Low Dollah Dinnah

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Speaking of which, I have this completely pathetic stir-fry that I make out of ramen every once in a while when things are looking sad.

All you need is:

Cabbage
Carrots
An Onion
Ramen
Oil

Shred the cabbage and grate the carrots, chop the onion and heat up the oil in a skillet. Boil the ramen until it's almost, but not quite done, then drain it and put it in the skillet with the onions. fry until golden, then dump in the carrots and cabbage and cook them until they're translucent (doesn't take long) then sprinkle all over with "flavor packet". If you have soy sauce, sesame oil, and/or rice vinegar, those are preferable to "flavor packet", but hey, you work with what you've got.

Adding garlic and meat to this improves it considerably.

[Triple Zero]

onions are cheap and vegetable. you can add them to any dish and increase the vegetable amount. though since it's not very varied, i dunno about nutrition.

cooking for two is cheaper (and better, cause you try harder) than cooking for one.

further, you can buy stuff that doesn't keep for more than a few days, by planning a bit and overlapping the ingredients. for example i re-used the teriyaki marinade from yesterday which i used on salmon. same for the spring onions, i used 2/3rs for two persons, and the rest for today.
if i were smart, i'd have bought stuff today to add to that, from which i can eat tomorrow. i didn't, but it would have been smart

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

sometimes we make pho bo

but we usually have all the spices laying around and don't have to buy a lot of stuff for it. so it's cheap that way.

in a stock pot i put:

water
animal leftovers [bones, other "parts"](beef preff, but chicken will do)or i cheat and go to the asian market and get the pho bo stock in a can that needs to be diluted anyway
2 anise stars
a cinnamon stick
palmfull of 5 spice
nutmeg ground
stalk of thai basil
small wad of cilantro
couple strands of culantro (yes it's different)
the juice of a lime (and then throw the lime in)
celery, carrot, onion
2 slices ginger

simmer this crap until it reduces a bit then strain all the garbage out until you have a nice clear broth.

we serve it over bean thread noodles, rice noodles, hell- you could even use udon i guess

then we grill some cheap steak (like the thin ones for 3 bucks a pack)that was marinated in ginger and soy sauce, slice it into thin strips, throw that on top.

top it all off w/ some super thin sliced onion, fresh cilantro leaves, culantro (chopped) and thai basil leaves and it's pretty good. (lime wedges on the side fer squeazin)

you get some protein, some starch and some veg
this also makes a lot


also anything curry w/ a veg over rice (especially shrimp on sale) is awesome and cheap

spag is cheap to make. even making your own pasta is cheap.

i even like a good old tomato soup w/ grilled cheese.
mr squid puts garlic, onion and cilantro in the soup cause i like it that way
for the grilled cheese we use the sargento brand flavored slices(when on sale) a tomato and a little red onion.
makes it better.

the beans and hamhocks i learned from my dad:
chop an onion and sautee it in a little olive oil, add garlic and deglaze w/ that bottle of white wine that's been in the fridge for months.
add a hamhock or 3, dried pinto beans and enough water to cover+ 1 inch.
cook until goopy then remove the hamhocks, cut all the meat off and throw that back in.
s'good i swears.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

or go ghetto and get a box of that zatarain's red beans and rice shit, add a sliced sausage(like hickory farms two for $5), onion and some garlic, can o red beans. don't forget the crystal sauce (to mask the flavor of everything else)

hold your nose and swallow

[Jenne]

ohhhh...psole....omfg.  That shit is da bomb.  My mom's recipe is awesome, it's similar to Nigel's--will post when sober, I swear.

[Roo]

or go ghetto and get a box of that zatarain's red beans and rice shit, add a sliced sausage(like hickory farms two for $5), onion and some garlic, can o red beans. don't forget the crystal sauce (to mask the flavor of everything else)

hold your nose and swallow

I like zatarain's red beans and rice...but only in the low sodium version. I'll have to try it with the sausages and stuff.

mmm...tube meat...

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

yeah that's a good tip

always try to get low sodium everything
it's always good to control the salt in your food.

[Dido]

Before this thread gets too vegetarian, do you guys eat entrails? I like them and they are cheap over here so I have many many nice recipes (even real ones, with quantities and times and such;-)

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

im not a big fan of chitterlings or organ meat myself
but they're pretty popular here in the south

[Dido]

Boiled oxtail (or whatever beef you want to use) with peanut butter sauce (use the broth to liquefy the butter). With rice/manioc/potatoes/pasta.

[Sepia]

low dollah lunch:

1 can of tuna in OIL
a fist of salad
half a lime
about 100g of fresh pasta
2 cl kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
2 eggs
bread
mustard
cilantro (if you live in a country where you can actually get the fresh stuff...)

Heat a skillet, preferably with a 50/50 of sesame oil and butter (don't be a cheapskate, buy the real shit). Low heat. 2/6 is what I used on my crappy oven. Crack the eggs into the skillet. It'll take around 5 minutes for them to be thoroughly cooked so while they cook, start boiling water for the pasta.

Take a plate, toss the fist of salad on it, add the kecap manis and the lime and gently toss it so it's evenlyish distributed. Drain most of the oil from the can and add it to the salad. Toast your bread and add mustard, put it on the side of the plate.

Finish cooking the pasta, drain, add coarsely chopped cilantro if you can get the wonderful stuff and toss it on top of everything that's on your plate. Add eggs, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Not too healthy, not too unhealthy and quite filling.

[trippinprincezz13]

Frozen cheese pizza + whatever leftovers you have = yummy and cheap.

Many leftovers (meat and/or vegetables) can make perfect topping for pizza and can make frozen pizzas actually taste pretty good. The usual frozen cheese pizza we keep on hand for emergencies (i.e., laziness/cheapness) is only $1.50 and is enough to feed the two of us and more than enough if we add our own toppings and spices.  Just cut up any leftovers (using of course your better judgment of what you think would taste good on top of pizza) and toss them on before you stick the pizza in the oven, or cook up some minced/chopped veggies then throw them on top before putting the pizza in the oven.

Two of the best we've done were chicken, broccoli and cheddar pizza and taco pizza.  Also, chicken parm, barbecue chicken (and any other varieties of leftover chicken), pepper, onion, mushroom, bacon and onion, etc. Use your imagination and you can create a pretty cheap and easy *gourmet* pizza, and find a use for leftovers rather than letting them go to waste.

[Jenne]

Leftover nachos--made of what you have leftover

Tortilla chips (end of the bag stale is good)
leftover beef anyhow
leftover chicken anyhow
can of red or refried beans (can also be leftover) or any beans really
cheese of your choice

Put all that shit on a cookie sheet and bake until cheese is bubbly, add toppings when out of oven like sour cream, chives, salsa, avocado, whatev.

Enjoy.

We make this on weekends when I'm lazy.

[Triple Zero]

carbonara: garlic + onions + bacon + cheese + black pepper + eggs + pasta.

i assume you do know how to make carbonara, otherwise look it up.

cream and chopped mushrooms optional.

[hooplala]

Buy box of Kraft Dinner + boiled water

... something to do with milk.  And maybe butter?



Makes a delicious Foie Gras which serves nine people, for about 79¢.