Ghetto Cuisine

2-cans ranch style beans

1.5-cups rice

well that's it really.   If you want to get fancy, cook some dinner sausage and throw it in.

You know, it is possible to make ramen and cheese ...

In reply to pilotbraden :

Arrabiata? Was it served with penne?

One of my go to cheap meals is "fancified ramen."

I cook the Ramen with about half the flavor pack, then drain all the water. 

In the bottom of bowl, toasted sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, a touch of soy/hoisin/fish (whatever I'm feeling like that day) toss in the noodles with kimchi and stir to coat, top with 1-2 fried eggs and hit of sriracha. Have with a glass or 7 of cheap wine. 

This and ham sandwiches on sourdough will likely be my meals for the next 5-6 days since the girlfriend is going out of town. I don't bother cooking "nice" meals for myself most of the time.

I'm with dculberson though, I've been upper-middle class long enough a lot of the time I just blow money going out to brunch on the weekends so I can have some tasty draft beer with my good while being waited on. 

I occasionally have cravings for a grilled cheese sandwich (with real cheese) and a bowl of tomato soup.      

Will said:

One of my favorite simple pleasure meals is canned corned beef hash. Throw it in the skillet, burn it, crack some eggs over the top and cook them overeasy. Melt some shredded cheese over the top and hit it with the hot sauce of your choice.

Oh man.  Hash and Eggs is my go-to diner choice.  With Rye toast and plenty of butter.  And black coffee.  

spitfirebill said:

I occasionally have cravings for a grilled cheese sandwich (with real cheese) and a bowl of tomato soup.      

That's like every other Thursday's dinner at our place.  Sometimes we fancy up the grilled cheese with some bacon &/or avocado.

When I was in college I learned a cheap Indian food recipe from a friend.  Make "Cream of Something" soup.  Add plenty of curry powder and tunafish from the can.  Add peas (for vegetable).  Serve over toast.

Pigs in blankets: Make Bisquick biscuit dough, roll out into sheet and cut for "blankets" to wrap around 1 hotdog and 1/2 slice American cheese (Velveeta if you're rich in the ghetto) for each piggie. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes.

Soup beans: Soak 2 pounds of dried navy or great northern beans overnight, drain and discard water. Place in large pot with--and here's where I'll show that I'm now upper middle class but still have Southern ghetto cuisine on the brain--a GIANT $2.50 ham bone from Honeybaked Ham. That's right, the useless overpriced ham store sells the bones from their ridiculous hams for $5 all day long, but after big ham times (pretty much any holiday) they blow those things out 2 for $5. They are sold frozen, so stock up. Minimum wage kids carve those hams in the store with little skill and less giveaE36 M3, so I've never gotten one with less than a pound of ham still on it. Carve off and reserve those massive chunks of ham, throw that bone in the pot with the beans and one huge onion, diced, and a palmful of salt, and cook until beans are tender. Throw in ham chunks at the end with a generous few glugs of (I'm not kidding, it's delicious) ketchup. Feed many for long time.

If you're truly ghetto south, you'll serve the above with a boxed cornbread mix cooked in a cast-iron skillet. And if you're truly, truly ghetto south, no matter whether you go sweet (Jiffy corn muffins) or not sweet (I prefer Martha White's cotton pickin' cornbread), at least one family member will sigh and wish aloud that you'd made the OTHER one because "sweet (or not sweet) cornbread's just wrong."

Margie

spitfirebill said:

I occasionally have cravings for a grilled cheese sandwich (with real cheese) and a bowl of tomato soup.      

QFT

Marjorie Suddard said:

Pigs in blankets: Make Bisquick biscuit dough, roll out into sheet and cut for "blankets" to wrap around 1 hotdog and 1/2 slice American cheese (Velveeta if you're rich in the ghetto) for each piggie. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes.

Soup beans: Soak 2 pounds of dried navy or great northern beans overnight, drain and discard water. Place in large pot with--and here's where I'll show that I'm now upper middle class but still have Southern ghetto cuisine on the brain--a GIANT $2.50 ham bone from Honeybaked Ham. That's right, the useless overpriced ham store sells the bones from their ridiculous hams for $5 all day long, but after big ham times (pretty much any holiday) they blow those things out 2 for $5. They are sold frozen, so stock up. Minimum wage kids carve those hams in the store with little skill and less giveaE36 M3, so I've never gotten one with less than a pound of ham still on it. Carve off and reserve those massive chunks of ham, throw that bone in the pot with the beans and one huge onion, diced, and a palmful of salt, and cook until beans are tender. Throw in ham chunks at the end with a generous few glugs of (I'm not kidding, it's delicious) ketchup. Feed many for long time.

If you're truly ghetto south, you'll serve the above with a boxed cornbread mix cooked in a cast-iron skillet. And if you're truly, truly ghetto south, no matter whether you go sweet (Jiffy corn muffins) or not sweet (I prefer Martha White's cotton pickin' cornbread), at least one family member will sigh and wish aloud that you'd made the OTHER one because "sweet (or not sweet) cornbread's just wrong."

Margie

We do pretty much the same, except we substitute one of the smoked ham hocks our local grocery sells.

KiIn reply to Mndsm :

No, I know arrabiata. This is pronounced aah guy (as in Guy Lefleure) ugh

One of our favorites is cheapo enchiladas. 

-Go to the grocery store and snag a $5 rotisserie chicken, tortillas, shredded mexican cheese, sour cream, diced tomatoes and beans. Bonus points if you already have some of these things; most people do. 

-Preheat oven to 375-400. 

-Remove chicken meat from the bone. Shred it up with a fork or other utensil. 

-combine some sour cream, chicken, some of the cheese, and tomatoes in a big bowl. 

-Fill tortillas with the above and place in baking pan. 

-Cover tortillas with the beans (I like the ones that have the jalapenos in there) and some more cheese. Optional: toss some enchilada/taco sauce on there too. The beans I buy are usually in a sauce, so I sometimes skip the enchilada/taco sauce. 

-Toss in oven and cook until stuff on top is melted/cooked or insides of enchiladas are hot (usually 15min).

-Stuff your face with the results! Have a side of tortilla chips and beer if you are feeling super fancy. 

Another one I just remembered was one my mom used to make. She never named it, but my sister and I used to call it "Fart Salad". 

-Get a frying pan, toss some cut-up potatoes in there and add some vegetable oil. Cook them up. 

-Cut up some Italian sausages and/or kielbasa and toss those in with the potatoes. 

-Add peas, mushrooms, or other veggies that you have kicking around, and cook those up too

-Season with salt and pepper and serve

It is really, really good, but the after-effects make it earn its name. I argue that no other dish has more "Vitamin F". 

A couple people have pointed out that macaroni and cheese is easy to make from scratch, but that's not the point...sometimes you just want to eat a big bowl of Kraft Mac 'N Cheese.  It's like saying there are breakfast foods that are better for you than Captain Crunch.  I know that, but it's not going to stop me from having some every so often. 

Tony Sestito said:

Another one I just remembered was one my mom used to make. She never named it, but my sister and I used to call it "Fart Salad". 

-Get a frying pan, toss some cut-up potatoes in there and add some vegetable oil. Cook them up. 

-Cut up some Italian sausages and/or kielbasa and toss those in with the potatoes. 

-Add peas, mushrooms, or other veggies that you have kicking around, and cook those up too

-Season with salt and pepper and serve

It is really, really good, but the after-effects make it earn its name. I argue that no other dish has more "Vitamin F". 

If you like that, let me introduce you to Fred. Fred has wind capacity frightening in its magnitude.

Fred is something a friend of ours made on a regular basis. I think it's vaguely Irish in origin, but don't know for sure. Cut up a pack of smoked sausage (or kielbasa, etc, whatever) Cut up a bunch of potatoes, onions, and cabbage in equal amounts - cut them just bigger than the sausage. Put all this in a pan, cover with tinfoil and bake at some temp until it's as done as you want. I like to do mine in a disposable aluminum pan on the grill, and cover it liberally with Montreal Steak seasoning.

I guess the only way to dial up the thunder would be having a few beers with it (recommended) and some pickled eggs (not recommended.)

The ramen I prefer is a "beef" flavor that uses rice noodles.  Vietnamese brand.  Nice to throw in some veggies while it's boiling, and an egg, and have a real soup out of it beyond what's in the packet.  Tofu chunks can be nice as well.

ultraclyde said:

Tony Sestito said:

Another one I just remembered was one my mom used to make. She never named it, but my sister and I used to call it "Fart Salad". 

-Get a frying pan, toss some cut-up potatoes in there and add some vegetable oil. Cook them up. 

-Cut up some Italian sausages and/or kielbasa and toss those in with the potatoes. 

-Add peas, mushrooms, or other veggies that you have kicking around, and cook those up too

-Season with salt and pepper and serve

It is really, really good, but the after-effects make it earn its name. I argue that no other dish has more "Vitamin F". 

If you like that, let me introduce you to Fred. Fred has wind capacity frightening in its magnitude.

Fred is something a friend of ours made on a regular basis. I think it's vaguely Irish in origin, but don't know for sure. Cut up a pack of smoked sausage (or kielbasa, etc, whatever) Cut up a bunch of potatoes, onions, and cabbage in equal amounts - cut them just bigger than the sausage. Put all this in a pan, cover with tinfoil and bake at some temp until it's as done as you want. I like to do mine in a disposable aluminum pan on the grill, and cover it liberally with Montreal Steak seasoning.

I guess the only way to dial up the thunder would be having a few beers with it (recommended) and some pickled eggs (not recommended.)

We do something very similar in the crock pot. With chicken or veggie broth and occasionally a green pepper or celery or both, whatever is on hand. Cheap, feeds us for several meals (7qt pot filled till its full) and induces much wind. Worth it.

jj said:

If you want to find a new world of ramen, go to your local asian market and get some Mama brand tom yum ramen.

Samyang Korean ramen. Comes in such flavors as, hot, really hot, berkeleying hot, really berkeleying hot, and why is this even legal. Actually really good too, but it's no joke. 

jj said:

It's really not that hard or expensive to make real mac and cheese from scratch.  The difference in quality is huge.

melt 2 tablespoons butter in a sauce pan, add 2 tablespoons flour and cook just a couple minutes to make a paste.

add one (ish) cups of milk, maybe a tiny bit more.

Stir until the paste is dissolved.

Heat till it just begins to boil.

Add one cup of your favorite shredded cheese blend and stir it in. (I think extra sharp cheddar is best)

Add in a half box of already cooked noodles and mix.

+1 million on this.  I have toiled endlessly on the quest for the perfect Mac n cheese.  Hit an Aldi for the swanky cheese on the cheap and it’s a super cheap meal.

http://www.thatwhichnourishes.com/the-mac-and-cheese/

Taco tuna pizza. Get pizza crust. Spread taco sauce and salsa of choice on. Then Mexican cheese. Then tuna packet and more cheese and some Mexican spice. Bake at 425 for 8-10 mins. Let cook and then take out and eat.

So we've been feeding visiting family lately and coming up with clever and cheap ways. That is not the reason I'm dragging this thread back. 
 

Sometimes when one gets sick there are certain foods consumed. Chicken soup comes to mind. 

Well I've been a little under the weather and this was my solution today while I was driving around and couldnt breathe normally. 

I did not make it. But I find a cheap burrito with a couple three packets of the hottest stuff good for clearing out both my top end and bottom end. YMMV

In reply to barefootskater :

Seafoam for the soul.

In reply to barefootskater :

ask for the green sauce........mo better

Wally said:

In reply to barefootskater :

Seafoam for the soul.

My grandparents got me into the trick. They used to go to Wienerschnitzel whenever they would get a stomach bug. Swore by it. I don't have a Wienerschnitzel around here so I use Taco Bell. 
 

"Seafoam for the soul" is gold though. Gonna call it that from now on. 

Canned spaghetti on toast.

That's it.

White trash food from western Canada.

Or fried Spam sammiches.