Your favorite "Poverty Feast"?

[maveric]

You know, meals that you put together on limited cost, or using what you have available in the cupboard and refrig.

My Irish Dad used to make this meal. He used to call it "Poor Irish Feast". When he was growing up in depression era Boston his Dad would make this regularly.

Hot Dogs & Potatoes.
10 medium potatoes peeled and slices, one onion chopped, 1 pound on hot dogs sliced at 1/2 ".

Heat the oil of your choice in a frying pan, add potatoes and cook for about 15 minutes till almost soft. Add onions, cook for another 5 minutes, then add slice hot dogs. Cook for another 10 minutes till all is hot and tender. Spice to taste.
For very little time & money this was always a big hit in our house when the money was low.

Whats your favorite meal in times of low money?

[Burma Jones]

1. A can of Tuna on top of Rice which I had browned in a skillet

Griled Cheese Sandwiches and Potato Soup

Ramen Noodles with whatever I can find

Black Beans and Brown Rice

Happy Hour Buffets......Lots of Happy Hour Buffets, a dollar for a beer and a lot of food for free. I used to go to a place with a free Taco Bar during Happy Hour.

[trof]

14. Ah...The Happy Hour Buffet: Fond memories.

The Anchorage Hilton bar.
Monday through Friday.
I had a lot of layovers there, when I was flying The Man's airplane.

It was actually usually quite good. Things left over from the dining room lunch.
Tacos, bacon-cheese potato skins, jalepeno pepper poppers, pizza, hot dogs, chicken fingers, sometimes even steak fingers.

Especially if there was a blinding snowstorm outside and you just wanted a few drinks and something to eat before you turned in.

There was one little old lady who lived in a nearby senior citizens' apartment complex.
She sat at one of the little cocktail tables for two, ordered her obligatory Coke, and then went to the buffet and just chowed down. When we saw her there, we'd tell the waitress to put her coke on our bill.
:-)

[Droopy]

2. The quarter pounder with cheese extra value meal

I hardly ever cook for myself. I live alone.

[maveric]

5. Jack in the Box dollar menu works too.

Oh the bad memories when I hadd all 3 kids, alone and no money.
Two tacos for 99 cents. Jumbo Jack 99 cents...
It kept my kids fed during thos horrible times.

[Droopy]

8. You might find this unsettling

But I love those Jack in the Box tacos. We don't have those stores here in Ohio, but when I was out west I was always looking for one of those restaurants with truck parking.

[theophilus]

12. Right there with ya, Droopy

I really like their "tacos", too, much to the dismay of the rest of my family. Burger King used to have tacos that were very similar but they quit having them a couple of years ago here in Arkansas. They might still carry them in other parts of the country. I like the greasiness and the crunchiness. Ummmmmmummmmmmummmmmmm. I wish I had some right now, although I know they can't be good for me even if they don't have mad cow.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. Me too. Jack in the Box tacos don't seem much like anything found in

nature, but God help me I love 'em. I don't know why.

[Texasgal]

3. Ramen noodles

with diced tomatoes or any other type of canned vegetable. Cheap and easy.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

13. Poach an egg in there. THAT is the ticket.

[laheina]

51. I ate that all through my teens and early twenties. :)

That and cereal.

:headbang:

[LeftyMom]

4. Curried lentils over rice.

:9

[yellowdogintexas]

25. mine too, that is the 70 cent meal. Bag of lentils, about $1

rice, I always have anyway. I can get 3 meals out of one bag of lentils.

cheap, cheap, cheap


and tastes very very good too

[laheina]

52. I had Ethiopian food the other night.

Yumm! I think that there were *every* color of lentils on that plate.

I loved it.

[bridgit]

6. creamy chicken ramen...

:9

[XemaSab]

7. Mexican potatoes

Bake some potatoes, cover with salsa and grated cheese and other "mexican" ingredients.

Burritos.

Noodles with salsa, soyrizo, and cheese... YUMMAH.

[theophilus]

9. Cornbread and pinto (red) beans.

Some added "treats": a sweet onion eaten on the side. I have started squirting a little catsup on the beans and cornbread (I mash them up together......it's a family thing). Salsa is even better. A nice dill pickle is a change of pace, too.

Breakfast sausage (Owens) or french fried taters can also go with beans and cornbread. The sausage makes it taste really good.


Tons of calories for a little dough and pretty filling.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. Everyone loves this one

1 can Minestrone
1 can water
1 cup rice
cook over medium-low heat for about 45 minutes until water is absorbed. Top with butter.

[skygazer]

11. What we always called "Elbows"

About a pound of ground beef or turkey, browned.
Add 1 medium size can tomato sauce and two cans tomato soup.
Season with garlic powder, pepper and some Italian seasoning.
Add about 2 teaspoons brown sugar (cuts the acid from the tomatoes).
Mix in a pound of cooked elbow macaroni. Mmmmmmm......

[seemunkee]

15. Tuna noodle

Usually wagonwheel pasta, can of tuna, mayo and some old bay spice

[uppityperson]

16. Most of this sounds like regular eating at our house.

potatoes, onions, cheese.

[Wapsie B]

18. Franks n'Beans

are one of my favorites.

[scarlet_owl]

19. Baked spaghetti.

Noodles, pasta sauce, and parmesean cheese topped with mozzerella cheese, baked in the oven.

[nemo137]

39. Mozzerella Cheese? What kind of effete, latte-liberals are you?

Good downstaters like my Great-Grandma make it with yella cheese. :9

[eyesroll]

20. My favorite cheap and quick meal:

Broth/bullion/soy-sauce-rice-vinegar-sugar combo (whatever's available) -- bring to a boil

Add wheat "paste" noodles (available at Asian grocery store for 50 to 75 cents for four bundles; each bundle is two soup servings for me) and if I have it, some frozen spinach

Add one egg per person; serve when eggs are as done as you want them.

[Texasgal]

22. Hey, that sounds pretty good actually!

I'll have to try that!

[Left Is Write]

21. We ate a lot of stuff that was probably budget food...

but I never knew it was budget food.

Hamburger hotdish is one of my favorites (hamburger browned with onions, canned tomatoes - preferably home canned - elbow macaroni, seasonings to taste).

I loved having hash after a roast beef dinner. It's a great way to stretch the leftovers, but again, I never knew that as a kid. Hash was ground up leftover roast beef, diced leftover potatoes (or cube-style frozen hash browns), onion slices, crumbled bacon, and leftover gravy for flavor. Cook the bacon first, then saute the onion slices. Add the beef and potatoes until everything is heated through, stir in a little gravy, and top with the crumbled bacon.

Grilled cheese sandwiches are always a winner.

Eggs scrambled with diced summer sausage is a favorite comfort food from my childhood; for my husband, it's scrambled eggs with sliced or diced hot dog pieces. Of course, he also loves the ever popular beans 'n' weenies.

[YankeyMCC]

23. A piece of fruit and some peanut butter

not any fruit..bananas or apples, I've done it with grapes as well but I think those are the only ones that'll work.

[maveric]

24. Here's another. "Slop on Top".

Ground beef, browned and drained. A couple of cans of brown gravy that you mix into the cooked meat. Cook together for a few minutes and pour over rice, noodles or baked potatoes.
Kids love it!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

26. Mac 'n' Cheese and cut up Kielbasa, with onions. A staple of my

student years.

[giant_robot]

27. After many years of grad school, where do I begin?

Red beans and rice, pasta and cabbage, tuna casserole, egg noodles with stewed tomatoes, chili mac, frittatas, and many more.

[Magrittes Pipe]

28. There are a lot of stray cats in my neighborhood.

[Robb]

46. Fewer than before. n/t

:D

[Lady Effingbroke]

29. Tuna Glop.

2 cans of tuna, 2 boxes of mac n' cheese, 1 can of peas.

Cook mac n' cheese, mix in tuna and peas. Drown in Tabasco and eat.

Just ate some for dinner. :9

[Broken_Hero]

30. Ghetto Spaghetti...

4 packages of top ramen=One buck
I can of spaghetti sauce=99 cents or round about...

and what does that make? = Ghetto Spaghetti...and yes, I have eaten a very good portion of this, when i was starting out...

[Jamison]

50. That's not really ghetto spaghetti...

this is the true ghetto method:

A few packages of ramen noodles
A fistful of Heinz ketchup packets you pocketed from a fast food restaurant

[Patiod]

31. Omelets

2 eggs, 4 mushrooms and a small tomato, and you have a feast

[tuvor]

32. My wife is a genius at that sort of thing. We call it "fridge scrapings".

She takes what we happen to have, and she manages to make something delicious with it.

I don't know how she does it. I'm very lucky.

[UncleSepp]

37. We call it Whatchagot. There oughta be a cooking show...

"Iron Chef Whatchagot: Take the random ingredients out of someone's kitchen, and compete to make the tastiest dinner out of it."

[tuvor]

38. Great idea!

After all, there are websites that'll tell you what drinks you can make with the alcohol you happen to have onhand.

[nemo137]

42. I used to play that in the kitchen when I'd get home late during tech week

and when I had my wisdom teeth out, I played "Iron Chef: Liquid." Great fun with the codine.

[HEyHEY]

33. A plate full of pan fried potatoes

[maveric]

34. Love those. You put onions in them?

Thats the only way my kids would eat pan fries. With ketchup too.

[HEyHEY]

36. Ketchup? Onions? I ain't Rockafeller!

[Porcupine]

35. Sweet Potato Tacos!! or any Taco's actually.

So you bake off a few sweet potatoes to warm the house up along with this weeks chicken. (I buy one whole chicken and roast it and make it last a week). Don't just eat the sweet potatoes!! You're too broke to do that.

Warm up some corn tortillas, the $1.50 a kilo kind. Use 2 tortillas per taco (fills ya up) Scoop in some warm roasted sweet potato, a sliver of chicken and a pinch of jack cheese. Add salsa.

Yuuumm. and two sweet potatoes feed five people.

[mykpart]

40. Mac & cheese with about 1/4 lb. hamburger mixed in.

Chicken Rice-a-roni with slivers of chicken mixed in. (This was when there was only 1 piece of chicken left over.)

Campbell's vegetable soup poured over rice.

Actually, when my kids were growing up, all our meals were poverty food.

[Rowdyboy]

41. English peas and dumplings....My mom learned it in Home-Ec in the 1950's

Boil new potatoes in water. Make dumplings (I have her recipe but flour tortillas taste just the same). Cook dumplings in potato broth then add one can English peas (LeSueur Early Peas) and heat.

Mom fed five kids regularly with a few potatoes, some flour, a little lard and a can of peas. And we felt like we were VERY well fed. Hell, I was in my twenties before I EVEN realized that we were poor!

[sleipnir]

43. With the cost of gas today, your "Poor Irish Feast" is fit for a king.

Running the gas for 30 minutes costs me dearly. I eat Ramen, it takes 1/10 of the time and cost to fix, but the secret is only using half to a quarter of the sodium laden flavoring packet.

[liberaltrucker]

44. Pinto beans and ham hocks

Cheap and yummy, but with one "unfortunate" side effect
:skinner, we need a fart smilie:

:rofl:

[Robb]

47. Here ya go:

...courtesy my second favorite message board. ;)

[liberaltrucker]

48. Thanks, but how do you post a smilie from one to another?

Not very computer literate:dunce:

[nemo137]

45. Tuna Noodle Cassarole, Potato Pea Curry, beans'n'sweet potatoes, meatloaf

lots and lots of meatloaf, sometimes dressed up with Indian spices. Come to think of it, about half of my comfort food comes out of cheap Indian cookbooks. Mom'd buy spices occasionally, and use them for years (we still have things like cumin and black mustard seed she bought when I was in grade school, and alot of very nearly empty containers in the spice cabinet).

Oddly, my dorm caf serves a painfully mild and watery version of potato-pea curry as "madras potatoes" for lunch occasionally. They do it wrong, though.

[NMMNG]

49. Brown rice with mixed veggies

Mac & cheese with peas (sometimes with a chopped veggie dog)

Rice and beans

PB&J with a piece of fruit

Soup and bread

Cereal and fruit

Toast pizza (toast with spaghetti sauce, spices and shredded soy cheese sprinkled on top, then toasted)

Grilled (soy) cheese and a veggie or fruit




(I'm single so whatever I'm having is just for me--I don't have to worry about pleasing anybody else.)

[clyrc]

53. Pinto beans cooked with bacon

with or without cornbread and hot sauce.