• Me-Myself&I said on Oct 09, 2007....

  I keep on hand beans, rice, oats, pototoes, ramen noodles&other kinds, soups and crakers
  .....oh peanut butter! I eat to live, not live to eat.
  Good luck on the budget, i work on a budget too and stay just ahead to be comfortable.
  Nothing fancy in my life. **smile**  see ya

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 09, 2007....

  MM&I - all the basics.  I like that.  Yes, the ol' budget does put a crimp in my eating style.
   

• mobil said on Oct 09, 2007....

  Don't have problems with the budget these days Uni, but I remember when we did and raising five kids.
   
  I shot allot of deer, antelope and elk and butchered them myself, we always had a freezer full of meat. I ground lots of burger too. Pheasants we ate like chicken and that mixed things up some too.
   
  All we needed for the big meal was some vegetable and spuds. If you had the big meal covered the other two weren't so hard to fill in.
   
  PS: When the kids had beef it made them sick to their tummies, it was so rich.

• secretlife said on Oct 09, 2007....

  spaghetti or pasta-
  peanut butter & jelly
  pancakes
  mac & cheese
  pizza
   
  hmmmmmm sounds like my son's basic diet.

• mobil said on Oct 09, 2007....

  Shit, I guess I didn't help you much Uni, just said what I did and you were looking for something to eat. haha.
   
  Here's the thing with wild game, it's real good if prepared properly. Lots of hunters don't like to eat what they shoot and give deer and things like that away to the needy or anyone who will make use of it.
   
  Call the fish and game there, see if they can direct you to a hunter or two who might give you some fresh meat. Some will even cut it up and wrap it for you. Check it out.

• TinSoldier said on Oct 09, 2007....

  Heh. I remember breakfast dinners. We still do them occasionally but not often enough.
  
  Sometimes (like tonight) we'll do chili mac -- can of chili, box of mac and cheese and mix them up.
  

• sweet_cookie01 said on Oct 10, 2007....

  mash potatoes are heavy in the stomach and some peas and carrots can go a long way!

• evil_twin said on Oct 10, 2007....

  The best cheap foods that I like are bean burritos and spaghetti. Breakfast dinners are good too. You can't go wrong with eggs either. And I actually like Top Ramen too. It's not just desperation food for me!
  
  -evil_twin LA
  

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 10, 2007....

  mobil - my dad's parents were big hunters and growers.  I don't think they bought anything other than flour, sugar and salt from stores until they got too old to go chase down wild game.  As far as local hunters, well, I think I'm buried a little too deep in the urban jungle to be near any.  would cost me as much in gas just to pick it up.
   
  SL - sounds a lot like my son's diet too.  I had forgotten about mac and cheese.
   
  TS - Believe it or not, I've not had ChiliMac.  When married we had Chili over rice a lot.  I liked it, but he got the rice steamer and I haven't bought one. 
   
  Sweet - I love potatos. Being both german and irish I can probably cook a potato about 2 dozen ways.
   
  ET - I'm a little burnt out on spaghetti at this point, but I do love burritos.  Top ramen is just shy of desperation food, though I have some at my desk at work just so that I have something if I can't get out for lunch.
   

• TinSoldier said on Oct 10, 2007....

  I think the first time I had chili over rice was my homemade chili. I loved it.
  
  Steamer, huh? I just cook rice in the pan. Two cups water, one cup rice, maybe a dash of salt, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer for exactly twenty minutes. Remove from heat but do not remove the lid for another five minutes.
  
  At the end of the five minutes remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. I've never used a steamer.
  

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 10, 2007....

  TS - I guess I've avoided cooking rice in a pot because of the awful stuff my mom made for us growing up.  It was always lumpy or undercooked.  My ex is from Hawaii and rice is a big part of their diet.  I will have to try stove top cooked rice until I find a steamer I like.  Perhaps have veggies with it tonight.

• beyondtheveil said on Oct 10, 2007....

  unique- I have always liked breakfast for dinner. We usually do that about once a week. There are all kinds of meals in a can and its easy to spice them up to your taste. A banana mixed with your peanut butter is wonderful and nutritious. At this point in time we don't have to watch the food budget with the kids gone, but still eat cheap meals rather often. One of the things I do when alone is mix a can of broth with a can of pinto beans and spice to taste. 

• Trinov said on Oct 10, 2007....

  Hi, we've always been pretty poor, just our fate I guess, but there were times it was very very hard and those times we survived on lots of rice and very well cooked beans, peanut butter used creatively--it goes with potatoes, potatoes go with yogurt--now soy yogurt, chumus and pita, chumas mixed with peanut butter, chumus mixed with scrambled eggs and potatoes. Etc...... There was a book once- we still have it called Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappe which explained that we can get full protein by adding a little bit of foods which are high in lysine --like meat, cheese beens, seafood, with a lot of food that is lacking in lysine and is much cheaper: like wheat, potatoes, rice-- and get the equivalent of full protein--something our grandparents did automatically--- or by combining the cheaper foods in a way that gives the same amount of full protein: seeds and beans, grains and milk products, beans and grains... we also often had breakfast for dinner, and we also get by a lot on one meal a day plus a snack or too. Here we can go to the Shook or vegetable market and get farm produce without a middleman or with only one middleman, and we buy vegetables in season or frozen vegetables when they are cheap....And almost anything can be cooked in the microwave, even non lumpy rice--about twice the water to the rice (with some oil) and keep it covered-about 10-15 minutes, or in a rice cooker -five minutes. Muffins also.

• hillbillygirl said on Oct 10, 2007....

  Well I am a single mom with two kids so I know what its like to eat on a budget thats for sure. I love breakfast for dinner but the gilrs are not big fans so I dont get to have that to often. But they love spaghetti, and Hamburger Helper. Pizza is another favorite. Mac and Cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches and soup, Ramen noodles, goulash (just like spaghetti just with elbow mac instead).

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 10, 2007....

  BTV - have you ever had a peanut butter and banana sandwich?  Yummy.  I also like peanut butter on apple wedges.  Beans and broth is new to me.  Is that like a poor mans bean soup?  If so, try adding spoonful of sourcream.
   
  Trinov - I've heard about and experimented with food combinations that make complete proteins.  The church I was raised in was pretty insistant on eating only kosher meats if you weren't able to be strictly vegetarian.  I do like hummus and when you put that with pitas it is a very satisfying meal.  On weekends I often only eat 2 meals, not for finances, but because I don't get as hungry as during the week when my days are longer.

• Trinov said on Oct 10, 2007....

  Now that I remember---We had a book( by a Mormon author) who gave dozens of recipies for using gluten as a meat substitute or a meat extender... We make this gluten often by washing down the flour and we cook it with a vegetarian broth. We used to do all sorts of things with it when we were pure vegans --and our guests thought that they were eating meat! Now we just try to have it with some beans or soy products.... Here in Israel people now eat as much soy-gluten 'meat' as regular meat products, about one third the population is under the definition of the poverty line. We also make our own yogurts and lebens--it comes out much cheaper--just add three tablespoons to a liter of cooled boiled milk or commercial soy milk and leave it covered-- but with an inch of air outside the refrigerator until it becomes jelled. As for meat, we buy lots of turkey wings since it is the cheapest meat available and can be cooked with 'cool' or 'hot' spices and it makes a nice broth also.

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 10, 2007....

  Trinov - I wasn't raised Mormon (though there were some similarities) but our church did a lot with gluten for meat substitutes.  I enjoy many vegetarian meat substitutes, though if you buy them now they are as expensive or more expensive than meat.  I don't have the nerve to make my own yogurt as of yet.

• quietone said on Oct 10, 2007....

  Well, a day late getting to this post...hope you didn't wait for me to eat!! LOL 
  I like seeing how cheap I can eat..its like a game.  I did it when my brother and family was staying with me for a while..  I fed a family of 6 on about $6 cool huh?  I got a 2pack pizza for $4 and koolaid.  the only thing about budget foods, its usually not the healthiest stuff.  We were poor growing up too and ate a LOT of goolosh.  I don't care for much pasta these days now..go figure!
  beans - hot dogs = cheap
  eggs & hash = cheap
  brown hamberger and throw in a can of stewed tomatoes yum
  egg salad sandwichs & chips
  oh, I'm getting hungry now......
   

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 10, 2007....

  quietone - you're right about it not being the healthiest.  Very rarely are fresh greens considered cheap, and we all need the greens.

• TinSoldier said on Oct 10, 2007....

  Heh. I thought of another recipe we ate when times were very lean -- cream of mushroom soup mixed with macaroni.
  
  UI -- I found some good sites just doing a google search for steamed rice. Here is a typical hit with some ideas that I may need to try:
  http://shiokfood.com/notes/archives/000022.html
  
  There was a very similar one at about.com. Sorry, I kinda agree that bad rice sucks.
  
  

• tizzygirl said on Oct 10, 2007....

  for dinner: ramen....hot dogs....spaghetti....and if it's just one person I like to buy a bag of chicken breasts and cook one at a time with some rice and veggies....
  lunches....peanut butter sandwiches and of course bologna (the cheap squeaky kind)  snd I'll sometimes eat bagels and cream cheese with some sort of fruit....
  I'm on a really tight budget now and that's what is on my menu... I try to be healthy but it's hard when you are trying to be cheap....the hot dogs and ramen sneak in there!!  Sometimes I'll buy a can of soup and eat goldfish crackers with it, a box of those last forever and I put them in soup and on salads instead of croutons....hope something in there helped!  If it's for a huge family I hear cassaroles are good....but I cook just for me and occasionally the bf.

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 10, 2007....

  TS - that's the kind of rice (on the link you sent) that I like.  Fluffy and not gummy.  I have had the mushroom soup and noodle dish as a kid.  It's not bad.
   
  tizzy - mostly it's just me.  I hear you on the cheap vs healthy thing.  I try to "splurge" on healthy greens as often as the budget allows.

• gingersoul said on Oct 10, 2007....

  Unique...recently i am eating a lot of eggs, canned beans, canned tuna, tomatoes and usually pasta with a simple and quick topping: oil, red flake peppers and garlic. It fills you up and costs one dollar at dinner.....i dont spare on fruit though...i always have at least apples and bananas

  My daughter eats what she likes.....its ok...i can eat less or always teh same stuff even thoug is not that healthy but she is growing... 

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 10, 2007....

  ginger - Pasta and rice are real budget stretchers.  When my kids are with me I always have fruits and fresh veggies too since they're still growing.

• silverwhisper said on Oct 10, 2007....

  stuff that i've eaten when money was pretty tight:
  
  1. pasta. tons and tons of pasta. it's pretty inexpensive to make, esp in large batches.
  
  2. quiche. yep, believe it or not that's actually really cheap re: ingredients, too.
  
  ed

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 11, 2007....

  SW - would you believe that quiche is one of the few dishes that still eludes my cooking skills?  I need to take a lesson or something.

• silverwhisper said on Oct 11, 2007....

  really? that comes as a surprise: you have serious foodie cred w/ me.
  
  ed

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 11, 2007....

  SW - and I can bake the bejesus out of pastries, cook a near orgasmic pot roast,  make a salad that can make you cry, but the quiche, well, she eludes me.  I am having trouble with getting an edible crust and sometimes the middle is a little too soft for my taste.

• silverwhisper said on Oct 11, 2007....

  hm...maybe the food network forums might be of some help?
  
  ed

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 11, 2007....

  SW - I should look there again.  I pulled a couple of hints, receipes, etc from it once, but honestly I tend to let go the things I don't cook well and focus on the things I do cook well.

• TinSoldier said on Oct 11, 2007....

  "orgasmic" pot roast? Have you, um, already shared this recipe? Because that's something that I'm definitely interested in.
  
  I've never made quiche.
  

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 11, 2007....

  TS - It's really not a fancy "receipe" and a lot of the credit has to go to the butcher who provides such wonderful quality meat and a handmade rub that I buy.
   
  4 lb pot roast at room temperature
  baby yukon potatos
  1 onion peeled and cut into quarters
  baby carrots
  Dittmars meat rub
   
  Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Generously apply meat rub to entire roast and put into a deep roasting pan with lid.  (mine is a glass lid so that I don't have to uncover it during roasting and cause a temperature drop)  Add potatos, onions and carrotts to pan and put into oven.  Let cook at 450 for 15 minutes.  Reset temperature to 325 degrees and cook roast 15-20 minutes for every 1/2 pound. (2 hours +/-)
   
  Remove from oven and use drippings to make gravy.  Meat should be fork cutting tender.  My kids and "family" beg me to cook this every week.
   
  Quiche continues to elude me.
   
   

• TinSoldier said on Oct 11, 2007....

  Heh. Thanks! I'll have to try it out.

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 11, 2007....

  TS - If you private message me an address I'll send you the Dittmars meat rub.  I don't think you can get it commercially.  It's a very mom and pops type butcher shop.  It's so totally worth the hassle.

• uniquely-ironic said on Oct 11, 2007....

  Here's a link to the butcher shop with the meat rub.  Unfortunately I don't see the meat rub on the site and don't know if they sell from the site.

• TinSoldier said on Oct 11, 2007....

  Thanks.
  
  I'll get back to you on it. I don't think I've ever actually been to a butcher shop but we do have one kinda near by. I'll see what they have and if they don't do something similar then maybe I'll take you up on it.
  
  
  

Comment on "Cheap Eats"

Currently tagged	budget food wild game dinner (Click to add tags below)
Tag this post	(Separate tags using commas, for example: New York, dating, vegetarian)
Your comment