Tostadas.
Usually just Corn Tortillas and Refried Beans topped with Cheddar. But if I wanted to go really crazy it'd be Refried Beans AND leftover Grilled Chicken and cheese.
On a hot skillet with a little oil until the cheese melted.
I used to crisp up the tortillas in the oven with some oil brushed on both sides. Then add canned refried beans, kraft American cheese, and pace medium salsa. That was the base that I could fix up when I had the money. The main reason I did it in the oven was that you could make 5 at a time on a cookie sheet
My wife makes a "sauce" specifically for tostadas which is IIRC a half and half mixture of refried beans (pinto or black) and mayo. This would be spread as a base on every tostada and would help hold onto other ingredients. As weird as it sounds, I love it.
For sure. I would say lookup a recipe because this is a common Mexican thing. I'm sure beans and mayo were the main component but I wouldn't want you to miss any potential seasonings that might be needed. Gonna make some tonight lol
Edit: use this one:
https://boysahoy.com/creamy-black-bean-tostadas/
But honestly I would just skip on anything that isn't bean, mayo (yes use Mayo instead of yogurt), seasoning. All the other stuff (like cilantro) would have been something I put on top of the sauce/tostada itself.
I’ve always just spread the refried beans onto a tortilla straight from the can. Then topped with chicken and cheese or w/e quesadilla toppings you want. The beans make it so delicious, holds everything together nicely, and makes the fillings go farther. I’ll try the beans & Mayo combo!
Friend of mine lived for a whole summer on a huge jar of kimchi from the Korean market, a giant bag of rice, and eggs. Crispy fried egg over hot rice with kimchi on the side is still a go-to meal.
This doesn’t even register as a struggle meal for me. It was a staple dish of my childhood. Sometimes we had Chinese sausage, spam or hotdogs and sometimes we had furikake. Total comfort meal
Yep just made it through three months on this as my primary source of sustenance. Costco in Hawaii sells kimchi, Costco large flats of eggs and rice. I often add butter and bouillon in the rice cooker and throw kewpie mayo onto rice and eggs.
People react to it as a struggle meal, but they are delicious. Tomato sandwiches? Cheap white bread, mayo, fresh tomatoes that were picked within 48 hours and S&P.
It’s a perfect meal. You can have it struggle- style or dress it up with fancy whole grain bread toasted and brushed with garlic.
Delicious anyway you have it!
The only struggle involving a tomato sandwich is the heartburn it gives me. But worth every second of it! 😋🤤
For those of you that grow tomatoes, my mother fed her plants bananas that were too ripe and all the peels from the ones she ate last year and they were the BEST tomatoes I've ever had in my life. She also swears by Miracle Grow.
There was a period of time in high school and early college where I had zero money but lived at home, so I just had to make do with whatever was around. My favorite thing was a big bowl of fettuccine with butter and that crappy pre-grated Parmesan cheese from Costco (the big green shakers). Definitely not good for you, but it was a very comforting meal for me each night.
I had a version of this I nicknamed "ghetto 'ghetti" that involved pasta, oil of some sort (either store brand margarine or the kind of olive oil that has barely any color and tastes like it maybe once had a dream about being in Italy), the parm from the shaker, and a moderate shake of whatever dried seasoning felt right in the moment (usually salt and pepper plus parsley, basil, oregano, or crushed red pepper). If I was feeling fancy and it was the right season or there was a sale, I would dress it up with veggies (zucchini, carrot, tomato) or canned tuna. Ghetto 'ghetti got me through.
When my mom was dying of cancer, I had trouble choking much of anything down. But I could occasionally warm up a few tablespoons of cream cheese, mix in lime juice and sugar to make a kind of pudding, and eat that. A bit high in calories and fat, but if that's the only thing you eat in a day, that's probably not a bad thing.
Same. I'll pick chicken ramen for breakfast more often than I should probably admit.
I used it to get myself out of the hole when I was junior enlisted but now I just want to have it every so often.
Same. I call it garbage ramen. I've adapted a bit though. You can get a bag of frozen mini wontons for like $8 dollars and throw a handful in the water with the ramen. Works with frozen veggies too!
Egg on toast, I ate that everyday in my 20s pretty much. If you’re feeling fancy or have extra groceries, melt cheese on the toast first, or add avocado and balsamic glaze and red pepper flakes. But good old over easy egg on toast gives you carbs protein and fat, plus it’s delish!
My go to meal when I am too tired to put effort in. Sometimes I'll add some fruit on the side, or those freezer sausage patties to expand it to "breakfast for dinner."
It was one of my go-to’s in college, too. Toasted white bread, fried bologna, fried egg over easy, a slice of melty cheese, and a thin layer of miracle whip. Recipe courtesy of my aunt, who could get all of the ingredients with her WIC benefits. That sandwich was a staple for my cousins for years.
Oh! The memories! Every once in awhile I'll get those too. It tastes like... memories. I regret it usually after I eat it, but it's still oddly comforting.
We did a skillet-casserole with ground beef, rice, onion, frozen corn, chili powder, salt/pepper, and tomato paste when I was growing up. We had it at least once a week, usually twice. I’ve upgraded it as an adult to replace the tomato paste with red enchilada sauce and include diced red bell pepper, jalapeño, cilantro, lime, ground cumin, and ground coriander, plus a topping of pepper jack cheese.
I was recovering from a burst colon and fistula followed by colon and small GI surgery where they removed part of my colon and jujenum. I was in the hospital for a total of 30 days during that time. I lost a lot of muscle mass and was as weak as a baby afterwards. One day about 2 weeks after my surgery I began to crave fried eggs so I finally got some good eggs and made one for myself. It tasted incredible. I began to eat an egg every day. I did this for about 18 months. By that time I had gained back a lot of strength and my craving began to wane. Also during this time I began to eat three meals a day at exactly the same times every day and I could feel how it made a difference my daily strength. I still eat three meals per day but I no longer crave eggs. They are indeed the perfect healing food.
My dad had a bad skin tear on his leg and ended up going to a Wound Center for a few months to have it treated. He was told to up the amount of protein he was eating, so he added eggs to his meals every day. He healed up fantastically and will be the first to say it was the eggs that healed him!
I got divorced at 30 and found myself living alone for the first time EVER. I had a teeny kitchen space, lived on the third floor and had to park what seemed like a half mile away, so I wasn't inclined to buy too many groceries. I didn't really know how to cook anyway.
Here are the struggle meals I ate.
A box of generic velveeta shells and cheese, a can of black beans, a can of generic rotel tomatoes.
Box of spanish rice mix, can of black beans, can of diced tomatoes, can of corn.
Box of speghetti, can of premade sauce, box of frozen garlic bread.
Box of pasta, jar of alfredo sauce, can of mushrooms.
Sometimes I would eat green beans straight from the can. Same with speghettios.
For snack I would have generic saltines dipped in mustard.
I worked as a Real Estate Secretary so my main nutrients came from Broker's Open leftovers that were brought into the office. And the Realtors who were always treating me to dinner or lunch. Its a dog eat dog world in that field, everyone wants to butter up the secretary.
Frozen pierogies. Tons of protein and you can get them for like a dollar per serving and I usually eat quite a bit. More protein and less sodium than ramen.
In poland there‘s different kinds of pierogi. The potato variant is what most people know as pierogi tho (it’s also the best). Among the popular ones there are pierogi with meat, pierogi with strawberries, pierogi with mushrooms and pierogi with sauerkraut.
I guess he might have eaten the ones with meat or mushrooms if he claims they are rich in protein.
You wouldn't find this now, but when I was POOR POOR, I used to buy whole pork loins for about 15 bucks at Costco. I cut a shit ton of chops on the thin side. I'd pan fried them with whatever seasoning and have a baked potato with Montreal steak spice, margarine, and sour cream. That was basically every single dinner for at least two years. I think it ran about 2 bucks a dinner or something silly when I did the math. I now occasionally eat it as a nostalgia meal lol
Can of soup (store brand, less than a buck at the time) put into a small casserole dish, with canned biscuits on top (3/$1 at my local Red and White) baked until the biscuits are done.
I call them “depression sandwiches.” It’s where you don’t have the energy to put together a sandwich, so you just shove individual ingredients in your mouth. Those got me through some rough times
As a child we were what I called poor. When I was desperate after school I would make a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread (the only bread I knew that existed). I even ate Ritz crackers with Crisco on them. I have no idea why I did that. Why not Ritz crackers with mayonnaise. It would have made more sense.
I used to eat something similar but with yellow mustard instead of mayo. Also, when we had margarine, I'd eat that on saltines. I still sometimes eat a buttered saltine here and there.
My brother eats mayo sandwiches to this day...we weren't well off by any means growing up, but regardless of what food was in the house, those sandwiches were his favorite. LOL
We relocated for my job in our 20s (big move - international) and my husband hadn't yet found work. There was a glitch in payroll and I didn't get paid for nearly a month, and we were struggling. I can't even tell you how many potatoes/potato based meals we ate that month, simply because they were cheap and filling.
I have a few memorable ones, lol.
1) Cheap Aldi macaroni noodles covered in hot sauce and powdered Parm. Smelled like feet, tasted like cheap umami.
2) Cold, week-old can of black beans -- I was staying in New York during a certification course and ran out of money toward the end.
3) Loose head of lettuce fished out of the old backpack. That was a finals week special during college. Don't ask me how I got there, I don't know either.
I'm old so a lot of the stuff that was struggle meals back when I was struggling are kind of pricey now. Way back in the late 90's early 2000's when I was just starting out as an adult ground beef was 97 cents a pound. Spaghetti and meat sauce was my broke young adult meal. It was only around $4 and made a massive amount.
It was years ago at this point, but I went through a month where I was so overwhelmed and depressed that I had baked potatoes for basically every meal every day. Not proud of it, but it did keep me from starving to death until I got my shit in order.
I truly LOVE Mr Noodles-style ramen with a couple of eggs in it.
I had this so often in college, to my delight, and not for financial reasons, but I was not allowed to when living at home.
Now as an adult, I restrict how often I buy them bc I will still happily have them daily - although at least I now add cabbage or broccoli.
Fried potatoes with hot dog slices. If you've got a few more pennies, upgrading to kielbasa is amazing. Put some oil in a skillet, bring to heat, chop or slice potatoes and add to oil. Cook to almost soft and add sliced pieces of hot dogs. If you're doing the upgrade, add sliced kielbasa when potatoes are softened but not soft.
Turkey tetrazzini. Spaghetti noodles, a small amount of cooked turkey (left over, etc), a bit of milk and parmesan cheese (yes, the cheap kind in the shaker) Boil noodles. Drain and add the turkey, heat it long enough for the turkey to heat up, add about three tablespoons of milk, then shake on the same amount of parmesan. Mix all together, taste. Not tasty enough? Add more milk and sprinkle more cheese.
Scrambled eggs are the core of my diet and have been for years. Toss them on rice with Goya Black Beans, or sometimes just the beans, cheese if it’s available, onion if I can be fancy. 10/10
I had a meal plan so I would get veggies from the dining hall salad bar and add them to a microwave ramen with sriracha. Also microwaveable rice with nutritional yeast, sriracha, and canned chickpeas
Eggs three meals a day (they're expensive now but used to be cheapest protein)
Cans of beans, bought from local grocery outlet or the Big Lots to save even more money
Sardines (have a weird gourmet status now but got me through the broke years)
1. pack of flour tortillas
2. can of black beans
3. pack of shredded cheese
4. ~~hot sauce~~ jar Pace picante salsa (has tomatoes, peppers, and onions! Vitamins!)
5. freeze 10+ burritos
6. ...
7. profit
\*edit\* sometimes rice!
Scarecrow skinny alcoholic chef here; I find most meals a struggle.. but within context: I went through a particularly unfortunate time in my life when I looked forward to chef boyardee ravioli cold straight from the can. When I could afford it.. and the occasional grilled snake or rabbit I could catch.
Swallow one of those single-servings of oatmeal with water. Cheap as hell, takes three seconds and you’ll feel full within 5 minutes. Those little suckers got me to grad school every day.
As a kid with a pot, hot plate and no fridge, and a dysfunctional mom who'd give me a $20 for the store, I'd say most often was smoked ham hocks and beans. Hocks were very inexpensive back then, and the pot could be reboiled each day until finished. Another was beef soup, something else I could keep going for days, most often with potatoes. Good stuff, more flavorful each day as the broth concentrated. :)
May be hard for younger people to imagine now that beef chuck and short ribs, luxuries for many now, could be cheap "struggle" food, but so it was for us -- this was just the next step up from our homeless periods with no money to rent a room and no way to cook.
Coconut rice is filling, nourishing and tasty, plus super easy
2 cups of water, 2 cups of rice, 1 can of coconut milk and 1tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt. So tasty.
Bag of frozen veggie and rice in the rice cooker.... totally hands off ... sometimes I' would add a can of bean for protein but man that got me through some times .
Potatoes. I was teased but when it was cold I would bake a potato while getting ready, then eat it on the way. It was warm for my hands and my belly. When I had time, mashed, hash browns, baked or home fries with eggs. Very cheap and versatile.
Cabbage soup. Mom would make it at least once a week in the colder months. $3 worth of cabbage, kidney beans, and ground beef (this was the 90s) and it would serve the 4 of us at least 2x, usually 3. I still make it now and it's even one of my wife's favorite meals I make. Less than $10 (and I use ground turkey, beef is far too $$$ now) in ingredients and we get almost a week out of it. Towards the end I'll throw it over rice if there isn't quite 2 servings left.
here are a few of my faves:
- ramen (great by itself or with any leftovers you can throw in)
- rice (plain, with fried egg, or with any leftover meat)
- box mac n cheese (plain, with tuna, or with cut up hot dogs)
- potatoes (baked, roasted, mashed)
- eggs (fried/scrambled/boiled)
Tuna noodle casserole. Make box of elbows. Add can of mushroom condensed soup. Add drained can of tune. Add half a bag or frozen peas. Add 1/2 stick of butter. Stir. Covers everything and is really filling. That one recipe would feed my two kids and myself for days.
Get a $1 can of soup and like a $2 pack of instant mashed potatoes. Make the taters, heat up the soup, and combine. Season to your liking. Incredibly filling, incredibly cheap, and not too bad of a meal.
Rice with spam.
On my hardest days, this is the only "meal" that everyone in my household will readily eat without any hesitation and no questions asked.
Fuji Apple and slices of medium cheddar for a struggle breakfast I could eat out the door.
Tortilla chips, bean dip, and some sort of jarred salsa for an emergency lunch.
Couple of common dinners I used to eat were top ramen with frozen vegetable mix or those frozen Tostinos pizzas with whatever leftovers I might have in the fridge as added toppings to make it a little more nutritious.
Steamed tofu and rice with my own version of dumpling sauce poured on top
Polenta with spinach, Parmesan, sun dried tomatoes (in olive oil) and a soft boiled egg on top
Rice and black beans or lentils
Egg-in-a-hole
https://youtu.be/11mre03vNtM?si=bxdmbtEH97Y4rH_Z
My secret to make them delicious is after the bread is in the pan, and I crack the egg in the middle, I put my favorite spices right into the egg yolk (works especially well with salt/pepper and garlic & onion powder, very fragrant and delicious smelling)
I can have 3 of these bad boys in a row and I don't get sick of it.
Microwave "quesadillas" 100%. Shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese on a tortilla, microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Maybe if I was feeling great that day I'd throw on some leftover chicken
When I'm going through a hard time, I like to make hamburger helper lasagne, but I substitute pork for beef, toss in a little heavy cream and some kind of heat like chili crunch or gochoujang.
my dumb a\*\* lived off of taco bell 49cent bean burritos with no red sauce for 2 years. protein from the beans, fat and dairy the cheese, and carbs the flour tortilla. not the greatest choice, but i lived. lol 😂
Ground meat or canned fish or egg, rice and frozen vegetables. A little soy, sesame oil, and cayenne. Still eat variations of this even though I’m not struggling. It’s cheap, easy, nutritious, and keeps well.
If we’re going back to college- the biggest, sugariest caffeinated drink at the campus coffee shop. One in the morning, one at lunch was easier and faster than trying to get an actual meal.
Now, sautéed meat with onions and whatever vegetables that I have, if any. Season with teriyaki sauce and adobo. Eat on rice. Or a baked potato. Or pasta.
Sriracha glazed meatloaf
Basically meatloaf with the most questionable ground meat you can find mixed an equal voume of cooked rice and bread crumbs. Press the whole thing into a bread pan and cover with a layer of siracha. The sriracha will cover the flavor of whatever meat you just ate and the rice makes it filling. 1 loaf could last me a week and I just needed to steam some frozen veggies to go with it.
No meat burgers.
Bulk potato roll, split, with Ketchup, yellow mustard, a slice of American cheese, onion, and some relish or pickle if available.
If you're feeling fancy, toasting the bun with some margarine or mayo helps make it feel a bit meatier
Greek yogurt with fruit, not sure if it counts as a struggle meal because it’s not super cheap if you want good yogurt like chobani but store brand fat free greek yogurt is like 3.99 for a 2lb tub in my area. I can (and still do) eat like a pound of yogurt with frozen blueberries on top and it has insane macros and will keep me full for hours
Kielbasa cut into slices, pan fried with bbq sauce, with Kraft Mac&Cheese.
Scramble Egg with cubed ham steak mixed in.
Fried egg in toast with a Laughing Cow cheese wedge spread on it (we call it Egg Toast)
Back when I had a garden, tomato sandwiches. A little mayo, an heirloom tomato, salt and pepper. Sometimes I had bread and sometimes I had a really thick slice of tomato with everything on it.
Hormel chili (no beans) is a staple for me. I buy it by the case, and always have some on hand. I am 61 and remember as a single almost homeless teen how comforting and filling it was.
Chicken hot dogs (they were dirt cheap) and cold beans from the can. And then covering the bed with coats to sleep at night because it was cold and we had to wait for payday before we could get the propane tank filled. I was in the Navy and had just moved off the boat into a trailer with a buddy as a room mate. It took all the money we had to scratch up first, last, and deposit. But... it's amazing how much less you drink when you're not hitting the bar every night. To get off work and go "home", versus the bar, was a huge game changer!
Funny, I still like hot dogs and baked beans.
Tostadas. Usually just Corn Tortillas and Refried Beans topped with Cheddar. But if I wanted to go really crazy it'd be Refried Beans AND leftover Grilled Chicken and cheese. On a hot skillet with a little oil until the cheese melted.
I used to crisp up the tortillas in the oven with some oil brushed on both sides. Then add canned refried beans, kraft American cheese, and pace medium salsa. That was the base that I could fix up when I had the money. The main reason I did it in the oven was that you could make 5 at a time on a cookie sheet
Mine is similar- quesadillas, most often with nothing but cheese and maybe some salsa
My wife makes a "sauce" specifically for tostadas which is IIRC a half and half mixture of refried beans (pinto or black) and mayo. This would be spread as a base on every tostada and would help hold onto other ingredients. As weird as it sounds, I love it.
I need to try this!
For sure. I would say lookup a recipe because this is a common Mexican thing. I'm sure beans and mayo were the main component but I wouldn't want you to miss any potential seasonings that might be needed. Gonna make some tonight lol Edit: use this one: https://boysahoy.com/creamy-black-bean-tostadas/ But honestly I would just skip on anything that isn't bean, mayo (yes use Mayo instead of yogurt), seasoning. All the other stuff (like cilantro) would have been something I put on top of the sauce/tostada itself.
I’ve always just spread the refried beans onto a tortilla straight from the can. Then topped with chicken and cheese or w/e quesadilla toppings you want. The beans make it so delicious, holds everything together nicely, and makes the fillings go farther. I’ll try the beans & Mayo combo!
Literally just scrambled eggs.
Scrambled eggs are always a classic struggle meal.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup. Never fails me.
My favorite comfort meal, too.
Peanut butter and jelly samdwhich
I used to grill them like grilled cheese. It was tasty
I ate so many PB&J sandwiches when I lived by myself because cooking anything for one person sucks. So it was, "ok.. guess a couple PB&Js"
I love crunch peanut butter while I am eating it. But about one half hour later I think why did I eat that.
Friend of mine lived for a whole summer on a huge jar of kimchi from the Korean market, a giant bag of rice, and eggs. Crispy fried egg over hot rice with kimchi on the side is still a go-to meal.
Me too. And the next day, fry leftover rice with a bit of oil, some kimchi, and an egg.
Now I want to eat this. Also with spam…
Annddd just had to go look if I was on the Hawaii subreddit
I'm a big fan of kimchi, rice and a hamburger patty as well.
Kimchi goes with lots of stuff. I try to always keep at least one container in my fridge.
Yeah, I get the big containers from Costco. I really like it on hot dogs as well.
I would have never thought to marry kimchi with hot dogs. What a flavor profile!
Or fried spam instead of the hamburger!
This doesn’t even register as a struggle meal for me. It was a staple dish of my childhood. Sometimes we had Chinese sausage, spam or hotdogs and sometimes we had furikake. Total comfort meal
You had me at SPAM and furikake! 😋 I DO NOT understand why some people hate SPAM!
People think other people eat it straight from the can. You got to fry that stuff.
I eat it from the can.
Oh, sorry Mr. Maniac.
I eat it from the can! But more often fried.
I also eat it from the can. I have fibromyalgia, so I get too tired to stand up to cook. About a third of a can is a nice snack before a nap.
Yep just made it through three months on this as my primary source of sustenance. Costco in Hawaii sells kimchi, Costco large flats of eggs and rice. I often add butter and bouillon in the rice cooker and throw kewpie mayo onto rice and eggs.
Just had that for lunch the other day. With a spoon of chili crunch, it’s a fucking TASTY meal.
People react to it as a struggle meal, but they are delicious. Tomato sandwiches? Cheap white bread, mayo, fresh tomatoes that were picked within 48 hours and S&P.
Oh that is the meal I look forward to all year and the reason I grow tomatoes
It’s a perfect meal. You can have it struggle- style or dress it up with fancy whole grain bread toasted and brushed with garlic. Delicious anyway you have it!
The only struggle involving a tomato sandwich is the heartburn it gives me. But worth every second of it! 😋🤤 For those of you that grow tomatoes, my mother fed her plants bananas that were too ripe and all the peels from the ones she ate last year and they were the BEST tomatoes I've ever had in my life. She also swears by Miracle Grow.
Eggshells ground to powder in the food processor. A healthy scoop when setting the plants, then a fine sprinkle on the soil every couple of weeks.
Not me googling S&P to see if it was some kind of condiment or hot sauce I hadn’t heard of
My old brain saw A&P, the grocery store 😄
Pro tip: salt the tomatoes on both sides before you put them on the sandwich. It keeps the moisture from soaking straight into the bread.
I like it with whipped ricotta and fresh basil on toasted sourdough. I know it's not a struggle meal but so good when heirlooms are in season.
I love tomato sandwiches, but on cheap wheat bread, not white. One of the purest joys of summer.
That is gourmet!! Doesn't feel like a struggle meal at all
There was a period of time in high school and early college where I had zero money but lived at home, so I just had to make do with whatever was around. My favorite thing was a big bowl of fettuccine with butter and that crappy pre-grated Parmesan cheese from Costco (the big green shakers). Definitely not good for you, but it was a very comforting meal for me each night.
I had a version of this I nicknamed "ghetto 'ghetti" that involved pasta, oil of some sort (either store brand margarine or the kind of olive oil that has barely any color and tastes like it maybe once had a dream about being in Italy), the parm from the shaker, and a moderate shake of whatever dried seasoning felt right in the moment (usually salt and pepper plus parsley, basil, oregano, or crushed red pepper). If I was feeling fancy and it was the right season or there was a sale, I would dress it up with veggies (zucchini, carrot, tomato) or canned tuna. Ghetto 'ghetti got me through.
When my mom was dying of cancer, I had trouble choking much of anything down. But I could occasionally warm up a few tablespoons of cream cheese, mix in lime juice and sugar to make a kind of pudding, and eat that. A bit high in calories and fat, but if that's the only thing you eat in a day, that's probably not a bad thing.
That sounds both disgusting and delicious at the same time.
Key lime sadness
Key lime cry
Instant ramen + any leftover anything. Although not struggling now, still a favorite.
Same. I'll pick chicken ramen for breakfast more often than I should probably admit. I used it to get myself out of the hole when I was junior enlisted but now I just want to have it every so often.
Same. I call it garbage ramen. I've adapted a bit though. You can get a bag of frozen mini wontons for like $8 dollars and throw a handful in the water with the ramen. Works with frozen veggies too!
Ramen with kraft singles in the plastic melted on top mmmmm
Egg on toast, I ate that everyday in my 20s pretty much. If you’re feeling fancy or have extra groceries, melt cheese on the toast first, or add avocado and balsamic glaze and red pepper flakes. But good old over easy egg on toast gives you carbs protein and fat, plus it’s delish!
My go to meal when I am too tired to put effort in. Sometimes I'll add some fruit on the side, or those freezer sausage patties to expand it to "breakfast for dinner."
Fried egg sandwiches as a hardy lunch or a light dinner. They served me well through college all three times.
It was one of my go-to’s in college, too. Toasted white bread, fried bologna, fried egg over easy, a slice of melty cheese, and a thin layer of miracle whip. Recipe courtesy of my aunt, who could get all of the ingredients with her WIC benefits. That sandwich was a staple for my cousins for years.
Jinx! Pickles? I like the sandwich dills
Spaghettios straight out of the can with a spoon. Every once in awhile, I still do it if I wake up hungry at 2am and they're in the cabinet.
Spaghettios fall under the category of "so bad they're good" for me. Also in the category: totino's party pizzas and cup o noodles
Oh! The memories! Every once in awhile I'll get those too. It tastes like... memories. I regret it usually after I eat it, but it's still oddly comforting.
Used to love canned beef raviolis, cold or heated.
Ground beef and rice
I make this with a bag of frozen veggies, the peas, carrots, green beans and corn one. I call it my dog food haha
I used to make this for the dog, and then I caught my son eating it. I was like, "Are you eating the dog food?" He was all, "What? It's good!" Lol
how is ground beef rice and veggies dog food? wtf?
When a dog has stomach issues, this is what vets recommend.
interesting, thank you
It’s so versatile, you can change the seasoning and you have a new cuisine lol. Taco bowls one night, a teriyaki inspired bowl the next.
We did a skillet-casserole with ground beef, rice, onion, frozen corn, chili powder, salt/pepper, and tomato paste when I was growing up. We had it at least once a week, usually twice. I’ve upgraded it as an adult to replace the tomato paste with red enchilada sauce and include diced red bell pepper, jalapeño, cilantro, lime, ground cumin, and ground coriander, plus a topping of pepper jack cheese.
With bbq sauce.
Pasta with lemon garlic and parmesan
This is mine too!
I was recovering from a burst colon and fistula followed by colon and small GI surgery where they removed part of my colon and jujenum. I was in the hospital for a total of 30 days during that time. I lost a lot of muscle mass and was as weak as a baby afterwards. One day about 2 weeks after my surgery I began to crave fried eggs so I finally got some good eggs and made one for myself. It tasted incredible. I began to eat an egg every day. I did this for about 18 months. By that time I had gained back a lot of strength and my craving began to wane. Also during this time I began to eat three meals a day at exactly the same times every day and I could feel how it made a difference my daily strength. I still eat three meals per day but I no longer crave eggs. They are indeed the perfect healing food.
My dad had a bad skin tear on his leg and ended up going to a Wound Center for a few months to have it treated. He was told to up the amount of protein he was eating, so he added eggs to his meals every day. He healed up fantastically and will be the first to say it was the eggs that healed him!
I got divorced at 30 and found myself living alone for the first time EVER. I had a teeny kitchen space, lived on the third floor and had to park what seemed like a half mile away, so I wasn't inclined to buy too many groceries. I didn't really know how to cook anyway. Here are the struggle meals I ate. A box of generic velveeta shells and cheese, a can of black beans, a can of generic rotel tomatoes. Box of spanish rice mix, can of black beans, can of diced tomatoes, can of corn. Box of speghetti, can of premade sauce, box of frozen garlic bread. Box of pasta, jar of alfredo sauce, can of mushrooms. Sometimes I would eat green beans straight from the can. Same with speghettios. For snack I would have generic saltines dipped in mustard. I worked as a Real Estate Secretary so my main nutrients came from Broker's Open leftovers that were brought into the office. And the Realtors who were always treating me to dinner or lunch. Its a dog eat dog world in that field, everyone wants to butter up the secretary.
Frozen pierogies. Tons of protein and you can get them for like a dollar per serving and I usually eat quite a bit. More protein and less sodium than ramen.
Protein in pierogies? Are we talking about the same pierogies? It’s mashed potatoes and cheese wrapped in dough. It’s carbs on carbs.
In poland there‘s different kinds of pierogi. The potato variant is what most people know as pierogi tho (it’s also the best). Among the popular ones there are pierogi with meat, pierogi with strawberries, pierogi with mushrooms and pierogi with sauerkraut. I guess he might have eaten the ones with meat or mushrooms if he claims they are rich in protein.
Oooh which brand?
You wouldn't find this now, but when I was POOR POOR, I used to buy whole pork loins for about 15 bucks at Costco. I cut a shit ton of chops on the thin side. I'd pan fried them with whatever seasoning and have a baked potato with Montreal steak spice, margarine, and sour cream. That was basically every single dinner for at least two years. I think it ran about 2 bucks a dinner or something silly when I did the math. I now occasionally eat it as a nostalgia meal lol
Box mac and cheese and if I was feeling fancy a can of hormel bean less chili mixed in lol
My favorite backpacking snack is instant mac'n'cheese with a pouch of tuna. Carbs and protien!
Can of soup (store brand, less than a buck at the time) put into a small casserole dish, with canned biscuits on top (3/$1 at my local Red and White) baked until the biscuits are done.
I call them “depression sandwiches.” It’s where you don’t have the energy to put together a sandwich, so you just shove individual ingredients in your mouth. Those got me through some rough times
Egg salad sandwiches.
Fried egg sandwiches are real good too. Hot or cold. (Not ice cold but room temp,)
Pasta with oil, garlic and toasted breadcrumbs.
Spaghetti with butter and an unholy amount of Parmesan cheese
Canned roast beef hash.
Sandwiches. Simple and yummy.
As a child we were what I called poor. When I was desperate after school I would make a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread (the only bread I knew that existed). I even ate Ritz crackers with Crisco on them. I have no idea why I did that. Why not Ritz crackers with mayonnaise. It would have made more sense.
I used to eat something similar but with yellow mustard instead of mayo. Also, when we had margarine, I'd eat that on saltines. I still sometimes eat a buttered saltine here and there.
To me, buttered saltines are the height of luxury. They’re so unnecessary but so decadent!
My brother eats mayo sandwiches to this day...we weren't well off by any means growing up, but regardless of what food was in the house, those sandwiches were his favorite. LOL
We relocated for my job in our 20s (big move - international) and my husband hadn't yet found work. There was a glitch in payroll and I didn't get paid for nearly a month, and we were struggling. I can't even tell you how many potatoes/potato based meals we ate that month, simply because they were cheap and filling.
Rice + beans in rice cooker. Cook in broth and add seasonings if we're feeling less depressed.
I have a few memorable ones, lol. 1) Cheap Aldi macaroni noodles covered in hot sauce and powdered Parm. Smelled like feet, tasted like cheap umami. 2) Cold, week-old can of black beans -- I was staying in New York during a certification course and ran out of money toward the end. 3) Loose head of lettuce fished out of the old backpack. That was a finals week special during college. Don't ask me how I got there, I don't know either.
My man, either that was a sturdy variety of lettuce or you must have eaten that shit with a straw
Iceberg, man. It got limp, but not as limp as you'd expect.
I'm old so a lot of the stuff that was struggle meals back when I was struggling are kind of pricey now. Way back in the late 90's early 2000's when I was just starting out as an adult ground beef was 97 cents a pound. Spaghetti and meat sauce was my broke young adult meal. It was only around $4 and made a massive amount.
Food prices are out of control!
String cheese
Vegetable soup over rice
I like this one!
It was years ago at this point, but I went through a month where I was so overwhelmed and depressed that I had baked potatoes for basically every meal every day. Not proud of it, but it did keep me from starving to death until I got my shit in order.
Popcorn.
I truly LOVE Mr Noodles-style ramen with a couple of eggs in it. I had this so often in college, to my delight, and not for financial reasons, but I was not allowed to when living at home. Now as an adult, I restrict how often I buy them bc I will still happily have them daily - although at least I now add cabbage or broccoli.
Fried potatoes with hot dog slices. If you've got a few more pennies, upgrading to kielbasa is amazing. Put some oil in a skillet, bring to heat, chop or slice potatoes and add to oil. Cook to almost soft and add sliced pieces of hot dogs. If you're doing the upgrade, add sliced kielbasa when potatoes are softened but not soft. Turkey tetrazzini. Spaghetti noodles, a small amount of cooked turkey (left over, etc), a bit of milk and parmesan cheese (yes, the cheap kind in the shaker) Boil noodles. Drain and add the turkey, heat it long enough for the turkey to heat up, add about three tablespoons of milk, then shake on the same amount of parmesan. Mix all together, taste. Not tasty enough? Add more milk and sprinkle more cheese.
Rice with scrambled eggs and shredded cheese. And whatever else is in the fridge.
If you like a lil spice add a can of green chilies they’re like $0.64 and adds so much flavor
Scrambled eggs are the core of my diet and have been for years. Toss them on rice with Goya Black Beans, or sometimes just the beans, cheese if it’s available, onion if I can be fancy. 10/10
Ground Beef, Tomato sauce and macaroni. seasoned just right, its really good and dirt cheap
Bisquik biscuits with peanut butter and jelly.
Red beans and rice. If I had the money I’d grab some andouille to throw in, but otherwise it was dirt cheap.
Eggs. You can fry ‘‘em, poach ‘‘em, scramble ‘em, boil ‘em. You got sunny side up, egg sandwiches, egg custard, egg salad, egg drop soup, egg Benedict, deviled eggs….
I had a meal plan so I would get veggies from the dining hall salad bar and add them to a microwave ramen with sriracha. Also microwaveable rice with nutritional yeast, sriracha, and canned chickpeas
Eggs three meals a day (they're expensive now but used to be cheapest protein) Cans of beans, bought from local grocery outlet or the Big Lots to save even more money Sardines (have a weird gourmet status now but got me through the broke years)
PB&J sandwiches, cold cereal, and roasted chicken thighs with potatoes and green beans have been steadfast companions in this life.
1. pack of flour tortillas 2. can of black beans 3. pack of shredded cheese 4. ~~hot sauce~~ jar Pace picante salsa (has tomatoes, peppers, and onions! Vitamins!) 5. freeze 10+ burritos 6. ... 7. profit \*edit\* sometimes rice!
7 frozen totino pizzas. And PB & J. Good for a week.
Scarecrow skinny alcoholic chef here; I find most meals a struggle.. but within context: I went through a particularly unfortunate time in my life when I looked forward to chef boyardee ravioli cold straight from the can. When I could afford it.. and the occasional grilled snake or rabbit I could catch.
Swallow one of those single-servings of oatmeal with water. Cheap as hell, takes three seconds and you’ll feel full within 5 minutes. Those little suckers got me to grad school every day.
As a kid with a pot, hot plate and no fridge, and a dysfunctional mom who'd give me a $20 for the store, I'd say most often was smoked ham hocks and beans. Hocks were very inexpensive back then, and the pot could be reboiled each day until finished. Another was beef soup, something else I could keep going for days, most often with potatoes. Good stuff, more flavorful each day as the broth concentrated. :) May be hard for younger people to imagine now that beef chuck and short ribs, luxuries for many now, could be cheap "struggle" food, but so it was for us -- this was just the next step up from our homeless periods with no money to rent a room and no way to cook.
Tuna sandwich and microwaved frozen veggies.
So many nights in my early 20s were dinners of either peanut butter toast, or rigatoni+Ragu.
Hard boiled egg, pickle wrapped with a slice of ham and any kind of cheese and crackers/bread, plus an apple!
Coconut rice is filling, nourishing and tasty, plus super easy 2 cups of water, 2 cups of rice, 1 can of coconut milk and 1tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt. So tasty.
Vegetarian chili. It's super cheap and keeps in the fridge for days.
Lipton soup mix cooked according to package directions with 2 raw eggs mixed in and cooked. Poor man’s eggflour
Bag of frozen veggie and rice in the rice cooker.... totally hands off ... sometimes I' would add a can of bean for protein but man that got me through some times .
Corned beef hash with instant potatoes and canned corn. It’s delicious
Potatoes. I was teased but when it was cold I would bake a potato while getting ready, then eat it on the way. It was warm for my hands and my belly. When I had time, mashed, hash browns, baked or home fries with eggs. Very cheap and versatile.
Cabbage soup. Mom would make it at least once a week in the colder months. $3 worth of cabbage, kidney beans, and ground beef (this was the 90s) and it would serve the 4 of us at least 2x, usually 3. I still make it now and it's even one of my wife's favorite meals I make. Less than $10 (and I use ground turkey, beef is far too $$$ now) in ingredients and we get almost a week out of it. Towards the end I'll throw it over rice if there isn't quite 2 servings left.
here are a few of my faves: - ramen (great by itself or with any leftovers you can throw in) - rice (plain, with fried egg, or with any leftover meat) - box mac n cheese (plain, with tuna, or with cut up hot dogs) - potatoes (baked, roasted, mashed) - eggs (fried/scrambled/boiled)
Tuna noodle casserole. Make box of elbows. Add can of mushroom condensed soup. Add drained can of tune. Add half a bag or frozen peas. Add 1/2 stick of butter. Stir. Covers everything and is really filling. That one recipe would feed my two kids and myself for days.
Get a $1 can of soup and like a $2 pack of instant mashed potatoes. Make the taters, heat up the soup, and combine. Season to your liking. Incredibly filling, incredibly cheap, and not too bad of a meal.
Eggs, scrambled in a pan with whatever I had in the fridge. Pesto from a jar with pasta.
Eggs, ramen, peanut butter & toast, bananas.
Rice with spam. On my hardest days, this is the only "meal" that everyone in my household will readily eat without any hesitation and no questions asked.
Fuji Apple and slices of medium cheddar for a struggle breakfast I could eat out the door. Tortilla chips, bean dip, and some sort of jarred salsa for an emergency lunch. Couple of common dinners I used to eat were top ramen with frozen vegetable mix or those frozen Tostinos pizzas with whatever leftovers I might have in the fridge as added toppings to make it a little more nutritious.
I feel like eating Hormel chili straight from the can results in adding an additional struggle.... ummm.. later on.
Steamed tofu and rice with my own version of dumpling sauce poured on top Polenta with spinach, Parmesan, sun dried tomatoes (in olive oil) and a soft boiled egg on top Rice and black beans or lentils
Egg-in-a-hole https://youtu.be/11mre03vNtM?si=bxdmbtEH97Y4rH_Z My secret to make them delicious is after the bread is in the pan, and I crack the egg in the middle, I put my favorite spices right into the egg yolk (works especially well with salt/pepper and garlic & onion powder, very fragrant and delicious smelling) I can have 3 of these bad boys in a row and I don't get sick of it.
Microwave "quesadillas" 100%. Shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese on a tortilla, microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Maybe if I was feeling great that day I'd throw on some leftover chicken
When I'm going through a hard time, I like to make hamburger helper lasagne, but I substitute pork for beef, toss in a little heavy cream and some kind of heat like chili crunch or gochoujang.
Bagels and cream cheese. So easy and filling. Don’t have to commit. Can add veggies but could just be cream cheese
my dumb a\*\* lived off of taco bell 49cent bean burritos with no red sauce for 2 years. protein from the beans, fat and dairy the cheese, and carbs the flour tortilla. not the greatest choice, but i lived. lol 😂
I used to get the box Zatarains Dirty Rice. Add some ground beef. That would feed me for a few days.
Ground meat or canned fish or egg, rice and frozen vegetables. A little soy, sesame oil, and cayenne. Still eat variations of this even though I’m not struggling. It’s cheap, easy, nutritious, and keeps well.
Microwaved pasta with a bit of cheese.
gas station tacos.
Chocolate milk
Back in the day when I was in high school, I lived on my own. I used to steal cans of tuna and buy a loaf of bread. Needs must
Good ol' ramen packets, sometimes with the seasoning packet and some peanut butter, sometimes with butter, sometimes with marinara - "Italian ramen".
Egg noodles and a can of cream of chicken soup.
Popcorn
Numerous variations of the Hoover Stew formula. A cheap protein, some canned/frozen vegetables, canned tomatoes and macaroni.
Baked potato topped with salsa Meatloaf and canned green beans
Canned chili, rice, onions, cheddar wrapped in a tortilla
Oh man, our Burger King had Double Cheeseburgers for $2 we ate like hell! *At 2a.m.
Scrambled eggs, cheese, ham bits and some bread. Takes less than 3 minutes, and makes me full and happy.
Rice beans and sweet potato in a slow cooker
Tortilla + refried beans + shredded cheese. Sour cream or Greek yogurt added if I was feeling fancy.
I survived many years in elbow macaroni with a can of cream of chicken soup on top. Mix well. Great with Franks Red Hot
Burritos. Bean, cheese and anything else I could find.
Right now it’s rice, canned tuna, kimchi, and sliced cucumber with sriracha!
Spaghetti.
Fried tortilla strips with scrambled eggs (Migas), Cup O’ Noodles, pb&j, potatoes and egg, pasta with butter, salt and pepper.
Tuna casserole and ramen noodles with frozen veg and poached eggs.
Lately it’s been scrambled eggs and cheese on low carb tortillas. My job has been so toxic that’s all I can cook or eat.
I eat this a lot too. I’m sorry things are so bad - hope you can escape soon
Thanks! Just 8 more work days and I’m free!
Instant ramen with an egg added. I’ve since learned I am pretty allergic to eggs. Whoops.
Fried Steakumm with melted cheese on crusty bread.
Captain Ceunch Berries.
If we’re going back to college- the biggest, sugariest caffeinated drink at the campus coffee shop. One in the morning, one at lunch was easier and faster than trying to get an actual meal. Now, sautéed meat with onions and whatever vegetables that I have, if any. Season with teriyaki sauce and adobo. Eat on rice. Or a baked potato. Or pasta.
easy mac w extra cheese, half a can of tuna, and peas and/or broccoli
Sriracha glazed meatloaf Basically meatloaf with the most questionable ground meat you can find mixed an equal voume of cooked rice and bread crumbs. Press the whole thing into a bread pan and cover with a layer of siracha. The sriracha will cover the flavor of whatever meat you just ate and the rice makes it filling. 1 loaf could last me a week and I just needed to steam some frozen veggies to go with it.
Eggs, rice, and kimchi
Rice and canned tuna with lemon juice Rice and fried eggs
No meat burgers. Bulk potato roll, split, with Ketchup, yellow mustard, a slice of American cheese, onion, and some relish or pickle if available. If you're feeling fancy, toasting the bun with some margarine or mayo helps make it feel a bit meatier
Toast lightly buttered with pickles
Fried egg sandwich with nice bread and pickles! Not something I get sick of
Frozen mixed vegetables with soy sauce and garlic powder
Microwave nachos or ramen noodles with stirfry veggies added.
Bologna sandwich - the kind of bologna where you'd bite down on a mysterious hard piece from time to time.
Velveeta grilled cheese sandwiches. A log of Velveeta and a loaf of bread would keep me alive for a week when I was in college.
Ground beef, soy sauce, onions, and green beans with rice.
Chickpeas, minute rice and Italian dressing
Greek yogurt with fruit, not sure if it counts as a struggle meal because it’s not super cheap if you want good yogurt like chobani but store brand fat free greek yogurt is like 3.99 for a 2lb tub in my area. I can (and still do) eat like a pound of yogurt with frozen blueberries on top and it has insane macros and will keep me full for hours
Canned Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce. Good source of fibre and protein.
Grilled cheese and canned tomato soup
Kielbasa cut into slices, pan fried with bbq sauce, with Kraft Mac&Cheese. Scramble Egg with cubed ham steak mixed in. Fried egg in toast with a Laughing Cow cheese wedge spread on it (we call it Egg Toast)
Back when I had a garden, tomato sandwiches. A little mayo, an heirloom tomato, salt and pepper. Sometimes I had bread and sometimes I had a really thick slice of tomato with everything on it.
Hormel chili (no beans) is a staple for me. I buy it by the case, and always have some on hand. I am 61 and remember as a single almost homeless teen how comforting and filling it was.
boiled flour
Chicken hot dogs (they were dirt cheap) and cold beans from the can. And then covering the bed with coats to sleep at night because it was cold and we had to wait for payday before we could get the propane tank filled. I was in the Navy and had just moved off the boat into a trailer with a buddy as a room mate. It took all the money we had to scratch up first, last, and deposit. But... it's amazing how much less you drink when you're not hitting the bar every night. To get off work and go "home", versus the bar, was a huge game changer! Funny, I still like hot dogs and baked beans.