Cheap Eats! your favorite broke meal.

Karen99

Karen99

Senior Member
Location
California
http://thoughtcatalog.com/christoph...uper-cheap-meals-for-incredibly-broke-people/

I do remember being broke and borrowing a can of tuna from my best friend when I was in college. I think I lived on tuna back then, but learning to make do took imagination sometimes. I kept dry spaghetti, tomato sauce and a small green container of Kraft Parmesan Cheese in the cupboard for a "company meal". Nobody ever complained either...:)

I enjoyed reading the above link about cheap meals and it made me smile. Does anyone remember their own "broke meals" past or present..or am I the only one who toasted the last piece of bread in the bag for my tuna sandwich ?

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Cubed potatoes, a couple of eggs, and a little onion fried up in a skillet was dinner for me and my two kids when times were tough. If I had hot dogs on hand, I'd slice up one or two, and toss them into the skillet, too. I'd make "water biscuits" so the dinner would be more filling. My son occasionally makes this skillet dinner for his youngest kids, just because he likes it.
 
FazeFour said:
Cubed potatoes, a couple of eggs, and a little onion fried up in a skillet was dinner for me and my two kids when times were tough. If I had hot dogs on hand, I'd slice up one or two, and toss them into the skillet, too. I'd make "water biscuits" so the dinner would be more filling. My son occasionally makes this skillet dinner for his youngest kids, just because he likes it.
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thats cooking with love, Faze Four...and sounds like the tradition continues with your son and his kids. My mom made a mean pot of beans and a pan of cornbread...the memory of which..still makes my mouth water..
 
I'm so sleepy, in looking over the list of new posts I saw this one and thought it said "Cheap Tarts!"

You wouldn't believe how quickly I woke up! :eek:

My favorite cheap meal has always been spaghetti. Sometimes didn't have enough for sauce, so just drizzled butter over it. My arteries thanked me.
 
Basmati rice and red lentil curry, with some yogurt. Good carb and protein dish that's filling and nutritious. Maybe some tomato slices on the side.

Also lettuce and canned tuna salad with mayo.
 
Phil...I recall many many happy spaghetti dinners...lol @ your "Cheap Tarts"..wishful thinking there, buddy!

Cookie... Healthy is always nice..and I love sliced tomatoes with almost anything.
 
I have always eaten my main meal in the evening and only have a snack for lunch. One day when I was working in Hamburg, I bought a tub of 'pot noodles' and was preparing these (ie adding boiling water) in the little kitchen bside our office. One of my German colleagues asked, "Do you like those?". I said yes and she said "That's strange. In Germany it is only students or very poor people who eat them!"

I like noodles and pasta and you can knock up a good cheap meal with spaghetti, tomatoes and a few other bits. This somewhat horrifies my daughter, who also describes such things as 'student food'. Maybe it was because she studied for some time in Berlin!
 
BLT on toast. The bacon "MUST" be crispy and break, not tear. Hold the mayo, but a little virgin olive oil is fine.
 
Noodles or spaghetti as a meat stretcher, or with just tomato and herb sauce. Beans and rice. Eggs and potatoes. Tuna fish.

A pound of hamburger used to be pretty cheap back in the 60s and 70s and I knew a zillion ways to stretch a pound of hamburger as far as it would go. Used the bones of roasted chicken to make what the kids called "chicken corpse soup," with vegetables and noodles, which was actually pretty good and they liked it, especially with hot biscuits.
 
Dill pickle sandwiches with mayo, when there was nothing better in the house.

Noodles or spaghetti with butter, fried baloney sandwiches or peanut butter on soda crackers.

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What kept me alive during my homeless period after I got back fro Vietnam were these:

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I got a whole fistful of these I found in a car glovebox. I would cash in one every other day, sort of a 'managed starvation' strategy.
 
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Just had rice, milk and equal for breakfast today. My parents lived through the depression. While neither was ever dirt poor I'm sure times were tight. Rice and milk, maybe with banana slices if you were really living large. Another one was my Dad's favorite ketchup sandwiches. For me the cheapest eats are ramen noodles. But if I had to eat them every day I'd be stealing cat food for variety.
 
fureverywhere said:
Just had rice, milk and equal for breakfast today. My parents lived through the depression. While neither was ever dirt poor I'm sure times were tight. Rice and milk, maybe with banana slices if you were really living large. Another one was my Dad's favorite ketchup sandwiches. For me the cheapest eats are ramen noodles. But if I had to eat them every day I'd be stealing cat food for variety.
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Never had rice and milk. Do you make it like cereal, with a LOT of milk, or is it more like a thick soup or stew?

Ramen noodles ... ugh. I know exactly what you mean about them - I used to eat them until they came out my ears. Then I'd go to a party at night and hide slices of pizza under my arm pits to take home.
 
I could live happily just eating tea and saltines, if not for the negatives, I'd prefer to just eat that, really, as I hate cooking these days, but, any of the following will do: egg sandwich, grilled cheese, bowtie pasta with olive oil or butter and a veg.

I should add, sadly, I don't get to eat any of the above, except for the tea, unless I go off my healthy way of eating, for this month anyway. :D
 
My mother used to cook a rice soup --- with rice cooked well and strained through a sieve (could blend it now), finely cut fried onions in butter, a little more butter in the soup, milk and salt. Delicious and filling.
 
Back when we were young and struggling a bit, I'd make a 'Chop Meat Surprise', which was just ground beef fried up with some onion and seasonings and served with some kind of pasta like wide noodles. Yummy at the time, cheap and filling.
 
Never had rice and milk. Do you make it like cereal, with a LOT of milk, or is it more like a thick soup or stew?

It's nice slightly warm, enough milk so it's like cereal then a healthy sprinkle of sugar or equal...a bit of cinnamon and cardamom, instant comfort food. My grandpa used to slice bananas over his.
 
fureverywhere said:
It's nice slightly warm, enough milk so it's like cereal then a healthy sprinkle of sugar or equal...a bit of cinnamon and cardamom, instant comfort food. My grandpa used to slice bananas over his.
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Thanks, Fur - I'll have to try that some day. Not usually a milk person but ...
 

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