Cooking

Rice cooked in microwave (so easy and decent), with chili beans. I make the chili in a big batch and divide it into portions and freeze it.

I buy the 2lb bags of golden curry flakes for struggle meals. They usually look something like this

1. Set a kettle to boil (bonus for electric kettle)
2. Start a cup of rice (I use a rice cooker, I don't think it would count as a struggle meal without)
3. In a bowl, mix curry flakes with boiling water in ~1:3 curry to water ratio. Stir till smooth. Bonus: make a tea or coffee or whatever hot drink floats your boat as well
4. (Optional) reheat some frozen veggies or leftovers or whatever
5. Dump your rice and optionally veggies/leftovers into your bowl of curry sauce, mix, eat.

This is my mom's. She calls it chalupas but it's not like taco bell's chalupas. At all. I don't know where their name came from. These are real chalupas. I think they came from the 50s.

First you take a can of red pinto beans and empty the whole can, juice and all, into a pot. Toss in an 8 Oz thing of cream cheese. Put it on the stove and melt the cream cheese into the bean juices. It's gonna turn purple.

Get some frito CORN CHIPS. The small ones are better, but ykniw.

Then you kinda layer it. Corn chips, kidney bean creamcheeseslurry, grated cheddar cheese, onion, lettuce, olive, tomato, avocado, salsa, I'm sure I'm missing a few things. I like it, my wife doesn't so we haven't had it in a hot minute.

Eat with your fingers like the tired fellow your are. Or a fork, I don't care

I feel too fancy. Mine is a simple red sauce pasta. Can of tomato sauce, boil your favorite noodle, brown like a quarter pound of ground meat if you have or want it (preferably beef or pork), brown the meat with aniseed/fennel (i grew up using aniseed and prefer it, but if you like fennel go for it. You don't need both unless you want licorice pasta. This is the secret ingredient in tomato pasta sauce) basil and oregano and garlic and pepper, deglaze with a splash of red wine, add the tomato and bay, scoop out the noodle (I like my spider skimmer. I ain't used a strainer in days) direct into the sauce and eat when your mouth don't burn when you try to eat it.

I've made it so many times I can and have made it in my sleep. First meal I learned to cook. Grumpa taught me :3

Sous vide before that was a thing...

• Boil-in-the-bag fish in a creamy butter sauce
• Frozen veg
• Pasta

Bring pan of water to the boil, add bag of fish and veg. Wait 10 mins, add pasta, wait another 10 mins. Serve.

Nutritious and tasty, one pan, saved me at uni.

The flesh of the rich and powerful

instant oats with a scoop of peanut butter(less sugar, oil and salt) and milo. Initially it looks like prison food and bland AF, but i dont mind since it has grown on and satiates me when i need a quick meal.

I know this is a meme saying this on Lemmy, but my go to is now and always has been beans and toast. It's cheap, easy to make and when it's warm it's almost like a real meal. When I'm struggling, it makes me feel like I actually made dinner, even though it's just beans from the microwave and toast. I usually have bread in the freezer and cans or jars of beans in tomato sauce in the cupboard, so it's available when I need it.

Rice and beans, West Africa style.

But I do love a peanut butter burrito.

Whatever your particular preference of potato is for the moment (baked, home fries, mashed, wedges, whatever amount of work you can deal with, but a baked potato is the simplest), shredded cheese, pepper and salt. Cayenne pepper powder if you want some heat, garlic powder if you want some garlic, but those four ingredients -- potato, salt, pepper, cheese -- are the bare minimum for a tasty, filling meal on very little money and little effort.

muesli and high fat yogurt. paired with instant coffee

Macaroni (the kind that's done after 5 minutes of boiling) and meatballs (out of a bag).

Boil the macaroni and heat the meatballs.

When I was depressed back in university it was always frozen hash browns, microwaved

Microwave nachos. Tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and whatever else you like on nachos. Toss it in the microwave until the cheese melts.

Cook a bag of microwave rice(like uncle Ben's), warm up a can chilli on stove top, add shredded cheese and mix it all up. It's very filling, kinda healthy, taste decent and is like 3 dollars...

Spaghetti, with salt, butter and garlic.

These are my go-tos:

Better Jarred Spaghetti:
Cook up some ground pork and add, cayenne, paprika, pepper flakes, and cavenders greek seasoning. Deglaze with any alcohol or stock on hand and melt in butter. Add and simmer tomato sauce of choice for a bit with the pork to bring it together. Finish with sugar to balance acidity. Bonus if you have any herbs or cheese for garnish.

Garlic Chili Crisp Ramen:
On top of 1 beef and 1 chicken instant ramen (cooked and drained) place scallions, ginger, garlic, chili crisp, and a tiny bit of any vinegar (black vinegar is best). Pour hot oil (any kind) over the top then mix. Bonus with any leftover meats or veggies you can use. Extra bonus if you have sesame oil or seesame seeds to garnish.

Black Bean Nachos Tortilla chips, shredded cheese, hot sauce of choice, goya sazon seasoning, black beans. Bonus if you have any extra veg like white onion, jalapeno, or tomatoes.

Shin ramyun

I meal prep because of the struggle. So mostly just nuking a meal prep. Porridge or pb on toast in a pinch.

[off topic?]

Get a 5 quart/liter pot. I like to make a pot of chili / soup/ strew and freeze meal size portions.

Takes about seven minutes to microwave a pint sized container.

edit = many people in small places don't have a good sized freezer. It's actually a great investment.

ideal struggle meal coincides with when i end up with an amount of leftovers that isnt enough to be a meal on its own, in which case i either:

• mix it with an egg or two to create some sort of unholy omelet/pancake
• put them into a big sandwich (extras + toasted optional)
• put it as toppings on "pizza" (in quotes because this is almost never done with an actual pizza base)

but if i don't have leftovers i do my Quickie Noods, which is frozen veggies, whatever noodle can be cooked through in <5mins (usually rice noodle or thin egg noodle), and scrambly egg/tofu all mixed up in a hot pan or wok. i do the veggies & egg/tofu while the noodles are cooking so i can just wham them in fast when they are done! i also usually throw in a bit of curry powder, soy sauce & sesame oil but doing it with just minced garlic + red pepper flakes is also good! i fucking hate cooking but this takes less than 10 mins and is reasonably balanced (compared to a grilly chee anyway) so it is very much a go-to for me.

-Oatmeal/Cream of wheat with milk and cocoa powder
-Toast with sour cream and salt or honey
-Bread+butter+ fresh vegetable on top: cucumber, radish, tomatoes + spices salt/pepper
-Grated apple +thick pancake batter + cinnamon sugar

Microwave rice, frozen veges. Boil the jug and pour hot water over the frozen veg to defrost. Microwave rice, strain veg and microwave if necessary. Mix together with mayonnaise or whatever. Can add eggs.

Microwave rice is amazing. It's the absolute best fallback food, and it takes very little effort to add things to it to make it more healthy and filling.

Chilighetti

Can of chili, cooked spaghetti noodles

Put hot chili on noodles, eat

You can add shredded cheese, diced onions or ranch dressing, or all 3 if you’re rich and luxurious

this meal has no right being as good as it is

Bread with something on it. Or a sandwich if you feel fancy

Frozen wonton soup.

Throw frozen Chicken broth into pot and thaw, add a dash of soy sauce until it tastes and looks right, add frozen dumplings or wontons and frozen veggies. Finish with some pepper. Done in 10-15 mins.

I like making my own broth then I freeze it in ~750ml containers. The secret to a good broth is bringing it to a boil very slowly to separate the fat and concentrate the flavours.

Makes 2-4 servings depending wontons.

Rice, lentils, scrambled eggs. A fairly balanced meal that has little to no flavour so you can just add any flavour powders or straight up shredded cheese to fit your needs. Every ingredient can be bought in bulk to save money and could also make for a good stew if you have meat.

For when ramen is just barely too little, i make Alfredo pasta. Make pasta of choice and drain, add sauce from jar, add some capers, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes. Top with parmesan to feel fancy. It's basically cooking the noodles and 5 minutes of mixing, but tastes like it took longer.

From another comment of mine...Nigella Lawson's Minestrone in Minutes.

3 cups broth, 1 cup tomato sauce, 1/2 cup soup pasta (orzo, ditalini, etc.), 1 can of white beans. Throw it all in a pot and cook until pasta is done. Season however. Herbs, a parm rind if you have one, a garlic clove or powder, red pepper flakes etc.

Easy af, quite healthy considering its all pantry items, and super satisfying. Its grown up spaghettios essentially and super easy to scale up to feed a crowd. Its my favorite "I dont wanna cook" meal.

rice cooker makes so many things without much effort. while its made for rice you can cook and basic grain or anything really that is small enough to cook. lentils will cook from dry. if you cut up meat real small it will cook from raw.

White rice and a basic (salt brine) baked chicken, if I'm feeling indulgent. Otherwise, water and air.

Fried rice. At the most basic level, it's just gonna be leftover rice fried up with a bit of sesame seed oil.

Big Pile of Roasted Vegetables.

Buy a bag of potatoes or other cheap vegetables. Peel (if needed) and chop into bite-sized chunks. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast at 400°F. Check for doneness/brownness after 30 minutes, and 10 minute increments if they need longer.

Hits all the notes of cheap, easy, tasty, healthy, and filling. Toss with more spices if you want, or add more sauces after. My current favorite is just potatoes with hot honey. You can improve the texture of potatoes by par-boiling them, then tossing them to rough up the exterior so they end up way crispier after roasting.