A filling tasty meal for those with little money

there is a dish my family has been making for years that's relatively cheap. It can be made for around $6.00. It's called Poor Man's Pierogi

1LB Pasta (your choice)
1 160z tub of large curd cottage cheese
1 large onion
1 tbs margarine or butter or olive oil

Boil the pasta. While making pasta, sautee the onions in the oil of your choice.
Drain the pasta. Add the onions to the pasta. Dump the tub of cottage cheese into the pasta. Mix well.
Turn the stove on low and continue mixing until hot again.

SERVE!

This dish tastes great, provides lots of protien and carbs, and is relatively low fat. It keeps well in the fridge for about two days.

I remember something similar from back in the day called: Warm and Free. Or Bum Soup. You used to be able to get a cup of hot water for free or nearly so at most restaurants which you would mix 3 or 4 ketchup packets and some salt and pepper packets into. Put some relish packets in it if they had them as well. Or maybe it was also called poor mans tomato soup. At any rate a lot of guys lived on it along with whatever else they could scrounge on the streets.

Originally posted by Under Water
Even more cheap, filling, tasty and healthier than that is classic beans and rice. Buy a bag of dry red beans for under two dollars and a bag of brown rice for under two dollars, and feed a family for 2 days.

While I agree on beans and rice, we have done quite a bit of research in our prepping quest. As my dad pointed out, beans bought by the bag require lots and lots of energy to cook. Figure about 4 hours of cook time. Already cooked beans can be bought for about $3 for a gallon, and premium pork and beans for about $6 a gallon. Also, brown rice does not keep nearly as long as white rice, because white rice contains more oil.

Excellent post.

On a side note, its fascinating how many people still eat out in restaurants nightly, overpay for atmosphere, and fed food that they have no clue whats in it. Keep up the partying people. The music will stop soon

reply to post by Rodinus


Haha, your recipe with the spuds actually got my mouth watering. Got to love how cheap and tasty those gifts from the heavens are. :-)

while I appreciate the effort here, the OP hasn't really given us anything... in fact, by my calculations, this meal would be MORE expensive than buying a box of pasta and bottle of sauce.
I, due to my economic situation, often have to make frugal culinary decisions. One of the cheapest meals I can afford, and that will feed two or more people, would be "Spaghetti with sauce".
At any supermarket, and at most times, one can purchase these items for no more than two dollars.
Sauce is, depending on the brand (store brands are often cheapest) not an expensive item.
Even the "Brand name" sauces will regularly be priced low or in a group discount (10 for $10 or 5 for $5 - which doesn't mean one has to buy all 5 or 10, but that the price is set as such.)
Just this past week I purchased a box of Pronce spaghetti and a bottle of sauce for under two dollars.
I, and I think you'd agree, would prefer to eat a "Real" pasta sauce as opposed to ketchup (fancy or not!)
It's my opinion that the OP was, as others have said, just trying to get a few flags stars (why people do that is beyond me, other than some self-serving need for recognition... as meaningless as it is.)
In the age in which we live, it's not difficult to find inexpensive recipes or culinary ideas on the internet. I would suspect that, if someone were so inclined, they would have run a search for just such a thing rather than having stumbled across a terrible and impractical "recipe" for grotesquely cheap "Pasta" (in name ONLY).
Again, while I appreciate the "effort" it's ultimately meaningless and not at all very helpful.
It IS fun to see so many glad-handing back-patters championing such an asinine post.

Potatoes, Rices, Beans
Traditionally cheap staples.
Nothing new about that.

reply to post by LastStarfighter


Some people want to enjoy their lives in what ways they can. If they can afford it, let them. No skin off your back, right?

If you are content to sit at home and cheap, then by all means do so.
While i don't go out often for meals, when I do it's not simply to "refuel the machine". It's about the company, the atmosphere, the socialization, and connectivity of people.

So, instead of laughing at them or acting as if some "reckoning" is imminent, perhaps just "do your thing" and let others do theirs.
I'm glad you aren't out... Reminds me of those Debbie Downer sketches from SNL.

The thing that bothers me more is that supermarkets restaurants trow away so much good food everyday.
I once heard a story of a man that was unemployed , and everyday he walked in nice clothes to trash containers at the back of restaurants and supermarkets, and found so many great items and food that he could live his life with good free food.

But its more like we are ashamed of doing this but you have to feed your children then you will conquer your worst fears...and getting creative..

reply to post by ImNotACylon

while I appreciate the effort here, the OP hasn't really given us anything... in fact, by my calculations, this meal would be MORE expensive than buying a box of pasta and bottle of sauce.

But he has. The op gave us a place to dump off our cheap and tasty pasta ideas.
We also all got to improve his sauce.

Food in the US really is inexpensive.
No wonder some Cdns do there shopping down there

Up here, a small box of spaghetti is $2 minimum. And a can of cheap sauce, about the same.
If you want whole grain pasta $3, and up to $5 for a jar of good sauce. Add grated Parmesan to that $$$$$$$
And it's still not as good as home made.

You can get it all in bulk to make it a little cheaper, but it's hard to find whole grain in bulk....

In the summer, grow the tomatoes, garlic, and basil (or go garden raiding), then it's even cheaper.
Dandelion salad on the side, with olive oil and garlic

Lol, this passes for a recipe?
I think most ten year olds have probably softened onions then added a tin of chopped toms. Most probably know how to add cheap garlic or herbs or chillie.

Guys check out my awesome version of: A filling tasty meal for those with little money!

reply to post by cody599


if you got stail bread and some raisains my mom would make bread pudding.

Go out and buy the book "A Man, A Can, A Plan."
It's a bachelors cookbook i got as a gift that shows you how to make meals with the main ingredient being a canned food item. It's a short book, but kinda neat there are probably better ones out there for cooking on a budget, but like I said, got it as a gift. One of the funnier, chapters uses Spaghetti-ooo's.

From A Man, A Can, A Plan
Example:
2 15 oz cans of SpaghettiOs

1/2 lb extra lean ground beef (probably doesn't matter that it's extra lean they use reduced fat items in all recipes so I think it's trying to be a liiittle healthier)

8 oz can peas, drained

Sour cream (which you buy for almost all the recipes in the book)

and Onion powder

How to make it: Preheat overn to 400 F. Put the meat in a 1 quart, stovetop-safe casserole dish and cook it over medium for about 5 minutes. Dump the SpaghettiO's, peas, 1/3 cup (fat free) sour cream, and 1 tsp of onion powder in. Mix it up and bake for 20 minutes. Serves 4.

Per serving it's 308 calories, 8 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 17 g protein, 40 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 1,059 mg sodium

Oh.. and there's also noodles and spaghetti sauce.. that's always a winner. Also one of my all time favorite cheap meals.. cut up kielbasa or even just hot dogs, with sour kraut. I love kraut and weiners. You also have your goulashes.

reply to post by LightsideAssassin


Over here in france we still eat Dandylion greens and here is how it is generally prepared :

Go out and pick a a salad bowl full of Dandylion greens (but not the flowers), always best to pick when the greens are young... in accordance to how many people will be eating

Give them a good wash and then dry under a teatowel without pressing them

Boil up a couple of potatoes, wait until they are cold, peel and cut up into small pieces and add to bowl (some people even fry the potatoes and wait until cold before adding)

Cook up a little bacon in the frying pan, wait until it is cold and then chop up into little pieces and also add to bowl

Slice up a couple of échalots (or spring onions if i remember as the english term) and add to the bowl as well

Make a vinigarette sauce, (basically 1 table spoon of mustard, 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 3 tablespoons of vinegar (or more if you wish for more acid), salt and pepper and then mix this with the contents of the bowl.

Some people also add a couple of poached eggs and fried chicken or duck giblets on the top of the finished plate to add extra taste and protein... (plus it also looks quite posh as an end result with a little sprig of Parsely added to the side)

If you have any old bread lying around, fry it up with some butter and garlic, cut into small pieces and add as croutons when they are cold (gives a little extra crunch)

Bon appetit

Kindest respects

Rodinus

Originally posted by mamabeth
reply to post by cody599

 

Sound pretty good.People should also start learning to be more creative
in using left-overs.If you don't want to eat any left-overs now,freeze them,
or can them.

Why cook so much that you have leftovers? why not cook just enough?

Originally posted by pikestaff

Originally posted by mamabeth
reply to post by cody599

 

Sound pretty good.People should also start learning to be more creative
in using left-overs.If you don't want to eat any left-overs now,freeze them,
or can them.

Why cook so much that you have leftovers? why not cook just enough?

You know what Pikestaff,

Sometimes, kids will say "Mummy, Daddy i am hungry"... SO, you do your best to keep their tums full, but sometimes they get too full up and you have to scrape the plates and re-use for a next meal...

Not a question of cooking too much, more of a question of looking after those that you care for... me-thinks (but correct me if you disagree!)

Kindest respects

Rodinus

reply to post by cody599


I used to have something similar to this a lot when I was a kid. There were times when we had money and times when we didn't but, food like this was always a staple. My father was very frugal, he grew up extremely poor...and eating like this served it's purpose. My father died at 50 but he was able to save a nice sum of money so that my mother wouldn't have to worry. I think everyone can benefit from recipes like this. Sometimes simple is better.

check out www.reddit.com/r/frugal has some good stuff!

reply to post by cody599


Seriously .. there are people on here who do not know how to cook spaghetti ? I don't get it. Everything in the OP should be considered "rudimentary basic knowledge".

reply to post by H1ght3chHippie

For sure

You never met my ex wife

Clueless, and some members are young and students just thought this thread might help out a few people no harm in sharing info. This is ats after all.