What are your favorite cheap meals? How much $?

I've been trying to get us to eat in more often and have succeeded. Now we only eat out 1-2 times a week instead of like 5 times a week. And generally the times we eat out, it's either at Chipotle (no substitute for it, baby, and it's fast and reasonably priced for the quality) or with my parents, who insist on picking up the tab every time (there is no reasoning with my father). What we like to do, since there's only two of us, is to make a full pot's worth of food with things that will reheat well, and that'll last us 3-5 days depending on what we make. Our staples are pasta with cheese and sauce, chili, and Japanese curry with rice. All are pretty cheap, $5, 10, 15 total for organic/high quality ingredients, and these will make 6-10 meals. So that is about $1.5-2 per meal, and it's very nutritious stuff. And keep in mind this is using expensive shit. If you get non-organic and sale ingredients, the price is probably going to be about half what we make it for. Going out to eat really seems like a ripoff once you can make good (and often better) stuff at home for far less.

I've also started to make sandwiches to bring lunch to work, as I've found the ones I can make for about $1.5-2 worth of good meat, cheese, and bread from the grocery store taste a lot better than the ones that are $4-5+ at the restaurants near work, and are probably a lot healthier. I add a side or two to the sandwich and I am good to go for the day and save a lot of money.
 
Lil' Cease $5 Large 1-Toppin Pizza ~FTW~

(actually it's $6 at my location - bastards.... and I don't know why it's $12 for a supreme pizza, really... twice the price for some shrooms and peppers?)
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight'] And generally the times we eat out, it's either at Chipotle (no substitute for it, baby, and it's fast and reasonably priced for the quality)
[/QUOTE]

No kidding, there is never a substitute for Chipotle. They actually use really good ingredients, and you can make yourself a really healthy burrito if you avoid the dairy. I think that place gets a bad rap though because people go heavy as hell with what they put in it, which will put you in a coma.
 
[quote name='TreizePlus']No kidding, there is never a substitute for Chipotle. They actually use really good ingredients, and you can make yourself a really healthy burrito if you avoid the dairy. I think that place gets a bad rap though because people go heavy as hell with what they put in it, which will put you in a coma.[/QUOTE]

I need cheese on my tacos, but I generally end up only eating 2 out of 3 of them during a meal. I eat the last one as a snack or for breakfast the next day.
 
A few of my favorites:

Chips and salsa can be a meal in itself, but to make it better for you and a bit more diverse, slice and mash up a whole avocado and just mix it with a spoon. It's like salsa-quacamole and is incredibly cheap.

I buy a lot of food in bulk, so things like barley and lentils make excellently cheap meals. Cook them separately with whatever spices and seasoning you like (I use a lot of ginger and turmeric) and mix them when their finished. Both barley and brown lentils are kind of chewy so it makes for a cheap, filling, dense meal.
 
[quote name='HydroX']You live off of mashed potatoes, a slice of bread and milk? What are you, a bird?[/QUOTE]

Nothing wrong with that, especially if you save money on some lesser meals now and then so you have enough to enjoy a nice meal once in a while. Sometimes I will just eat some beans. Buy some beans for a few dollars, cook em up, and you got enough servings to last 1-2 weeks.
 
[quote name='J7.']Nothing wrong with that, especially if you save money on some lesser meals now and then so you have enough to enjoy a nice meal once in a while. Sometimes I will just eat some beans. Buy some beans for a few dollars, cook em up, and you got enough servings to last 1-2 weeks.[/QUOTE]

You need some protein son. (about the mashed potatoes only)
 
Spicy chicken sandwich and an ice water from Hardee's...Cost...$1.08. Can you say CHEAP....? or subway footlong for $5
 
$5 footlong? lol.

But cheap home made-ish meals?

Mac N Cheese, hands down. Mac N cheese with some mashed potatoes. Out of a box + add milk type of stuff. Delish.
 
[quote name='gbpackers94']You need some protein son. (about the mashed potatoes only)[/QUOTE]

True, but it's not like he eats that every night. By eating that maybe he can afford a nice big steak the next day.
 
[quote name='TreizePlus']No kidding, there is never a substitute for Chipotle. They actually use really good ingredients, and you can make yourself a really healthy burrito if you avoid the dairy. I think that place gets a bad rap though because people go heavy as hell with what they put in it, which will put you in a coma.[/QUOTE]

Being mexican trumps chipotle.
 
[quote name='help1']I see a lot of people responded with Ramen noodles, maybe somewhat jokingly. However, this year I have a Korean roommate, and he saw me eating Cup of Noodles ramen, and started yelling at me, telling me that shit was no good. I was like "dude, it cost like $.30, I don't expect greatness from this." He ran to his room and brought back one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Nong-Shim-Gou...DE/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1287008902&sr=8-11

GOD DAMN. Yes, these are ramen noodles, but these are LIGHTYEARS ahead of the crap I was eating. At a dollar a pop, it is more than a steal.

However, if you are a vegetarian, keep in mind that the "spicy" powder that you add in contains beef extract - even in the vegetable ramen (weird, I know.)

I HIGHLY suggest you cehck these out. Each bowl is big, and filling, and it tastes good. If you ever want to switch it up, buy some chicken breat, cut it up into tiny pieces, sautee the pieces and throw them in the ramen. GOOD SHIT MAN. GOOD fuckING SHIT.[/QUOTE]



First off, I fully back this . I bought that brand after it got hyped up on some thread or another and now I can't touch that standard crap they sell in grocery stores.

But back on topic I stick to spaghetti personally for cheap eating.
 
I bought a couple of those Shin Ramyuns the other day. I tried it last night. Ordering a box today. That stuff was amazingly good. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
 
Don't forget about red beans and rice

All you need is red beans...and rice. Soak the red beans if you buy the packaged ones. Throw in some sausage or chicken for more protein.
 
I usually hit up Taco Bell after gigs, 2 AM hunger after playing doesn't give you many options.

$5 meal box was my poison, now all the T Bells near me have a $4.99 mega combo. Comes with a chicken flatbread, taco supreme, burrito supreme, cinnamon twists, and a big fucking drink. Load that shit up with their new salsa verde packs and eat hearty.

I want the volcano box back though. :cry:
 
[quote name='help1']I see a lot of people responded with Ramen noodles, maybe somewhat jokingly. However, this year I have a Korean roommate, and he saw me eating Cup of Noodles ramen, and started yelling at me, telling me that shit was no good. I was like "dude, it cost like $.30, I don't expect greatness from this." He ran to his room and brought back one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Nong-Shim-Gou...DE/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1287008902&sr=8-11

GOD DAMN. Yes, these are ramen noodles, but these are LIGHTYEARS ahead of the crap I was eating. At a dollar a pop, it is more than a steal.

However, if you are a vegetarian, keep in mind that the "spicy" powder that you add in contains beef extract - even in the vegetable ramen (weird, I know.)

I HIGHLY suggest you cehck these out. Each bowl is big, and filling, and it tastes good. If you ever want to switch it up, buy some chicken breat, cut it up into tiny pieces, sautee the pieces and throw them in the ramen. GOOD SHIT MAN. GOOD fuckING SHIT.[/QUOTE]
I should really order some of those one day
 
pound of chicken breast
jar of salsa
jar of peach preserves
taco seasoning

coat chicken with taco seasoning and then brown, pour the preserves and salsa in and simmer that a bit.

Serve over rice


delicious.
 
[quote name='Steggy']pound of chicken breast
jar of salsa
jar of peach preserves
taco seasoning

coat chicken with taco seasoning and then brown, pour the preserves and salsa in and simmer that a bit.

Serve over rice


delicious.[/QUOTE]

:drool:
 
oh man, the 50 cent ikea hot dogs. Who the hell doesn't buy these? lol

neoguri (translated in english means raccoon, FYI) and other instant ramen food has like 2 grams of sodium in it which is the total amount you should eat a day, not in one meal. But I eat instant noodles all the time anways..
I also love Chapagetti. It's a korean noodle dish thats brown and soupless. It's really really tasty with kimchi. Not everyone falls in love with it though.

Thanks for some of these recipes. I may try them in the future. I recently aquired this new seasoning and found it to be so awesome. It's called Salad Supreme by McCormick. Shit, this stuff is great. I make a great dry pasta dish with this.
 
Get some chicken broth or a buillion cube, vegetables like carrots, celery, or mixed veggies, stirfry the vegetables with some pasta and garlic. Put some water in, you got a little soup going on.
 
My favorite cheap meal is chinese noodles for 0.30$.
After they brink, I drain the water, add tuna (0.88$) and a spoon of mayo.
Cheap and tasty.
 
One of My Favorite cheap meal series:

Day 1: Cooked chicken with rice flavored using chicken broth. Take the Chicken bones and skin and make boil for a couple hours with spices to make condensed chicken broth, save most of it for day 3.

Day 2: Shred some of the chicken and use with the rice, tortillas, can of refried beans, green pepper and a little bit of cheese for tacos.

Day 3: Use your last chicken scraps, the chicken stock, some noodles, carrots, onion and celery for a couple meals worth of chicken noodle soup.

When you can get a decent deal on the chicken and buy bulk rice it works out to under $15 for 2 people to have 3 dinners plus a couple lunches.


Also Beef Stew over rice is a good way to go, after crock potting 10+ hours the meet falls apart into tiny scraps and even the broth over plain rice tastes good.
 
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If you need to feed a bunch of people on the cheap, go with chili.

Two pounds of meat
Chili seasonings (go ahead and buy the bottle if you're going to be making chili often)
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 cans of tomato sauce
1 onion
1 or 2 green peppers
2 cans of chili beans

That'll feed 8 people for between $10-15. Get some shredded cheese and tortilla chips to stretch it even farther.
 
Here's a couple recipes I used during my "poor slob college phase":

Ramen A la Butter - Chicken flavored ramen with 1 tbsp of butter. No broth, Drain the water after the ramen is cooked then add the flavor mix and butter. It's creamy, tasty, filling and cheap as dirt, but a bit on the unhealthy side.

Meat Cookies - Winn Dixie used to sell pre-made frozen beef patties. 20 patties for $5.99, that's $0.33 per meat cookie. I'm not sure if they still sell them. I'd cook them on my George Foreman Grill and add what ever condiments I felt like (Ketchup/Mustard) and eat like a cookie, no bread.
 
I grew up on ramen too, and not the American versions.

The Korean stuff is good, but I'm personally not a huge fan of thick noodles. These noodles, therefore, are actually my favorite: http://www.amazon.com/Tung-I-Ramen-...1_14?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1288128186&sr=1-14

Not really spicy, but let's put it this way. I have 3 packs of ramen in my pantry right now, because I try not to eat them any more. All three packs are these Tung-I ramen noodles.
 
Pasta $$$ioli.

Boil a giant pot of water (the kind you'd cook a lobster in)
Add salt and tablespoon of oil
cook a box of Ditalini pasta ($1)

In a separate sauce pot lightly sautee some garlic in oil
Add 3 small (8oz.) cans of unseasoned tomato sauce ($0.60)
Add one 16oz. can of cannellini beans ($1)
Add salt, oregano, basil and parsley (about a tablespoon of each)
Bring to a boil then cover and let simmer until pasta is cooked.

Drain water from pasta pot until water level is about 2 inches above the pasta
Add tomato sauce and beans to pasta and water
Salt to taste.

Less than $3 for a giant pot that feeds 2 people for at least 3 days - sometimes 4. Can't beat it.

EDIT: Damn the auto censor.
 
[quote name='elessar123']I grew up on ramen too, and not the American versions.[/QUOTE]

I've since upgraded to Japanese and Korean style instant ramen. It costs more, but still relatively inexpensive. I love spicy Korean ramen, it's slowing taking over as my favorite. I don't buy that Top-Ramen crap any more.
 
You don't need to add oil to pasta water, it doesn't do anything. And no matter what the box says you should always cook pasta in as much water as you can so the starch washes out quicker and you should add enough salt so it tastes like the ocean.

Chef tip, add a drop of yellow food coloring to the water to make it look bright and more like fresh made pasta.
 
[quote name='JimmieMac']You don't need to add oil to pasta water, it doesn't do anything. And no matter what the box says you should always cook pasta in as much water as you can so the starch washes out quicker and you should add enough salt so it tastes like the ocean.

Chef tip, add a drop of yellow food coloring to the water to make it look bright and more like fresh made pasta.[/QUOTE]

I can't dispute your chef skills but I always thought the oil helped the pasta not stick together? I'll try the yellow food coloring tip the next time we cook pasta for guests. I salt the shit out of it when I cook but it drives my wife mental.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']I've since upgraded to Japanese and Korean style instant ramen. It costs more, but still relatively inexpensive. I love spicy Korean ramen, it's slowing taking over as my favorite. I don't buy that Top-Ramen crap any more.[/QUOTE]

real asian ramen is like crack very addictive stuff as is korean food in general. i like how they mix everything up in a big bowl and that red pepper paste they use is the shit.
 
Oil floats on water. It never gets into the water. When you pour the pasta out it runs right over the top of it and down the drain never touching the pasta.

Oil/butter it afterward.

Drain your pasta into a colander, remove the pot from heat, pour the now drained pasta back into the pot and drizzle olive oil or a few knobs of butter and stir stir stir. Little bit of pepper, maybe a touch more salt.

Putting it back into the hot pot cooks off the little bit of water that didn't drain away from being trapped in the middle of the colander.
 
[quote name='JimmieMac']Oil floats on water. It never gets into the water. When you pour the pasta out it runs right over the top of it and down the drain never touching the pasta.

Oil/butter it afterward.

Drain your pasta into a colander, remove the pot from heat, pour the now drained pasta back into the pot and drizzle olive oil or a few knobs of butter and stir stir stir. Little bit of pepper, maybe a touch more salt.

Putting it back into the hot pot cooks off the little bit of water that didn't drain away from being trapped in the middle of the colander.[/QUOTE]

Pfft, like I'll take advice from someone who didn't win Hell's Kitchen.

j/k! :lol:

I don't know if it matters, but I usually add salt after the water boils. Adding salt, or really anything soluble, raises the boiling point of the water by a little bit, so it could take a tiny bit longer to boil. When it's already boiling, it doesn't stop boiling from the salt. It's a pretty insignificant amount, like 1 degree and so many joules, but it became a habit for me anyways.

And maybe it's just my mind playing tricks on this too, but it always seemed like conchiglie
(totally googled that)
clumps less without stirring when you add a little bit of oil....
 
[quote name='help1']I see a lot of people responded with Ramen noodles, maybe somewhat jokingly. However, this year I have a Korean roommate, and he saw me eating Cup of Noodles ramen, and started yelling at me, telling me that shit was no good. I was like "dude, it cost like $.30, I don't expect greatness from this." He ran to his room and brought back one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Nong-Shim-Gou...DE/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1287008902&sr=8-11

GOD DAMN. Yes, these are ramen noodles, but these are LIGHTYEARS ahead of the crap I was eating. At a dollar a pop, it is more than a steal.

However, if you are a vegetarian, keep in mind that the "spicy" powder that you add in contains beef extract - even in the vegetable ramen (weird, I know.)

I HIGHLY suggest you cehck these out. Each bowl is big, and filling, and it tastes good. If you ever want to switch it up, buy some chicken breat, cut it up into tiny pieces, sautee the pieces and throw them in the ramen. GOOD SHIT MAN. GOOD fuckING SHIT.[/QUOTE]
So I decided to pick up a box of this. Holy shit, amazing. Going to pick up some different Nong Shim types to see what else but wow. I've NEVER liked ramen of any kind but this. I'm now going to have a box of 20 to come out monthly.
 
[quote name='JimmieMac']Oil floats on water. It never gets into the water. When you pour the pasta out it runs right over the top of it and down the drain never touching the pasta.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it's a good thing javery is a lawyer and not a scientist.
 
[quote name='AndrewCP']I recommended Nong Shim Neoguri Ramyun on page 4, def my number 1 with Shin being a close second.[/QUOTE]

This. Myself being Korean, I grew up eating Neoguri Ramen. I still eat it to this day.

I am actually studying in South Korea currently and have since tried a few other types of ramen that I never had seen in the US..

This is another of my favorites:

http://eng.nongshim.com/eng/pro/prod_deft_idx.jsp?txtPROD_CODE=45&txtProdGubn=B

Didn't see a listing for it on Amazon but it seems to be just as common as Shin Ramen is. I have seen both at many Wal-Marts as well as 7-11s in the US. They also sell Shin Ramen in cup variety like the cup o' noodles but you might have to go to an Asian Market for that.

Another good Korean brand for ramen is Ottogi.

If you want a few other suggestions for Ramen I know you can get in the states then I will post it. Cuz there are a few others that I enjoy as well.
 
Just had the $1.50 costco polish dog with mustard, onions, and sauerkraut. Excellent cheap lunch.
 
Going to look into picking up some Nong Shim. I usually use ramen to extend leftover soup or to add more oomph to a lunch of boiled potstickers.
 
[quote name='zenprime']Going to look into picking up some Nong Shim. I usually use ramen to extend leftover soup or to add more oomph to a lunch of boiled potstickers.[/QUOTE]

Boiled potstickers... You mean dumplings, right? Potstickers are pan-cooked dumplings, so that's like you saying untoasted toast =P
 
I tried some Nong Shim tonight. At the store I grabbed a pack of the Spicy Gourmet and a Noodle Bowl, spicy chicken flavored and had them both for dinner.

Alrighty, I will be the FIRST admit that I am not good at eating spicy foods, so upon the advice in this thread I used only half of the season packets for both. I had the chicken bowl first and it was definitely delicious. There's a hint of heat but nothing that would scare even the wussiest girly men (like myself) off. This will be my go-to ramen product to keep in my cupboard for when I have cravings. I had the plain spicy gourmet ramen next. It didn't light me up but it's had my mouth tingling since the second bite and those tingles are still lingering even though I finished about 10 minutes ago.

The bottom line? It's still a packet of noodles and seasonings but it's a definite upgrade over the standard american brand. It was readily available in my local grocery store in the asian section (Giant Eagle for any great lakes people).
 
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