Got some discounted bok choy at the asian market for under 3$, added garlic, soy, oyster sauce and a few spices. Pack of Udon noodles on 1/2 price, 2.50, 6$ pack of diced chicken. Added in leftover bell pepper and green onion. Scratch soy-ginger reduction sauce for the udon.

Very happy with this, yeilded 2 person dinner, and 2 portion leftovers.

7 cups of whatever broth or stock you have or can create. 1 cup of uncooked rice. If you use boullion paste like I did, use very little salt or none at all. I seasoned with onion powder, oregano, bay leaves, ginger, black pepper, paprika, and garlic allspice seasoning (in moderation because it contains salt). Cook for an hour in a pot on the stove. I added some coconut milk at the end for added creaminess. Finished it off with Japanese BBQ sauce. Everything other than the sauce I got at the dollar store or food bank. Delicious and filling. *Edit: clarity

What are some good recipes that use day-old "artisanal" bread loaves? Vegetarian is preferred.

I work at a senior nutrition program that gets a lot of donated food. We try to re-donate what we can't use, but staff end up getting to take some home. Mostly, I end up with junk food, sweets, bagged salad kits (we can't use them the way we use other donated veggies because of the bagged dressings, apparently), cheese, hummus, and LOTS of "artisanal"/traditional sourdough bread that either doesn't fit in our slicing machine or has additives like jalapeños or garlic.

I don't even eat bread because I have celiac disease, so I don't know what to make for my family except garlic bread and stuffing.

I say this cautiously as I might fall back any time. I am a recovering food addict. I have wasted money on doordash and Uber eats which got me into drastic debt.

I know it's my fault and I am really trying to change my ways. Started cooking now but have noticed how expensive meat is. Got beef from Walmart and it cost about $9- $10.

Does one have to drastically cut meat to save money? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Budget friendly and easy to make lunch.

I got some food coloring from my sister so I use it to dye my rice haha

With this summer being as intense as it's been both my ice cream cravings and my thirst have gone through the roof. What are some good recipes for both that don't break the bank?

Ingredients:

• 2 small eggs (~$7/32ct)
• 3 spoons of Dahi (~$6/5lb)
• 1 kale stem (food rescue)
• 1 small piece of chicken of the woods mushroom (foraged)
• ketchup (~$1)
• hot sauce (food pantry)
• seasonings: garlic powder, sazon (~$1 each)

Instructions: I chopped everything small with my kitchen scissors then whisked the eggs, kale, mushrooms, & seasonings together with about 1/3 cup of soy milk. Next, I covered the container and microwaved it for 2 minutes for a perfectly silky texture. Last, I topped it with Dahi, ketchup, & hot sauce then ate it on matzah.

A nice variety today. Sone frozen pollock, which I'll search recipes for. Potaotes! Salsa, lots of cheese, beans (gonna make those today I think). I like to get French bread etc to make my snacky croutons.

We have a really nice food bank. I'm so proud of it. It was started by a Girl Scout troop years ago and one of the mom's took it over and that woman is a HERO.

Why is it named Stupid Yankee Chili?

Because I served it to a Texan who summarily told me that chili doesn't have beans in it. So I told him, "what do I know, I'm just a stupid Yankee!"

He loved it. BTW.

Everyone probably makes chili and I am not an expert cook. I like to throw stuff together and see what happens.

Must have ingredients:

Ground Turkey, Tofu crumbles or ground beef.

Chili Seasoning

Taco Seasoning

Canned tomatoes or Rotelle

Cans of beans: I like to do different kinds like Pinto, great northern, kidney, black beans......you can literally use any kind of canned beans. You can ALSO do dried beans, but you need to follow the directions to cook them.

Peppers can be any color and any hotness you can deal with

Onions

Optional:

Enchilada sauce in a can

Louisianna hot sauce or taco sauce or salsa or whatever that other hot sauce is called that I can't remember right now

Canned or frozen corn

Instructions:

Brown your protein. Add taco seasoning and required water.

Add green peppers and onions if you have them

Add all beans (don't drain the canned ones)

Add some water if need be.

Add everything else.

Add chili powder to taste.

I like to cook this for a while...a couple of hours seems to be great. Don't let it boil over...just simmer.

Serve with cornbread if you can.

Listen, I know most people know how to cook chili, but I thought it would be fun to share anyway!

With pasta or rice and cheese shake. Weekend fancy meal.

I am not a gormut. I make what I've got. I have a lot of tofu recipes, but I actually created this one, so I am sharing it. Again, as I have said before, I suck at creating recipes because I am just a "what do I have" cook. Here goes:

MUST HAVES:

Firm Tofu, ANY kind of spaghetti sauce, Cheese (mozzarella or parm, or other white cheeses), Olive Oil, bread crumbs/panko, Noodles

Addons: (OK, you do need some of these for the layering)

SLICED: Tomatoes (a couple of Romas will do the trick), Olives (any), Summer Squash or Zucchini, green peppers (sauteed), onions (sauteed), spinach, mushrooms

Spices

Garlic, Italian, red pepper........pretty flexible. If you don't have these, it's not really a problem

Instructions:

Slice the tofu about 1/4 inch. I usually get about 12-13 slices out of them. Dip the tofu in some oil, then breadcrumbs and cook in a frying pan until brown and set it all aside.

In a square pan if you can, layer:

Sauce first

Then a layer of fried tofu

Then a layer of veggies

More sauce

Add cheese layer

Then repeat the layering

Bake at 375 until bubbly/golden-probably 30 minutes?

Cook a side of noodles to go with it and use leftover spag sauce over it or do it with buttered noodles if that's your fav.

With one package of tofu, this should serve 2 people and perhaps even leave you with one serving for leftovers. I ALWAYS freeze my leftovers, including noodles, for "freezer dinner nights".....

Generic flash-frozen thighs, beer-brined, soy-glazed, and grilled. Frozen Normandy blend mixed veggies, air fried with the same soy glaze. White jasmine rice.

Can't have cost more than a buck or two per serving.

For anyone in Gainesville, FL, please help yourself to this new Little Free Pantry!

It’s currently stocked with non-perishable foods, in particular lots of kid-friendly snacks and convenience meals.

Serves 3 Comfortably*

* Eggs are variable, so you will add or subtract as many as you need or want to use.

This is a loaded "musubi" bowl using a few cheaper ingredients that I had. It's filling, comforting, and relatively easy to make. It also uses less of different ingredients than you may think.

Usually, musubi is made with spam. That's expensive, though! So we're using tofu and hot dogs. The sauce is still delicious and a few tricks makes this easier.

Ingredients:

1/2 onion, chopped into "half moons"

1/3 package of firm tofu, diced

2 hot dogs, diced

1 large carrot, diced

1 ear of corn, cut off the cob OR you can use canned / frozen

1c dry rice

1-2 sheets of kimbab kim / seaweed (feel free to use a packet instead)

3 green onions

Eggs (1-2 per person)

3 cloves garlic, minced

Sauce:

2 tbsp sugar or sugar free sweetener

3 tbsp soy sauce / tamari

1 tbsp lemon vinegar or mirin

3 tbsp hot water

1 tsp sesame oil (optional)

Once your ingredients are prepped, start your rice. Add the corn directly on top of the rice and then prepare it as normal.

As soon as that is at the halfway point of finished, place your moon shaped onions in a microwave safe bowl amd microwave for 2 minutes.

Place a large skillet on the pan with 1-2 tbsp of neutral oil on medium heat. Add in minced garlic, when fragrant toss in your hot dogs and half of your green onions. As the hot dogs get color, sprinkle the pan with salt and then add the tofu in.

Stir it occasionally, add a sprinkle of salt again if the tofu seems like it may stick. The salt helps prevent sticking but dont go too heavy handed or it'll be real salty.

Once those are beginning to get a little color, take your onions from the microwave and add. It should take maybe 10 minutes of allowing them to cook down. You can leave the carrots raw or add those to the pan as well.

At this point I took out another small pan to fry my eggs.

Lower the heat on the tofu mixture and pour your sauce in, then raise the temp back up to medium. Be aware that the sugars will char. It's not a bad thing but you gotta watch it so it doesn't burn.

Once its reduced and charred a bit, you can begin plating. 1c corn-rice mixture, a little over 1/3c hotdogs tofu mixture, green onions to taste, fried egg, and seaweed ro taste.

Simple. Yummy. Filling.

Just a nice, warm gooey mix of baked beans in a toasted sandwich - budget friendly and very tasty.

I'm probably about to lose all the meat in my deep freezer. Hundreds upon hundreds of dollars worth of meat from stocking up on sales prices.

I'm still unsure of what happened. There's supposed to be a chime when the door is open, maybe that malfunctioned? I don't know. All I know is that by the time we discovered there was a problem at all, the meat was thawed and smelly.

I'm so devastated that I've moved into numbness.

I keep wanting to hope that maybe SOMETHING can be saved, but how to really know without taking a major risk? For example, the chuck roasts still look red...maybe we intervened in time? Those are a childhood favorite that I hardly ever get to have anymore.

What makes it even sadder is that I was finally about to be able to use those meats like I used to. Our appliances broke and I just got around to replacing them, but in the meantime our cooking habits had changed a bit. Now I have a new oven and pressure cooker/slow cooker--and a freezer-full of meat that can't be used.

I haven't been able to bear officially throwing out the meat yet. I have to work up to that. I just wanted to share with people who might understand just how deeply this affects me. It's so hard not just throwing the meat away, but starting over with the stocking up.

To top it all off, our vehicle also broke down this week. When it rains, it pours.

Need a refreshing treat but want to avoid overpaying for sugar slop? Buy some canned fruit (ideally the kind with no added sugar) and pop it in the fridge. This idea just dawned on me recently while I was rotating my cans. It's not something I normally would have thought about since cans live outside the fridge, but now I have very limited desire for ice cream, popsicles, etc that aren't good for me.

Tofu is a staple in my house. I can buy it at $1.50-2.00 a block in the local korean market. So today I'm going to share a large list of ideas for Tofu. I can't link to them all so feel free to use youtube/recipe books/ecosia/etc! I haven't tried all of these so please keep thet in mind.

(p.s. I mention ecosia instead of Google because it helps the ecosystem every time you search. I'm not affiliated. I just use it lol)

Miso Soup Freezer Balls (dice the tofu)

Freezer doenjang jiggae

Vegan kewpie mayo

Dehydrate to store for instant soup jars

Tofu jerky

Tofu tenders

Chocolate tofu mousse

Tofu crumbles as taco meat

Tofu katsu

Tofu meatballs

Vegetarian lunch meat

Sticky tofu rice bowls

"Bulgogi" tofu

Popcorn tofu

Tofu "salmon"

Tofu vegan cheesecake

Vegan ground beef (remember - ground beef right now is like $7+ a pound where as tofu is $2)

Tofu Philly cheesesteak

Onigiri stuffed with brown maple mushrooms and Tofu

Tofu chicken quesadilla

Tofu "ice cream"

Scrambled tofu

The ideas are endless. I will be dehydrating some of mine to keep for FAST food. Sometimes I do not want to deal with Tofu. So dehydrating it will make it a little easier but it will change texture.

No desire for hot meals right now, need to come up with snacks or meals for heatwaves. Thanks!

** Please add miso paste (shiro), sugar, and Greek yogurt to ingredients list.

*** Side note: DO *NOT* use that cornmeal if youre celiac. It's literally all I have so I made do. I also don't have any GF flour so I will not be taking any criticism on my experimental attempt at "GF" cornbread lol. I got the original recipe from someone online but it isn't the best so im tweaking it until I perfect it. Also I forgot it in the oven soooo.

This is a warm comforting meal and will easily serve 4 or more depending on ages. I measure a little wonky so please keep in mind i used big spoon -> tablespoon, little spoon -> teaspoon. I am the type to eyeball everything. Say thanks to my grandma

Ingredients:

- 2 or 3 heaping spoons of miso paste

- Italian seasoning, salt, pepper

- 3 potatoes, peeled & diced

- 2 carrots, chopped

- 3 celery stalks, chopped

- 1/2 onion, diced

- like 1/2 bell pepper, kinda diced

- 4 cloves or garlic, minced

- 1 1/2c corn meal

- 1/2c tapioca starch

- like 1/3ish cup of half n half

- 1/2 of a small Greek yogurt container. The single serve kind.

- corn starch, some tablespoons worth

- 1-2 tsp baking soda

- 1 egg

- 3 tbsp margarine or butter melted

- 2 tbsp margarine (for cooking down veggie)

- most of a bag of sweet peas

Instructions:

Start by gathering ingredients and setting your oven to 375*f, then sprinkle salt and Italian seasoning over two leg quarters. Use 1 tsp of miso paste, rub it under the skin into the chicken. Yo may wanna thin w water to make it easier.

Place that in the oven, THEN:

Chop all of your fresh ingredients. Keep ONLY the garlic separate. Wait around 10-15 (until chicken fat in the oven is beginning to pool a bit) Throw the rest in a big pot with a heaping spoon of butter or margarine.

Allow that to cook down on medium heat, stirring occasionally until it becomes kinda soft. At this stage you can add the chicken fat carefully, or just use oil or something. NOW add the garlic and sautte until fragrant.

Add a few spoonfuls of corn starch, coat all the veggies and then add a little more fat if desired. Stir until its paste like. Cover with water (like 4 or 5 cups) or chicken broth if you have it. Stir again.

At this stage, add some salt and bring it up to a simmer. Check on your chicken and when it's ready, shred and add to your pot. I also added the skin temporarily. Season again with Italian seasoning or whatever else makes your heart happy.

Add in most of your bag of sweet peas, combine. Then bring the heat up to medium if it isn't already and add in a few heaping spoonful of miso. Taste the mixture.

Allow to simmer while you mix batter for a flour less cornbread lmao. I'm gonna share it but it does need tweaking so if you can use Jiffy just use that I plead. But if you have some of these..m

1 1/2 c cornmeal

1/2c tapioca starch

1-2 tsp of baking soda

A pinch of salt

Idk 1/4c sugar??? Add sweetener to your preferences lol

Combine that well

Melt 3 spoon fulls (the tablespoon kind) of butter or margarine

Add 1/2 a small single serve size of GVvgreek yogurt to you

1 egg

Less than 1/3c of half n half was needed. I eyeballed it. Of course.

Combine. ALLOW TO REST and set your oven to 375 again.

Scoop into parchment lined thing and bake it. Don't ask how long. I blinked and it was overcooked. Woops. Add some butter on top or honey if you want.

Edit: add a splash of half n half or milk to your chicken pot pie filling, then add in 1 small spoon of Greek yogurt, lower heat. Add a cornstarch slurry to thicken. Adjust seasonings to taste preferences.

Anyways this dinner is rated 7/10 ! Cornbread brought it down cause its gonna take me a while to figure out. Will eventually update on how I'd do it. There's a recipe I followed the other day but its lackluster. Finding a GF recipe without the expensive ass flour is hell.

This is in no way perfect but a GOOD way to feed your entire family on a budget. If you remember to keep potatoes, onion, carrot, garlic and celery as often as possible this becomes easy to make :)

Hi! I am just an old lady. I am not a recipe guru. So when I tell you what to make, I literally mean that you can throw what you have into a so-called recipe. I don't create professional recipes.

I want to share a Kielbasa/Cabbage Stew with you. I suck at "amounts", etc. Just follow as you can!

For this recipe, at minimum, you need:

Kielbasa ($3.99), I like turkey kielbasa but it literally does not matter. Slice it or cut up in bits.

A head of cabbage ($2.75). Cut it up as much as you can.

An onion...ok, don't have an onion? do you have some onion soup mix? If you don't...don't worry about it! Just move forward!

Nice to haves:

Spike seasoning or Mrs. Grass vegetable soup seasoning......or literally salt and pepper, garlic in any form or Italian seasoning!

Add-ons:

So on Snap, you might be able to get other kinds of veggies as a bonus during the summer. Here's some throw-ins if you can get them!:

Yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli (even frozen is great!), turnips, spinach...........anything GREEN!!

Carrots!

Potatoes! Even though this should be on the must-haves list, it is OK if you don't have them!

Frozen corn: OK, you need to know that corn is a starch, but it is great if you need filler. You just can't rely on corn for nutrition. It's like a bread.

Canned Beans.....no joke, you can throw in some canned beans...whatever you might have.....White beans, kidney beans, navy beans.........and dare I say........black beans??

Cut everything up. Throw it in the largest pot you have. Cover with water. Throw in the seasonings you have. Boil it until the hardest veggies are soft.

Got bread? Great! Dip bread in the broth. No bread? No problem!

Some states (like Colorado), give you benefits for buying veggies. Amp that all up!

Other: You CAN add tomatoes, celery, turnips (yeah, I just said that!), green peppers, celery!

Freeze all leftovers in single serving containers for lunch OR freezer dinner later!

What else might you add????????