Current Events > With food prices climbing, what is your home cooked "cheap" meal?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Food prices have stubbornly stayed high even with inflation going down. And we all know fast food is a rip off, just look at how many threads keep coming up about $10 burger combos and $20 chipotle meals. Also, some people doordash that shit and pay twice as much and run up their credit card deficit like lazy idiots.

Ramen is still cheap though! My "go to" meal, especially for lunch, is Nongshim Ramen. Throw in an egg or maybe some leftover meat and you have a hearty meal for a few dollars with minimal effort.

My second favorite cheap meal right now is a bacon/potato hash. Very filling and cheap. Just dice up some bacon and cook it, then put it on a plate. Cook some diced potatoes in the bacon grease for a few minutes until they are soft, then add some diced onions and/or green peppers along with your spices (I use a little paprika and thyme). Add the bacon back to the mixture for the final minute in the skillet. Add hot suace to taste and sometimes I'll add a fried egg.

I dont cook anything at home. Order in or go out for every meal.

Roasted chicken thighs with brown rice and broccoli

Haha me cook? Haha.

kelemvor posted...

Ramen is still cheap though! My "go to" meal, especially for lunch, is Nongshim Ramen. Throw in an egg or maybe some leftover meat and you have a hearty meal for a few dollars with minimal effort.

I have no idea where my friend got the name of it, he calls it Prison Ramen, but we throw a few hard boiled eggs in a pot with ramen and chicken with some spices and oh me oh my it's tasty.

Obviously chicken is the most expensive thing there but 8 bucks of chicken gets you three or so servings.

Frozen food mostly

I dont have the time and patience to do the cleaning after I cook. Im way too busy.

Can of dennison chili eaten cold straight from the can, like a proper civilized person.

stew consisting of Napa cabbage, ground pork, mushrooms, green chilis, and gochujang.

Well, this weekend Im going to throw chicken, low sodium broth, potatoes, cannellini beans, buncha spices, shoepeg corn, and half an onion in the slow cooker. Thatll get me set for a good chunk of the week.

Beef rice x.

Cook some white rice.

Brown some beef, season and add bbq sauce and some rum. Add some onions in there too. Add some hot sauce. Simmer and let that beef soak in the stuff.

Mix the rice and beef. After plating add some mozzarella if you like.

A true struggle meal but it makes portions easy and fills you up.

SaikyoStyle posted...

Roasted chicken thighs with brown rice and broccoli

Yeah, I spend a little more and get boneless breasts because my Wife likes that on her salads. I'll look for a good deal on a family pack and grill it all up, and I'll use Rice-A-Roni instead of brown rice. Don't judge.

Making a deli sandwich, cooking a frozen pizza, making a pot of pasta, putting frozen fish in the oven, and using the frying pan to make my own burgers.

I know it is basic stuff but its better then always getting take out.

macaroni and tomatos

Tuna melt. Tuna, mayo, a little mustard, a little tobasco, dill relish, and shredded cheddar mixed up. Occasionally diced onion. Grilled on white bread with butter to golden brown perfection.

Chicken casserole. It can last a week and may cost $10 to make.

Hamburger Helper

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LeoRavus posted...

Chicken casserole. It can last a week and may cost $10 to make.

Is this like the version everyone's Grandma makes with the Ritz Crackers soaked in butter on top? I need to make that!

Grilled cheese and baked potatoes

kelemvor posted...

Is this like the version everyone's Grandma makes with the Ritz Crackers soaked in butter on top? I need to make that!

There's a bunch of different versions. I just make shit up. Chicken with pasta, cheese, sauteed vegetables, cream of mushroom soup, crackers on top. You can use rice instead of noodles, make an Italian version, etc.

Spaghetti

I cook whatever I want to eat, regardless of price. With that being said a dish I love but happens to be relatively cheap is a classic spaghetti. I always make meatballs as well but if you were truly trying to skimp you could just add a tiny amount of meat to the sauce or skip it altogether.

LeoRavus posted...

There's a bunch of different versions. I just make shit up. Chicken with pasta, cheese, sauteed vegetables, cream of mushroom soup, crackers on top. You can use rice instead of noodles, make an Italian version, etc.

Yeah I'm used to the rice version here in the South. It's usually chicken, cream of mushroom soup, rice, and other stuff with crackers on top. I've never made it myself but I've always enjoyed eating it.

Rice, chopped up chicken thighs cooked in hot sauce (something that goes good with chicken, like a peri peri hot sauce). Throw in whatever frozen veggies I have on hand.

It's not so much a "cheap" meal that I eat when trying to save money but more a meal that happens to be cheap that I think is pretty damn yummy.

roast beef from the deli then pan fry it

Lentils, rice, some kind of green vegetable.

(same as it has been for like five years now)

LeoRavus posted...

There's a bunch of different versions. I just make shit up. Chicken with pasta, cheese, sauteed vegetables, cream of mushroom soup, crackers on top. You can use rice instead of noodles, make an Italian version, etc.

Just made a casserole last night -
Chicken breast
Crispy bacon bits (with a good bit of the grease)
Cream of chicken soup
2ish pounds of diced potatos
Sour cream
Shredded Monterey in the mix, cheddar on top

Casserole is great because it's literally just throwing whatever you want (or have) together and throwing it in the oven

Mix leftovers and an egg into fried rice.

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Im considering making pancakes again (my kids loved them and demanded them for months)

can make it taste like doughnuts if made right

I'm not much of a cook. Grilling a couple chicken patties and putting veggies in the oven for a bit is my limit.

Chicken Schnitzel and rice. 1 breast will feed like 4 people.

Navy Bean Soup

Porridge

Rice, beans, frozen greens, giant bags of spices.

Eaten near daily for years now.

some kid cuisines

2 packs of Mr. Noodle a day.

Spaghetti and sausage.

Pork chops and green beans with roasted potatoes.

Chicken and rice with veggies.

everything from staples. no processed food. no boxed pizza. no pre-shred cheese. no par-boil rice. no bread. etc etc.

everything from scratch. everything.

A fairly cheap and quick meal for me is just putting a package of those small baby sausages into a pan, douse it with bbq sauce, and let it heat up.

Grilled chicken thighs, homemade Mac n cheese, and baked potatoes if there isnt already some baked bread or rolls to reheat.

Buldak 2x spicy ramen noodles

Hamburger Helper.
The Lasagna is my favorite

Bagel with cream cheese and everything barely seasoning.

I just make sandwiches. Get some kaiser rolls, cheese, and a meat. Usually there's a manager's special at the deli where it's a combo of a cheese and meat (usually American cheese and bologna) on sale. I can pass on things like mayo and mustard, though some times I add them. Nothing like slapping a sandwich in two minutes together and calling it a day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XDcNI31T2k

Keeping a kosher house has my options limited, and my wife is allergic to sesame and cucumber so going completely Mediterranean is out of the question. If I could convince her not to give a damn about the hecksker (the kosher symbol) Id probably just go grilled chicken breast and salad every day, but even kosher chicken is a rip off.

For lunch, its cream cheese and something mostly - the 1/3 of the fat brand; and I rarely eat breakfast, though when I do its either cream of wheat or pan cakes. Fuck the cost of cereal.

Also, I like to eat eat eat Apples and Bananas!