I personally know some folks who spend all their money on fast food, and then online it seems pretty common folks not knowing how to cook causes massive financial problems.
My super duper cheap meal that takes no effort is “lazy rice veggie soup”: Can of peas and carrots cooked with a bouyon cube until cube is dissolved Add cooked rice to mix, and heat until rice is flavorful with absorbed broth
I do a cup of dried rice, and a can of peas and carrots which means the soup has 800ish calories and I think it’s pretty good as it’s either 2 small meals that you can have sides with, or one large one!
So what are your cheap meals you like to make? The less well known, the better!
The price on rice goes down dramatically when you go bulk. A cup of rice out of my 25 lb bag costs a few cents.
Rice and beans, rice and eggs, dirty rice, add tomato and Sazon for Mexican rice, Japanese barbecue sauce and you have hibachi rice, Korean sauce and a little sprinkle of some form of protein and you’ve got bulgogi. I’m starting to feel like Forrest Gump talking about shrimp.
Nothing makes me feel more secure than looking over at my giant bag of rice leaning against the kitchen wall.
how do you keep it and how long does it last?
The other commenter gave a good rundown, but you don’t have to get that scientific about it. I just use a large coffee mug to eyeball how much rice I want, and use the “finger method” to measure the rice to water ratio in the pot. Cook on high until boiling, cover and turn to medium for fifteen minutes, turn off heat and wait five minutes before uncovering and fluffing with a fork.
For storage I put the large coffee mug back in the rice bag, give it a twist and seal with a chip clip, and it’s ready for the next time.
As to how long it lasts, that will depend on how much you eat and how big a bag you get. ;) But it will last you: a long time.
The most important part is it must remain dry. I leave it in the bag that it comes in, cutting only a smallish hole (an inch or so on diameter) which I keep clamped shut with a spring clamp.
In my main pantry I keep a 2qt container of the rice. When that container empties I go back and refill it again. I’ve had a bag last the better part of a year with no discernible loss and quality just by keeping it closed and climate controlled. In my bug out supplies I have a bunch of dry in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. 3 years later they still taste exactly the same.
A $20, 25 lb bag has a little more than 50 cups of dry rice in it. Rice expands by a factor of 3 when you cook it.
A cup of cooked rice has little more than 200 calories with nothing in it. If I’m using as a main course, I plan for 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups per person, by the time you add seasonings and a reasonable amount of oil it brings it’s not hard to get about a third of your daily calories out of a couple cups. You just have to be careful about nutrition because it doesn’t have much.
So you could do 75 meals or maybe 150 sides out of a $20 bag of course paying for all the accoutrements to make it tasty.
Also of note stick to white rice for this. Brown rice still has the bran on it and a little bit of fat and tends to go bad faster. Also stay away from par-boiled rice, It cooks faster but it doesn’t keep the same.
potato
i love potato
Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.
that isn’t super common
You are simply not going to find rare and cheap in the same meal. The best you are going to do is remind people of food that they haven’t had in a while.
Or you can define uncommon as food that people generally don’t eat. Insects, for instance. While bugs are incredibly common, most people do not consume them in great numbers.
Happy now? Sit down and eat your potatoes.
Not really since OP asked for something not super common and you answered with something really common.
True . Baked potato, homemade fries or chips , mashed potatoes. So many ways to cook they and most of them don’t require much else .
Oh yeah adding a half can of Chilli makes it feel like a full and tasty meal!
I actually just cooked like 2 frozen hashbrowns with a can of Chilli yesterday and it was super tasty.
For myself, I like bannock or fry bread (amount of fat in the pan is one of the big deciding factors on which it is). Kinda like a cross between a pancake and an American biscuit. To make it, you just need to make a quick bread dough and pan fry it. Roughly 2:1:0.6 flour to water to baking powder and some salt. Mix, divide into smaller portions, and pan fry. That’s it. Using a whole grain and/or bread flour adds extra nutritional value.
Top with butter and or jam. Eat with fruit or vegetables for a balanced meal.
Do you have a preferred fat to fry in? Im thinking ive might have found another use for those bacon drippings.
Anything that’s handy really. Generally, I’ll use a less saturated one like light olive or avocado oil but, I’ve got some fat cap from a smoked pork butt in the freezer that I might try. It renders to a lard really easy in a pan and adds an amazing flavor from the wood smoke.
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Pineapple sandwich. Toast bread, add canned pineapple slices to toasted bread along with some chili powder and ketchup, and you’re good to go. Tastes amazing.
Frozen peas and rice stir fry. Peas are loaded with protein and frozen are cheap and the best way to buy. Better than fresh in my opinion.
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Red beans and rice, or Cincinnati style chili. If you want cheap tasty and quick think of stews and sauces that will keep for about a week that you can split with a starch. I have maybe 10 dollars of ingredients in both of those dishes, and each one will get me 2 dinners and 5 lunches. Easy to cook too, basically cut your stuff up, plop it in a pot and add heat. No fancy cooking techniques or tools required.
I’ve been doing this for a while.
Buy a good five liter pot and ten pint sized containers. Make a pot of your favorite soup/chili/stew. Fill the containers and freeze. A good hot meal you can zap anytime.
Chocolate oatmeal. Grab a box of rolled oats, a bag of sugar, and a thing of cocoa powder from Aldi. Put half a cup of oats, a couple of teaspoons of sugar, and about half a teaspoon of cocoa powder in a bowl. Add enough water or milk to cover the oats. Stir, and microwave a minute at a time, watching g the bowl to make sure it doesn’t boil over. When the oats are soft, enjoy!
Can be breakfast or dessert as needed!
My kids love something we call “brown eggs” which started out as a keto “oatmeal” recipe in 2012 when they were toddlers.
3 eggs, beaten 1 T butter 1 T peanut butter 1 T almond butter if you are feeling fancy 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon White or brown sugar
Beat the eggs with the ground cinnamon. Scramble the eggs in half the butter until they are just runny, add the peanut butter and almond butter and stir well. Serve while still runny for more oatmeal like spoon pudding or give them another minute in the pan to get them firm and crispy for a more French toast like experience. Serve with more butter and a sprinkle of sugar or cinnamon. You can also add maple syrup.
We swear, this sounds insane when we describe it to other people, but my kids love it and demand we make it for guests
I grew up with polenta, so that’s an easy cheap meal I have.
For one serve mix roughly 3/4 cup of polenta with roughly 2.5 cups of water. Stir in a pot over a stove for about 10 minutes and you’re done.
It’s around $1 AUD per serve by itself. I usually add cheese so it’s a bit more for me.
Bananas, potatoes, corn, oats, bread and rice are all pretty cheap. When I’m trying to not spend any money I’m fine with a bowl of oatmeal with some sliced bananas in it.
I’m more of a “cook over ripe banana into the oatmeal” person.
Gives it good flavor and a bit of sweetness.
I read this at first as an ingredient list,band I was so concerned for your health and stability. Lol.
“Carbs, carbs… carbs, more carbs and oh! I almost forgot carbs.”
Just mash it and cook until it looks as sad as you feel looking at it. Then cry while eating it right out of the pot on the kitchen counter.
Don’t be afraid to “dress up” box dinners like Mac n cheese or suddenly salad. A handful of beans, tomatoes, onions, carrots, or whatnot can stretch it and make it healthier.
Cooked and then refrigerated Quinoa, Bulgar, and Couscous make great salad bases for something different than lettuce.
Savory oatmeal is supposedly a thing, but I’ve never tried it.
Franks red hot sauce with Mac and cheese is amazing. If you want more protein, grab one of those already cooked chickens from the grocery store, rip it apart with your hands, and toss it in too.
Easy veggie soup with brown rice. Take desired vegetables (I like yellow squash, zucchini, celery, potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic), chop roughly, add to instant pot, cover with water, pressure cook on high for 10 minutes. When done, spice it to taste now that you can actually tell the flavor. Use slotted spoon/spider to remove veggies, set to side. Extract 4 cups of the broth, add it to rice maker with 2 cups of brown rice. While your rice cooks, put half of the veggies in a blender, blend until smooth. Add remaining veggies back to the pot with the blended veggies. Stir in some sour cream to make it creamy. Serve it over the rice.
Can also skip the rice, use corn starch to thicken a bit, and serve it with pimento cheese and crackers. Sub brown rice for wild rice. Throw in some chicken. Use different veggies. Triple the potatoes instead of other thickening methods. Possibilities are virtually endless. It’s a different soup each time, which helps with variety. Excellent recipe if you grow squash, because them suckers are prolific.
Easy tacos:
Half a pound ground beef, large can of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies. Cook and drain the beef, add tomatoes and heat. Place corn tortillas (real ones, not those yellow “taco shells”) in a lightly greased skillet and cook on one side for 30 seconds. Flip tortilla, add cheese of choice (sharp cheddar, various supermarket “queso,” I prefer Oaxaca), cook another 30 seconds. Add to plate, spoonful of the meat/tomato mix. On the side, spoonful of sour cream with smoky hot sauce mixed in. Putting it on the sides prevents it from cooking off your taco too much. Dip and enjoy.
