Ask HN: Hack a healthy, yet not expensive, meal.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=311740

by rokhayakebe • 18 years ago

40 116 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hack a healthy, yet not expensive, meal. I know most entrepreneurs are money-constrained, but I believe that an entrepreneur should eat healthy meals. It affects your brain over the long term. So can you advise healthy meals that are still within the 2-guy-in-a-garage budget? Thanks.

alaskamiller3• 18 years ago

I bought a cast iron skillet for 10 bucks (http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Logic-4-Inch-Pre-Seasoned-Skille...) and it's the best thing ever. Fast to heat up and start cooking and easy clean up. Best thing to make for me is pan-seared yellowfin tuna steaks over veggies like asparagus or broccoli.

Get a 5oz tuna steak of sushi-quality, marinade it with some soy sauce and sesame oil, sprinkle on some seasoning and sesame seed and just sear it on the pan for 2 minutes each side. Delicious, healthy, and fast.

Same goes for chicken. Blackened chicken, easy, done. The cast iron skillet goes from stove top to oven. God I love this thing.

dcurtis3• 18 years ago

I love seared tuna. It's pretty easy to make, but it's definitely not cheap.

alaskamiller3• 18 years ago

In Silicon Valley, here's my shopping experience:

12oz yellowfin tuna fillet

Whole Foods: $14

Safeway: $9

Lucky's: $8

Costco: $6

12oz is good for 2-3 servings. Plus the $3 for a bundle of asparagus or $2 for a bag of broccoli. I've gotten the meal down to $5 per plate, which is what I usually shoot for in terms of cooking. For me, I think this is a good trade off between tasty, healthy, fast, and cheap.

jonknee3• 18 years ago

Ever try making pizza on it? Flip it over, stick it in the oven as high as it will go and then after it gets NASA hot (this is a good time to have your dough warm up from a nice slow rise in the fridge) just slide your pie on. It will cook up in 3-5 minutes and come out tasting surprisingly legit. Cast iron is the deal.

alaskamiller3• 18 years ago

I love you for sharing this tip. I've got a 10 incher so it won't make big pies but I can definitely get something fast and tasty going on.

ph0rque2• 18 years ago

Not exactly on topic, but... one of my future startup ideas is a robotic garden: basically, some kind of a transparent container with a controlled atmosphere and temprature, watering system, and nutrient supply that would produce a supply of fruits/vegetables year-round in any location.

jonmc123• 18 years ago

I've seen those 'kitchen gardens' on infomercials.. 'just 3 payments of $49.99'. You can grow your own lettuce.

Would be cool if you could actually create something that would sustain a family - it will be difficult to find produce that will yield well for many conditions without expending a ton of energy to control its environment though.

HeyLaughingBoy2• 18 years ago

You don't need a year-round supply of fresh fruits/veggies. Just need to be able to preserve the out of season stuff.

I used to have those grand plans of automated gardens until I realized that 90% of the problem is solved by a small greenhouse you can build for $10 in Home Depot materials.

Shooter3• 18 years ago

There is an Israeli company that has built a 'farm-scale' robotic hydroponic system. They presented at an investment conference I went to a few years ago. The unit kind of looked like a big Dalek. I can't remember their company name, but a few minutes on Google might turn them up...

Harkins• 18 years ago

Someone's beat you to it: http://visualrecipes.com/51/aerogrow-aerogarden-review-read-...

It doesn't control atmosphere, but it doesn't need to.

ph0rque2• 18 years ago

Well, this would be the next iteration; and it wouldn't need as much light, since it would be outside. You might consider it a cross between the product you linked to (http://www.aerogrow.com) and another company that produces robotic greenhouses (can't find the link right now).

pg• 18 years ago

Rice and beans. There are 1000 variations.

soundsop• 18 years ago

And some vegetables too. Frozen or from a can is dead easy.

bootload2• 18 years ago

"... And some vegetables too. Frozen or from a can is dead easy ..."

Good point. You can get probably 1/2 your dietary fibre with a cup of green frozen peas, heated & mushed ~ http://www.opensourcefood.com/people/bootload/recipes/mushy-...

ryanwaggoner• 18 years ago

Whoa! I'm eating that now...that kind of freaks me out.

Throw some salsa in the beans and eat it over brown rice. Healthy and tasty.

catone• 18 years ago

Or take some black beans, jack cheese, a tortilla and some salsa and make a quesadilla.

To the OP: I find making pizza is really cheap and versatile (i.e., it can take you awhile to get sick of it). Most supermarkets sell premade dough for $1 or so. Then just get some sauce and cheese and any other toppings you might like (I love making a pizza with butternut squash, garlic, shallots, scallions, olive oil, mozarella, salt and pepper -- no red sauce).

The whole thing is done in a half hour and for half the price -- or less -- of a take out pizza.

Salads are good to... veggies get a little pricier, especially out of season... but a hearty salad with nuts and cheese is great for you and not _that_ expensive.

Same with soups, which can made pretty easily and cheaply with pretty much anything you have lying around. :)

eru• 18 years ago

Dough is too easy to do yourself. No need for the premade stuff.

rjett2• 18 years ago

PG forgot to mention that at least 900 of these variations involve sour cream and salsa :)

dcurtis3• 18 years ago

After a summer of YC, I can say that rice and beans, while amazing, get boring after exactly three months.

kajecounterhack• 18 years ago

Did you try adding curry? Believe it or not duck sauce on rice and beans is pretty amazing too.

Then theres always top ramen, but its not exactly on that healthy list, haha.

tlrobinson• 18 years ago

While I agree, after a winter of YC, then a spring and summer of no YC, I'm looking forward to visiting the next round this winter to get my rice and beans fix ;)

JesseAldridge• 18 years ago

If you're like me and super lazy when it comes to cooking you should get one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Maxi-Aids-Microwave-Rice-Cooker/dp/B00...

It's really just a plastic, microwave safe pot.

1) Dump in ~5 handfulls of raw beans, fill the pot up with water, leave them to soak overnight overnight.

2) Dump the water. Add ~6 handfulls of rice. Fill it with water again.

3) Stick it in the microwave for 30 minutes.

4) Dump out the water. Add 2 cans of vegetables and some kind of sauce.

5) Bam, done. The pot should keep you fed for the entire day.

If you want to mix it up, you can also cook noodles in the thing. That's even easier cuz you don't need to soak the noodles. Just drop in some noodles, add water, and microwave for 15 minutes. Done! Real noodles are a lot healthier than that Ramen crap.

The pot only costs 10 bucks. I've been using it for about a year now and it still works great.

mroman• 18 years ago

That's what I have most of the time, and take a one a day multivitamin pill everyday, plus lots of water (and caffeine of course)

kingkongrevenge6• 18 years ago

> Rice and beans.

I wouldn't aspire to a Hispanic diet. They're mostly short and chubby as far as I can see.

Shooter3• 18 years ago

I rarely downvote, but your comment has left me wishing I had a few more to spare.

albertcardona• 18 years ago

Living on a dry, high-altitude altiplan or on a humid low-land makes a hell of a difference. The diet has something to do, but heat management affects human body growth far more, considering a baseline amount of ingested calories. Hence the children of Mexican immigrants living in California are way taller and have longer arms. That, on top of the genetic selection for individuals with big chest and short arms, as a positive adaptation to high altitude (and thin bodies and long arms for coast lands --the micronesian being the exception, since they were selected for long periods of food deprivation, while sailing from island to island). Go study anthropology before making stupid comments.

icey3• 18 years ago

In that case, could you let us know what you eat so we can avoid being bigoted morons?

jyothi• 18 years ago

Rice, beans and cut vegetables. Cook them together, add little pepper and salt. This won't take much time either.

mixmax• 18 years ago

Risotto - all that's required is rice, stock, and parmesan. Add mushrooms, shrimp or whatever if it's saturday.

Spaghetti bolognese - make a big serving and freeze it in portions.

ichverstehe• 18 years ago

I have no idea about food prices in your part of the world, but being a high school student living on a very small budget (think $200/month for food expenses, and this is Denmark which is relatively expensive) I have learnt a few tricks.

One of them is baking your own bread! I have an electric mixer with some special tools for dough, so I spend 15 minutes every two days and have pretty good and cheap bread.

Soups are another nice one, forget about the advanced ones, go with something simple, yet good, e.g. potato-leek-soup. Make big portions, put it in the freezer.

Basic courses such as pasta can be pretty good if you spice it up a little. Forget about the ketchup, mix up a simple tomato sauce.

And a little gem from The Silver Spoon: Some oil on a pan, put on a whole garlic clove untill it's brown, get it off the pan. Add a can of tuna, and some tomato puree that has been mixed with a bit of water. Turn down the heat, give it some fifteen minutes and add to your pasta. Inexpensive, easy and surprisingly good if you spice it up a bit.

Basically anything that you can make in big portions and freeze is a bargain.

iigs• 18 years ago

+1 for your own bread. My mother gave me a recipe for "food processor" bread, which involves about $0.25 worth of ingredients and a few minutes of work.

It's not the right season at the moment, but you could also consider growing your own stuff in the garden. Fresh herbs from the grocers are $$$, and don't taste/smell as good as what you pull and carry to your stove.

Commercial tomatoes breeds are optimized to have a tough skin, so that they can be thrown into large containers while green and hauled to the grocery store while ripening. None of this has anything to do with tasty or healthy. Growing your own tomatoes is also easy if you have a sunny spot, and you can pick varieties that taste better than what you'll end up with from the store.

None of these are cost-optimizing in a large way, but if you're going to be cooking anyway, you might as well enjoy better taste and the satisfaction of producing something physical and tangible.

HeyLaughingBoy2• 18 years ago

+1 for grow your own. I take that a bit farther since I have chickens (http://softwarefromthefarm.blogspot.com) :-)

Although I have the acreage to grow pretty much whatever I want, you can grow lots of stuff in a small apartment as long as you have a window that gets enough light. Herbs don't take up much room, esp. if you use a strawberry pot and plant multiple types in the same pot. You can also grow tomatoes, etc. in pots

robg2• 18 years ago

+1 for soups. From beans to chili to harvest veggies you can't go wrong.

enra• 18 years ago

I'm a undergrad student in Finland and trying to manage relatively cheap aswell.

I try to live by low-carb, high protein, high natural fat and fresh and natural foods, which atleast doesn't make it any easier. I have found out that most fatty foods are inexpensive relatively to their calories. Where as things like bread are actually quite expensive if you measure their calorie contents and other nutrients.

So my advice is to eat more natural fat, even to point that you get like 30% daily calories from fat. Generally I try to choose products with high or normal fat. For example full milk over fat-free and unsweetened Turkish yogurt(with 10% fat) over fat-free and high-sugar.

menloparkbum• 18 years ago

- eggs are cheap. egg white omelets and frittatas are reasonably healthy.

- chili and soup. you can make a ton at once and then keep it in the freezer for meals the rest of the week.

Shamiq• 18 years ago

Eggs.

Used as a replacement for meats in most dishes. Ideal cooking temperature is 145 F.

Warning: Be wary of dirty looking eggs; cook throughly; each egg contains around 75% Daily Value of cholesterol, so you may want to remove yellows post boiling or pre-scrambling.

Adding PG's comment: Beans and rice can get boring, but do serve well as a backup when nothing else is working.

DabAsteroid4• 18 years ago

each egg contains around 75% Daily Value of cholesterol, so you may want to remove yellows

Is there something wrong with eating cholesterol?

Tichy• 18 years ago

I suppose the eggs are cheap because of the disgusting "chicken batteries" that produce them? I don't trust eggs...

yummyfajitas• 18 years ago

Saute mushrooms, with rosemary, garlic, onion, red pepper, salt and black pepper (to taste). Serve over couscous with yogurt (I recommend full fat stonyfield farms yogurt).

Variations: add sundried tomato to mushrooms.

Pasta with red sauce. Red sauce: saute garlic and a small onion. Add tomato puree (2 big cans), fresh basil (1 plant, break leaves off, wash, chop), garlic (saute first, then add tomato), oregano, parsley, salt and pepper (to taste).

Variations: add some cream and vodka to red sauce, gets you pink sauce.

Another good pasta sauce: saute garlic and onion in butter, then add heavy cream. When that heats up, add grated cheese (parmesan or swiss), salt and pepper (to taste), and possibly 1-2 tablespoons of flour (to thicken). You can also add sun dried tomato (saute it with the garlic), or cherry tomato (add it at the very end).

This video changed my life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU_B3QNu_Ks

In fact, just youtube Gordon Ramsey, Alton Brown, Jamie Oliver, etc, for good ideas.

maurycy• 18 years ago

Fish. Find the chepeast possible fish and eat with rice.

jonmc123• 18 years ago

I go to whole foods every 3-4 days. Pick up just enough: - Tuna salad, Turkey, Pre-sliced peppers, Broccoli, Yogurt, walnuts, Green / white tea, prepped salads, walnuts, etc

Trick is to make sure its ready to eat - even if its a little more expensive, that keeps me from eating out. Also, going every 3-4 days means that I eat everything, no waste.

staunch• 18 years ago

Whole Foods is probably the least economical place to shop.

jjburka2• 18 years ago

If your whole foods has a bulk section its rather economical to shop there for that.

But on the topic of cheap/good for you eats: Can't go wrong with burritos made with beans,corn and rice.

jonmc123• 18 years ago

Thats what I used to think, but similar product brands it is generally not very different. For fresh, healthy food, there is no comparison.

robg2• 18 years ago

Salad. Cut up the lettuce (the more colors the better - spinach, red leaf, romaine) once a week. Stick it in a big covered bowl in the fridge. Then add different stuff for different varieties - corn, tomatoes, avocado, shrooms, tuna, steak, chicken, ...

sidsavara3• 18 years ago

I recommend finding someone on craig's list to cook for you, so you don't have to worry about it. Time is at such a premium when you are trying to launch your own business, and if they're shopping for a family, they are probably better at bargain hunting and coupon clipping than you are.

I did just that, and I discuss it in this post. Wasn't sure if HN would appreciate it, so I haven't submitted it here:

http://sidsavara.com/personal-productivity/the-price-of-my-d...

breck• 18 years ago

Great post. Can I ask where you are located?

sidsavara3• 18 years ago

Thanks

I live in Honolulu, HI =)

pxlpshr• 18 years ago

Fantastic!!!

I agree man, I enjoy cooking but it takes soo much time. So, for people still working a day-job, contracting your cooking is a great time saver. Fortunately, my gf is my life manager in the evening and takes care of me. :)

wayne• 18 years ago

Pretty awesome. I thought it was especially cool how you took the time to diligently record your schedule for a month so you could figure out which tasks took the most time yet gave you no enjoyment. After that, it seemed like a no-brainer to outsource cooking, but without the data, it would have been hard to reach that conclusion.

pchivers• 18 years ago

I just read your article, and it's a really great idea and very well written. Maybe you should try posting it to HN.

sage_joch• 18 years ago

Time is at such a premium no matter what your goals are. And since this is HN, I should mention that this seems like a great idea for a startup.

corentin• 18 years ago

Yeah, there's probably a huge market for places where people could go to eat meals someone else cooked for them!

mchristoff2• 18 years ago

@pg, what's your rate these days? Haven't had any of that slow cooked chili in ages :)

rjett2• 18 years ago

Cook huge meals once or twice a week and save the leftovers...Spaghetti lasts me 4 meals, chicken pot pie lasts me about the same. +1 for PG's beans and rice...I cook it with kielbasa and sautee peppers and onions and that lasts me for 4 or 5 meals. Since I'm doing all my cooking, the average cost per meal comes in right around $3...not bad for a 2-guy-in-a-garage budget.

shawndrost2• 18 years ago

I cook based on price, ease, health, and how long it takes the materials to go bad. My favorites:

Lentils with onions, potatoes, and/or ham. Chop, put in saucepan with water. Salt.

Chili with rice. Fry hamburger and onion. Add canned kidney beans, tomato sauce, chopped habanero, and chili powder. Salt. I highly recommend a ricemaker.

I also like Thai curry with rice, but it'd be too much hassle if it weren't for the basil plants I grow. Fry chicken or fish with curry paste; add other stuff, like potato and peanut with red curry or eggplant or bamboo shoots with green curry. Add basil and habanero at the very end.

I keep some beans, tortillas, and cheese on hand for when I'm too lazy to actually cook, and lots of fruit for snacks.

sidsavara3• 18 years ago

Really? First basketball, now a thread about eating, that's where I find you?

shawndrost2• 18 years ago

this is so weird. if I randomly see you in a coffee shop in an hour, I'm going to freak out.

rw2• 18 years ago

Spinach - lots of spinach. Popeye had it right.

rcoder2• 18 years ago

Spinach is great, but if you're on a tight budget, and therefore not getting a lot of trace minerals, the oxalic acid content can actually mess you up pretty badly. (Oxalic acid binds to calcium, iron, etc. to form an indigestible chelate.)

DabAsteroid4• 18 years ago

I would suggest taking one's mineral-supplement separately from mineral-binding chemicals.

rw2• 18 years ago

I didn't know this - thanks.

iamelgringo• 18 years ago

My wife and I have been working on this for a while. We want to eat at home, but we really don't like the process of cooking every day.

So, we cook once every 4-8 weeks. We purchased a freezer that we put in the garage for $3-400, and we do all of our meal prep at once. We buy all of our ingredients in bulk at Costco or the local Farmer's market, and then we prep 30-40 meals in one day. So, all we have to do for each meal, is thaw the package the day before, throw it in the oven or in a pan the following day, add a salad, and you're done.

It takes a lot of planning, and it takes a while before find a set of recipes that freeze well, but after a year or so of doing this, we pretty much have the list. We're at the point now, that my wife pulls 8 or 10 recipes from the database, she puts the ingredient list together, we go shopping on one day, and asssemble and freeze meals the second day. It's about 8-10 hours work for both of us, and it cuts down 1-1/2 hours of meal prep and planning every day for 4-6 weeks. Along with the recipe in the database is a label with cooking instructions that gets printed out and saran wrapped to the package.

If you Google for this, it's called "Once a month cooking".

inklesspen• 18 years ago

Eat food (as opposed to processed food-like substances). Not too much. Mostly plants.

Read Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food": http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594201455/

It's a whole different model from the shifting "red meat is bad" "no, carbs are bad" "avoid fat" "eat omega-3 fat!" madness that has ruled eating for decades.

cdr• 18 years ago

I've been a fan of Tim Ferriss's 3-minute breakfast since he posted it awhile back: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/02/28/beating-the-...

Alex3917• 18 years ago

I'm a big fan of the Seth Godin breakfast: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/09/compromise_h...

jcl• 18 years ago

Here's an online essay of his that summarizes the "Eat food" message:

http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=87

noahlt• 18 years ago

The things poor people eat all around the world:

- rice - beans - soy - potatoes - fish - veggies (anything dark but not too expensive)

The real key to a good-tasting meal is freshness, even with simple foods. Seasoning is like makeup for food.

hs3• 18 years ago

+1 for freshness

'real' food has 'bio-sensor' ... you can tell just by looking, that a fruit/veggie is bad

it's much harder to 'sense' that in processed food

i find that fruit/veg is harder to fool with, maybe having to do with its low price (not much incentive to cheat)

in my country we got rotten meats cleaned with formaldehyde and then soaked in fresh blood to be sold along with fresh meats ... such thing is unheard of in veg/fruit (groceries can wax to prevent, but once fruit/veg is rotten, it's hard to 'rejuvinate')

being vegetarian leads to simpler life, no worries about mad cow, avian flu, etc

streety• 18 years ago

Having worked with formaldehyde I expect that is a horrific practice for all concerned. Very shocking.

I'm not sure why, as a vegetarian, you feel you don't need to worry about avian flu. You catch it by being in close proximity to live poultry, not by eating it. As you've already said that your meat is dead when you buy it I don't see how your risk is any less than mine.

rokhayakebe• 18 years ago

Seasoning is like makeup for food

This one line could be sold for a few dollars.

kingkongrevenge6• 18 years ago

> - rice - beans - soy - potatoes

Yeah, and those poor people grow up short with bad teeth and don't live very long. If you can afford good meat and fish you should eat it and avoid starch.

Soy is pretty much toxic. Do some research.

DabAsteroid4• 18 years ago

Seasoning is like makeup for food.

Nope. Culinary herbs and spices contain antioxidative and anti-glycative chemicals that in many cases also improve insulin sensitivity (e.g. they are anti-diabetic).

http://news.google.com/news?q=diabetes%20spices

lallysingh• 18 years ago

Everyone's got different standards for healthy, and cheap. Mine probably aren't great, but I think it's a good starter position for going down this road. Especially if you're not really a cook.

Here's mine: hit the grocery store and pick up some freezer ziplock bags and some family-size packs of meat (whatever's on sale). Individually bag and freeze them. With some veggies and sauce (A1 goes well with a lot), you've got some good options.

Also, pasta. Mix in some chicken.

misterbwong• 18 years ago

All you need are a few "all purpose" ingredients

1. boneless, skinless chicken breast

2. mixed frozen veggies

3. rice or bread (rice keeps a lot longer...)

4. Misc seasonings (salt, pepper, chili powder, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, etc)

You can buy these things in bulk and they will last forever. Combine to make whatever dish you like. One of my favorites when I was working out a lot:

1. Season chicken breast teriyaki sauce

2. Wash rice and put in rice cooker

3. Steam veggies along with the rice

4. Cook chicken on foreman grill

5. Pull out veggies, season with salt and pepper

6. You're done!

You could do a stir fry dish just as easily.

tdavis2• 18 years ago

Wait until you get to the point where you want it healthy, cheap, and made for the super lazy. It gets even harder. Pans, ingredients, seasonings NNOOOoooo. If it's more complicated than PB&J I just can't bring myself to make it.

This leads to lots of frozen steam-able veggies, fruit whenever we get around to going to the store, lots of yogurt, bagged salad... but also a ton of noodles.

paulgb• 18 years ago

It might be different where you shop, but I generally found bagged and pre-made salads to be expensive and bland, and not last long. Salad is among the easier foods to make.

I have to agree with you on yogurt and frozen veggies.

tdavis2• 18 years ago

Does your average head of lettuce last longer than the bagged variety? I hadn't really looked into it. If that's the case, though, it may be worth the extra effort.

bootload2• 18 years ago

"... So can you advise healthy meals that are still within the 2-guy-in-a-garage budget? ..."

You supply the ingredients, OpenSourceFoods for recipes (with pictures) ~ http://www.opensourcefood.com

kapitti• 18 years ago

Take some premade pizza dough, put some ricotta cheese on it for the base - saute some baby spinach (10oz or so) and artichoke hearts (1 can will do) throw it on the pizza. Cook a single chicken breast in a skillet, dice it up, throw it on the pizza - sprinkle with feta cheese, add some crushed red pepper - throw it under the broiler until the feta is soft.

Enjoy.

hs3• 18 years ago

fruit - nature's fast food

as a bonus, the waste is bio-degradable

rkowalick• 18 years ago

Buy whole meat instead of individual cuts. Honestly, it takes maybe 45 seconds to cut up a whole chicken. Use the breast meat for dishes with tasty sauces and cook the thighs, legs, and wings whole. Keep all of the bones and giblets to make stock. Boil the stock down A LOT. It takes a while, but you honestly don't have to do anything while it's reducing. Take the stock and pour it into ice cube trays and place the tray in the freezer. Any time you want to make a dish and give your sauce an extra heartyness, just throw an ice cube of stock in there.

Great easy sauces include:

-Chicken stock, soy sauce, and a little cornstarch

-Heated oil mixed with minced scallions, ginger and a little salt

-Chicken stock, pan drippings, savory and a little flour for thickening.

If you want to get more sauce ideas, I highly recommend the cookbook "Sauces." Filled with tons of awesome sauces and a great basis for learning about sauce making to create your own!

Cheap cooking and healthy cooking go hand-in-hand if you know what to do!

SarahToton• 18 years ago

CHEAP TRICK: Buy staple foods that'll keep. Pasta, canned tuna, canned veggies, tomatoes, beans and rice rarely go bad. For good cheap protein, try preparing eggs (not only scrambled or hard-boiled, but use them in egg salads, green salads or in pasta recipes.) Also, check out: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/07/30/16-ways-to-eat-....

CHEAP DINNER: Because I have no patience and often forget to eat, I've figured out a cheap, filling lasagna-type

1) Prepare favorite pasta (penne works well) 2)Heat some marinara sauce, can or jar is fine. 3)Once the sauce starts to boil, reduce heat and add 1/2 C to 3/4 C cottage cheese to sauce (works like ricotta). 4)If you prefer, spoon cottage cheese over hot pasta and cover with heated marinara, then microwave or bake briefly to warm cheese. This adds a nice layer of melty cheese.

(Cover plate of pasta, cheese and marinara with shredded mozzarella and bake at 425 for 9-12 min. if you want to be fancy and cheap.)

comatose_kid2• 18 years ago

Hire someone - I have a lady come in and make a weeks worth (7 meals for 2 children + 2 adults) of great tasting, healthy Indian vegetarian meals (4 dishes) for $40. The cost of the food is ~$20 if you shop smart, meaning avoiding grocery stores and getting your veggies from an Indian grocery store (India Cash and Carry in Sunnyvale is great).

Instead of making rotis (which mess up the kitchen and take a while to make, and really only taste good fresh), we just get low carb whole wheat tortillas.

mynameishere• 18 years ago

Corn beef hash.

Shooter3• 18 years ago

That's usually larded with fat...?

mattmaroon• 18 years ago

A large part of proper diet is eating a wide variety of stuff, so mix it up. Most of the stuff that is good for you is cheap anyway. Salads, fruits, vegetables, etc.

Resist the temptation to subsist on potatoes, pasta, and some of the other cheap, often high carb, low nutrition stuff.

rcoder2• 18 years ago

A big wok full of veggie stir-fry was my "go-to" dish in college. Frozen vegetables work well enough if money is really tight, but if you're willing to work with whatever is in season (or on sale) at the grocery store, you can get a lot of variety and flavor without spending much.

Fresh ginger and garlic, along with some soy and sweet chili sauce, is really all you need for seasoning; protein can come from tofu, chicken, or really any meat or seafood item; carbs come from rice or ramen noodles that are boiled and then tossed in to sautee once all the veggies are done.

gregwebs• 18 years ago

breakfast: granola that has flax oil + protein powder + multivitamin.

I am going to switch it up and try oatmeal + a flax/fish oil

Hutzpah• 18 years ago

A dish I like for breakfeast: - grits (cooked) together with ham & eggs - fresh tomatos as "salad"

Grits are awesome to start the day with because they are not lying heavy in your stomach but the energy lasts long.

dejb• 18 years ago

Canned Beans. Chick Peas are my favourite. Open the can and eat with a fork or spoon. Best to use the cans that can be opened by hand to avoid excessive preparation time.

maxklein• 18 years ago

Here is one: Lamb cotelets with couscous. It takes 5 minutes to cook and is quite delicious. It's in the Jamie Oliver book.

mchristoff2• 18 years ago

indian fare from trader joe's is bomb, particularly if you're vegetarian and broke. it's $2 a packet and all you need to do is just squeeze it out and add starch (the nan they have in the bread section is also pretty solid).

also, living in sf, burritos are the cheapest and most filling (not to mention tasty) takeout you can get hands down.

_b8r0• 18 years ago

This is an awesome recipe that costs <£1 - I've managed to make it for 35 pence (not sure what that is in dollars these days) using product near their expiry date.

Buy some cheap soup in a tin. I recommend Cream of Chicken because it's quite nice and usually available. Go to the bakers or supermarket shortly before they close and buy a cheap crusty round bread loaf on discount. You could use a square loaf but that's just stupid. Warm up the soup. Whilst the soup is warming up, butter the underside of the bread and put it in the oven, medium heat for no more than 10 minutes. You ideally want it crusty and solid on the outside but not burnt. When the bread is done, slice off the top of the bread. Scoop out the insides, tearing them up into little pieces.

Here comes the science bit, watch carefully now:

Pour the soup into the empty bread, use the torn up bits of the inside to bulk it up a little or leave them to dip into it. Add salt and pepper to suit and enjoy not having to wash a bowl afterwards. I defy anyone to eat a whole one including the bread.

It won't leak because you baked the bread hard. The butter stops it from getting stuck to the bottom of the tray in the oven.

There, soup hacked :)

truebosko• 18 years ago

Some of the cheapest meals you can make will be pasta, stew, or chili type dishes.

For example, a great tasting pasta dish I made last night contained the following: (prices are approximate and based from a Canadian's standpoint)

- 1lb of Bacon: $4.50 (Yes, it's not GREAT for you but in moderation it's ok and it's easily substituted with another meat) - One onion, one head of Garlic: $1.50 - 1lb of Pasta: $2.50 - Parmesian, Some Butter, Parsley: $2.00 (plus you most likely already have this)

That creates 4 servings of a fabulous restaurant quality pasta (This is the actual recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/09/cooking-with-ryan...)

I made it last night, girlfriend and I have left overs for today. Super cheap, delicious, and healthy enough considering most of the stuff we eat is pretty healthy ( see : moderation!)

You will save a ton of money making food yourself but there's the whole issue of it being time consuming which makes sense in a time = money world. In my scenario, cooking is a hobby and I want to improve it so it's a bit different, maybe you are the same!

khafra• 18 years ago

Meta-tip: Don't forget to do the math. I like making my own chili, and it's healthier and tastier than pre-packaged fare, but after adding everything up (15oz each red, black, and pinto beans, 28oz diced tomatoes, a few fresh habaneros, ~1lb ground turkey, one onion, chili powder), it's slightly more per meal than if I'd bought a small fast-food chili or can of Hormel's

rodrigo• 18 years ago

Ive found excellent recipes here http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/recipes/ this guy is on the money, ive been loosing weigth just by following some of his advice.

symptic• 18 years ago

I make a lot of meals for my roommate and myself with 2 cans of tuna ($.69-.89 a piece) and a package of 'parmesan couscous' ($2.49). The couscous part can be broken dwn even further if you just buy a big thing of couscous without the flavoring and make your own.

Total: $3.50 for two people. You could probably feed three with it, the servings are huge.

makaimc• 18 years ago

Mixing a salad with a can of low sodium tuna fish, lettuce, and spicy mustard provides a lot of protein and no simple carbohydrates so it will keep your blood sugar from crashing. Add baby carrots to it and the fiber will keep you full for hours. If you create several of these and keep them refrigerated in plastic containers you'll always have healthy meals on hand for when you get hungry.

tjic• 18 years ago

I've been cooking low-carb for a few weeks as an experiment.

For dinners I've been having a bit of meat over a large salad.

Last night:

1) half a bag of mixed lettuces 2) a diced tomato 3) 6-8 oz of frozen shrimp, thawed, pan fried in a dab of oil and a big heap of cajun spices 4) some home made dressing from acquaintances who run a local pizzeria and bottle their own dressing.

Other variants: * replace cajun shrimp with chicken breasts ground and cooked up taco-style, and throw some thin-sliced red onion and thick-cut avacado in there * ...or a steak, marinated for a few hrs in fresh squeezed lime juice and soy sauce, then quickly seared on a grill.

When you're eating a lot of bulk veggies, a little premium priced meat goes a long way.

When you're eating mos

Ask HN: Hack a healthy, yet not expensive, meal.

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