# Cheap Eats!  your favorite broke meal.



## Karen99 (Jan 21, 2016)

http://thoughtcatalog.com/christoph...uper-cheap-meals-for-incredibly-broke-people/

I do remember being broke and borrowing a can of tuna from my best friend when I was in college.  I think I lived on tuna back then, but learning to make do took imagination sometimes.  I kept dry spaghetti, tomato sauce and a small green container of Kraft Parmesan Cheese in the cupboard for a "company meal".  Nobody ever complained either...

I enjoyed reading the above link about cheap meals and it made me smile.  Does anyone remember their own "broke meals" past or present..or am I the only one who toasted the last piece of bread in the bag for my tuna sandwich ?


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## NancyNGA (Jan 21, 2016)

Bologna sandwiches, egg sandwiches.


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## Karen99 (Jan 21, 2016)

NancyNGA said:


> Bologna sandwiches, egg sandwiches.



lol Nancy...I still love fried egg sandwich.


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## FazeFour (Jan 22, 2016)

Cubed potatoes, a couple of eggs, and a little onion fried up in a skillet was dinner for me and my two kids when times were tough. If I had hot dogs on hand, I'd slice up one or two, and toss them into the skillet, too. I'd make "water biscuits" so the dinner would be more filling. My son occasionally makes this skillet dinner for his youngest kids, just because he likes it.


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## Karen99 (Jan 22, 2016)

FazeFour said:


> Cubed potatoes, a couple of eggs, and a little onion fried up in a skillet was dinner for me and my two kids when times were tough. If I had hot dogs on hand, I'd slice up one or two, and toss them into the skillet, too. I'd make "water biscuits" so the dinner would be more filling. My son occasionally makes this skillet dinner for his youngest kids, just because he likes it.



thats cooking with love, Faze Four...and sounds like the tradition continues with your son and his kids.  My mom made a mean pot of beans and a pan of cornbread...the memory of which..still makes my mouth water..


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## SifuPhil (Jan 22, 2016)

I'm so sleepy, in looking over the list of new posts I saw this one and thought it said "Cheap Tarts!" 

You wouldn't _believe_ how quickly I woke up! 

My favorite cheap meal has always been spaghetti. Sometimes didn't have enough for sauce, so just drizzled butter over it. My arteries thanked me.


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## Cookie (Jan 22, 2016)

Basmati rice and red lentil curry, with some yogurt. Good carb and protein dish that's filling and nutritious. Maybe some tomato slices on the side.

Also lettuce and canned tuna salad with mayo.


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## Karen99 (Jan 22, 2016)

Phil...I recall many many happy spaghetti dinners...lol @ your "Cheap Tarts"..wishful thinking there, buddy!

Cookie... Healthy is always nice..and I love sliced tomatoes with almost anything.


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## Capt Lightning (Jan 22, 2016)

I have always eaten my main meal in the evening and only have a snack for lunch.  One day when I was working in Hamburg, I bought a tub of 'pot noodles' and was preparing these (ie adding boiling water) in the little kitchen bside our office.  One of my German colleagues asked, "Do you like those?".  I said yes and she said "That's strange.  In Germany it is only students or very poor people who eat them!"

I like noodles and pasta and you can knock up a good cheap meal with spaghetti, tomatoes and a few other bits.  This somewhat horrifies my daughter, who also describes such things as 'student food'. Maybe it was because she studied for some time in Berlin!


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## oldman (Jan 22, 2016)

BLT on toast. The bacon "MUST" be crispy and break, not tear. Hold the mayo, but a little virgin olive oil is fine.


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## Butterfly (Jan 22, 2016)

Noodles or spaghetti as a meat stretcher, or with just tomato and herb sauce.  Beans and rice.  Eggs and potatoes.  Tuna fish.

A pound of hamburger used to be pretty cheap back in the 60s and 70s and I knew a zillion ways to stretch a pound of hamburger as far as it would go.  Used the bones of roasted chicken to make what the kids called "chicken corpse soup," with vegetables and noodles, which was actually pretty good and they liked it, especially with hot biscuits.


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## RadishRose (Jan 22, 2016)

Dill pickle sandwiches with mayo, when there was nothing better in the house.

Noodles or spaghetti with butter, fried baloney sandwiches or peanut butter on soda crackers.


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## Pappy (Jan 22, 2016)

Spaghettios and cheese crackers. Real cheap. Or, PBJ.


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## jujube (Jan 22, 2016)

Black beans and yellow rice, with some chopped onions, chopped green pepper and a splash of vinegar.


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## tnthomas (Jan 22, 2016)

What kept me alive during my homeless period after I got back fro Vietnam were these:



I got a whole fistful of these I found in a car glovebox.   I would cash in one every other day, sort of a 'managed starvation' strategy.


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## Lon (Jan 22, 2016)




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## fureverywhere (Jan 22, 2016)

Just had rice, milk and equal for breakfast today. My parents lived through the depression. While neither was ever dirt poor I'm sure times were tight. Rice and milk, maybe with banana slices if you were really living large. Another one was my Dad's favorite ketchup sandwiches. For me the cheapest eats are ramen noodles. But if I had to eat them every day I'd be stealing cat food for variety.


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## SifuPhil (Jan 22, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> Just had rice, milk and equal for breakfast today. My parents lived through the depression. While neither was ever dirt poor I'm sure times were tight. Rice and milk, maybe with banana slices if you were really living large. Another one was my Dad's favorite ketchup sandwiches. For me the cheapest eats are ramen noodles. But if I had to eat them every day I'd be stealing cat food for variety.



Never had rice and milk. Do you make it like cereal, with a LOT of milk, or is it more like a thick soup or stew?

Ramen noodles ... ugh. I know exactly what you mean about them - I used to eat them until they came out my ears. Then I'd go to a party at night and hide slices of pizza under my arm pits to take home.


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## Pappy (Jan 22, 2016)

A bowl of white rice, a little milk and sprinkle with white or brown sugar. Buttered toast and you got a cheap meal.

When my DIL visits, she has a fit when we put milk and sugar on it. She is from Korea and eats it plain. Ugh.


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## AprilT (Jan 22, 2016)

I could live happily just eating tea and saltines, if not for the negatives, I'd prefer to just eat that, really, as I hate cooking these days,  but, any of the following will do: egg sandwich, grilled cheese, bowtie pasta with olive oil or butter and a veg.

I should add, sadly, I don't get to eat any of the above, except for the tea, unless I go off my healthy way of eating, for this month anyway.


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## Cookie (Jan 22, 2016)

My mother used to cook a rice soup --- with rice cooked well and strained through a sieve (could blend it now), finely cut fried onions in butter, a little more butter in the soup, milk and salt.  Delicious and filling.


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## applecruncher (Jan 22, 2016)

In 1975 White Castle hamburgers were 11 cents. Four & a free ice water was 44 cents.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 22, 2016)

Back when we were young and struggling a bit, I'd make a 'Chop Meat Surprise', which was just ground beef fried up with some onion and seasonings and served with some kind of pasta like wide noodles.  Yummy at the time, cheap and filling.


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## fureverywhere (Jan 22, 2016)

Never had rice and milk. Do you make it like cereal, with a LOT of milk, or is it more like a thick soup or stew?

It's nice slightly warm, enough milk so it's like cereal then a healthy sprinkle of sugar or equal...a bit of cinnamon and cardamom, instant comfort food.  My grandpa used to slice bananas over his.


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## SifuPhil (Jan 22, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> It's nice slightly warm, enough milk so it's like cereal then a healthy sprinkle of sugar or equal...a bit of cinnamon and cardamom, instant comfort food.  My grandpa used to slice bananas over his.



Thanks, Fur - I'll have to try that some day. Not usually a milk person but ...


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## fureverywhere (Jan 22, 2016)

You're a cat person son, you have to acclimate, if it's milk it is good.


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## Karen99 (Jan 22, 2016)

I made fried rice with a piece of ham steak, veggies, scrambled egg..that would feed 6 people..not bad ..lol


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## SifuPhil (Jan 22, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> You're a cat person son, you have to acclimate, if it's milk it is good.



Yeah, until Mr. Tummy begins rumblings and the neighborhood evacuates .... 

Funny - I can consume tons of cheese, no problem. But ice cream or milk - nope.


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## Karen99 (Jan 22, 2016)

SifuPhil said:


> Yeah, until Mr. Tummy begins rumblings and the neighborhood evacuates ....
> 
> Funny - I can consume tons of cheese, no problem. But ice cream or milk - nope.



I never cared for milk...but ice cream, yes


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## SifuPhil (Jan 22, 2016)

Karen99 said:


> I never cared for milk...but ice cream, yes



Oh, I love it - just can't eat much of it.


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## Karen99 (Jan 22, 2016)

SifuPhil said:


> Oh, I love it - just can't eat much of it.



ahh, ok.. I just had an aversion that started when I was 6 mo. Old..my mom said I threw my bottles out of the crib.lol..and they were glass...sooo


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## SifuPhil (Jan 22, 2016)

Karen99 said:


> ahh, ok.. I just had an aversion that started when I was 6 mo. Old..my mom said I threw my bottles out of the crib.lol..and they were glass...sooo



Wow.

That could never have happened with me - Mom brought in a cow. I WAS the youngest in the family to ever get a hernia, though ...


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## Karen99 (Jan 22, 2016)

SifuPhil said:


> Wow.
> 
> That could never have happened with me - Mom brought in a cow. I WAS the youngest in the family to ever get a hernia, though ...



:rofl::rofl1:


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## Linda (Jan 22, 2016)

I had an aunt years ago that my mom said could make a good meal out of anything.  I remember going to her house and she made a really delicious dinner out of buttered toast cut in squares and then some sort of heated stewed tomatoes poured over that. This was back in the 50s.


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## fureverywhere (Jan 23, 2016)

That could never have happened with me - Mom brought in a cow. I WAS the youngest in the family to ever get a hernia, though ...


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## kaufen (Jan 24, 2016)

Tostino Pizza Rolls, the pepperoni flavor. I might eat a box or two,lol.

Egg and Cheese sandwich

Make a bootleg version of Haitian pate, using flour and stuffing hot dogs and onions and frying it in oil.

Them cheap microwave soups.


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## Butterfly (Jan 27, 2016)

SifuPhil said:


> Yeah, until Mr. Tummy begins rumblings and the neighborhood evacuates ....
> 
> Funny - I can consume tons of cheese, no problem. But ice cream or milk - nope.



Me, too!  Yogurt doesn't bother me, either.  Milk or ice cream -- I'd be better off just swallowing a hand grenade.


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