Help?! Cooking, the cheap and easy way

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Hellllo :D
I moved out and really short on money :(
Been eating out every day since I cant cook and barely any time with work(day and night shift whatever I get as overtime).

All the stuff I watch and the recipes I see has too many ingredients and too costly?

I need cost effective and easy cooking recipes :)
 
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Ah, try my Simple Pasta, I cook.
Buy some Pasta, Pasta Sauce, and Garlic Hot Sauce.
You'll need Salt and Black pepper. Cheese is optional.
Boil the pasta in some water, with oil in it. Stir it from time to time or it'll be sticky.
15 minutes later, take a piece out from your fork to taste it, if its cooked or not.
When cooked, drain it into a separate bowl that has holes in it so it can drain the water.
Leave the stove on, and insert the Sauces.
Put the black and salt in it, depending how much pasta you're cooking.
Stir it for a while on max/high.
5 minutes into it's boiling, put the drain pasta in, mix it and voila! It's cooked. Mix in the Cheese if you want.
 

EzekielRage

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get some rice and some meat, preferably chicken or turkey. make sure to buy a solid product yet not too expensive.
be sure to have salt and pepper, obivously.
make the rice. making rice is easy there are tons of way to do it :)
cut the meat and smack it with a meat hammer. add salt and pepper. put some oil (i reccomend plant oil, sunflowers for example) and put a little of it in the pan. let it heaten up and once its hot put the meat in. cook thoroughly left and right. serve with rice.
additionally you can add some water for a sauce. you can also add flur and other taste enhancing thigns like curry or some grained weeds and spices for the sauce. the whole procedure is faster than it sounds and not unhealthy (depends on the meat and oil you buy) and not that expensive.

generally speaking:
refrain from buying steak and the likes, those are expensive. buy vegetables only fresh and not too often - they are healthy but expensive so be sure to not buy more than you need. rice and noodles are a thing you should always have. go to a discount store and buy those in large quantities as they usually dont expire. if you have a freezer or a small freezer in your fridge buy minced meat and pre-made spaghetti sauce. i reccomend 500grams of meat and 1kilogram to one and a half kilogram of pre-made sauce. buy different types of sauce that seem good for you.
now cook the meat with some salt and pepper and then pour the sauce over the meat. bue sure to use a larg pot or something. heat everything up and then put it in the fridge or freezer, preferably in small doses or tupperware, something that is sealed. every time you cant afford anything since live in europe is expensive (and i know i live in one of the most expensive cities on the damn continent) you can always eat noodles with sauce. once premade its easy, cook noodles, add sauce (preferably not frozen of course) and done. easy, good and cheap.

other tactics include using bread. bread is great. eat it with margarine. add some noname nutella clone. the margarine enhances the sweetness of the nutella so you need less nutella than usually and margarine is much cheaper.

dont forget your vegetables and fruits, as said, never buy more than you need. refrain from eating before you go to bed and eat before you go to work.^^
 

Depravo

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A few slices of bread and butter can turn even the most meagre snack into a filling meal. Stick to supermarkets own 'value' brands.
 

Veho

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Rice and beans are easy, filling and cheap (especially if you buy in bulk), and you can spice them up and eat them with various vegetables to introduce variety. Stock up on spices, they make stuff palatable. Use rice, potato, oats, grits, palenta as a filler. Legumes in general (beans, chickpeas, peas, lentils, peanuts, etc.) are cheap and proteiny. Eggs are good. Buy seasonal produce, it's cheapest. Do you have a freezer? You can make sauces and stews and freeze them in portions. Use meat only as flavoring, not as the bulk of the meal. Don't buy pre-cut, pre-washed, pre-anything products, they are more expensive. Mix your minced meats with oatmeal for volume.
 

FAST6191

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Some good advice, some advice that does not work in the UK (almost without exception the further away you get from raw ingredients the more expensive it gets) and some questionable advice. As just mentioned though with the possible exception of frozen peas/sweetcorn if you buy frozen ready meals or easy cook stuff you will end up broke before long.

Questions at this point

Can you use a knife? An odd question perhaps but when living with various others I have had to let my knives dull a bit lest we end up buying new tea towels every other week.
Can you use a timer and account for an end point? Most will say this is cooking.... and they are right actually.
Can you tell if food is done? Surprisingly few people can do this and it is not always a matter of "can you cook?" that determines it.

You said no time. This means one of two things needs to happen
1) You learn to make stir fry.
2) You make meals you can leave to get done as you have a shower or something.

That said you do have enough time -- eating well is important and if something prevents you from doing that then maybe time to reevaluate some things.

/gbachef for the moment.
 

DinohScene

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I used to eat simple stuff like cooked potatoes.
Or slice them and bake them.
Along with some fruits.

Simple veggies and potatoes did the trick to me.
 

Kouen Hasuki

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Store brand food is a good thing to check out, also short date reduced food is handy too though your best eating that on the day or freezing it

Super noodles and Corn Flakes work well too
 

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