What were your go-to meals/foods when you were totally broke?

Patsy167

Was talking to a College student recently and we exchanged memories and tips of meals and foods we had when totally broke.

Thought it might be a fun topic to hear from fellow Boardsies on.

What were your go-to meals/foods when you were totally broke?

Liver!

Liver, onions and potatoes, very cheap, quite healthy

Also, lots of popcorn.

trigger26

spag ball, 1/2 pound of mince, an onion, Tesco tomato sauce and spaghetti, 2-3 dinners for the week out of that

ednwireland

tomato and cabbage stew with spuds, milk

kirk.

Potatoes in microwave with sweetcorn beans etc

cml387

Spaghetti, minced meat and Knorr's Savoury mince.

retalivity

Fried mushrooms, on their own.

Maybe with a bit of salt if I had any.

Shenshen

Spaghetti with garlic, chili and cheese (parmesan if I had it, any cheese otherwise)

McMurphy

Lentil dahl can be made for about 6€ or so and will feed 8 adults.

Buy the saffron Dahl spice mix.

Lentils, red and white onion, garlic, ginger and chilli's. Tomatoes, coconut milk.

Indian takeaway quality every time.

tropics001

spaghetti & meatballs

ArtyC

Always a big pot of veggie chilli .

something like this , I don’t always follow a recipe just what I had in.

https://thestingyvegan.com/red-lentil-chili/

Scrambled eggs with sweet corn/baked beans/spaghetti hoops, basically whatever was left from a multipack.

Wanderer78

beans on cheese on toast

Dial Hard

Potato skins. Big bag of spuds was about 2 quid in Lidl. Feed you for a week!

caviardreams

Cheap tin of tuna and cheap tin of baked beans mixed together - don't knock it till you have tried it!

Pasta (on its own) ,or pasta with cheese (if I had some in the fridge)..

Don't need to be broke though to have those 'cheap' meals.. Could be miles away from a shop, or all shops/chippers in locality could be closed (if up late/early, and hungry 😊)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117890164#Comment_117890164

How would ya not have salt?? 😁

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117890088#Comment_117890088

There's not many foods that go pound for pound with liver when it comes to cheapest : healthiest food.

KevRossi

Big bag of cheap porridge for breakfast (made with water) and you can make oat biscuits with some sugar and butter for having with a cup of tea.

Brown pasta with butter and loads of black pepper, or with a small tin of anchovies.

Big pot of stew; fry onion and garlic in a pot, add tin of tomatoes, plenty of spuds, turnip, barley, soup mix, lentils, chopped spinach, cabbage or kale and indeed any kind of veg. Very filling but most importantly loads of different vitamins, carbs, proteins. Throw in some curry powder, chillies, spices or cheap chopped rashers/bacon/beef for a different taste if you want.

Ultra-cheap? Spuds or pasta, lentils, barley, soup mix.

figleaf25

In the worst week all I could afford was a dozen eggs and a loaf of bread. Later I discovered rice and beans.

Oranage2

Super market brand pizza, a lot of calories for 1.50

Black Sheep

At the time:-

Ham and cheese sandwiches

Pasta with some sort of badly made tomata sauce and often sausage or sliced pepperoni

Bottles of lucozade

A lot of ennui...

If I knew then what I know now:-

I'd go Lidl all the way. I'd probably get onions, carrots, olive oil, minced meat, tinned kidney beans and their basic passata or tinned tomatoes, whatever was cheaper. I'd make one batch of bolognese and one batch of the same but add hot sauce and kidney beans for a beef chilli. Serve the one with pasta and the other with rice. If too similar another option would be to use leftover bread to make breadcrumbs and do the bolognese as meatballs rather than just a meat sauce, might give more variety of texture.

Ideally when you're making meatballs, if you want them to be tender and soft, you use a mix of beef and pork. Being on a budget could actually lend itself to that, as pork products are generally cheaper than red meat. Mix the breadcrumbs and meat with an egg, season etc. and then the trick is to add small quantities of water to the mixture. The meatballs should hold together but be quite wet. https://food52.com/recipes/22467-rao-s-meatballs A gamechanger of a recipe (Which can be adapted easily).

Feisar

There's broke and there's totally broke. The first is a doddle, pretty sure I could feed myself for €20/week. The second is living of porridge made on water for three meals a day. Done both, the porridge on water got sickening no matter how hungry I was. Them's the times that made me though!

dastardly00

Own-brand Weetabix and milk, bananas, potatoes, cheap sausages, slided pan. Not all at the one time 😄

the beer revolu

I have a distinct memory of toasted sliced pan with Knorr Aromat sprinkled on it - no butter.

To be fair, it was probably just munchies but there was literally nothing else to eat.

I also remember well, getting 3 meals for 2 of us from one chicken. Roast chicken day one, chicken curry day two and chicken and veg soup on day three. I was a thrifty 19 year old and, when it comes to food, I still am pretty thrifty.

sporina

was pretty broke all my college life.. (didn't have time to work with 39 hrs lectures/week and hated getting money from my folks).. so basics wer bread, pasta, tomato sauce, cheese, coffee, biscuits... at the start of the week I had chicken/mince.. and veg, to add to the previous... but by the end of the week I did without 'em.. gee I rem getting home on a Fri eve and eating the house out of it.. awe.. those wer the days..

Gloomtastic!

I posted this in the Dinner thread but it would also work here. Feed yourself for a week for the price of a bag of potatoes and a block of cheese. 🤗

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cheese_and_potato_pie_52107

thefallingman

Noodles, wouldn't even boil them properly, break into a bowl and just poor boiling water over them.

Nigel Fairservice

I ate a lot of Rice Krispies in college. They were quite filling if you had enough milk.

igCorcaigh

I have lived on a poor income quite a few times in my life. And I think you do have to adjust your tastes, and imagination to keep things cheap, tasty and nutritious.

Bread is important, but do try to get the right bread. This is where most of the money might go. I like the Biona organic rye bread, but use other proper wholemeal breads if you can find them. Same goes for any starch, like rice, etc. Spend your money there, because this will be your staple.

Beans/pulses are the next stop. Get to like them. Lentils are really versatile.

Canned fish. Try different types. Oily are best. Check out the Polish shops and price around.

Vegetables: important! Cabbage, onions, carrots, all good. Always have a few apples in.

Plan around what you have, rather than thinking about dishes that you know. Think picnic style. But keep it interesting! You MUST enjoy your food.

Most importantly: Avoid food waste. Keep your non-perishables handy, lest you get tempted to blow your budget on take-aways.

Dave_The_Sheep

Speaking of Polish shops, I find they often have some very good fresh herbs at good quantities and prices. Buy them by the bunch and freeze as required, much more cost effective than the regular supermarkets.

the beer revolu

Pork hocks are incredibly good value. Slow roast or casserole.

Mrs & I are divils for pasta and it was cheap af so we used to when we were down to bare couple euros grab a bag of pasta from aldi and the instant soup mixes, had those together it was actually really nice haha. wouldn't be likely to seek it out if I wasn't desperate these days but when we were hungry and broke it did the job!

we got sick of the instant noodles pretty quick but that was another one for a while at least just not a meal really more of a quick snack.

Freddie Mcinerney

The one pot concept is great. Whatever you have, with some spices, keep it moist. And Bob yours uncle.

Mollydog123

Pasta with mushroom soup poured over it. Once had to go a whole week with nothing else.

Mrs OBumble

Cabbage surprise: you get a big surprise if you find anything other than cabbage in it!

YellowFeather

Cream crackers and jam. I was so broke one week that I only ate cream crackers and jam which were free from the work kitchen. The whole week.

Strangely enough, I have rekindled my relationship with cream crackers, but I can’t look at jam in the eye ever since.

Strumms

Never broke per say but when I went to live and work in France before I got my pay sorted out I’d eat a lot of pasta, I’m a bit of a pastaholic anyway... they sold huge bags of fresh Fusilli or spaghetti for nothing and I’d just make a sauce with tomato, mushrooms, pepper and Pecorino cheese..

Graces7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118052589#Comment_118052589

On my own a chicken lasted several days... add in cold on Monday to your list ,,

As a pensioner I am skilled in food economy. Always factor in a small treat eg two squares of chocolate.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Ah man! I was.. between gaffs.. once. Had to sleep in my car for a few nights, and shower in the gym. Then payday and boom… waxed the lot on a deposit & first months rent.

Got a food parcel off a charity, that was a godsend. They also gave me a €40 Aldi voucher. They probably would’ve given me another one a week or 2 later, but I wouldn’t ask.

Porridge was a good one. Beans are a decent substitute for meat.

Porridge & toast for breky

Super noodles and a boiled egg for lunch

Bought a used blender in a car boot sale(!) for €3 and a tomato, onion and garlic clove blitzed in 2 cups of water, pinch of salt, cup of basmati rice, boil for 15 mins. Remove from pot. Add can of black beans, stir. Once piping hot, add to rice and combine. Eat.

I had teabags and milk for the first week and a pack of custard creams, but once they ran out, all I had was tap water.

I still make the rice from time to time now too!