Stir fry is one of my big go-tos. All you need is a pan and spatula or tongs, whatever veg you have on hand, oil, salt. You can mix in seasonings but honestly if cooked well I don’t find it to be that necessary. Fried rice or rice stuff is in a similar vein. Cook whatever random stuff you have around, remove from the pan, start frying the rice, throw in an egg, add it all back into the pan briefly.
Street tacos are baller and you can put all kinds of things in them and make them work with just about any dietary restrictions. I prefer to go heavy handed with the seasoning but you can make it work with only a couple spices. Best with two pans, one to heat up the tortillas. Making pico de gallo is good knife skill practice and extra can the thrown on nachos directly or quickly turned into salsa.
All the soup and then some seriously there are so many great soup recipes and tricks. I love egg drop because it can be as simple as broth and an egg, though usually I put in some frozen veg and thicken with corn starch. If you eat meat and have these in your area, you can grab one of those hot held roast chickens for cheap. Lazily process it, throw all the bones and whatever is stuck to them into a pot and make a quick and cheap stock. Plus now there is a bunch of chicken laying around ready to be a chicken noodle or chicken tortilla soup.
If your stove has an oven: Ratatouille is surprisingly easy to make, costs basically nothing, and can be done in an oven or a slow cooker. Jalapeno poppers can also be weirdly cheap and easy to make. Really anything where a main component is a veg and you put it in the oven. Roast broccoli only needs oil and salt to come out great.
I like to make savory oatmeal and have pre-measured containers for breakfast prep. Oats, salt, pepper, brewers yeast. Just add water. I mix in cream cheese and put a fried egg on top. It’s cheap and filling and you can really push what you’re adding to them and at worse still come out with something okay enough.
I hope these are the kinds of things you’re looking for and they get some ideas going. If you have questions about anything or need inspiration let me know! I’ve been living with a chef for a lot of years and have a decent bit of knowledge I can share
The stir-fry thing sounds good. It will give me a break from rice!
I’ve been frying stuff in margarine because it’s cheaper, and the vast array of cooking oils confuse me. I read one oil is used for one particular type of frying, and another for a different type of cooking, etc. Is there a cheap cooking oil that’s OK to use for frying lots of different things?
Oh that’s one of the cheaper ones! No taste is good - I’ve eaten stuff cooked in peanut oil and it makes everything taste like hot peanut butter. Canola oil is on the shopping list! Cheers!
If anyone is interested in stir frying correctly you should read The Wok which goes over the technique and recipes. The short summary is high heat and short time and make sure everything is prepared ahead of time.
I made a quick vegetable stir dry last week with broccoli, mushrooms and beans (the only three vegetables in the fridge). The entire thing was 10 minutes on the pan from frying the mushrooms for 1 minute before adding the broccoli and beans and cooking for 30 seconds. I added salt along the way and finished with cooking wine and soy sauce for a sauce for 1 minute. Everything then sat in the wok off the heat for 5 minutes while I cleaned and plated. The vegetables were cooked but still had a snap and it was delicious. When used correctly its the perfect pan for everything
Depending on the wok construction sometimes they work really poorly with electric stoves, getting super hot right at the bottom and not so much on the sides. Generally though they are quite versatile. One of my favorite tricks is using one to fry an egg to keep the yolk centered
Don't anything nonstick. Pretty much ever. I got a nice carbon steel one for my birthday that I love. Our nonstick works okay on our electric stove but the carbon steel gives much better flavor.
Nonstick has two very specific use cases: Eggs and cheese. If you’re ever cooking either one of those, nonstick is often the best option. But for pretty much anything else, cast iron or carbon steel will be a better bet.
Lots of straightforward recipes, and they all have price breakdowns for the ingredients, cost per dish and cost per serving. There is even a category for meals under $10. You do have to keep in mind those are the local prices for the blog author and I've found it can vary for my region, but it is still a helpful guideline.
I’ve been looking for a site like this for years! There are are a lot of cooking sites that claim to be cHeAp aNd eAsY and they’re not. This looks really useful. As you say, not every detail will suit me and I’ll have to be resourceful, but it’s a very useful guide. Cheers!
Get a big bag of basmati or jasmin rice and get a rice cooker. Where I live a bag of jasmin rice is 36 euro for 18 kilo. You can eat rice with omelettes, wok chicken, shrimp and vegggies or what not, next day make fried rice.
Tons of video's on youtube with people sharing their home made rice dishes.
Edit: A wise man once said “red beans and rice, I could eat a plate twice”
Here’s my favorite quick and not-too-tricky recipe for beef chilli. It’s healthy, delicious, and can last you for days. The only equipment you need is a stove, a large pot, a ladle or spatula, and a can opener.
<span style="color:#323232;">1. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to pot, on medium heat
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2. Add 1/2 large white onion (chopped) and 1 bell pepper (chopped) and cook on medium heat for about four minutes (while stirring regularly).
</span><span style="color:#323232;">3. Add 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped) and 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Stir everything and cook for a couple of minutes.
</span><span style="color:#323232;">4. Add 2 lb of ground beef and cook until broken up and browned (about 7 minutes on med-high).
</span><span style="color:#323232;">5. Add 2 can of chopped tomatoes & 1 can of tomato sauce
</span><span style="color:#323232;">6. Add 1 can of black beans
</span><span style="color:#323232;">7. Add 1 can of pinto beans
</span><span style="color:#323232;">8. Add 1 can of kidney beans
</span><span style="color:#323232;">9. Season with 2 tbsp. chili powder.
</span><span style="color:#323232;">10. Season with 1 tbsp dried oregano
</span><span style="color:#323232;">11. Season with 2 tbsp ground cumin
</span><span style="color:#323232;">12. Season with 2 tbsp ground coriander
</span><span style="color:#323232;">13. Add salt, pepper, and (optional) Worcestershire sauce to taste
</span><span style="color:#323232;">14. Continue to simmer on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring thoroughly once every five minutes
</span>
First off, I’m really sorry. There are a lot of things you can do just using a hob and one or two pans. One of my recent go-to meals involves frying up some vegetables (courgette/zucchini, peppers, some sweet potato etc), flavouring with some spices (cumin, dried chili) and herbs (thyme, basil) and then stiring that into some rice that’s been cooked in a saucepan with the lid on.
Add some egg and stir the rice through the vegetables in the frying pan if you want to make it egg-fried rice.
That sounds much tastier (and healthier) than my efforts cooking rice. Basil and rice made me think of tinned tomatoes - imo basil and tomato go together like orchestral strings and piano. No idea what a hob is, I’ll have to google. Thanks for the suggestion!
Charity shops here don’t accept electrical goods, because people were donating dangerous things like what my microwave was until very recently. I love stews so I’ll keep an eye out and maybe I’ll get lucky somehow. Cheers.
Have you got any local community sale type places? Things like gumtree, nextdoor, craigs list or facebook might be worth checking. I can vouch for the idea of a slow cooker. I’m pretty sure you could chuck in an old shoe, some random herbs, some root veg and a few hours later have enough tasty food to serve a small army.
I’ll pass on the old shoe idea 😂 I know what you mean. It’s hard to screw up a slow cooker stew. I don’t use any of those sites but I’ll have a little sniff around and see what I can find.
This is 100% the answer. If you’re looking for cheap and easy, a slow cooker is the way to go. Throw shit into a pot. Set it on low before you leave for work. When you get back from work, you’ll have a perfectly done meal that will likely last for the next two or three days at least.
Toss cubed Tofu and some hardy veggies in oil with some spices. Back at 350 (Tofu may need longer than your veggies, depending on what you pick). Serve over Quinoa or with bread.
Sander Katz has a book called "The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved" which holds up the microwave as the prime example of what is wrong with modern eating.
I suggest looking into cooking with cast iron skillets. There are tons of great and simple foods you can make with couple of inexpensive cast iron pans. There used to be a cast iron cookery subreddit. There may be one here, I haven't looked yet.
Another essential is a good wok. (cast iron or otherwise) Basically you throw a bunch of semi-random stuff and some sauce iron seasoning in a wok and heat it up. The variations are endless, quick, and often tasty once you get the hang of it.
I don't know a single person who owns a microwave. My parents had one in the 90's, but used it like twice. I honestly don't even see the point, except when you like microwave food that comes in a plastic container, which again, i don't know who would ever be willing to eat. The only thing i ever heard was to warm things up, and even then, good job on saving a minute.
Microwaves are very efficient at heating food. Much more so than an oven or hob. They may not win awards for making things taste great but they’re incredibly useful when trying to cook with a limited budget.
suggest looking into cooking with cast iron skillets. There are tons of great and simple foods you can make with couple of inexpensive cast iron pans.
I have several cast iron pans, and I cook with them regularly. That being said, cast iron is more expensive, more time consuming, and requires more skill to cook with than a set of cheap non-stick.
Just like with most higher quality tools, there’s just a steeper learning curve to cast iron than what I think op is really looking for.
The same is kinda true for cooking with a wok, unless you have a pretty high output gas range, a wok isn’t really going to function as intended. Woks need to be heated enough to where you are basically flash frying your ingredients. If not the oil just soaks into your food, making everything soggy with oil.
I think you may be underestimating your abilities in the kitchen, and maybe overestimating op’s. Though i think that’s fairly common nowadays. I find that most people under 40 are either very proficient or very lost in the kitchen, not a lot in-between.
I don’t judge, but cooking exclusively in a microwave… 🤢 Personally, no thanks. I’m guessing/hoping you didn’t cook steak and stuff like that in there.
The puke face and the comment about steak come across as judging those choices as gross (not that I think you’re wrong in that judgement, maybe worded a bit harsh in a thread with someone asking for help though)
I can consider something is gross without judging them for eating it… People make meat cakes out of mosquitos and fry them on hot stones and eat that as food. Crickets, beetles, stuff like that. That’s fucking nasty as shit to me 🤢🤮🤮, but I don’t judge, because perhaps it’s what’s available. Or because they like it. You never know what situation OP is in.
I hoped, for their sakeif they are like me taste wise (didn’t think I’d have to be explicit about this), that they didn’t make microwave steak. Me personally? I don’t give a shit what OP eats. I’m not eating their dinners. But for their sake, I hoped.
I recommend a rice cooker, they are fairly cheap and very handy. Rice is really cheap in bulk and neutral enough to work with almost any dish. With a cooker you can make quick low effort carbs (filling) to accompany whatever else you have at hand. Dump it in a pan with some veggies, heat and stir. Perhaps add an egg or two, seasoning of course. A quite healthy and cheap meal, which is also very easy to make and can be adjusted to your tastes no problem.
Yeah I used the microwave mainly for rice. It exploded today as I was trying to cook rice. I cooked it on stovetop, it turned out not too bad. I got really sick of rice because it never tasted any good. I guess that’s about herbs and spices and stuff. I will see if I can find an affordable rice cooker. Thanks for the suggestion.
The secret to cooking good rice is to soak it in water (even 5 minutes will do) and then rinse it to remove the excess starch. Then add fresh water and cook it. Don’t take the lid off the pan so the steam cooks it properly. A rice cooker will simplify this process but all you really need is a pan with a lid.
The secret to cooking good rice is to soak it in water (even 5 minutes will do) and then rinse it to remove the excess starch. Then add fresh water and cook it.
I’ve heard that and tried it once. I couldn’t taste the difference. I’ll try it again. I cooked rice in a saucepan today and it was ok so I’ll try the rinsing method again once I’ve finished my current batch of rice. Cheers.
Yes, I meant a bouillon or stock cube, sorry for the typo. Or you can use stock or a broth instead of water.
Stock is also pretty easy to make. You can buy a whole chicken and then throw the leftover carcass, skins, bones, with onions, carrots, celery and some herbs into a pot and simmer it for 2 hours.
My unpopular cooking opinion is that a rice cooker is not nearly as critical as many people make it out to be. Making it on the stovetop (or in the oven) results in perfectly acceptable rice especially if you are on a budget and could use that money for other equpment. I eat a fair amount of rice and my rice cooker was the last of the small appliances I bought.
Rice cookers are a waste of space and money, plus they’re largely a unitasker. For that money I could add to my general kitchen utensil collection that could be used for many things.
While I don’t fully agree with Alton Brown’s “no unitaskers in kitchen”, it’s a great starting point, especially for new cooks with few tools. Today I tolerate a few unitaskers because I already have a full complement of general purpose tools.
I can make rice in one of my pots in the same time a rice cooker takes - there’s no magic bullet, rice takes the time it takes. And for a new cook, learning to pay attention instead of offloading to a tool makes for great practice.
Simply put water and rice in a pan, turn on the heat, and set a timer. Of course, I had to figure out the heat and time, but that only took watching it a couple times.
I made some last night, while the rest of dinner was in the oven - because I saw the recipe had a 45 minute oven time, I knew that would be the perfect time to make the rice. Easy-peasy.
To be honest, I don’t think I plan to do anything else with this project, but I still have the libreoffice document with selectable text and I’m happy to share it if you or anyone wants to use it to make something new.
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