Hey Veeky Forums, I'm a student currently schooling with no job & funded by my parents for food (barely)...

hey Veeky Forums, I'm a student currently schooling with no job & funded by my parents for food (barely). I was wondering, what are some cheap, but quality things I can make that use few ingredients? I'm okay with eating single course meals as long as it's overall good.

this idea of cheap food on little ingredients came to me tonight after I made this Sriracha broccoli. I only used mayonnaise, Sriracha, & water mixed and lightly poured over broccoli, then roasted it. Turned out okay & was definitely good for what it was worth.

Anything is appreciated, just sick of ramen noodles being the base of my diet. I don't mind the noodles really, more the fact that it is literally junk food & probably worse than a bag of chips.

Grits mixed with peanut butter. Insanely cheap and I like it.

Potatoes, eggs, cheese, salt, pepper.
Wash the potatoes, dice them, throw them in a frying pan with salt and pepper. Cook them for about 10 minutes, put in a bit of butter and crack some eggs.
Serve with shredded cheese on top, turns into a nice gooey dish.

Wow, that sounds so good, maybe I could find a cheap berry to throw in too... or raisins. Where do you get peanut butter cheap though? I always skip it because it's $5-$7 for the smaller size & if I buy it I'll probably use that up in 8 meals or so.

Is there a healthy way to sweeten oatmeal without sugar?

Oh, also, onion and garlic powder add a lot to it.

Will definitely put this one to use, been skipping cheese lately though for the cost. I might just buy slices & cut them up.

I use maybe a quarter cup of shredded cheddar for two medium sized potatoes. It only costs me about $2.30 for a 2-cup bag of it, though I don't know where you live. Definitely check out different stores, if you've got WinCo or CostCo they're 100% worth it. Even walmart is worth it over most supermarkets.

I shop at WinCo and $20 buys me an entire weeks worth of groceries. Dozen eggs for $0.78, $4 for 10lb of potatoes, $2.50 for a 6 pack of hillshire farms sausage
If I go to albertsons (the main supermarket chain here) eggs are now $1.30 for the same brand, $5.50 for 10lb potatoes, and fucking $4 for the exact same brand of sausages.
I once spent $40 on just sandwich materials there and it barely lasted me a week.

We have WinCo less than a mile from me, I've been buying a 24-pack of ramen for $4.62 there lately. I also picked up oats for $1.88 so I've learned how much of an advantage I have with WinCo. Will certainly go for your suggestions though, I could eat breakfast for every meal and never get sick of it.

Add berries to it, or maybe just a splash of milk.

As a student, you shouldn't worry about eating healthy. Worry about protein. Frozen pot pies are cheap, and there are hundreds of ways to make top ramen delicious. Chicken breast is good; add it to anything and everything. Make curry. Make chicken wraps.

Fuck there are so many things you can eat. You gotta be more specific with your needs and ingredients. Don't just start a thread just for shits and giggles. You're wasting precious Veeky Forums megabits.

The problem is that I am worried about being healthy. Not as much nutritionally as physically. I've been thin all of my life & I've seen many friends gain a lot of weight since we started school. I'm hitting my 3rd year now & have just moved on from living with parents & community college. The semester is almost over and I hit a point a few weeks ago where I definitely was not comfortable with the changes happening to me because of my diet. Since then I've eaten a salad with every meal & usually eaten only once a day. Now, almost back to how I looked before, I figured the least I can do is bring some variety, especially if I only eat once or twice daily.

I use black beans often for protein, sometime sausage, usually some kind of meat. I didn't really specify ingredients because I've been on the same foods for months now, I'm pretty open to anything, although I know that makes it less enticing to reply to this thread. So far this has been really helpful, I lurk Veeky Forums & don't really ever post, but this is the most help I've gotten yet.

I really wish I could find a dish as easy as ramen, but without the sodium and fat noodles. Maybe if I made my own? I guess there's a reason ramen is as cheap as it is though.

Just don't use the seasoning packet, or if you do only half. Or drain the water and mix in light mayo/ honey mustard for a nice creamy dish.

brotip: a cup of hot broth is tasty, filling, and cheap. you can get a can of broth for like sixty/seventy cents a can and a can is two cups, so pessimistically it's fifty cents a cup for something that tastes good, warms you up when it's cold, and makes you feel full

Look at vegetarian Indian food

I can make a big batch of chana masala and eat it for 3 days for about $5

Recipe?

>I really wish I could find a dish as easy as ramen

You should get out of this mindset. Most dishes that are healthy don't come pre-prepared.

That being said, I like buying frozen veggies with no sauce. You just throw them in the microwave for five minutes for an easy side.

do you people nowadays put mayo on everything? thats kinda disgusting isnt it.

I can't stand frozen vegetables. No texture and if you have a mix all the flavors blend and it just tastes bad.

Something like steamed green beans is just as easy but much nicer.

I'm pretty sure mayo is one of the mother sauces.

Essentially.

Make some pico de gallo and you can throw it on anything.

>1 thinly diced sweet Vidalia onion
>1 drained can of diced tomatoes with green pepper and garlic
>(fresh is better than canned, but canned is cheaper and easier)
>optional lime juice (recommended)
>optional thinly sliced celery

That's not traditional by any means, but it's good. Get some flour or corn tortillas and crisp both sides in a pan (no oil or butter necessary). Then either rinse a can of black beans in a strainer or heat up a can of refried beans in the microwave. Add baby spinach to the tortillas if you want for some extra greens. Assemble your taco, and douse it in your favorite hot sauce and/or sour cream.

The pico de gallo is good too because a little of it goes a long way for flavor. Prep it in advance and you can throw it in anything. Scrambled eggs/omelets, rice, beans, ramen, that potato recipe further up, or whatever really. You can't go wrong.

these are extremely helpful, thanks a lot

going to look into this, i'm interested in your recipe as well

I've come to realize that, just didn't lose hope. Will maybe go for a stir fry or something.

Honestly, I made that same dish again for dinner, and it was awful... I trashed half of it, I think I was just really hungry the first time. Mayo is definitely hit or miss.

Just eat rice and beans and whatever else you want to add to it.
Slowly stock up on spices when you can afford them.

For some spice suggestions, assuming you already have salt and pepper:
>Paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, oregano, basil, creole seasoning
In that order for me personally, but I prepare a lot of meat.

This

I like to make bean chili's (no meat), ragu, curry's in bulk and eat them over a few days. Stuff like chili or ragu is versatile because you can make wraps, lasagna, spaghetti etc.
You can save money if you can buy in bulk.

You can also look into making your own flat breads that are super easy and cheap to make, some recipes just call for flour, oil, salt and water.

Scrambled eggs & tomatoes was the first thing I did when I moved to my place.

What if no rice cooker?

Thanks, will try cooking in bulk

Cook rice like this:

>2 parts liquid to 1 part rice
>if you want to cook 1 cup of rice use 2 cups of liquid and so on
>I like to use half chicken stock and half water for the liquid
>you can use all water or all stock. Its up to you
>put liquid and rice in a unheated pot
>turn heat on medium high until it begins to boil (bout 5 min)
>once it begins to boil add a lid and reduce temperature to as low as it can possibly go
>you make even need to remove it from heat and put it back periodically if you have a shitty electric range
>don't touch that fucking lid. Keep it on the whole time. The steam is what cooks it.
>if you take the lid off you're going to fuck it all up
>let it sit like that on super low for 20 min
>after that remove from hot burner and set aside
>keep that fucking lid on
>let it sit for 5 minutes with the lid on
>after 5 minutes fluff with a fork and add your spices
>you can also add uncooked green onions and garlic if you have em

There you go. Rice cookers are unnecessary for most people most of the time.

most helpful yet, thanks a lot.

make white rice, cheap meaty bean stew (feijoada), and chicken thighs. the cheap latino diet

I just got chicken thighs for $.89/lb so that should be cheap enough.

Feijoada is bean stew made with the real cheap cuts of meat. Beef shanks and miscellaneous fatty pork bits, these cuts usually cost $1/lb also. It's onion, garlic, black pinto beans, meat, beef stock, and some herbs

Get a rice cooker and just cook like 1.5 cups of rice daily

If you have an oven learn to bake bread. There are many no knead recipes and even stovetop methods (tibetian soda bread). Very simple to do and very cheap.

Potato gratin is really delicious too. In general casseroles are great to make.

Champ. Basically mashed potatoes with loads of milk & butter and spring onions chopped into it.

You can just about live on it alone.

dal tadka
lentils are cheap, with tons of protein and little to no fat, and most of the aromatics (onions, garlic, dried chillies, cumin seeds) are cheap. turmeric and garam marsalaa are more expensive, and hard to buy in bulk but i cook a lot of indian food.
couple that with simple white rice and you've got dinner for a good 3-5 days depending on how much you make

do you own a rice cooker yet?
they're like $20 at kmart, no excuses not to have one

Lately I really enjoyed just slicing Hokkaido Pumpkin and some mushrooms in the oven at 200°C. I add some garlic (big cubes, maybe slice it once), oregano and pour olive oil over it. Let it in the oven as long as you can before it burns