a cheap food

[Rusty Shackleford]

So, i was told rice and chili beans was a good way to get lots of food for cheap.

so, just buy rice or instant rice.
a few cans of chili beans or chili with beans(whether you are veg*n or not or dotn care)
maybe some spices or valentina sauce(or tapatio or the likes) and eat it.

2 cups of rice and a can of chili with beans/chili beans seems to be a good ratio and hoewever much spice to give it a little extra flavor. evecause everything canned tastes a bit waxy.


good eats.

[Bitter Ashes]

Spuds are the future. Easy to grow. Cheap to buy. A million ways to serve, all of which are easy-peasy.

Rice is pretty expensive and it's also a big contributor to greenhouse gasses. Go for pasta, or chips, instead.

[Rusty Shackleford]

is there a way to make a good quality, multiple reheat pasta and bean dish?

[Quail]

I usually make pasta bakes (simple tomato sauce with veg and some form of pulse) and freeze several portions in those plastic boxes you get from takeaways. Dried pulses are cheaper than canned, but can be a pain to prepare because they need to be soaked and can take a while to cook.

You could also try couscous with pulses and veg as a cheap meal. It's really quick and easy to cook, too.

[Manic Impressive]

Kayl is right pasta bakes are awesome I used to make a cheese sauce for mine but as cheese is so expensive now that wouldn't count as cheap food anymore. Cheapest meal I used to eat when I had about £5 for food to last me a week was pasta, baked beans and if I was feeling extravagant a can of tomatoes perhaps with some frozen veg in there as well.

[Bitter Ashes]

is there a way to make a good quality, multiple reheat pasta and bean dish?
Get yourself a good recipe for chilli con carne. Don't skimp on the range of herbs and spices. Grate a little bit of chocolate in there too.

Rather than reheating the thing again and again, which will cause very nasty bacteria to multiply like rabbits, put it in a bowl or container, cover it with clingfilm and stick it in the fridge. If it's dry then add a little water, or even milk if you fancy it and then whenever you need some then scoop it out and heat it up again.

Pasta takes so short a time to cook, you might as well just cook it when you need it. It'll taste so much better that way. Big tip with pasta is to put it in the pan, sprinkle on some salt and a little bit of oil and maybe some basil if you have it and then add your water. Don't boil it too fast or you'll find that the outside will be overcooked and the inside still raw. Just practice practice practice.

When you first create your first meal from scratch that you feel confident with, it's a very nice feeling to know you can cook for friends if you need to. It's also a great way to get in touch with your neighbours :)

[Decolonize The Left]

What's this (http://www.revleft.com/vb/recipes-guides-etc-t134829/index.html)? Recipes galore (http://www.revleft.com/vb/recipes-33-t36982/index.html)!

As for your question, the best filling dish which will last over time is a rice/beans/veggie combination stew. Cook your rice in advance and have it on hand, and buy dry beans and soak them overnight and have them on hand as well.
Start with your veggies (onions, garlic, carrots, celery, cabbage, etc..) and saute them over medium heat with oil/butter until they are tender. Add your beans, rice, tomatoes, spices, whatever you want and cook it on low (i.e. simmer the stew) for as long as you like (2 hrs is good). If you use enough ingredients, you now have an extremely filling (and healthy) dish which should last quite a while.

If you want it to keep a while, avoid dairy and meat in the dish as these ingredients will spoil faster. If you're cooking for more people then add some meat (cheap cuts of pork: brown them first over medium-high heat, then add them to the big dish with the rice/beans and let them cook on low heat for a couple hours; even cheap meats become tender this way).

Serve it with some bread for added carbs if you want, but it should be hearty enough as it. Make sure you get good veggies in there (chard, kale, cabbage, broccoli, etc..) and let it cook long enough with your spices for the flavors to get comfy.

Yum yum.

- August

[Decolonize The Left]

Pasta takes so short a time to cook, you might as well just cook it when you need it. It'll taste so much better that way. Big tip with pasta is to put it in the pan, sprinkle on some salt and a little bit of oil and maybe some basil if you have it and then add your water. Don't boil it too fast or you'll find that the outside will be overcooked and the inside still raw. Just practice practice practice.

Sacrilege!

Disregard what is quoted above!

Cooking pasta is easy:
1. Boil a large pot of water (5-7 quarts to 1 pound of pasta).
2. Wait for water to come to a rolling boil and add salt (approx. 2 tablespoons).
3. Add pasta, a handful at a time. Break it in half if it seems too long for your dish (i.e. you can break spaghetti in half so it doesn't splatter when you eat it with sauce).
4. Stir the pasta well, but with ease, for about 30 seconds when it goes in the water to prevent sticking.
5. Lightly stir the pasta every 3 minutes or so.
6. Wait 1 minute less than the allotted time on the package (i.e. if the package says 12 minutes cooking time, check it at 11 minutes).
7. Taste test your pasta at this time: remove one piece, wait for it to cool, and eat it. It should be al dente (i.e. "to the teeth"; i.e. not mushy, but firm, but not undercooked).
8. When it's ready, take it off the heat and strain it well.
9. Add oil and butter to the pot (the pasta's in the strainer) and add the pasta to the pot, add salt and pepper and stir well until the pasta is coated with the oil.
10. Let sit for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then add your sauce to the pasta and serve.

Do not cook your pasta in a pan. Cook it in a big pot with lots of water. It gets mushy and sticks to itself when there's not enough water to absorb. Do not put basil in the water, it will only become wilted and tasteless. Put basil in the sauce, or add it at the end (shred it or cut it fine). Pasta requires salt both in the water before it is boiled and on the pasta after it's been cooked - unsalted pasta is almost flavorless.

Yes, I love my pasta. It's damn good too because my mom taught me and she learned from her mom who learned from her mom who immigrated from Italy so I know what I'm talking about.

Humph. ;)

- August

[Os Cangaceiros]

There was a period of time a while back when I basically lived on chicken and rice for about a dollar a day. Groceries are fairly inexpensive here, though.

[TC]

cheaper and imo, better, than canned beans, are dry beans. You can buy a bag of dry beans (often in ethnic food aisles) of 10 times the size of canned beans for the same price often...and because they will be without salt and sugar you can prepare them to your own taste. You can also decide precisely how much you want to make. The flavor is often better too. Obviously preparation time is longer though but it requires no skill or attention.

[ellipsis]

I prefer free food.

[Fulanito de Tal]

A pork shoulder is cheap as fuck. Cut it up and freeze the slices for later. Or, if you have access to a grinder, you can freeze pork patties with seasoning already in them. Then, it's just take it out of the freezer and onto the frying pan. Either way, that much pork should last one person up to a month.

Rice is by far the cheapest starch/carbohydrate type food in the US. I think spaghetti is 3x's the price per weight. If you want to luxurious it up, make some black beans, but that takes planning or a pressure cooker. For salad, col (cabbage) and carrots is the way to go.

I've heard of places that sell "expired" that doesn't really expire -- stupid capitalism always needs to keep producing. I know someone that found "expired" microwavable popcorn for 10 cents a box. He told the store owner that he will buy all the popcorn in the place. For $30, he now has enough popcorn for LIFE. The hard part is finding a store that sells not un-expire-able expired food.

[Jalapeno Enema]

PBJ/ Ramen diets suck.

You can get some ketchup packets and put them on crackers for some zest.

http://verydemotivational.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/demotivational-posters-jonathan-swift1.jpg

In all seriousness, get some soil/ceramic pots and grow some produce (I did at my apartment; I had a garden on my second story balcony.) The initial investment is easily paid for by what you grow. Of course, if you have the space where you live, outside in the ground is best. If not, pots on a balcony/roof/patio, or even inside by a well lit window.

I got my pots from yard sales for ridiculous cheap (you're growing food, not decorating; who cares if they're chipped/ don't match), and across the ally my neighbor said I could take whatever I wanted from their compost if I threw my compost in there.

Remember to save seeds from not only what you grow, but any other produce you might want to grow. Monsanto tries to distribute crops with sterile seeds, so don't be surprised if your supermarket crops suck, but anything I ever got from the farmer's market next to my old apartment did okay.

Of course, growing food is kinda seasonal, and most of us can't grow ALL of our own food, but in season you get a nice complement to whatever you can afford.

[Bitter Ashes]

Sacrilege!

Disregard what is quoted above!

Cooking pasta is easy:
1. Boil a large pot of water (5-7 quarts to 1 pound of pasta).
2. Wait for water to come to a rolling boil and add salt (approx. 2 tablespoons).
3. Add pasta, a handful at a time. Break it in half if it seems too long for your dish (i.e. you can break spaghetti in half so it doesn't splatter when you eat it with sauce).
4. Stir the pasta well, but with ease, for about 30 seconds when it goes in the water to prevent sticking.
5. Lightly stir the pasta every 3 minutes or so.
6. Wait 1 minute less than the allotted time on the package (i.e. if the package says 12 minutes cooking time, check it at 11 minutes).
7. Taste test your pasta at this time: remove one piece, wait for it to cool, and eat it. It should be al dente (i.e. "to the teeth"; i.e. not mushy, but firm, but not undercooked).
8. When it's ready, take it off the heat and strain it well.
9. Add oil and butter to the pot (the pasta's in the strainer) and add the pasta to the pot, add salt and pepper and stir well until the pasta is coated with the oil.
10. Let sit for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then add your sauce to the pasta and serve.

Do not cook your pasta in a pan. Cook it in a big pot with lots of water. It gets mushy and sticks to itself when there's not enough water to absorb. Do not put basil in the water, it will only become wilted and tasteless. Put basil in the sauce, or add it at the end (shred it or cut it fine). Pasta requires salt both in the water before it is boiled and on the pasta after it's been cooked - unsalted pasta is almost flavorless.

Yes, I love my pasta. It's damn good too because my mom taught me and she learned from her mom who learned from her mom who immigrated from Italy so I know what I'm talking about.

Humph. ;)

- August
I may just try that too now lol. Not often I get offered advice on pasta from a genuine Italian family :D

[RedSquare]

There was a period of time a while back when I basically lived on chicken and rice for about a dollar a day. Groceries are fairly inexpensive here, though.

Currently on a similar diet here, although its not that cheaper. The pasta idea is definitely something I'll be looking at.

[Rss]

Nobody mentioned cabbage?

Here's something cheap and filling:

"That cheap soup":
- Some cabbage
- Couple of carrots
- 'tatoes or rutabagas (They're called "swedes" too? WTF!) to fill the space
- Optional: Ground meat, pork will do
- Spice up with rosemary, dill, coriander, pepper and salt

[Decolonize The Left]

Nobody mentioned cabbage?

Here's something cheap and filling:

"That cheap soup":
- Some cabbage
- Couple of carrots
- 'tatoes or rutabagas (They're called "swedes" too? WTF!) to fill the space
- Optional: Ground meat, pork will do
- Spice up with rosemary, dill, coriander, pepper and salt

I'd definitely add onions and celery to that soup, probably garlic too. But yeah, cabbage soup is cheap and tasty.

- August

[#FF0000]

Living off rice, pasta, and beans isn't really too healthy, so, does anyone have any good vegetable or even fruit-based recipes for us folks who are broke as a joke but also taking in to many carbs and too much protein as it is?

[Ele'ill]

You could add vegetables to the meals. Squash and bean soup. Brussel sprouts are decent. Bananas and hot sauce as mentioned earlier.

http://www.whfoods.com/ is a nice go to site for such things. It gives you a break down of each individual item per recipe.

[Rss]

I'd definitely add onions and celery to that soup, probably garlic too. But yeah, cabbage soup is cheap and tasty.

- August

Dammit, I knew I forgot something. Good thing that you fixed this. Onions are ELEMENTARY particles of cabbage soup.

[Bitter Ashes]

Living off rice, pasta, and beans isn't really too healthy, so, does anyone have any good vegetable or even fruit-based recipes for us folks who are broke as a joke but also taking in to many carbs and too much protein as it is?
Getting fruit into your diet is HARD on little money. It's nigh on impossible to go skipping for it too because fruit's one of the few things that really has the risk of being dangerously off when they throw it out. You're better off using stuff you rescue from skips for homebrewing (although it certainly won't be your best stuff!)

Cans of peaches and fruit salads and the like are about the best you're going to be able to get. You will find these in skips too. Tinned fruit keeps for donkeys' years and often they'll reduce, or even throw away a slightly damaged, but intact can.

If you feel adventurous, you could also try making some spotted dick, or bread and butter pudding (great way to use up stale bread from skips btw!) with raisens or sultanas. It's really easy to either of them.

For veg, growing your own's the best way to go. A few lettuce leaves as a salad to go with your chips, or in a sandwhich with other stuff, is great and you can just pluck off leaves as and when you fancy them. Tomatoes are fairly cheap and they're vital for cooking stuff like chilli con carne, spagetti bologonaise and making homemade pizzas. I can't eat the damn things unless they're mashed to a pulp like this, but if you do like them, then you can throw them in a salad in the same way you'd do with lettuce.

FYI, tomatoes grow very well indoors and in colder climates, it's the only place they'll grow, so there's not much excuse for not growing them.

[Ele'ill]

I've never had spotted dick before. I do like currants though.

[Decolonize The Left]

Living off rice, pasta, and beans isn't really too healthy, so, does anyone have any good vegetable or even fruit-based recipes for us folks who are broke as a joke but also taking in to many carbs and too much protein as it is?

Well, to reduce your empty carb intake you should focus on cutting things out of your diet first - such as: bread, beer, pasta, and to a lesser degree, rice.

The reason why I place rice in a different category is that you can get brown (or even wild) rice and when coupled with beans you have the perfect protein. So rice/beans/veggies is probably the best meal on the cheap. You can stirfry the whole thing on stovetop or even turn it into a soup with some stock/broth.

As for recipes for veggies alone, the first thing to know is how you cook your veggies matters. Almost all veggies lose nutrients as you cook them (one of the sole exceptions being carrots) so the less you cook them, the better. Steaming is the best option, as it retains most of the nutrients and you can save the water you steam with (it's got nutrients in it too) for pasta water, or soup stock, or whatever.
Next, you can lightly stirfry the veggies in olive oil or butter or whatever, but cook it on higher heat and keep it quick. The longer is cooks open the less goodness is inside.
Also, the kind of veggies you eat is important. Leafy green veggies (chard, kale, mustard greens, etc..) are all very good for you, and other green ones (broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc..) are also good. Potatoes have little nutrients on their own (always eat the skin if you can, that's where all the nutrients are), but yams are a little better. Mushrooms are another good one.
As for staples: onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Always cook with these as they make everything taste better.

Now to recipes,
- You could chop up your veggies and stir-fry them together with some soy sauce, a dash of red wine vinegar, sesame oil, and s&p. Then serve over steamed rice for a lighter, healthy, asian-style dish.
- You can steam up broccoli and green beans, then add spinach to the mixture while it's still hot (cover it all together and let sit). Place some butter (2 tablespoons or so) in a pan and heat it over low until it melts, add chopped parsley and s&p, then squeeze 1-2 lemons into the it. It will freak out but it's ok, cook it down until it thickens a bit (it'll brown too), then pour it over the veggies.
Serve this with a pan-fried chicken breast (cook some shallots and garlic up with reduced vinegar/wine to put on top) on the side and you have a very healthy meal.
- You can roast potatoes, yams, carrots, and onions up real easy as follows: chop all the potatoes, yams, and carrots up in large chunks of equal size. Place in a baking pan with sliced onions and crushed garlic. Lightly drizzle olive oil over the mixture, then add s&p, and thyme, oregano, (and if you want, herb de provence). Place in a pre-heated oven (at ~350 degrees) and cook for 30 minutes. Take out, stir and rotate the veggies, cook again. Do this until the largest piece of potato is cooked through (test with a fork).
Serve this as a roasted root-veggie side with roasted chicken (you can even do it all in one pan if you have a rack to roast the chicken in).

And that's all I can think of at the moment.

- August

[ellipsis]

If you feel adventurous, you could also try making some spotted dick, or bread and butter pudding (great way to use up stale bread from skips btw!) with raisens or sultanas. It's really easy to either of them.

I have a can of spotted dick that I dumpstered, its two years expired think its still good?

[Bitter Ashes]

I have a can of spotted dick that I dumpstered, its two years expired think its still good?
If the tin is still intact (take off the label and check the seam for damage) then it should still be fine. When START goes horribly wrong, MAD ensures, nuclear winter kicks in and cockroaches take over the Earth, the stuff in tins will still be edible. :)

btw, AugustWest, sorry, but I disagree with you on rice. It's horrifically expensive due to crop failures and Rice Corp's IMF trademarking fiasco. Not to mention the enviromental impact of greenhouse gasses from paddy fields, although I admit that if you're starving then forget about being picky. Wheat for pasta and bread isn't doing much better due to famine in Russia, which is one of the biggest wheat producers.

Potatoes and oats are the best way to go. Spuds in particular are so easy to grow anywhere, even if you don't have a garden or allotment, that there's little excuse for not growing them. It's just a case of leaving well stocked beertraps and lines of salt about to keep the fucking slugs away.