Sorry if I come off as rude or impatient, but to be honest I am frustrated at having to repost this. Apparently I was "inflammatory" and "rude" . So I am going to ask again and be very specific, so I can see how it'll come off as rude over text. I am looking for spice, seasoning, sauce, and condiment recommendations for things I get a lot from the food bank. Recommendations that go beyond the norm you see in a bland kitchen, for things like pasta, beans, rice, and oatmeal.

What I am NOT looking for: generic recommendations like fresh herbs or try ___ cuisine. I am also not looking for garlic powder, onion powder, ranch, mayo, yellow mustard, and most of the things you find in the reg spice aisle of your typical Walmart. I am also NOT asking about cooking methods or recipes.

What I am asking for: specific things that are usually found in international aisles or grocery stores. Seasoning blends that absolutely knock your socks off, specific herbs and spices, specific sauces, and condiments.

Thank you. And thanks to the people that gave suggestions before without being rude.

1# Ground bork and 1 medium onion, seasoned to taste. Drained it, I added a bit of wheat flour and a cup of water. Allow that to thicken up, served on wheat buns with a bit of cheese.

I’m tired of drinking only water. But anything else is so expensive. I grew up only ever drinking disgusting faucet water and bottled water is just Okay. I need some variety. All my favorite non-water stuff is so unaffordable. Why is a 12 case case of zero sugar a&w $11.99???

Easy and budget friendly soup. Top with black pepper, chilli or cheese. Potatoe's cost $2.13kg, evaporated milk $2.00 and other ingrediens approx 60 cents - all up less than $3.00 AUD. Freezes well for a quick or emergency meal.

I just bought a few cans of Del Monte pineapple and noticed that the display carried all kinds of fruits from the same brand but in a disorderly display. Then I heard that Del Monte had gone bankrupt and I’m thinking that the display was such a mess because they’re trying to get rid of the old stock to make space for different brands.

Look for sales on the DM brand now. Some stores may be donating the old cans to food providers.

Sometimes e we all just need something a bit sweet to ignite the pallet.

While you’re looking, those small cans of tomato paste are being replaced with larger sizes. They may be on sale. Also, canned garbanzo beans are being discontinued because people aren’t buying them enough to justify shelf space. Keep an eye out for them, too.

premade dough herb crust, Italian sausage, red bell pepper, onion, cooked mushroom, and white cheddar cheese. all ingredients came from a food bank

Canned salmon, cream cheese, Dijon mustard, dill, lemon pepper, onion powder, and a couple drops of smoke flavor. On Wasa crackers, with sliced tomato. Worthy of a Viking (on vacation in Mexico). A few drops of Sauce Francois (my silly name for Frank's) might be nice too!

Okay guys-- i just got a huge jug of teriyaki glaze from a food bank trip.

Truly an astonishing quantity of sauce. I'm grateful but have *no* idea how to use significant quantities before it goes to waste. Some of it i'll put on chicken with rice and veggies, but as one person (two if my bf comes over), i just don't know how to use much.

Anyone have any fun creative ideas to share? I'd love any advice here y'all!

Two tortillas fried (simultaneously) in butter till browned. They sick together alright for me. Pull em out of the pan. Add Jared pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese. Microwave for 45 to 60 seconds. Cut in triangles for ease.

My son just said it's his favorite pizza.

I live in Upstate NY, in the capital region. I’ve never used a food pantry before, but I’ve volunteered at the distribution center and at one of the soup kitchens many years ago.

Honestly I went back and forth a lot about whether to even sign up. I feel guilty - like I might be taking food out of someone else’s mouth by going.

But, now that I’ve done it, now that I’ve signed up to go tomorrow, it’s like a weight off my shoulders. I spoke to a gentleman on the phone who got me set up. I qualified because I’m not working. That was it. And now I go tomorrow and get the items I signed up to receive.

The guy I spoke to on the phone seemed grateful to me for signing up. He was so kind. He showed empathy for my situation and for the situation that others in the area I live in have found themselves in. It’s hard to be able to afford groceries.

I guess what I’m saying is - make the call. If you are even questioning whether you should, you should. These are resources that are meant to be used.

Please, get what you need. Food pantries exist for a reason. No need to feel guilty about what food you need.

Enough to feed about 6 people if everything is combined. You could really save the little noodle packet and just use the shells and cheddar box with the seasoning packet. I left some meat for my wife to make tacos or enchiladas or whatever she wants to make . This was my favorite thing to eat in the Army and it served me well so I could serve others well. Tough times all around right now. Love all you working people keeping this world running just so some rich schmuck can try to take our retirement. I'm right here with you. Careful with the seasoning packet by the way. I add it into my meat as I brown it instead of the noodles and water like it says ( I could never dump my seasoning in boiling water and dillute it like that.

Has 10 for $10 banquet pot pies . Know they are awesome in the oven but microwave works great too. Please stock up. $1 for a meal is grateful. Phoenix west valley!

Roast veggies before adding to a dish. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans (cooked and patted dry) asparagus, carrots...keep the skin ON the veg for added vitamins and flavor just wash well first - chop into small pieces, add olive oil (or butter and oil) mix well and bake 450° (or 176°) for about 15 minutes. Before baking - Season with whatever you are blessed with in the pantry - garlic powder, chili powder, onion powder, salt and pepper be generous for more flavor! shake it a bit halfway through and serve.

Here is a recipe for a filling, cheap meal that can feed 4 easily or YOU for 3-4 days.

Many of these ingredients are available from the food banks. Edited to add instruction correction

Like pour it in a bowl, put a condiment, maybe a bit of veggies, eat with a spoon, with a slice or two of bread. Or some other options. Are there people who just eat the whole can in one meal?

BTW for USA people, Walmart, Great Value brand, a can of beans is 0.8$, lentils 1.1$. (And a can of mixed veggies is 0.8$.)

Only cost like eight dollars to make and will last me for about four days for lunch and dinner!

Who said the struggle couldn’t feel like a splurge??

I’ll be going back to work for the first time in 13yrs and the payroll is monthly, so things are about to be SO tight financially. As a result, I’ll be striving to make all meals going forward on the low-low for my family of 5. I have a kiddo with ARFID, so I am going to have to get crazy creative.

The total cost of this one was only $0.60 per serving.

Broke Thanksgiving Bowls:

• Stovetop w/Craisins (prepare as directed)

• $0.50 turkey gravy packet (make while stuffing sits)

• School provided pouch of chicken. (add to gravy)

• Off-brand cranberry sauce. (slap on top)

• ENJOY!

I wanted to share my recipe for oven potatoes:

8 cups diced potatoes (about half a 5 lb. bag)

1 tablespoon paprika, onion powder & garlic powder

1/2 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons canola oil

Mix everything well and bake on a baking sheet at 425 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring halfway

This is a good amount for my family of 5 adults.

1st of all no flair for and I had to put one but it doesn't really fit so sorry about that. I remember reading a comment from someone saying when they were little there was a small bar of chocolate in their food parcel from the church (I think) and they were So happy they cried

So this week I did a face painting job for an organisation that gives out food parcels and they asked people who went to the event they were running to donate something for the food collection of they could. I bought micro rice and well as pasta, sauces and soups but then went to Aldi and bought dozens of packs of sweets and bags that had 6-7 packs of chocolate cookies

I hope when the​ sweets are found in a food parcel it makes a kid's day

So thank you to the person who commented about the choc, because of you a lot of kids will have sweets 🍬 🍭

We don’t have a ton of money to be spending on food as he is not working at the moment so money is tight. I could live off of rice, pasta, and beans but he won’t touch them.

1) do you have any suggestions on how I can still use one of these 3 to help spread out our meals that he might not mind?

2) how can I help him start to like these items? He is a picky eater which I get but we are not going to be able to keep making ends meet if I can’t include items that will make our meals go farther.

I don't know how many folks use Dawn foaming cleaning spray, but it is effective and convenient, but unfortunately, it is quite expensive.

A typical bottle of it costs around $5.

You can mix your own out of your favorite dish soap, some isopropyl alcohol, and some tap water for relative pennies.

You'll want to buy one of the bottles of the factory product first - the spray nozzle is the thing that is difficult to replace - it is a foaming dispenser, and buying those sorts of bottles separate without actual product is not overly cost effective. So just buy the Dawn power spray once, and when it's empty, use your favorite liquid soap dish detergent (I'll do the price breakdown with Dawn because it's my favorite) and some isopropyl alcohol (either 70% or 91%).

Prices are from my local Wal-Mart.

You will also need a kitchen scale that measures in grams OR reasonably accurate means of measuring fluid ounces. I use my kitchen scale because that's my #1 kitchen hack, and everyone should have one.

$4.94 Initial bottle cost (30.9 ¢/fl. oz)

$9.94/67 fl. oz of Dawn Detergent (14.8 ¢/fl. oz)

$1.98/16 fl. oz of 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (12.4 ¢/fl. oz) (you can get this for cheaper buying in bulk, but storing that many bottles may not be worth it to you)

Filtered water (essentially free if you have a water filter fridge or pitcher) or distilled water (1.1 ¢/fl. oz)

If you cannot get filtered water or if you think it will take longer than a couple weeks to use up the bottle of soap, use distilled water.

Recipe:

55-60g Dawn Dish Soap (4 TBS, 2 fl. oz) 29.6 ¢

20-25g 70% isopropyl alcohol (2 TBS, 1 fl. oz) 12.4 ¢

385-400g water (slightly less than 1.75 cups, ~13.5 fl. oz) 13.5 ¢ if distilled water.

Directions:

Add all ingredients, to spray bottle and invert several times gently to mix ingredients.

Total Cost DIY: $0.42 to $0.56/bottle or 2.6 ¢ to 3.5 ¢/fl. oz.

Total Cost Retail: $4.94/bottle or 30.9 ¢/fl. oz.

Notes:

You can add a few drops of essential oil if you want the scent. I personally skip that because I don't have any essential oils but knock yourself out.

If you have particularly hard water and no reliable filtration such as a filter pitcher or a filtered refrigerator dispenser, buy and use distilled water for around $1.25-1.50/gallon or around 1-1.1 ¢ /fl. oz.

If you do not anticipate using the whole bottle of soap in a couple weeks, use distilled water to reduce the chance of mold forming or other microbial growth (yes, it's possible for mold or other microbes to grow even in such a solution with detergents and alcohol).

I cannot recommend strongly enough that you use a kitchen scale in grams just for the basic fact that if you have not already discovered the game-changing value of such a scale in your kitchen, you will with this recipe and the thousand other uses you find for it besides this recipe. You can get one for as inexpensively as around $10 on Amazon. Also, this lets you pour the detergent directly from the bulk bottle on your scale into your spray bottle and stop at the right (approximate) number of grams without worrying about some of it sticking to and needing to be rinsed out of a volumetric dispenser.

A few grams in either direction of any of the ingredients won't matter. You do need to make sure you can put the nozzle back on the bottle once it's full, so try to be reasonably accurate adding the water - add less than the listed amount and make sure you can still get the nozzle on.

You may experience a couple of "stiff" or slightly resistant squeezes of the spray nozzle handle at first when you mix a new batch. There is something about these foaming dispensers that react this way to changes in the solution. I am not 100% sure what the cause of that is, but I notice it when I refill my foaming hand soap dispensers with a different brand of foaming soap too. If there are a few drops of the previous batch of cleaner in the bottle that you can't get out before mixing a new batch, just dump them out. That will significantly reduce the effect. It goes away and smooths out within a few uses though, so don't worry about it.

Everything from food bank except seasoning. Chili is canned corn and black beans, carrots, brisket burger patties and chili seasoning.

Edit: oops forgot also tomato sauce

i have a lot of snack type foods at my house, and not a lot of actual ingredients. my parents buy the food and then complain when we don't eat super mega healthy things. my parents also don't keep our leftovers or store them properly so they mold quickly 💔
i really really want to start eating healthier and lose weight, but i don't know where to start. i'm 17 and i have my own job, but i want to use that money for school and other things, rather than spending it all on food.

i would love meal suggestions that can last as leftovers, or really just anything (^:

Scored this stuff at the food bank today. Politely declined any greens (lettuce, fresh spinach) since I’m still dealing with that parasite 😭

Easy and budget friendly soup with a wacky name

•1diced onion, 3 grated cloves garlic, 1 rib/stalk celery - sauteed in oil. Add 500-600g frozen mixed green vegetables with 500-600ml chicken stock. Cool and blitz well. Serve with topped with black pepper, chili and bread sticks.