CHEAP MEALS: THE THREAD

[Crodyman]

Yooooooo it's me, ya boi, Crodyman, wondering what y'all's go-to cheap meals are. My hope is we can fill this thread with ideas and recipes that is wholly inclusive to anyone regardless of their budget or cooking skillz.

I'll start with one from my college days:

Peanut Butter Ramen

Take your basic shit-tier chicken ramen, boil water and add the noodles and seasoning packet. Then add a hefty tablespoon of CHUNKY peanut butter to the soup. once the peanut butter is incorporated, crack an egg into the boiling soup. DON'T STIR FOR AT LEAST A MINUTE. This will allow the egg to remain whole. After 4 minutes since adding the noodles, pour soup and noodles into a bowl. Top with fresh sliced scallions, sesame seeds, and sriracha. BONUS POINTS: if you have them, thinly slice green cabbage and add to the bottom of your bowl before pouring the soup in, and top with freshly sliced scallions and thinly sliced jalapenos. an 8-outta-10 cheap meal every time.


What's your go to cheap meal?

[Pat]

 once the peanut butter is incorporated, crack an egg into the boiling soup. DON'T STIR FOR AT LEAST A MINUTE. 

I'll share some cheap meals but for anyone reading this and doesn't know what's going on here - you're essentially poaching an egg and put in your ramen. It's a super easy way to really up the quality of your cheap meal.
I'm not a huge peanut sauce or peanuts in my ramen guy, but this does sound damn tasty.

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Doy Fieri's Cheap Braised Beef and Potatoes

Before getting into this recipe, it's not going to seem like it's on the same level of cheapness as Wasrabi's Peanut Butter Ramen, but for the little extra you pay in ingredients you'll have yourself like a week's worth of food. Only caveat is you need time to cook it, so it's perfect on a weekend when you're just around and have time.

Ingredients
Beef Roast - I prefer shoulder but if price is a big deal you can get a chuck roast. Honestly, cut doesn't matter TOO much.
Potatoes - buy the cheapest ones you can find, most likely Russet but if you want to splurge I'm a huge fan of Idaho Gold
De-glazing liquid - traditionally you would use wine, but really a cheap beer works totally fine, you just have to make sure it has some acid content
Onion - any variety but probably a white or yellow
Cooking oil - just anything to coat the bottom of your pan
Seasonings - all you absolutely need is salt and pepper, but you can add some more savory options too. I like to season the beef with some garlic, parsley, rosemary, and thyme. Very classic.

Optional
Beef bullion 
Carrots
Celery
Garlic

Equipment
A working stove
Typically you'd want a Dutch Oven but honestly any larger pan with a lid will work fine
Tongs
A knife



Steps

Dice your vegetables
Heat up your pan to medium-high and pour in some oil to coat the bottom
Sear the meat on all sides. SEAR only. Do not let it cook long on any side. You just want some texture.
Take the meat out and set aside. Turn the heat on the pan down to medium, and add your vegetables (onion as least, but if you can add carrot and celery it'll up the aroma and flavor)
Cook your vegetables for a couple of minutes until they sweat. You'll be able to tell when they've cooked long enough by the smell. Your kitchen is gonna be SO aromatic.
De-glaze your pan with your liquid. Just do enough to scrape the bits of meat off the bottom.
Add your meat back in, and then fill the pot with liquid up to the, "shoulder" of the meat. Put enough liquid to cover about 80-85% of the meat.
Turn heat to low and cover.
Let cook for as many hours as you can allow.

After it's cooked for a number of hours (longer you let it cook more tended it will be) take the meat out. It should be really tender and fall apart. That's okay.


At some point during this, cook your potatoes. 

Cut your potatoes into mostly uniform sizes
Add to a pot and fill with water and salt
Bring water to a boil and let boil for probably 20 minutes or so - you can check the doneness of your potatoes by piercing with a fork. If the fork goes in and out easily, your potatoes are done.
Drain the water and smash the potatoes
Add butter and cream and whatever seasonings you wish - I personally love just salt, pepper, and a shit load of garlic

Plate your meat and potatoes, and use some of your braising liquid (the liquid you cooked your meat in) as a gravy. You can make a thicker gravy by boiling down the liquid without the meat in the pot.


So, now you have probably 3-5 pounds of beef. Well, what else can you do with it? Whatever your heart desires.
Make sandwiches
Cook it with some scrambled eggs
Make soup
Toss it in your cheap ramen

As long as you keep it refrigerated in an airtight container (tupperware works fine) you should be able to reheat and eat it for 4-5 days.

[TeyonSchavari]

Got a crock pot? Good! Wait you don't? Go buy one you bafoon! Cheap easy meals that will last you days!

Easy Chicken and Noodles

Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 stick of butter, sliced
garlic salt
italian seasoning
pepper
1 pack of egg noodles

This'll usually run you about 12 bucks but this'll feed you about 5 or 6 times, so its worth it.

Instructions:

Put 4 chicken breasts into the crock pot. Season generously with the garlic salt, italian seasoning, and pepper. You can substitute any of these seasonings to your taste.

Put in the 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, spread evenly.

Put in the butter slices, spread out.

Put in the 4 cups of chicken broth.

Set the crock pot on HIGH and cook for 4 hours.

After the 4 hours is up, shred the chicken with 2 forks.

Put in the egg noodles and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Stir halfway through to ensure any noodles at the top can soften in the remaining liquid.

Serve and enjoy! Store leftovers in the fridge. Usually about 5-6 servings total.


Another easy life hack if you'd like a side of garlic bread:

Put some bread in the toaster. When it comes out, spread with butter and shake some garlic salt on it. Boom, garlic bread (trust me its actually good)

[Pat]

Oh jesus @TeyonSchavari you made me think of another "bang for your buck" meal: CHILI

I'll write up a recipe later, but yeah, chili.

[Crodyman]

Braised beef is legendary! The leftovers are perfect for stroganoff.

And that quick garlic bread hack is great. I'll add another cheap meal soon!