-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
What are / were your struggle meals?
- Thread starter Deleted member 19844
- Start date
Spicy Noodles:
Pasta
Butter
Louisiana Hot Sauce
Egg
I still make it sometimes cause it's freaking delicious.
Pasta
Butter
Louisiana Hot Sauce
Egg
I still make it sometimes cause it's freaking delicious.
Rice + black beans + frozen veggie mix + tortillas.
I used to make like 20-30 burritos with that and freeze the leftovers.
I used to make like 20-30 burritos with that and freeze the leftovers.
Black beans and rice. You can dress it up pretty nice and it's still cheap. I even still enjoy it today sometimes. Can of Black beans, can of rotelle, chop up some thai peppers (to whatever your spice tolerance is), chop up a bulb of garlic (a little less, and I guess less if you aren't as big a garlic fan as me), and put over rice. It's pretty good. And if you portion it right it can last a few meals too (for one person at least).
I didn't realize how poor we were as a kid but pretty much every food was a struggle food. My favorite was cheese sandwiches. Literally just two slices of bread with a Kraft single.
Sometimes we would eat fancy and put tuna and peas in macaroni.
Not gonna lie I sometimes make poverty food from those days for myself anyway because it's still delicious.
Sometimes we would eat fancy and put tuna and peas in macaroni.
Not gonna lie I sometimes make poverty food from those days for myself anyway because it's still delicious.
I'm filthy rich these days so I don't have struggle meals anymore BUT back when I was dirt poor...
I was super in debt, barely keeping up on rent, and had to really cut my budget because my roommate and I couldn't afford our oil bill that came... and I bought 20 cans of "ValuTime Chili" which was something like 0.10/can on discount at the discount super market if you bought 10 of them. It was fucking disgusting but I basically lived off of that for close to a month. THat's when I realized I needed to move home because it was no way to live.
But then I figured out some pretty good meals. Rice, beans, and a hot dog (w/ mustard) is a meal that will keep you going and costs so little for each meal. 1 cup of rice, half a can of beans, hot dog + bun (or no bun if it's a tight week), and mustard stays good for a really long time and it's not expensive. THis was my go to for a while and I loved it.
I'd also do buffalo chicken quesadillas. Take a normal flour tortilla, which is cheap (20 of them for a couple bucks maybe), and then the Tyson chicken patties which I Don't remember the price but they were cheap, you'd get 20 for $5 or somewhere around there. I'd use usually Ken's buffalo sauce because it went a long way with just a little (much further than frank's or the Spanish one), and then just a discount bag of mexican mixed cheese (probably cheddar + jack). This was more expensive than the rice & beans, but it wasn't an expensive meal, probably a little over a dollar or so to put each meal together and they tasted damn good. The buffalo sauce and the cheese were the only expensive parts, but again Ken's buffalo was like $3 for a salad dressing container of it and it went along way, weeks or months. The cheese would be the most expensive part, but you've gotta live a little.
I honestly kinda miss those meals... My wife doesn't let us eat hot dogs with any regularlity and she'd make some gross face if I went to make my buff chick quesadillas... but they were fucking good and cheap. SHe's so judgememental of all of the food that I make and will always come up with a reason for why she doesn't want to eat it, even when I make a pretty good meal, and then we'll go back to fucking cauliflower no-dairy pizza or something and it's like... ugh... there's no joy in this food and it's way more expensive than it should be for fucking cauliflower.
(btw, I'm not filthy rich)
I was super in debt, barely keeping up on rent, and had to really cut my budget because my roommate and I couldn't afford our oil bill that came... and I bought 20 cans of "ValuTime Chili" which was something like 0.10/can on discount at the discount super market if you bought 10 of them. It was fucking disgusting but I basically lived off of that for close to a month. THat's when I realized I needed to move home because it was no way to live.
But then I figured out some pretty good meals. Rice, beans, and a hot dog (w/ mustard) is a meal that will keep you going and costs so little for each meal. 1 cup of rice, half a can of beans, hot dog + bun (or no bun if it's a tight week), and mustard stays good for a really long time and it's not expensive. THis was my go to for a while and I loved it.
I'd also do buffalo chicken quesadillas. Take a normal flour tortilla, which is cheap (20 of them for a couple bucks maybe), and then the Tyson chicken patties which I Don't remember the price but they were cheap, you'd get 20 for $5 or somewhere around there. I'd use usually Ken's buffalo sauce because it went a long way with just a little (much further than frank's or the Spanish one), and then just a discount bag of mexican mixed cheese (probably cheddar + jack). This was more expensive than the rice & beans, but it wasn't an expensive meal, probably a little over a dollar or so to put each meal together and they tasted damn good. The buffalo sauce and the cheese were the only expensive parts, but again Ken's buffalo was like $3 for a salad dressing container of it and it went along way, weeks or months. The cheese would be the most expensive part, but you've gotta live a little.
I honestly kinda miss those meals... My wife doesn't let us eat hot dogs with any regularlity and she'd make some gross face if I went to make my buff chick quesadillas... but they were fucking good and cheap. SHe's so judgememental of all of the food that I make and will always come up with a reason for why she doesn't want to eat it, even when I make a pretty good meal, and then we'll go back to fucking cauliflower no-dairy pizza or something and it's like... ugh... there's no joy in this food and it's way more expensive than it should be for fucking cauliflower.
(btw, I'm not filthy rich)
OP
OP
Black beans and rice (at least the way my mom makes it) still makes my mouth water. And it's really simple, too.
Choices while at the nadir of my college days:
Rice with egg
Ramen/Mac n' cheese + Hot dogs
PB+J
Rice with egg
Ramen/Mac n' cheese + Hot dogs
PB+J
Hash browns and eggs. Costs less than a buck and quite filling.
Also if chicken leg meat is on sale (.79 a pound), I'll make a really hearty pozole verde that makes like 5 meals at like 1.50 a meal.
Also if chicken leg meat is on sale (.79 a pound), I'll make a really hearty pozole verde that makes like 5 meals at like 1.50 a meal.
There was a year in college where I shared an apartment with two other guys. One of them ate hot dogs and ramen every fucking day. The other two of us made hot dog & ramen jokes all the time. Now that I'm older, I totally understand and sorta feel bad about all those jokes we made.
Off-brand Mac n cheese and 98c packs of hot dogs. Also Ranch style beans with those same hotdogs. White rice and black beans
Oh and tons of eggs
Oh and tons of eggs
Living pretty comfortable now as an adult, but I remember as a kid we had some rough times. I remember at one point we lived in a Motel 6 and I had to eat cereal with powdered milk. Tasted like shit and not even the sugar from the cereal could save it.
We had a time where we couldn't buy bread, so my dad made me a bologna sandwich in the left over corn tortillas we had from El Pollo a month prior. Didn't help he smothered Miracle Whip all over the inside to make it taste better. It was so bad I cried eating that shit and couldn't go outside till I finished it.
We had a time where we couldn't buy bread, so my dad made me a bologna sandwich in the left over corn tortillas we had from El Pollo a month prior. Didn't help he smothered Miracle Whip all over the inside to make it taste better. It was so bad I cried eating that shit and couldn't go outside till I finished it.
Ramen and bulk packs of store-brand mac and cheese. I still get mac and cheese packs every now and then these days even though I'm not cutting costs as much because I came to love them during that time.
rice and whatever is in the house
rice and egg
rice and soup
rice and condiment
rice and butter and salt/pepper
rice and egg
rice and soup
rice and condiment
rice and butter and salt/pepper
When I first graduated college and moved to Columbus without a job I would just make grilled cheese every day. Sometimes with a little sriracha on it.
Cook some top ramen, drain it, toss it in a hot frying pan. Crack an egg on top of it. Pour the seasoning packet on top of it. Grab some shredded cheese, (or tear up a kraft single) and toss that on top. Toss in the frying pan until it's all melded together into a disgusting-looking mass.
Fried Ramen. It looks horrible, but it's tasty and cheap.
I haven't needed to do it in years, but I still kind of like it, so I cook it about every six months.
Fried Ramen. It looks horrible, but it's tasty and cheap.
I haven't needed to do it in years, but I still kind of like it, so I cook it about every six months.
$5 Hot n' Ready from Little Ceasar's. Costco pizza when I'm feeling fancy. Usually rationed them out over like 3 days.
Everything and anything that could quickly be microwaved back in college.
Those 50cents ramen packs really helped with the budget.
Those 50cents ramen packs really helped with the budget.
rice & beans + veg thats on sale (if I was feeling fancy). Pasta Roni when I was feelin v.fancy.
2008 - 2012 was a wild time.
2008 - 2012 was a wild time.
I used to go to a Dollar General and buy a box of spaghetti and a can marinara sauce. It cost like $2 or $3 and I got 2 meals out of it.
I don't know why, but it always made me feel sad doing it. It shouldn't have, because it was just like buying spaghetti at any other grocery store. Maybe it was the fact that I did it repeatedly, so I felt like the workers started to recognize me and pity me.
Edit: I just remembered another meal I would get from Dollar General. I'd buy a bag of brown rice, a can of black or red kidney beans, and a can of diced tomatoes and make rice and beans with that. It probably cost $3 or $4, but the bag of rice would last me like 6 meals, and the cans of beans and tomatoes would make 2 meals.
I don't know why, but it always made me feel sad doing it. It shouldn't have, because it was just like buying spaghetti at any other grocery store. Maybe it was the fact that I did it repeatedly, so I felt like the workers started to recognize me and pity me.
Edit: I just remembered another meal I would get from Dollar General. I'd buy a bag of brown rice, a can of black or red kidney beans, and a can of diced tomatoes and make rice and beans with that. It probably cost $3 or $4, but the bag of rice would last me like 6 meals, and the cans of beans and tomatoes would make 2 meals.
Last edited:
Lets be real. If your struggle meal costs over 2-3 dollars to make, then it isnt a struggle meal. A struggle meal is like 1-2 dollars or less
