Try this -- trust me, you will LOVE it...

I call this one "Lazy Spaghetti!"

For this experiment you will need:

1: A jar of cheap pasta sauce. 2: A bag of shredded Mozzarella. 3: A bag of fresh pepperoni. 4: A jar of dry powdered Parmesan cheese. 5: A bowl of Instant Ramen.

Step One: Open up your Instant Ramen bowl -- set aside or discard the Flavor Packets that came with the Ramen Bowl, you won't need them.

Step Two: Put the bare minimum of water into the Ramen Bowl, you don't want to fill it up all the way... Heat the bowl in the Microwave for 1 full minute.

Step Three: Drain the water into the sink but don't lose any of the noodles! (maybe use a Fork to hold the noodles back as you are draining the water).

Step Four: Open the jar of Pasta Sauce and add in a decent amount of sauce to the plain Ramen Bowl (but NOT TOO MUCH). Add Powdered Parmesan, Pepperonis and then finally add the Shredded Mozzarella. (I like a lot of Mozzarella).

Step Five: Place the Ramen Bowl back into the Microwave and heat for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Once finished, carefully take the bowl from the Microwave and let it cool for a while. Once cool, you can now safely eat...

Another classic recipe for Impoverished Furries:

"Personal Pita Pizza, Double Stack Edition"

For this experiment you will need:

1: Non-Stick Cooking Spray. 2: A cheap bag of flat Pita Breads from Wal-Mart (they're cheap and big and round ... and you get lots of them in each bag!) 3: A jar of cheap Pasta Sauce. 4: A bag of fresh Pepperoni. 5: A bag of Shredded Mozzarella. (Optional toppings: Sliced Green Peppers, Dry Powdered Parmesan).

Step One: Get a round Pizza Pan or some other type of FLAT oven sheet, like a cookie sheet or something. Spray a layer of cooking spray over the sheet you are going to be cooking on.

Step Two: Lay one Pita Bread over the cooking sheet, open your Cheap Jar of Pasta Sauce and use the back of a spoon to spread some sauce around the top of the Pita Bread... Now add the Shredded Mozzarella. Layer on some Pepperoni and other toppings.

Step Three: Place a second Pita Bread on top of what you've already got and repeat the same process.

Step Four: Heat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and place the Pizza Pizzas into the oven. Wait and check periodically to be sure that you don't burn your food to a blackened charcoal crisp!

Once the cheese is sufficiently melted, get an OVEN MITT and remove the tray from the oven... ALLOW IT TO COOL before you try to eat it.... pizza burns in the roof of your mouth HURT LIKE HECK!

less text-y, but Adam Ragusea's mac and cheese recipe has been my fuel for years

microwaved pepperoni

Rice, raw egg, soy sauce. enjoy

benjiboyo said:
Rice, raw egg, soy sauce. enjoy

Ever crack an egg into a pot of boiling ramen?

psyguy5 said:
microwaved pepperoni

I used to lay pepperonis onto a small plate, put it into the microwave, and eat it by itself.

Also, does anyone remember the Swanson's Chicken in a Can? I loved putting that stuff into a coffee mug with some water and some salt.

Canned Chili is a fairly universal solution; nuke it and pour it over chips (frito pie exists for a reason), throw a bunch of condiments in it, dump it on spaghetti...

Beyond that, millet is about 2$/kg, just throw it in a pot with twice it's weight in your favoured broth and a bit of extra pepper, and boil until you like the texture (16-22 minutes). Congratulations, you made one form of kasha, what kept me alive through bad winters. The other options are buckwheat groats and pearl barley for roughly the same effect. Don't really need to toast millet the same as you do buckwheat, though, but you certainly can.

Peas from dollar general and mashed potatoes from dollar general with steak ums from dollar general. i call it the texas trio, because it’s three things for three dollars.

Chuck some browned or caramelized onions, a can of tuna, a can of cream of mushroom soup (Celery or broccoli also works) into a pot of Kraft Dinner. You could probably leave out the onions if need be. 😂

iwasnthere said:
Chuck some browned or caramelized onions, a can of tuna, a can of cream of mushroom soup (Celery or broccoli also works) into a pot of Kraft Dinner. You could probably leave out the onions if need be. 😂

My favorite boxed mac upgrade is frozen peas, frozen spinach, garlic powder, and grated parmesan

Take some corn tortillas, cut them up into small squares and throw into a pan with some oil. Fry them up only slightly and then pour a can of tomato into it! Preferably Hunt's tomato sauce, it's a small can. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Real tasty for breakfast! You can add slice of hotdog or spam with it too to make it more hearty, just make sure to fry them up before frying the tortilla! I grew up poor and my mom would make this often and it's still something I make today :D

Rice is pretty cheap

veruke_assault said:
1: A jar of cheap pasta sauce. 2: A bag of shredded Mozzarella. 3: A bag of fresh pepperoni. 4: A jar of dry powdered Parmesan cheese. 5: A bowl of Instant Ramen.

1. When you find tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes cheaper, use that and cook it. Try using only half the jar or can.
2. A pound of pasta is usually as cheap or cheaper than ramen bricks, definitely the bowls, use that instead. You can calculate the calories per dollar.
3. "Fresh" pepperoni? Keep an eye out for the discounted meats. A burger can be transformed into ground beef for your poverty ass spaghetti.
4. Skip the fake Parm, it's mostly sawdust and less flavorful than adding some spices.
5. You can get better results for your dollar when you have more than a microwave. If you are too lazy, make multiple meals worth at one time and freeze them.
6. Manifest yourself some money.

-Cook rice
-put egg and salt

Yum

This is a cookbook someone made for "spoonies " and released free on itchio: https://traumbooks.itch.io/the-sad-bastard-cookbook

It's more oriented towards lack of energy than lack of money, but the overlap is pretty much 100% so I'm sure you'll find it relevant. The humor helps

lance_armstrong said:

4. Skip the fake Parm, it's mostly sawdust and less flavorful than adding some spices.

There's sawdust in the Parmesan????

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/amount-wood-pulp-grated-parmesan-cheese-may-surprise-you

Holy gawd damn frick... you weren't kidding....

veruke_assault said:
There's sawdust in the Parmesan????

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/amount-wood-pulp-grated-parmesan-cheese-may-surprise-you

Holy gawd damn frick... you weren't kidding....

It has cellulose, which is an anti-clumping agent made from wood pulp. This is a bit clickbaity.

veruke_assault said:
There's sawdust in the Parmesan????

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/amount-wood-pulp-grated-parmesan-cheese-may-surprise-you

Holy gawd damn frick... you weren't kidding....

Those fucking sneaky bastards!

Spaghetti and ketchup, not Heinz, that shit has way too much sugar, it’s like fucking candy.

neepokra said:
Spaghetti and ketchup, not Heinz, that shit has way too much sugar, it’s like fucking candy.

ketchup on pasta is pretty much straight up blasphemy, second only to doing the same with a hotdog.

neepokra said:
Spaghetti and ketchup, not Heinz, that shit has way too much sugar, it’s like fucking candy.

Did you ever see the GREEN Ketchup that Heinz used to sell?

WHAT THE HECK WAS THE POINT???? What's next, Dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets?

Mario-flavored Fruit Snacks? "Tacos" made out of ice cream and chocolate?

BANANA-FLAVORED NESTLE QUIK?????

(dear Nestle, please bring back Banana Quik).

veruke_assault said:
"Tacos" made out of ice cream and chocolate?

aww... man, don't bring up choco tacos, now I'm sad.

sipothac said:
aww... man, don't bring up choco tacos, now I'm sad.

"""The Choco Taco was discontinued in 2022"""

We can't have anything fun, can we....

-------------------------------------------------

Banana Quik got made into Strawberry-Banana Quik, and while it's "okay" I still prefer straight up Banana.... u.u

-------------------------------------------------

Also, I miss those caffeine infused "Cracker JACK'd" chocolate coffee crunch balls... those were epic.

http://www.overcaffeinated.org/news/new-caffeinated-cracker-jacks-cracker-jackd-prompts-outcry/

------------------------------------------------

1) Cook a bag of Knorr rice sides per instructions, the chicken flavor ones work well

2) dump in a (drained) can of black beans

3) throw in some frozen veggies

4) stir and leave it sit for a couple minutes. the hot rice heats the beans and veggies and cools down to an edible temp faster than the rice would on its own

bam, flavorful rice and beans (and veg) in 15 minutes, and only one dish to clean if you eat it out of the pot

sipothac said:
ketchup on pasta is pretty much straight up blasphemy, second only to doing the same with a hotdog.

If I want to be fancy I’d add chopped up pieces of a hotdog wiener.

Did you know that due to a tomato shortage during WW2, the Phillipines developed a ketchup made from bananas? And they do, in fact, put it on spaghetti.

arrow189 said:
Did you know that due to a tomato shortage during WW2, the Phillipines developed a ketchup made from bananas? And they do, in fact, put it on spaghetti.

did you know that Ketchup originally referred to a brown broth-like sauce made from mushrooms?

arrow189 said:
Did you know that due to a tomato shortage during WW2, the Phillipines developed a ketchup made from bananas? And they do, in fact, put it on spaghetti.

I would be interested in trying this strange "Banana Ketchup."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_ketchup

Rice is pretty much my favorite when it comes to meal prep, you can mix rice with pretty much anything and it will probably turn out good. Case in point: Poor mans Rice a Roni.
What you'll need: Rice and a packet of dry chicken noodle soup (any brand will probably work although i personally use lipton).
Step 1: Put 2 cups of water in a cooking pot (amount will vary depending on how much rice you want to put in) this is also a good time to add carrots or some other vegetable.
Step 2: Bring the water to a boil.
Step 3: Add 1 cup of rice and the contents of the soup packet.
Step 4: Stir the contents together. Make sure to watch and stir occasionally.
Step 5: Once the rice is finished cooking and absorbing all of the broth it should be ready to eat.
If you really want to get experimental you can try mixing the rice with other flavors of soup or add things like meat or veggies.

Pasta alfredo: A bit of pasta (your choice), some cream, a little flour, parmessan, butter, and salt and pepper is all that you need for a basic Alfredo. You can add chicken or bacon or whatever to it.

Refreid bean taco: Get butter, two cans of pinto beans, and some tortillas. Heat the butter and beans in a pan over medium-low heat. Add a splash of milk, along with any seasonings of your choice. Smash the beans up and stir. When heated thoroughly, add some cheese to the top. Stick in a flour tortilla, and cook both sides until brown over low heat.

Cook dry pasta per package instructions and put the hot pasta in a bowl with some butter, stir until the butter is evenly distributed.

If you want a healthy version, buy some frozen broccoli, heat it up in the microwave, and add it to the pasta.

Spam potato casserole.

Set oven to 450 f.
Cube potatoes (8 would be good) into half a inch or one inch cubes.
Put two tablespoons of veg oil into a mixing bowl.
Add the spice you want to the oil. Mix
Add cubed potatoes to bowl and mix till evenly coated.
Add to a greesed baking dish (idk what the americans call it but its called a corrinware dish or a pyiex dish here).
Cook for 60 minutes, stirring every 20 min.
Cube a onion.
Sear some cut thin cut spam (a can or half a can).
Add to the dish with the onion after the 60 min are up and top with some self grated cheese (optional).
Cook for another 20 at 375F.
Let sit for 10.

Good work now you have meals you can take to work or reheat for the week.

Perfect, i gonna save this for later

~$8 for 4 servings. Does include chopping things, but you can chop a bunch of these at once and freeze them in bags. Then you'd just tag a bag out as needed, dump it on a tray, and bake (for a bit longer - not sure exactly how long to cook if frozen)

I call this University Meal (when you are poor and need something quick)

Ramen (Instant Noodles)
2x Chilli Peppers
1/2x Bell Pepper
1/2x Onion
Soy Sauce
Tinned Hot Dogs

Fry up the Chillis/Pepper/Onion and add some sugar to some soy sauce and add to the mix caramelize them together, boil your hotdogs and slice them thin, boil your ramen till there is some broth and then mix in your Hotdogs, boil till its a shallow broth and then put into a bowl top it with your mix, boom it's less than £3 a serving and takes about 10 minutes to make

zucchini lemon pie

1 zucchini, blended
4ish lemons worth of lemon juice
lemon zest
a few tablespoons of cornstarch
enough powderd sugar to get rid of the cornstarch taste
mint leaves (optinal)

boil on stove till thickened, put in pie shell. works great as dinner and dessert

mta_2_train said:
Perfect, i gonna save this for later

Idk if you were responding to me but I got another meal.
Call it red beans and rice.
Bag of red chili beans (the smaller ones not the larger ones)
Soak it over night or better for a day.
Have a big pot.
Add about 2 tbsp (table spoon) of paprika
1 tbsp of chili powder (optional)
One red pepper cubed (or two)
One red onion cubed
If you have a ham hock left over it is the best but a bottle of smoke will work too (about a tea spoon)
5 or 6 celery stalks (leave the celery leaves in from the stalk it is a very good spice that comes with the celery).
Add about a quarter of gallon of water, (or 3 liters for the rest of the world units) you can always add more if you are short of water. Can't really remove water if you over fill
2 Tsp (tea spoon) of oregano
1 Tsp of Cumin
1 or 2 Tsp of pepper
About a tea spoon of salt to taste (table not sea or kosher, you want the iodine that is in normal table salt)
Add other spices to your flavor.
Stir all together.
Bring it to a boil and see the next step.
Cook for about 4 or 5 hours on simmer stir every 45 min. So
Make rice from a big bag (cheapest for the amount you get).

Congrats you have a really cheap meal for about 2 weeks frozen.
Best part about it you just reheat the frozen mix in the microwave and top it on some freshly cooked rice.

just a whole bunch of hot dogs (not the kind you see on e6) hot dogs are probably the cheapest (not horse) meat you can get. carb based stuff is also pretty cheap, whether it be pasta, bread, rice, or if you can bake, just flour itself.