It was likely the final straw that broke my gallbladder back in the day, but you can make some solid curry with a scoop of curry paste, a cup of coconut cream, simmered with some onions and potatoes and thrown on top of some white rice. Go to an Asian market and you can make a cheap meal that comes out to under $8 when it’s all priced up. Avoid supermarkets, as they jack up prices on “ethnic” food.

Also leguming hard, but split pea and condiment soup is one of my go-to almost instant meals. I just put about a half pound of peas in my (important!) InstaPot along with some jam, mustard, spices, oil, boullion, and leftover tomato sauce if I have some. Currently, I have a bunch of prepared mirepoix in my freezer than I sautee first, but it isn’t the main part. Sometimes I thicken it with flour or add whatever veggies are about to go bad. It make about 4 decent portions, and scales very well!

My favorite cheap meal is black bean tostada’s

I get a big thing of corn tortillas from the store, fry them up in a little oil until they’re crisp, put them in an airtight container with some paper towels and they stay good for a long time

Then I just take a big can of black beans, put them in a pot with some seasonings (usually some garlic, cumin and chipotle, but when I’m really tired, I just put generic taco seasoning) and mush it into a fine paste while I heat it up

Then you just assemble it on the tortillas, add whatever fixings you want and eat it

It’s cheap, it’s filling, it tastes good and you usually end up with plenty of leftovers for the next couple of days

Pretty basic breakfast but, Tofu and soy chorizo scramble, spice as desired (I do garlic salt, turmeric and a mushroom powder msg replacement). Top that baby up with some fresh cilantro and/or hot sauce. If you want to get fancy, saute some peppers, onions and mushroom before you throw the tofu in. I eat this for breakfast basically everyday.

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My partner makes a simple “potato bake” casserole. Slice potatoes into thin discs, you’ll layer these in a casserole dish, first as the “crust” and then as layers. You also finely chop onions and broccoli and put that in between the layers of potato. The sauce that you layer in is a roux of milk, butter, and flour. Shred lots of cheddar and layer that in too. Bake at idk 350-400 for like 30-45 mins. Makes a hearty, hot meal. Goes great with sauerkraut. Hard to mess up. Salt to taste

My wife likes making potato tacos. Its just mashed potatoes in tortillas and you fry it in a pan with some oil. Throw on some hot sauce and they are great.

The combination of beans and rice is pretty much a peasant food staple around the world and I’d recommend getting into that because you can make some really good variations on this, especially if you have a few spices on hand, and I’d recommend cooking a batch and freezing the bean portions so you have ready meals on hand to reach for when you’re tempted to order takeout:

Mexican black beans and rice makes for a great base for burrito bowls, just add some cilantro, diced tomato, pickled onions (or raw), sour cream, avocado, roasted poblano peppers, carrot, corn, lettuce etc.

India has a huge array of curried beans/lentils and I’m partial to Mughal cuisine so here’s one of my favourite websites for this style of cooking:

https://www.spiceupthecurry.com/category/dals-beans/

Channa masala, palak chole, dal tarka, rajma masala, and dal makhani are some of the absolute favourites. Although it can be expensive buying the spices, if you buy them in a larger quantity from an indian grocer it will be more economical in the long run and once you have your array of spices you’ll be set for a long time.

Chinese food is really adaptable and if you can get fresh green beans or frozen soy beans and you’re comfortable with a wok, you can make lots of dishes. Just adapt the sauce to what you’re making. Some of my Chinese favourites are Yu Xiang-style stir frys and green beans in XO sauce (you can get vegan XO sauce if you hunt for it.)

Here’s a recipe for Yu Xiang eggplant that can be adapted to green beans or soy beans (extra points if you throw some tofu in):

https://www.seriouseats.com/sichuan-braised-eggplant-vegan-experience-food-lab-recipe

(Kenji has a video of how to prepare this on YouTube as well.)

Note that with stir frys, you can add in other vegetables too - pretty much whatever you have on hand.

I’d also recommend buying dried TVP mince. You can cut your ground beef with it 50/50 and you won’t even notice or, if you want to go all the way with it, here’s how to prepare TVP so that it is very close to actual ground beef. There’s additional info about adjusting this to be vegan but you can rehydrate your TVP in beef broth if you aren’t vegan/vegetarian.

Can of black beans rinsed, put in bowl, nuked in microwave. add two scoops of salsa. Healthy 450 cal lunch :bean

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Cannelini bean and kale soup. Chuck onions, garlic, and olive oil into a large pot, fry till fragrant, then toss in beans, stew for a few hours till the beans are just about to fall apart, toss in some chopped up kale, and serve with crusty bread. Incredible on a cold day. I also use chickenless stock when i make it, and add a dash of white wine right at the end. Plus plenty of salt and pepper.

In the summer I like a mediterranian noodle salad;

Make some pasta, let it cool down, add cucumber, bell pepper and mozzarella (or leave that out if you want to make it vegan), and add a sauce of olive oil, agave syrup (or a sweetener of your choice), balsamico, salt, pepper, oregano and basil

Yeah could be cheaper but I really love it during the summer

I’ve grown fond of this greek lemon chickpea soup.

You chop some onion and fry it in oil, preferably with some oregano, bay leaf and black pepper.

You then cover with water or broth and cook for a bit. Before you serve you thicken the soup with flour and add a generous amount of lemon juice.

If you have it, add chopped parsley before serving.

Serve with bread.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio,its just pasta, oilive oil, and garlic, parsley if you got it. I live off of it.

rice and chickpeas is probably the cheapest craveable meal that will feed me for a whole day. I can write out exact instructions if that would help anyone

1. put 1 cup of dry chickpeas in water overnight to soak
2. take them out and cook them in a full pot of boiling salt water for about an hour and fifteen minutes, until they’re cooked but not mushy. use a colander to set the beans aside and then put the pot back on the stove
3. wash 2 cups of rice really well and drain off the water as best as you can then dump it in the pot on medium high heat
4. toast the rice until the water is all dry then add a splash of vegetable oil and a little salt and stir it around occasionally for a few minutes until the rice gets toasty (but not brown)
5. add a bunch of cayenne and a little bit of garlic powder and 4 cups of water
6. cover, turn down the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes
7. remove from heat and let it steam for 5 minutes without removing the cover
8. mix in a heaping spoonful of chili crisp
9. mix in the cooked chickpeas and put the pot back covered on the burner just for a bit to make sure it’s all piping hot
10. serve and enjoy with salt, cayenne, and black pepper to taste. you’re going for spicy, not earthy or smoky. premixed creole seasoning is perfect cause you can just shake more in if it needs more pop.