Quick, Cheap, Easy and Unusual Recipes

[elevenism]

Ok so I make a lot of ridiculously goofy shit when I'm hungry and low on reasonable food. Plus, I LIKE some of this stuff.
And, it's pretty damn funny.

So I'll start this off with an ultra white trash concoction.

Microwave a single serve Kraft, or store brand, macaroni cup with the squeeze cheese. Use a little less water than usual. Stir in squeeze cheese.

Put one regular ass fluffy white flour tortilla on a plate.

Spoon the Kraft macaroni onto the tortilla.

Roll into a burrito shape.

Now, you have a macaroni and cheese burrito...kind of.

Enjoy.

:P

It's funny. But also, I'm dead serious.

[chuckrh]

Ok so I make a lot of ridiculously goofy shit when I'm hungry and low on reasonable food. Plus, I LIKE some of this stuff.
And, it's pretty damn funny.

So I'll start this off with an ultra white trash concoction.

Microwave a single serve Kraft, or store brand, macaroni cup with the squeeze cheese. Use a little less water than usual. Stir in squeeze cheese.

Put one regular ass fluffy white flour tortilla on a plate.

Spoon the Kraft macaroni onto the tortilla.

Roll into a burrito shape.

Now, you have a macaroni and cheese burrito...kind of.

Enjoy.

:P

It's funny. But also, I'm dead serious.

That sounds absolutely disgusting. I think the only ingredient there that I would eat is the tortilla. I've been on a mission to avoid processed foods & anything with high fructose corn syrup in it. The majority of what I eat is salads. Trying to eat more fish but its so damned expensive. I'm actually on my way out to a festival for sustainable local farming put on by the county government. They've actually paid to get Drive-by Truckers to headline. It must be a nice payday for them as they've been playing the east coast & are heading back there after this. The show is free but typical of the county government there's been almost zero publicity for it. At least I'll get something for my tax dollars as the light rail won't get to where I live while I'm still alive.

[SM Rollinger]

I'll toast up some eggo waffles and just dip them in country crock spread and eat em.

I'll also crunch up a brick or ramen while still in the back, and the sprinkle the seasoning over the noodle pieces. Yum.

[allegro]

The only quick and easy things I eat fairly regularly:

Parfait:
- 1 small container of Greek yogurt (whatever flavor you prefer)
- 1 handful of fresh blueberries*
- 1/2 handful of fresh walnut halves
- about 1 tsp flax seeds
Pour all into a small bowl and combine
* sometimes I add cubes of fresh apples


Microwave omelette:
- 1 egg
- 1 or 2 Tb shredded cheddar cheese
- about 2 Tb baby spinach, torn into small pieces
- olive oil spray
Using a fork, combine all except olive oil in a mug, vigorously, until egg is beaten
Spray inside of mug with olive oil, then fill mug with egg mixture
Cook in microwave for 1 minute or until fully cooked

[elevenism]

yeah yeah yeah, @chuckrh and @allegro , with your tofu and spinach smoothies :P
Jokes aside, we have ONE truck stop here that makes different kinds of salads every morning: BIG ass salads, with spinach, even.
I eat those for dinner 2-3 times a week.

And Allegro, that microwave ome..omeLAY? THAT'S how it's spelled?

Anyway, that sounds badass, and i shall try it, although i'm not sure how i feel about eating Spinaches when they're just babies. They haven't had a chance to really LIVE yet: to take in the cultural climate and decide what type of Spinach they want to be when they grow up.

OK. So, in the healthy vein, i fucking LOVE just straight up pre-shelled soybeans, aka edamame. It's $2 in your grocer's freezer, microwavable in a couple minutes, and makes a DAMN good snack. People like the unshelled, because, well, it's kind of an activity. You get a lot more bang for your buck with the unshelled, though.
I add just a PINCH of salt, but just the tiniest pinch, as i worry about my heart. it makes a big ass bowl, and your dog will love it, too. Soybean was a special bonding experience i had with Spike Lee Lankford, God rest his immortal bulldog soul.

BUT, this wasn't about shit that's GOOD for you, really. I was looking for ghetto/white trash/hood rat snacks.
Back on the original tip, and continuing where @SM Rollinger left off:

ok.

1. White corn tortillas, as many as will fit on a plate, in a circle.

2. take SPECIFICALLY the cheapest american "cheese" available- the 99 cent type, as it melts into a fine sauce because, well...it isn't really CHEESE, per se. The cheaper it is, the better sauce it makes.
Put a half slice on each tortilla,
3.microwave until it's hot and saucy: 90 seconds to 2 min

Roll the tortillas up as you eat them.
It's fucking great.
If you wanna make a meal of it, you can throw some deli style turkey on the tortillas before heating.

[Endlessly]

For quick/cheap/easy, I am an enormous fan of savory oatmeal. Get a sack of plain oatmeal, add salt/pepper or a bouillon cube, whatever spices float your boat, chuck in the microwave. Finish with a pat of butter or splash of cream, maybe a fried egg on top. You have a multitude of add-in options: cheese? Green onions? $1 bag of frozen spinach? Chili oil? Go for it! Just be sure to put it in a bigger bowl than you think you need.

Sometimes I'll switch it up for rice porridge, just simmer cooked rice in water or broth till it breaks down, also goes great with an egg. If you have ginger and shredded chicken kicking around your fridge, now you have arroz caldo! I usually freeze any cooked rice that I don't eat within a day or two, which means I always have a couple of cups on hand and ready to go.

Oh, and speaking of Eggo waffles: as a kid I ate a "waffle sandwich" for every breakfast for years. Two Eggos, big spoonful of peanut butter, a few chocolate chips. Melty, delicious, easy to convince a picky kid to eat, probably even got me some protein or whatever.

[MrLobster]

Two Eggos, toasted well, cheezwhiz spread. Either sandwiched together or open...

(assuming you have toaster oven) bread + cheese slice, "toast" until the cheese rises a bit... remove, add paprika for added flavour

Instant noodles, bring to a boil the usual way...drain most of the water, like usual, add a scoop of cheezwhiz, stir until melted around like you do with that butter from Mac + Cheese dinners.

Cream of tomato soup, instant noodles, tabasco sauce, parsley, an egg or two (if you're sharing).

toasted peanut butter and jam bagel (sesame seed if you can get it), surprising how energy packed those can be on limited budget.

Eating original frosted miniwheats like cookies for fibre intake.

But that was a looooooonnnnng time ago.

Nowadays...

bagel (be adventurous if you can, try different flavours... poppyseed and sesame seed are my current favourites), cut in half and toasted well... fry an egg with some torn up salami in it (but remember to flip it over and let the everything cook nicely, no need to spare the yoke), put the egg+salami on one side of the bagel, add a slice of cheese, put the top on, let the heat of the egg melt the cheese a bit. Of course you can add mustard for a bit of kick (again, choose wisely, typical "yellow" mustard might do it as well as, say... a grainy dijon).
same thing as above, but with an English muffin instead, butter the English muffin before adding the egg+salami to give it that extra Egg McMuffin taste. Again, add the slice of cheese and there you go. For smaller appetite days.

On average, I eat two of the bagelwiches a daily (breakfast and dinner, with coffee... but I'm also one of those people that can have coffee and take a nap right away) and lunch is whatever the hell I'm in mood for.

My disabled life really likes stability and since this food treats me well, I'll keep doing that.

[elevenism]

@Endlessly I've never tried such a combination with oatmeal. It certainly sounds like I've barely explored the possibilities.

I like just RIDICULOUSLY thick oatmeal. And then, I'll stir a tablespoon or two of crunchy peanut butter in.
Then, you've got a 25 or 30 cent bowl of hearty food that's reasonably GOOD for you.

@MrLobster , ah. The Bagel Sandwich. I think I've found the Ultimate, for me,.at least, and it's something my wife created. In fact, I had to.talk her into letting me share the recipe, because she thinks she could sell.them.on a food truck.

Ok. And this is also EASY, with my RA. It's reasonably cheap for what you get out of it, and it's ALMOST good for you.

We use "Everything Bagels" for this one. Aside from that, you'll need

precooked grilled or fajita chicken (we use John Soul's, and the fajita is my favorite. It doesn't taste fajita seasoned at all: not to a texas boy.)

Precooked bacon (I'm talking the kind that COMES cooked)
Jalepeño Cream Cheese
Pepper Jack cheese slices (generic is fine, of course)

Toast each half of the bagel and top with jalepeño cream cheese.



Microwave a bit of the bacon, and however much refrigerated chicken you want. (I like maybe 2.5 ounces, and two bacon slices, halved, to make a square of bacon)

Have the pepperjack slice ready.

When it's hot, CAREFULLY add the bacon and chicken to one bagel half.

QUICKLY add the pepper jack, which should SLIGHTLY melt: it takes the shape of the chicken, and is warm, but doesn't TOTALLY melt.

Put the other bagel half on top, press down to make the whole thing more manageable, and, hot damn.

Enjoy just about my favorite sandwich of all time.

(If you don't want to handle hot John Soul's chicken, just put the chicken and bacon ON one bagel half, with NO cream cheese and microwave that; add the pepper jack when it comes out. Just put extra jalepeño cream cheese on the side that DOESN'T go into the microwave.)

So. You guys have mentioned Ramen noodle concoctions.

I've got about 100 of those motherfuckers: I've never been to prison, but I've done about a year in jail, all told.

You'd be SHOCKED at the stuff people make in jail, and I learned how to do it, WELL.

The bottom line is just that instant noodles are INSANELY versatile. You can make them into burritos (that will hold their shape WITHOUT tortillas,) "pizza" crust, and just all KINDS of shit, especially when you start throwing in black beans, and uncle Ben's 90 second rice, crushing the ramen to a fine powder, stacks of crackers crushed to a fine powder, chips and Cheetos and such crushed in the same manner, cheese whiz, etc.

I haven't been to jail in a long, long time, but I still make/experiment with some of this stuff.
I'll throw down one of my best concoctions.

ALSO, in these uncertain times, I keep...I currently have probably 300 ramen packs. And 99% of these noodle based recipes don't REALLY need heat: hot water is best, obviously, and warm water is desirable, but room temp water WILL work if you know what you're doing.

[Pillfred]

Quick cheap and easy you say?

Buy some decent broth base and angel hair pasta. It’s like fancy ramen noodles. You can then add whatever is in hand. I’ve used black beans, tuna,eggs almost always, deli meat. A recent tip I received is to add a single slice of American cheese to any ramen noodle. It’s not enough to necessarily make it cheesy but gives it decent creamy texture.

Baby red potatoes seasoning, I generally use a decent Cajun season. But then down in either slices or small chunks. Pan fry add some eggs in it in the side I generally go all in at some sort filler I’ve used similar to what’s above beans, meat cheese.

Can of tuna with some salsa mixed in. Sounds all kinds of wrong but I think is actually pretty good.

Deli meat pinwheel type rolls are easy. Few slices of meat, cheese, couple pickles chips or spear with some greens inside. Gluten free sandwich.

Garlic butter noodles bonus if you can reduce some white wine.

Anything you could feasible call a “hot dish/casserole.”

Whatever you want on toast.

Best part is most of this can be had for about 20$ after a marginal up front investment, seasonings etc.

[elevenism]

Quick cheap and easy you say?

Buy some decent broth base and angel hair pasta. It’s like fancy ramen noodles. You can then add whatever is in hand. I’ve used black beans, tuna,eggs almost always, deli meat. A recent tip I received is to add a single slice of American cheese to any ramen noodle. It’s not enough to necessarily make it cheesy but gives it decent creamy texture.

Baby red potatoes seasoning, I generally use a decent Cajun season. But then down in either slices or small chunks. Pan fry add some eggs in it in the side I generally go all in at some sort filler I’ve used similar to what’s above beans, meat cheese.

Can of tuna with some salsa mixed in. Sounds all kinds of wrong but I think is actually pretty good.

Deli meat pinwheel type rolls are easy. Few slices of meat, cheese, couple pickles chips or spear with some greens inside. Gluten free sandwich.

Garlic butter noodles bonus if you can reduce some white wine.

Anything you could feasible call a “hot dish/casserole.”

Whatever you want on toast.

Best part is most of this can be had for about 20$ after a marginal up front investment, seasonings etc.

man i LOVE this one : "decent broth base and angel hair pasta. It’s like fancy ramen noodles. You can then add whatever is in hand."
I, myself, already have plenty of like $1 boxes of angel hair, so i'll be trying this, most def.

also "Best part is most of this can be had for about 20$ after a marginal up front investment, seasonings etc."

My man. You're definitely in the spirit of this thing.

[elevenism]

here's a hot tip i learned from my Korean sis in law and my Japanese common law wife (exie).

if you're short on money, and can handle rice based dishes, BUY A RICE COOKER.

You can stir fry some vegetable, you bake a chicken breast and tear that into pieces and put it in the rice, you can put some egg in it- or, you can do all three. This is only limited by your imagination: hell, you can chop up some hot dogs and do THAT.

There was ALWAYS rice in a cooker when i lived with my Japanese ex, and, furthermore, at my brother's house, there has ALWAYS been rice in a cooker for like 15 years.

My bro Aztech likes to use the rice as a sort of "dip, if you will," for cool ranch doritios. :P

[Jinsai]

French yogurt is actually really cheap to make, but it requires many steps and a lot of ingredients... it's actually sort of a pain in the ass, but I recommend giving it a shot

[Pillfred]

My man. You're definitely in the spirit of this thing.

Been basically broke cook for many years. I stumbled on the angel hair idea while almost buying ramen one time. I happened to have some decent base my boss got as a sample so I figured cheap ramen were .33 cents or a box angel hair was a dollar.

The sandwich meat, bread, potatoes and eggs can cover a few different bases depending on what you’re after. That said I generally can source a meal at work most days so I generally don’t require a loaded fridge or pantry.

[allegro]

BUY A RICE COOKER.

Roger Ebert wrote an entire book about this.

I bought one back then and used it for a bunch of his recipes.

https://www.bonappetit.com/people/ar...n-rice-cookers

[Endlessly]

Oh man, I think a good quarter of my meals in college must have been tomato-and-egg stir-fry with a scoop of rice from the similarly always-running rice cooker (four roommates meant pretty fast turnover). Very lightly scramble eggs - you'll cook them more later - and remove from the pan. Chop tomatoes, fry them up till they get soft but not turned to mush. Re-add eggs and cook another minute maybe, and BANG you're done. Adding soy sauce and green onion while cooking, and a pinch of sugar if you have sad supermarket tomatoes, is best but you can get by with just some salt if you're in dire straits. Absolutely classic Chinese student food, per the ones I learned it from!

[SM Rollinger]

yeah yeah yeah, @chuckrh and @allegro , with your tofu and spinach smoothies :P
Jokes aside, we have ONE truck stop here that makes different kinds of salads every morning: BIG ass salads, with spinach, even.
I eat those for dinner 2-3 times a week.

And Allegro, that microwave ome..omeLAY? THAT'S how it's spelled?

Anyway, that sounds badass, and i shall try it, although i'm not sure how i feel about eating Spinaches when they're just babies. They haven't had a chance to really LIVE yet: to take in the cultural climate and decide what type of Spinach they want to be when they grow up.

OK. So, in the healthy vein, i fucking LOVE just straight up pre-shelled soybeans, aka edamame. It's $2 in your grocer's freezer, microwavable in a couple minutes, and makes a DAMN good snack. People like the unshelled, because, well, it's kind of an activity. You get a lot more bang for your buck with the unshelled, though.
I add just a PINCH of salt, but just the tiniest pinch, as i worry about my heart. it makes a big ass bowl, and your dog will love it, too. Soybean was a special bonding experience i had with Spike Lee Lankford, God rest his immortal bulldog soul.

BUT, this wasn't about shit that's GOOD for you, really. I was looking for ghetto/white trash/hood rat snacks.
Back on the original tip, and continuing where @SM Rollinger left off:

ok.

1. White corn tortillas, as many as will fit on a plate, in a circle.

2. take SPECIFICALLY the cheapest american "cheese" available- the 99 cent type, as it melts into a fine sauce because, well...it isn't really CHEESE, per se. The cheaper it is, the better sauce it makes.
Put a half slice on each tortilla,
3.microwave until it's hot and saucy: 90 seconds to 2 min

Roll the tortillas up as you eat them.
It's fucking great.
If you wanna make a meal of it, you can throw some deli style turkey on the tortillas before heating.

Add ranch and you got a meal.

Mods can we change this title of this to stoner food thread?

[Marowi]

Scrambled eggs and black beans in a warmed corn tortilla. Cheap, delicious, and takes minutes to prepare. Cheese, hot sauce, chopped tomato, and cilantro make it jazzy but it is good enough as a 3 ingredient meal.


Fried rice using leftover takeout or day old rice. I buy the Chinese sausage from my asian market, chop it, add scrambled egg, onion, and any veggies I need to clear out of the fridge. Add a little bonito soy sauce and sriracha for the seasoning.

[Endlessly]

Fried rice using leftover takeout or day old rice. I buy the Chinese sausage from my asian market, chop it, add scrambled egg, onion, and any veggies I need to clear out of the fridge. Add a little bonito soy sauce and sriracha for the seasoning.

Yesssss, that sweet sausage is SO good in fried rice, makes it wonderfully flavorful and greasy. So does Polish sausage, if you have it!