I cannot stress this one enough. This turns simple white rice in practically a risotto. And if you REALLY want to make a risotto, you’re just three steps away from this.
This one is a little bit of a hot take, but bottled lemon or lime juice is good for consistency. While fresh will most certainly be better, you may inadvertently juice a bad lemon/lime and potentially ruin a dish. Bottled juices can last a bit longer in the fridge.
Speaking of canned tomatoes, there can be a huge difference between brands. If canned tomatoes make up the bulk of the recipe I prefer to spend a little extra.
To actually cook things enough. I wasn’t cooking them to unsafe levels before, and please don’t cook my steak above medium rare, but some foods just taste better cooked more. Almost no one cooks ground meats enough, who the hell wants grey beef, get some color on that bitch. Also if you cook sausage meat enough it gains color and the flat renders out a little it tastes better. Get some colour on those roast veggies and no one likes a pale insipid fry. A change in color is flavor, use it to your advantage. And yes sometimes you want your veggies firm and for the love of god don’t overcook your garlic.
I agree with you on getting color in your food. I think the best way to do that is to cook it at the right temperature (don’t be afraid of heat!) and don’t crowd the pan. And don’t be too stir-happy.
Ground beef, for example. You don’t have to cook it long it you start with a hot pan that’s big enough. Get a pan with a heavy bottom and heat it up empty for a minute or two on medium or medium- high heat. Plop the meat in. It should sizzle. Break it up enough for it to cover the pan, and then don’t stir for a couple minutes. You can stir it when you see some brown forming on the bottom layer.
That was the hardest thing for me to learn to do, to just let the food be and not stir it all the time. Stirring feels like you’re doing “something” lol.
It depends on their thickening properties mostly. I'd guess aquafaba would help at least a bit but hummus... I dunno it has fat and protein so maybe super smoothly run hummus would work? No idea. Remember that guar gum is used as a powder so it's kinda different from the others and is used as a thickener elsewhere as well.
Something like corn starch would work too but in my experience it ruins the smoothness adding gritty flour-like texture.
Hope this helps a little and just fyi Im from Germany, so maybe some things are cheap for me but not for you :(
First thing try using the same spices for a lot of dishes and you'll save a lot of money! I thought the spices were the worst money burner when I moved out.
Some good and cheap dishes for me were stuff like
fried rice: cook rice and let it cool down, chop some ginger, garlic, onions and put it in a pan with a little oil. After 1-2min add vegetables you like and you'll come by cheap (frozen is as good as fresh). Add rice and if you like some eggs and stuff like ham. Everything turns out delicious if you use soy sauce.
spaghetti arrabiata: it's just spicy tomato sauce with noodles and if you like cheese. If you have the money to buy arrabiata spices, do it (I think it's great for pizza sauce or a quick bolognese).
spaghetti alio e olio: it's noodles with oil and garlic
peanut rice noodles: add peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar and hot sauce together, put aside and cook some rice noodles and some veggies. If everything is cooked, put everything in a bowl and add the peanut sauce. I eat it at least 2x a month (if you like add garlic and/or ginger to the sauce)
if you know how to do a yeast dough, cheap dishes are easy. If you can do the dough yourself pizza is cheap as hell, but also filled stuff like fake dumplings. If you do it on the sweet side, you'll have some bready and caky stuff (and this kind of dough is great for a freezer)
if you're short on time but not exactly on money try stews and soups. You can add nearly everything you have at home and let it cook and you can eat like at least a week from it
Edit: One dish I like and just want to add is spaghetti carbonara. It's not quiet cheap but super easy to make: Cook noodles (spaghetti), meanwhile mix 1 full egg and 2-3 egg yolks for around 2 people with around 200g parmesan (or 100g parmesan and 100g parmigianino). Fry bacon cubes (pig belly is the best). When the noodles are done add some noodle water (it won't taste salty even if you put a lot of salt in the water) to the cheese egg mix and put the noodles in the pan with the bacon, turn off the heat and add cheese-egg mix to the pan, but be aware that the pan isn't hot anymore, you don't want the eggs to boil.
Yay! Great detailed post, this is great timing am new to this. I just made for first time chickpeas and pinto bean snacks yesterday and today was realizing I can’t eat so many beans throughout one day, haha. I’ve done sliced carrots too, so delicious. Looking for healthy food munchies. Air frying is so awesome.
I ate way too many roasted chickpeas the first time I did it too. They’re so good. Another good thing in the corn department is to buy a can of hominy. It kind of tastes like the corn nuts snack you can buy at the store. So good
Fucking shoyu ramen, from scratch with all the trimmings. It’s practically a two day affair, between the broth, the onsen tamago, the noodles and the pork belly. Worth every minute spent making it, and almost worth the excessive sodium intake.
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