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Hey guys,
being a piss-poor student (both literally and figuratively), I need some ideas for cheap meals that also don't require much electricity.
I'm really interested in hearing your favourite easy recipes that don't involve too much work, warm veggies and are affordable.
Thanks so much,
K.
Ps.: If there's some sort of secret fruit that tastes awesome, is really cheap, burns calories instead of adding them and is only available if you mention a secred password to your fruit vendor, now is the time to tell me.
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On December 20 2011 07:47 Endymion wrote:
ramen
+Frozen veggies and an egg
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i would tell you about the fruit but it's secret
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i usually go for avocados. not sure if that's your range...they're usually like 4 dollars for 5 i think...can't remember. i wouldnt recommend ramen, it's just a bunch of nothing in a bowl.
eggs and peanut butter are usually really cheap forms of protein
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make massive batch of cream of corn/mushroom + chicken lumps, and splosh it on rice + side dish of steamed veggies
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Cheap general food : Rice and pasta
As far as vegetables, I buy lettuce, onions, mushrooms (cheap ones) and peppers. It costs around 10$ and you can make 3-4 salads usually + have enough left over to just cut up the vegetables you have left over and make another 2-3 meals (mostly onions but it still tastes pretty good if you like them) on the frying pan.
Best deal as far as veggies go I think.
I buy large bags of apples and they last me 2 weeks for under 5$, and I eat 1-2 a day. That's pretty good for vegetables.
*edit : Or you know, maybe apples are fruits... lol
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Toast/Bread + Ham + Cheese + Pineapple * Ofen = Toast Hawaii.
Or the biggest secret of all:
Cook Spaghetti.
Cook Tomatoes + random other Veggies and even meet.
Mix... OMNOMNOMNONMNOMNOM
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mix tuna+eggs, cook it into a patty (foreman grill or fry or however), and put it between two slices of bread with whatever you want
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Start loving rice and pasta. Onions, mushrooms, cheese on that and it'll last about 4 days of dinner, or two if you eat lunch and dinner.
I'm so glad my favourite meal is Spaghetti and tomato sauce.
Another easy good dish is Taco stew which is absolutely delicious and a nice kick of flavor.
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I love Kimchi flavored ramen.
And vegetable soup is great. I make a giant batch that lasts forever, and it costs like 20 dollars to make.
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mix anything thats cheap with eggs, and ramen
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There are people here on TL who are actually writing blogs about this. One of the more recent ones is called the ghetto chef or ghetto cook I believe. And just a couple days ago there was another one but i forgot the name. Just use the search function and browse the blog section for food and cooking.
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On December 20 2011 07:53 Velr wrote:
Or the biggest secret of all:
Cook Spaghetti.
Cook Tomatoes + random other Veggies and even meet.
Mix... OMNOMNOMNONMNOMNOM
Thats like all my house mate eats haha.
Buy some mince in bulk (quite cheat) then just make a spag bowl or chilli or something, freeze and nom on it for a week.
I've also taken to Bean, sausage and cheese sandwichs, not that expensive but taste damn nice and filling :D.
Oh and ghetto pizza I aint done this but just get some tinned tomatos make some tomato sauce (onions, garlic, some herbs if you got em), slap it on bread, put some cheese on it and grill that thing.
Edit - Wait what use much electricity? How can you not be affording to pay for electricity oO.
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bread and canned food. all u need is spoon and a can opener.
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Rice, pasta, & potatoes all make a good starch base for a meal.
Combine with beans and/or meat for protein.
Add vegetables (& fruit on the side) for vitamins and stuff.
Preparation:
Rice – throw everything in a pot with some water, then add rice and cook. Will take time though.
OR cook the rice first & then fry it with everything else. A little less healthy, but use olive oil/butter and you're fine.
Pasta:
Boil water. Cook pasta. Anything else goes in a separate pan to heat. Combine.
Potatoes:
Bake or microwave. Cut up, spread with butter & sour cream if you want to be degenerate, eat with whatever else you're eating.
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I'm pretty sure food is so heavily subsidized in Germany that thing's like Ramen cost more than real ingredients.
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i've noticed the trend that cheap carbs are so much cheaper than protein....
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On December 20 2011 07:52 slyboogie wrote:
Ketchup soup.
This. You take ketchup then cook it in water and soy sauce. Delicious.
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So i am a professional chef. I used to be a poor student. For a while i was both at the same time. Most of the advice offered to you so far is not particularly good imo (mostly from a health, but also partly a financial perspective). that's not the fault of the people giving advice, though. You have given them an impossible task. One cant be poor AND lazy and expect to be eating reasonable food. pick one. since there probably isnt much you can do about the poor-ness, you may have to be less lazy about your food preperation. If you aren't interested in doing that, than yeah, go ahead and eat nothing but ramen and pasta/rice + whatever you have lying around thrown in. Do keep in mind please that ramen is actually very poor value as far as calories (and especially nutrition) per dollar is concerned. Obviously pasta and rice are good value as far as calories/dollar goes, but are both really unhealthy to eat in excess.
The person who told you to buy apples is very smart. Do that. they're cheap, last a long time and are tasty.
If you really are interested in becoming less lazy about your food preperation, you can PM me and i can give you approx ten million ideas for cheap, heathly food you can prepare in large quantities and eat all week.
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The big 3 are:
Rice, Pasta, Potatoes.
These are all cheap and filling, the base of all college cooking.
Veggies you should buy so your food isn't completely unhealthy are onions, garlic, dollar bags of frozen veggies, canned veggies, and other cheap veggies like carrots, cabbage, etc...
When you find a lot of meat on sale or in bulk, freeze it and use that. Chicken is especially cheap. Bean's and similar dried things like lentils are also good sources of protein. And eggs..
Other basic stuff is like tomato sauce for your pasta, salt, pepper, soy sauce, curry powder blocks and vegetable oil.
Stuff that goes well together:
Pasta, tomato sauce, veggies/meat, onions, garlic
Rice + stirfry (any vegetables/meat + soy sauce, garlic, and onions).
Fried rice (use any vetables / meat / eggs + soy sauce, pepper, onions, garlic and thats pretty much it)
Rice + beans + onions
Rice or bread + Soup (made from vegetables / meat / beans / lentils)
Rice + curry (potato, carrot, onion is the basic but you can use any vegetable /meat)
Potato Stuff:
Baked, mashed, boiled, pancakes, hash browns, fries. You basically pair any of these with veggies and or meat and you're good.
If you end up making a lot of rice, you should just buy a rice cooker.
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On December 20 2011 07:46 kafkaesque wrote:
Ps.: If there's some sort of secret fruit that tastes awesome, is really cheap, burns calories instead of adding them and is only available if you mention a secred password to your fruit vendor, now is the time to tell me.
acai.
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Ramen is awful, it's not like you can just eat 1 and be satisfied anyway, so eating it all the time isn't actually that cheap. Buying a 50 pound bag of rice is a much better deal, as you can make many different meals with it.
On December 20 2011 07:50 Roe wrote:
i usually go for avocados. not sure if that's your range...they're usually like 4 dollars for 5 i think...can't remember.
Wow that's ridiculously expensive for avocados. Do yourself a favor and check your local korean market. I usually buy mine $1 for 3.
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Avocados average around $1.50-$2 each here.
Braising some cheaper cuts of red meat with a bunch of veggies and eating it over rice is really economical, and it usually last a few days which is nice as well. Dark meat for chicken is usually really cheap as well.
But as I said earlier, food almost felt free when I was in German grocery stores. With minimal effort you could easily be eating well on the cheap.
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On December 20 2011 07:59 surfinbird1 wrote:
There are people here on TL who are actually writing blogs about this. One of the more recent ones is called the ghetto chef or ghetto cook I believe. And just a couple days ago there was another one but i forgot the name. Just use the search function and browse the blog section for food and cooking.
The Ghetto Cook be my blog  Just search for "ghetto cook" in the search engine.
Most of the stuff I wouldn't really recommend since it's not exactly quick or easy. You can try the fried rice, breakfast or hodgepodge installments. Maybe one day I'll make a super dirt cheap and lazy installment, although these days I'm kind of moving in the opposite direction.
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Sorry bro, the first rule of Fruit Club...
Pasta isn't bad. The boil in water and add sauce if you have time, the stick in microwave version was going to be my suggestion if you didn't say don't require much electricity. :/
But really, ramen.
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Two things I really like are sandwiches and... sandwiches.
Well, the first type are your standard cold cuts + tomatoes/lettuce (when I feel like cutting them up) + condiments in toast. Great, great lunches.
The second type is getting cheese (feta is my favorite for this), and putting it in that pocket bread. If I don't want to eat a bigass dinner, this is my go-to dinner.
Also, get a few apples and bananas. I shit you not it is important. It will be the #1 (or top 3) deterrent of the "Freshman 15" because fiber works wonders for your metabolism and digestion and is very healthy otherwise.
Rice. I've eaten many rices. The best by far I've had is Basmati. If you can get a hold of that, you're in luck. Cook it with whatever else (vegetables, meats, potatoes, etc.).
I don't know if this is common in Germany, but in the US (at least in southern California), a lot of supermarkets will have this "rotisserie chicken", that's already cooked and are put underneath a heater inside the store to keep it warm. If you don't eat all of it, save it for later.
Pasta also. It's amazing. Fucking, nowadays you don't even need to make the sauce yourself from tomato paste + a bit of water (+ garlic and seasonings for those pro cooks). Go to the store and buy pasta sauce in a jar :D.
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White rice, tomato salad and some kind of meat. That's what me and everyone else in Brazil eat every single day.
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For cheap, healthy (if done right) and fast easy meals Chinese (particularly Szechuan) food is basically what you are looking for. Don't think chinese takeaway real chinese food is completely different. They use a large number of preserved ingredients which are cheap and last a long time, this is because of china's history of famines so they have adapted recipes to those circumstances. Check out the ghetto cook this recipe would be a good start http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=295196
Also look into Italian food too you can do a lot with very little to no meat and a good sauce which you can make from a tin of tomatoes and a good sense for seasoning.
Anyway you are only limited by your cooking skills, money has very little to do with it. Unless you are dirt poor and have literally no money at all. But if I was in that situation I would save up and buy a large bag of rice and make something of it.
Also I don't know where you live but if you live near farmlands you may be able to buy fruit and vegetables cheap if you pick your own. They usually charge by the kg and it works out to be extremely cheap.
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On December 20 2011 09:06 Myrkskog wrote:
Avocados average around $1.50-$2 each here.
Same here, everywhere except korean markets 
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The ones at the Asian market close to me are still over $1 each, and they're much smaller. I can't win. I love Avocado too, unfortunately they're just too expensive to eat often :\.
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Noodles,baked beans and toast,eggs.....and subway I got a ton of free coupons from the guy who worked at subway, and I guess it was mutually beneficial, he got to sell more subs and I got extra subs for nothing, even after 6 months I couldnt finish the coupons lol.
I lived on those for about 6 months till I learned to cook proper food
For a snack, the 10p asda noodles were quite awesome :D
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I pay 5 euro's for a kilo of chicken breast, so I just get one kg of that at my turkish butcher and then add some veggies.
Or I will make 6-7 eggs with some bacon, cheese and tomatoes. Really cheap and really great meal if you're into working out.
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Jaffle maker + loaf of bread + block of cheese or pack of baked beans. That's lunch/dinner for a week right there with not many calories.
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(All rounding up)
~1lb of raw chicken x2: $10
Box of noodles x2: $6
Box of rice x 2: $4
Bag of broccoli x2: $2
5lb bag of potatoes: $4
Gallon of milk: $2
18 large eggs: $2
Wheat bread: $2
Big thing of plain oats: $4 (Get one every couple weeks)
*Bag of chips and one frozen meal for when i'm lazy*: $8
Thats about my one week food.
It feels like so little and costs way too much.
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On December 20 2011 14:27 STOSW wrote:
(All rounding up)
~1lb of raw chicken x2: $10
Box of noodles x2: $6
Box of rice x 2: $4
Bag of broccoli x2: $2
5lb bag of potatoes: $4
Gallon of milk: $2
18 large eggs: $2
Wheat bread: $2
Big thing of plain oats: $4 (Get one every couple weeks)
*Bag of chips and one frozen meal for when i'm lazy*: $8
Thats about my one week food.
It feels like so little and costs way too much.
If you're in the US 1 pound of chicken shouldn't cost you 5 dollars, you must be doing something very, very wrong. Don't buy the bagged chicken, buy it in those styrofoam packages, usually less than 2 dollars per pound unless you're buying skinless boneless breasts.
Buy bag rice instead of box rice, much cheaper (unless you're buying arborio/basmati or the really nice rices).
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On December 20 2011 07:46 kafkaesque wrote:
Ps.: If there's some sort of secret fruit that tastes awesome, is really cheap, burns calories instead of adding them and is only available if you mention a secred password to your fruit vendor, now is the time to tell me.
Celery stalks. They are usually very cheap and through their fibrous consistency, when eaten raw you burn more calories digesting them then they add and they taste relatively good (although that is a matter of opinion).
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Posted this a couple of months ago in another food thread.
Easy, yet incredibly good.
Basically: You take two egg's whip 'em together in a bowl. Add a handful of parmesan, some/a lot of black pepper and maybe some salt. You simmer 3 shallots in a lot of olive oil until they are soft and silvery (if you cook on too high heat and they get brown you have to discard them). Then fry as much bacon as you want, i prefer using real pieces of bacon (the ones you cut yourself.). Then cook the pasta, i prefer using penne, but my local store only has a good type of spaghetti - that is made by some italian company rather than a norwegian dingbat. When the pasta is al dente, add the shallots and all the oil (adds so much flavor) and the egg-mixture and bacon. Mix it. (And if you're cooking for two or more, you might wanna save some bacon on the side - nothing as irritating as having the first portion of a Carbonara when all the bacon is on the bottom of the kettle) Season with more pepper and/or parmesan. Voila! Friggin amazing pasta. Easy peasy lemon squeezy
Note: This meal should be done when by the time you've heated the water and cooked the pasta.
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I live off pasta + rice + what ever sauce you find that is cheap and you like. its filling, doesn't cost much and you can live on it for a long time xD
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On December 20 2011 07:47 Endymion wrote:
ramen
ramen
& PB&J or PB&Honey.
Offer to take home leftovers at parties.
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cheap as chips make a vegitarean soup with things such as suede, celerey ptoatos etc so it fills you up and you can get quite cheap and make a good batch.
Also cheap pasta, tomato sauce and some basil with chilli powder can be cheap and you can easily make about 4-5 meals with it.
Also buy a big bag of potatoes. You can make homemade chips, jacket(from big ones) roast potatoes, mash potato and new ptoatoes and its a lot cheaper!!!
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rice, pasta, and potatoes are all really cheap, filling staple foods.
rice you can just cook and pair with whatever other dishes. stir-fry is easy, cabbage and onions are usually cheap for the vegetables, add whatever protein you want. make twice as much rice as you need and you can use the leftovers the day after for fried rice after it's dried out a bit. just need frozen veggies and some eggs for that. can make rice into risotto and stuff too if you don't like asian dishes.
pasta is easy too. protein + onions is enough for a basic meal. for sauce, if the jar sauces are on sale they're cheap enough. otherwise you can buy canned tomato paste and cream (since actual tomatoes are usually pretty expensive). can use the pasta for noodle soups, too. if you have an asian grocery nearby they usually sell bones and whatever meat is left attached for really cheap, which is really good to make soup out of.
potatoes... baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, fries, there are lots of easy ways to prepare them.
idk recipes are kind of useless. just go with basic tips. keep a decently stocked spice cabinet. only buy things on sale. go with your intuition about what goes well together. don't need to know very many fancy techniques or anything. don't buy stupid things like drinks or junk food. i live in a relatively expensive area as far as groceries go, and following those basic guidelines it's easy to spend less than $20/week on groceries. if you have an asian grocery or something like that, produce is usually way way cheaper (like 1/2 the cost or less) and you can cut it down even further.
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Rice and pasta. Potatoes too, but they're for the less lazy. xD
Cook rice. A bit of salt and oil. Cooks for like 21 minutes. Cook double of what you need, and voila, you have breakfast for the next morning. Or dinner if you made it for lunch. Mix it with butter, while it's hot, to add some taste. Add eggs if you want. Add tuna (not the most cheap one, they suck) and some cheese if you wanna get more fancy and spends some money. Sauce is more expensive.
Pasta, pretty much the same thing as rice, but it's less good to eat later. Cooks like 11 minutes. You can fry it if it's leftover though. Fried pasta mmmm.
Cooked eggs. You can cook/fry eggs serveral ways, but I don't like eating eggs too much.
That's pretty much my meal most of the time. xD
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yeh forgot eggs buy them with protoatos at some type of farm shop for a LOT cheaper. Eggs you can make ommelettes, fried eggs, scrambled etc
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EPT
