Favorite foods on the cheap?

[akjv]

Food prices are insane. What are your cheap eats? Goto budget meals that taste good too?
Any other food related money saving tips are welcome!

 

[jacorian]

@akjv Chorizo and Butterbean stew. 4 serves for about 10/11 dollarydoos.

Chop up a stick of chorizo into small bits, dry fry for 3/4 mins til crispy, throw in 2 drained tins of Butterbean, 2 cans of diced tomato, add a dollop of pesto and job done. Takes about 5 mins total with minimal washing up. Good with crusty bread too.

 

[akjv]

@jacorian That sounds really good.

 

[jacorian]

@akjv It's tasty as. Here's the BBC recipie:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/butter-bean-chorizo-stew

 

[ttcmacro]

@jacorian If you have a slow cooker, you can use dried beans and save a bit of $$ too at the expense of time. Put all the ingredients (except the pesto) in and swap the butterbeans with a cup of dried beans, fill with water (say 4L depending on the size of your slow cooker). Let it cook on low for 8 hours then stir in the pesto and enjoy. serve with a lil scoop of sour cream or a slice of plastic cheese if you're feeling indulgent.

You need to wash the beans (swoosh in water, let sit for a min and throw away any that float to the top), but no need to soak/rinse (the thing about soaking reducing farts is a myth).

 

[ilmc]

@ttcmacro Hi where do you get your dried beans from? They don’t have them at my local supermarket and the few specialty food shops I’ve tried that have them are $$$

 

[ttcmacro]

@ilmc Bin Inn. Usually under $10/kg and you use maybe 200g for a huge pot of soup with leftovers. If you're not picky about which kind, there are always random ones on sale or big discounts for mixes. I like the cranberry/borlotti beans best for sausage soup.

 

[alex10]

@akjv Wraps - canned beans (cheaper to buy bulk dried but takes longer to prep), whatever veges you have, seasonings (Mexican taco mix or similar), can either use flatbread or make non-sweetened pancakes out of flour/salt/water, if no cheese then can make garlic Gopala yogurt. You can put pretty much anything in a wrap

Ramen - can add whatever veges you have, dried mushrooms pre-soaked, egg/little bit of meat if you're feeling fancy

Pasta - canned tomatoes, or make a white sauce/cheese sauce, or just seasoned oil + little bit of the pasta water, again with the random veges/proteins, herbs/seasonings etc, dry pasta is fine - can also make pasta dough out of one cup flour per one egg then roll out with a rolling pin or empty bottle - can also use frozen + quickly boiled wonton wrappers as pasta noodles/lasagne sheets - can also make gnocchi out of half potato, half flour, roll into log & cut little bits off + boil until they float

Curry - those Mae ploy plastic tubs of curry paste last pretty much forever, can of coconut cream + those random veges & proteins, extra garlic, ginger, dried chilli, coriander etc if you're feeling fancy, have with rice

Fritters - Those random veges + proteins again, batter of flour + water + seasonings, an egg in the mix if you have it, fry and have with some sort of sauce

General tips: frozen veges & canned veges like capsicum can be cheaper than fresh - so many things like large packs of rice, herbs/spices, meat, flour, eggs etc are much cheaper if you can swing the upfront cost - could team up with other frugal friends to meet those upfront costs - don't get those at supermarket if you can avoid it, go to wholesale shops + Indian/Asian stores - stick to whatever seasonal veges/fruits are currently cheap at supermarket/farmers market, downside = no avocado, fresh tomato etc for most of year, upside = you'll adapt & might discover some new faves - forage for herbs like rosemary, bay, parsley & edible weeds like dandelion, chickweed etc

 

[hopesuresh]

@akjv Sleep

 

[wendysue1959]

@akjv Fried rice:

2 eggs
Half a bag of frozen veges
2 cups of rice
Season with soy sauce

Can easily make a few servings. Nutritional as well
Lots of recipes on youtube.

Beef chili:

500g of beef mince with like 2 cans of kidney beans (these beans are cheap and underrated because they are full of protein),2 cans of chopped tomato and chuck in a couple of chopped carrots and 2 blocks of vege stock.

Slow cook on low heat for a couple hours and garnish with cheese if you want. Serve with some rice. I can always get at least 6 servings out of it costing maybe $20 all up.

 

[1981jonesy]

@akjv Homemade Chickpea curry and naan bread. Very cheap and easy. Curry is all just made out of canned food (chickpeas, coconut milk, tomatoes) as well as a couple spices (curry powder, garam masala, cumin) and the naan is just flour, yeast, salt, oil and milk. Practically live on it atp and it’s delicious.

 

[sefo]

@akjv I've been making this flavourful dish that's supposed to imitate Chipotle's (American) vegan sofritas. Thinking about it, it's actually quite economical:

1) In a pot or deep saucepan, sautee diced onion, two cloves minced garlic and one finely chopped green chilli pepper (optional).

2) Add two tablespoons taco seasoning (any works) and a squeeze of tomato paste. Add two chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (optional but available in small cans at most international aisles). Sautee till toasted, about 2 minutes.

3) Pour in half cup of water or vege/chicken stock to deglaze the pan a bit. Add one whole canned of crushed tomatoes then add 1.5 cups of stock or water.

4) Add half cup of red lentils. Cover pot and cook until lentils are soft, around 20 minutes.

Optional step: take off heat and let cool a bit then blend until smooth. I like doing this to make a sauce instead of a stew/soup.

5) Fry crumbled firm tofu in a large nonstick pan until it starts to brown. Doesn't need to be super crispy.

6) When tofu is golden on both sides, pour in the sauce you made. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If it's too sour for you, add in a tablespoon of brown sugar. Stir together and then add a handful of chopped coriander.

Serve with plain rice!

This makes about 6 servings.

 

[lddlells]

@akjv Well pre covid it was substituting bacon for super thin Prosciutto cut off the bone at Farro. Was super cheap and 1 little slice would replace multiple pieces of bacon because of the strong flavour.
They got rid of all that afterwards though so now its market expensive packaged muck.

 

[mikeyjesus]

@akjv Old fashioned fish pie, tin of tuna & some frozen veg in a white sauce, mashed potato on top and then bake until golden

 

[resjudicata]

@akjv Japanese curry blocks + canned legume/veges; fast, cheap and somewhat healthy (lots of fibre and good fats).

 

[taixiat]

@akjv Cooked chook from supermarket. Use roast chicken, save carcass and put in slowcooker covered with water and random vege scraps from the kitchen (onion peels, broccoli stems, carrot heads, almost gone off produce, anything works). Cook overnight and into next day then strain liquid. Throw away solids then use broth to add amazing flavour to every dish.

Alternatively and add peas and corn plus some leftover cooked chook and bam 10/10 chicken soup

 

[brozza]

@akjv Indian 'Ready to Eat' Meals.

Usually cost around $5. Not the healthiest though.

I usually mix frozen vegetables in to make them more healthy.

Allows a very hearty meal (or 2) for around $7.

 

[jlnunez725]

@akjv I made some cassoulet last night from dried beans and duck. So cheap, so good.

Tooting like a train today though!

 

[mjenna19]

@akjv You can make a basic kind of chana masala really cheap. For the spices, any Indian shop will have a special chana masala premixed spice or you can google and get as complicated as you like. Saute an onion in oil until translucent. Add fresh ginger and garlic or a premade paste(s) and saute until fragrant. Add your spice mix, keep gently sauteeing until the spices start to release their fragrance. Throw in 2 cans chopped tomatoes, 2 cans of chickpeas, drained, or about 4 cups cooked chickpeas. Put in 2 cans full of water. Simmer until it thickens probably about half an hour. Taste and add salt, sugar, lemon juice to adjust for your preference. Serve with rice and/or naan.
Nuclear cbf lazy option: forget all the spices and onion faff. Go straight to the can stage and use 2 cans of Watties Indian spiced tomatoes with your chickpeas and water.
Depending on how much preparation you do eg cooking chickpeas from dry, you can do this for about $5 for the entire thing which should be plenty for four.
If you want to fancy it up there are loads of recipes available online, but no matter how you make it it's going to be pretty cheap because it's based on chickpeas and canned toms.

 

[lovejoypeaceetc]

@akjv Garlic cheese pasta- cook pasta, sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, pepper, olive oil and grated cheese. Mix

Soup. Either stock based or vege based. You can usually add 2 cups of stock to veges herbs/spices and condiments such as sweet chili or soy sauce. Or add 1 cup stock one cup tinned diced vege and mix it with herbs spices condiments etc. usually only need to spent approx 10$ for 4 servings.

Pasta- fry one onion, 1 medium. chopped chorizo and one garlic clove, 1 cup frozen veges and pasta. You can add a store brought pasta sauce or a cheap option of home made pasta sauce.

Spag bol, cup tinned tomatoes, pack of mince, garlic, chili and onion, herbs/spices S+P and pasta

Dumplings, frozen bags of them are super cheap and usually have them with steamed veges.