Cooking

Okay, apologies in advance if this is the wrong board, maybe it belongs on /hum/ idk but I want to do something about this. For now I just need to vent though, ignore at your own discretion. So someone gave me soykaf for not being able to cook today. "Just watch tutorials online, lainon! It's easy, all you have to do is follow instructions!" Yeah, sure, I get it. They're not wrong. Preparing one meal is easy, despite being a clumsy idiot with the worst luck I *have* done it before. But cooking regularly is infinitely harder - see, I have less than ~$100 to work with, no cookware to work with except for the one pot I have to borrow from a roommate, and unless I like microwaveable meals, all the necessary space and facilities are public space four floors up, and I just have to hope that they're not in use when I get there. Not to mention the last time I actually took the time to go out and buy ingredients, I ate three of the meals I had scheduled for the week in one day because I was hungrier than I thought I would be. I've always been soykaf at min-maxing, so the remaining ingredients that I didn't use as snack food for the rest of that week sat in the fridge and spoiled since I couldn't use them for anything. Right now, if I want to "cook" for myself, it's either boiled or stuck in the microwave, which doesn't leave me with many options. Vegetables, rice, the occasional frozen meat, but it's too little to work with. If I go the takeaway route, it's 10-15$ per meal, which has worked so far but is costing more money than I care to spend per week, and I can't keep going like this for long. I'm working with the barest of minimums to eat, it feels like some cyberpunk dystopia which sounds cool sure but not when you're fuarrrking living it. Fast metabolic rates are nice for staying mostly fit but absolute hell for feeling well-fed. And people wonder why I'm so damn hungry all the time. Sorry if it sounds like I'm whining, for the first time in my life food is causing me more stress than my career and my academics, possibly even my mental health. How do I into nutrition lains? For a given value of "healthy", what's your go-to cheap meal option at less than x per week?

>rice Unless, it's brown rice, enjoy your talcum power and 0 vitamins.

Here's a great thread on cooking for cheap https://8ch.net/poverty/res/2.html >How do I into nutrition lains? just eat a vegetable it's not really a big deal. Meat is expensive anyway so if you're making cheap food you'll find yourself making a lot of veggie stuff. >what's your go-to cheap meal option at less than x per week? Those asians have got some good soykaf figured out to be honest, stir fried veg, curry rice, fish and rice, hotpots. Also pasta sauces. If you're really strapped for cash dumpster diving is really not bad at all once you get over the initial fear. Here's a good video showing how easy it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJmCUSb-ZVo Really unless you're something like a pro athlete or trying to lose weight, nutrition is fuarrrking easy. Rice and beans are your friends. If you get hungry and want a snack eat an apple or some unsalted nuts. Oh and drink plenty of water, that's very important.

Grains or cereals are the way to go, anon. They're cheap, easy to prepare, you can make a lot at once and they keep you full for a long time. Just change them up once in a while since eating nothing but rice + something for weeks will make you never want to look at it again

Get a slow cooker. It's the easiest way to make cheap meat taste good. Buy pork ribs/shoulder/loin and cook it for 8 hours with some onions and seasoning in a little bit of broth or water. Or you can do chilli. Just buy a soykaf ton of beans and peppers and put them in the slow cooker with some ground beef. Add spices and an 8 oz can of beer. Cook for 6 hours on high then let it sit on low for however long you want.

Get a toaster and you've got bagels with creme cheese (throw some bacon on that you fry up in your pot for a bonus) peanut butter toast, this is a hugely secret recipe that I'm a little bit hesitant to share cause I don't think it's very well known, but; along with your peanut butter sandwich get some sweet pickles chocolate milk (homemade is best Ill give recipe further on) and reg potato chips, through on a plate and enjoy. Also PBJ. look up a recipe for lemon curd, highly filling and good on bagels or toast, hipster avocado toast or bagel is healthy and filling, you can fry an egg and sausage in that pot you talked about, toast up a English muffin and boom. Theirs loads of other recipes using eggs I'm sure you can figure out for yourself. Even though you have very few tools to work with there's really endless possibility, everything I mentioned above is about as cheap as it gets for that amount of calories you get witch is one of the main things you should look at, and mostly nutritious too. Lastly to make homemade chocolate milk start with coco powder (expensive, yes, but last a long time) place a few spoon gulls into a cup put just enough water to cover the coco, than microwave until bubbly and hot, add milk and sugar to preference and then heat again if you want hot cocoa. Oh also drink milk with everything it's pretty close to the cheapest calorie per price food their is while still being healthy.

>>1232 Oh also it's not quite the same but if you really can't afford the toaster than you can toast bread in the pot.

>>1150 That video made me really want to start dumpster diving. Not just for food but for a lot more.

Buy potatoes and chicken Lain if you are not really into eating too much vegetables potatoes are relatively cheap and can be used for all the meals of the day. Try eating some fries without peeling the skin is a lot more healthy, and in case of super tight budget you can make soup with it with tomato juice and chicken bouillon or simply bake them At least in my area chicken is quiet cheap and you can buy the precise amount you need of chicken since meat is so expensive but it does spoil fast if you don’t have a freezer also be sure (I am sure you know this but) be sure to always cook it properly to prevent getting sick you can always strip the meat out of the bone to cook it more easily You can also make red rice with some beans in case that white rice isn’t your thing and rice will definitely will be your best option in this situations always try making a different meal every two days even by adding some sauce, beans, rice, curry, or even ketchup that compliment the main meal this can keep your morale from dwindling because of repetition all of this can be done in a pot As you can see I don’t eat any vegetables at all but I always try to exercise even if it just walking and I’ve never gotten sick take care Lainon and drink a lot of water and less soda

Dearest OP: I lived for a year or so with one pan, two cups, a pocket knife and some assorted silverware. Additionally I had an electric stove, but no oven. Obviously you can make things like rice / pasta, and mixing vegetables/cheese/herbs/spices/such can add some variety to that. Mixing this around can provide an easy go to base that can be altered a lot of ways to make different feeling meals. Additionally I've mad a lot of breads: bagels, dumplings, tortillas, pancakes, naan and pita, and other weird things inspired by all of those. Sometimes you have to strain recipies, but if you look around you can find inspiration for many flatbreads that can be fried or boiled or some combination. Rice is an obvious and easy one, but there are many other grains. Some are more expensive, at least where I've lived lentils are about the same price or cheaper, can be cooked with low effort and yet are very different in taste and texture. There are still other things. Eggs can be made in all manner of ways, omlettes are quite versitile and good with cheese, onions, garlic, herbs, tomatos, et cetera. Having an oven would open more possibilities, you can cook breadloves in a pot, cook pizza (store sauce in a mug, let the dough rise in the pot where you'll bake it, grate cheese with a knife if you dont have a grater), or frittatas, or pot pies, or all manner of things. If you're trying to follow specific recipies that work with your stuff; don't. read over them, get inspiration, and do whatever works for you. Skip steps, mix things together, leave out ingredients. It doesnt matter. For some baking things like leavening might be consequential if you leave them out or do them tooo differently, but the vast majority of cooking is crude ratios and cooking times, and if you're willing to mess around you have a huge amount of liberty to go different ways.

>>1149 >>1239

>>1261

Make all your meals ahead of time plus a few extras. Then when you want snacks use cheap protein drink or oatmeal. Super cheap, super healthy. Comparison shop price per-gram on bb.com, buy the oats from the bulk bin.

>>1261

just get soykaf that'll allow you to cook a chicken (used or cheap) and buy cheap/seasonal vegetables. fill the rest of your calories with rice, potatoes, beans, or whatever

I consider the ability to cook a fundamental part of humanity. Anyone who can't cook is not a real human bean. If you regularly eat 10$ meals you have no right to complain about lack of money either. Since you're using a common kitchen, you will probably want to stick to single-pot meals. My favourite is probably pilaf. Sauté some onions and whatever (minced) meat and veggies you have laying around, then pour two volume of rice and three of water on top, and cook until it's all absorbed. Half an hour top from peeling the onion to washing the pan/pot, and you can make several meals in advance. Very cheap to do where I live, but I heard good veggies are expensive in the US. Should still be way under 10$ a day.

One pot is actually pretty versatile, I won't give you recipes but some general tips. 1. A pot is basically a pan with higher sides. Anything you can do on a griddle or pan you can do in them. 2. Pasta and rice is always cheap, personally I say go for pasta because its more filling and mixes better with sauces. 3. Onion and garlic is cheap, adds a ton of flavor. A super simple meal for me is some minced garlic fried in butter which some pasta is tossed in. Just boil it up, let it rest in a bowl, then cook the garlic in your pot and combine there 4. Stews will save you. You can get some hearty flavor by cooking veggies in oil or butter first, then add a splash or stock/booze/water and scrap the pot down before adding the rest of whatever liquids you got. Doing it with meat is even better. 5. See that stew you got going? Want a side dish? Carefully spread rice on top while its cooking, use a spoon to poke some holes through the rice so steam comes up, cover it and let the rice cook. Bam, you got stew and rice. 6. Steam stuff by putting any sort of metal spacer in the pot to hold something over the water. If you got a heat proof plate use that, if not tin foil folded up works. Using this you can even make steamed breads. 7. Use seasonings, this is super important. Salt everything you cook, taste it to see if it needs more before going crazy. Add pepper when its still bland. Other staple ones you can use is paprika for when you need a little something special, garlic and onion powder season meats and veggies, cayenne pepper for spice, and cinnamon for sweets. 8. Want some sweets? Bananas help. They're easy to cook in butter with a bit of cinnamon and sugar, freeze them for a popsicle, chop and mash them and mix with stuff to make ice cream once frozen, etc. 9. Some stuff is always cheap, flour, water, and salt can make a basic bread. Flour and eggs can make noodles or dumplings. Potatoes will fill you up and are versatile (Hell with a pot you can even deep fry) and onions add flavor. 10. Cover basic nutrition first, enriched flours help and can thicken stews. Fruit you can eat straight or try to cook. Meat and veg you can fry in a pot before turning it into stew if you need to. Veggies you can eat raw too if thats your deal. Eggs help you with protein. And some simple 'recipes' to help. Potato cut up into sticks or rounds, toss in paprika salt and pepper, fry. You got home fries. Again cut up potatoes, fry and keep covered so they steam more than fry, add onions, add seasonings, add carrots, and you got a warm decent meal. Not a flavor explosion but still. Fill pot with water, boil, crack in egg and keep water moving. Once egg is firm lay it on toast or even plain bread, add some hot sauce or cayenne. Cut banana into quarters, fry in butter, add cinnamon while it's cooking, serve warm. You can also do this with apples or pears, and even add sugar for more sweetness. Get a couple cups of flour, make a well in the middle of the pile, add an egg and like a spoon of water. Mix and knead into a smooth ball, add flour if sticky, water if its too hard. Use this to make any sort of noodle you want. Get a few eggs, beat, mix in flour until a thick spoonable batter is made. Use spoon to drop in plops of it into a stew or boiling water. Let cook until they float. Fry onions and whatever meat you got, add a splash of stock, scrape pot, add stock, add veggies. Fry onions, add some rice, scrape pot, add just enough stock to cover, cook until you can move a spoon and see the bottom through the rice, add a splash of stock, repeat until you've got a nice porridge.

>>1761 Oh yeah and some other stuff. Look into learning how to make sauces. They will save your tongue. Even a pot can cook a steak, granted maybe cut up and done slowly, and then make a pan sauce. Or make white sauces, does good for macaroni and cheese. Learn how to make a standing pie crust if you have an oven. One filled with crumbled boiled eggs, potatoes, and onions actually makes a tasty and filling meal.

>>1858 much better

I'm late to the party here, but here is what I do: 1. Buy an instant pot. Its basically a combination electric stovetop and pressure cooker 2. Prepare black beans from dried stock. Throw in fridge. 3. Prepare rice from dried stock. Throw in fridge. 4. Prepare chicken in the instant pot. Throw in fridge. 5. Buy a jar of salsa. I buy organic because it tastes much better. You can easily make your own. Put two ounces of beans, 2 ounces of rice, and 2 ounces of chicken in a bowl. Add some salsa and mix it up. This meal should cost fifty cents to a dollar. If you can do without the chicken, it can be even cheaper. You can buy frozen peas or corn to add flavors or textures when you get bored of the basic stuff. You can buy fajita seasoning for the chicken, or you can invest in a decent spice stock if you find yourself with the extra cash. (Pre mixed seasoning is a rip off, it literally costs me pennies to season my chicken). I divvy it out into mason jars, which can be purchased in bulk for 75 cents a piece. You can buy bulk disposable containers if you hate the environment and don't want t do dishes. The only catch with all of this is you are going to need a sink and an electrical outlet. Hopefully the communal kitchen will be good for that.

Green onions. Great for adding flavor to just about anything. Use scissors to cut off whatever you need. Put whatever is left in a cup with water. The just keep growing. Italian seasoning, garlic, cumin, red pepper, dried basil, rosemary, sage. Those few spices will take care of you. More is nice, but not necessary. Anything is soup if you put it in stock. Canned veggie stock is pretty cheap. Buy a bulk size can of something. Now you have 2 pots. Learn no cook meals. Tuna/chicken salad, Pasta salad, egg salad, potato salad. They're all pretty much the same. Lasts for a week or two in the fridge, and can be eaten with chips, crackers or bread. Grilled cheese is cheap, but it's better with other things. Pre sliced deli meats, onions, jalapenos, olives, tomatoes, etc. Ramen isn't that bad for you. Lots of sodium, but that's about it. Instead of water, try canned stock. Add a raw egg while it's boiling OR peanut butter. Gives it body. Of course, green onions. Deli sliced roast beef. Bean sprouts. Fresh basil or cilantro. Tamarind is an apetite suppressant. It's pretty cheap. Very sour, and sometimes hard to find. Chicken wings can be bought for ~3$ a lb. Get the uncut wings. Bake at 425 for ~30 mins. Whole chickens are even cheaper. Look up times and temps on the net. Rosemary and Sage are good spices for that. Canned fish is very good for you. Try anything in a can that's not tuna. Fresh fish can be "cooked" with lime juice in the fridge. Look up Ceviche. Cilantro is an acquired taste, and doesn't keep well, but it's stupid cheap. Beans are your friend. Keeps forever dry, good source of protein. I collect hot sauces. If you like hot things, it's a good way to get variety of flavor. Find fresh local vegetables you can eat raw. Buy frequently in small amounts at first. If you can find local eggs that haven't been pasteurized, they can be kept outside the refrigerator. 1 pot is tough man. Make a makeshift wok by banging on a flat round sheet of metal with a hammer or a rock. Go straight caveman on that soykaf. Bacon is going to be going way down in price in the US. The fat can be used to make pemmican. Pemmican can be kept without refrigeration. Learn to use chopsticks. Get or make a metal pair of chopsticks. I use chopsticks for cooking frequently. Cooking meat is really simple. You either put it on a pan, put it in the oven, or both. A pan with a metal handle can be put in the oven. Cooking vegetables may require some extra prep. Usually, you're just trimming away the unwanted bits, and cutting it up into bitesize pieces. Stirfry is a 1 pan meal. Be sure to cook the veggies first, then the meat.

I guess a few extra tips wont hurt: 1)Heat x Time kills food & nutrients a) stews are great, but you dont have to stew all ingredients (together) for the same time. You can put some in later, mix stewed and fresh ingredients of the same kind, sautee - take out - stew something else- add back in etc. b) work with minimum cooking time [cook only till its edible] for each ingredient; this changes with the size you cut them as well. Feels more pleasant chewing it too. > add ingredients to the single pan in order of cooking time; long till short. So that thye will be done at their optimum at the same time (use a timer) c) you can take things out the pan as well, use your plate for temp storage. Dry grill thinly sliced veggies in the pan, take out. Sautee some onion add garlic (shorter) , take some out of pan. etc. Put it all together later. 2) Think about flavor combinations (through spices and herbs) instead of 'recipes'. a) flavors are like a interlinking mosaic. you can usually work with just 2 or 3 (setting salt n pepper aside for now), and "grow" to other interlinked combinations from other kitchens. Each kitchen has a few triangles of flavors or spices, and you will learn how they relate. b) example; lemon juice is great for salad with balsamic, but also pasta with parmezan and black pepper, pasta is great with balsamic as well and black pepper ... cumin and lemon black pepper is great in north african dishes, turns out cumin can be great in a pasta with lemon too, and is great with balsamic. But then also cumin turmeric and dried koriander seeds forms the base for a lot of indonesian foods. Then you learn thyme is good with lemon, o and balsamic as well .. and cumin of course. etc. Stick to one triangle per dish though. 3) use a fitting sour ingredient: lime juice, lemon juice (bottles) white wine vinegar. Just a splash adds depth without making it sour. 4) A single dash of cayenne powder (try to find one that doesnt have a bitter taste) gives almost any dish a more enhanced "mouth feel" yet will go unnoticed flavor wise (use next to your regular salt and black pepper, or chili pepper). 5) Get something like rocket chop it up and toss it through your food, adds hint of spice (its bitter, and sometimes bit 'sharp') texture and fiber. works with anything. 6) mix presoaked lentils (i prefer brown) with your staple, just throw them in the last few minutes. They have a earthy neutral flavor and lots of nutrients. Again, works with anything.

Constraints: * Cheap * Healthy * One pot to work with You probably want it to taste reasonably okay too. My suggestion: Chopped veggies and scrambled eggs. Veggies and eggs are rather inexpensive, at least where I live they are. eg: 75 cents for broccoli https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/134681/broccoli-fresh-whole You get plenty of vitamins from the veggies and protein from the eggs. They eggs also make it a bit more tasty.

I have never had beans in any meal in my life outside of awful refried beans and succotash lima beans. How in the world do you make black beans or any beans for that matter, no matter what I do they seem to come out hard and taste awkward, and leak black soykaf leaving a stain. I am certain I am fudging this up horrifically but I have never had anything to compare to. Yes I am this retarded mentally and culinary.

>>1147 Microwave diet: Breakfast: Instant oats. Add brown sugar and/or cinnamon powder to taste. Microwave a cup of water for two minutes, and add coffee grounds. Five minutes later, slowly pour the results into a second cup to avoid filling it with the settled grounds. You now have reasonably drinkable coffee. You can just use instant if you want it to be mor straightforward. Dinner: Fill a deep bowl (like a rice bowl) with water. Add ramen, preferably the real stuff from a chinese grocery. Microwave for maybe five minutes until soft. Crack two eggs into the water and noodles. Microwave for 2 minutes or until the eggs have poached. Take out the bowl and stir soup stock into it and add chopped spring onions and chopped garlic or sauerkraut. Give it another minute in the microwave to warm things up. You now have something vaguely resembling Japanese fast food.

I know this thread is old, but it might help someone else out. >>1147 Cooking is EXTREMELY simple, anon. This is my diet. It's pretty affordable and healthy. I won't put the mg for any of the vitamins, they depend heavily on gender and weight... But even without the vitas, it's pretty good for energy and getting through the day. It's also very modular, you can replace {eggs} with some equivalent of protein. An example of my breakfast today, I had a dozen or so grapes, 3 strawberries, a handful of spinach, half a cucumber, and water. I normally cook up an egg, but I woke up a little later than usual. [ ] Breakfast [ ] Vitamins { B-50, Choline, L-tryptophan, omega-3 DHA, omega-3 EPA } [ ] Food { 2 eggs, Fruit, Leafy Greens, Milk | Orange Juice } [ ] Lunch [ ] Vitamins { Zinc, Iodine, Vitamin D } [ ] Food { Protein (1oz nuts or 2 eggs), Fruit, Leafy Green, Water } [ ] Dinner [ ] Vitamins { Magnesium } [ ] Food { Protein, Leafy greens, Rice, Water, 2oz Whisky } # Before Bed [ ] Vitamins { L-Theanine, Probiotics } The cost for mine is a little higher than OP's specific situation, HOWEVER, that's because I choose to spend a little extra for a steak or a shrimp meal. I can just afford it. If you're spending $10-$15/meal, that's way over priced....Whenever I was broke to the point that making $30 that week was an abundance, I was living off 72% - 80% ground beef + hamburger helper. It's good for energy, which is the key component. You can splurge on a 15 pound bag of rice for like $12 - $15, depending on your local asian market, it's a great side that goes with everything. We'd get sick of hamburger helper often, so sometimes I'd make some ground beef + rice + gravy mix. It was filling and if you get some Tony Chachere (or something you like) for the meat, it tastes fantastic. All of that is really fuarrrking cheap, too.. One box of hamburger helper costs like $1.50, 72% ground beef costs like $2 at worst (and if you cut it in half, it lasts 2 boxes of hamburger helper), plus a gal of milk should last you a week or so of hamburger helper. (Keep in mind, this was also split between 2 people at the time, it might last you even longer.) One key thing to note here is that we only ate twice a day. If you can stand doing it, I'd highly recommend it.

OP here. This kind of blew up and went on for longer than I expected it to, huh? I guess I came off as pretty negative and despairing and just generally lashing out... Sorry about that. Found out in the months that have passed since then that I'm severely mental. As in, so-fuarrrked-up-it's-probably-a-miracle-I-haven't-been-hospitalized-or-medicated-yet mental. The details would bore you, and I'm not fully comfortable sharing yet. So I guess I've been fighting those attitudes as well as my budget. No wonder I felt like soykaf. Still do lots of days to be honest BUT Because of your responses, I really buckled down and learned myself how to food. Post-it notes of recipes, shopping lists, etc. everywhere. I'm making two filling meals for every day of the week on ~$30 thanks to you guys. With that extra $70 saved up for a few weeks I got myself a strainer (*necessary!*), some measuring stuff (*optional!*), and some spices (*fuN!*) Best combo maker so far has been rice and eggs (usually scrambled) and for a given value of "healthy", assorted vegetables in bulk. Corn, super. Carrots and celery, not half bad either. It's not the only mix I throw together but it's reliable. For just a little bit more I can bump that to three meals every day of the week and have a little more variety too. Broth mix and spices are stocked on a less frequent but still regular basis. Meals are still sometimes stressful but only because of time allotment and worrying whether I'm treating equipment properly. Pots and pans weren't so expensive but they were an investment, and well, I don't know how long I'll continue to be paid. I don't know how long I'll continue to cram studies and work into the same agenda. I don't know how long I'll be the way that I am. And for a number of awful reasons I don't know how long I will keep living. But at least the meal prep itself is no longer at the front of my mind causing me to worry. One meal, one day, one week at a time, right? I owe you all. I love you all.

>>2347 Unbelievable that I didn't actually show everyone the results. Here's a pic of my daily lunch, lains~! With teriyaki sauce for flavor

>>2348 There is no such thing as "teriyaki sauce".

>>2350 Asshole. Think they could possibly mean soy sauce, mirin, and sugar? Or perhaps a bottled product that is basically that but has thickeners and maybe some garlic?

>>2350 My waifu bought a plastic bottle with this inscription on it, among others: "sauce teriyaki". As I'm not an imaginative man, I call the content "teriyaki sauce".

>>2355 Whomst've "they"? OP is a woman. >>2356 God damn you, Americans. Stop coming up with inane bullsoykaf brand names for your corn syrup. Do you also think "BBQ sauce" is a real thing?

>>2357 >Americans trump_saying_wrong.jpg It's sold in France as well.

>>2348 Looks good lain! Keep pushing forward!

>>2357 I do actually what the fuarrrk do you call it. It's a liquid you put on food what else do you call it. The only thing I can think of is your referring to a marinade or something which a lot of people still call a sauce. But like aside from that we actually have sauces that you dip things into and put on things for teriyaki and bbq.

From 4chs /ck/ https://mega.nz/#F!VrgHmQTT!HEXDgmzBWRgSt-_M4hZhiA

you know according to wikipedia E-tools, (military shovels) can be used to cook meat, by using the metal head of the shovel itself as some sort of crude pan. Maybe try that? I know it sounds weird but different cuts of meat taste different and have different textures, you gotta experiment. Also, try adding different amounts of salt, pepper, mustard, bay leaf, and a whole bunch of other spices that are usually sold cheaply. If you are going for the most extremely cheap approach you gotta search for the gigantic bags of cereals, such as rice. Beans and lentils are also a good choice. If you want to add a little something use fresh vegetables that you bought that same day. Stick to your plans, if you get hungry then you have to suck it up

>>3355 Go back and read OP who is microwaving meals and sharing a kitchen in some kind of apartment complex and then explain to us all how going out and buying a military shovel to cook over an open fire is somehow relevant here. I gathered wood and cooked over a fire every night when I lived in a tent but I doubt the majority in this thread even have a place to light an open a fire without going pretty far. If you're planning to do that, get some proper camp gear. The shovel skillet is more a survival option while living in an open trench cut off from supplies.

Cinnamon toast: Buttered whole-grain toast sprinkled with a little sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and peanuts. Tastes great with coffee. Toast pizza: Make toast with a lot of butter (to prevent hardening), sprinkle on some shredded cheese, nuke just long enough to melt the cheese. Then pour on some marinara sauce or salsa. Want to stay healthy? Don't forget to eat leafy green veggies. A nice lettuce/tomato/onion/whatever salad once in a while works. Only buy perishables that you really like so you eat them before they spoil. Bananas, oranges, pears, apples etc. Dried lentils and split-peas don't take much longer than rice to cook. Taste good and super nutritious. Mixed vegetables plus bouillon powder/cubes make cheap, fast soup.

>>1147 Hey I'm a cook, and a broke ass student too so hopefully I can offer some helpful advice: So you have 100 dollars for equipment and food But two pans(one medium one large pan) and a pot(for cooking pasta and boiling stuff, a rondeau would be nice but a deep pot would do just fine) Note if your pot is non-stick it won't last as long. That all should cost you no more than 15$ CAD or whatever the equivalent in your local currency Then buy a bag of rice, a bag of oatmeal Whatever veg you want to eat in a stir fry or on it's own(spinach is great for nutritional content) I usually have oatmeal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch(either deli meat or you can precook chicken breast and season how you like.), and some variety of stir fry or stew for dinner. You can save money on meats by either buying large quantities and freezing what you won't use in portion sizes(eg buy a few pounds of beef then put portions in ziploc bags) or by buying cheap cuts of meat(like stew beef) Usually a meal will consist of veg, protein(meat or beans), and a starch(rice, potatoes, other sources of carbs) I'm disorganized so if I need to make a quick dinner I'll either simmer vegetables in stock and cook some meat in a pan, then mix together and reduce the heat so it stays warm(if you let a soup or stew sit for a while on low heat it tastes more "together") Or I'll microwave a portion of meat and chop up some veggies then stir-fry it. Curry is easy to cook, burritos or tacos are very linear, soups, stews, sandwiches, stir-fry. If all else fails you're still eating pretty well if you have meat, potatoes, and some source of vitamins(leafy greens) Good luck anon. Also you save money if you shop more frequently rather than buying more than you're going to eat and letting it expire. >nice things to have: chefs knife, cutting board, a strainer, canola oil, vinegar, sea salt, black pepper(course ground is usually higher quality than that dusty bullshit), and something to bake meats in or on(cookie tray/ pyrex dish.) Also measuring spoons and a measuring cup. All of this can be had cheaply from a thrift shop or dollar store. Or IKEA if you have those.

Guys this thread is over a year old. I doubt he’s still checking this soykaf

>>3470 woops, thx anon. Well maybe it will be useful in posterity.

>>3471 It was exceptionally useful to me. If we could keep the thread going for other ppl who have anxiety over cooking, that would be awesome. I'm always scared of cooking bc I'm scared it won't taste good, and if it doesn't taste good I just consider it a failure, and I have a ridiculous fear of failure so it usually ends with me just buying loads of microwaveables and basically giving up. This has seriously helped me though and I'm thinking about trying some of the recipes and tips mentioned here later tonight. I'm extremely grateful for this thread and honestly I really hope it continues.

>>3736 > If we could keep the thread going for other ppl who have anxiety over cooking, that would be awesome. Already on it. There's good advice in here, here's the 4 things I fall back on whenever I'm not in the mood to cook "properly": Good tomato sauce, I eat it with noodles: Cook onions until translucent, add canned tomato, concentrated tomato if you have some and herbs - Basil, thyme, rosemary are all good. You can experiment with these. The secret to a good tomato sauce are two thing: time and butter. Leave the sauce on low heat for a while and add a bit of butter, probably a bit more than you think you'd need. Rice bowl: 1 part rice, rinse until clear, add to 2 parts water. Consider throwing herbs in the mix (cardamon is nice). Add lid, cook until the water is gone from the pot. You got a decent white rice. Cook meat of choice in a pan, add onions (not cubed), add low sodium soy sauce. Put that on the rice and you got a meal. You can thicken the sauce with some corn starch. Miso noodle soup: Cook noodles, cook meat in pan. Optional add chili/ginger to the pan. Add a bit of miso paste. This stuff is cheap and lasts forever. Add water, heat while stirring. Add this soup with noodles to a bowl and you have a warming meal. If you have some, throw some broccoli to the noodles, so it cooks as well. Beef strogranoff (autumn only): Cheap cut of beef, sliced into stripes. Add to pan. Add a lot of onions, cut into quarters. Add a even bigger amount of mushrooms, halved or quartered, depending on size. Add salt, pepper, optionally a bay leaf and sour cream. Now let this cook on low, longer is better. Except for the meat all of these are very cheap and very low maintenace. For "advanced" recipes, the curry or stir fry ideas in the thread were great. >This has seriously helped me though and I'm thinking about trying some of the recipes and tips mentioned here later tonight. I'm extremely grateful for this thread and honestly I really hope it continues. Cooking is mostly experimenting, you'll figure it out along the way. As long as you are careful with salt and certain herbs and don't burn anything your meal will be decent.

>>1147 I hate meal prep. It is a waste of time and resources, and often quite expensive due to essentially performing self torture by watching delicious flesh roast and broil every time one partakes in "cooking". Cooking is also just applying heat to food items to make them easier to digest, it is a bit silly when industrial technology and genetic engineering can provide us all our necessary calories and nutrients in excellent balance at low cost. If you want to eliminate the stress and expense, of private food storage, preparation, and disposal, and keep a tight control on your personal fitness levels and nutrient intake metered by activity, its very hard to beat good old Soylent.

Are people who say they can't cook just much pickier than me? I feel like a couple spices and salt on most things would be a fine meal.

>>3745 >soylent Raw milk is the superior complete food drink.

Post ready meals

>>3838 >milk is the superior complete food drink I could make more soylent in my backyard than you could make milk in yours. How is it superior?

>>3858 You grow the ingredients and make it from scratch? It's far more likely that Lain owns a cow.

>>3859 Lain's cow can't match the productivity of my garden. Getting milk from a cow is so inefficient.

>>3862 You wouldn't say that if you lived where I live.

>>3746 probably. I'm a professional cook, and I find it pretty difficult to find a satisfying meal regularly. Not because of taste alone, but because I mind my nutrients, and most commonly available foods fall well short of what I need nutritionally in a my food. say I eat three square meals: for me, a breakfast of eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns would only have(assuming 2 eggs and 3 sausages, with 1 cup of diced potatoes) about 30% of my daily nutrition requirements( eggs 140 cal 12 g protein potatoes 120 cal 2g protein sausage 210 cals 18g protein total 470 cals 32g protein. so a staple meal is in actually not even a third of my daily nutritional requirement. I aim for 3000 cals and 180g protein(I'm a large human) and this is less than half of what I need from a meal. also I don't like eggs but that doesn't matter. What I'm saying is common meals actually lack what they need in terms of nutritional contents(in fact falling well short) So I need to balance this need for nutrition with my need for stuff that tastes good(ideally, tastes delicious, but I'd settle for edible and satisfactory.) Usually I eat all the oatmeal I can stand, something with a lot of carbs for lunch(mashed potatoes, and meat for example) and then all of the rice I can stand with all of the meat I can stand to cook for dinner.

>>1761 A pan is nice to have though. You can cook eggs in a pot, but having a pan allows you to flip them much more easily. I would not think of making pancakes in a pot either.

>>3872 I make pancakes in a small pot, flipping isn't hard. Flipping eggs without breaking the yoke is harder. I also toast my bread in it.

Where do you like to go grocery shopping? I usually just go to my local Aldi or sometimes to the "Walmart neighborhood market" to save money. Is there any food you buy online?

I am learning to make bread using normal activated yeast and also with sourdough cultures. My only problem is that now that everyone's done panic buying toilet paper they are now buying all the damn flour. Also I have chickens and am starting a garden because fuarrrk the state. You need to be able to provide for yourself. I also plan to learn to trap and hunt. And of course I want to honor my prey by using every part and making appropriate apocalypse attire from the skins and hide.

Does anyone use anything similar to this? A sort of noodle kit with a reusable cup and refill packs of noodles. I feel it is pretty cyberpunk.

>>4233 I usually buy vegetables from a fruit store since they have better flavor than the soykaf from supermarkets. Dried grains like rice or beans are usually cheaper if you can buy them in bulk, so I also buy those from there. Asian ingredients usually from any Asian grocery store, since you can't find them anywhere else. I don't usually eat meat, but when I do I try to buy from a butcher. Basically, try the specialized stores first and avoid buying stuff from supermarkets. It's less convenient, but everything tastes so much fuarrrking better.

>>4745 I try to avoid plastic, especially cooking in it, so I wouldn't use anything like that.

>>4751 Yeah, plastic does not age well at all. It leeches into liquids over the long term, should not go into a microwave or dishwasher, and snaps or cracks at the worst times. >>4745 You should get a glass or ceramic bowl of the appropriate size and make your own soup lainon. You could make the broth ina big batch and freeze what you don't need. Then do you mise one day a week and you have easy meals.

>>4752 Actually, do you have any tips on making broth? I was considering getting an instant pot just for that, but I'm already living in a small crammed apartment. I don't know if it's worth it.

>>4745 >refill packs of noodles This is consumerist dystopia tier. Cyberpunk way is to buy big sacks or leftover waste noodles that didn't shape into bar during production and were repurposed as "cattle fodder" from factory, at lower price, one actually lower than regular pasta to make them economically feasible for cattle or pet consumption.

>>4751 >>4752 >>4754 >angru at blastic >This is consumerist dystopia tier. wow its almost like thats exactly what a cyberpunk dystopia is

i wanna tell you i just made and ate some *good* food. i call it "gravy mash" and i wish i had some more. i heated my 12" square skillet to low, about 250f. poured in enough canola oil to cover the bottom about 1/8" or 1/4" deep. while that was heating i mixed about a cup of water with about half a cup of nonfat dry milk, 1/2 teaspoon of beef bouillon powder, a good dose of black pepper, and one egg. no salt because the bouillon is very salty. then back at the skillet i sprinkled and stirred in about half a cup of flour into the oil so i got a nice thick gravy. when that started to bubble a little bit, i poured and mixed in the milk-egg-etc and kept stirring until the whole thing turned into a nice tan mash. then i opened a can of spinach and laid a few big spoonfuls across the top. one taste and i couldn't stop eating until it was gone. (i should have saved half but it was too good). and i added more spinach as i ate. damn it was good. cleaned my bowl, skillet, spoon, and wooden spatula and i was done.

Buy some spices like salt, pepper, I like chipotle powder for a lot of stuff Make borgers with ground beef and spices, maybe cheese slices from the deli Chicken breasts too Boil some rice That's a big meal (4u)

>>4754 The vast majority of meat is thrown away. The meat industry receives enormous subsidies to kill a huge amount of animals whose meat won't even be sold because it's more profitable to do so. And you get upset over broken noodles.

>>1150 >8ch link i miss it bros

>>2348 Proud of you anon. That actually looks comfy. Many people these days think they are too good for meals like this. Or more like, their tastes have been shaped by junk food corporations and they can no longer physically/mentally enjoy simple meals like this, which are also very affordable.

Found this on /g/ today https://based.cooking/ Very simple site for recipes and general cooking tips. You can submit your own recipes on their github too. >>6128 We didn't know how good we had it

>>6448 Shame he only accepts bitcoin rather than Monero.

>>4753 Not him but I often save drippings from any particularly drippy meat I cook and use them for many things, both gelatenous water material thats more brothy and just the fat which you can basically use anywhere you'd use butter or oil. Further, after you cook something or just after you cut up a corpse you usually have a lot of bones, perhaps skin and connective tissue, that you're not going to eat, and among these you'll have small bits of meat that arent worth it to extract cause its just going to take forever. Take all this stuff, put it into a big stock pot, and boil it. For hours. Eventually itll get pretty cloudy fatty on top and you can strain out the crud and there, voila, you have broth. Unrelated: Anyone here have cool things you've made with leftover whey? I've been using mine in place of water for bread and stuff, but it just keeps on comming and I'm curious if anyone else does something cool with it.

>>6450 There's a Monero address at the bottom of the page