# Low buck meals



## Mike Davis (Jan 22, 2012)

I thought it would be cool to post a few low dollar meals....Mainly because i am poor 

Ok here is my recipe...
Poor man's taco salad ( Figured it was better than a PBnJ sandwich lol)
Brown 1lb of burger meat in a skillet( i used chuck roast that i ground)
Cut up 2 roma tomatoes, 1 large onion, i bunch of romaine lettuce(or iceberg if thats your thing)

After the burger is browned, drain and add either taco seasoning, or add chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne and paprika...

In a large bowl, crunch up a big bag of Dorito's, add the meat, onions, tomatoes, lettuce and a 16oz bottle of Kraft spicy ranch. Mix together well and let sit for about an hour in the fridge.
Grab a beer and enjoy.


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## Pensacola Tiger (Jan 22, 2012)

Mike, here's mine from when I was younger.

*Hamburger on Toast Tips*

1 pound ground beef
1 can Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Brown beef and drain fat. Add the soup and Worcestershire. Heat throughly.

Serve over buttered toast cut into quarters. 

Rick


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## rahimlee54 (Jan 22, 2012)

Bean soup or chicken breast, it is almost swimsuit season. . Chicken and dumplings if we are doing comfort food.


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## sachem allison (Jan 22, 2012)

here's one from my very poor days.

left over rice 
2 eggs 
scallions 
ketchup
s&p

In a bowl mix the rice with the two eggs, making sure to coat all the rice. heat up a skillet with a little oil add the rice mixture and warm it through, add as much ketchup as you like.s&p to taste. Cook until you get some crusty bits on it, serve with some scallions. cheap easily made with leftovers and surprisingly good. The ketchup doesn';t taste like you think. learned it from a poor chinese grandmother. saved my life many times.lol


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## SpikeC (Jan 22, 2012)

Sounds suspiciously like fried rice!


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## Pensacola Tiger (Jan 22, 2012)

Replace the ketchup with tomato puree and that's my other low dollar recipe - Cuban Style Rice. Serve it with fried unripe bananas rolled in brown sugar (poor man's plantains).



sachem allison said:


> here's one from my very poor days.
> 
> left over rice
> 2 eggs
> ...


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## Mike Davis (Jan 22, 2012)

Awesome! Now...I just realized...I don't want this to sound like i am so poor i cannot pay my bills, I am just trying to conserve money after having a child lol. I am still going to try these


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## Eamon Burke (Jan 22, 2012)

Hey, no judgement here--I once lived on Cheez-its, v8, and dinty moore beef stew from a gas station I worked at. Slept in the Honda.

The cheapest meals I have eaten are all basically soups and simple recipes, like pasta dishes, made from leftovers or stuff I bought from one of those second-hand-grocery-reject stores with the dented cans and moldy squash. 12cents a pound, you can't complain.

It's certainly not all bad--one time all that was in the house was a handful of spaghetti leftover, one onion, about 2 tbsp of butter, and some pecans from a tree in my roomie's sister's yard(we mowed the yard and got paid in pecans). I cooked the onion dry on super low heat until it caramelized, tossed in the pecans to heat them up, and put it on pasta with the butter. Later I would make that by choice.


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## sachem allison (Jan 22, 2012)

SpikeC said:


> Sounds suspiciously like fried rice!


I do have slanted eyes.


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## Pensacola Tiger (Jan 22, 2012)

How could I have forgotten the New Orleans Monday tradition of red beans and rice?

1 pound dry kidney beans
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 stalks celery, chopped
6 cups water
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
4 cups water
2 cups long grain white rice

Rinse beans, and then soak in a large pot of water overnight.

In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onion, bell pepper, garlic, and celery in olive oil for 3 to 4 minutes.

Rinse beans, and transfer to a large pot with 6 cups water. Stir cooked vegetables into beans. Season with bay leaves, cayenne pepper, thyme, sage, parsley, and Cajun seasoning. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 2 1/2 hours.

Stir sausage into beans, and continue to simmer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the rice. In a saucepan, bring water and rice to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve beans over steamed white rice.


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## ecchef (Jan 23, 2012)




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## chazmtb (Jan 23, 2012)

I do that with drained ramen noodles, with eggs and whatever else I can throw in. Not bad actually. Slanty eye guy here too.


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## Ordo (Jan 23, 2012)

Poor man's paella

A pan, some drops of oil. Put there some washed rice. Cover with sliced peppers, garlic, any vegs you find there and on top, some canned fish or chicken leftovers. Pour some stock, salt, black pepper. Cover. Dont move it. Cook on low fire, until done. If you really want to live on your imagination, burn some socarrat on the bottom, you know how. Thats the poor man's paella, from my student days.


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## El Pescador (Jan 23, 2012)

Oatmeal....plain.


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## Kyle (Jan 23, 2012)

I always keep dried beans on hand so they are my typical low buck meal. I'll usually just simmer them with an onion, bell pepper, seasonings and if I'm lucky some leftover BBQ. My dad likes to make sausage so I always have something he made in the freezer if I dont have any leftovers. Unfortunately me and my roommates are broke all the time, so we're all pretty sick of beans.


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## cnochef (Jan 23, 2012)

You can't beat a roasted chicken or turkey for low dollars meals. You can make stock, sauces, soup, dinners and sandwiches.


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## Delbert Ealy (Jan 23, 2012)

I had a time living in an apartment and my weekly budget for food was $10.
I was also facinated by sourdough bread at that time, I made bread every other day. The cool thing about sourdough is that the most basic recipe is just flour and water. I usually added a bit of oil for richness and flavor. With the basic dough I made bread, but I also made bagels and english muffins. 
For a few months would buy a bag of flour, a pound and a half of cheese and a few bottles of boones farm wine($1.29 a bottle at the time)
I was working closes at burger king and would bring home a salad now and then.
I joke that this was my french period. 
I havn't made sourdough in quite a few years, maybe i should now, the stuff that i made was quite tasty.
I have seen a few shows on San-Fran sourdough and I never steamed my loaves like they do, I actually like the denser texture.

Del


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## apicius9 (Jan 23, 2012)

Do you need a recipe? 

Stefan


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## Pensacola Tiger (Jan 23, 2012)

Ahhh. Spam sushi!



apicius9 said:


> View attachment 3954
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## apicius9 (Jan 23, 2012)

Spam musubi. Very popular out here. While we are at it:

[video=youtube;anwy2MPT5RE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5RE[/video]

Stefan


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## James (Jan 23, 2012)

cnochef said:


> You can't beat a roasted chicken or turkey for low dollars meals. You can make stock, sauces, soup, dinners and sandwiches.



+1; a meal for two with mashed potatoes and veggies for under $5 per person with leftovers+soup bones to use later. I just let a 3-4 lb chicken come to room temp, take out the wishbone, salt and pepper it, throw some thyme into the cavity and roast it at 450 for about an hour until it's done.


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## Mike Davis (Jan 23, 2012)

apicius9 said:


> View attachment 3954
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BWUAHAHAHAHA!!! Awesome! I would never try it, but awesome  Spam is one of the worst things i have ever eaten.


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## Eamon Burke (Jan 23, 2012)

I would try it! I'd try anything anyone else said is good.


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## unkajonet (Jan 23, 2012)

SPAM rocks. Potted meat product sucks.


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## ejd53 (Jan 24, 2012)

Mike Davis said:


> BWUAHAHAHAHA!!! Awesome! I would never try it, but awesome  Spam is one of the worst things i have ever eaten.


Anything that is the basis for a Monty Python sketch can't be all bad....oh wait, what am I saying:dazed:.


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## dragonlord (Feb 24, 2012)

Cheats Kedgeree (around £1/portion, feeds 5 people) (cooking time about 25 minutes)

1 pack smoked mackrel
1 large onion/2 smaller ones
6-8 eggs
rice (we use basmalti (sp?))
curry powder
double cream
frozen peas
oil


Hard boil the eggs, and shell them
Dice the onion and start it frying in a deep pan
once the onion is cooked, add curry powder (usually use 1 tbls, but add to taste)
Add rice and fry for about 30 seconds
Add enough boiling water to cook the rice without going dry
when the rice has 5 minutes left add frozen peas and bring back to the boil
remove the skin from the smoked mackrel and microwave for about 30 seconds
drain the rice and add back to the pan
shread the mackrel and add to the pan (stir it in)
1/4 all the boiled eggs from top to bottom and add them to the pan
Add cream and gently stir into the pan.

Lasts a few days, and is great reheated in the microwave.


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## Lucretia (Feb 24, 2012)

ejd53 said:


> Anything that is the basis for a Monty Python sketch can't be all bad....oh wait, what am I saying:dazed:.



Rat cake, rat sorbet, rat pudding, or strawberry tart. (Well, it's got SOME rat in it.)


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## PhaetonFalling (Apr 2, 2012)

I actually make a lot of low costs meals (I've become really cost conscious about my meals lately. Robert Irvine once said that a restaurant's food costs usually sits at no more than 25% of the price... Then why should your home meals cost any more than 25% of what you'd pay for the same meal at a restaurant?)

*Budae Jigae.*

2-3 Hot Dogs, rough chopped into 2 inch sections
1 can of spam, halve the spam down the middle and then from there into 1/4 inch slices.
Kale, cut into 2 inch sections
Baby Bok Choi
1 large brown onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped.
4 tbsp red pepper paste (this can be found at your local K-Market)
Water... or 2 cans of stock... I use 1 beef 1 chicken.
The noodles out of a package of instant ramen noodles (optional)
soy sauce/salt to taste.
2 tbsp oil.

short grain white rice... cooked in a cooker.

In a medium stock pot or an extra deep wok style skillet, brown the onions in the oil, add the red pepper paste, and the garlic and mix until the garlic is fragrant.

Add the water or stock, dissolving all the red pepper paste. Add the hotdogs and spam, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Add your veggies (kale and bok choi). Taste your broth and add more red pepper paste or salt/soy sauce as necessary.

Take off of the stove, and if you choose, add ONLY the noodles from the instant ramen package, submerging the ramen under the broth. Cover for 2 minutes.

If you have scallions on hand, you can garnish it with bias cut scallions, but it's not necessary.

Serve with white rice.

The recipe makes enough for at least 4 people. If your total costs have exceeded 12 dollars, you are doing something wrong.



*Char Siu Kimchi Fried Rice.*

3 cups of white rice, cooked. 

Use Jasmine rice that has been cooked 1 day prior and refrigerated OR do what I do, and use jasmine rice that has been cooked with a little less water, and then put the rice into the freezer as you do the rest of the prepwork.

1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped.
2 or three stalks of green onions.
1 bag of nappa kimchi (approx 1 cup's worth)
1/2 bag of frozen veggie mix. (peas, corn, and carrots)
1 4-6 onz package of chinese char siu. Sliced or cubed.
2 tbsp sesame oil
4 tbsp canola oil (you COULD sub for 2 tbsp veg oil and 2 tbsp olive oil)
1-2 tbsp red pepper paste (optional)
salt
siracha
soy sauce
5 eggs.

using 2 tbsp olive oil or canola oil, brown the onions, then add the frozen veggies. When they're cooked. Add the green onions and fry a little then add the garlic.

When the garlic is fragrant, Add the other 2 tbsp of canola oil, and then add the rice. Fry the rice a little bit, mixing well, and sprinkle sesame oil on it. At this point, add the red pepper paste if you have it (It's not necessary, but you'll have a better product).

Then add the char siu pork. Fry some more.

Squeeze the kimchi out and add it to the fried rice. Mix well.

Add Siracha, soy sauce and salt to taste.

Serve with a fried egg on top with soy sauce over the egg. (sunny side up, or over easy)


This recipe feeds 5 people. If you have exceeded 12 dollars total, you are doing it wrong.



*Yellow Curry.*

3 cups of jasmine rice. Cooked.

1 large brown onion, julienned
2 cloves garlic, chopped.
2 carrots, cut into even sized chunks
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks.
1 can of coconut milk
3-4 tbsp yellow curry powder
2 tbsp fish sauce
3-ish tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp oil (I use olive oil)
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 chicken breasts. cut into 1/2 inch cubes...
dash of salt,
dash of pepper
water to boil the carrots and potatoes.

In a medium pot bring the carrots to a boil.

When the carrots are about 1/3-1/2 done (you can check with a fork), add the potatoes to the carrots, and bring to a boil again.


Heat a large pan, brown the onions in the oil, add chopped garlic.

When fragrant, add about 2 tbsp of the coconut milk, and the chicken, and the salt and pepper.

Brown the chicken a bit, and then add the rest of the coconut milk and the heavy cream.

Stir in the curry powder.

Add the fish sauce and brown sugar.

The carrots and potatoes should now be done, drain them in a strainer.

Add them to the pan, stir gently, making sure everything is covered.

Adjust with more fish sauce, brown sugar, or heavy cream as needed.

Serve with rice.

This recipe makes enough for 5-6 people, if the total cost exceeds 10 (really, its more like 8, but you can't always find chicken breasts on sale) dollars, you are doing it wrong.


It's late, I'll post more later.


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## Delbert Ealy (Apr 3, 2012)

I'll do you one better on your taco salad.
I use the cheesy enchilada hamburger helper, it stretches the meat and adds flavor.
HH $1
1 lb ground beef $2.69
1 head lettuce $1.50
1 bag doritoes $2.50
1 2 cup bag shredded cheese $2
Total cost $9.69 
Feeds 8(at least)
Del


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## bprescot (Apr 3, 2012)

I LOVE THESE THREADS! Low buck meals are my favorite. Cheapest on regular rotation has GOT to be a quick Dal we do. Just Rice, Lentils, and Tarka of Cumin Seed, Onions, and Jalapenos. Might be $8 total for three-four servings? I get the dals at $3.99 for 4lbs, so I might be high on the cost estimate there...

BPrescot's Weekday Dal

3/4 cup Basmati Rice - $.50

1/2 cup Masoor Dal - $.75?
1/2 cup Moong Dal- $.75?
1tsp Turmeric - .10
pinch of salt
Pat of butter to finish

Two Big Onions - $2.50
8 Jalapenos - $1.50
Oil (Veg or Coconut or Ghee) $.60
Cumin Seeds


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## Mike Davis (Apr 3, 2012)

This is awesome. Ok i think i am going to try Stefan's spam nagiri. Also going to try a lot of the other one's listed.


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## PhaetonFalling (Apr 3, 2012)

Mike Davis said:


> This is awesome. Ok i think i am going to try Stefan's spam nagiri. Also going to try a lot of the other one's listed.



Mike, here's a recipe for that Spam musubi, it's more complicated than you might initially think...

http://lunchinabox.net/2008/08/20/how-to-make-spam-musubi/


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## stevenStefano (Apr 3, 2012)

When I have hardly any money I usually eat loads of tinned mackerel and tuna with bread or maybe mixed with lettuce for a sort of salad. Bit of soy tabasco and Worcestershire sauce if I don't buy the ones that come in tomato sauce. Either that or I just eat honey on toast


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## PhaetonFalling (Apr 3, 2012)

stevenStefano said:


> When I have hardly any money I usually eat loads of tinned mackerel and tuna with bread or maybe mixed with lettuce for a sort of salad. Bit of soy tabasco and Worcestershire sauce if I don't buy the ones that come in tomato sauce. Either that or I just eat honey on toast



I _like _the sardines that come in tomato sauce. Start with Julienned onions and garlic, brown the onions, and then the garlic until it's fragrant, and then add the sardines, a little tomato paste, water, a little bit of sugar, and fish sauce, black and red pepper, and then reduce. Eat with a toasted baguette. delish.


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## jmforge (Apr 4, 2012)

This is cheating, but a lump of cheap hamburger and a box of Zatarains dirty rice mix will do ya right every time. The rice mix is like $2.


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## geezr (Apr 4, 2012)

apicius9 said:


> Spam musubi. Very popular out here. While we are at it: video...
> Stefan



:lol2::lol2:
also spam omelet - requires some knife skills dicing spam and onion then saute to desired doneness/crispness and scramble an egg or 2. eat with lots of hot white rice :hungry:


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