what to eat when you're really poor? lol

JRSINAZ wrote: »

Get a coleman soft side lunch box cooler and one of those refeezable blocks. Take your food with you. My 99 cent store sells bread for a dollar and cans of tuna 2 for a dollar. One can tuna will make 2 sandwiches. They also sell rubber made take alongs 2 for $1 perfect for home made meals and sandwiches. Ramen is not a good choice IMO.

Those are the ones sold at the cheap grocery store I go to as well. I have a lot of the square entree-sized and a bunch of the ~2 cup bowl ones for soup/stew/chili.

jgnatca wrote: »

https://www.budgetbytes.com

I second Budget Bytes. Several of my favourite meals come from that site.

I find that chilis not only work well but reheat well. Beef chili, bean chili, chicken chili, etc. You can also serve them over various carbs such as rice, pasta, bread, mashed potatoes, etc.

When I was broke, my dietary staples were rice, beans, potatoes and other root vegetables, in season fruit when on sale, mostly canned or frozen veggies...though I always found cabbage to be rather cheap and it keeps well fresh...same with broccoli. My meat was usually whatever was on sale...I ate lots of whole chickens or cut up fryers and ground beef...also eggs, bread, and sandwich meat...I just built my meals around these things for the most part.

Rice (parboiled or brown if that doesn't completely inflate the price) and pulses are my main staples. (Fav food is 1/3 red split lentils + 2/3 rice, 2 parts water, some salt and teeny bit of tom yum paste (because I'm fancy) + cook - I can eat that any time of the day and several days in a row; but other pulses are fine too. With the red lentils, the bonus is that you don't need to soak them, and on an electric stove you just need to bring the mixture to boil, then turn off the heat completely and 20 minutes later you have food. Great for somebody like me who sometimes forgets about the food on the stove and burns it ...)
Potatoes and eggs. If you want to eat meat, I'd go grocery shopping on a day I have time to cook, and try to get real meat that is reduced in price because it's reached the best before date. And if there's no cheap unprocessed meat available, get mushrooms. Tofu is probably a good option too (here there are fancy expensive ones available in general supermarkets, and rather cheap ones in Asian shops.) Tempeh if it's cheap and you're ok with the taste.
Also, get veggies and fruit in season; find out whether there are shops that'll do end of day sales with veggies or if you can get a veggie box from a farm cheaply. (If it's available where you are it may be expensive, or it may be cheaper than buying veggies in the shop.) Frozen veggies may be a relatively inexpensive option too. (I also buy canned, but I try to go for a cheaper fresh/frozen veggie rather than a canned one.) So may be keeping herbs on your windowsill to fancy up whatever you're cooking (starting in spring unless you're relatively far south or in the southern hemisphere.)

Cook in batches. Stuff that can be frozen if you have a freezer, otherwise stuff that is variable, like soups and stews where you can add something fresh the next day, or meals where you can use the leftover as basis for the next one. I also use shallow pickling (asazuke) on veggies so they keep (like radish that is already going spongy) and I can just throw a mix of already prepared veggies on the plate or use it in certain dishes. Or just snack on them as they are.

(I have to admit, there were weeks when I ate rice and lentils ... and weeks when I ate rice, canned green peas and canned tuna. Cheaper than fast food, as long as you have access to a stove.)

Oh, and my experience is that it's easier to change things when you *add* more options to your repertoire, rather than trying to just replace something you already know how to do easily. Cooking whatever dish takes a couple of times until it comes automatically, especially if it requires some degree of preparedness or planning beforehand, and while you're training, you'll likely experience days when you're just not up to the challenge. If going back to fast food is just another option, there won't be any harm done; if you consider it a lapse or a failure ... chances are the next day won't be any better.

Also, three meals plus snacks may not be necessary . On days without strenuous exercise I'm fine eating twice a day, as long as there's not much sugar in it. (Ok, or refined carbs, white bread or pasta don't keep me full long, either.)

(And now I want to eat cabbage stew.)