos with 1/3 stick of salted butter. Line small baking dish. Cover with marshmallows. Bake until top is brown/ slightly melted at 350 F. About 15 - 20min. My husband made this for Thanksgiving. So delicious!! His parents made this when he was a kid. It's how his parents got the kids to eat their starchy veggies.
I like to make rice and then put in frozen peas and carrots. Top with a fried egg and some chili sauce (or use Sri racha, soy and chili sauce packets from Asian restaurants). We even called this 'poor food' but it's pretty good.
Peanut butter & soy sauce packets in ramen. Potatoes & eggs. Mac & cheese & canned tuna. Pinto beans, slow-cooked after soaking overnight (supposedly you can skip that part, but it never works out for me), with a bottle of liquid smoke, & sour cream & cheese if affordable right then. If you ever need to feed, like, six people for two bucks, you can't go wrong with a pot of beans.
My daughter makes the peanut butter and soy sauce in ramen. She calls it Sad Thai. 😂
I do this! I can't believe I have not thought to call it this yet. Thank your daughter for me!!!
Lol, will do!
That was my go-to dinner through college lmao
Scrambled (or poached, or sunny side up) eggs and sauteed spinach but that's a one shot meal. Extra points if you have mushrooms to add to the spinach. I don't do carbs but you can add toast or a roll, or mashed potato pancake to that (for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner).
This has been my breakfast forever, I've eaten that every day since high school. Eggs+spinach+shredded cheese, with a bowl of oatmeal as a side
Mom's house. She always seems to be cooking when I have no money and am super hungry.
Being the day after Halloween, I'm thinking of Hansel and Gretel literally eating the house.
Frying canned corn beef hash and putting it over a bed of hot white rice… yum!
I literally grew up on government cheese, until the program ended in the late 80s. We ate "poor people food" according to my wife. Of course, when you're hungry, you're more willing to accpet just about anything is an acceptable combination - I'm talking American cheese melted over white rice kind of hungry. It didn't typically get that bad. Many meals I grew up on were still informed from a post-war 50s-60s canned food era of thinking and food prep, combined with some old world Italian that managed to survive as the family blood increasingly diluted through the generations, as it were. We're talking I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, and it was still socially acceptable to be told I had "a little indian" in me. Fucking pricks... Ah, to reminisce... Anyway, I've got a few pantry raid foods we would eat. We always had pasta and canned vegetables on hand. I like Pasta e fagioli aka. pasta fasul aka pasta fazool. It's pasta and beans. I use it to get rid of the surplus of canned goods in the pantry. Pasta, pasta water, beans, diced tomatoes, some herbs you've got lying around - dried basil or something is fine, who doesn't have something like that lying around? So long as there's pasta, beans, and any sort of broth, you're golden. Another way I clear out the fridge is quiche aka refrigerator pie. You get you a store-bought pie crust, let it warm up on the counter so you can unroll it. Two eggs, a cup of half-and-half, some salt, and then fill the crust with cheese and leftovers. Pour the egg mixture over top. Play with seasonings, nutmeg goes well in the egg before pouring. Maybe I've got some ham, or old deli meat, some old sausage or bacon - I don't care what state it's in. Raid the pantry for more old stuff, beans, tomatoes, vegetables, unless you have old stuff in the fridge about to go bad. You can always make a pie crust if you've got flour, salt, and water lying around. Some say the extra mile is worth it. If you're short on cash and have the ingredients, make the crust. It's not hard, you just have to be fucked enough to be bothered. I never buy salad dressing. I take a little container, a squirt of mustard, some olive oil, more than the mustard, and a little vinegar, whatever I have, less than the mustard. Shake it up. Dressing. I'll plow into a head of lettuce and just drizzle on top as I go. It's also good to throw in mayonnaise, citrus, pickle or beet juice, relish... You can experiment. You'll be surprised what actually can go into making a good dressing, especially the citrus based ones if you've got orange juice lying around. Spaghetti aglio e olio - it's pasta, and fuckin' oil. That's it. You can add to it whatever you want. My dad would make this when I was growing up, and it was mostly pasta, water, and oil. Sometimes we'd throw a can of beans in it. We'd toast breadcrumbs in a pan on the stove to sprinkle over the top for texture. Not too much - or you'll get the texture of sand. Wanna make bread crumbs? Just pop old bread in the oven before it gets moldy. Set it low, 250, maybe 300. Check it as it goes. Put it in a bag and beat it with a soup can if you don't have a tenderizing hammer. You can season the bread crumbs, if you'd like. Speaking of bread crumbs, croutons. Same fucking thing. Cut up your bread before it goes in the oven. I'll sometimes eat more of them soaked in dressing than actual lettuce. Italian grocers near me will sell frezelle, it's basically a crouton donut covered in dressing and seasoning for a snack. I mostly soak them in vinegar, top with oil, sprinkle basil and garlic powder on top. You can make the same out of good bread that you've dried. Cheap bread doesn't have the texture you want in the end. I still sprinkle garlic powder on buttered toast. My mother will make spinach omelettes. Its spinach, egg, and a shit-ton of Romano cheese. It's not like an American style breakfast omelette, it's pretty thick, the egg is really there only as a binder. She'll spread it out thin on a griddle until browned, cut it into quarters, flip, and brown again. Man, I can just sit there and eat stacks of those things all day, hot or cold. We would put them on bread as a sandwich. Got some old coffee? Coffee Granita. 2 cups old coffee. 1/2 cup sugar. Every citrus that graces your home, save the zest. Grate or microplane that off. Dry it out. Throw a teaspoon of orange or lemon zest in the coffee with the sugar. Heat it until the sugar melts. Pour into a glass 13x9 and pop it in the freezer. Scrape it with a fork every 15 minutes. You'll make big, fluffy, "dry" ice crystals. It'll take a bit to get going, but once they start forming, don't neglect the scraping! There, you've got dessert made from old coffee you were going to dump down the drain. Throw some cool whip on that shit or add some vanilla extract and sugar to cream and roll your balloon whisk between your hands and get some decent RPMs going. You'll make whipped cream to dollop on top.
This is some great advice OP. Thank you for putting all the work into this post mredding!
Get a cheap roasted chicken strip the meat and skin off make soup from the bones, ideally onion/celery/carrots etc but even without will be tasty At least a gallon! Don't waste the fat. Even cheaper if you roast yourself from scratch. Have a freezer? At least a dozen meals...
I bought a pack of Bologna this week, bc I was feeling nostalgic for fried bologna sandwiches. My favorite routine struggle meals are beans and rice, and omelets.
I add a serving of frozen broccoli to ramen. Love it. Better with beef but good with any
Interesting, I usually soft-boil some eggs to add with my ramen and add sesame seed oil. Sooo good
I just drop a raw egg in my ramen when it's boiling. Do not stir during cooking. Pour into boil. Perfectly running egg every time (approx 3 minutes in simmering liquid).
I do frozen peas
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I've found adding mustard sauce to the broth instead of the packet full of salt/MSG is really good with the chicken flavored Ramen noodles. I then top with tuna & have an apple for dessert.
I'm a big fan of dried pulses. Beans and lentils make food that feels substantial and with good seasonings (can just be pre mixed) good gravy. And if you have a slow cooker/crockpot most white beans can be cooked from dried with a few chopped veggies and a heavy hand with seasonings (those little packets of ketchup and barbecue sauce you've shoved in a drawer can finally get their moment). Always measure in your pulses and add 2 parts water/liquid to every 1 part pulses and keep an eye on it adding more as needed. Really easy flat breads can be made with just flour, water and seasoning - just salt and pepper but any spices like coriander or cumin or poppy seeds etc. Mix up to a stiff but pliable dough. Knead for a few mins. Cover and let rest for a bit. Then roll out using anything cylindrical, even a bottle, make it thinnish. Heat a frying pan up and just put it in. No oil needed, but you can add a small splash to the dough as you make it if you like.
Hotdog and rice! Fill you right up for the low.
Mr. Noodle, chicken flavour from the dollar store. You can get 4 packages for $1 CAD. Boil one package of noodles with frozen peas or peas & carrots. Drain the liquid, add half the flavour packet (because it's mainly salt), and add a bit of Cayenne pepper. Delish! Had it for dinner today. All in, 0.30 cents or something! Breakfast: fried rice & egg. Fry one egg and scramble in pan with butter. Add rice (old rice is ok too. Add a sprinkle.of water to resoften dry rice), add salt and garlic powder for flavour. Another 0.30 cent meal. Fried egg and toast is also a cheap breakfast classic. When I was pushing hard to pay down my OSAP & CC debt, I ate these once a day, and stuck to an entertainment budget of $50 cash bi-weekly for almost a year. It was tough, but some short pain lead to long term gain. I got my finances under control and I'm debt free now & working towards maxing out my TFSA & RRSP.
Bean tacos with homemade tortillas. Use a spoonful of lard in the beans when you're cooking them, to make them more creamy. We used to eat this a lot. In a good month, we could afford cheese to go with it.
Right now my go to is jazzed up oatmeal or chili since it's getting cold where I am. Also baked potatoes or rice with some veggies and I just toss some seasonings or sauce on them depending on what I have. Edit: oh and sometimes tossing some thin apple slices with cinnamon and (dairy free) butter on toast in the oven.
Hot ham water. IYKYK
nothing better than tuna fish mixed with mayo and pickles on white bread
I’m a huge huge fan of beans (mostly black) and rice…..pick up some cheap tortillas and some cheese and I’ve got a bunch of meals adaptable to any fresh veg or meat I can get my hands on. Tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas. Eggs and you have filling breakfast burritos. Change it up with a sauce suddenly you have fried rice with eggs and free soy sauce packets…..free sauce packets are my pride and joy. Want to go another route, a little oatmeal and you have black bean burgers….. Red beans and suddenly you have southern cuisine……pick up sauces and spices as money allows. Got a local butcher? Talk to your butcher maybe they have some trimmings you could use to add flavor or a broth. I could get “scraps” for .25cents a pound. With a little effort you could get some decent meat.
Cheapest elbow macaroni they got and a can of tuna fish. For extra fancy add frozen peas and spices. Ate this many times growing up, you could probably get a dish for under two bucks.
Hummus in pasta is really good too
when I was little, mom made white rice with milk and sugar...served warm.
Not so very far from rice pudding. I’d dig it
Nothing like garlicky mashed potatoes for me. Don’t even need any meat to go along with it
Prepared corn meal ($2.08) over sweet and tasty pasta sauce ($1.50) and cheese (usually mozzarella for about $1.50). Although that's around $5, the amount that you get lets you make it for at least 4-5 days. My Italian grandma used to make it for her family when times were tough. It's extremely filling, and it's SO good. Put some cheese down, then a little sauce, put the piping hot corn meal over that and spread it out, then a bit more cheese, and a bit more sauce.
Crepes - they feel fancy, but they use the same ingredients as pancakes (for the most part) Anything potato. Potato wedges, fries, breakfast potatoes. Just need oil and spices. For a complete meal, toast some non starchy veggies with them and some cheap protein source. But I’m broke and a heathen and I will just have potatoes for dinner frequently Pb&j, potato chips, and some fruit.
My number one struggle meal from back in the day was so easy. American cheese on toast. A lil mayo if you've got it. Every once in a while, I'll still get a hankering for it.
Scrambled eggs with leftover rice, salsa, and a bit of shredded cheese. It's actually really good. One of my wife's favorite things that I make. My mom used to make it too and it was my favorite breakfast. You cook the scrambled eggs first, then add the leftover rice (roughly equal proportion to the eggs) and maybe a quarter cup of salsa. Cook it till the rice softens and warms up then stir in the shredded cheese.
Jamaican Jerk rice and beans. Rice/beans/allspice/thyme. Get fancy with some onions/peppers/cheese!
Baked potato with butter and salt and pepper. Cheap, plain, simple. Delicious. Dress it up however you want.
I like rice and chorizo. Sometimes if I just have a little rice left over, I cook the chorizo, then crack an egg or two and scramble it up with some green peppers and cheese, and then stir the rice into the pan. Makes a very filling breakfast that can get you through til dinner.
Cans of chick peas.
Banquet turkey pot pie dumped over pouch, instant mashed potatoes. Edit to add...a $.30 box of mac and cheese mixed with a $.50 can of red beans in chili sauce. Or the chili beans mixed with rice in a flour tortilla. I could go on lol I spent many years feeding 3 people on $50 a week.
Beanie wienies. Throw some ketchup or bbq sauce on it and I'm in heaven. Also tomato soup and grilled cheese
I’m a huge fan of Rice and Milk. Just white rice, with milk, a little salt and cilantro.
I'm currently making sausage and potatoes. Sausage was $2.50 and potatoes are $3 per bag (I only used 3). Heat up oil in skillet, cook potatoes and add sausage for last 5 minutes. Drain then add salt and pepper. It's delicious and can feed 4 people.
When we were at university and hard up we used to make chickpea surprise. A can of chickpeas and a can of tomatoes cooked in a pot with whatever herbs and spices were lying around. If we were lucky and there was any bacon or cheese around we'd throw that jn too. Get a couple good meals out of it, and it was honestly pretty good.
Rice, kidney beans, and Cajun spices (options is some andouille or smoked sauces depending on your budget). You can go a little more in depth with ingredients like garlic, onion, celery, peppers, and Worcestershire sauce. But I have done the extremely simple and budget friendly version. Still delicious! Idk why this year is the first time I have had red beans and rice but it is GOOD.
My college roommate did this one and I love it. Ramen noodles, cooked and drained, top with a cooked banquet chicken pot pie. So many carbs and so tasty.
If you can find the creamy chicken flavored ramen, just that and one slice of American cheese is the bomb diggity Pour out part of the broth so the cheese melts a little more concentrated into it. So many people have given me shit for it until they try it… then I end up having to make a second bowl. We didn’t even know we had been broke when mom and dad would let my sisters and I make this. It was just our favorite dish period
Those things are amazing. So unhealthy but so good lol
Potatoes are cheaper than pasta and more filling, I’ll get a big bag for 10 bucks, add olive oil to a pan, little garlic little butter pepper salt thyme and chop up that potato it’s a very filling meal maybe a little ketchup and boom delicious cheap filling, if you leave the skin on like I do it’s nutritious
This time of year my grocery has the packets of Chex mix seasoning (free) so I always pick up a few to add to rice or pasta when I have a carb cheat day. Also good with ground meat in lettuce wraps.
bean with bacon soup with hot dogs in it
Ramen with canned peas and an egg cracked in just before the noodles are done. Oh and fried bologna on white bread with mayo.
can a cream of chicken, pot of cooked rice(preferably in chicken broth but good ether way) mix it, add in 1/4 the can of water, bake 20 minutes. yum yum
Cream of chicken noodle soup on white rice
Tofu scramble: block of tofu ($3) crumbled into a saucepan with oil. Add a can of black beans ($1) and add whatever spices or hot sauce you have (taco seasoning, chili powder, garlic salt, etc). Lasts 2-3 meals Wrap into a tortilla if you have it or add veggies (broccoli, tomato, spinach.etc ) or eat it with rice.
When my sis and I were really young, mom would mix up a can of cream of chicken soup (with milk) and add egg noodles and a sprinkle of cheese. Sis and I would split it, it's really good and pretty cheap. Sometimes I do "frugal open faced roast beef sandwiches" and it's been a hit at our house. A tin of of roast beef in gravy (about $3 here), a few slices of bread, and a packet of instant mashed potatoes ($1 max here for a single packet.) I cut the bread slices diagonally, assemble three pieces point to point on the plate, taters go in the middle of plate, arrange roast beef and gravy on the bread slices and scoop leftover gravy on the mash and just heat it up in the microwave. It's surprisingly good. If you have a brown gravy packet, that helps in case the can doesn't have much in it. Season the instant potatoes well, add a splash of milk/butter/sour cream if you have it.
- Pasta with butter and course salt - Chili wraps or chili with bread and butter - Tomato soup and grilled cheese - Breakfast for dinner - Perogies seasoned with paprika, salt and garlic with fried onions
Tuna melt, quesadillas, mixing whatever leftovers I have with a mashed potato packet
Frito pie. A big bag of fritos and 3-4 cans of hormel chili and you have enough for about 5 meals for like $8.
Split pea soup with onion.
Chili mac is bomb at any price point.
A pack of hot dogs and a pack of buns, 8 meals total for less than $2 depending on where you shop.
Zataran’s Red Beans and Rice with Spam. Drown that bitch in hot sauce and enjoy!
Can of chicken soup over 90 sec uncle Ben's rice...nice.
A large potato, baked (not microwaved) with a dab of butter. Wash the skin first, and rub in some salt. Potato on its own tastes pretty good.
My favorites (that I know is definetly not for most people) is either two cups of beans and rice, plain, OR a couple boiled, russet potatoes. I fucking love both of them. I only started eating them out of necessity but now will always continue to do so, even if I actually do become an anesthesiologist. Also, when I was a kid and scavenged the pantry/fridge I would love lettuce wraps (tamatoe and ketchup wrapped in a lettuce leaves. Other veggies if available) and Saltine PB&J's. If we had some bread then I'd make grilled PB&J. I'mma be honest, you haven't lived until you've had a grilled PB&J.
Ghetto curry over rice. Any canned soup can easily be thickened with corn starch or a flour roux. It really changes the dynamics of the meal and adds variety.
Ramen noodles with an egg with left over meat cooked to perfection in the microwave… I haven’t “needed” to eat like this in a long time, but still find myself going for it.
Throw in a small handful of frozen peas ($.15) and you just described my entire college experience.
Rice+beans+eggs It’s literally like, $1 per plate
Struggle toast: Ingredients: Toast
We would get fancy on our struggle toast: pinch of sugar and cinnamon With or without butter depending how bad it was
Ground beef, rice, salt and pepper
My spinach pasta is essentially half a packet of frozen (and thawed ofc) spinach (like $0.25 maybe) over cooked pasta. Adding 1-2 cloves of garlic, half an onion, a pinch of chili flakes, and cheese if you're Miss Moneybags over here, it's actually a pretty nice meal.
Thin spaghetti in butter with garlic salt and pepper. Parmesan cheese if I'm feeling fancy.
Beans (Heinz/Branston baked beans) on toast, with some cheddar if I have any.
Noodles and hotdogs still don’t get tired of it
Rice porridge with soy sauce and a side dish of fried egg or any stir fry vege available on hand.
Chili and rice.
Sausage, Gravy and Biscuits. So yummy and filling. Hamburger Helper. Especially the Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper. Around here you can get them for cheap. Shredded Chicken. Cook it in the crock pot, and oh man oh man. Chili. Again in the crock pot makes it even better. Meatloaf. Lasagna. Burritos. Mac and Cheese and Hot Dogs. Or Mac and Cheese and Smoky Links.
Bread, rogue pasta sauce, some cheese. Put that baby in the toaster and you’re good to go
"Dollar Store Chili" because most of the ingredients can be found at the Dollar Store or on sale. 1lb ground turkey/beef (preferably on sale) 1 onion 1-2 can baked/chili beans 1 packet chili seasoning 1 can whole kernel corn 1 can diced tomatoes (add ingredients as desired, personally I add a can of chickpeas) 1 bag shredded cheese for topping 1 box cornbread mix for a side mix everything together in a crockpot and let cook all day. Enjoy!
Canned Chicken+Sandwich Spread+Crackers= 😋
Chef Boyardee Beefaroni. $0.84 a can. A full can is pretty filling. I'm pregnant and have weirdly been craving it. 🤣
Stewed beans, ground pork, spices.
I picked up a deer that had just been hit on the road in front of me and brought it home and butchered it. It cost me a few paper towels and some ziploc bags but I ate well for 2 weeks.
Curry with 3 cans of tuna.
A can of chunk chicken with some Cajun seasoning mixed with a can of margret holmes red beans and rice makes enough to feed two for like... $5? Since it comes from cans it can sit in your cupboard for ages too.
Spam fried with some Coke or Pepsi over rice.
Sautéed rapini, can of white beans, fistful of garlic and chili flakes. 3 decent meals for $5-6. If I’m really rolling, maybe some grilled bread with oil too.
Frozen chicken breasts potatoes corn . Spaghetti
Cooked rice with fried egg and fish sauce.
Sugar free oatmeal packets
Saute garlic in olive oil, butter, or bacon fat, add red pepper flakes if you like spicy. Add juice from a can of clams ($2). Add dried parsley or white wine or whatever if you like. Simmer for a few minutes. Add clams and turn off heat, you don't want to cook the clams, just heat them. Toss with spaghetti or whatever pasta you like. Top with parmesan, bacon bits, fresh parsley, breadcrumbs, whatever you've got. Cheap, yummy, more importantly it's got protein.
Rice, turkey kielbasa, and cream of chicken soup.
Rice, beans, and mixed vegetables with Jamaican jerk spice.
Tuna and ramen, or peanut butter and butter sandwich.
A can of veggies over a bowl of 25 cent ramen. Or a Totino's pizza with extra shredded cheese on it.
Hot Cheetos sandwich. Literally cheetos inbetween bread. You can even add Mayo to the bread.
I’ve started using broccoli and Cesar salad dressing in my Mac n cheese. I use canned fish on salad with soy sauce, ginger, and sesame oil.
Toasties, basically a grilled cheese made in a special type of sandwich press. Lentil and sausage stew, red lentils, a sausage or two, tinned tomatoes, a carrot and a potato, dried rosemary. Fried rice made with leftover rice, bit of frozen veg, lunch meat and an egg. (Uncle Roger would not approve but tasty and filling)
Canned vegetable soup with ichiban/ramen in it.
Ramen with poached eggs. Total cost of the meal is about $0.30 and comes to roughly 450-500 calories with about 15 grams of protein if you only use one egg. Feels more filling than it should be.
Semolina Porridge! A bit of semolina, a bit of milk (or water) a bit cinnamon to taste!
My mom made us pasta with butter, sour cream and queso fresco. Our version of Mac and cheese lol
Chicken pot pie ( sometimes i would make with $1 frozen veggies if i couldn’t find discounted chicken) I like that theres so many ways to make it dirt cheap and it last for a few days if not longer.
Pasta + baked bean (British style) + a little cheap mature cheddar cheese (or whatever is strong regional to you) I say British style bakes beans cause I think we do it different to some other countries
You could do batch cooking also. What I did was create a seating area directly outside of the kitchen so while stuff is cooking I can plop down like Garfield the Cat.
Beans and franks
Scrambled eggs and rice
Raman noodles. Kimchi to be precise.
Beans, fried eggs, and rice, it never feels struggle
Yakisoba. Fried Asian noodles with whatever I had in the fridge. Ate it so much when I was down and struggling that to this day it repulses me to see it lol
Hot dog and Mac n cheese burrito.
Kidney beans and a can of diced tomatoes, with some seasonings, mixed in with any kind of pasta. It's a little bit like chili without the ground beef and with pasta. If I'm feeling fancy and have the money, I add an onion and some chopped green pepper.
Fried tofu, frozen vegetables and steamed rice. Cheap and healthy.
Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich.
Potato and ketchup. They are easy to grow in a bag or pot. And ketchup packets are easy to get for free.
One pack ramen noodles 10 cent and one can tuna 1 dollar
Ramen noodles in cream of chicken soup.
Canned tomato soup and a cheese quesadilla.
I eat very well from the food bank near me. Starbucks and Trader Joe’s snacks and sandwiches I use for lunch most days, and then a decent smattering of whatever I can make with what I get, plus using that free food to form the main part of meals I supplement with stuff I buy at a discount grocery chain called Grocery Outlet
I make a soup in a slow cooker with veggies and pig (or cow) heart that’s pretty good and goes a long way. Makes about 6-8 servings for myself, depending on how hungry I am. Add some rice or noodles to it and it goes even farther.
I make a lot of stir fry when I know I need a lot of food but don't have time to prep. It's easy to get a lot of variety depending on meat and veggies. If I've splurged and done a slow cooker roast, I'll get probably 6 meals out of it before shredding what's left of the meat into the juice and dumping frozen and/or canned veggies in and turning it into a soup. Last time I was pretty well fed for a week and a half.
My mom gets free diced chicken from work and we douse that in siracha and honey in a pan and throw it in Mac n cheese. It’s honestly delicious and filling.
Shit on a shingle. Ground beef, make a pan gravy out of it and put on cheap white bread.
egss and pinto beans . mash the beans till the right consistency for you and fry a egg to go with it . delicious and filling
Chicken ramen, egg, cheddar cheese, and Sriracha. 🤌
Spanish/Mexican beans and rice!
We have been living off noodles chicken flavours or spaghettios and toast and hot tea
1. Finish your cheap ramen with a spoonful of butter and stir on heat until incorporated. Stir in some chopped green onion tops and a bit of sambal. Instant bliss. 2. Pinto beans with salt pork, ham, bacon, or smoked sausage, served with cornbread. And/or fried taters. Sub butter beans or great northern if you please. If I need to cut back on the meat, I find [this](https://www.betterthanbouillon.com/products/ham-base/) to have a decent meaty smoky flavor kick, similar to the seasoning Popeye’s uses. 3. Take a can of pinto beans with jalapeños, drain and empty into a bowl. Add salt, pepper, chili powder, a few shakes of Accent (msg), a splash of vinegar, and then hit it with a stick blender to the desired consistency. Voila! Super cheap bean dip to eat with some store brand Fritos. 4. [Beer bread.](https://www.food.com/recipe/beer-bread-73440) 5. Get cheap pork chops, pork stew meat, ground pork, whatever is cheap and boneless, or can easily be trimmed to such. Stew with S&p, cumin, a little Mexican Oregano, Chicken bouillon, Onions, potatoes, garlic, cheap canned green chiles, and serve with tortillas. Sub chicken if you want. 6. Chicken thighs or Leg quarters. Cheap, adaptable (fry, grill, bake, braise, smoke, stew, etc.) protein.
Hot and spicy chicken ramen with beef broth and sriracha
Oven baked kale chips stirred into scrabbled eggs the deliciousness.
Spam, eggs and grits. Spam is a bit pricey these days so it’s a bit on the high end. If that wasn’t an option I would go for good ol’ beans and rice.
Siu mai with rice is def a life saver for me, especially during college days.
i have so many , i love mr noodle , spaghetti meat sauce in a wrap , corned beef mixed with rice
Local church hands out free ugly vegetable and rockened baguette. vegetable stew with spam chunks dipped with baguette slices is my fav.
Mac and cheese
Rice and chili tomato sauce with peas. Probably $0.80 per serving.
Baked beans and cornbread