Fast, easy and cheap (foods)

Oh, I'm definitely not opposed to that. I'll give 'er a try.

 

If you really want to eat cheap and quick, set aside a day off and cook in bulk pasta, rice, meat and roasted veggies.

Then mix and match to make dinners with canned cream of whatever soups or canned sauce.

Also, from Dave Chang's Lucky Peach, use cheap Ramen noodles as a base but toss out the seasoning packet. Use that, instead, as a mix to add to sour cream for a dip or cottage cheese to add some flavor.

With two packages of noodles, boil them in water, olive oil and butter. Cook until the noodles absorb the liquid, then mix in black pepper and two cups of Parmesan.
Eat fast. Feeds two.

You can also boil two cups of milk and then take off heat and add two packages of noodles and let them sit for a minute. Put the noodles in a blender with one cup of the hot milk, run it for a minute or so, then add four egg yolks.
You now have the base for gnocchi. You put the base in a bag, let it chill. Boil some water, cook it like you would gnocchi. Once that's done, let them chill and to eat, fry them up in some butter and add extra butter, cheese and some lemon juice, if you feel like.

It is crazy delicious. To the point it doesn't make sense because it tastes so good. I think it is the extra step of frying them in butter.

But that's pretty high-end gourmet and it costs about a $1.50 to make.

 

Was trying to knock out a bunch of leftovers this afternoon so I put this together for lunch:

Some jarred Bolognese sauce.
Some spaghettini
One chicken breast, chopped into small cubes, dredged in flour and egg, dipped in Italian bread crumbs, fried up in olive oil.
Mix together, top with a sprinkle of parmesean/romano blend, and you've got a pretty damn tasty lunch.

 

I love those Knorr packets, if anything knows what I'm talking about. I grill some frozen chicken (healthy and cheap when bought in bulk, great protein) and boil one of these packets (teriyaki rice, spanish rice, cheddar broccoli noodles, etc.) and that's a nice meal right there. Pretty healthy and easy.

 

Great call. Especially love the Vermont white.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to berate the squash. I like squash; I just never envisioned eating it as anything but a side dish. That's just me. And I eat pretty healthy -- tons of fresh vegetables and salads. Never had a Hot Pocket, but I will eat the shit out of processed cheese.

And, Versatile -- get a crock pot! Seriously. On a tight food budget you can make so many healthy meals that taste really, really good. I use mine at least twice a week, and it never disappoints. Plus, to your point of wanting "easy" foods, it's more simple than baking. You just throw a bunch of crap in the pot and walk away for several hours. Meat is always more tender, too. And it's fantastic for soups, which I make a lot.

 

Yup. Cheap meals that can last multiple days begin and end with a crock pot. For someone on a budget (and even for those not), it can be the most important kitchen accessory you own.

 

Thinking back to my singles/sportswriter days and remembering some of these challenges. Back then a decent pizza was a once-a-week treat, and the frozen options weren't in the ballpark. Nowadays you can get a pretty decent pizza for $2 to $3.

If I were feeding one or two on a sportswriter's budget these days, I'd probably buy two rotisserie chickens a week. That's a least two dinners and two lunches (can make some chicken salad or chicken soup with half of one). One pound of ground chuck and a jar of Ragu (and maybe a tall can of tomato sauce) and you have enough for two more dinners and a lunch.

 

Neither is anything else you describe, except the eggs.

Trust me, it does not take much effort to learn to cook. I learned in my 20s from a Craig Claiborne New York Times cookbook because it seemed none of the women I dated knew how and it suddenly struck me that I wouldn't necessarily wind up with someone who knew her way around the kitchen. As it turned out, my wife can cook, but I do most of it. For one thing, she has trouble remembering the differences between cuts of beef --to her a steak is a steak if it says "steak" on the package no matter how many times I show her the diagram of the cow. For another, she spends four times as much time as I do on prep work because everything has to be cut into these precise little cubes. I am not cooking for a magazine shoot, I do not care if one carrot piece is a half-inch longer than another. Chop, chop, chop -- done. I have a brother-in-law who uses these plastic forms to create hamburgers. Are you fuckin' kidding me? He wonders why my burgers are juicier and can't understand it's because I don't press the hell out of them to begin with, or repeatedly assault them with a spatula on the grill until no juice remains. He's over-thinking this.

Wife says what our avoidance of packaged foods is healthier -- less salt, for one thing. I don't care about that. I just know I'd rather make my own chili than scoop it out of a can like a glob of Alpo.

There is this device called a freezer. You don't necessarily have to buy food prefrozen. You can make a big batch of chili, spaghetti sauce, soup or stew, divide it into meal-size portions and freeze it yourself.

I have to laugh when some people express amazement that I cooked a turkey. Well, it is exactly like roasting a chicken, only bigger.

 

BYH may be right. You are the funniest person on the board.

 

Trader Joe's
I think the frozen lasagna is $5 and you can get 2-3 meals out of it. Basically, you could do very well in their frozen section.

And there is the $4 sub at Sheetz. They even give you two six-inchers when you buy one.

 

I can eat sweet potatoes for breakfast, lunch or dinner. One of my favorites, especially for breakfast, is to pour a couple teaspoons of Maple Syrup (no, not Aunt Jemima, real Maple syrup from Vermont or Canada) then crumble some crispy bacon over the top.