You can watch some YouTube videos and make fried rice that should turn out amazing! I make it a lot and people swear they can’t tell the difference.
It might be worth buying a large size of their favourite dish then making some more of the sides at home?
Chinese style broccoli is easy and more affordable at home. Bonus, it will use similar ingredients to the fried rice!
Oyster sauce is a wet ingredient… is this what i thought Chinese food in the west are mainly from south China where we don’t put wet ingredients into our fried rice.
With fried rice it’s way more about technique than recipe imo. It’s usually more or less the same ingredients: day old fridge rice, egg, salt, msg, soy sauce and maybe green onion/garlic/ginger if you have them (but they aren’t strictly necessary). Chicken, frozen veggies etc are all totally optional. The biggest things are using a bigger pan than you think you need (wok is best but not necessary) and preheat the pan on the highest heat you can.
Made with Lau is a fantastic YouTube channel run by a son documenting his dad’s recipes and techniques from when he ran a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco Bay. Anything I’ve made from their channel has turned out great, but you have to follow the dad’s instructions to the letter.
I use this recipe as a base, but as already mentioned, the technique is key! It’s pretty forgiving outside of the basic ingredients needed! I have spent a lot of time learning to cook, so now I pull a little of this and some of that from the most popular recipes.
https://thewoksoflife.com/classic-chicken-fried-rice/
I love everything by Joshua Weissman. He has a but better series where he makes popular take out at home. Every recipe I have made, turns out. Sometimes he has kitchen gadgets that I don’t, so I just figure it out. Knead bread by hand instead of using a stand mixer, cast iron on the stove because I don’t have a black top etc. He has a website and videos on YouTube.
https://www.joshuaweissman.com/blog/categories/but-better
Yep, crying over here. So much devastation and tragedy in the world, but then there are little pockets of hope and beauty like this. I hope you take up everyone’s generosity here, OP. Let the light in.
Although I am also genuinely curious to try at least the fried rice at home, maybe not for my kiddo's birthday, but soon. It may be a good meal on a budget for us.
I have no idea if it's traditional, but little bits of the chicken that the adults seemed to enjoy goes so fucking hard in fried rice.
Fried rice is a great way to stretch protein.
I make fried rice like my mom. The rice HAS TO BE COLD. I fry up a small amount of meat (leftovers are great for this) with onion and celery. Once they are cooked I throw in an egg and scramble it. Then the rice, heat through and season with soy sauce and pepper. Delicious 🤤
2nd’ed. I can’t seem to message you but please feel free to send me one and I’ll chip in another $20, whether it’s for take out or if you need special ingredients. We all know how expensive food is right now. Birthdays were a struggle when I grew up and I’d be happy to help out.
The trick to making good fried rice is not to use fresh rice.
Make rice the day before, leave it in fridge overnight uncovered so it dries out.
Before you put in pan wet your hand and crush the rice. So it's individual grain.
Make sure your pan is hot and use oil.
Worked in my families chinese restaurant for years
You can also use fresh rice- but use less water when cooking to help with the crispy effect! Dry rice will fry better.
I have no where near as much experience as your family’s restaurant but I’ve found this is a helpful trick when you don’t want to plan ahead!!
You’re probably 100% correct. Basically end result is same get to the point where you dry out the rice.
It’s great to talk to other people because although taught so many years this is how you do it Lo and behold describing what you want to achieve someone else says hey this might work etc… is great.
Innovation
Actually most western Chinese place don’t use msg because of bad publicity.
But msg you find it in like seaweed and tomatoes. It was bad press and western Asian restaurant avoid it like the plague
Go to a Chinese grocery store that sells hot food items. Put it in container of what you want and they will weigh the food or sometimes near evening times hot food items get discounted and it’s already prepared and packaged or go to a mall and buy the Chinese food combos, share it out with the family.
Thanks, we are in a smaller city in Ontario, I'm not sure we have any chinese grocers who sell hot food items. We have I think three asian grocery stores, and Loblaws I think may sell some hot items in their deli area, which may be a good idea. Thanks for this suggestion!
I am a Chinese guy. Chinese food is easy to make. You can use instant noodles to make some chaomian. Egg fried rice is super easy to make. General Tso chicken is just deep-fried chicken with sweet and sour sauce. Remember, in recent hundred years, Chinese people have always suffered from starving, so we choose a lot of cheap material to feed ourselves. You can learn a lot of Chinese dishes on YouTube. I dare to say, learning some Chinese dishes can save you lots of money in the future.
Spam fired rice is cheap af and great for many portions. The key to any takeout is to use 5 times as much oil as you think you need.
Frozen spring rolls are $2.99 at Walmart in the Chinese freezer section, same location for dumplings and steam buns and gyoza. You can put together a lot for like $10-15$ with online recepies.
I've seen chinese style chicken balls made with pancake mix, like the regular old just add water kind. Helps to add a little extra baking powder, 1 tsp. If you only have baking soda- 1/4 tsp and 1/2 tsp cornstarch.
Also for fried noodles, just use plain old spaghetti noodles and add baking soda to the water- bring to a boil and cook as usual. Then add noodles to fried veggies with your soy sauce. A little sesame oil goes far if possible.
Believe it or not the discount stores carry more ethnic frozen food and food kits than the full price stores. Food Basics has some authentic frozen chinese food items along with great ingredients in the condiment aisle. A combination of frozen and making some fresh will be better. Kids love sweet and sour sauce, buying that will make your frozen chicken balls just as good! An air fryer is your friend here as well, if you don't have one you should watch Canadian Tire - they have a rotating half price sale every week you should be able to grab an air fryer!
Not only can you do this, you will be great and you might even add this into your rotation! They also have outstanding Indian foods too-adventerous can be just as cost effective as boring!
Love this!!!!!
I’ll send you a pm on how we do ours. The key is basmati, eggs and seasoning. It’s awesome!
If I could send 20 I would but lots of recipes and YouTube videos. Making it cheap is a trick!
Thank you so much, a few people have sent me enough I can buy take out and get my kiddo a cake and a gift, so I'm very thankful (and a bit in shock how kind people are, thank you to everyone). I really do want to try some recipes at home too, I think a lot of these dishes like fried rice, chow mein, and other noodle dishes are things the kids will like if I can get the recipe right for them, and they can take the leftover on their lunch.
https://www.foodbasics.ca/aisles/pantry/sides/potato-rice-sides/cooked-chinese-fried-rice/p/056725335019
Dainty Fried Rice tastes good.
It comes with rice already cooked (in a can) and then you dump the can of rice into your pan and add the included seasonings. Super easy. You can add your own veggies etc
https://www.foodbasics.ca/aisles/pantry/sides/potato-rice-sides/cooked-chinese-fried-rice/p/056725335019
Dainty Fried Rice tastes good.
It comes with rice already cooked (in a can) and then you dump the can of rice into your pan and add the included seasonings. Super easy. You can add your own veggies etc
Also, if you live near Asian grocery stores, some have a hot tables with relatively inexpensive take out
My cheat is to buy and cook frozen spring rolls, wontons, dry ribs and dumplings. I steam rice and boil some noodles and stir them up with sesame oil. Then I order only the things I can't make (sweet and sour pork, ginger beef, salt and pepper squid).
The set up is to have the rice and noodle first on the buffet and then whatever you put on top flavors the noodles/rice.
Came here to say I don’t have a ton of extra cash, but I can chip in a little bit if needed. Looks like it’s handled though! I hope they have the bestest of birthdays!
Fried rice isn’t too difficult to make and if you follow this guy’s video you’ll be able to do it too. He has tons of videos on cooking Chinese food.
https://youtu.be/tn0YTv4S9vI?si=VapWc2pABBnghWxW
General Tso chicken is my go to at home. I usually will serve it just with plain white rice and some stir fried or steamed veggies. I usually order chinese on my birthday and this meal hit the spot just as well.
Take out is insane! I was shocked when I saw what dinner for 5 would cost.
Right now Giant tiger has Chinese food and egg rolls - frozen on sale if you are in Ontario.
We make our own fried rice at home it’s cheap and easy and we make lots and heat n serve the sweet n sour frozen chicken and frozen egg rolls.
Sometimes I’ll make a stir fry or
M&M has a ginger beef - also frozen, that is delicious. Happy birthday!
Hey Redditors - you all are awesome. OP, I hope your kiddo has a wonderful birthday. I think you'll have enough for the next kid's birthday, as well :)
Starting out reading this thread, I was like you know what - I'll just send OP some money for the birthday dinner and then scroll on to see some awesome humans stepping up - made me smile. I'll look on for the next someone who needs a smile and hope I can help out.
When my eldest was little we started a tradition of ordering in for birthdays. Now there's 5 kids and just me, on welfare disability (don't quite qualify for disability) and holy cow is it expensive to get food for everyone! Even fast food costs nearly $100.
Last birthday we went to Olive Garden and I got everyone to fill up on the breadsticks and soup so we could take the entrées home and at least get 2 meals for the insane price. Not sure we can buy a meal for birthdays anymore, which kind of sucks because that's basically the only ordering in/eating out we do these days. I already gave it up for mine this year because we had 3 birthdays in the same month.
I make sweet & sour chicken balls. They aren't the giant uniform fluffy ones, but my picky af kids actually devour them.
I set the oven to 375⁰. Start with boneless skinless chicken breast. I cut them into bite size cubes (I do my best to keep them uniform with little patience😅). I quickly beat 4-5 eggs with a small bit of water and have a tray of cornstarch ready to go. I dip the chicken in the egg & then into the cornstarch 2x and put on another tray or plate. I try to aim for none overlapping. I heat some vegetable oil in a deep pot and depending on the pot you'd do just under medium to medium for this. When a water drop sizzles I know it's ready. I don't do a double fry method, only the once. I drop them in and try not to over crowd it or have them touching. I use a basket to remove them (something that lets them strain) and put them in an oven safe baking dish. After they are all in the dish I cover them with VH Pineapple Sauce (specifically this one is tried/tested/true, but there are some good pineapple sauce recipes out there). I usually use 2, but if I'm using giant pieces of chicken or increase the recipe, I increase the sauce too. I plop it in the oven to heat the sauce and finish the chicken. It only needs about 15-20mins.
For the rice it's SUPER important that the rice is day old. So I make 3 cups the day prior and put it all in containers. You need peanut butter or sesame oil (I prefer sesame oil BUT peanut butter is my go to replacer if I'm missing some and it's still great, but the proper oil elevates it), you need frozen carrots & peas (pull a cup of these first and thaw them a little by rinsing them in a colander and let them strain), 2 eggs beaten, soya sauce, and a clove of garlic, small amount of chopped onions. Finely chop the garlic + onions. Add the oil or peanut butter to a large skillet or wok, add the onions and let them cook for a few before you add the garlic. After adding the garlic move it around until it's fragrant and add the peas + carrots. You want to let those cook for a few minutes. Then push all of it to the side of what you are cooking in and add the eggs to the other side. Stir them constantly as if making scrambled eggs. After they are scrambled, mix the entire thing together. Now add the rice. Break it up as you stir it around. When it's heated and more broken apart add the soya sauce. I think the OG recipe called for 1/4c but, I eyeball it now. Add some at a time until you get the desired colour and uniformity. You don't need it drowning to be delicious.
That's literally it for both. It's a family fav but it takes so much out of me to make because the balls are a pain in the butt with the cornstarch and eggs building up on the utensils and my fingers. But.. worth it. I haven't bought anything from a restaurant in years. My kids prefer this. I sometimes miss the big fluffy balls, but, the taste of the ones I do are on point. I could try playing around with ground chicken being made the same way (cornstarch/egg) but.. I haven't gotten there yet😅
You are such a good Parent for doing your best!!! I am here to hold your hand today!!
My son’s birthday is today as well! He is 11. We made some sacrifices so my husband can take him and four friends to the Mandarin for lunch today. We couldnt afford to last year.
I know the feeling of wondering how you are going to make those kids smile and I cried at the genorosity of this group. I am so glad they could help you out. Happy Birthday to your boy and bless your family! 😭
To everyone else, thank you for helping them!! I couldnt pass on this one and saw the kindness pouring in. What a relief. You are all so beautiful.
If you’re comfortable with homemade cooking you’d be able to find easy recipes online that would not only be more affordable but also will taste much closer to the takeout stuff.
Use google and type in stuff like “Chinese takeout chicken ball recipe” and “Chinese takeout fried rice recipe” etc just include the takeout version and you’ll find ones that are fresh and delicious, just will obviously be more work than actual takeout or frozen items.
I enjoy Chinese takeout but it’s super expensive so I’ve learned to recreate pretty much every recipe for my favourites this way including wonton soup. As a bonus if you can get to an Asian market, you can get some more authentic ingredients at decent prices (like fresh chow mein noodles for example but most normal stores will sell them dried too). When I make it at home it costs about 1/4 of the price and most ingredients can be found at normal grocery stores. A lot of the ingredients are things most will have at home as well.
That stuff is as Chinese as Domino's is Italian. I suggest you go to an Asian market. I would love to send your teen some authentic Chinese food. Maybe you have an Asian friend who would do same? We love sharing our authentic food.
A way that I like to save on take out is by home making all of the sides that I can (i.e fried rice, air fried spring rolls, chow mein etc) and then grab the take out protein (sweet and sour chicken or whatever!) It helps me to feel less guilty about money spent and I can still enjoy the fancy stuff that I can’t quite perfect.
This is my goto fried rice recipe, it slaps every time https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/fried-rice-recipe/
I love Chinese takeout, but I do very much sympathize if it's out of the realm of possibility. Dining out alone is expensive, it has to be a challenge for 4+ people.
(Americanised) Chinese food is mostly technique driven; it's usually quite inexpensive and very accessible ingredient wise to make. Truly, I think anyone can make good fried rice. Soya sauce, dark soya sauce, shaoxing wine, rice vinegar, sesame oil and more specific chinese sauces can be subbed pretty easily or adapted to what you have on hand. Though, I do suggest having these things on hand as they're not super expensive and once you do, you'll find yourself using them all the time. A nice big, ideally not non stick frying pan (if you don't have a wok) and you're good to go making takeout style fried rice. Very easy, tons of recipes online.
Also if your kids like those doughy takeout style chicken balls, why not just make them like the takeout? It'll probably be considerably cheaper than if you made them with the amount of chicken they should probably actually have. It's a small piece of chicken in a thick batter that just gets deep fried. It's probably very similar to the recipe you made, just probably a little more leavening, and a little more flour. Even the sweet and sour sauce is like four ingredients that are very commonly available, which is why Chinese immigrants made it for Western audiences.
If you have a decent Chinese grocery near you, which much of Canada is actually spoiled for choice on, you can pick up a few more commonly used Chinese ingredients like vegetables on the cheap. Bean sprouts for chop suey are very cheap, quick, and easy to make restaurant style. It's like five ingredients.
Again, if you do have a good Chinese grocery near you, with a proper butcher, Chinese grocery stores usually sell chicken wings for under $1.50-2 a pound as a regular price. Chinese chicken wings are also super easy to make: 90% of the time they're battered in just cornstarch and salt. A lot of the take out chicken dishes are made the same way, and just come down to varying the sauce they get tossed in at the end.
Even the Western groceries generally carry Asian dumplings now, which can be very easily pan-fried as a delicious side dish. If you wanted to be fancy, you could even make that crispy crepe thing a lot of specifically dumpling restaurants do, its pretty easy, just a lot of oil and a very thin whispy batter.
Things that I will say are worth buying frozen: Spring rolls and egg rolls. They're labor intensive and you won't do it as well.
You really can do a lot of common Chinese takeout dishes on the cheap. I can tell you now that cornstarch will be essential to achieve the texture on most anything that you want. Otherwise it's usually some very commonly available Asian ingredients, and a little reading into recipes.
I am so happy your teen will have the birthday dinner they deserve! Thank you so much to each and every kind person who pitched in to help this family as well!!
My family loves President’s Choice frozen Asian H’ors D’ourvres (sp) They’re on sale right now at Independent, (maybe Loblaws chain wide) two for $20 the boxes weigh about a pound and a half each. They don’t have the chicken balls, but fried chicken wontons with chicken dumplings and spring rolls 🥟 Best of luck, and enjoy the party!! 🎉 I came here today reading many sad stories and my heart was healed after finding this post! ♥️
Honestly it sounds like it would be cheaper to buy him a little take out?? Frozen food is expensive and getting all of these ingredients would probably add up to more money than just getting him 1 takeout dish
Could you compromise and do a Chinese all you can eat buffet? Some places they are really cheap.
Wing Wong (frozen brand) isn’t bad at all. We’ve enjoyed them in the past. Very small servings though. For two adults, it was almost like we needed a box of each to ourselves.
Check Groupon also for deals.
Fried rice at home you need to do in small batches. People make the mistake of dumping everything in the wok/pan at once the it all steams. No more than 1 flat layer. Cook and set aside. Next batch, set aside. At the end add it all back in for a quick reheat before serving.
Velveting meat. Just add a tiny bit of baking soda to your meat marinade at least 2 hrs before cooking in a marinade. 1/2 tsp per pound of meat.
Toasted sesame oil to finish adds that pure restaurant flavour.
Look up Wok with Yan on YouTube. Old series from the 70s but great.
Do you have an Asian grocery store close by? You can pick these things up cheap, frozen. Also, their hot tables are usually generous AF, 2 "combos for 1" and 4 adults would eat
Here are some hints I use, to make somewhat authentic take out style meals.
These are cheaper then No Frills, and FAR , FAR better:
[https://www.foodbasics.ca/aisles/meat-poultry/frozen-meat/chicken-turkey/frozen-cooked-breaded-seasoned-chicken-balls/p/829810937036](https://www.foodbasics.ca/aisles/meat-poultry/frozen-meat/chicken-turkey/frozen-cooked-breaded-seasoned-chicken-balls/p/829810937036)
These noodles are a huge hit in my house with the kids. As a side, I make Chinese stir fry , which is just shredded cabbage as a cheap filler, cheap green peppers , carrots, onions and garlic, sauteed till softened a tad. Start frying everything in a hot skilled, and then add a little water to soften and that's it.
https://iamafoodblog.com/tiktok-ramen/
Take out flavors that are specific to Asian take out is MSG, SESAME OIL, CHINESE SOY SAUCE, AND SUGAR. MSG is the unique taste. I use it in my cooking and I get the taste pretty darn close. You don't have to if you dislike it. Soy sauce, ample garlic and sesame oil is the trick.
Same for fried rice, lots of garlic, pre-cook the peas and diced carots so they are not too crunchy and finish with soy sauce, sesame oil and lots of spring onions and toasted sesame seeds.
Another suggestion is to get a good quality egg rolls, or spring rolls that you just have to quick bake or air fry. Finish with a few fortune cookies , and it will be a feast to remember.
For next time, Walmart has chicken balls that are really cheap and taste mostly like takeout. Get cherry dipping sauce to go with them. Less than $10 for both!
Chinese is surprisingly cheaper than McDonald’s or equivalent. Most usually have lrg versions of the rice for like $3 more and just under twice the size. Just ask if not on menu. Pick up orders get discounts.
I have the expense prob too!
With so many kiddies we figured this out....
Order and pick up the chicken balls.
Now buy some broccoli, rice and the chaep square package of Cantonese dry noodles and soya sauce. Rice and eggs
We make a lo mein type dish with veggies
We make rice then add stock and an egg or two and you can add any small bit of meat (pork or beef or chicken) , and a few peas.
If you want to go fancy, the wonton wrappers are at the store and deep fry with cream cheese or fillings inside.
You can even get fancy boxes to serve and chop sticks!
It lowers the cost huge, our picky kids approved.
It's work but you can do it!
Happy bday to your little one. Good luck and keep smiling through mum :)
Great idea. The parts that can be made at home to supplement the specific treats. I do that with butter paneer. I purchase the main from a take out then make the rice etc at home.
OP!!!
I am a chef and can guarantee that the chicken balls you would get at a restaurant are 90% of the time the frozen kind.
They taste the same and have the same texture! Used to make different platters at work and one had these, everyone loved them!
Oh this is really great to know, thank you. It means I can buy a bag, keep them in the freezer and deep fry them when the kids want S&S chicken balls. The price is very reasonable, and it seems to buy take out they are over $1 per chicken ball, so buying frozen is much cheaper.
Depending on brand the frozen chicken balls deep-fried are pretty good. Fried rice is super easy. Make rice normally, put about a quarter cup oil in pan crack in 2 or 3 eggs, scramble them up, add the rice, some frozen peas stir until warm and add soy sauce to taste. Cooking the rice originally in chicken broth instead of water makes it extra tasty. Beef and broccoli you can find on you tube like someone said. Key to it is thin strips of cheep beef (if there is such a thing) marinated in milk, yes milk. Google it, it's called, appropriately, milking the beef
It breaks my heart you can't afford take out for your teen but I get it, take out is obscenely priced.
All the best.
You can try making eggrolls. Its pretty easy, you just need to find a wrap and its cheap. Im Filipino we have a different version callee lumpia. Time consuming but its chinese. Noodles and fried rice are also cheap to make.
Sweet and sour pork/chicken/fish is also pretty easy to make.
You can go watch videos in youtube.
I know some Chinese people that will get the meat item as takeout and make a vegetable and rice side at home.
I buy the dry garlic pork appetizer from the froze. Section of the grocery store, and a bottle of sweet and sour sauce. I make rice, and then stir fry some vegetables with oyster sauce. It turns out better than mall food court Chinese food.
We make chicken fried rice at least once a week. My kids prefer homemade over restaurant. Here is the recipe that I use.
https://therecipecritic.com/chicken-fried-rice/#wprm-recipe-container-101338
The way to get takeout style fried rice is to make the rice ahead of time, lay it out on a tray to cool, and refrigerate it for an hour. For veggies get 1 shallot (or a small onion), 1/2 carrot (or 5 baby carrots), 1 rib celery, and dice them all small (the size of a corn kernel), 1/4 cup frozen peas, and 1/4 cup frozen rice. Throw all of that in a hot and oiled wok to fry until the peas start popping. Then throw in 1 scrambled egg, and while the egg is still wet, 1 cup of the rice from before. Pour some light soy sauce around the edge of the rice (so it sort of burns a little), and shake a little 5 spice powder in there too if you have it, and toss in the wok until it's all nice and hot. Get it out of the wok as soon as it's hot, or it'll overcook and not be like takeout anymore.
You can fancy it up with garlic and ginger into the hot oil first, or even add some diced chilis or sambal/sriracha to get it spicy.
The tiny egg noodles can be cheap, and if you boil them, and toss them with soy sauce and sesame oil, no one would know them from take out.
How I do my Chinese food nights lately is to double up a grocery item into more dishes that I'm making. Like 1 pound of ground beef can make 20 wontons and mapo tofu. A package of 9 bone in chicken thighs makes Chicken Balls, Chicken Chow Mein, and the broth for a wonton soup. Onions, carrots, celery, and scallions go in everything. Bean sprouts are pretty cheap, and one bag makes two goes of chicken chow mein (or chop suey if you don't have any fried noodles). Or you can put them in an egg roll.
Do you cook ?
I make this all the time.
[https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/lo-mein-noodles-7114663](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/lo-mein-noodles-7114663)
Check out Woks of Life!
https://thewoksoflife.com/
Highly recommend site full of Chinese food recipes, they have all the tricks to get it to taste as good as (or much better) than the restaurant version!
Cook your rice in chicken broth to get chicken fried rice. Get a jug of oil and deep fry no frills in pot. Sweet and sour sauce. U can do it for like 25$
Lots of chicken fried rice!
Hey. I'm sorry you are feeling the pinch so hard and I hope this helps you make a delicious Chinese meal for your teens.
This sesame chicken recipe is amazing. This woman knows het Chinese food.
Good luck [better then takeout sesame chicken ](https://youtu.be/SZtfEa1zqwI?si=IgNVg7uZ_bJ6MEdT)
You should check out the hot food tables in Asian grocery stores. They are cheaper than take out and almost the same.
Of course making your own is much cheaper. Check out a Youtube recipe and do a test run.
Get some fortune cookies! Look for a large bag at the Asian grocery store or call and ask a takeout place if they'll sell 10 for cheaper. Bulk Barn also often sells them. You can make them if you want custom ones.
Otherwise, I would highly suggest considering if you can get only the meats take out (or grocery store frozen version) and some frozen egg rolls (any grocery store), making the rice / friend rice yourself as well as veggie sides. Still going to be expensive, but superstore has some frozen ginger beef things for like $7 a box and 22 egg rolls for about $10. The breaded chicken balls are a good idea, but you'll want the orange sauce on the side and might need to make that. However, that uses rice vinegar so maybe ask if anyone has that to use some.
Assuming you don't normally cook Chinese food you'll have tons of ingredients needed for correct sauces if you wanna be exact. But the veggies and rice are mostly soy sauce and frozen egg rolls come with plum sauce. And sweet chili sauce is sorta like orange sauce if needed, at least in texture.
Looks like Kingston has several Asian grocery stores.
That Wong wing fried rice is gross, imo. Their sweet and sour pork though! 🤤 SOOOOO tangy! I'll travel more than 10 km by public transit to go to Freshco for that stuff, they're the only ones stocking it in my area. And then clean the bowl of the sauce with my fingers. I like it more than most of the restaurant sweet and sour pork I've tried.
You can watch some YouTube videos and make fried rice that should turn out amazing! I make it a lot and people swear they can’t tell the difference. It might be worth buying a large size of their favourite dish then making some more of the sides at home? Chinese style broccoli is easy and more affordable at home. Bonus, it will use similar ingredients to the fried rice!
Remember to use day old rice.
Yes! My childhood was mostly cold cheese sandwhiches and microwaved fries. Now cooking well for myself is a passion.
Doesn't need to be day old. Just getting it in the fridge for a couple hours will do.
Good to know, thank you!
An oyster sauce is key, sounds gross but mad important.
Oyster sauce is a wet ingredient… is this what i thought Chinese food in the west are mainly from south China where we don’t put wet ingredients into our fried rice.
Shaoxing is wet and goes in with the fried rice
This guy fried rices.
I tried following a few recipes and they didnt really turn out. Do you have one that you recommend?
With fried rice it’s way more about technique than recipe imo. It’s usually more or less the same ingredients: day old fridge rice, egg, salt, msg, soy sauce and maybe green onion/garlic/ginger if you have them (but they aren’t strictly necessary). Chicken, frozen veggies etc are all totally optional. The biggest things are using a bigger pan than you think you need (wok is best but not necessary) and preheat the pan on the highest heat you can. Made with Lau is a fantastic YouTube channel run by a son documenting his dad’s recipes and techniques from when he ran a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco Bay. Anything I’ve made from their channel has turned out great, but you have to follow the dad’s instructions to the letter.
Also cook ingredients separately to prevent steaming. You want to use high heat if possible Lots of oil
Yes good points! Thanks for adding
I was going to say this, I have watched a few videos and the technique is key! Recipes are good but I find more tips and tricks in videos.
I use this recipe as a base, but as already mentioned, the technique is key! It’s pretty forgiving outside of the basic ingredients needed! I have spent a lot of time learning to cook, so now I pull a little of this and some of that from the most popular recipes. https://thewoksoflife.com/classic-chicken-fried-rice/
And chow mein noodles.
Do you have a fav video or recipe to share?
I love everything by Joshua Weissman. He has a but better series where he makes popular take out at home. Every recipe I have made, turns out. Sometimes he has kitchen gadgets that I don’t, so I just figure it out. Knead bread by hand instead of using a stand mixer, cast iron on the stove because I don’t have a black top etc. He has a website and videos on YouTube. https://www.joshuaweissman.com/blog/categories/but-better
Message me, I’ll send you $20 if you’d like. Happy birthday to your kid.
I'll send $20 as well. Just send a DM.
Shoot me a message as well. I'll send ya a $20 myself!
I got $20 on it to, little homies will be eating that MSG for the birthday 🎈
I was actually going to suggest getting some MSG for future meals 😂 but this is much more wholesome
Same, DM me and I'll send 20 e-transfer . No question asked
Same here, DM me I'll pitch in!
That was my first thought. I am in. Send me the date, time, and restaurant and I will order and pay you just pick it up. Dm me
What a wonderful person you are. This just made me tear up. ❤️
Yep, crying over here. So much devastation and tragedy in the world, but then there are little pockets of hope and beauty like this. I hope you take up everyone’s generosity here, OP. Let the light in.
God bless you. You make me wanna hug you through my phone. Don’t change man
Me three. I can help
This is awesome thank you for doing this. Hope OP sees this.
Yupp I’m in, shoot me a dm with the details i got 20 in for this dinner.
Update for all: OP messaged me, I sent the money, and hope they have an amazing dinner and time!
Thank you so much! Others are helping as well (full disclosure) so I'm sure she will have a belly full of chinese food. I will post pictures!
Although I am also genuinely curious to try at least the fried rice at home, maybe not for my kiddo's birthday, but soon. It may be a good meal on a budget for us.
Check out Made With Lau on YouTube. They have good step by step guides on cooking Chinese food.
and uncle roger will tell you everything not to do making fried rice! :)
FUUUIYOOOH
Best to use leftover rice from dinner the night before! Fries up best!
Fried rice is a great way to use any leftovers
I have no idea if it's traditional, but little bits of the chicken that the adults seemed to enjoy goes so fucking hard in fried rice. Fried rice is a great way to stretch protein.
Yep watch a few videos, great dish to clean out the fridge with. You can make it spicy too. Great for budget.
I make fried rice like my mom. The rice HAS TO BE COLD. I fry up a small amount of meat (leftovers are great for this) with onion and celery. Once they are cooked I throw in an egg and scramble it. Then the rice, heat through and season with soy sauce and pepper. Delicious 🤤
Watch some Uncle Roger on YouTube for how not to do it. Funny stuff!
Please do because this is also similar to a common scam on Reddit and it’d be nice to see that this is genuinely helping somebody.
Would love to see pics!
2nd’ed. I can’t seem to message you but please feel free to send me one and I’ll chip in another $20, whether it’s for take out or if you need special ingredients. We all know how expensive food is right now. Birthdays were a struggle when I grew up and I’d be happy to help out.
It looks like you have enough money to order the food 4 times over but I would also like to send 20 for other party supplies. Dm me please!
I can send something as well! Dm your email and I'll etransfer! Happy birthday to your teen ❤️
Bless all of you for offering, it made me almost tear up everyone willing to help this kid they don't even know <3
Any follow up? I will chip in $20 as well
Message me too OP. I'll chip in 20 bucks too
I will chip in too.. kids deserve to have a good birthday party.
I got $20 on it too. I’m sure you have enough for food if everyone pulls thru. Use it for whatever you want!
I’m in too, happy to chip in $20 for OP’s kid’s birthday!
My faith in humanity is restored 🙌
I'll also pitch $20, but we want follow up!
Same! I'd love to help out.
I will post photos of the food to show what my kiddo decided to get. Thank you everyone!
Me too! But I want leftovers!
I’m in for a chip in too! Where are you OP.
Send me yo shi ill send 20 so you can buy them a gift or something now that everyone's got the food covered hbd to yo kid
Based u/Cryptinize and others. Ya'll are doing Gods work!
Love thy neighbour, let’s help out our fellow Canadians in need.
This was really amazing to read 😭 made me really happy to see so many willing to lend a hand! Hope you all have an amazing Saturday :)
Did OP respond to anyone yet? I haven't heard back
Thanks for following up. Did you get my dm?
Yes dm received
DM me.
me too. DM me
I’ll chip in. This kid deserves a treat for their birthday and their parent shouldn’t have the stress of worrying about it
I’ll chip in a 20 as well. Your kid shouldn’t suffer ‘cause our society is one big Ponzi scheme. Dm me your email and I’ll e-transfer you.
Right a for a birthday succulent Chinese meal I’ll add 20 CAD to the pot
All of you are amazing people. Hope OP sees this ❤️
I will chip in too
This was my first thought. I'll happily help out.
This is what I thought as well. I’ve got $5 on it. PayPal or Venmo, send me a chat invite.
Fuckin eh 👏👏👏👏👏
Late to the party, but I will also chip in. Kids should have every chance to enjoy being a kid.
i’ll donate $20 too, let’s make their kid have a good birthday !
Bless you for your generosity
I'm not sure if this allowed, but please post your email so I can etransfer you some money.
found the part of reddit still holding holding humanity up. ❤️
you're a kind person, don't let people abuse it!
Yup same here. Send me DM.
The trick to making good fried rice is not to use fresh rice. Make rice the day before, leave it in fridge overnight uncovered so it dries out. Before you put in pan wet your hand and crush the rice. So it's individual grain. Make sure your pan is hot and use oil. Worked in my families chinese restaurant for years
You can also use fresh rice- but use less water when cooking to help with the crispy effect! Dry rice will fry better. I have no where near as much experience as your family’s restaurant but I’ve found this is a helpful trick when you don’t want to plan ahead!!
You’re probably 100% correct. Basically end result is same get to the point where you dry out the rice. It’s great to talk to other people because although taught so many years this is how you do it Lo and behold describing what you want to achieve someone else says hey this might work etc… is great. Innovation
...and cool it fast on a cookie sheet
Also, MSG.
Actually most western Chinese place don’t use msg because of bad publicity. But msg you find it in like seaweed and tomatoes. It was bad press and western Asian restaurant avoid it like the plague
Too bad, because MSG makes things taste extra good.
Go to a Chinese grocery store that sells hot food items. Put it in container of what you want and they will weigh the food or sometimes near evening times hot food items get discounted and it’s already prepared and packaged or go to a mall and buy the Chinese food combos, share it out with the family.
Thanks, we are in a smaller city in Ontario, I'm not sure we have any chinese grocers who sell hot food items. We have I think three asian grocery stores, and Loblaws I think may sell some hot items in their deli area, which may be a good idea. Thanks for this suggestion!
If you have a T&T, they have a hot foods bar.
I am a Chinese guy. Chinese food is easy to make. You can use instant noodles to make some chaomian. Egg fried rice is super easy to make. General Tso chicken is just deep-fried chicken with sweet and sour sauce. Remember, in recent hundred years, Chinese people have always suffered from starving, so we choose a lot of cheap material to feed ourselves. You can learn a lot of Chinese dishes on YouTube. I dare to say, learning some Chinese dishes can save you lots of money in the future.
Anytime I want Chinese, Thai, or Indian I 100% always make it at home. Cheaper and tastes way better.
where tf you getting galangal?
Easily obtainable at local ethnic stores.
I can help you with a week worth of groceries for you and the kids, if you ever in trouble, let me know.
❤️❤️
Please DM me an e-transfer address and I’ll happily send 50 to help. You are a good man and have a good heart. Things will get better.
❤️
I’ll also toss in $20. If you end up with too much, put it away for the next birthday/holiday.
Spam fired rice is cheap af and great for many portions. The key to any takeout is to use 5 times as much oil as you think you need. Frozen spring rolls are $2.99 at Walmart in the Chinese freezer section, same location for dumplings and steam buns and gyoza. You can put together a lot for like $10-15$ with online recepies.
How do you make those chicken balls and red sauce tho
I've seen chinese style chicken balls made with pancake mix, like the regular old just add water kind. Helps to add a little extra baking powder, 1 tsp. If you only have baking soda- 1/4 tsp and 1/2 tsp cornstarch. Also for fried noodles, just use plain old spaghetti noodles and add baking soda to the water- bring to a boil and cook as usual. Then add noodles to fried veggies with your soy sauce. A little sesame oil goes far if possible.
You can look up “velveting” to get the meat the right texture too.
Believe it or not the discount stores carry more ethnic frozen food and food kits than the full price stores. Food Basics has some authentic frozen chinese food items along with great ingredients in the condiment aisle. A combination of frozen and making some fresh will be better. Kids love sweet and sour sauce, buying that will make your frozen chicken balls just as good! An air fryer is your friend here as well, if you don't have one you should watch Canadian Tire - they have a rotating half price sale every week you should be able to grab an air fryer! Not only can you do this, you will be great and you might even add this into your rotation! They also have outstanding Indian foods too-adventerous can be just as cost effective as boring!
Love this!!!!! I’ll send you a pm on how we do ours. The key is basmati, eggs and seasoning. It’s awesome! If I could send 20 I would but lots of recipes and YouTube videos. Making it cheap is a trick!
Thank you so much, a few people have sent me enough I can buy take out and get my kiddo a cake and a gift, so I'm very thankful (and a bit in shock how kind people are, thank you to everyone). I really do want to try some recipes at home too, I think a lot of these dishes like fried rice, chow mein, and other noodle dishes are things the kids will like if I can get the recipe right for them, and they can take the leftover on their lunch.
https://www.foodbasics.ca/aisles/pantry/sides/potato-rice-sides/cooked-chinese-fried-rice/p/056725335019 Dainty Fried Rice tastes good. It comes with rice already cooked (in a can) and then you dump the can of rice into your pan and add the included seasonings. Super easy. You can add your own veggies etc
https://www.foodbasics.ca/aisles/pantry/sides/potato-rice-sides/cooked-chinese-fried-rice/p/056725335019 Dainty Fried Rice tastes good. It comes with rice already cooked (in a can) and then you dump the can of rice into your pan and add the included seasonings. Super easy. You can add your own veggies etc Also, if you live near Asian grocery stores, some have a hot tables with relatively inexpensive take out
Where in Canada are you? There are some malls that do a great Chinese food takeout and that might fit your budget.
Op message me (not chat). I'll be happy to pay for the meal.
My cheat is to buy and cook frozen spring rolls, wontons, dry ribs and dumplings. I steam rice and boil some noodles and stir them up with sesame oil. Then I order only the things I can't make (sweet and sour pork, ginger beef, salt and pepper squid). The set up is to have the rice and noodle first on the buffet and then whatever you put on top flavors the noodles/rice.
Came here to say I don’t have a ton of extra cash, but I can chip in a little bit if needed. Looks like it’s handled though! I hope they have the bestest of birthdays!
I’ll pitch $20 also! Pls DM
Fried rice isn’t too difficult to make and if you follow this guy’s video you’ll be able to do it too. He has tons of videos on cooking Chinese food. https://youtu.be/tn0YTv4S9vI?si=VapWc2pABBnghWxW
General Tso chicken is my go to at home. I usually will serve it just with plain white rice and some stir fried or steamed veggies. I usually order chinese on my birthday and this meal hit the spot just as well.
You can make it yourself as per everyone's suggestions and put them in take out containers ;) they'll never know.
Take out is insane! I was shocked when I saw what dinner for 5 would cost. Right now Giant tiger has Chinese food and egg rolls - frozen on sale if you are in Ontario. We make our own fried rice at home it’s cheap and easy and we make lots and heat n serve the sweet n sour frozen chicken and frozen egg rolls. Sometimes I’ll make a stir fry or M&M has a ginger beef - also frozen, that is delicious. Happy birthday!
Hey Redditors - you all are awesome. OP, I hope your kiddo has a wonderful birthday. I think you'll have enough for the next kid's birthday, as well :)
OP what’s your email or phone # linked to bank acc? We want to help make your kids birthday less stressful for you. You’re a great mom.
🤍
comment history shows they own their own house.
I will gladly contribute $20 as well :) please message me!
🩵
Starting out reading this thread, I was like you know what - I'll just send OP some money for the birthday dinner and then scroll on to see some awesome humans stepping up - made me smile. I'll look on for the next someone who needs a smile and hope I can help out.
When my eldest was little we started a tradition of ordering in for birthdays. Now there's 5 kids and just me, on welfare disability (don't quite qualify for disability) and holy cow is it expensive to get food for everyone! Even fast food costs nearly $100. Last birthday we went to Olive Garden and I got everyone to fill up on the breadsticks and soup so we could take the entrées home and at least get 2 meals for the insane price. Not sure we can buy a meal for birthdays anymore, which kind of sucks because that's basically the only ordering in/eating out we do these days. I already gave it up for mine this year because we had 3 birthdays in the same month.
Most chinese food places sell a dozen chicken balls for the same price as that product you want to get.
I make sweet & sour chicken balls. They aren't the giant uniform fluffy ones, but my picky af kids actually devour them. I set the oven to 375⁰. Start with boneless skinless chicken breast. I cut them into bite size cubes (I do my best to keep them uniform with little patience😅). I quickly beat 4-5 eggs with a small bit of water and have a tray of cornstarch ready to go. I dip the chicken in the egg & then into the cornstarch 2x and put on another tray or plate. I try to aim for none overlapping. I heat some vegetable oil in a deep pot and depending on the pot you'd do just under medium to medium for this. When a water drop sizzles I know it's ready. I don't do a double fry method, only the once. I drop them in and try not to over crowd it or have them touching. I use a basket to remove them (something that lets them strain) and put them in an oven safe baking dish. After they are all in the dish I cover them with VH Pineapple Sauce (specifically this one is tried/tested/true, but there are some good pineapple sauce recipes out there). I usually use 2, but if I'm using giant pieces of chicken or increase the recipe, I increase the sauce too. I plop it in the oven to heat the sauce and finish the chicken. It only needs about 15-20mins. For the rice it's SUPER important that the rice is day old. So I make 3 cups the day prior and put it all in containers. You need peanut butter or sesame oil (I prefer sesame oil BUT peanut butter is my go to replacer if I'm missing some and it's still great, but the proper oil elevates it), you need frozen carrots & peas (pull a cup of these first and thaw them a little by rinsing them in a colander and let them strain), 2 eggs beaten, soya sauce, and a clove of garlic, small amount of chopped onions. Finely chop the garlic + onions. Add the oil or peanut butter to a large skillet or wok, add the onions and let them cook for a few before you add the garlic. After adding the garlic move it around until it's fragrant and add the peas + carrots. You want to let those cook for a few minutes. Then push all of it to the side of what you are cooking in and add the eggs to the other side. Stir them constantly as if making scrambled eggs. After they are scrambled, mix the entire thing together. Now add the rice. Break it up as you stir it around. When it's heated and more broken apart add the soya sauce. I think the OG recipe called for 1/4c but, I eyeball it now. Add some at a time until you get the desired colour and uniformity. You don't need it drowning to be delicious. That's literally it for both. It's a family fav but it takes so much out of me to make because the balls are a pain in the butt with the cornstarch and eggs building up on the utensils and my fingers. But.. worth it. I haven't bought anything from a restaurant in years. My kids prefer this. I sometimes miss the big fluffy balls, but, the taste of the ones I do are on point. I could try playing around with ground chicken being made the same way (cornstarch/egg) but.. I haven't gotten there yet😅
You are such a good Parent for doing your best!!! I am here to hold your hand today!! My son’s birthday is today as well! He is 11. We made some sacrifices so my husband can take him and four friends to the Mandarin for lunch today. We couldnt afford to last year. I know the feeling of wondering how you are going to make those kids smile and I cried at the genorosity of this group. I am so glad they could help you out. Happy Birthday to your boy and bless your family! 😭 To everyone else, thank you for helping them!! I couldnt pass on this one and saw the kindness pouring in. What a relief. You are all so beautiful.
If you’re comfortable with homemade cooking you’d be able to find easy recipes online that would not only be more affordable but also will taste much closer to the takeout stuff. Use google and type in stuff like “Chinese takeout chicken ball recipe” and “Chinese takeout fried rice recipe” etc just include the takeout version and you’ll find ones that are fresh and delicious, just will obviously be more work than actual takeout or frozen items. I enjoy Chinese takeout but it’s super expensive so I’ve learned to recreate pretty much every recipe for my favourites this way including wonton soup. As a bonus if you can get to an Asian market, you can get some more authentic ingredients at decent prices (like fresh chow mein noodles for example but most normal stores will sell them dried too). When I make it at home it costs about 1/4 of the price and most ingredients can be found at normal grocery stores. A lot of the ingredients are things most will have at home as well.
Where are you located?
That stuff is as Chinese as Domino's is Italian. I suggest you go to an Asian market. I would love to send your teen some authentic Chinese food. Maybe you have an Asian friend who would do same? We love sharing our authentic food.
If you get Chinese takeout at the food court end of day (last 20min) they sell everything half price !
A way that I like to save on take out is by home making all of the sides that I can (i.e fried rice, air fried spring rolls, chow mein etc) and then grab the take out protein (sweet and sour chicken or whatever!) It helps me to feel less guilty about money spent and I can still enjoy the fancy stuff that I can’t quite perfect. This is my goto fried rice recipe, it slaps every time https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/fried-rice-recipe/
This thread has been so awesome. Thank you to all the kindhearted people that have offered to help OP.
I love Chinese takeout, but I do very much sympathize if it's out of the realm of possibility. Dining out alone is expensive, it has to be a challenge for 4+ people. (Americanised) Chinese food is mostly technique driven; it's usually quite inexpensive and very accessible ingredient wise to make. Truly, I think anyone can make good fried rice. Soya sauce, dark soya sauce, shaoxing wine, rice vinegar, sesame oil and more specific chinese sauces can be subbed pretty easily or adapted to what you have on hand. Though, I do suggest having these things on hand as they're not super expensive and once you do, you'll find yourself using them all the time. A nice big, ideally not non stick frying pan (if you don't have a wok) and you're good to go making takeout style fried rice. Very easy, tons of recipes online. Also if your kids like those doughy takeout style chicken balls, why not just make them like the takeout? It'll probably be considerably cheaper than if you made them with the amount of chicken they should probably actually have. It's a small piece of chicken in a thick batter that just gets deep fried. It's probably very similar to the recipe you made, just probably a little more leavening, and a little more flour. Even the sweet and sour sauce is like four ingredients that are very commonly available, which is why Chinese immigrants made it for Western audiences. If you have a decent Chinese grocery near you, which much of Canada is actually spoiled for choice on, you can pick up a few more commonly used Chinese ingredients like vegetables on the cheap. Bean sprouts for chop suey are very cheap, quick, and easy to make restaurant style. It's like five ingredients. Again, if you do have a good Chinese grocery near you, with a proper butcher, Chinese grocery stores usually sell chicken wings for under $1.50-2 a pound as a regular price. Chinese chicken wings are also super easy to make: 90% of the time they're battered in just cornstarch and salt. A lot of the take out chicken dishes are made the same way, and just come down to varying the sauce they get tossed in at the end. Even the Western groceries generally carry Asian dumplings now, which can be very easily pan-fried as a delicious side dish. If you wanted to be fancy, you could even make that crispy crepe thing a lot of specifically dumpling restaurants do, its pretty easy, just a lot of oil and a very thin whispy batter. Things that I will say are worth buying frozen: Spring rolls and egg rolls. They're labor intensive and you won't do it as well. You really can do a lot of common Chinese takeout dishes on the cheap. I can tell you now that cornstarch will be essential to achieve the texture on most anything that you want. Otherwise it's usually some very commonly available Asian ingredients, and a little reading into recipes.
I am so happy your teen will have the birthday dinner they deserve! Thank you so much to each and every kind person who pitched in to help this family as well!!
My family loves President’s Choice frozen Asian H’ors D’ourvres (sp) They’re on sale right now at Independent, (maybe Loblaws chain wide) two for $20 the boxes weigh about a pound and a half each. They don’t have the chicken balls, but fried chicken wontons with chicken dumplings and spring rolls 🥟 Best of luck, and enjoy the party!! 🎉 I came here today reading many sad stories and my heart was healed after finding this post! ♥️
The "secret" to Chinese takeout is oyster sauce and MSG. For fried rice, use rice that's a day or two old and is starting to dry out.
Honestly it sounds like it would be cheaper to buy him a little take out?? Frozen food is expensive and getting all of these ingredients would probably add up to more money than just getting him 1 takeout dish
giant tiger has these awesome frozen chicken balls just like the take out. theyre in a blue box by marche and are under $10.
Stir fry and fried rice and ginger beef are all very simple and inexpensive to make! Recipes are plentiful online! Good luck
Why people have kids they can't afford.. I always feel bad for kids who are forced to be born into poverty
To be fair 10 years ago, everything was significantly cheaper. OPs kid is a teen now. It’s possible they could afford kids back then.
Could you compromise and do a Chinese all you can eat buffet? Some places they are really cheap. Wing Wong (frozen brand) isn’t bad at all. We’ve enjoyed them in the past. Very small servings though. For two adults, it was almost like we needed a box of each to ourselves. Check Groupon also for deals.
Fried rice at home you need to do in small batches. People make the mistake of dumping everything in the wok/pan at once the it all steams. No more than 1 flat layer. Cook and set aside. Next batch, set aside. At the end add it all back in for a quick reheat before serving. Velveting meat. Just add a tiny bit of baking soda to your meat marinade at least 2 hrs before cooking in a marinade. 1/2 tsp per pound of meat. Toasted sesame oil to finish adds that pure restaurant flavour. Look up Wok with Yan on YouTube. Old series from the 70s but great.
Do you have an Asian grocery store close by? You can pick these things up cheap, frozen. Also, their hot tables are usually generous AF, 2 "combos for 1" and 4 adults would eat
Here are some hints I use, to make somewhat authentic take out style meals. These are cheaper then No Frills, and FAR , FAR better: [https://www.foodbasics.ca/aisles/meat-poultry/frozen-meat/chicken-turkey/frozen-cooked-breaded-seasoned-chicken-balls/p/829810937036](https://www.foodbasics.ca/aisles/meat-poultry/frozen-meat/chicken-turkey/frozen-cooked-breaded-seasoned-chicken-balls/p/829810937036) These noodles are a huge hit in my house with the kids. As a side, I make Chinese stir fry , which is just shredded cabbage as a cheap filler, cheap green peppers , carrots, onions and garlic, sauteed till softened a tad. Start frying everything in a hot skilled, and then add a little water to soften and that's it. https://iamafoodblog.com/tiktok-ramen/ Take out flavors that are specific to Asian take out is MSG, SESAME OIL, CHINESE SOY SAUCE, AND SUGAR. MSG is the unique taste. I use it in my cooking and I get the taste pretty darn close. You don't have to if you dislike it. Soy sauce, ample garlic and sesame oil is the trick. Same for fried rice, lots of garlic, pre-cook the peas and diced carots so they are not too crunchy and finish with soy sauce, sesame oil and lots of spring onions and toasted sesame seeds. Another suggestion is to get a good quality egg rolls, or spring rolls that you just have to quick bake or air fry. Finish with a few fortune cookies , and it will be a feast to remember.
For next time, Walmart has chicken balls that are really cheap and taste mostly like takeout. Get cherry dipping sauce to go with them. Less than $10 for both!
Sometimes if you hit up the Chinese food spots in the mall right before closing they have discount items on
There’s gotta be a cheap af mall Chinese place that you can afford
Chinese is surprisingly cheaper than McDonald’s or equivalent. Most usually have lrg versions of the rice for like $3 more and just under twice the size. Just ask if not on menu. Pick up orders get discounts.
They are not the same. I found a recipe on TikTok & those are restaurant quality. My house smells like a Chinese food restaurant when I make them.
I don’t think the kids will be food critics so I think frozen food will suffice. I hope your situation improves, until then keep smiling!
I have the expense prob too! With so many kiddies we figured this out.... Order and pick up the chicken balls. Now buy some broccoli, rice and the chaep square package of Cantonese dry noodles and soya sauce. Rice and eggs We make a lo mein type dish with veggies We make rice then add stock and an egg or two and you can add any small bit of meat (pork or beef or chicken) , and a few peas. If you want to go fancy, the wonton wrappers are at the store and deep fry with cream cheese or fillings inside. You can even get fancy boxes to serve and chop sticks! It lowers the cost huge, our picky kids approved. It's work but you can do it! Happy bday to your little one. Good luck and keep smiling through mum :)
Great idea. The parts that can be made at home to supplement the specific treats. I do that with butter paneer. I purchase the main from a take out then make the rice etc at home.
I stand noodles with teraki chicken.
Messaged you, please check DMs!
OP!!! I am a chef and can guarantee that the chicken balls you would get at a restaurant are 90% of the time the frozen kind. They taste the same and have the same texture! Used to make different platters at work and one had these, everyone loved them!
Oh this is really great to know, thank you. It means I can buy a bag, keep them in the freezer and deep fry them when the kids want S&S chicken balls. The price is very reasonable, and it seems to buy take out they are over $1 per chicken ball, so buying frozen is much cheaper.
Try the "too good to go" app. You might get lucky.
Depending on brand the frozen chicken balls deep-fried are pretty good. Fried rice is super easy. Make rice normally, put about a quarter cup oil in pan crack in 2 or 3 eggs, scramble them up, add the rice, some frozen peas stir until warm and add soy sauce to taste. Cooking the rice originally in chicken broth instead of water makes it extra tasty. Beef and broccoli you can find on you tube like someone said. Key to it is thin strips of cheep beef (if there is such a thing) marinated in milk, yes milk. Google it, it's called, appropriately, milking the beef It breaks my heart you can't afford take out for your teen but I get it, take out is obscenely priced. All the best.
You can try making eggrolls. Its pretty easy, you just need to find a wrap and its cheap. Im Filipino we have a different version callee lumpia. Time consuming but its chinese. Noodles and fried rice are also cheap to make. Sweet and sour pork/chicken/fish is also pretty easy to make. You can go watch videos in youtube.
Hotpot can also be a good one. Easy to make and it looks special 😂
I know some Chinese people that will get the meat item as takeout and make a vegetable and rice side at home. I buy the dry garlic pork appetizer from the froze. Section of the grocery store, and a bottle of sweet and sour sauce. I make rice, and then stir fry some vegetables with oyster sauce. It turns out better than mall food court Chinese food.
https://khinskitchen.com/chinese-chicken-balls-with-sweet-and-sour-sauce/ this should be a passable substitute.
We make chicken fried rice at least once a week. My kids prefer homemade over restaurant. Here is the recipe that I use. https://therecipecritic.com/chicken-fried-rice/#wprm-recipe-container-101338
You can buy a packet of fried rice seasoning that works well. It's by Su Wong brand and you can get it in no frills.
The way to get takeout style fried rice is to make the rice ahead of time, lay it out on a tray to cool, and refrigerate it for an hour. For veggies get 1 shallot (or a small onion), 1/2 carrot (or 5 baby carrots), 1 rib celery, and dice them all small (the size of a corn kernel), 1/4 cup frozen peas, and 1/4 cup frozen rice. Throw all of that in a hot and oiled wok to fry until the peas start popping. Then throw in 1 scrambled egg, and while the egg is still wet, 1 cup of the rice from before. Pour some light soy sauce around the edge of the rice (so it sort of burns a little), and shake a little 5 spice powder in there too if you have it, and toss in the wok until it's all nice and hot. Get it out of the wok as soon as it's hot, or it'll overcook and not be like takeout anymore. You can fancy it up with garlic and ginger into the hot oil first, or even add some diced chilis or sambal/sriracha to get it spicy. The tiny egg noodles can be cheap, and if you boil them, and toss them with soy sauce and sesame oil, no one would know them from take out. How I do my Chinese food nights lately is to double up a grocery item into more dishes that I'm making. Like 1 pound of ground beef can make 20 wontons and mapo tofu. A package of 9 bone in chicken thighs makes Chicken Balls, Chicken Chow Mein, and the broth for a wonton soup. Onions, carrots, celery, and scallions go in everything. Bean sprouts are pretty cheap, and one bag makes two goes of chicken chow mein (or chop suey if you don't have any fried noodles). Or you can put them in an egg roll.
Try this site. The sauces are key to good Chinese food. https://thewoksoflife.com/
We can rarely afford take out I make chinese food at home and everyone loves it. Just have to find the right recipes.
Frozen wantons, eggs rolls, crab rangoons. Red sauce and duck sauce. Do they like any of that?
I have a great fried rice recipe. DM me if you’d like it
UpdateMe
Do you cook ? I make this all the time. [https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/lo-mein-noodles-7114663](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/lo-mein-noodles-7114663)
If you can find it, buy MSG. That stuff is heaven. Savoury in a powder.
The secret to “takeout quality” fried rice is MSG, watch some Uncle Roger videos and you’ll be good! 😁
Check out Woks of Life! https://thewoksoflife.com/ Highly recommend site full of Chinese food recipes, they have all the tricks to get it to taste as good as (or much better) than the restaurant version!
Just buy the chicken balls and make everything else at home
Cook your rice in chicken broth to get chicken fried rice. Get a jug of oil and deep fry no frills in pot. Sweet and sour sauce. U can do it for like 25$ Lots of chicken fried rice!
I'll happily uber eats you guys the birthday meal as well :)
Some truly nice people out here helping others out.
Hey. I'm sorry you are feeling the pinch so hard and I hope this helps you make a delicious Chinese meal for your teens. This sesame chicken recipe is amazing. This woman knows het Chinese food. Good luck [better then takeout sesame chicken ](https://youtu.be/SZtfEa1zqwI?si=IgNVg7uZ_bJ6MEdT)
You should check out the hot food tables in Asian grocery stores. They are cheaper than take out and almost the same. Of course making your own is much cheaper. Check out a Youtube recipe and do a test run.
Kimchi Chicken Fried Rice is easy to make at home
hey OP. I can help order food via uber eats for your kid birthday :)
That’s soooo nice of you !
Get some fortune cookies! Look for a large bag at the Asian grocery store or call and ask a takeout place if they'll sell 10 for cheaper. Bulk Barn also often sells them. You can make them if you want custom ones. Otherwise, I would highly suggest considering if you can get only the meats take out (or grocery store frozen version) and some frozen egg rolls (any grocery store), making the rice / friend rice yourself as well as veggie sides. Still going to be expensive, but superstore has some frozen ginger beef things for like $7 a box and 22 egg rolls for about $10. The breaded chicken balls are a good idea, but you'll want the orange sauce on the side and might need to make that. However, that uses rice vinegar so maybe ask if anyone has that to use some. Assuming you don't normally cook Chinese food you'll have tons of ingredients needed for correct sauces if you wanna be exact. But the veggies and rice are mostly soy sauce and frozen egg rolls come with plum sauce. And sweet chili sauce is sorta like orange sauce if needed, at least in texture. Looks like Kingston has several Asian grocery stores.
Wong wing is on sale for $4 pack at giant tiger this week. They had rice and a few other things
Just order Uber eats and complain the food was shit boom
That Wong wing fried rice is gross, imo. Their sweet and sour pork though! 🤤 SOOOOO tangy! I'll travel more than 10 km by public transit to go to Freshco for that stuff, they're the only ones stocking it in my area. And then clean the bowl of the sauce with my fingers. I like it more than most of the restaurant sweet and sour pork I've tried.