Cheap Meals: Eating on a budget.

Dr.Retarded

<Silver Donator>
11,099
25,455
Sausage just tastes wrong, I dunno if it's because of all the preservatives or what. Spam and canned corned beef don't bother me even if I don't terribly care for them but Vienna Sausages have an intense aftertaste of regret.
Only time I ever tried Vienna sausages was as a kid, and they're disgusting. Think we were taking a family vacation out to Colorado during the summer, and for some reason my stepmom liked them. I just decided to be brave and try one and it was revolting. Not a lot of food I dislike, but it's definitely is close to the top of a short list.
 
  • 1Truth!
Reactions: 1 user

mkopec

<Gold Donor>
25,843
38,476
Roll of Spicy breakfast sausage. Fry that shit up and cube it when done. Add onion, garlic and a few chopped jalapenos. Then add about 12 eggs, salt pepper to taste. Fry the eggs until done then wrap in burrito wraps of your choice along with shredded cheese and a few dashes of taco sauce of your choice. Makes about 6 large burrito or about 9 medium ones depending on wrap size. I use the low carb 8" ones and get about 9. Wrap them in some deli paper. And you have breakfast burrito for a week. $15-$20 ingredients. Basically one lunch worth of cash.
 
  • 2Like
  • 1Solidarity
  • 1Quality Calories
Reactions: 3 users

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
46,594
76,610
Roll of Spicy breakfast sausage. Fry that shit up and cube it when done. Add onion, garlic and a few chopped jalapenos. Then add about 12 eggs, salt pepper to taste. Fry the eggs until done then wrap in burrito wraps of your choice along with shredded cheese and a few dashes of taco sauce of your choice. Makes about 6 large burrito or about 9 medium ones depending on wrap size. I use the low carb 8" ones and get about 9. Wrap them in some deli paper. And you have breakfast burrito for a week. $15-$20 ingredients. Basically one lunch worth of cash.
One of the staple meal preps in my household is what we call "egg stuff" where we make basically this or something like it. We frequently use eggs + chorizo, frozen hash browns, potatoes, etc.

For whatever reason jalapenos are expensive near me, but serrano peppers aren't.
 
  • 2Solidarity
  • 1Like
Reactions: 2 users

Fogel

Mr. Poopybutthole
12,791
49,823
I'm also a meal prep egg bro. 10-12 eggs + whatever meat/veg is on sale/BOGO at publix and I have breakfast for 5 days. Easy, cheap, nutritious, and delicious, you literally can't lose
 
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 1 user

Dr.Retarded

<Silver Donator>
11,099
25,455
Roll of Spicy breakfast sausage. Fry that shit up and cube it when done. Add onion, garlic and a few chopped jalapenos. Then add about 12 eggs, salt pepper to taste. Fry the eggs until done then wrap in burrito wraps of your choice along with shredded cheese and a few dashes of taco sauce of your choice. Makes about 6 large burrito or about 9 medium ones depending on wrap size. I use the low carb 8" ones and get about 9. Wrap them in some deli paper. And you have breakfast burrito for a week. $15-$20 ingredients. Basically one lunch worth of cash.
Anytime we have family get-togethers, fishing or hunting trips, that's always a staple. So easy to make, and you can really jazz it up if you want.

I'll make regular taco meat, do some Spanish rice, slather some refried beans and cheese in tortillas and wrap - freeze. Pull them out, and pop em in the little air fryer oven after brushing / spraying with olive oil. Instant and easy chimichangas if you're looking for a dinner or lunch option.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

mkopec

<Gold Donor>
25,843
38,476
Frozen dough ball…$2.50
Motz cheese $1.50
1/2lb bacon $3
Cheap marinara sauce .50c (1/3 of a $1.50 jar)
Pepperoni $2

EZ meal for 3-4
IMG_0274.jpeg


14”pizza
 
Last edited:
  • 2Quality Calories
  • 1Mother of God
Reactions: 2 users

Burns

Avatar of War Slayer
7,170
14,186
Frozen dough ball…$2.50
Motz cheese $1.50
1/2lb bacon $3
Cheap marinara sauce .50c (1/3 of a $1.50 jar)
Pepperoni $2

EZ meal for 3-4
View attachment 542925

14”pizza
Sauce and dough are the main ingredients that separate a good pizza from a mediocre one. Sauce from scratch taste so much better, is easy, and should be close in price to anything from the store. Dough, on the other hand, takes some time and a little elbow grease (unless you have a dough hook or food processor), but it's probably cheaper than the store, since most of the cost is labor. Taste wise, having honey in the dough makes the difference.

I made both of the following recipes for some gourmet pizzas last weekend. The sauce is enough for a good coat on two 11x17 Sicilian sheet pizzas (around four 16" round pizzas). They take the onions out after cooking, but I love onions, so I used an immersion blender and puréed them all in the pan. Could easily use a regular blender after it cooled a bit, just don't over do the blending.

The dough is enough for 1 Sicilian if I let it rise in the pan (on the second rise), so should get at two 14"-16" round ones out of it (last weekend I added 1c more flour and a little extra water to make it easier to get the traditional Sicilian thick crust).

Both can be frozen for use later, although I have never tried.

A pizza also needs some shredded parmesan mixed in with the mozzarella, but that adds cost...

Quick edit: Forgot to add, I used ~1 teaspoon dried basil instead of fresh and added around half a cup of red wine (in lieu of sugar) plus maybe a little flour (to thicken it, if wine made it too thin). Red wine makes tomato sauces taste even better.

2024-08-23 18.59.13 www.seriouseats.com 1e8ccb79542a.png

Wolfgang Puck's recipe that he uses/used in his restaurants:
2024-08-23 19.11.27 www.thespruceeats.com 28620366666c.png

I don't make it enough to buy special flour, but supposedly mixing half semolina flour with half unbleached all-purpose flour makes it even better. You can also add a little Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper, and/or other spices, but it's easy to go overboard.
 
Last edited:
  • 3Like
Reactions: 2 users

Furry

BROWN NOW
<Gold Donor>
20,803
26,703
Frozen dough ball…$2.50
Motz cheese $1.50
1/2lb bacon $3
Cheap marinara sauce .50c (1/3 of a $1.50 jar)
Pepperoni $2

EZ meal for 3-4
View attachment 542925

14”pizza
You bought the ingredients to a red baron pizza and assembled it yourself for 3x the price? BRO. I'm sure its good, but that's not cheap eating.
 
  • 2Worf
  • 2Picard
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 4 users

mkopec

<Gold Donor>
25,843
38,476
Yeah I make my dough as well. Problem with home made dough is it needs to ferment for a while to develop that flavor. So you either have to use a starter or let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days to develop that flavor a pizza dough should have. Now I dont bother, I just buy the frozen dough balls from GFS. They are quality dough. Ive tried a ton of different ones and know the difference. Better yet is an italian market like 3 miles away that sells fresh dough in a bag for $2. Made fresh every day since they also have a restaurant above the store. But the GFS is on the way home from work so I stop there.

Tip on the cheese is to use a bit of muenster. This is the mix we used in a pizza place back when I was a kid. From memory it was a 80/20 mix of motz to munster. It gives the pizza that cheeese "pull" and also does not turn into a greasy mess like pure motz does.
 
  • 1Quality Calories
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 users

Sludig

Buzzfeed Editor
9,694
10,253
Frozen dough ball…$2.50
Motz cheese $1.50
1/2lb bacon $3
Cheap marinara sauce .50c (1/3 of a $1.50 jar)
Pepperoni $2

EZ meal for 3-4
View attachment 542925

14”pizza
More wholesome/quality less bullshit, but gonna pull a wizardhawk and say in this case, 2 medium 2 toppings at dominoes for 7$. Not sure if you prices include tax, since they obviously are rounded anyways but comes to just shy $10. Larger pizza sure, but it's one place where the fast food is somewhat I think hard to compete on prize vs most the others that are easy to blow away.



Anywho, these arrived. Amazon.com

And I like this channel though I havn't tried any of it, but going to try some of his dishes since many focus on protein which I'm deficient and bad at eating. Josh Cortis
 

mkopec

<Gold Donor>
25,843
38,476
More wholesome/quality less bullshit, but gonna pull a wizardhawk and say in this case, 2 medium 2 toppings at dominoes for 7$. Not sure if you prices include tax, since they obviously are rounded anyways but comes to just shy $10. Larger pizza sure, but it's one place where the fast food is somewhat I think hard to compete on prize vs most the others that are easy to blow away.



Anywho, these arrived. Amazon.com

And I like this channel though I havn't tried any of it, but going to try some of his dishes since many focus on protein which I'm deficient and bad at eating. Josh Cortis
Its a pizza with like 2x the cheese, 1/2 lb of bacon and 2x the pep any pizza place will put on a pizza. Plus the pizza does not taste like cardboard like from little Caesars. If you want cheap just omit the 1/2 lb bacon I put on there. Which is expensive. We used to buy the hot and ready when the kids had sleep overs and shit. But now, when they are older? They dont even want it.
 
  • 2Like
Reactions: 1 users

Sludig

Buzzfeed Editor
9,694
10,253
Its a pizza with like 2x the cheese, 1/2 lb of bacon and 2x the pep any pizza place will put on a pizza. Plus the pizza does not taste like cardboard like from little Caesars. If you want cheap just omit the 1/2 lb bacon I put on there. Which is expensive. We used to buy the hot and ready when the kids had sleep overs and shit. But now, when they are older? They dont even want it.
Caesars is gross. At least around here dominoes loads pretty decent. We tried to do mom and pops and the damn dominoes usually won on quality.
 

Burns

Avatar of War Slayer
7,170
14,186
Yeah I make my dough as well. Problem with home made dough is it needs to ferment for a while to develop that flavor. So you either have to use a starter or let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days to develop that flavor a pizza dough should have. Now I dont bother, I just buy the frozen dough balls from GFS. They are quality dough. Ive tried a ton of different ones and know the difference. Better yet is an italian market like 3 miles away that sells fresh dough in a bag for $2. Made fresh every day since they also have a restaurant above the store. But the GFS is on the way home from work so I stop there.

Tip on the cheese is to use a bit of muenster. This is the mix we used in a pizza place back when I was a kid. From memory it was a 80/20 mix of motz to munster. It gives the pizza that cheeese "pull" and also does not turn into a greasy mess like pure motz does.
A sour dough like pizza crust sounds interesting. I always thought it was the oven that took it that extra mile when comparing the homemade recipes verses the two best places I have ever had (both mom and pop w/ traditional pizza ovens). All the fast food pizza places are utter shit in comparison though, even when I used the cheap premade sauce.

Will have to try the muenster in the mix next time, if I remember. I've read a few recipes where people use provolone instead of mozzarella and even sliced cheese instead of shredded, whatever the choice.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Cutlery

Kill All the White People
<Gold Donor>
6,755
19,039
Had a stand at the fair serving Egyptian food, dish called Koshari. Basically it's a "clean out the pantry and throw it in a pot." Fucking delicious.

Recipe is simple
Pick a protein (or don't)
Chickpeas
Lentils
Elbow macaroni
Rice
In a vinegar tomato sauce

Shit is fucking delicious and filling. Comfort food to the max
 
  • 2Like
Reactions: 1 users

Fogel

Mr. Poopybutthole
12,791
49,823
Yeah I make my dough as well. Problem with home made dough is it needs to ferment for a while to develop that flavor. So you either have to use a starter or let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days to develop that flavor a pizza dough should have. Now I dont bother, I just buy the frozen dough balls from GFS. They are quality dough. Ive tried a ton of different ones and know the difference. Better yet is an italian market like 3 miles away that sells fresh dough in a bag for $2. Made fresh every day since they also have a restaurant above the store. But the GFS is on the way home from work so I stop there.

Tip on the cheese is to use a bit of muenster. This is the mix we used in a pizza place back when I was a kid. From memory it was a 80/20 mix of motz to munster. It gives the pizza that cheeese "pull" and also does not turn into a greasy mess like pure motz does.

Only need about 45 minutes to an hour at room temp to develop flavor. Then degas it and either make your pie or stick it back in the fridge if you're making it later or the next day. Can also do Mozz/Cheddar blend which is common in North East style pizza.
 

Fogel

Mr. Poopybutthole
12,791
49,823
Also if you don't have one, get a 1/4" thick pizza steel and preheat it in the oven at max before lowering the temp back down when you slide in your pie.
 
  • 1Quality Calories
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 users

TomServo

<Bronze Donator>
6,732
9,202
Also if you don't have one, get a 1/4" thick pizza steel and preheat it in the oven at max before lowering the temp back down when you slide in your pie.
Slide it in... is this cheap meals or food coomer thread...