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[Colt45]

Rice.

I lived off it for awhile. You can buy a large bag that can last you about a month for around 5 bucks. Add hot sauce and/or soya sauce for variety. You can also throw what ever you want in the rice to mix it up and keep it fresh. Ground beef, Chicken, Beans, Vegetables , or nothing etc.

Now I've upgraded to crockpot meals, a little more expensive. but tastier. You can make chili, spaghetti sauce, roast beef, soups, chicken curry etc... usually lasts me all week.

[Porkchop]

I went my entire first year without so much as touching a can of beans.

I will say, 1 can of tuna, some grated cheese and a chopped tomato, thrown in the microwave for around a minute makes for a delicious and filling meal.

For around 5 pounds, you can effectively get 6 meals by buying a 6 pack of slim-fast. It's something I discovered in my last month of uni, so I'm not sure it's something you can do in the long term.

Eggs are an excellant, filling source of protein, but remember there are more ways to cook an egg that frying one.

Peanut butter is amazing. It makes a lot of things more filling. (I know it's basically considered a staple food in the US so it'll seem like a strange thing to say, but in the UK people aren't as hot on it, don't know about the rest of Europe).

Buy a slow cooker. The initial cost is well worth it. Being able to throw a tin of soup, a tin of potatoes, some spices and some cheap meat in to a slow cooker in the morning and come home to a meal for two is something you will come to be very grateful for.

I stopped buying bread in the first month. It goes mouldy too quickly, and you'll never eat it in time unless you share with housemates.

Lentils are amazing. You can buy packages of mixed lentils and other grains and pasta, which you just boil then throw in to bulk up whatever you're cooking.

Minced beef is a godsend. Even high quality stuff is very cheap for how much you get. With a little seasoning it can make a quick meal in itsself by dry-frying it.

Fresh fruit is a must. You're doubtless going to be eating a substantially different diet from home. Your body will appreciate it. A bag of apples, pears or bananas will last you a week. One a day.

Remember to take multivitamins.

[loudmike]

Most dry cereals are fortified with 9 essential vitamins and minerals; a good many can be eaten, um, dry.

[Nate]

Update: I just made vegetable soup today from scratch, and it's about the cheapest thing you could possibly eat. 

I basically just sauteed an entire chopped onion and some garlic cloves for a few minutes, then threw in half a head of chopped cabbage, some carrots, and a leek.  Then I covered it all with water and threw in 2 beef boullion cubes and a few spices and simmered it for 45 minutes.  BAM, now I have a gigantor pot of vegetable soup that's filling as fuck and probably cost me about 3 bucks.  And it's delicious as hell.  I can't believe I've never done this before, and it's going to take me and my pothead roommate several days to finish this off.

[loudmike]

Yes soups are much easier to improvise then I had ever imagined.

Nate Im going with the popular vote here and Im going to suggest throwing in a cup of rice.  If you cook it down a bit it will thicken to a stew consistency.

[Gnuoyiy]

Update: I just made vegetable soup today from scratch, and it's about the cheapest thing you could possibly eat. 

I basically just sauteed an entire chopped onion and some garlic cloves for a few minutes, then threw in half a head of chopped cabbage, some carrots, and a leek.  Then I covered it all with water and threw in 2 beef boullion cubes and a few spices and simmered it for 45 minutes.  BAM, now I have a gigantor pot of vegetable soup that's filling as fuck and probably cost me about 3 bucks.  And it's delicious as hell.  I can't believe I've never done this before, and it's going to take me and my pothead roommate several days to finish this off.

Is there a special store one would have to go to in order to purchase these cubes or do supermarkets carry them?

[Nate]

Update: I just made vegetable soup today from scratch, and it's about the cheapest thing you could possibly eat. 

I basically just sauteed an entire chopped onion and some garlic cloves for a few minutes, then threw in half a head of chopped cabbage, some carrots, and a leek.  Then I covered it all with water and threw in 2 beef boullion cubes and a few spices and simmered it for 45 minutes.  BAM, now I have a gigantor pot of vegetable soup that's filling as fuck and probably cost me about 3 bucks.  And it's delicious as hell.  I can't believe I've never done this before, and it's going to take me and my pothead roommate several days to finish this off.

Is there a special store one would have to go to in order to purchase these cubes or do supermarkets carry them?

Should be the regular supermarket, probably on the aisle with the dried pasta noodles and ramen and whatnot.

[Ripper]

Omelettes!!!

Plain ol' dude, with very easy to follow instructions. That should give you a basic overview on how to make one- but here are lots of them. They're not for every meal, but there are so many variations (you can add any vegetable you can get, and if you want to be a bit healthier but still get the protein, you can just use the egg whites and save the yolks for use in a pasta or noodle dish later that day) that you can eat them for a long time without getting sick of them. They go well with toast. You can even use your instant noodles with them- add some cheap green beans and defrosted frozen veg like peas or carrots to that one (probably leave out the cheese for health reasons), and you've got a pretty damn fine meal.

You know what goes really really well on your omlettes?



Mmmm. Gives enough flavour and tang that you'll barely even miss the cheese. I'd also join in recommending you try to get as much fruit and veg as you can- having the mood and energy up-down-up-down that you get from eating too much starchy high- GI processed food makes studying and concentrating in lectures a real bitch, particularly if you're also living the other aspects of the student lifestyle. Which reminds me- this can be pretty good if you make it right. This way is a hell of a lot quicker, but be careful with opening the bottles. Very very careful. Either way, they're both cheap.

[wart0027]

Clip coupons as often as you see fit... you can get something middle of the line usually for around the same price of some lower quality food without coupons. I use coupons all of the time for canned food, since it lasts quite a while. Or if you have a food that you like to eat every day, buy quite a bit of it (with coupons, of course) and it will disappear faster than you'd think... I eat white rice everyday (mostly because it feels like I ate a little more) and go through it really fast. Same with oatmeal.

Don't buy bread in bulk and then freeze it. I know a lot of people who do this to save such a small amount of money (like 50 cents), but when they thaw the bread it tastes stale and goes bad in a few days. Just buying a loaf every few days works for me, and when you know you need bread you can splurge and get good bread and not feel bad about it.

Buy iced-tea mix (or something similar. like Kool-Aid) to substitute for soda and stuff (not real juice though, that stuff is an important buy to me). You probably get the same amount of drinkable liquids as a case of soda for around 1/8th the price. And, with me, I like Kool-Aid that is not very sweet, so I use way less than it says... and in turn it lasts longer.

Some cheap packaged deli meats and meats are OK, but a lot of them are horrible. Avoid cheap frozen beef patties and cheap hot-dogs (frankfurters) because they are pure fat and taste like shit. I don't buy a lot of that stuff, but I do buy a lot of turkey, ham, and roast beef slices. I guess test your market for what tastes good for the price.

In a typical day, when I am trying to conserve money, my diet is:

Breakfast:
2 eggs (25 cents or so)
1 yogurt (50 cents or so)
Water
Granola bar (80 cents or so)

Lunch is normally from a restaurant when I am at work, but it's usually paid for... so yeah.
Or
A sandwich and some chips.
Probably 2 dollars worth.

Dinner:
All depends, but a lot of the time it's similar to lunch.

Snacks:
Whatever is around.

On average I can keep my menu under 8 dollars when I am being conservative.

Oh yeah...

The most important thing....

Ready...

Never, and I mean never, pass up a free meal from a friend/family/work/etc. It's usually better than what you make, and it's free.

[Snipped]

Update: I just made vegetable soup today from scratch, and it's about the cheapest thing you could possibly eat. 

I basically just sauteed an entire chopped onion and some garlic cloves for a few minutes, then threw in half a head of chopped cabbage, some carrots, and a leek.  Then I covered it all with water and threw in 2 beef boullion cubes and a few spices and simmered it for 45 minutes.  BAM, now I have a gigantor pot of vegetable soup that's filling as fuck and probably cost me about 3 bucks.  And it's delicious as hell.  I can't believe I've never done this before, and it's going to take me and my pothead roommate several days to finish this off.

That's almost exactly how I make bucket loads of soup at home, only I add a whole bell pepper (I like the yellow ones) and some celery, 2 cups of rice, and some tomato. The longer it simmers, the better it gets. Mine costs about 10 bucks, which is still not bad for a weeks worth of food.

[Nate]

Yes soups are much easier to improvise then I had ever imagined.

Nate Im going with the popular vote here and Im going to suggest throwing in a cup of rice.  If you cook it down a bit it will thicken to a stew consistency.

That was a damn fine idea.  I just made an other epic pot of Everything in Nate's Fuckin' Kitchen Soup, and I took your suggestion, as well as also adding about a cup of dried lentils for the protein, and a packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix like someone else told me to try.  I can write out the general recipe, if anyone's interested in my newest Cheap Ass Soup recipe.

[Nedroid]

I am interested!

[Porkchop]

I also am interested.

I never really thought about soup before. I've done stews, but they were really just bulked up tins of soup. I shall start making something from scratch soon. Updates shall be posted.


Also, here is a recipe for a delicious stir fry:

3/4 pound chicken breast (I used mini breast fillets, pork would work just as well)
1 bell pepper (I used yellow)
5 or 6 large mushrooms
two handfuls of peas
Soy sauce
Corn starch
garlic
ginger
a handful of peas in the pods
a lime
honey
sweet chili sauce
some oil
Chicken stock cube
Birds eye chili.
Noodles

Firstly, slice your meat in to vague cubes, then leave it in a bowl with about a quarter cup of water, a tablespoon of soy sauce, and a teaspoon of honey (you may have ot add a tiny bit of boiling water for it to mix properly), leave this to one side.

Now we should start the noodles cooking. follow the instructions on the pack for this, though for ease, I generally use those Amoy Straight To Wok noodles, which don't need any preparation. They're a little more expensive, but I find the convenience to be worth it.

Now we prepare the sauce sauce. To do this, I used the chicken stock cube added to half a cup of boiling water, a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce, the juice of half the lime, 3 teaspoons of the sweet chili sauce and a tablespoon of honey. Add about a teaspoon of very finely sliced ginger. Take a clove of garlic and grind it in a mortar and pestle (if you don't have one, crushing it and grinding it between two spoons will work). Take the mashed up garlic and chop it to ensure there are no big lumps, add this to the sauce. Take the chili and make a slit down one side. Open it out, and using the sharp edge of the knife, scrape out the seeds and membrane from the middle, then chop it very very finely before adding to the sauce. Add a heaped teaspoon of corn starch and mix in well. Place the sauce to one side.

Now chop up the mushrooms and the pepper, and put the mushrooms in one bowl, the peas and pods in another, and the pepper in a third (this will make things much easier when you bring it together in the wok). Chop 2 cloves of garlic and a teaspoon of ginger and leave to one side.

Now, we cook the meat. Add a drizzle of oil to the wok, then heat on high until there's a faint heat haze over the wok. Take the meat from it's marinade, and gently (to avoid a pan fire) put it in the wok, and leave it, turning the meat over only whe the underside is golden brown. When it's cooked through, take it form the pan and leave to one side.

Now we begin to bring the whole thing together. Adding a little more oil to the pan, throw in the mushrooms and cook till just turning golden brown, the throw in the greens. Cook these for a few minutes before adding the chopped pepper. After another couple of minutes throw in the garlic and ginger, and stir fry for about a minute. It's not time to add the meat. Throw all the meat in to the pan, give it a good stir, then add the sauce. Keep everything moving, and get everything an even coating of the sauce, which should now be beginning to thicken. After another couple of minutes, throw in the noodles and give it a good old stir. Remember to keep everything moving, and get everything an even coating. After another two minutes, take the wok off the heat, serve in to bowls, then squeeze the other half of the lime over it. Scran away.



The great thing about this is that once you have the main ingredients, it's only the meat, noodles and vegetables you need to buy. Everything else will last you a good dozen meals or so (if you buy lime, chili and garlic from markets they're very cheap. I got 10 bulbs of garlic for £1 from my local market).


I will say, when I did this earlier I was rewarded with the mother of all pan fires, which is why I included the bit about putting the meat in gently. I almost set my house on fire to tell you how to make tasty stir fry!

[Nate]

I am interested!

I love you, Nedroid.

Shit You Need:
2 potatoes chopped into half-inch cubes.  I like Yukon Gold, but russet are cheaper.
half head of cabbage, cored and chopped into 1-inch chunks
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 - 1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1 cup dried lentils
1 tbsp olive oil
1 packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 quarts chicken stock, or 2 quarts water and a 6g cube of chicken boullion.  Might be able to substitute a ramen flavor packet.
1 can diced tomatoes, or i guess you could just dice a tomato.
whatever fucking spices you like to use.  I put in a little salt and pepper, and then some rosemary and paprika at the end, but your mileage will vary.

Here's the general procedure:
-Rinse the rice and a cup of dried lentils.   Cook the rice and simmer the lentils in 3ish cups of water for 5-10 minutes to soften them up a little. Simmering the lentils might be optional, but I wanted to soften them up a little first.  Set that shit aside for now, and drain the water out of your lentil pot.

-Cover the bottom of your big-ass fucking pot with olive oil, throw in the taters, onions, and garlic.  Cover and cook on med-high for 5-10 minutes, opening occasionally to stir and make sure those fucking potatoes don't stick to the bottom permanently.  You wanna get the onions a little bit translucent and the potatoes maybe a little bit browned.

-Now put in your 2 quarts stock or "stock", and the carrots, celery, lentils, cabbage, and onion soup mix.

-Bring that shit up to a boil and then then turn down the heat to a simmer.  Throw in the can of tomatoes, juice included.  You can put in your spices now or later, I have no idea if it matters.  I put in some rosemary, celery salt, and some seasoning salt that's heavy on the paprika.

-Simmer until the taters and cabbage are soft enough--20 minutes worked for me.  Serve over rice.  Serves: a small army.

-You are now a cook, which will score you mad points with the bitches.  This may or may not make up for the fact that you are poor as fuck, as evidenced by the fact that you are cooking this kind of thing.

[Porkchop]

Nate, I'm not quite sure how you did it, but you just made cooking vegetable soup sound like the most ass kicking, badass thing a human being could possibly do. That recipe filled my head with images of you throwing vegetables in to a huge cauldron while headbutting a kodiak bear or something.

[Rufa]

Onions are the rich man's cheap food. They can be added to almost any meal to make it more tasty. The key is to cook them very thoroughly.

To caramelize onions (make them taste sweet) slice 'em, dice 'em (or whatever), then pan fry them in hot oil until they start to get brown in places. Then, turn the heat down to medium and to keep them from burning, add small amounts of water. Just enough to get all the onions wet, but not completely covered. Once the water evaporates, add small amounts of water one or two more times. You can add salt and dried herbs while they cook in the water/oil mix. I like oregano.

You can make onion soup at this point by adding stock or water and boullion and letting them boil for maybe 15 minutes longer.

I also grow my own herbs. I bought a big rosemary plant for like $4... pick leaves off a little at a time. Around here it costs several dollars just to buy a little package of fresh rosemary at the grocery store.

[norumaru]

I worked out some pretty cheap recipes a while ago, i'll write some of them down later, but for starters, some general hints:

1. Rice. Has already been mentioned, but still: rice. Find an asian food market and buy a 5 or even 10 kilo bag, it's a lot cheaper and better quality than the 500g or 1 kilo packs you get at normal super markets. Cook 2 cups of rice with 4 cups of water, should last at least a day. Get out a pan and throw in the rice, some vegetables (see 2. and 3.) and pour a little water and some instant stock into it, and fry until the water has evaporated. An even cheaper alternative is asking some of the richer students hanging out in the kitchen if you can pour some of their beer onto it, 2-3 mouthfuls are enough. Use coconut juice if you want it to be tasty, or for variation - also pretty cheap at asian food markets. In a real pinch, ketchup or hot sauce can be used instead of everything else but the rice.

2. Dumpsters. Have been mentioned, but there's an actually feasible way to use them. Usage obviously depends on your sense of dignity, but if it allows or the budget forces you to do this, this is how it's done: Garbage bins on the street are not worth your time. go to the back of supermarkets, and look into the bigger containers. go around or shortly after closing hour. you should find a lot of usable fruit and vegetables (apples with spots from handling, slightly ruptured tomatoes, zucchini or cucumbers that broke in half etc) and dairy products that expired the same day or will expire the next day.

3. Vegetables - if possible, buy them at small shops, real fruit shops, not supermarkets etc. (if they are cheaper or equally cheap, which is often the case) and come in right before they close. strike up a little conversation and casually mention that you're a student on a tight budget if the owner/person behind the counter is nice. if not, look for another shop. they will often give you something they can't sell anyway (like the broken or slightly pressed fruit mentioned above) or is not very fresh anymore for free. if they do, be very, but not obnoxiously thankful, and come back. important is to bond a little with the people behind the counter, and to really, actually buy something. you should really shop for fruit and vegetables there, and see the chance of getting something for free as a bonus. every apple you get for free is one apple more than you'd have gotten at the supermarket.
small shops also often sell less popular, but still very tasty things that are often very cheap, like rutabagas. learn how to cook them.

4. Bread - see 3., and substitute veggie and fruit related words with bakery items of your choice.

5. One of the cheapest things i can eat a lot without becoming sick of it is the good ole tomato bread - tomatoes (see 2. & 3.), and bread. Some salt and pepper, and if you can get it from, for example, your parents or something, a dash of balsamico for added effect. or put some cheap cheese on it and put it in the oven for 10 minutes.

6. do not, under any circumstances, eat other peoples' food without asking, and don't ask for food a lot. you can actually get more free food from your fellow students if you're nice and honest about it. if there are fellow students with more money whom you get along with, do ask them for food sometimes - something small, like "could I bum a tomato/an egg/a slice of ham/whatever you're eating there". be sure to do this more in a "this looks tasty, mind to share some" fashion instead of a "I'm poor, help me out" fashion. If they feel like they're giving it to you because they want to, and you've only made them think of doing it, you'll get along better with them and get more food. On the other hand, also be sure to at least offer some food to the people who share with you sometimes, so that they don't feel exploited. When you're cooking up a pot of veggie and rice soup or chili is a good opportunity to do that. I'm not suggesting to actually calculate that way, but you can easily get more food from the other people than you give them; it's more about establishing a bond of sharing food, so that you don't appear to be leeching off of them.

7. find another poor student, and shop together. you don't have to pool your cash, but you can save a lot of money buying quantities that one person could not eat alone before it goes bad. Ever wondered who would buy these 5 kilo bags of potatoes, 1.5 kg packs of cooked ham or 3 l bottles of frying oil? You, that's who.

8. this probably goes without saying, but look for special offers and coupons everywhere, and buy these strange "not quite waste" type products - some supermarkets, especially those with their own cold cuts and cheese counters, sell the end chunks of salami, cheese or ham for about 2/3ds the price of the actual, neatly cut up and/or packaged product. look for food industry plants in your area, they often sell odd pieces for a steal (i once got about 1.5 kg of fused together fruit gums for 3 €).

9. another dignity issue: do not be afraid to ask at the cheese counter whether they sell odd chunks, or anywhere whether there's something cheap. You couldn't care less what the cashier drone thinks of you. To be honest, i have problems with that myself and am very thankful that i don't have to do it right now, but try to overcome that.

10. like going out? sign up for a forum - or several - about the music you like or clubbing in general in your area. they very, very often give away free tickets there.

11. More a general, pretty uncomplicated way to make some money: Find out what people in other places might want that is cheap or exclusive in your area, and put it on eBay. Request payment in advance, and buy the actual thing with the payment. Check flea markets for cheap books and your bookshelf for ones you won't need anymore, and sell them on amazon. My record was 87 € in one month from amazon marketplace sales alone, and it doesn't take more effort than access to the net, a printer and a walk to the post office 2 or 3 times a week.

[Niff_Stipples]

Learn to digest metal and glass. It can be done. Lots of that stuff lying around. Dont forget to chew heaps.

[Useless]

yup .....ramen is the way to go... but dont over do it ....get some fresh food in your system once in a while or you might go sick

[Nate]

yup .....ramen is the way to go... but dont over do it ....get some fresh food in ur system once in a while or u might go sick

Between starving and ramen, I'm not 100% which is worse.  That stuff has all the nutritional value of fried cardboard, minus any of the dietry fiber you might get from the cardboard.

Short of being homeless, I don't see any reason to ever have to eat the stuff on even a semiregular basis.  If you can afford ramen, then you can afford rice and beans, which have actual nutritional value.

Don't get me wrong, I have a few packages of the stuff, and I've eaten maybe 3 bowls of it in the last year or so, but for the purposes of this thread, if you can afford Internet access, then you can afford to buy better food than ramen, and should.