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[QUESTION] What are your favorite spices to use in soups?
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Back when I ate meat:
Now that I don't eat meat:
Shove any frozen veg into instant noodles (box Mac also counts), I actually really like broccoli for this.
Yes, that’s a good one too… it also works with “normal” pasta, just toss the frozen veg into the boiling water.
Italian American grandmother would make legit pasta e fagioli. Once when she didn't have the ingredients it was just elbow macaroni and a can of beans. Somewhere along the line baked beans was all she had and it became the favorite.
Been a struggle meal for 4 generations now. Kids call it pasta zhoo.
Boil 1lb elbow macaroni in salty water to al dente. Take pot off the stove. Don't drain, but scoop off enough water so that it just barely covers the pasta. Pour in a 16oz can of baked beans and mix. Serve with butter and black pepper.
Rice and beans. Can make a massive amount at a time. Adding some sausage or coconut milk makes it even heartier and adds interesting flavors without much effort.
Oatmeal.
MICROWAVE oatmeal.
So good. I'd do that 3 times a day if she'd let me, but she talks a lot about getting a balanced diet and other grown-up things. She's so great.
Baguette from the grocery store, brie cheese and some berries. Sounds fancy but it's easy, and aside from buying the things requires no effort. Tear off chunks of bread with your hands, slap a slice of room temp brie on it, eat. Then eat berries. Cherry tomatoes work too, just eat them whole. Great with a glass of wine if you're having a Day, but cold water is nice too.
Corned beef hash. Couple of peeled potatoes. Tin of corned beef. A onion (I blend to hide it) enough water to just cover it. Splodge of brown sauce/seasoning.
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
The flesh of the rich and powerful
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 second this. I like to keep some red beans and rice in the fridge for when I don't feel like cooking.
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.
Fellow bean enjoyer here! It's a hearty meal, especially during winter! And great fiber! Dressing up the beans makes me feel like a gourmand on a struggle day.
If I'm taking my beans "all the way" (lol) here's what I do:
🤌🤌chef's kiss
That's a solid meal, I wish I liked beans more since they're so cheap and healthy
muesli and high fat yogurt. paired with instant coffee
Muesli is my breakfast everyday.
Guess I'm struggling.
no struggling is when you cant afford fresh raspberries for fibre and honey for flavor.
Had to look this one up, it's basically a parfait right?
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.
Also, potatoes and dairy are about as close to a complete diet as you can get with just 2 foods.
Right? Combine that with the fact potatoes alone are so versatile and cheese such a nice complement to them, and they're both very hard to screw up, you practically have to be deliberately trying to burn them to a crisp to make them actually inedible. Nothing says "struggle meal" like "you literally can not screw this up unless you fall asleep while it's cooking".
And just having even a modest spice shelf makes this twice as good. Season the fuck out of your potatoes and cheese, make some of the most delicious food you've ever tasted out of the easiest ingredients you've ever used. Salt and pepper are the floor, but they are nowhere near the ceiling. I threw in cayenne and garlic powder as examples for some of what I like, but again, not even close. Experiment, figure out what calls to you, and though you may struggle, you will never taste the struggle.
edit: also, of course, there exists various sauces you could use for dip, or in lieu of, or in complement to covering your potatoes with cheese; but then I feel we're getting more out of struggle meal territory than anything. So, one more nice thing about the combination of potatoes and cheese is you can always improve on it and put either no effort in or a ton of effort in and you will probably still go "fuck, that was good" afterwards.
Microwave nachos. Tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and whatever else you like on nachos. Toss it in the microwave until the cheese melts.
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.
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...
I buy the 2lb bags of golden curry flakes for struggle meals. They usually look something like this
[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.
I do the same thing. I've been perfecting my chili recipe for decades. I've nailed the last few batches. Cumin is the magic herb for chili, otherwise it just tastes sort of generic. I also add cocoa powder, and red wine.
I generally alternate between big batches of chili, and big batches of spaghetti sauce. Just brown a bunch of ground meat (I use beef/ pork, but you could use turkey or chicken, or nothing at all), and a bunch of sliced mushrooms, a whole bunch of Italian herbs and garlic, and add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes. A few ounces of red wine is nice. Then just let it simmer all day, and keep adding herbs throughout, balancing the flavors until it's perfect.
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.
This is the way…. Rice with whatever you have at hand. Some canned vegetables (green beans, sweet corn, carrots, etc.) work pretty good, and it’s even less effort than frozen ones.
A can of tuna, if you want to get fancy, is the perfect match.
I only add mayo if everything is cold/room temp.
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:
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.
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
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.
Ooh I like to make my own broth and freeze it too. Usually whatever's left of a rotisserie chicken plus random veggie parts that I throw into a ziplock in the freezer until the chicken parts are available. Do you save the separated fat or toss it out? I've always been uncertain if I should skim it off or keep it for a richer broth base
I know you can use it, but I usually toss it with the bones and stuff.
I tried saving it and using it for roux but I never did, so now I just don’t bother.
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.
-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
Bread with something on it. Or a sandwich if you feel fancy
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.
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
I meal prep because of the struggle. So mostly just nuking a meal prep. Porridge or pb on toast in a pinch.
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.
This is great! I also do the same with any combination of broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, pumpkin, sweet potato, onions, bell peppers, eggplant and zucchini. Diced or grated firm tofu works too, but needs more spices to add some flavor.
The only tricky part is balancing the cut size so everything is cooked at the same time.
Sous vide before that was a thing...
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.
Shin ramyun
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.
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.
Rice and beans, West Africa style.
But I do love a peanut butter burrito.