This site makes extensive use of JavaScript.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser.
Live
PTR
10.2.7
PTR
10.2.6
Beta
Cheap food
Post Reply
Return to board index
Post by
Jubilee
I'm looking for some good ideas for cheap food/meals. Rice and oatmeal have been my two main staples as of late because they are dirt cheap, but I've never been a very creative chef and they're staring to get old. Any help? And by cheap I mean no more than $20 for a week's worth.
Post by
Pwntiff
Pasta is usually cheap. My mom used to spend probably around $15-20 on sauce ingredients, but a single eater could freeze the sauce and eat it over 10-15 meals with just cooking fresh noodles.
Our family of four ate the sauce for two meals, then my mom would have a handful more lunches with the leftover.
Post by
gnomerdon
Hot dogs. 1 hot dog per meal along with a bowl of rice. Add vegetables, spices, etc etc. After eating that, get ur self some desert. Grab a cereal box of captain crunch and eat a tea spoon of it.
Yes, I did this.
Post by
Pwntiff
I just get Chef Boyardee, ramen, and possibly a box of cheerios when I need to eat frugally.
Just shopping at a discount store like Family Dollar helps a lot.
Post by
Laihendi
Laihendi knew someone who adopted rabbits and then killed/ate them.
Post by
Jubilee
Having skinned, cooked and ate my share of rabbits and other animals, I can tell you it's not cheap and definitely not easy, especially if you're not doing it on a large scale.
Post by
Squishalot
Egg noodles of some sort, boiled, and served with a mix of tomato ketchup, soy sauce and sesame oil will give you a set of home-brew noodles that's quite popular in Malaysia. Serve with most Asian vegetables.
Alternatively, anything that you can cook in bulk and freeze. When you say a week's worth, do you mean 'one meal a day / week' (i.e. $3 a meal), or 'three meals a day / week' (i.e. $1 a meal)?
Post by
Laihendi
Oh okay, sorry.
Go to a dollar store.
Post by
Jubilee
I usually eat two meals a day. Never been a big breakfast eater. Usually I just drink coffee in the morning. What I have been doing is cooking up a pound of rice (which usually lasts me 3 days or so) and sticking that in the fridge, then each day taking that and mixing in some soy sauce, seseme seeds, half a can of tuna, and whatever veggies I can get cheap at the farmer's market that week. Then whenever I get bored of that I switch over to oatmeal with veggies on the side.
But yeah I'm all for cooking up large portions and eating that over a couple days. I'm just looking for some more overall variety. I'll have to look into noodles, I haven't really compared prices for those lately.
Post by
Squishalot
Finding something you can freeze is the best way to get variety. That way, you can swap and change depending on what you feel like for the day.
I used to be an advocate of the frozen lasagne / pasta. I used to buy a big 2.5kg pack for about 15 bucks (local price, not sure what the cost would be over there), cook it, freeze it into 10 smaller pieces and use them as single servings.
How about breads and spreads? A loaf of bread might set you back 2 bucks, and that'll give you the carbs for about 10 sandwiches. Spreads wouldn't cost you more than 10-20 cents a sandwich, depending on what you buy.(##RESPBREAK##)8##DELIM##Squishalot##DELIM##
Post by
166779
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
mindthegap5
Super noodles and sausages.
Post by
Queggy
PB&J.
Post by
ElhonnaDS
When I was looking to eat cheaply, I used to do peanut butter and jelly a lot- 1 cheap loaf of bread and a store brand/dollar store jar of each will run less than $10, and you can get like 15-ish sandwiches out of it. They also have frozen pot-pies in wal-mart for like 69 cents. There are these super-cheap hot dogs (as long as you don't think too hard about what kind of meat is that cheap) called Bar- S or something, that are like 1/4 the price of a normal pack. They taste like garbage, but it's protein.
But more than anything, the dollar store is your friend. They'll usually have things like tomato sauce and bags of pasta, so you can make $2 last for 2-3 meals.
Post by
Magician22773
I'm looking for some good ideas for cheap food/meals. Rice and oatmeal have been my two main staples as of late because they are dirt cheap, but I've never been a very creative chef and they're staring to get old. Any help? And by cheap I mean no more than $20 for a week's worth.
Of course this question varies greatly depending on where you are in the world.
I know for me, here in Midwest USA, Ramen Noodles were the staple food in the poor college days. Around here, you can get them for usually a dime a package. A few other options that i have used are cheap (around here its Banquet brand) Frozen meals. For under a dollar each, you get a pretty decent meal, and there is a lot of variety in them.
If you are looking for something to actually cook, as has been mentioned, pasta is very cheap per serving. I would often cook some kind of pasta noodle, and add a can of cheap soup as a sauce, usually a cream of (something) soup.
Post by
Jubilee
So I went to the grocery store and got:
2 packages of angel hair pasta - $3
2 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup - $4
1 lb of rice - $1.50
1 lb of oats - $2
2 lbs of green beans - $3
4 cans of tuna - $3
2 cans of chicken - $4
So, we'll see how this works out. I'll try paying attention to what last the longest and tastes the best for the price, and I'll begin trimming next week's list.
Post by
Tartonga
Why do I have the feeling that you are not very fond with cooking =P?
Post by
deathbyte
What I like to do is make grilled cheese...
I usually shop at Wal-Mart as that is the closest store to my house
Loaf of bread ~ $1.20
Big container of butter ~ $3 (usually lasts me about 3-4 weeks, but i love butter)
Chesse ~ $2.50 (cheaper if i buy the 'unknown brand')
Quick to make and can easily last you a couple weeks if you have 1 or two a day
P.S. I would like to know what you make with your list
Post by
Alkony
So I went to the grocery store and got:
2 packages of angel hair pasta - $3
2 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup - $4
1 lb of rice - $1.50
1 lb of oats - $2
2 lbs of green beans - $3
4 cans of tuna - $3
2 cans of chicken - $4
So, we'll see how this works out. I'll try paying attention to what last the longest and tastes the best for the price, and I'll begin trimming next week's list.
If you payed $2 each for the small cans of cream of mushroom soup, you're shopping at the wrong store. We have local stores called Winco and FoodMaxx (Food4Less also, though it's not in town any more) that are more warehouse style without the Costco quantities. They're always cheaper than the fancier groceries like Safeway/Rayleys/Vons/etc.
Also, look for a canned goods store or grocery outlet. It's a good idea to double check expiration dates on stuff, but you can get it a lot cheaper than at a regular store.
I personally advise against food shopping at dollar stores. A lot of items are more expensive there (think cans of tuna, which atre on sale for $.058 at Winco right now) and/or have questionable ingredients.
Post by
xlanadenx
A pot roast will last a good three days for about 6-8 bucks. If you're getting a little tired of something you've been eating, add a bit of
this
to extend it a bit more.
Also, I fail to see ramen on your list. I know it's notorious but it makes a good meal, you just have to mess around with it.
Take this
video
for example, just 1 egg changes your meal. A dollop of sour cream is good for a creamier ramen dish. I tried the creamy ramen flavor but I hated it, this ways makes it seem a lot less heavy on the stomach. Lately I've been replacing the season packets with
bouillon cubes
and it makes for a less salty meal. Adding soy sauce or cayenne pepper does a bit to the meal.
Edit: Holy crap. My suggestion is a simplified version of Berelain's idea :(
Time to bookmark this page D:
Post Reply
You are not logged in. Please
log in
to post a reply or
register
if you don't already have an account.