Support NeoGAF

[cereal_killerxx]

So, I'm finally getting my own place. Hurray! But I'm not much of a cook. I plan to change that over time, but until I do I need some cheap and easy dinner options. Any suggestions? Here's what I've come up with so far...

French fries
Chicken nuggets
Fish sticks
Macaroni & Cheese

 

[neurosyphilis]

Frozen section.

 

[ryseing]

BLT. Get some good bacon and quality bread.

 

[Levyne]

Tacos
Chicken/Pork and Beans/Vegetables
Pasta

 

[HvySky]

Don't forget to buy some ingredients for sandwiches. Fast, easy, and delicious!

 

[robotrock]

Become cook

 

[LordGorchnik]

BLT. Get some good bacon and quality bread.

This.

Buy some GOOD bread. None of that $2 shit
Buy some GOOD bacon. Throw it in the skillet for a few.
Buy some FRESH lettuce. None of that packedged iceburg shit
Buy some FRESH tomatoes. Slice those mothers up.

Takes 5 minutes to make or less depending on if you decide to (heaven forbid) microwave your bacon instead.

Spoiler

Dont do that

 

[criesofthepast]

Burritos are fairly cheap. Tortillas, ground beef or whatever meat, mixed veggies, cheese. The filling can be frozen/refrigerated and reheated as well for something quick.

Making your own pizza and breads is dirt cheap and easy. Flour, yeast, oil, salt. Topped with whatever is cheap. Cooked pizza and bread can also be frozen which some people may not know. Then toss in oven for few mins and tastes almost as good as it was when you cooked it. Serious. Try it.

 

[Pickman]

Red's brand organic burritos are the fucking bomb.

Buy chicken thighs in bulk when they're on sale and freeze them in groups of like 3 or 4. Very versatile, cheap meat.

Learn to love you some pasta. It's so hard to fuck up spaghetti and sauce.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

For some more healthy quick struggle meals: cottage cheese and banana or peanut butter and banana on crispbread

 

[fluffydelusions]

 

[peteykirch]

Do you have a slow cooker?

If you do.

Buy a pork shoulder/Boston butt/picnic shoulder.

Find a decent BBQ rub or make your own, they are very easy.

Rub pork shoulder > Put slow cooker on low > Insert pork shoulder > Wait 6-8 hours > shred meat > toss with your favorite BBQ sauce > Put on on Kings Hawaiian rolls

 

[richiek]

www.budgetbytes.com

Also invest in a slowcooker.

 

[Leunam]

Buy a whole rotisserie chicken and either serve yourself portions whenever it's dinner time or take all that meat and shred it up for sandwiches, tacos, or whatever else.

Green beans, broccoli, and spinach are super easy sides that don't require a tremendous amount of preparation.

Oven roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes are also low effort.

Pasta is the easiest thing in the world to make. Rice too.

 

[Sylas]

http://imgur.com/gallery/81134

This is one of my favorite idiot-proof, cheap-and-tasty recipes. The curry powder is probably the most expensive thing on there, but trust me when I say it'll probably last you a while.

(Note: It's not curry but it's still tasty as hell)

Also, learn to cook really fast. Don't say you're gonna--just pick some recipes and try! You'll very quickly find that unless you're eating absolute struggle-meals (see: bread and kraft cheese sandwiches) that cooking is a helluva lot cheaper if you plan on eating at home.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Pasta and pesto is the ultimate struggle pasta. Add some diced feta cheese and/or sun-dried tomatoes to make it more palatable

 

[xxracerxx]

Chicken Florentine Pasta

That recipe makes a ton of food, so I would cut it in half and you would have two meals easily.

 

[entremet]

So, I'm finally getting my own place. Hurray! But I'm not much of a cook. I plan to change that over time, but until I do I need some cheap and easy dinner options. Any suggestions? Here's what I've come up with so far...

French fries
Chicken nuggets
Fish sticks
Macaroni & Cheese

You're gonna gain a lot of weight on that, my dude.

Get a slowcooker and google easy slowcooker recipes.

Stir fry is great too.

 

[A Fish Aficionado]

Don't be one of those guys living off of nuggets and pizza rolls.

Get a few cookbooks.

Subscribe to Food Wishes on YouTube.

 

[besada]

Most places have a selection of preprepared entrees in the deli or meat section that involve putting something in the oven for half an hour. Generally freshly prepared stuff. Some places, like Central Market, have sections so big you could live off them.

Beyond that, get a crockpot. There are hundreds of recipes that basically involve dumping ingredients and letting it cook.

If you're too broke for that, remember that young men have been adding random shit to ramen and Mac and cheese for their cuisines longer than you've been alive. It's not great, but it'll get you through your early twenties.

 

[bebop242]

On the easy side of things, a slow cooker/crockpot is your friend.

Damn! Beaten

 

[Already Torn]

Scrambled eggs over kale (or whatever filler vegetable, kale is the most aesthetically pleasing to me). Mix in garlic, pepper, cumin, cheese, bay leaves, or whatever else into the eggs while you're frying them up and place on the kale once finished. Pour whatever dressing you prefer on top (mine's low sodium soy sauce).

👌🏻👌🏻
Two minutes, less than two dollars. SUPER good for you.

 

[John Kowalski]

Slice some bacon, slice some onion, saute them a bit, add some tomato paste, then add freshly cooked pasta straight to the pan. Mix and, well, whatever you want really.

Otherwise, tuna, corn and rice is another simple quick and tasty light meal.

 

[DopeToast]

You could do that thing that guy did where he had all that spaghetti and he froze all that Ragu in little Ziploc bags. That looked pretty cheap.

Also, if you save enough money you can then splurge on some Italian takeout.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

slowcooker + google = eazy mode

also small kids can make stir frys without burning the kitchen down so there ya go

 

[hydrophilic attack]

fry two eggs, put on bread

Or have some greek yoghurt with some healthy cereal and/or honey

 

[Negaduck]

Carne Picada. Basically some meat and potatoes over rice. I'm sure there are a ton of variations to this.

Ground beef (1 pound)
2-3 decent sized potatoes
2 stalks of celery
1 can of tomato sauce
Salt to taste
Chili flakes (the kind that you can get alongside pizza)
1 cup of rice.


First start the rice. 1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water into a pot, cover with a lid and put on medium heat. Once the water starts to boil over the edge I put it to low heat and let the water mostly evaporate. You don't want to stir or touch the rice until it's done cooking. If you look at the rice and can see its mostly dry and there isn't much water you can take it off the heat and fluff it with a fork.
(this will cook while you cook the first part)

Brown the meat in the pan, as you are cooking it use a wooden spoon or other utensil to break up the bit chunk of ground beef. You want smaller pieces like with hamburger helper. Once it's mostly brown (it will cook fully in the second step.

Once the meat is cooked, remove the excess grease (tilt the pan and use a spoon to take it out.).

(this step can be done before cooking the meat). Chop up vegetables. With celery. One cut down the center and then chop them to be about an inch or half an inch think (about the width of a thumb or half a thumb give or take).

Potatoes cut in half, lay the flat side down, but into thirds long way on the potato, then cut the potato to be about the same thickness as the celery.

Once meat is cooked and vegetables are in, toss that into the pan (remember to use a decent sized pan). Then cover both vegetables and meat with water till the water covers both. Add about half the can of tomato sauce (or more, up to you as you learn the dish) also add a pinch of the chili flakes (more if you enjoy it spicier) and the salt until it tastes pretty okay.

Then bring the meat/vegetables to a boil, and reduce the heat to low or med low.

When the potatoes can be poked through easy with a fork it's done.

Put rice in the bowl. Meat shit on top. Hella good.

Its way easy to make and inexpensive. Good luck OP!

 

[iLLmAtlc]

Buying a few pounds of frozen chicken breast is a good start friend. You can make them in so many ways.

 

[Negaduck]

Also OP, if you buy meat from the store make sure to get some freezer bag (I go for 1 quart bags). Separate the chicken or meat into equal portions and freeze that shit. Take the meat you want out the night before and put it in the fridge (chicken might take two nights depending on the thickness) and you'll be set throughout the week.

 

[FromTheFuture]

Pastas are my go-to easy/cheap dinners, even after learning how to cook. Take spaghetti marinara for example. Pasta is dirt cheap and all you need to know is how to boil water. You can buy pre-made sauce, which is usually cheap and decent, and eventually learn how to make your own sauce from canned tomatoes for even cheaper. At that point you've already got a filling, decent meal, that takes very little time or effort. Add to it what you want - ground meat, your favorite vegetable, whatever. Endless possibilities with what you like to eat. Switch out sauces and toppings per your cravings. Incredibly easy.

Most sauces even reheat fairly well, and you're bound to have leftovers. So if you're not the type to hate eating the same thing a couple times in a row, you're set!

 

[LucidMomentum]

You want a good balance of protein and to minimize carbs, even if carbs are some of the easiest and cheapest foods to buy.

Chicken is the GOAT for good, cheap protein. Buy those breasts and thighs in bulk, freeze em up, and they'll go with basically anything you want to make.

I like the angus patties from Costco as well as they're super easy to prepare, but lean ground beef is also a good pick if you don't have the steak budget.

Also be on the lookout for cheap meats that you can grill / put in the oven and snatch them up when you can.

I'm not a super good cook but most of the time I have some pasta, rice, or a salad with some meat of some sort. Bread, eggs, fruit, and veg all get in the mix from time to time based on the time of day and if I want to mix it up.

With a few different types of each rice, pasta, and meat you've got a lot to work with.

Treat yourself sometimes, get some nice ingredients and make something new that you've been looking forward to. For me I usually make lobster rolls.

As for learning to cook, America's Test Kitchen. Find recipes you like, then see what ingredients they most have in common. That's your shopping list.

Worst case, remember if you have a rough day or mess up cooking, there's always fast food.

If you get a smoker / bbq / slow cooker you can bulk cook meat that you can freeze and eat for a week from a good day of cooking. Pulled pork can be used in a variety of meals!

 

[sixteen-bit]

soylent

 

[itwasTuesday]

Sardines, raw Ramen noodles and Reese's Pieces.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Beans on toast with cheese on top is both easy and surprisingly good for you.

I also like a baked potato with beans and cheese.

 

[Leunam]

And keep a stock of basic condiments too. Salt, pepper, sugar, hot sauce, soy sauce. And build up that list as you buy ingredients for other recipes like garlic or onion powder, cumin, cinnamon, chicken bullion, etc.

 

[Mupod]

Another vote for a slow cooker here. You can do a lot with one, I usually make chili or curry. But I've made turkey breasts, beans, sphagetti sauce, stew, soup, pulled pork, meatballs...

 

[reKon]

You could do that thing that guy did where he had all that spaghetti and he froze all that Ragu in little Ziploc bags. That looked pretty cheap.

Also, if you save enough money you can then splurge on some Italian takeout.

came here expecting this photo within first 30 posts

 

[bathsalts]

Peanut Butter.

 

[BigJonsson]

Meatloaf
Taco
Spaghetti and meatballs
Roasted potato
Steak isn't the cheapest but it does go on sale from time to time and is easy to cook

 

[ryseing]

This.

Buy some GOOD bread. None of that $2 shit
Buy some GOOD bacon. Throw it in the skillet for a few.
Buy some FRESH lettuce. None of that packedged iceburg shit
Buy some FRESH tomatoes. Slice those mothers up.

Takes 5 minutes to make or less depending on if you decide to (heaven forbid) microwave your bacon instead.

Spoiler

Dont do that

If you have a Fresh Market/similar option near you I recommend going there for your bacon and bread. Pound of market style is $7 and should make you 7-8 sandwiches. Pick whatever bread you like. If there's a farmer's market near you go there for tomatoes. They're higher quality and should be the same price as the grocery store if not cheaper.

Agreed on the microwave. Skillet doesn't take long at all.

I've done BLTs at least once a week since starting college. They're the perfect meal after a long day.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

blue cheese and sliced pear on bread

 

[BigJonsson]

I keep hearing how great slow cookers are, maybe I should get one

 

[Plumpman]

Rice and Dumplings.
They keep for a while and are a decent meal.

 

[Mully]

Eggs, rice, beans, chicken, and pasta will really stretch your dollar. All are cheap and flexible for any type of meal.

For example last night I grilled up some chicken, made an egg based carbonara sauce, and boiled up some pasta; 20 minutes later I had chicken carbonara and it cost me about $3 to make each portion.

You could go even simpler and boil up some rice, beans, and chicken, throw it in a bowl and you've got a filling meal for $2 a portion.

 

[Hazmat]

Season a chicken breast however you want, then cut up a couple of red potatos and toss them in some olive oil and salt. Put all of that in a foil-lined baking dish and throw it in the oven. Tasty, not awful for you, and easy.

 

[Borgnine]

I've been having this BLT macaroni salad thing that's great. Macaroni, tomato, bacon, baby spinach, little mayo.

 

[pbsapeer]

Rice noodles
Cut up chilli
Cut up spring onion
Chicken stock cube
1/2 tea spoon of cayenne pepper and 1.5 teaspoons of curry powder
Tasty ramen

 

[AAK]

Look at the ingredients you have, and then look for some youtube recipes on what you can do with them. That's how I go about it.

 

[RoslindaleOne]

Cheap and easy, huh? Cheap jar of tomato sauce and pasta. Look out for deals on pasta. Super markets will sell them as cheap as a $1 a box for brands like Barilla, Prince, Ronzoni and De Cecco. Depending on how much you eat, a box of ziti could cover you for a few days for supper.

 

[Consequence]

Peanut butter
Garlic (garlic powder if you must)
Soy sauce
Any cheap cut of pork
Sriracha
Any green veggie (frozen broccoli is perfect and cheap)
Rice noodles (or regular pasta if you want)

Stir fry all this. Can't really mess it up. Use sesame oil if you're fancy.