Broke-Ass College Student Recipes

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Zinegata
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Post by Zinegata »

Also got a slowcooker a couple of months ago for $10. I try to keep my slow cooker sessions to within a day or night, but it's a good way to cook too.

Another investment that I've found to be very good is an induction stove. Despite being pricier than a regular stove (it will set you back $50) the power consumption is actually much lower. Moreover, the thing heats up much better than other electric stoves, which drastically speeds up cooking time.

Moreover, the stove remains cool until you put a metal pot on top of it, so there's much less risk if you forget to turn it off.

The only problem with the induction cooker is that it's a bit finicky, and not all types of cookware will work on it. You have to make sure the cookware is magnetic. But if you're starting out in your own place and you don't have any cookware yet, then definitely go induction.
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Count Arioch the 28th
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Post by Count Arioch the 28th »

If a package of Ramen Noodles is about 25 cents, that means it sells for about $4 a pound.

A 15 pound sack of potatoes costs about $3.50 in the area I live.

Why is it when anyone's talking about being broke, they go "ramen noodles lol" when it's so damn expensive, not to mention completely void of nutritional content?
Last edited by Count Arioch the 28th on Tue Jul 05, 2011 4:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by sabs »

if you can swing it.. nothing NOTHING beats boston pork shoulder butt.
It should run you 1.99 a lb, on sale. You buy it, you cook it, you freeze it.

(now you can't be so broke you can't afford a freezer/refrigerator, and an oven)

It's crazy versatile, you buy yourself some flavor bottles, mix it together, serve it with rice (that you bought in that giant burlap bag). You should be able to make $1 meals that are not the worse in the world for you. Especially if you can eat onions.

You can probably hook yourself up to eat for a month on 60 dollars.
Which works out to roughly $2 a day. But it WILL get boring :)
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Post by tzor »

Because, broke-ass college students are lazy. Ramen is a "boil water" meal. Potatoes have to be actually cooked.

I ate a lot of potatoes when I was a kid. Of course, Long Island was still grwing a lot of potatoes back then and my earilest years were spent in East Hampton. Ahd when I say a lot I mean a lot. I've seen glazed looks on people after my mother described how many pounds of potatoes we uses to buy for the three of us back then and how many potatoes we used to cook for the extended family holiday meals.
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Post by Cynic »

Here's a meal for entertaining cheaply. This recipe makes 5 servings and costs about 8-9$. You can always substitute whatever vegetables you have for the shallots. Also any sort of soft squash or boiled vegetable/fruit works instead of the avocado. This can reduce your price by more. Other variations also include using sour cream, cream, or yogurt instead of the milk


Potato Gnocci cooked in Avocado Bechamel.


3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp flour
2 chopped shallots
3-5 garlic cloves (as desired)
3 cups of milk
1 1/2 chopped avocado.
1 tsp cumin powder.
Salt, cinammon, and pepper to taste.

1 packet Gnocci
3 sprigs of Cilantro
1 diced jalapeno
juice of half a lime.


heat olive oil, add flour. when flour is browned, add chopped shallots and cloves garlic. cook until browned.
SLowly pour in the milk, stirring it each time till it starts to thicken. Keep stirring until all the milk is added.
Add the chopped avocado.
Also add in salt, cinammon, and pepper to taste.
add 1 tsp of cumin.

let cook for a minute or two.

Add in one packet of gnocci.
Cover and cook for 5-10 minutes or until cooked through.

Garnish with 3 sprigs of cilantro, one diced jalapeno and the juice of half a lime.
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Post by Maj »

CA wrote:If a package of Ramen Noodles is about 25 cents, that means it sells for about $4 a pound.
That's actually quite expensive. Granted, I haven't eaten Ramen for ...<math fail>... a long time, so it's not something I've really stopped to think about, but still...
CA wrote:A 15 pound sack of potatoes costs about $3.50 in the area I live.
Yeah. That's close to the same price around here, too (though I've seen a couple of sales, especially leading up to July 4th, where it was 15#/$2). I actually splurge when I buy potatoes and spend $3 for a 5# bag of red ones. But that's because I prefer the way they cook to Russets.

Totally simple potato recipe:

Potatoes (some, chunked and cooked)
Meat (some chicken or pork, chunked and cooked)
Green Beans (some, frozen work fine, cooked)
Italian salad dressing

Mix everything in a big bowl and add dressing to suit taste. Eat.

The type of potato you use will change the way this dish turns out:

Russet - sort of falls apart, sucks up a moderate amount of dressing, offers some chew resistance, will sort of glop everything together, but not really.
White - Closest to Russet.
Yellow - mushes like crazy, sucks up lots of dressing, offers no chew resistance, coats meat and green beans and helps spread flavor, will turn the meal into one big glop.
Red - doesn't mush much, doesn't suck up a lot of dressing, offers the most chew resistance, won't glop the meal together much at all.

Yellow are my fave.

CA wrote:Why is it when anyone's talking about being broke, they go "ramen noodles lol" when it's so damn expensive, not to mention completely void of nutritional content?
I think it's because it's a "full" [fast] meal. Compare: Potato vs. Noodles w/flavor packet. Now if potatoes came with flavor packets, they might be more of a staple. But then, of course, you could also charge more.

;)
sabs wrote:if you can swing it.. nothing NOTHING beats boston pork shoulder butt.
It should run you 1.99 a lb, on sale. You buy it, you cook it, you freeze it.
That's actually a big chunk of change, but that's because I'm hella cheap. For my staples - though it takes a little extra work - I prefer to buy whole chickens when they're on sale for $1/pound or less (one of my first purchases in my own house was an extra freezer - just a little one - so I could save money on food sales). A whole chicken can be slow roasted in the oven, or you can break it down, use the breast meat in a stir-fry, the dark meat in something like pot pie, and use the bones for soup stock (which you can also freeze after it's made).

Personally, I like the stock in a more Asianish style: during simmering, add the triumvirate (carrots, celery, onion). Strain then add soy sauce, minced fresh ginger and garlic, and a shot of mirin (optional) and let simmer a little more.
Last edited by Maj on Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by sabs »

well, where I live 1.99 for chicken is about what you would expect, for on sale.
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Post by Maj »

sabs wrote:well, where I live 1.99 for chicken is about what you would expect, for on sale.
Holy crap! Around here, it's not too hard to find prices around $1/pound (Hell, at Costco, that's everyday price). True gold, though, is when it's $0.69/pound.

For less than $2, I can get boneless/skinless chicken breast. Your food is expensive!

:(
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Post by sabs »

I can't get non frozen boneless/skinless chicken for less than 4.99, and regular price is usually 5.99
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Post by MfA »

Cheap chicken can get really really nasty ... couple years back they started stuffing chicken with extra water here for a while to drive prices down, not great for taste or structure.
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Post by RobbyPants »

Maj wrote:
CA wrote:If a package of Ramen Noodles is about 25 cents, that means it sells for about $4 a pound.
That's actually quite expensive. Granted, I haven't eaten Ramen for ...<math fail>... a long time, so it's not something I've really stopped to think about, but still...
When I went to college, I think Ramen was typically $0.10 a pack, which is 40% of the cost. I don't know why the cost has gone up so much in the past ten years, but it seems to have gone up much faster than most other foods.

I think the idea of poor college kids eating Ramen came about when it wasn't so ridiculously expensive. That, and I think Tzor's right about it being pretty simple to make.
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Count Arioch the 28th
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Post by Count Arioch the 28th »

I'd like to add that here, it's nearly impossible to find chicken for less than $4-$5 a pound. Which is confusing, because Virginia is where chicken freaking comes from.
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Post by sabs »

Arkansas is where chicken comes from :)
Having spent a sad amount of time in Bartonsville (Home of Walmart and Tysons)
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Post by Cynic »

Count: are you talking about cup o noodles ramen that actually has veggies/meat in it or the noodle+packet only Ramen?

I've seen the former at 30c a unit. Also there are more expensive ramen brands such as Mi-goreng or Maggi or whatever else might exist in the Ramen market.

On a personal note, as one with a last name that's a homonym to Ramen, I find that one of the first jokes at my expense are about me being rich for owning the noodle company.
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Post by Psychic Robot »

the smell of ramen makes me nauseous
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Post by Maj »

I can report on today's prices because it was shopping day!

Ramen was on sale at multiple stores for 5/$1 (didn't buy it).

I bought boneless/skinless chicken breast for $1.69/pound and boneless/skinless thighs for $1.99/pound. I bought whole chicken for $.99/pound. None of the chicken had water added to it; some of it was local, and some wasn't. Pork, boneless top sirloin roast, was $1.78/pound. Beef tri-tip steak was $3.48/pound. Neither had anything added to them, either.

I will now officially consider myself lucky to live where I do.
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Post by Prak »

So, this may not necessarily be a broke ass college student recipe, but I just made it, and it's pretty good. Sadly, no onions or pineapples in the house, but those are just toppings.

(spoilered because it's a graphic recipe, and large)
Image
The side I made to go with it, though, definitely qualifies as a broke ass college student recipe.

Hot and Sour Rice
1 package of Hot and Sour Soup Mix (along with what it calls for, mine just called for water and an egg)
an amount of rice equal to about half the volume that the soup mix yields

Prepare soup as directed on pouch. Add rice, let simmer while you go about making the rest of your meal.
------------------------------------------

The rice recipe could probably use some fine tuning, but it was pretty good as it was.
Last edited by Prak on Sat Sep 03, 2011 2:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Prak »

Another recipe that's not necessarily a broke ass college student recipe, but shouldn't be too expensive.

Asian Porkchops
Marinade:
Hoisin
Asian Grilling Sauce
Honey (lots)
Garlic (I used the minced jar variety, because it's what we have)
Ginger (ditto)
Soy Sauce
Teriyaki
Rice Vinegar
Large Orange
Five Spice Powder

Let the pork chops marinade in that for at least an hour, the longer the better. I let it go for a couple hours while I did other shit, over night would probably be even better.

Saute onions and sugar peas in olive oil in a large saucepan. Add pork chops, pour in marinade. Bring to a boil and let cook roughly 20-30 minutes, turning half way through.
Remove pork chops, strain the juice, deglaze pan with soy sauce and white wine
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Post by Surgo »

I've been trying to find $2/lb chicken breasts (boneless, that is) and having a real hard time this year. Though there was $1/lb whole turkey today, but we weren't adventurous enough to try cooking or cutting that yet.

A Hannaford just opened here, which is the grocery store from when I was in college so I'm happy as can be.
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Post by Cynic »

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Post by rampaging-poet »

If you like bacon, but can't afford to buy it too often, try pork jowl. Cut into strips, it's just like bacon, but it's much cheaper. I just checked the prices at the nearest grocery store, and it was only $5.49/kg as opposed to a whopping $14.00/kg for bacon at standard price. Definitely a good buy.

Heart also used to be cheap, but I've heard it's come up in price lately because more people have realized it's just oddly-shaped steak.

As for an actual recipe, basic store-bought pierogis are decently cheap and easy to make. One package makes two to three servings and costs around $4.00 where I live. I generally boil them until they float, then transfer them to a deep, oven-safe dish and bake them with fried onion and small pieces of bacon. I normally eat them with a little sour cream (cheap), but I forgot to buy some today so I'm going to try them with home-made cheese sauce tonight instead.
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Post by Surgo »

I know that other people are going to find me weird to say this but, if you can't afford bacon, try turkey bacon. It has the added bonuses of both tasting better AND being healthier!
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Post by Cynic »

Slow cooker taco filler.
--
2 cans of beans + 1 minced and sauteed onion + cumin + chilli powder + salt + quarter a lime.

put it all in the slow cooker at high for 2-3 hours or nicely simmer and slow cook it on low for upto 10 hours.

Do remember to stir.
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Post by rampaging-poet »

Surgo wrote:I know that other people are going to find me weird to say this but, if you can't afford bacon, try turkey bacon. It has the added bonuses of both tasting better AND being healthier!
I haven't seen turkey bacon at my local grocery store (it's not very large), but I have tried it before and it is pretty good. I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.

In other news, pierogies with cheese sauce are delicious. I followed the recipe in this video, except I used a little paprika instead of cayenne and nutmeg because that's what I had on hand. The only problem is that it made far more than I needed for one package of pierogies. I'll have to find something to make with the leftover sauce tomorrow (err... later today).
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Post by shadzar »

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:If a package of Ramen Noodles is about 25 cents, that means it sells for about $4 a pound.

A 15 pound sack of potatoes costs about $3.50 in the area I live.

Why is it when anyone's talking about being broke, they go "ramen noodles lol" when it's so damn expensive, not to mention completely void of nutritional content?
just got lucky enough my store decided to stop carrying shrimp flavor and get back in plain old chicken so i could eat ramen again so thought i would touch off on this one.

1. you must live in potato central, because here a 5-lb sack of potatoes cost about $3.

2. ramen comes in a 6-pack that you can get in MOST places for about a $1. that is 6 3oz packages or 1 lb 2 oz.

3. 5 lbs for $3 v. 5 lbs 10 oz for $5, see 4.

4. you get more for the money with potatoes, but unless you eat them raw it will cost you more to cook them. tap water can get up to 140 degrees and plenty to make a bowl of ramen. cheaper than the cost to cook potatoes, and you can get hot tap water from just about anywhere.

so both are just starches, but you need a place to cook potatoes. also you have something to drink with the ramen, where you dont with the potatoes.

cost isnt always about the ingredients, but also involves things required to use those ingredients.

and if you are really pinched, you can just use cold water for ramen as the noodles are fully cooked, you just need something for your seasoning to dissolve in.

ramen is more expensive but not far off from the ketchup packet soup.

and broke doesnt have time to think about nutrition when you need SOMETHING in your stomach.
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