ive been living on a tight budget lately and have come up with some pretty yummy creations from cheap premade crap food like putting one of those tinas burritos in a tortilla and and adding a little cheese and hot sauce and lettuce tomato onion then topping w taco bell dressing i got from the 99 cent store. they come out awesome even though the burritos by themselves are gross. and total cost would be probably under $1 each and they are HUGE. i am interested if anyones got some cheapo recipes involving premade food you can bang up without doing any real cooking. my po'boy burritos take like a minute to put together which is perfect to grab on a 5 minute break.

One of my standbys is vegetarian chili

Can of diced tomatoes
Can of Kidney beans
Can of chickpeas
Frozen vegetables
Chili seasoning

Dump it all in a pot on low-medium to heat it up, makes seven to ten servings. Has lots of protein and fibre, total cost is about six dollars.

Shakshuka:

Frozen cut up peppers and onions (2 bags)
2 little cans of diced tomatoes or 1 big can
half dozen eggs
Goes great with a little loaf of bread.

In a large skillet with a cover
saute the frozen veggies
add the tomatoes when the veggies are hot
simmer until the liquid has reduced a bit
crack the eggs onto the top and cover
let the eggs poach until they are as hard as you like

Makes 3 or 4 meals and is great. Add whatever spices you want. I add the Costco pulled rotisserie chicken and it's even better.

Maybe cut back on your weed budget?

Baked beans with sliced tomato on top, then 3 eggs sunny side up on top of that. Season with salt/pepper and your preferred hot sauce (great with cholula). Cheap and delicious.

OP,

Haha, I opened this to say basically what Swiinn just posted - Hunt's baked beans, maybe an extra few drops of liquid smoke added (a bottle for a couple of bucks will last you forever), a couple of fried eggs on top, and some hot sauce if you like. Not sure about the tomato, might give that a try.

Another SUPER easy thing to do is to take a can of Campbell's Chunky Sirloin Burger and while heating it up, add a few drops of liquid smoke, a few drops of tabasco or other hot sauce, and some seasoned salt. Makes a huge difference!

Quesadillas: Toss a tortilla in a pan. Tortillas are basically free. Grate some cheese on it or if you are really lazy just get some shredded cheese. Toss another tortilla on top. When the bottom tortilla starts to brown (you'll be able to smell this), flip it over. Top with salsa. Obviously you can add other stuff inside your quesadilla.

Hot dogs or sausages wrapped in tortilla with a bunch of ketchup, onion, relish, cheese, whatever you want, always a solid cheap food standby. Of course, hot dog buns are awesome here, but who has hot dog buns?

tuna + corn + mayo

Chicken nuggets finished with pasta sauce and a little slice of mozzarella -- Ghetto Parmesan

Found this on /r/frugal

Food on $4/day

Just did this the other day, with black beans and veggie protein crumbles as well. Crock pot was fit to burst. Sooo tasty but maybe too much fiber. Much stomach pain.

wrapping ramen into a tortilla - a ramen burrito - is cheap, pretty good and filling.

Wat

Dewdzzzzzz,

Standard bologna and cheese on white bread can last forever.

Huge bag of rice. Add whatever protein you can afford that day or just butter it.

Cool story told to me by two lesbians about homeless surfers who live on the north shore. Big bag of rice, steal pineapples from local farmers, and try to catch a fish. Beat up tourists and steal their boards.

Ramen: Drain the noodles. Add cheese, pepper and hot sauce is standard. You can mix in tuna, chopped samich meat or whatever...

microwave a hotdog, melt cheese on it and stack with everything in the fridge, pickles, relish, hot sauce, onions, blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

did I stutter? just another creative use for tortillas.

Learn to poach an egg. Eggs are super cheap and you can put a couple over other cheap things like ramen, quinoa, a baked potato.

Also, a simple marinara is clutch. Ground beef is cheap. Soften a diced onion, brown the meat in there, drop a couple cans of crushed tomatoes, half a can of tomato paste, 2-3 cloves of garlic, lower the heat. Add a palm full of oregano, one of parm, one of Romano. Simmer it down for about a hour and a half, stirring lightly every 10-15 minutes. Make a box of pasta and you have 5-6 meals for less than a total $10. And half of that sauce can be frozen in a freezer bag and laid flat for next time.

Find a cheap crockpot. As long as it has a low and high setting and a halfway decent lid, you can makes soups and chilis to freeze. Don't need anything fancy that's digital or airtight or super new.

As for tortillas, corn tortillas are great and cheaper than flour. Pulling pork or chicken is super easy in a crock pot, big loaves of fresh french bread is also cheap. Have the bread and tortillas on hand for the pulled meats are important. Rice is another cheap way to mix it up with pulled meat in bulk.

Cole slaw, corn relish with vinegar and scallions, sriracha, pico De Gallo are all easy and cheap ways to take the same meal and switch it up.

You really can feed yourself on less than $2/day. Just need to be disciplined and the cooking in bulk pays you back.

1. Potatoes & onions (& garlic). Fry in small amount of canola oil.

2. Instant mash & ground beef or bacon bits with chopped green onions. If no stove just make instant mash with hot water & bacon bits.

3. Macaroni shells & ketchup & ground beef (or just skip the beef).

4. Boullion cubes & meat & vermicelli & onions in a pot = pho. Add hoisin sauce.

5. Cole slaw mix & cole slaw dressing.

See, I can't find a veg protein that doesn't taste like... well, like veg protein. I do what I can do drown it out with spice but there's always that gross aftertaste. Pretty sure the worst ones come in the biggest bags, too -- there are at least two rolled up in my freezer, just waiting for the resolve to have another go at them.

There's lots of processed food in this thread. That means that you're paying someone to "process", which makes it unhealthy and usually taste like crap. Just buy veggies like onions, garlic, carrots, ect. Meats like whole chicken, eggs, pork chops, ect. And dried or canned beans/rice and bread. With a little practice you can make an unlimited amount of gourmet meals with this stuff. This is the cheapest way to eat without going into a nutritional downswing.

Place the eggs in a large saucepan and add enough cold water to cover them by 1 inch. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover saucepan, and let stand for 12 minutes. Drain the eggs and run under cold water to cool.
Peel the eggs and cut in half length-wise. Transfer the yolks to a small bowl and mash with the mayonnaise, mustard, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Spoon the mixture into the whites and sprinkle with the desired toppings.


probably my easiest cheap meal.

Peter,

That sounds devilishly good!

boil pasta. remove pasta once done but don't throw away pasta water. In pan heat up olive oil on medium. put in sliced garlic, red pepper flakes. cook on medium/medium low until garlic is pale yellow with no browning. put in finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste. squeeze in some lemon juice. Put in pasta and a teaspoon of pasta water. Mix well. Grate some cheese if you can afford it.

Carbonara is one of the easiest and cheapest dishes. Boil pasta. while pasta is boiling, beat an egg with some grated pecorino romano. meanwhile, render some chopped bacon/Pancetta. remove bacon from bacon fat once done and turn pan to low, drain some fat if its too much. when pasta is done, drain pasta but do not rinse. mix pasta, a teaspoon of pasta water and egg mixture in a large bowl then dump in pan with bacon fat. liberally season with cracked black pepper. put back in drained bacon and more cheese if desired.

Buy one of those freshly made packages of cheese raviolis in your grocery freezer sections. Around here its usually Buitoni. don't cook them yet. Buy some chicken stock. I like Kitchen basics. take a little bit of onion, celery, carrot and simmer it in the chicken stock along with some parmesan rind and prosciutto skin or fat or bone. skim the fat that rises and simmer for about 30 minutes. drain out all solids. put flavored broth back on stove and warm up some frozen peas in it. cook your raviolis according to package instructions. drain, and place in bowl. pour broth with peas over raviolis. chop some spring herbs, top with that. a few droplets of a fruity olive oil. few cracks of the pepper grinder. grate cheese as desired.

heh, now that's resourceful.

Chorizo and eggs. Render Mexican chorizo in a pan along with green onions and garlic. Scramble your eggs. Once chorizo is crumbly and cooked through, turn pan to medium high, pour eggs in. Eggs should solidify very quickly. Immediately turn off heat and scramble furiously in the pan. You want your eggs moist but not quite as wet as French soft scrambled eggs. Serve immediately along with grated cheese, salsa, sliced avocado, lime wedge, tortillas.

Garlic and onions for most things.