Cheap Meals: Eating on a budget.

mkopec · Apr 18, 2024

Here is my cabage dish my mom imported from Poland

1 Large onion diced
1/2 lb bacon diced
1 package of Polish sausage (kielbasa) cut into bite sized chunks, make sure its good sausage, not some BS shit.
1 head of cabbage, shredded
1-2 can of rotel (tomato and chili)
1/8 to 1/4 cup vinegar to taste
1.5 cup of brown roux 1.5 cups of flour and ~1 cup of oil browned on skillet
1 tblspoon chicken bullion or to taste
1-2 glasses of water, depending on amount of cabbage.

In a large pot brown bacon, add sausage when bacon is almost done. Add onion when both bacon and sausage is browned. Then add shredded cabbage and can or two of rotel. Mix and brown for like 10 min until the cabbage starts to wilt. Then add 1-2 glasses of water and bullion to taste (make sure you taste it!) and continue to cook until cabbage is tender, 10-15 min. When cabbage is tender to your liking, add vinegar to taste, I like apple cider vinegar. Then add and mix in the roux and bring up to heat until thickened.

Dr.Retarded · Apr 21, 2024

So been wanting to cook with the new wok, and had more veggies to use up and some chicken thighs on sale. Ended up doing another stir fry. Not really following a recipe but I just use what I've got I'm kind of blend different flavors from I guess Japanese and Chinese or whatever.

Velveted the chicken, and the marinade had stuff like five spice, mirin, soy, sesame oil. Went to cook it first and it turned out wonderful. The wife and I both really like the flavor of five spice, and she especially said it was some of the best that type of chicken that I've ever made. Just chopped up broccoli, some bok choy, onions, carrots, sugar snap peas, and bell pepper, along with ginger and garlic. Just use some oyster sauce, soy, hoisin, rice vinegar, and a spoonful of gochujang to try to hit all the bases.

Was kind of tired of rice, so rooted around and found a pack of bucatini noodles I had. I really started to enjoy those quite a bit because they've got a lot of good chew but they're also hollow, so they soak up sauce surprisingly. Made quite a bit more sauce just to help with the noodles.

Did some trader Joe's spring rolls and these little cream cheese jalapeno wontons. They also have these really good scallion pancakes that we both enjoy. The Frozen things aren't necessarily cheap but we don't eat a lot of it and can get multiple meals out of a package, and for the price the qualities wonderful. Probably one of the only Frozen foods we buy.

All in all the it may have cost $20 (not including the pantry staples) to make a giant batch of it that will eat on for the foreseeable future, and I really think it turned out to be some of the best I've made, or at least that's what she's telling me, but I was pretty happy with it too.

Which is definitely seemed to be as good as any Chinese restaurant I've ever been to, even if it's a mishmash of flavors. I do want to try velveting diced up chuck roast soon to make super tender street tacos, but then change the marinade to the appropriate flavor profile for Latin. I think using that technique I'll be able to get a lot more mileage out of cheaper cuts, especially when chuck roast go on sale for $7 a piece or something. Would probably be very good for stroganoff as well.

Lanx · Apr 21, 2024

Dr.Retarded said:
Was kind of tired of rice,

yea i'm done w/ you

Ossoi · Apr 21, 2024

mkopec said:
With chuck I would brown and braise all the way. Fuck SV. What you gonna SV that shit for 5-6 hours to get it tender? you can braise that shit for 2-3 hours and get perfect results every time.

you sv chuck for like 24-48 (from top of my head been a while since I've done it) and it makes it super tender.

Xarpolis · Apr 21, 2024

Burns said:
Cooking meals at home is step one for eating on a budget, which, if the fake/gay news is to be believed, seems like way too many people have a problem with these days.

That very much seems to be the case. Ultimately, people are lazy. They don't want to spend 20-30 minutes making inexpensive food, when they can sit watching TV and ordering from various restaurants and use door dash. People put every little cent they've earned into paying OTHER PEOPLE to do shit for them, that they could easily be doing themselves. Then they complain that they're poor, just because they're lazy.

Aldarion · Apr 21, 2024

and to add insult to injury, what did they do with that extra time? that valuable, precious time they couldnt afford to spend cooking?

they scrolled on retarded videos on tiktok on one hand while clicking between streaming channels with the other

Thats what kills me. People lie constantly about "not having time" or "saving time" then spend 99% of the day killing time on frivolous activities that don't even bring them shallow enjoyment. just rats clicking that button over and over hoping for one more pellet.

Xarpolis · Apr 21, 2024

Aldarion said:
and to add insult to injury, what did they do with that extra time? that valuable, precious time they couldnt afford to spend cooking?

they scrolled on retarded videos on tiktok on one hand while clicking between streaming channels with the other

Thats what kills me. People lie constantly about "not having time" or "saving time" then spend 99% of the day killing time on frivolous activities that don't even bring them shallow enjoyment. just rats clicking that button over and over hoping for one more pellet.

It's strange. I'm cheap, and I know I'm cheap. But at the same time, I'll happily spend WAY TOO MUCH money on something I deem worth it because I'm either unable to do myself, or would take an unbelievable amount of time. Paying for other people to do shit I can easily do without effort really rubs me the wrong way. I'll sometimes rely on Uber or Lyft out of necessity, but it's so much more fulfilling to own your own vehicle that you take care of and pay for. That way if you need to do anything out of the ordinary, you're able to without a problem. You don't need to pay someone else just to do shit outside of your normal routine. But when it comes to doing things you can't do... shit, take my money.

Dr.Retarded · Apr 21, 2024

Lanx said:
yea i'm done w/ you

Haha. Hey I don't need to eat that stuff everyday, but I do appreciate it.

We just wanted something different because I was eating it for a few days prior with the shrimp stir fry. The noodles actually really turned out well. I threw some ginger, garlic, soy, and sesame oil in the water with a little bit of chicken broth, and it really did a good job of adding some flavor. Then when I needed to add some liquid to the stir fry sauce I just used some of the reserved noodle water. I think it really tied all the flavors together very well, and a lot of the times now when I do noodles, or boiled potatoes, or cook rice, I'll always throwing in some sort of aromatics or whatever to jazz it up some. A dried chili works really well too.

Never overpowering taste but just nice subtle flavors.

Dr.Retarded · Apr 21, 2024

Aldarion said:
and to add insult to injury, what did they do with that extra time? that valuable, precious time they couldnt afford to spend cooking?

they scrolled on retarded videos on tiktok on one hand while clicking between streaming channels with the other

Thats what kills me. People lie constantly about "not having time" or "saving time" then spend 99% of the day killing time on frivolous activities that don't even bring them shallow enjoyment. just rats clicking that button over and over hoping for one more pellet.

I do most of the cooking, and I've been getting the wife to do a lot of vegetable prep and certain sides, but when we cook which is pretty much all week, apart from leftovers, or either visiting in the kitchen when we're doing different tasks, or if I'm in there by myself I'm typically listening to a podcast or something.

To me it's never a waste of time because I can make a good meal and either visit with her or learn something. Shit keeps me sane, except when I'm listening to something about the government fucking us over, which is pretty often.

Aldarion · Apr 21, 2024

Dr.Retarded said:
I do most of the cooking, and I've been getting the wife to do a lot of vegetable prep and certain sides, but when we cook which is pretty much all week, apart from leftovers, or either visiting in the kitchen when we're doing different tasks, or if I'm in there by myself I'm typically listening to a podcast or something.

To me it's never a waste of time because I can make a good meal and either visit with her or learn something. Shit keeps me sane, except when I'm listening to something about the government fucking us over, which is pretty often.

Yeah I'll never understand the attitude that preparing food I'm about to eat is somehow a waste of time.

Is chewing it a waste of time too? Shall we just get some flavorless nutrient tablets instead so we can maximize our bullshit leisure nonsense?

Cooking is time well spent

Dr.Retarded · Apr 21, 2024

Aldarion said:
Yeah I'll never understand the attitude that preparing food I'm about to eat is somehow a waste of time.

Is chewing it a waste of time too? Shall we just get some flavorless nutrient tablets instead so we can maximize our bullshit leisure nonsense?

Cooking is time well spent

I couldn't tell you the last time we actually went out to eat. The only time we do is if it's a real pain in the butt for me to get whatever ingredients and cook something that is more of a chore, even if I know I can do it. For instance fried Chicken. I'll go get some Popeyes, that's not that I can't fried Chicken but it's sometimes is a pain in the ass, and I'm willing to spend the money if I'm in the mood for it.

Or I like to go to pappadeaux's. Sometimes it's nice to go get some decent Cajun, even though I can make anything that they typically serve, but it's nice not to have to fool around with it, and it's just fun to go out and have dinner somewhere on a weekend on occasions. But what price is being what they are I'm having a harder and harder time justifying that pleasure if I put in a little bit of elbow grease I can just do it myself. It seemed like we used to at least go I need out maybe once a week or every other week, and now it's a couple times a quarter. Only other time I do is if I'm traveling for work.

But 90% of the food that we eat we make ourselves, that's because we enjoy it. We sit down at the table and can talk about our day, and spend time in the kitchen together. Same thing goes with visiting family. That the family gets together but it's always a pretty big elaborate meal, can you spend a good number of hours prepping and cooking and visiting and drinking and just having fun. That's what food is supposed to be about.

Khane · Apr 25, 2024

One thing I've started doing recently is using the excess jus/fat from slow cooking fatty cuts in different ways. You can do the whole strain it and store it to fry with later but I've been doing 2 different things lately which saves a lot of money since you aren't discarding hundreds/thousands of calories that you paid for (if you think animal fat is bad for you I guess you can stop reading here)

1 is burrito bowls (or just burritos if you want). I'll make 3-4 lbs of pork shoulder (or chuck roast/ox tail/etc), make a pico de gallo (4 roma tomatoes, 1/2 large white onion, 2-3 serrano chiles, cilantro, apple cider vinegar, salt). I make the pico and the pork shoulder the day before I plan to eat it, the pico marinates and tastes much better this way. Cook the pork shoulder for 6-8 hours low and slow in a dutch oven with 6-8 garlic cloves added once a bit of fat has rendered to confit it, let it cool, throw the entire dutch oven in the fridge. The next day I throw it on the range and put it on simmer, letting it cook another 2-3 hours, then I take out the meat, pull it, return it to the jus and make 2-2.5 cups of rice. Once the rice is done I add that into the dutch oven, mix it all up to soak up all the rendered fat/liquid, add the pico, chop some fresh scallions, top off the dish and eat. Add cheese/lime/crema/whatever you want.

It's like $20 total for what equates to between 10 - 12 meals. And it will probably be some of the best rice you've ever eaten.

The other thing I do is essentially slow roast/confit vegetables in the rendered fat/jus. After its done cooking I remove the meat and add whatever veg I want. Brussel Sprouts, Broccolini, etc. Eggplant is especially good for this because you can remove the eggplant and make a baba ganoush style dip from it.

Sludig · Apr 25, 2024

Khane said:
One thing I've started doing recently is using the excess jus/fat from slow cooking fatty cuts in different ways. You can do the whole strain it and store it to fry with later but I've been doing 2 different things lately which saves a lot of money since you aren't discarding hundreds/thousands of calories that you paid for (if you think animal fat is bad for you I guess you can stop reading here)

1 is burrito bowls (or just burritos if you want). I'll make 3-4 lbs of pork shoulder (or chuck roast/ox tail/etc), make a pico de gallo (4 roma tomatoes, 1/2 large white onion, 2-3 serrano chiles, cilantro, apple cider vinegar, salt). I make the pico and the pork shoulder the day before I plan to eat it, the pico marinates and tastes much better this way. Cook the pork shoulder for 6-8 hours low and slow in a dutch oven with 6-8 garlic cloves added once a bit of fat has rendered to confit it, let it cool, throw the entire dutch oven in the fridge. The next day I throw it on the range and put it on simmer, letting it cook another 2-3 hours, then I take out the meat, pull it, return it to the jus and make 2-2.5 cups of rice. Once the rice is done I add that into the dutch oven, mix it all up to soak up all the rendered fat/liquid, add the pico, chop some fresh scallions, top off the dish and eat. Add cheese/lime/crema/whatever you want.

It's like $20 total for what equates to between 10 - 12 meals. And it will probably be some of the best rice you've ever eaten.

The other thing I do is essentially slow roast/confit vegetables in the rendered fat/jus. After its done cooking I remove the meat and add whatever veg I want. Brussel Sprouts, Broccolini, etc. Eggplant is especially good for this because you can remove the eggplant and make a baba ganoush style dip from it.

Cheap enough but do you just work at home. Because that's a lot of stretches of cooking, I'd have hard time finding the time on the weekend much less a work day

Khane · Apr 25, 2024

Sludig said:
Cheap enough but do you just work at home. Because that's a lot of stretches of cooking, I'd have hard time finding the time on the weekend much less a work day

I do work from home but this is unattended cooking. I use a Dutch oven but you can easily crockpot this while at work

Dr.Retarded · Apr 25, 2024

Khane said:
One thing I've started doing recently is using the excess jus/fat from slow cooking fatty cuts in different ways. You can do the whole strain it and store it to fry with later but I've been doing 2 different things lately which saves a lot of money since you aren't discarding hundreds/thousands of calories that you paid for (if you think animal fat is bad for you I guess you can stop reading here)

1 is burrito bowls (or just burritos if you want). I'll make 3-4 lbs of pork shoulder (or chuck roast/ox tail/etc), make a pico de gallo (4 roma tomatoes, 1/2 large white onion, 2-3 serrano chiles, cilantro, apple cider vinegar, salt). I make the pico and the pork shoulder the day before I plan to eat it, the pico marinates and tastes much better this way. Cook the pork shoulder for 6-8 hours low and slow in a dutch oven with 6-8 garlic cloves added once a bit of fat has rendered to confit it, let it cool, throw the entire dutch oven in the fridge. The next day I throw it on the range and put it on simmer, letting it cook another 2-3 hours, then I take out the meat, pull it, return it to the jus and make 2-2.5 cups of rice. Once the rice is done I add that into the dutch oven, mix it all up to soak up all the rendered fat/liquid, add the pico, chop some fresh scallions, top off the dish and eat. Add cheese/lime/crema/whatever you want.

It's like $20 total for what equates to between 10 - 12 meals. And it will probably be some of the best rice you've ever eaten.

The other thing I do is essentially slow roast/confit vegetables in the rendered fat/jus. After its done cooking I remove the meat and add whatever veg I want. Brussel Sprouts, Broccolini, etc. Eggplant is especially good for this because you can remove the eggplant and make a baba ganoush style dip from it.

You're making a stripped down version of carnitas. Go the extra mile, and con fit that pork butt in the appropriate spices and aromatics, then you can just pull portions of it out, throw into a air fryer or oven and crisp. It's so easy and tasty. If we go out and get Mexican which is pretty rare nowadays, that's probably the one thing the wife orders every time.

I'll make it for her when I get pork butts on sale cuz I know she really enjoys it, but she has to fight me on whether I'm going to make porchetta instead .

I really thought about perfecting my recipe, I'm seeing what the process would be to sell it to HEB or something. I know they do a lot of Texas made contracts with companies in the state, and I was wondering whether or not I could sell them, and maybe get out of construction. I just don't know the first damn thing about a food production business. I guess you could probably start just selling it farmers markets, have you build up a reputation and then be able to market your product after some social media traction.

Sorry it was just a goofy pipe dream I've been thinking about.

Khane · Apr 25, 2024

If you want to do carnitas you can, barbacoa? Sure. Caribbean jerk spices? Yep. Point being discarding all the fat/jus is a terrible waste of money and there are a lot of different things you can do with it other than just strain/store.

moonarchia · Apr 25, 2024

Dr.Retarded said:
You're making a stripped down version of carnitas. Go the extra mile, and con fit that pork butt in the appropriate spices and aromatics, then you can just pull portions of it out, throw into a air fryer or oven and crisp. It's so easy and tasty. If we go out and get Mexican which is pretty rare nowadays, that's probably the one thing the wife orders every time.

I'll make it for her when I get pork butts on sale cuz I know she really enjoys it, but she has to fight me on whether I'm going to make porchetta instead .

I really thought about perfecting my recipe, I'm seeing what the process would be to sell it to HEB or something. I know they do a lot of Texas made contracts with companies in the state, and I was wondering whether or not I could sell them, and maybe get out of construction. I just don't know the first damn thing about a food production business. I guess you could probably start just selling it farmers markets, have you build up a reputation and then be able to market your product after some social media traction.

Sorry it was just a goofy pipe dream I've been thinking about.

Mass production would be the hardest part. You would need to be able to make thousands of pounds a day to get a contract with a big company. Starting small with your local farmer's is a good idea. If that works out you will need to invest in lawyers and engineers to get your production down to get past FDA regulations to sell commercially.

Fogel · Apr 25, 2024

You won't need a lawyer, you'll need someone familiar with food safety standards, SQF code, etc. If it's meat, you'll need USDA inspection for production which is a much larger can of worms than anything FDA related.

Dr.Retarded · Apr 25, 2024

moonarchia said:
Mass production would be the hardest part. You would need to be able to make thousands of pounds a day to get a contract with a big company. Starting small with your local farmer's is a good idea. If that works out you will need to invest in lawyers and engineers to get your production down to get past FDA regulations to sell commercially.

Yeah that's why I said it's just a pipe dream. I'm sure I could probably navigate through everything, I just don't personally know a food production business that maybe I could go talk to and get the lay of the land. I thought was this to maybe sort of hurt small and like I said sell it farmers markets and things like that. Maybe even reach out to a couple of local restaurants or something. I just don't know what kind of red tape you've got to wade through.

I just know there's kind of a hole in the market at least here in Texas for that type of product, and anytime I've ever served it to people they love it and it's a cheap cut, and just takes some prep but it's pretty damn easy. It's a big thing up north or at least in certain regions a lot of Italians, but down here it's pretty alien, which might be a problem. I don't think it would be though just considering how people eat all kinds of different things now, and everybody's a foodie or whatever.

Biggest hurdle would be having a DHEC approved kitchen to produce everything in. I figured though if you could at least get a reputation, maybe pitch it to HEB, and if they might bite then you could at least get investors or something to get a proper operation up and running. Wouldn't really need a big building, because you're not cooking anything on site. Just cold storage, dishwashing, sanitary prep area, and packaging. Couple of small rooms for an office, from one overhead door for shipping. Small metal building would probably do it, 40x100 maybe.

Edit:

Fogel yeah that's what I figured, sorry was typing this up while you responded.

Fogel · Apr 25, 2024

Dr.Retarded said:
Yeah that's why I said it's just a pipe dream. I'm sure I could probably navigate through everything, I just don't personally know a food production business that maybe I could go talk to and get the lay of the land. I thought was this to maybe sort of hurt small and like I said sell it farmers markets and things like that. Maybe even reach out to a couple of local restaurants or something. I just don't know what kind of red tape you've got to wade through.

I just know there's kind of a hole in the market at least here in Texas for that type of product, and anytime I've ever served it to people they love it and it's a cheap cut, and just takes some prep but it's pretty damn easy. It's a big thing up north or at least in certain regions a lot of Italians, but down here it's pretty alien, which might be a problem. I don't think it would be though just considering how believe all kinds of different things now, and everybody's a foodie or whatever.

Biggest hurdle would be having a DHEC approved kitchen to produce everything in. I figured though if you could at least get a reputation, maybe pitch it to HEB, and if they might bite then you could at least get investors or something to get a proper operation up and running. Wouldn't really need a big building, because you're not cooking anything on site. Just cold storage, dishwashing, sanitary prep area, and packaging. Couple of small rooms for an office, from one overhead door for shipping. Small metal building would probably do it, 40x100 maybe.

Edit: Fogel yeah that's what I figured, sorry was typing this up while you responded.

There are food production facilities that rent and help you proof of concept products. They're usually associated with schools/colleges. We had one in Jersey run by one of our trainers called Rutgers Food Innovation center. They had an entire process line that could produce most items on a small/medium scale, and would literally rent out production time to various start ups until they finalized the production process and either move it to their own plant or find a comanufacturer. Likewise, we're a Co-man so we produce items already R&D'd, for example we do items for Rich's, Trader Joe's, etc that they don't have capacity to produce in their own plants.

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Cheap Meals: Eating on a budget.

mkopec

Dr.Retarded

Lanx

Ossoi

Potato del Grande

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream

Aldarion

Egg Nazi

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream

Dr.Retarded

Dr.Retarded

Aldarion

Egg Nazi

Dr.Retarded

Khane

Got something right about marriage

Sludig

Potato del Grande

Khane

Got something right about marriage

Dr.Retarded

Khane

Got something right about marriage

moonarchia

The Scientific Shitlord

Fogel

Mr. Poopybutthole

Dr.Retarded

Fogel

Mr. Poopybutthole