Comments on: Seven Ideas for Preparing Food at Home Cheaply with Minimal Space and Resources

By: ramen makeover for one | The Hippie Triathlete

ramen makeover for one | The Hippie Triathlete — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:59:34 +0000

[...] the possibilities in that shiny crunched up packet of dinner-for-one, Mark Bittman posted this story on how to cut food costs when you’re feeling crunched. There it was, first in a long list of [...]

By: Erin Muise

Erin Muise — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:09:50 +0000

I love omelets with everything- cheese, green or red peppers, emushrooms, green onions, cilantro, basil, oregano, garlic, left over lobster bits.
Scallops are local here- i live is southwest Nova Scotia- and they are great stir fries. I buy white flour, soft whole wheat flour, brown and white sugar, oats, and other stuff in bulk, We use butter only when we bake, and eat mostly homemade jam. I freeze wild berries and u-pick blueberries for smoothies and baking year round. I stock pile non-perishables like deodorant and shampoo when there is a special that lets me collect more AirMiles than usually.

By: leslie

leslie — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:22:09 +0000

I love cheese and will definitely splurge on it but whenever I find Gruyere cheese at my local grocery store, it’s never under $8 and I just can’t justify that. Am I missing something?

By: andy matthews

andy matthews — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:46:25 +0000

Ramen noodles are a sort of comfort food for me. I grew up in Hawaii and Ramen is a staple over there. Try this preparation and you’ll never go back to plain ole noodles again.

Hot & Spicy Ramen Noodles
——————–
1 packet noodles (I like beef or oriental)
1 scrambled or hardboiled egg
Sriracha hot sauce (green cap with a rooster on the side)
Sesame oil
Rice wine vinegar
Soy Sauce

Optional ingredients
——————–
chopped chicken, pork, beef
Few tablespoons of chick peas (garbanzos)
1 tsp brown sugar (for a Thai inspired flavor)

Cook noodles in 2 cups water
Add all ingredients, including seasoning packet to a large bowl.
When noodles are cooked, pour into bowl along with all liquid.

The results are a sort of Vietnamese Pho, costing less than a dollar. I keep my soy sauce in the fridge so that it helps cool the noodles.

By: Ryan Robitaille

Ryan Robitaille — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:10:31 +0000

Good plan, Trent. I’d just trade out all the complex carb foods for berries and low-starch veggies. :)
For me the healthy and inexpensive ‘grocery play’ is the stores “Loss-leader” meat selection for the week and a collection of fresh greens.

Lots of protein, low-carb, and pretty cheap too!

Anyone else here eat low-carb and come in under a tight budget?

By: City Girl Lost

City Girl Lost — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:04:18 +0000

I used to make eggplant parm, from scratch, in my dorm room using a hot plate and a toaster oven. Also fresh soups, pasta and homemade sauce, baked potatoes… as long as you have a grocery store nearby, being in a dorm room food doesn’t have to be limited to ramen.

By: Yell

Yell — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:46:07 +0000

Excellent…super comprehensive.

Stir-fries are SO easy. Just some veggies and a bit of soy sauce stirred together over some rice or whatever….I find I can make any meal for under $2.

By: Dude from irvine

Dude from irvine — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:26:33 +0000

First, the problem:
When I boil eggs, the shell -ALWAYS- and I mean always cracks. Then some of the white spews out, boils up and looks like ugly mess.

My sister suggested I add 1 spoon of vinegar to the boiling pot to make sure that the egg shell doesn’t crack, but, that hasn’t helped.

Now, in this post I see you saying “deeper than the eggs”. What does that mean? Like the water level is higher than the eggs? Or should the water level be lower than the eggs?

Boiling eggs is a tough job!

By: Jayne

Jayne — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:59:11 +0000

The tuna is great, but as mentioned above, BE CAREFUL. Aside from mercury, many different kinds of seafood can be contaminated with arsenic. I’m recovering from arsenic poisoning myself, and the only source we could pinpoint was seafood.

Another great hot plate recipe that’s really simple is this tortilla soup I make. For protein, you could cook the chicken in the pan first, or add black beans later instead. Or both! After this, add in some bell peppers and onions, some canned tomatoes/chili peppers (about 60 cents per can), some chicken stock, and some cheese. Let this all cook and heat up, add in some crumbled tortilla chips, and it makes a GREAT meal. You can make it as thick or thin as you want (I prefer to puree my tomatoes before adding them) and it keeps extremely well!

By: sunshine

sunshine — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:04:49 +0000

great write-up! i’ve long been a fan of frugal cooking. one thing:
for soaking/cooking dry beans, don’t pour out the water they are soaked in, but rather cook them in this water.. you’ll find your beans are far less gassy. the soaking causes a beneficial enzyme to leach out of the beans. i didn’t believe it when i first heard this, but it really works!

By: P.

P. — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:08:45 +0000

@Johanna:
Thanks for the information, now that I know what I’m looking for I will definitely be keeping an eye out for them the next time I go shopping.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:57:35 +0000

@P.:

I believe that collectively you call them “pulses,” but individual types usually have the word “bean” in their names (kidney beans, pinto beans, borlotti beans, black turtle beans, and also things like chickpeas and lentils). You can buy them at the supermarket – look for a sign that says “pulses.” You can get them pre-cooked in tins (more convenient) or dried in bags (cheaper).

You might find a better selection at a large well-stocked health food shop (i.e., not Holland & Barrett, although they might have some) or ethnic food shop, if you have such things near you.

By: P.

P. — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:05:04 +0000

Can anyone tell where/what “Beans” in this context are called in the UK and where to get them?

By: gillsnthrills

gillsnthrills — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:47:00 +0000

Buy spices in bulk, and just buy what you need. Whole Foods has several to choose from, and I’m sure other grocery stores do as well. Spices are so much cheaper this way.

By: tabiji

tabiji — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:25:59 +0000

Stay away from ramen noodles.

By: ultraspy

ultraspy — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:51:21 +0000

Hey awesome article. I’m especially looking forward to trying out some of the new oatmeal “strategies”.

By: mbroggy

mbroggy — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:09:29 +0000

For oatmeal, try garlic (with or without butter).

Toasting the oatmeal first (just toss in a pan over heat until it smells toasty, maybe add a little butter) and then adding either fresh crushed or powdered garlic…

Savory…surprisingly tasty :)

By: Inox 555

Inox 555 — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:15:16 +0000

Save yourself some time & $$$ by combining parts of ideas 3 and 5. When making pasta, remove the noodles from the pot using a pasta ladle leaving the hot water in the pot. Now, take some eggs and gently lower them into the hot water using the pasta ladle. Cover the pot and let it sit for half an hour before removing the hard-boiled eggs. As an added bonus, you keep a little more heat in your kitchen during the colder months by not pouring a pot of hot water down the drain.

By: Bob

Bob — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:55:37 +0000

I keep in my refrigerator a large bowl of 2 kg chopped tomatoes, 2 chopped onions, can tomatoe juice, salt, pepper and vinager. I add a large spoon
to just about everything I cook. You can also take some of the juice and freeze it in a plastic container to eat at a later date. Much better than ice cream.

By: Bob

Bob — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:48:58 +0000

I am 60 year old and this post has brought back many good thoughts from my youth. When in school we lived off brown rice, dried beans (many types), and tuna & chicken. We, I lived in a house with five other people, learned to cook with what was on sale at the time. Once when the Mississippi river flooded, we caught about 100 kg of crayfish. They are much better than shrimp. There are so many veggies that can be bought cheaply and provide much needed nutrition. I now live in Thailand and eat much as the locals do. We Americans seem to have lost the ability to make
do, that which made us a great country.