I eat a lot of pasta. A LOT. I’d like more of a break in between 'em than what I’m doing now.
Any ideas on how to do that?
Warning: I’m a VERY picky eater (in that practically every recipe I’ve ever seen in this forum has at least one thing I really dislike in it), so the more flexible the recipe, the better (i.e. as little “if you don’t put bell peppers in this, it will never ever turn out well” as possible). That said, I encourage you to suggest anything you like, if only to get a wide variety of possibilities.
Marinated pork loin. If you want flexible, I’ll leave it at that, there’s hundreds of different marinades on the internet. Make it up in the morning, toss it in the oven when you get home from work and serve it with potatoes or rice.
Depending on your taste, google marinated pork _________ where you fill in the blank with something you like for example: tequila, wine, whiskey, soy sauce, barbecue sauce, cognac, pomegranate etc…
Do you like tacos? One of my favorite cheap go-to meals is to grill boneless, skinless chicken thighs that have been brined. I think it’s a cup of water, 1 tbsp each of Cumin and Coriander and sugar, fresh cilantro, 2 tbsps of salt, the juice of one lime and diced jalapenos or not. The main flavoring comes from the salt, lime and sugar so if you wanted to go lighter on any of the other ingredients or eliminate the peppers or cilantro, you could probably still have a decent brine. You shake the ingredients up, let the thighs sit in there for 1-2 hours and throw them on the grill. They are easy in that you could over cook thighs but it would be really hard, so err on the side of cooking longer and then chop them up and stuff the meat into whatever taco shell or tortillas you like, top with cheese or not and garnish the way you like. Super cheap and awesome!!!
I recall something written in the introduction of a cookbook I read… “All recipes should begin with the words Omit and substitute.” Make it so you like it.
Beans. Lots and lots of beans. One of my simplest dishes is to boil up a mess of pintos, and toss in whatever meat we have left over, some tomatoes and onions and call it dinner. Served with cornbread it’s a very simple, very filling, very delicious meal.
Baked (with filling/topping of your choice), fried (as hash browns or in slices or whatever form you like), potato pancakes with applesauce, deep fried, potato salads (tons of varieties), potato soup, etc. etc.
When I was really poor and living in Berlin, I could whip up dozens of recipes just with a couple of potatoes and whatever was available in my kitchen. Filling and cheap…kept me going during some very lean financial times, and I still like some of those recipes I made back then!
I just bought a 25 lb bag of white rice from Costco’s for about $12 (50 cents a pound.) Next to pasta, I think rice in the US (it’s much more expensive in other places) is one of the best values around. Like pasta, it also expands after cooking, so the volume is far higher than the uncooked weight (unlike potatoes, where you pretty much get what you paid for.) However, unlike pasta, you can’t just add sauce and eat it. You need something on/with it, like eggs or hamburger helper.
I’ll also recommend beans. My wife does black beans in the slow cooker about once a week, and we eat burritos the first night and beans and rice later in the week, and there’s still enough to take for lunch. All this from a $1.50 bag of black beans. An excellent deal! (well, yeah, there are the tortillas and cheese and salsa and sour cream and lettuce and blah blah blah, but you get the idea: it’s still pretty cheap).
got this ecipe off someone else on the boards, but I don;t remember who!
1 can garbanzo beans, drained (and rinsed off if there is lots of starch stuck to them)
1 can of tuna, drained
1/4 cup chopped scallion, or chopped red onion
A splash of lemon juice, a splash of olive oil, salt & pepper to taste
Stir all together, enjoy
You can add other veggies if you like, I like green beans
Ha- that was me! I still make this all the time. Right now am really grooving on balsamic vinegar in place of lemon juice, and sometimes I add whole wheat pasta. Plus, a lot of times I can find albacore on sale for as cheap as regular tuna, and it’s much, much better IMO.
Burritos? Hamburger, cooked and drained, mix in a packet of taco/fajita/burrito seasoning (and tomato sauce if instructions call for it). Roll up in a flour tortilla (pre-heated in the microwave for 20 seconds) with cheese. You can add hot stuff to it, and sour cream on the side. Cheap, easy, freezes well.
Bake chicken pieces in the oven. You can put teriyaki sauce , curry powder, seasoned salt, barbecue sauce, garlic and herbs, or what have you on the chicken before you bake it. It’ll be a new flavor depending what you put on it. Add a baked potato and you are golden.
Think lentils. They are really cheap and filling and take about 20 mintues to cook. You just add lentils to vegetable broth (or chicken, or beef, or even water and whatever seasoning you want). I use a 1 to 2 ratio. Then, you add what ever you want to it. I tend to add carrot, potatos and onions. I don’t eat meat, but I am sure you could add almost anything to it. Fish might be a little weird.
It is super cheap, reheats reasonably well and is really easy to make a whole mess of or just a little, whatever you want.
Get a can of bush’s baked beans and a few cans of other beans. I usually get a can of kidney, a can of pinto and a can of chili but get whatever you like. Brown some ground beef and fry some cheap bacon. Dump the beans, beef and bacon in a casserole dish, mix in some brown sugar, molasses and vinegar. Bake for an hour somewhere around 350F. Maybe make some biscuits to go with. It’s like 4 or 5 bucks and feeds you for days. I swear to god, if it’s only you, you’ll swear it’s procreating in the fridge. If you make a bitchton of rice it lasts twice as long. Oh maybe get some cheese to put on top.
Shepherd’s pie - traditionally in the UK people use lamb, and in the US they use beef, but don’t limit yourself. All quantities approximate.
1 lb precooked (browned) ground meat (whatever sort you like)
1 lb vegetables (whatever ones you like)
4 servings gravy
any spices you like
8 servings mash potatoes
Mix ground meat, vegetables, and gravy together and add any spices you’d like. Spread evenly in a baking dish, then top completely with the mashed potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes and enjoy.
When I was a stony-broke student, I regularly made a vegetable cottage pie that was very tasty, and served me and my roomies for most of the week.
Make a small panful of white sauce (butter, flour, milk, seasoning), pour it into a casserole dish, stir in 6 big carrots, chopped, 2 or three leeks, chopped, any other veg you like or you have found on sale cheap. Top with mashed potato and bake for 45 minutes. If you’re feeling really rich, top with grated cheese at the end of the bake and broil until it bubbles. It’s very filling and is a meal in itself.
I second the chana masala idea too. So tasty, and so easy to make.