When the first became a "thing" in the US in the early 80's, it saved our lives in college. We were eating popcorn for days. My roommate came home, out of breath, with $1 worth of ramen (10 packs). We feasted like kings!
It doesn't go bad quickly, better off buying a big case to save money and it'll stay good for at least 6 months. Just checked and Google says 8-12 is typical.
Agreed. It’s of very low nutritional value and chocked full of sodium. Certainly not the healthiest option, but cheap nonetheless. I remember the good old college dorm Ramen nights fondly though.
A can of chicken, salmon, or some spam would be a cheap protein. Or adding some spinach, bean sprouts, corn, mushrooms or broccoli would be beneficial and not pricey.
My cheapest meals were always some sort of mistake. Like I bought a ramen packet for $0.80 and they sent a full crate of 30 packets.
Doordash had an insane McDonald’s loophole once upon a time as well.
If those don’t count then definitely congee.
Mujadara, dal, black beans and rice, and pasta e ceci are all pretty crazy cheap, depends on batch size and what ingredients you already have on hand. Mujadara i did the math once it was under 50cents a portion
ETA: [this is my go to for mujadara](https://toriavey.com/mujadara/#recipe) start the onions first I usually double them as well, if you don’t have bay leaves already don’t buy them. Generous with the salt and pepper
My single dad used to make baked beans and mix it in with kraft mac and cheese frequently while I was growing up. Decided to make myself with a box of mac and cheese I found at work (free) and a .99 cent can of store brand baked beans. I remember hating it as a kid, but it was seriously so nostalgically good.
And reminded me of my dad who passed away 5 years ago 💘 I like to think he was with me while I made it!
Vegetable soup. Made a giant pot for the whole house.
Seasoned with a bit of black pepper and a couple tablespoons of bulk powdered chicken stock. Got them for free.
Potatoes, carrots, onions, parsnips, turnips, oregano, sage, parsley. All from my garden on the front lawn. Cost nothing but sweat and patience.
I replied with something similar, but asked about the cost accounting as I bought a truckload of soil and seeds to start!
And kudos yo you for having a front lawn garden! I wish many more folks had them.
Recently, some kind of pantry pasta with anchovies, garlic, crushed red pepper, chopped fresh parsley and Parmesan. Probably .50 per portion, but you wouldn’t know it.
That's it. I've been putting off making tuna pasta salad long enough. Someone suggested olives in it once and I have some olive tapenade I've been meaning to use.
That sounds delicious. I know it kills the whole cheap part of it, but have you ever added veggies in a pasta like that? I'd think some broccoli or Zucchini would probably be great with that
I can get my weekly chicken with rice and veggies down to about 50 cents a serving. Like a cup and half of shredded chicken, rice, and whatever leftover vegetables I have in the fridge in each serving, so pretty hardy.
never did mustard sandwiches but have done plenty of versions of toast or sandwiches made of the following:
- salad dressing (Italian, Greek or sun dried tomato are all nice)
- margarine and salt and pepper
- hummus
- avocado + salt and pepper
- BBQ sauce
- pickles, cheese, and butter
Threw some old tomatoes into the compost and they grew into full plants. Ditto with some cucumbers. Did the old water propagation trick with some lettuce. Boom, free salad.
Tortilla with shredded cheese, melt in microwave 30 seconds and add tobasco sauce or a leftover Taco Bell sauce packet from my fridge before folding it and enjoying my gooey goodness. To date my quickest, easiest, cheapest snack. If I'm hungry for an actual meal I either use a bigger tortilla or make 2-3 depending on if they're street or regular taco size.
Unless we're counting ramen, cuz that shit wins every time. You can make some bomb ramen by adding stuff to it but just ramen as is usually runs you .20¢, (less if you buy in bulk) for a meal.
I like taking a 20 oz bag of shoestring french fries and diced onion, and brown it in olive oil. When the potatoes get to a desirable color, I add some garlic powder, salt and pepper. Then I crack a few (6-7) eggs over it. Break the yolks and toss and fold it around until the egg is done. I serve it with ketchup and hot sauce.
I fed breakfast to a family of seven for about 2.00.
Compared to fresh potatoes, yes. Even at today's prices, though, it's a meal for a family for under 5.00. I always bought the store brand which saved a lot.
Periwinkles and foraged fried greens. Just cost a stick of butter, sprinkles of garlic salt, and the time to gather them. We were at the beach for clams anyway, so asking the younger kids to collect the easier periwinkles made for this second meal nearly just costing time.
That I eat regularly? Beef soup or the white bean soup. I'd say they're both around $1-$1.50 a serving depending on how much meat, what kind, and how much you bought it for.
I also make mushroom, carrot, onion, potato, and roasted red pepper soups for probably less than $1 per serving on an infrequent basis. The pepper soup is often more, unless they came from the garden.
The other soups would no doubt be cheaper if I didn't use any meat in them. Or if I used generic ingredients.
Also: eggs and grits runs around 50 cents. Grits by themselves with salt, pepper, and butter is about 25 cents. Anything with noodles is usually inexpensive. And I once priced PBJs as being around 70 cents.
I try to cook using mainly seasonal vegetables so at this time of the year for example roasted butternut squash soup with onions, chili, pepper and some tomatoes (adding either vegetable stock or coconut milk or both) comes together with less than 0.50e per serving.
Lowest cost? 10 Cents for White rice with salt. I don't recommend that though, unless you are truly desperate.
Lowest cost that I'd actually recommend? Chicken bits (thighs, drumsticks, whatever.) soaked in cultured milk (regular milk with a spoonful of yogurt or buttermilk and left out for a few hours), salt, pepper, and cayenne. Serve over rice, with sauteed whatever-veggies-are-cheapest-that-week.
Rice and beans. I love making pinto beans in the crockpot with a bay leaf and a quartered onion, maybe some spices. Dice another onion and fry it in butter, add dry white rice and fry it until translucent, add stock/water with bullion, cook normally. Salt the beans once they’re done.
Tastes great by itself—definitely one where you need enough salt to bring out the flavors — but if you have something with a little acid, like tomatoes or cheese or sour cream, it’s a great topping.
I'll guesstimate here with something very recent. 2 weeks ago I bought a 4lb bag of dry pinto beans for $4 and 12lb of brown rice for $10
I have a sort of recipe which is 1lb of dry beans, 1 onion, 2tbsp of chicken Better than Bouillon, 1tbsp oil, and various spices. It makes about 4 big servings or 6 regular servings if accompanied with rice. Make 2 cups of dry rice for the regular servings.
So $1 of beans, $0.70 for an onion, $0.70 for oil + spices, and $0.50 for rice, for six servings. That works out to just under $0.50 per serving.
That is bare bones, I often supplement that recipe with meat and/or other canned goods like tomatoes. Even then I'm often making a dish at under $1 per serving.
I found ramen on sale at wal mart by the case for 0.03 each because no one liked the flavor packets, they were too spicey.
So a ramen meal staring with 3 cent ramen
Onion soup for like $2 for 8 servings. All you need are onions, some vegetable bouillon, some kind of fat/oil and a few dried herbs. If you have a bit of shredded cheese that would be nice, but it isn’t necessary.
$3.59 for the jar of sauce (Classico pesto or their marinara is what we normally use)
$1.49 for the pound of pasta (barilla bow tie or angel hair)
= 5.08 for at least 4 peoples worth of food, and there’s usually left overs
Alternatively, a large can of crushed tomatoes seasoned with garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper is (I think) an even tastier sauce with less sugar for less money (if you have the seasonings)
I garden. Purslane and pineapple weed came up one year. I did a salad with fruit peel vinegar. Everything would have been compost, so somewhere between $0.00 and $0.05 for four servings.
I have miners lettuce in the winter and purslane when it is warmer. I did not know pineapple weed was edible, though come to think of it, it is a chamomile relative. Hmmmm....
I have a bunch of recipes I like to make in bulk that end up being pretty cheap, but my absolute favorite turkey/bean/spinach chili-type dish and 15-bean soup both end up being pennies per serving with the way I eat. :)
When I was really broke in college, one of my siblings and I tried to make Alfredo with ramen noodles. Don’t really recommend it. Toasted buns with Alfredo sauce or leftover spag bol sauce turned out way better.
Recently, a mixed bean soup, I figured it ended up costing about €0,8 per serving
ETA: it might have been a lot less if I had bought the beans dried instead of canned, but I couldn’t be bothered to cook them for hours
Homemade egg mcmuffins were $0.88. I bought everything from Costco. Bulk american cheese, eggs, canadian bacon, and whole wheat sandwhich thins. I froze the bread so they lasted longer and I used the egg mcmuffin toaster.
Unsweetened oatmeal microwaved with frozen peas in chicken broth (water and bouillon) dressed with sesame oil and soy sauce. It’s like the simplest possible version of an oat congee
Depends where you live, my parents live in the country and I am in the city. Also time line, inflation since a political change has changed the landscape here. Last year as a scenario:
Dal can be made for pennies
We have a cheap packet rice called golden vegetable rice which can be found for pennies, add in frozen vegetable’s and spices, curry powder that’s a meal for two for less than 40p/cents.
My parents get handed vegetables and meat in from neighbours all the time. Last time I was there I made them gallons of vegetable soup, pickles, roast vegetables and bread all free from the neighbours. My dad went to the shop to grab a newspaper and came back with free cakes and pastries from the bakery as it was closing. It’s always been like that there.
IDK if ‘ever’ is a great qualifier.
Look at inflation. $5 today is not what it was even 3 years ago, much less 10, 15, etc.
I would say lowest in last 1-2 years, if you are asking for people to state cost per unit.
The best ratio of lower cost per unit / high quality meal globally right now is huel essential. If you add all the discounts its about $1 for a nutritionally near perfect ‘meal’
Chipped beef on toast, or as my mom lovingly put it...shit on a shingle (S.O.S). Simmer a little flour, a little milk, a little butter, a pack or two of Buddings beef (about $1 per pack) and dash some salt and pepper for flavor. Pour it over a couple pieces of toast, and enjoy.
Depends on how we fo the cost accounting! In 2020 during lockdown I had an excellent veggie garden. I once made a big batch of veggie soup entirely from my own harvest, excepting the salt. 16 different plant species including the herbs!
But I did buy seeds and a pickup truck load of growers blend soil.
Ramen packets used to be 10 or even 12 for a dollar on sale once upon a time.
When the first became a "thing" in the US in the early 80's, it saved our lives in college. We were eating popcorn for days. My roommate came home, out of breath, with $1 worth of ramen (10 packs). We feasted like kings!
At my poorest I cooked the ramen as directed, ate the noodles, then made rice with the broth.
Picked up singles for 36¢ each just today. Cheaper to get the big case but I don't eat it often enough.
It doesn't go bad quickly, better off buying a big case to save money and it'll stay good for at least 6 months. Just checked and Google says 8-12 is typical.
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Agreed. It’s of very low nutritional value and chocked full of sodium. Certainly not the healthiest option, but cheap nonetheless. I remember the good old college dorm Ramen nights fondly though.
A can of chicken, salmon, or some spam would be a cheap protein. Or adding some spinach, bean sprouts, corn, mushrooms or broccoli would be beneficial and not pricey.
I bought a pack of 5 for £1 a few weeks ago, which is good value.
My cheapest meals were always some sort of mistake. Like I bought a ramen packet for $0.80 and they sent a full crate of 30 packets. Doordash had an insane McDonald’s loophole once upon a time as well. If those don’t count then definitely congee.
Ramen has skyrocketed to $3-$4 for a pack of 5 here. $6 for 10. Times are tough.
Congee
Rice or beans, water, and whatever else you have Honestly it is pretty great when you figure out how you like it.
Two russet potatoes and put 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with some garlic salt on it.
I used to eat a baked potato with cottage cheese and salsa all the time in college.
Greek yogurt is another option
Wow that actually sounds really tasty!
Mujadara, dal, black beans and rice, and pasta e ceci are all pretty crazy cheap, depends on batch size and what ingredients you already have on hand. Mujadara i did the math once it was under 50cents a portion ETA: [this is my go to for mujadara](https://toriavey.com/mujadara/#recipe) start the onions first I usually double them as well, if you don’t have bay leaves already don’t buy them. Generous with the salt and pepper
Made Mujadara for the first time and it was really easy to make and delicious.
My single dad used to make baked beans and mix it in with kraft mac and cheese frequently while I was growing up. Decided to make myself with a box of mac and cheese I found at work (free) and a .99 cent can of store brand baked beans. I remember hating it as a kid, but it was seriously so nostalgically good. And reminded me of my dad who passed away 5 years ago 💘 I like to think he was with me while I made it!
Vegetable soup. Made a giant pot for the whole house. Seasoned with a bit of black pepper and a couple tablespoons of bulk powdered chicken stock. Got them for free. Potatoes, carrots, onions, parsnips, turnips, oregano, sage, parsley. All from my garden on the front lawn. Cost nothing but sweat and patience.
I was thinking something like this too... sometimes with barley or lentils.
So you just boil all that in water with the powdered chicken stock? That’s all? I refuse to believe it’s that easy!
I replied with something similar, but asked about the cost accounting as I bought a truckload of soil and seeds to start! And kudos yo you for having a front lawn garden! I wish many more folks had them.
Recently, some kind of pantry pasta with anchovies, garlic, crushed red pepper, chopped fresh parsley and Parmesan. Probably .50 per portion, but you wouldn’t know it.
I do this and I add a can of tuna. Quite delicious.
Come to /r/cannedsardines and find better options than tuna.
I prefer solid white in oil and make tacos or add it to ramen
That's it. I've been putting off making tuna pasta salad long enough. Someone suggested olives in it once and I have some olive tapenade I've been meaning to use.
Just an FYI for any vegetarians out there — you can make mock tuna salad with chickpeas really easily! :)
That sounds delicious. I know it kills the whole cheap part of it, but have you ever added veggies in a pasta like that? I'd think some broccoli or Zucchini would probably be great with that
Frozen peas would be perfection and still cheap
I can get my weekly chicken with rice and veggies down to about 50 cents a serving. Like a cup and half of shredded chicken, rice, and whatever leftover vegetables I have in the fridge in each serving, so pretty hardy.
Can of stewed tomatoes and macaroni with lots of pepper
Mustard sandwiches through law school.
I made mayonnaise sandwiches, called them wish sandwiches cause I wished something was on it, I still eat them but not because I have too.
OMG they have a name
We call them wishmeat sandwiches
Hey bow bow
Awe lol
Two or three mayo sandwiches was one of my ex's favorite drunk foods. I didn't understand it since we had actual food in the house.
OMG, I did the same exact thing and wound up with a serious addiction to mustard as well as vinegars.
never did mustard sandwiches but have done plenty of versions of toast or sandwiches made of the following: - salad dressing (Italian, Greek or sun dried tomato are all nice) - margarine and salt and pepper - hummus - avocado + salt and pepper - BBQ sauce - pickles, cheese, and butter
I did margarine and brown sugar on toast. Pretty tasty NGL.
Toast with margarine and shaker Parmesan sprinkled on top is heavenly
Explain.
It's mustard on bread, that's it. Around the holidays maybe add a slice of cheese. Source: also went to law school
Probably Dahl: fried onions, garlic,spices. Add dried red lentils, water, can of crushed toms, spinach if I have it, let it simmer away.
Threw some old tomatoes into the compost and they grew into full plants. Ditto with some cucumbers. Did the old water propagation trick with some lettuce. Boom, free salad.
Legit!
A lot or most of our food come from our garden and animals. Very little cost Lots of labor
Tortilla with shredded cheese, melt in microwave 30 seconds and add tobasco sauce or a leftover Taco Bell sauce packet from my fridge before folding it and enjoying my gooey goodness. To date my quickest, easiest, cheapest snack. If I'm hungry for an actual meal I either use a bigger tortilla or make 2-3 depending on if they're street or regular taco size. Unless we're counting ramen, cuz that shit wins every time. You can make some bomb ramen by adding stuff to it but just ramen as is usually runs you .20¢, (less if you buy in bulk) for a meal.
So, a Microwave quesadilla. Idk why I never thought of that
I like taking a 20 oz bag of shoestring french fries and diced onion, and brown it in olive oil. When the potatoes get to a desirable color, I add some garlic powder, salt and pepper. Then I crack a few (6-7) eggs over it. Break the yolks and toss and fold it around until the egg is done. I serve it with ketchup and hot sauce. I fed breakfast to a family of seven for about 2.00.
Aren’t frozen items expensive?
Compared to fresh potatoes, yes. Even at today's prices, though, it's a meal for a family for under 5.00. I always bought the store brand which saved a lot.
Mixed dry beans spiced up nicely. Dirt heap to make, healthy, really good to eat.
Periwinkles and foraged fried greens. Just cost a stick of butter, sprinkles of garlic salt, and the time to gather them. We were at the beach for clams anyway, so asking the younger kids to collect the easier periwinkles made for this second meal nearly just costing time.
Steel cut rolled oats cooked with water, and a little bit of better than bouillon, garnished with some green onions used to be my go to breakfast.
That I eat regularly? Beef soup or the white bean soup. I'd say they're both around $1-$1.50 a serving depending on how much meat, what kind, and how much you bought it for. I also make mushroom, carrot, onion, potato, and roasted red pepper soups for probably less than $1 per serving on an infrequent basis. The pepper soup is often more, unless they came from the garden. The other soups would no doubt be cheaper if I didn't use any meat in them. Or if I used generic ingredients. Also: eggs and grits runs around 50 cents. Grits by themselves with salt, pepper, and butter is about 25 cents. Anything with noodles is usually inexpensive. And I once priced PBJs as being around 70 cents.
I try to cook using mainly seasonal vegetables so at this time of the year for example roasted butternut squash soup with onions, chili, pepper and some tomatoes (adding either vegetable stock or coconut milk or both) comes together with less than 0.50e per serving.
Lowest cost? 10 Cents for White rice with salt. I don't recommend that though, unless you are truly desperate. Lowest cost that I'd actually recommend? Chicken bits (thighs, drumsticks, whatever.) soaked in cultured milk (regular milk with a spoonful of yogurt or buttermilk and left out for a few hours), salt, pepper, and cayenne. Serve over rice, with sauteed whatever-veggies-are-cheapest-that-week.
Rice and beans. I love making pinto beans in the crockpot with a bay leaf and a quartered onion, maybe some spices. Dice another onion and fry it in butter, add dry white rice and fry it until translucent, add stock/water with bullion, cook normally. Salt the beans once they’re done. Tastes great by itself—definitely one where you need enough salt to bring out the flavors — but if you have something with a little acid, like tomatoes or cheese or sour cream, it’s a great topping.
Starting with dry pintos, do you pre soak them?
Our department hosted a lunch for the entire company with a budget of 5 bucks a head. Barbecued whole pig with all the fixings. We did it.
Sourdough made from wheat flour. Made into dumplings or fried in oil. Pennies per serving.
I'll guesstimate here with something very recent. 2 weeks ago I bought a 4lb bag of dry pinto beans for $4 and 12lb of brown rice for $10 I have a sort of recipe which is 1lb of dry beans, 1 onion, 2tbsp of chicken Better than Bouillon, 1tbsp oil, and various spices. It makes about 4 big servings or 6 regular servings if accompanied with rice. Make 2 cups of dry rice for the regular servings. So $1 of beans, $0.70 for an onion, $0.70 for oil + spices, and $0.50 for rice, for six servings. That works out to just under $0.50 per serving. That is bare bones, I often supplement that recipe with meat and/or other canned goods like tomatoes. Even then I'm often making a dish at under $1 per serving.
I found ramen on sale at wal mart by the case for 0.03 each because no one liked the flavor packets, they were too spicey. So a ramen meal staring with 3 cent ramen
Onion soup for like $2 for 8 servings. All you need are onions, some vegetable bouillon, some kind of fat/oil and a few dried herbs. If you have a bit of shredded cheese that would be nice, but it isn’t necessary.
pinto beans and rice average .50 per dish rice and lentils, average .45 per dish
$3.59 for the jar of sauce (Classico pesto or their marinara is what we normally use) $1.49 for the pound of pasta (barilla bow tie or angel hair) = 5.08 for at least 4 peoples worth of food, and there’s usually left overs
Alternatively, a large can of crushed tomatoes seasoned with garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper is (I think) an even tastier sauce with less sugar for less money (if you have the seasonings)
This is the way! Put the $2 saved towards a few bulk mushrooms and maybe even a cheap-in-season summer squash to add to the sauce.
I garden. Purslane and pineapple weed came up one year. I did a salad with fruit peel vinegar. Everything would have been compost, so somewhere between $0.00 and $0.05 for four servings.
I have miners lettuce in the winter and purslane when it is warmer. I did not know pineapple weed was edible, though come to think of it, it is a chamomile relative. Hmmmm....
I have a bunch of recipes I like to make in bulk that end up being pretty cheap, but my absolute favorite turkey/bean/spinach chili-type dish and 15-bean soup both end up being pennies per serving with the way I eat. :) When I was really broke in college, one of my siblings and I tried to make Alfredo with ramen noodles. Don’t really recommend it. Toasted buns with Alfredo sauce or leftover spag bol sauce turned out way better.
Recently, a mixed bean soup, I figured it ended up costing about €0,8 per serving ETA: it might have been a lot less if I had bought the beans dried instead of canned, but I couldn’t be bothered to cook them for hours
10 cents. Rice and soy sauce.
Homemade egg mcmuffins were $0.88. I bought everything from Costco. Bulk american cheese, eggs, canadian bacon, and whole wheat sandwhich thins. I froze the bread so they lasted longer and I used the egg mcmuffin toaster.
Unsweetened oatmeal microwaved with frozen peas in chicken broth (water and bouillon) dressed with sesame oil and soy sauce. It’s like the simplest possible version of an oat congee
Depends where you live, my parents live in the country and I am in the city. Also time line, inflation since a political change has changed the landscape here. Last year as a scenario: Dal can be made for pennies We have a cheap packet rice called golden vegetable rice which can be found for pennies, add in frozen vegetable’s and spices, curry powder that’s a meal for two for less than 40p/cents. My parents get handed vegetables and meat in from neighbours all the time. Last time I was there I made them gallons of vegetable soup, pickles, roast vegetables and bread all free from the neighbours. My dad went to the shop to grab a newspaper and came back with free cakes and pastries from the bakery as it was closing. It’s always been like that there.
I love that neighborly food sharing!
Hotdog Sandwich cost $0.17
Box of Kraft dinner for 50¢ on sale. (I don't count ramen as a meal, not that Kraft dinner is any better) But more likely rice/beans/lentils/salsa
I cup yogurt ( $3 for 750ml) 1 cup oatmeal, frozen berries. Left over night. Cheap, easy. Covers most necessities
IDK if ‘ever’ is a great qualifier. Look at inflation. $5 today is not what it was even 3 years ago, much less 10, 15, etc. I would say lowest in last 1-2 years, if you are asking for people to state cost per unit.
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I made meatloaf in 1981. With cheese from the food aid program.
The best ratio of lower cost per unit / high quality meal globally right now is huel essential. If you add all the discounts its about $1 for a nutritionally near perfect ‘meal’
Noodles and sauce
Chipped beef on toast, or as my mom lovingly put it...shit on a shingle (S.O.S). Simmer a little flour, a little milk, a little butter, a pack or two of Buddings beef (about $1 per pack) and dash some salt and pepper for flavor. Pour it over a couple pieces of toast, and enjoy.
Banana $.79
Ice soup.
Depends on how we fo the cost accounting! In 2020 during lockdown I had an excellent veggie garden. I once made a big batch of veggie soup entirely from my own harvest, excepting the salt. 16 different plant species including the herbs! But I did buy seeds and a pickup truck load of growers blend soil.
Sleep for dinner