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Here's a recipe found randomly via google search. It looks easily doctored/altered; I'd replace the cottage cheese with a small batch of bechamel sauce (try this--you might need to halve it) simply because I prefer it. I like bakes like this because they're easy to change to suit your preferences. Good luck.

Healthier alternative to gravy/cream of mushroom is a flour-based white sauce.

Also: to cut even more cost, biscuits are very easy to make from scratch.

It's funny—I just made these the other day on a date. We unloaded a can of tuna in the mix instead of beef. But that's only for people who like weird things like tuna casserole.

Ooops, I forgot to include thinly sliced carrots. They are usually stir fried in before the green peppers. I also omitted the entire usage of tomatoes (which can be optional). I basically throw in the tomato as wedges to add more tomato flavor than you might get with ketchup alone.

Also apologies for not giving the exact proportions on the sauce. As you can tell from how the recipe was written, I tend to make it up as I go along. Here is a similar sweet and sour sauce with the proportions a bit more specific.

This! Kiwi Knives and Kom Kom (by the same company, just premium line) are quickly becoming the knives of choice for many chefs. They're inexpensive, give a razor sharp edge, are a good size for almost any job and fit the adult hand very comfortably. I bought one at a local oriental market and love using it. Recently, I've bought 4 other styles from amazon as the oriental market only had the one style. This style is what I recommend and use most often. You might need to run it across a steel once to align the cutting edge, I did mine to get it sharp (1 pass and less than 5 seconds total). I think they're shipped that way to prevent them cutting through the packaging in shipping.

Sure. These things are pretty cheap. You plug them in, they get hot, and you put them in a cup of liquid to heat it up. I don't think they'll bring water to a rolling boil, but it gets hot enough for tea, coffee, hot ramen, etc.

Slice a couple up and save in the fridge for quick snacks for the next couple of days. Roasted red pepper soup is delicious and freezes well. I freeze soup in small plastic containers that I can then take to work with me. I make everyone jealous eating homemade soup while they're all eating Lean Cuisine. Peppers are great roasted- slice into big chunks, toss with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and seasoning(s) of choice, stick them in a super hot oven.

Edit- If you're really not going to use them, bring them to a food bank. I know most in North America are low on produce donations this year due to the overall crappy growing season.

Slow cooker lentil soup. I guess you don't have to use a slow cooker but it's the easiest by far. I use this recipe as a base but it's very flexible. The important components are onions, lentils, a little oil to pre-fry the onions in and liquid (I usually use water and a stock cube). You can add basically any veggie to it. This is a great way to use up vegetables that aren't quite fresh anymore (but not rotting yet). You could definitely buy veggies in the grocery store that are on sale or the ones that they discount at the end of the day because they aren't the freshest. It's very yummy, cheap and filling.

Depending on how adventuresome you are, this blog offers a fantastic place to start with very healthy and delicious cooking: http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/

I also use http://allrecipes.com/ and read through some comments to make sure there aren't any obvious pitfalls before making a recipe.

I think you are on a fantastic track - choose recipes that you imagine would be fun to make as well as eat - because when you come home late from work and are tired, it can be tempting to get back on the take out slump (expensive and not always healthy!). Prepare yourself mentally to spend an hour in the kitchen cooking a meal, and make enough so that you can eat it for lunch or dinner the next day too.

Don't take yourself too seriously - you will have some mistakes in the beginning (heck, even after you get good at cooking!), and most of the time they can be made edible one way or another.

I've had bread that didn't rise, so I made it into bread pudding. One time sloppy joes were too liquidy, so I added some chili powder and we ate them in bowls with corn bread. Sometimes a meal (for example, a stir fry) would be too bland, so I would spend 15mins making a sauce to put over the leftovers.

My partner and I currently live on $50/week in groceries largely by making simple things ourselves. For example:

1 Granola (oats, a little butter, sugar, and dried fruit, I have a great stovetop recipe) 2 Pancakes 3 Bread (machine - you can get one on amazon for less than $100 nowadays or take the one your friend never uses, it will pay you back in six months easily) 4 Desserts (brownies/bars are super quick and healthier than anything you can buy at the store) 5 Pasta sauce 6 Broth/soup stock

and the list goes on. If you'd like any of the recipes, just ask!

If you like cabbage (which is usually pretty cheap), this is good: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/ramen-cabbage-salad/

• You don't need the sunflower seeds, which are probably the most expensive ingredient.

• That's way too much oil for most half cabbages. I go down to 1/4 cup (or less - it's not good if it's greasy).

• If you don't have a food processor or a good knife, don't bother - it's got to be cut up pretty fine to be good.

• I like it best with blue flavored ramen.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/italian-chicken-and-chickpeas/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=italian%20chicken%20and%20chickpeas&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page

This looks odd, but it's really easy and tasty. Plus..tons of protein. :) And leftovers are yummy.

Build yourself a Hot Box or Hay Box and use it as a slow cooker. The whole thing is cheap and can be constructed out of cardboard and newspaper or other things you can find for cheap or free.

Find a slow-cooker recipie for chicken that you like. Start with a pot on the stove and move it to the Hot Box. Let it finish over some hours in the Hot Box. Enjoy.

If you want warm lunches, you could get an electric lunchbox.

I got downvoted once for suggesting that you can also do a similar method in the microwave! The best investment I made was something similar to this container .

You should be able to do the same with any item you would use to steam your vegetables to be honest. Quicker and easier than the stove top.

Assuming you don't have soy allergies, one of the most helpful things i have learned about is TVP, or textured vegetable protein.

Put a half cup scoop into a measuring cup, add Better than Boullion Paste, garlic powder, onion powder, and let it stand for like 10 to 15 minutes and you effectively have chicken or beef. (whatever you season it with will obviously be what it tastes like, so season heavily)

I use it at work for fast chicken curry, chicken tacos, or Manwich's.

The mistake people make is not letting it fully hydrate for 10 to 15 minutes marinading in whatever stock/spices you want. They are in a hurry and eat it while it is still crunchy cardboard.

If you want it to be more like Taco Bell beef, just crunch it up with a hammer in a ziploc bag.

Its not sexy or exciting, but it works well and is shelf stable.

https://www.amazon.com/MILPAS-Soya-Carne-Protein-Ounce/dp/B07BC36S52/ref=sr\_1\_3?crid=162A7QX4CWHR7&keywords=milpas&qid=1657673118&rdc=1&sprefix=mil%2Caps%2C391&sr=8-3

Stews are literally soup with a thicker liquid. The size of the meat doesn’t matter if you use the same amount for both.

OP is using a can of beef, if he uses half the can and cuts the meat into bite sized pieces submerged in broth it’s soup. If he’s cutting the meat in larger pieces in a thicker broth it’s a stew.

Both dishes still have the same amount of meat. The size of the cuts is irrelevant since they’ll both have the same nutritional value.

That being said, stews tend to be heartier, but that doesn’t mean a soup packed with meats and veggies can’t be a meal like you suggested.

This is one of my favorite soups and it’s very hearty and filling

https://www.amazon.com/Campbells-Chunky-Sirloin-Country-Vegetables/dp/B0014EQHY4

BUMBLE BEE Snack on the Run Tuna Salad with Crackers, Canned Tuna Fish, High Protein Food, 3.5 Ounce (Pack of 12) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CQ77XB4/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_SPWFNJXWEE4AEGT61GHZ

I'll buy a handful of these or the chicken salad variety and a bag of apples/oranges when I travel for work. Bank the per diem.

Try a self-heating lunch box! They’re all over Amazon and I just ordered my husband one. They’re lunch boxes that can be plugged into a normal outlet or into a car!

This is the one I got my husband:

Electric Lunch Box Food Heater -... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096WG2F1Z?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I tested it with some cold potato soup and it heated it up within 30 min to well above warm. It was actually hot. If you had more food, you just let it warm longer.

My #1 recommendation is an electric pot. Even though you said you don't want to buy cookware, this will replace so many items and you'd never have to leave your room. You can do everything from heat up a can of soup or chili, make ramen, boil pasta, boil or poach eggs, make a stir fry, sauté various meats, make oatmeal, make rice, heat up hot dogs, make burgers, etc. It heats up extremely fast and maintains its temperature. Just wipe it out and rinse it for cleaning. For an example of its volume, you can easily fit 3 packages of the Maruchan or Top ramen noodles in there. So convenient and fast. Cheapest meals would be something with eggs, beans, rice, oatmeal.

Second recommendation: toaster bags. Use them to make yourself a grilled cheese and other hot items: simply slip your food inside one of these then put it into the toaster. Your bread gets crispy and your cheese gets gooey, and there's no cleanup. You can also use them to reheat pizza slices (crispy crust!), quickly heat frozen fish, chicken patties or chicken nuggets, pizza rolls, make a quesadilla, etc. Each bag can be used up to 100 times.

If you want to focus on the cold stuff: * make portions of pasta salad: just need to boil the pasta, then add Italian dressing plus cold cuts (salami, cheese cubes, olives). * pinwheels: lay out a tortilla, add ham & cheese, then roll up and slice into discs. * overnight oats: add equal parts oatmeal + yogurt, then milk and whatever other toppings (cinnamon, fruits, nuts) and store overnight. * PB&J. * make snack packs: sliced veggies (baby carrots, olives, pickles, cherry tomatoes, celery sticks) + dip such as ranch or hummus, a few hardboiled eggs, a few cubes of cheese, a handful of nuts, a few slices of deli meat, fruits (grapes, apple slices), crackers.

As others have said, rice is the way to go, and anything else should essentially be "flavoring" the rice.

If you live in the US, boneless chicken breast is regularly under $2 a lb at walmart/discount grocery stores, and I would add in potatoes (often 10lb bags for $3-5).

From here you can make countless curries or even just simple chicken and rice dishes. My personal go to meal is actually Thai curry, which you could honestly fit into the budget easily here. It's essentially the ingredients I've mentioned plus Thai curry paste. The tubs cost about $6 at any Asian market.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044PYPVC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_GZC9EA4ENHATN6J4QMM0 but don't buy from here, it's just what you want to look for.

Great thing about rice is you'll essentially never go hungry. Finishing off the meal with a bowl of rice (when still hungry) is actually an incredibly common thing in a lot of countries, and a bowl costs about 5c in rice.

Seems pricey to me... probably because of shipping costs.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00063RXNI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_aGk.Fb018H0QV

Check eBay, antique malls for a used one.

Brick and Mortar Walmartd, or Ace Hardware may have them.

I have a rice cooker with a steaming basket on top (worth the $40 investment). I put rice and veggies in it (normally onion, broccoli, peppers, whatever).

I go to the asian grocery store and buy these jars of different curry pastes for like $4-5 (and will make probably 8 batches of sauce). I get low fat yogurt and a little sour cream and make a sauce.

In about 20 mins with virtually no prep or cooking necessary, I have rice, veggies, and I cut these sausages in for meat (or whatever meat I have, maybe an egg too). I mix the sauce in and have a really great, cheap (and relatively healthy) meal without much cooking required too!

edit: a few words

I bought one of these and it’s been a great investment! I’ll often bring frozen food (TV dinner for example) and I pop it in 1-2 hours before I want to eat. You will need an outlet, and I recommend keeping it on the ground if possible as the bottom of the lunch box will get quite hot, I keep mine under my desk.

It’ll take you some trial and error to figure out when your food will be hot enough for you (after a while the food will get hot enough to release steam), but I personally love it!

Also a note about sandwiches. If you build it in the following order it shouldn’t be soggy!: bread, lettuce, condiments, other veggies, meat, more condiments, lettuce, bread

If you are partial to pb&js then put the peanut butter in a thin layer on both pieces of bread and put the jelly in the middle, this should also mitigate any sogginess.

Another thing I love bringing is a ‘grown up lunchable/discount charcuterie’. I’ll pack 2 servings of cured meat (pepperoni or salami), 30 g of raw cashews (kind of expensive but very satisfying and they taste very buttery and rich), 1-2 oz of my favorite hard cheese (Beecher’s Flagship cheddar, very salty and flavorful) and a good portion of fruit (typically berries or grapes, but anything goes!). If I’m really craving sweets I’ll toss in some nestle semi sweet chocolate chips too!

If you can also keep some sort of bottles citrus (I keep lemon), hot sauce, and little Tupperware filled with salt and pepper, this will help you dress up your from home meals! I also keep left over condiment packets from fast food restaurants (ketchup, soy sauce, Taco Bell hot sauce) to dress up stuff even more.

Best of luck!

you can buy it from amazon https://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Colander-Washer-Drainer-FIRSTWAY/dp/B071R5TD2G/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1507001809&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=rice+washer&psc=1

Instead of WD40, I'd highly recommend this oil:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00065VGWK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use it for just about anything that isn't moving properly and, for the most part, it's worked better and the bottle has lasted longer than WD40.

You will love this recipe then! It's also good served cold as a dip along side some Naan Crisps (I recently discovered these and they are amazing!!!!!)

In my country caramel popcorn is made all together. This is how I make it:

• Put a bit of oil in a saucepan.
• Wait a bit until it heats up.
• Add some popcorn to cover most of the base of the saucepan.
• Wait until the first popcorn pops.
• Add the same volume you added of popcorn, but with sugar.
• Cover
• Shake vigorously until it stops popping
• Take out of the fire and pour it in another container

If you have a manual popcorn maker saucepan you can save the "shake vigorously" part, and ensure that you never, EVER, burn a single popcorn, and you don't break a sweat making it.