Cheap Meals: Eating on a budget.
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Fogel
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Mom used to buy tortillas, cut them into triangles and fry them in oil, then toss them in a bag of cinnamon sugar. You'd destroy the bag in one sitting, fuckers were addictive.
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Monkey bread with biscuit dough is pretty great, too. I kind of skimp on the amount of sugar because I don't necessarily like it disgustingly sweet, but you can get a nice chewy dough thing or whatever the hell you want to call it, and it's delicious.
Monkey bread has nothing to do with joggers, but they were probably take credit for the invention of said baked confection.
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I was thinking about it and the one I worked at Taco Bell back in high school, for breakfast at times we would take the flour tortillas and flash fry them, and sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar mixture that go on the cinnamon twist to make of poor man's donut. We also roll up a tortilla with a whole bunch of cinnamon and sugar and stick it in the steamer, so you have this caramel sort of filling.
God damn I haven't thought about that since the late '90s.
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Think I'm going to give this a shot. She's got a bunch of other cheap recipes that are fairly decent. Nothing fancy but just rib sticking goodness.
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Burns
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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That bread in a cast iron skillet made me think of a cheap and easy cake recipe. It does not need eggs, milk, or butter and is called Depression cake (legend has it that it got very popular in the Great Depression), also called Wacky Cake. It's great for camping (if you own a camping oven), because it does not require any refrigerated ingredients. I have made it a handful of times and it's good. The below recipe is chocolate, but I have also found Spice and Carrot depression/wacky cake recipes before.
I haven't made it in years, so cant find the original place I first found the recipe at. This is the best I could find with someone cooking with cast iron, ATM. There are plenty of the same recipes using a normal cake pan, but who wants to lug out another pan when camping?
seniorskillet.com
I haven't made it in years, so cant find the original place I first found the recipe at. This is the best I could find with someone cooking with cast iron, ATM. There are plenty of the same recipes using a normal cake pan, but who wants to lug out another pan when camping?
Wacky Cake is so EASY to make!
Depression Wacky Cake is a warm and surprisingly delicious chocolate cake made without the use of both eggs and butter.
seniorskillet.com
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Daidraco
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I would have thought that Sugar and Vanilla Extract would have been rather expensive back in the depression?That bread in a cast iron skillet made me think of a cheap and easy cake recipe. It does not need eggs, milk, or butter and is called Depression cake (legend has it that it got very popular in the Great Depression), also called Wacky Cake. It's great for camping, because it does not require any refrigerated ingredients. I have made it a handful of times and it's good. The below recipe is chocolate, but I have also found Spice and Carrot depression/wacky cake recipes before.
I haven't made it in years, so cant find the original place I first found the recipe at. This is the best I could find with someone cooking with cast iron, ATM. There are plenty of the same recipes using a normal cake pan, but who wants to lug out another pan when camping?
View attachment 522427
Wacky Cake is so EASY to make!
Depression Wacky Cake is a warm and surprisingly delicious chocolate cake made without the use of both eggs and butter.
Burns
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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Sugar was still being produced in Caribbean, so importing it wasn't that much. Meaning it probably wasn't any more expensive than normal. So if someone wanted a cake for a special occasion, there was no getting around needing the sugar, but if you can eliminate eggs, milk, and butter it saves some money.
Refrigeration also was much rarer and required an icebox with ice deliveries. While eggs, butter, and milk of don't require refrigeration, it helps them last. So people may have stopped ice deliveries to cut costs and then stopped getting milk or butter because they couldn't use them fast enough (or just to cut costs as well).
Vanilla extract is always expensive, but the fake stuff was actually discovered in the late 1874. By the 1930s, imitation vanilla was available all over the US and production/sales took off, possibly because it was so much cheaper during the depression. If you look at what you have in your pantry at home, it's probably imitation, as it's still much cheaper than real extract. (Source)
Related public service announcement: Be aware, if the "Vanilla" Extract is super cheap and says something like "Mexican" vanilla, it's probably Coumarin (same family as warfarin), which is a blood thinner and technically banned in the US (to use as a "vanilla extract"), even though Mexican/Caribbean/South American grocery stores in the US still manage to import it.
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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oh yea no knead bread is also good for prepper recipe since all you need is just flour/yeast and kosher salt
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gLobal
Trakanon Raider
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I've never heard anyone else talk about it, but growing up we used to have 'Breaded Tomatoes' about once a week. Basically crushed tomatoes with old/stale bread crumbled up in it. Added just a little salt & sugar, and it was actually quite good. We grew our own tomatoes and canned them, so it was about as cheap as we could get.
Goulash was another frequent meal (macaroni, ground beef, tomato, onion - similar to this). Fried potatoes and onions was a great side to any cheap cut of meat.
Nowadays me and the wife can afford to eat whatever, but our cheap/easy meal is usually rice & eggs, or a quick sandwich/salad with fridge leftovers.
Goulash was another frequent meal (macaroni, ground beef, tomato, onion - similar to this). Fried potatoes and onions was a great side to any cheap cut of meat.
Nowadays me and the wife can afford to eat whatever, but our cheap/easy meal is usually rice & eggs, or a quick sandwich/salad with fridge leftovers.
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Daidraco
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Sounds like the original poor man's version of Fried Green Tomato's.
Grew up on a farm with Dairy cows on one side, Beef Cattle on another side, and cutting horses for show in the back. So some of this stuff I've heard of, but some of you guys that lived in the suburbs and cities when you were little have ate some shit that I've never heard of. Frog Legs, Snapping Turtle, and Rabbit is all around here, and still sold in some of the smaller stores.
Theres a store near my stepdads family, old German Baptist area (buggies and shit) and it has no clerk. Goes completely off the honor system. Prices are listed on the stuff, and you leave the cash in a register. They have all of that country shit in there. Damn if they dont have some of the biggest damn produce Ive ever seen, though. I dont know what theyre doing for fertilizer, cause it cant be no regular old Miracle Gro out there. We're talking scraping the bottom of the barrel for pennies kind of living for some of those folks.
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OU Ariakas
Diet Dr. Pepper Enjoyer
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Goulash may be cheap, but it is delicious. I always had it with waaaay too much pepper and that made it great.
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Sludig
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3lbs of chicken thighs thawing. This thread stove in looking for super simple rather than being told to make 10 ingredient burritos.
Any suggestions what to do with it. Used up my Thom Kha soup I'd used the last tray on. I think the last time I tried to cook chicken and just slather bbq I messed up and had it come out a bit tough. And I like meat so tender it's like spoon food just about.
Any suggestions what to do with it. Used up my Thom Kha soup I'd used the last tray on. I think the last time I tried to cook chicken and just slather bbq I messed up and had it come out a bit tough. And I like meat so tender it's like spoon food just about.
Cutlery
Kill All the White People
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I just marinade thighs or drums and toss them on the grill. Indirect heat, 35 min or so, does what you need it to do.
Cook longer if you want. Should be falling off the bone by like an hour, but by then I could have eaten and done the dishes already.
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Burns
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I assume since it's thighs, they still have the bones. If so, chicken and rice casserole is fast and simple.
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Chop up some taters, onions, carrots and whatever seasoning you like, and put in a roasting pan. Season your chicken, again whatever seasoning you like, and nest on top of the veggies. Pour some wine and or chicken stock in the tray to cover the veggies some
Put a piece of foil over it and roast in the oven for a bit on 300-350 (ovens vary). Cook for a while, lower the longer. Check the chicken and remove foil towards the end. Can turn up higher and brown the chicken, or place the pan under the broiler to brown.
The moisture from the vegetables and the stock should keep the chicken juicy apart from the fact it's also leg quarters. You can also throw other vegetables that you've got to hand in there like big chunks of squash and zucchini, or bell peppers, etc.
I'll put some pads of butter in there as well normally and maybe some lemon or herbs if I have them. Super simple one pot dish, and it's pretty bomb proof, just keep an eye on it, and you'll know when to pull. Can also not do foil if you want crispier.
It's cheap and easy, but can make it fancier if you want.
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Sludig
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Burns
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Bones and to a lesser extent skin, make a large difference in flavor on white meat. Since it's dark mean, it has enough grease that the skin doesn't matter, but the bones do.
For boneless, I usually find a flavor packet or marinade to stick it in for 24 hours. I've used so many marinades and ate so much boneless white chicken, that I don't think any of it is "good" anymore so can't recommend anything.
Sludig
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With this chicken thighs I decided naw, I've been saddened by my bbq in the past. That oven w/ vegetables is too kinda boring middle america probably for me unless I'm doing full on w/ a biscuit layer and gravy.
So I winged some teriyaki. Got wild onions outside and chives that are basically wild. Onion/carrot. I kinda almost wanted some sweet corn too. Though more a ramen thing. Had these noodles wife never got around to using so sounded good to use over a rice bowl though that woulda been good for all the extra sauce.
Not sure how much was maybe a little extra oil, veggy moisture, and just using 1/4 of a bottle of Batachan teriyaki sauce. I was worried about under coating etc, but didnt really leave room/think about trying to simmer it down thicker should aid in coverage anyways. Still extra sauce wasn't too runny and did ensure the noodles were coated as well.
Not sure how cheap it counts, since it broke down to about 5 servings/meals seemingly. $10 3lb of chicken, 2-3 in vegetable sauce seasoning etc, then whatever the noodles were which I imagine was bare minimum $3 and I think woulda been more like 6-8. ~4/serving
Of Course I'm ultimate jew and if I lived alone it would still be like rice and beans.
So I winged some teriyaki. Got wild onions outside and chives that are basically wild. Onion/carrot. I kinda almost wanted some sweet corn too. Though more a ramen thing. Had these noodles wife never got around to using so sounded good to use over a rice bowl though that woulda been good for all the extra sauce.
Not sure how much was maybe a little extra oil, veggy moisture, and just using 1/4 of a bottle of Batachan teriyaki sauce. I was worried about under coating etc, but didnt really leave room/think about trying to simmer it down thicker should aid in coverage anyways. Still extra sauce wasn't too runny and did ensure the noodles were coated as well.
Not sure how cheap it counts, since it broke down to about 5 servings/meals seemingly. $10 3lb of chicken, 2-3 in vegetable sauce seasoning etc, then whatever the noodles were which I imagine was bare minimum $3 and I think woulda been more like 6-8. ~4/serving
Of Course I'm ultimate jew and if I lived alone it would still be like rice and beans.
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BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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That's better than what I did with my chicken thighs. Let them sit in the fridge for a week and now I'm going to feed them to my Mom's barn cats. I need to remember that when chicken is on sale it's because it's about to reach its sell by date and needs to be cooked or frozen immediately.
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