Ask Lemmy

You can fancy up top ramen by putting some sliced onion, basil, egg etc in it.

Pasta, instant noodles, polenta, rice+tuna, bean guiso or stew whatever you call it. Also whatever vegetables in season and cheap, ie, potatoes, pumpkin.

Frozen Basa fillets are the cheapest unprocessed meat too

Search for guiso recipes if you need to learn what to do with legumes. Beauty of guiso is that the amount of ingredients doesn't matter much and you can always add more of what you like and remove what you don't like. You can add any bits of meat to it like sausages, chorizo, beef, chicken, you name it. You can also add any tubers, onion, or pumpkin if you have any, but if you don't have any of these things you can still cook it.

oats with whey

2 cans of beans with oil and spices (or chickpeas)

pasta with oil and frozen veggies (pasta always whole grain ofc) pasta with canned fish

these are my go to meals. However i cook them because im lazy and these are all very healthy, chep, and easy to make

Rice & Beans

Hashbrowns

Rice & Lentils

Popcorn

Chili butter noodles

If putting a pizza in the oven qualifies as cooking then that.

Rice, pasta, hot dogs, oven baked pizza if it's cheap.

When very low on money, it's what's in the cupboard,.which is oil, butter and pasta. Cheese is a bonus but the fridge will be empty before the cupboard.

You should always have rice and pasta available. Cheep and quick. So good for when tired or lazy, as well as when broke. Lots of people recommend beans but I don't like them so much.

Look at the specials in your supermarket. Many please discount heavily for stuff that is close to expiry date. If you shop daily you've less waste and get food deals.

Onigiri, or, since I'm Korean, Jumeokbap(주먹밥). Dirt cheap, literally put anything you want.

My recommendation is to look around your grocery store and see what ingredients are cheapest. That can help to come up with ideas I think.

That being said look up Congri. It's a Cuban dish that's quite tasty and uses very few ingredients.

I often fry whatever vegetables I can find and add a fried egg.

Rice and buckwheat are very cheap (and vegan if you're of that persuasion). If you cook buckwheat, you can add a few tiny bits of sausage in there and you've got a very filling meal.

Oatmeal is great because you buy it in huge bags that last long and you can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. If the budget is not that bad you cook it with milk. If it is you cook it with water (this is called gruel, medieval peasant food). If you're making gruel add a bit of salt to make it more palatable.

An old classic is of course ramen, but the ramen bricks can be made much more filling if you boil them in a pot with a sausage or two (this requires you to have sausage).

If you live in certain tropical areas you can harvest some edible fruits from unfenced land and use this to enrich your diet.

Eating a couple extra hours of sleep for breakfast instead of food is a dubiously healthy but certainly effective way to save some money on weekends.

A pro tip is if your drawer is not very clean your onions will start to sprout and take root. I didn't have to buy onions for about half a year at one point because I just kept cutting off a bit and it kept growing back. I didn't water them or anything, they just did that in my dark dingy cupboard.

10 minute farro from Trader Joe's. $2 a bag.

https://traderjoesrants.com/2022/04/20/trader-joes-10-minute-farro-whole-grain/

Depends where you’re at. If you’re not too far from forests and meadows, mushrooms, grasshoppers and herbs.

Other than that, rice, noodles. You can add the above things to your rice and noodles.

You can cook your noodles in tomato sauce like spaghetti al‘assassina to get some variety.

Remove wings and legs from grasshoppers before eating, they’re scratchy.

Only eat mushrooms and herbs you’re certain they’re not poisonous.

Beans/legumes can be cheap

Cheese roll ups. Rice balls.

Ramen. Spaghetti (sauce optional). Rice. Oatmeal.

Get the rice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXIr0WHQjNc

Life of Boris has a funny (and actually useful) series on budget cooking if you're into that. Great watch imo

Playlist

Try to get sardine, kale, and beets.

Dry pinto beans are cheap (and flavorless). You just need to soak them in water before cooking.

Rice is a carb and nutritionally void, but it will fill you up and keep the cravings away.

A better path is to shift your entire diet away from carbs and toward nutritionally dense, unprocessed foods. But, this takes time, and you probably don't want to start that when you're low on money.

I've been eating a mostly plant-based keto diet for 15 years now. I can easily go two days on just water and be fine, no cravings. The best way to save money on food is to not eat at all. So, rather than eat crappy food just to feel full and stave off carb cravings, eat less food, but more nutritionally dense food. You'll save money and still be healthy.