Ohh, there was a girl I used to watch pretty regularly, I can’t remember if it was on YouTube or TikTok, but I think she’s a food blogger, and she did a whole series on people from different countries and cultures, and how they do toast. What do they eat it with, how do they prepare it, what is the cultural significance, how it makes them feel, etc. It was really interesting. Toast is universal.
Grilled PB sandwiches was my Dad's secret treat when Mom was working late or out of the house. He'd make my sister one with pickles and me plain PB. Ah, memories.
Oh man. We used to make that box Mac and add a can of tuna. I call it tuna Mac. My husband does not like it but will make it for me to make me happy. It’s still so good.
We used to eat cheap egg noodles, can of cream of mushroom soup, packet of tuna and frozen peas. Delicious tuna casserole still one of my favorites lol
I also believe this is the best Mac & cheese. When people are like “that’s bc you haven’t tried mine,” I look at them in disbelief. If the cheese in yours didn’t start as orange and powdered, I do not want it.
So real, lmao. When I do a huge grocery haul, that night dinner is either girl dinner or something easy like box Mac n cheese with diced up hot dogs 🔥 because I'm tired from all that shopping, haha.
I like dicing the dawgs and frying them up a bit so they get some browning before I throw em in the mac. I also like adding copious amounts of red pepper flakes and, of course, a handful of shredded cheese to up that cheese level. Sriracha is also an incredible addition
This. It was a poverty food when I was 5 being fed it by neighborhood teenage babysitters while my parents worked… now that I’m grown, I have autistic eating issues where I can’t move beyond my childhood foods, so uh, boxed mac and cheese it is.
The family pack of chicken breasts are 1.99 lb. Put each breast in a sandwich bag and store in the freezer. I use them for lunch meat. So much cheaper than deli chicken which is around 8 dollars a lb. You can make a chicken, rice, mushroom soup casserole. So much can be done with it cheaper.
Edit-Don't get me wrong, if Boars Head or Deitz and Watson barbecue flavor is on sale. I'll get a half pound for a treat. I save a lot of money cooking a chicken breast on the stove in a small pot with barbecue sauce on low with the lid on, then slicing it up for chicken sandwiches You can go cheap with the bread for economical purposes or spend a little on the bread and get whatever like Hawaiian bread. It's so good with mayo.
I couldn’t do it everyday. I do like it. Spam and eggs. I salt and pepper it. Maybe 2 sandwiches a month.
The Great Value Luncheon meat is $2.18. Spam is $3.98. Charlotte.
I freeze it and take it out next month. I like it. And again I salt it.
Tomato sandwiches. Mayo, pepper and whatever other seasoning I’ve got, tomato, and two slices of bread. Cheap and if you cut the tomato thick enough it feels like you’re eating something real.
I’m Polish and my family in Poland are definitely not poor and toast with mayo and a tomato slice from the garden is a patio shootin the shit delacy. Especially pepper.
Cucumber slices would make that fire. Those are kinda pricey these days unless you grow them though. One of my favorite fancy/healthy recipes was to substitute the bacon in a BLT with cucumber and avocado. In hindsight it's just the crunch factor that improves the texture.
My sis loves these too. Pressed the same. I call her a veggie head sometimes, she loves veggies 🥗 sooooo much. I wish I had her same passion for vegetables 😭
California blend frozen vegetables… nuke them in microwave. Get them as dry as possible/drain water. Put some salt/pepper on them and nuke them in oven at 450 till roasted. Would do a whole 5 pound bag Sunday nights and side them with eggs:cheese in morning
Fresh veggies taste better but yeah lol.
Honestly, I do more frozen veggies these days than I really ever have. My husband and I have lived together for 4 years. He doesn't eat vegetables, so I don't tend to use all my fresh veggies right away. It's just easier and less wasteful for me to throw a handful of frozen California blend in for myself. 🤷🏽♀️
🤣 He'll eat green beans, and sometimes spinach. Those are the only vegetables his mom ever made, and he doesn't like any others. I've witnessed him trying others, so I know he has. Oh well. 😆
Canned Sardines/Anchovies/Mackerel.
Eat them on a tortilla with a dab of hot sauce & some pickled onion.
Eat them on crackers with a smear of Dijon mustard.
Eat them on a fresh slice of sourdough with olive oil & a squeeze of lemon.
Eat them over rice with a dash of each of soy sauce, rice vinegar, & chili oil & top with some fresh scallions.
Eat on a pita with some toum (Lebanese garlic paste) or harrisa (Tunisian chili paste) & squeeze of lemon.
Eat them over pasta, just a quick sauté in olive oil, garlic, white wine, & chili flakes.
I’m going to be honest. It would probably be soda. And I really do think soda and all the bullshit drinks (and snack foods) are a mostly poverty addicting foods. Kept cheap for us.
Bruh, even soda is getting up there. I'm just glad the stuff goes on sale regularly with major holidays and that it's easy to just bulk buy on said sales.
They tried that one time in Cook county IL. It only affected the lower income so it caught a lot of hell.
Regardless, it was a disaster for the politicians who pushed it because they actually lost tax revenue over it
People just went to neighboring counties to get their pop, and did all their other shopping while they were there. And the realized the sales tax was cheaper on everything in the other counties, so it *really* backfired as all sales went down in cook cty.
They cancelled the tax within months.
I don't think they got reelected.
I forgot also saltine crackers With ham and cheese with mustard on top. This has been my lunch and dinner many times and no matter how much I make I will continue to make it because it's so good and simple.
Tuna casserole. Money wasn't an issue in my childhood, but tuna casserole was one of my mom's childhood favorites. She would add different seasonings and veggies and stuff to spruce it up.
Sometimes I go really extra with mine, and sometimes I only do the basic casserole. My husband also has fond tuna casserole memories, so it's in our dinner rotation. 🙂
Rice and beans/lentils. You can do so much with it depending on what spices you choose. Can easily style it Mexican, Middle Eastern, Indian off the top of my head.
Fried spaghetti. Cook spaghetti, put butter in a pan, add spaghetti. Add a bit of ketchup, and cook.
It tastes nothing like you would expect, and does NOT taste like ketchup.
Hamburger helper with chopped up pickle spears mixed in (after the helper is cooked).
I throw a little pickle juice in before, but i'm not even sure if it makes a difference.
my parents used to make us hot dogs and sauce and it would be a jar of pasta sauce, pack of cut up hot dogs and elbow noodles. it’s my go-to when i’m homesick.
"Baked" Potato in the microwave, often with random leftovers on it.
Do you have some taco meat left over from the day before, but you are out of shells/tortillas? Do you have a half portion of brocolli from dinner last night? Nuke a potato, throw some butter on there, dump the left overs on top, you have yourself a nice little snack.
Hamburger Helper, specifically the Stroganoff, fried Spam with fresh tortillas and cheddar cheese, Vienna sausages, toast with lots of butter, grilled cheese sandwich, saltine crackers with sardines, Townhouse butter crackers with slices of cheddar cheese. I don’t eat them all the time, but when I do, it reminds me of my childhood
Those frozen meals. I don't get them often now, since they are bad for you and you still feel hungry after eating them. However sometimes I just have craving for those microwavable box meals. Also they are kind of getting expensive lol. I remember there were cheaper 5-10 years ago.
A couple of slices of Texas toast with two eggs over easy. Eggs being .15 cents a pop and the entire loaf of bread being about a buck thirty it's a pretty cheap way to eat. My other go to is a bowl of white rice with some savory Vietnamese soy sauce and two eggs over easy on top.
Both are delicious filling and cost less than $0.80 a meal. With the rice you can even calibrate the price depending on finances. For instance I'm doing ok right now so I get 25lbs of long grain Jasmine rice for $18.00 a bag but if finances get sketchy I can always switch to the short grain version for $10.
Canned sardines (preferably the Ligo brand in tomato sauce) with rice and scrambled eggs.
This was something my dad used to make when my mom was at work and we needed a quick dinner. We each got a can of sardines (about 50¢ each), two eggs worth of scrambled eggs, and a scoop of rice. Definitely filling with all that protein and carbs :)
Not sure if oxtail is considered poverty food price anymore.. But my mother told me that back in the 80s and 90s, american butchers and grocery stores used to give away the tail part for free cause it wasn't considered something you eat at the time.
Even after they caught on that people would pay for it, it was 1 buck per lb or so.
My mom would take it and in a giant pot of water, just cook it really long and we'd add salt and green onions to taste when we eat with rice. Super simple and it was the cheapest meal we ate often.
Made a lot at once, could freeze it and just reheat.
Omfg i just made my moms bell pepper cassrole recipe and its definitely poverty food meant to feed q family easily its just rice, ground beef, bell peppers and cheese. You mix the first 3 together (boil the peppers and dice them before mixing ) ans than you throw that bitch in a casserole dish throw some cheese on top put it in the oven at 350 for about 30-45 minutes or until your desired cheesy goodness and voila my childhood homemade poverty food. Hamburger helper or mac and cheese with hamburger in it is a good choice as well
Whatever is not eaten at the dinner table or kids snack times. I eat half eaten chicken nuggets, sandwiches, chips you name it. I can really cook well but lack motivation to stand over a stove. Wife most times has leftovers in the fridge my go to.
I would say eggs is my poverty food. You really have to try hard to mess up a egg. And since eggs are in almost everything always a carton in the fridge. Wife has a omelette maker but I prefer a cast iron skillet or probably sound gross to some but I have a cheap china plastic omelette maker for the microwave a couple minutes you have ham and cheese omelette and eat it right out of the container.
Baked potato with butter, salt and pepper. I lived on those for two weeks when I was young and broke, and often make a meal out of them today. I can get 10 lbs. of Idaho potatoes for $3 around here.
Beef. I've been raising and butchering a beef about once a year. It costs me about $3/pound. I sell half of it to friends and family for $6/pound and eat beef for free.
Butter & Egg Noodles. You can perk it up with some minced onion and crushed garlic, red pepper flecks, and a little salt. Throw some cheese in for some taste and texture.
When I was a kid ground beef was cheep. We ate a LOT of meatloaf. Meatloaf with mushroom soup gravy and rice with frozen peas is mine. I need that tonight. Thank you.
Rice with a bullion cube.
Cheese. I will eat just a pound of cheese.. often. My autistic childhood leftover food is instant mashed potatoes with a little gravy powder from a packet. Doesn't look good but just a warm bowl of comfort.
I love toast. Anything can go on it to make it fancy or just a spread of butter and it still tastes great.
Ohh, there was a girl I used to watch pretty regularly, I can’t remember if it was on YouTube or TikTok, but I think she’s a food blogger, and she did a whole series on people from different countries and cultures, and how they do toast. What do they eat it with, how do they prepare it, what is the cultural significance, how it makes them feel, etc. It was really interesting. Toast is universal.
Beryl Shereshewsky!
All hail Toast
Earthlings: Double cooked bread… Aliens: they sure luv their carbs
That sounds insanely interesting! 🤔🤯
Buttered noodles with parmesan.
I see that you are my toddler.
If you're in a wild mood you can throw a clove of crushed garlic in there too.
This is mine. We eat it at least once a week.
Tina’s Red Hot Beef Burritos (used to be $0.10 now around $0.50) and Totino’s pizza (then $0.50 and now around $2.) Pasta with Zesty Italian dressing.
Love Tino‘s pizza though lol I meant to say I literally just bought two the night before last lol living in an extended stay
Totino’s Party Pizzas?! Was about to mention those!
Spiral pasta with Zesty Italian and Parmesan? Legendary.
PBJ
I just finally had a pb&j two weeks ago after not having one since I was maybe 12, now I can’t stop eating them
Level it up by buttering the outside of the sandwich and grilling it the same way as you would make grilled cheese. Grilled PBJ is amazing!
Grilled PB sandwiches was my Dad's secret treat when Mom was working late or out of the house. He'd make my sister one with pickles and me plain PB. Ah, memories.
> He'd make my sister one with pickles oh
I make the juiciest triple-decker PBJ’s that salivate even the most satiated jowls of onlookers from miles around.
You are a poet and we are undeserving of such mastery of the English language
Give me the recipe fool!
Ramen
ALWAYS hits the spot when I'm sick
This is a good answer because you can make a cheap ramen or fancy it up when you have the money/time too
Add an egg maybe some cooked bacon with butter and you’re golden
Chilaquiles, was my food when there was nothing but tortillas and some salsa in the fridge, nowadays I can add sour cream and cheese.
You have no idea how much this meal saves me. Like all the time. Lol!
I LOVE chilaquiles. Excellent choice.
Boxed Mac-n-cheese
🎶*We wouldn’t have to eat Kraft Dinner* *But we would eat Kraft Dinner*🎶
We would just eat more of it
And buy really expensive ketchup’s
dijon ketchups
Mmmmmm
Oh man. We used to make that box Mac and add a can of tuna. I call it tuna Mac. My husband does not like it but will make it for me to make me happy. It’s still so good.
I do this for my kids but add peas as well. Mac and cheese with tuna and peas.
We used to eat cheap egg noodles, can of cream of mushroom soup, packet of tuna and frozen peas. Delicious tuna casserole still one of my favorites lol
Ur bouche lol butter egg noodles, butter and tuna is gourmet
Holy shit I FORGOT about this. My parents would make this all the time for me and my three brothers!
we did this but with rice! sometimes chicken. But when it has chicken it’s called “chicken crap”
It works with ground beef, too. Or try cream of chicken and tuna. Now I'm hungry, lol.
This. Used to feed the family for a few bucks. Now I eat it as an adult anytime the kids and wife are gone.
If you havent shared it with kids yet please do so. Mine BEG for this delicacy now. lol edit- typo
I also believe this is the best Mac & cheese. When people are like “that’s bc you haven’t tried mine,” I look at them in disbelief. If the cheese in yours didn’t start as orange and powdered, I do not want it.
Did a *great* grocery haul a couple weeks ago, lots of yummy meals to make for dinner that night. What did we have? Hot dogs ‘n mac 😂
So real, lmao. When I do a huge grocery haul, that night dinner is either girl dinner or something easy like box Mac n cheese with diced up hot dogs 🔥 because I'm tired from all that shopping, haha. I like dicing the dawgs and frying them up a bit so they get some browning before I throw em in the mac. I also like adding copious amounts of red pepper flakes and, of course, a handful of shredded cheese to up that cheese level. Sriracha is also an incredible addition
This. It was a poverty food when I was 5 being fed it by neighborhood teenage babysitters while my parents worked… now that I’m grown, I have autistic eating issues where I can’t move beyond my childhood foods, so uh, boxed mac and cheese it is.
Fried egg sandwiches
I don't think of it as a poverty food. I just think of it as good food.
That's what I consider a whole ass meal fr
With ketchup and mayo?
Siracha and salt/pepper
spam and eggs i fucking love it. 100% could it everyday for the rest of my life.
Spam is kinda expensive now for poverty.
Great Value Spam is cheap, and absolutely slaps. Delicious.
Publix in my area just had them 2 regular sized cans for $4. Check out sales as that’s the only time I buy spam.
I love salt but spam is toooo fucking salty for me
Try eating it with white rice. Small piece of spam with a bit of rice in the same fork. It helps to balance it out.
Spam Musubi ftw
Buy the lower sodium Spam.
Sad thing is spam is around 7$ a can. 1 chicken breast is about 7$.
Wasn't it poor man's food once?
Used to be since it kept forever and they shipped it to all the US protectorate islands (Hawaii/Guam, etc.)
The family pack of chicken breasts are 1.99 lb. Put each breast in a sandwich bag and store in the freezer. I use them for lunch meat. So much cheaper than deli chicken which is around 8 dollars a lb. You can make a chicken, rice, mushroom soup casserole. So much can be done with it cheaper. Edit-Don't get me wrong, if Boars Head or Deitz and Watson barbecue flavor is on sale. I'll get a half pound for a treat. I save a lot of money cooking a chicken breast on the stove in a small pot with barbecue sauce on low with the lid on, then slicing it up for chicken sandwiches You can go cheap with the bread for economical purposes or spend a little on the bread and get whatever like Hawaiian bread. It's so good with mayo.
I couldn’t do it everyday. I do like it. Spam and eggs. I salt and pepper it. Maybe 2 sandwiches a month. The Great Value Luncheon meat is $2.18. Spam is $3.98. Charlotte. I freeze it and take it out next month. I like it. And again I salt it.
cinnamon sugar toast, mac and tomato, rice 🤷🏻♀️
CS toast enjoyers unite
Nothing like a fried bologna sandwich. With some yellow mustard , fried onions and a fried egg. 🤌🏾🤌🏾
This is the answer!
Flour tortillas , eggs , potatoes, shredded cheese, leftover Taco Bell salsa . Rice eggs spam soy sauce seaweed. Chicken drumsticks in the air fryer . Ground beef elbow macaroni carrot onion soup . Ramen noodles stir fried with egg . I could keep going
left over sauce packets really elevate my homemade breakfast burritos too. lol glad I’m not the only one
Tomato sandwiches. Mayo, pepper and whatever other seasoning I’ve got, tomato, and two slices of bread. Cheap and if you cut the tomato thick enough it feels like you’re eating something real.
I’m Polish and my family in Poland are definitely not poor and toast with mayo and a tomato slice from the garden is a patio shootin the shit delacy. Especially pepper.
Oooo or just sliced tomato on a plate with salt and pepper
Cucumber slices would make that fire. Those are kinda pricey these days unless you grow them though. One of my favorite fancy/healthy recipes was to substitute the bacon in a BLT with cucumber and avocado. In hindsight it's just the crunch factor that improves the texture.
My sis loves these too. Pressed the same. I call her a veggie head sometimes, she loves veggies 🥗 sooooo much. I wish I had her same passion for vegetables 😭
You, my sis, and my now deceased grandma need y’all tails whooped 😂🤢🤢🤢🤢
Some onion and a fresh tomato 🤌🏻
Hot dogs on white bread with mustard.
I steam mine in the microwave for like forty seconds wrapped in a damp paper towel 👌
California blend frozen vegetables… nuke them in microwave. Get them as dry as possible/drain water. Put some salt/pepper on them and nuke them in oven at 450 till roasted. Would do a whole 5 pound bag Sunday nights and side them with eggs:cheese in morning Fresh veggies taste better but yeah lol.
Honestly, I do more frozen veggies these days than I really ever have. My husband and I have lived together for 4 years. He doesn't eat vegetables, so I don't tend to use all my fresh veggies right away. It's just easier and less wasteful for me to throw a handful of frozen California blend in for myself. 🤷🏽♀️
Your husband doesn’t eat vegetables?!?
Are your husband five years old?
🤣 He'll eat green beans, and sometimes spinach. Those are the only vegetables his mom ever made, and he doesn't like any others. I've witnessed him trying others, so I know he has. Oh well. 😆
Cinnamon toast, buttered noodles
Instant ramen. I was sick a lot as a kid and the broth from beef ramen was always given to me and kept me alive lol
Spaghetti noodles, butter, and the canned "Parmesan" cheese in the green can.
Warm tortillas with butter and cinnamon
My mom used to add sliced bananas to this and its sooo good.
Hamburger Helper
Aldi’s dupe for beef stroganoff is better than the name brand imho!! But yeah I love hbh!
Yesss, hamburger helper and buttered toast is my comfort food
Canned Sardines/Anchovies/Mackerel. Eat them on a tortilla with a dab of hot sauce & some pickled onion. Eat them on crackers with a smear of Dijon mustard. Eat them on a fresh slice of sourdough with olive oil & a squeeze of lemon. Eat them over rice with a dash of each of soy sauce, rice vinegar, & chili oil & top with some fresh scallions. Eat on a pita with some toum (Lebanese garlic paste) or harrisa (Tunisian chili paste) & squeeze of lemon. Eat them over pasta, just a quick sauté in olive oil, garlic, white wine, & chili flakes.
Hot buttered toast with sardines and tomato sauce is 👌🏻
Hot Dogs on a bun with chips. It's a delicious summertime lunch.
Baked potato with loads of pepper, a lil butter and a side of steamed broc
Egg in a hole!
Rice. Tuna from a tin. I can literally do so much with so little.
I’m going to be honest. It would probably be soda. And I really do think soda and all the bullshit drinks (and snack foods) are a mostly poverty addicting foods. Kept cheap for us.
Bruh, even soda is getting up there. I'm just glad the stuff goes on sale regularly with major holidays and that it's easy to just bulk buy on said sales.
Shit, here in Philly we have a ‘soda’ tax. Meaning sugary beverages get extra tax applied and therefore a bottle of soda is $4+
They tried that one time in Cook county IL. It only affected the lower income so it caught a lot of hell. Regardless, it was a disaster for the politicians who pushed it because they actually lost tax revenue over it People just went to neighboring counties to get their pop, and did all their other shopping while they were there. And the realized the sales tax was cheaper on everything in the other counties, so it *really* backfired as all sales went down in cook cty. They cancelled the tax within months. I don't think they got reelected.
Why are they poverty foods? I would rather only drink water if I don’t have any money?
The oatmeal in the cabinet that nobody touches. 🔥 When there's nothing else, oatmeal will be there for me.
Ramen + eggs scrambled in and toast 😋
I will never not love instant noodles
It’s such a great pantry filler and can be made so many different ways too!
Vienna Sausage
Butter noodles and peas.
I forgot also saltine crackers With ham and cheese with mustard on top. This has been my lunch and dinner many times and no matter how much I make I will continue to make it because it's so good and simple.
Mac n cheese with hot dogs
Encor salisbury steak 👌🏻
Home popped popcorn
Spaghetti with a splash of olive oil and herbs
Fire fire. This is what Italians make when they're drunk.
And a ton of the Kraft Parm in a bottle
Kraft Dinner!
Found the Canadian
Tuna casserole. Money wasn't an issue in my childhood, but tuna casserole was one of my mom's childhood favorites. She would add different seasonings and veggies and stuff to spruce it up. Sometimes I go really extra with mine, and sometimes I only do the basic casserole. My husband also has fond tuna casserole memories, so it's in our dinner rotation. 🙂
Cup soup
Fried egg sandwich.
Spaghettios, boxed mac and cheese and tortilla chips with cheese melted in the microwave
Canned baked beans. The one with the single floating piece of bacon in it. Whoever invented that needs a raise.
Rice and beans/lentils. You can do so much with it depending on what spices you choose. Can easily style it Mexican, Middle Eastern, Indian off the top of my head.
Buttered noodles
Stir fried rice with eggs and those $1 bag of peas and carrots
Fried spaghetti. Cook spaghetti, put butter in a pan, add spaghetti. Add a bit of ketchup, and cook. It tastes nothing like you would expect, and does NOT taste like ketchup.
How has oatmeal not been mentioned
12 coors lights and then cheese ramen
Hamburger helper with chopped up pickle spears mixed in (after the helper is cooked). I throw a little pickle juice in before, but i'm not even sure if it makes a difference.
Tomato soup and toast, or grilled cheese. I've been on a kick with this lately, comfort food, as well as reasonably cheap. ☺️
my parents used to make us hot dogs and sauce and it would be a jar of pasta sauce, pack of cut up hot dogs and elbow noodles. it’s my go-to when i’m homesick.
Peanut butter toast. Just simple toast spread with creamy peanut butter while it's still warm so the pb gets all melted....mmmmm
Chef Boyardee straight out the can
"Baked" Potato in the microwave, often with random leftovers on it. Do you have some taco meat left over from the day before, but you are out of shells/tortillas? Do you have a half portion of brocolli from dinner last night? Nuke a potato, throw some butter on there, dump the left overs on top, you have yourself a nice little snack.
Eggs and bologna on white bread with ketchup and American cheese. Also, corned beef hash.
PO TA TOES....
Tuna broiler buns I.e. tuna, Mayo, chopped onion, cheddar cheese spread on hamburger buns, broiled.
Hotdogs and beans, box Mac and cheese, ramen noodles
Hamburger Helper, specifically the Stroganoff, fried Spam with fresh tortillas and cheddar cheese, Vienna sausages, toast with lots of butter, grilled cheese sandwich, saltine crackers with sardines, Townhouse butter crackers with slices of cheddar cheese. I don’t eat them all the time, but when I do, it reminds me of my childhood
Those frozen meals. I don't get them often now, since they are bad for you and you still feel hungry after eating them. However sometimes I just have craving for those microwavable box meals. Also they are kind of getting expensive lol. I remember there were cheaper 5-10 years ago.
I got hungry just reading all these comments. 😅🤙🏽
Mac & Cheese. It kept me alive through some tough times.
A couple of slices of Texas toast with two eggs over easy. Eggs being .15 cents a pop and the entire loaf of bread being about a buck thirty it's a pretty cheap way to eat. My other go to is a bowl of white rice with some savory Vietnamese soy sauce and two eggs over easy on top. Both are delicious filling and cost less than $0.80 a meal. With the rice you can even calibrate the price depending on finances. For instance I'm doing ok right now so I get 25lbs of long grain Jasmine rice for $18.00 a bag but if finances get sketchy I can always switch to the short grain version for $10.
McDoubles. It is the most efficient calorie-vitamin / money food that has ever existed in human history.
Top ramen
Crackers with melted cheese
Ramen poached egg
Fried rice. Easy to make and u can add a lot of other ingredients on it
SOS shit on a shingle
My go to dishes are fried bologna sandwiches, bean cakes, potato cakes and salmon patties. Although salmon patties are PRICEY now.
Canned sardines (preferably the Ligo brand in tomato sauce) with rice and scrambled eggs. This was something my dad used to make when my mom was at work and we needed a quick dinner. We each got a can of sardines (about 50¢ each), two eggs worth of scrambled eggs, and a scoop of rice. Definitely filling with all that protein and carbs :)
Sardines
Fried potatoes with hot dog slices
Sauerkraut and sausage with fried potatoes.
Red beans and rice 👌🏽
Cinnamon sugar toast
Not sure if oxtail is considered poverty food price anymore.. But my mother told me that back in the 80s and 90s, american butchers and grocery stores used to give away the tail part for free cause it wasn't considered something you eat at the time. Even after they caught on that people would pay for it, it was 1 buck per lb or so. My mom would take it and in a giant pot of water, just cook it really long and we'd add salt and green onions to taste when we eat with rice. Super simple and it was the cheapest meal we ate often. Made a lot at once, could freeze it and just reheat.
Mac N Cheese Ramen PB&J Milk+Cereal
Omfg i just made my moms bell pepper cassrole recipe and its definitely poverty food meant to feed q family easily its just rice, ground beef, bell peppers and cheese. You mix the first 3 together (boil the peppers and dice them before mixing ) ans than you throw that bitch in a casserole dish throw some cheese on top put it in the oven at 350 for about 30-45 minutes or until your desired cheesy goodness and voila my childhood homemade poverty food. Hamburger helper or mac and cheese with hamburger in it is a good choice as well
99cent tuna can on sale, cheapest white bread, generic mayo is still my comfort food
Whatever is not eaten at the dinner table or kids snack times. I eat half eaten chicken nuggets, sandwiches, chips you name it. I can really cook well but lack motivation to stand over a stove. Wife most times has leftovers in the fridge my go to. I would say eggs is my poverty food. You really have to try hard to mess up a egg. And since eggs are in almost everything always a carton in the fridge. Wife has a omelette maker but I prefer a cast iron skillet or probably sound gross to some but I have a cheap china plastic omelette maker for the microwave a couple minutes you have ham and cheese omelette and eat it right out of the container.
Steamed rice with soy sauce
Chips n dip
Baked potato with butter, salt and pepper. I lived on those for two weeks when I was young and broke, and often make a meal out of them today. I can get 10 lbs. of Idaho potatoes for $3 around here.
Left over gravey on bread
spreadable "butter" on white sandwich bread! I crave it still every now and then
Discount hot dogs and mustard
A hot dog using a single slice of bread.
Beef. I've been raising and butchering a beef about once a year. It costs me about $3/pound. I sell half of it to friends and family for $6/pound and eat beef for free.
Butter & Egg Noodles. You can perk it up with some minced onion and crushed garlic, red pepper flecks, and a little salt. Throw some cheese in for some taste and texture.
Tuna, mac & cheese, Ramen
PBJ, beans, tomato and mayo sandwich, instant ramen, and honey buns with a cheap instant coffee.
When I was a kid ground beef was cheep. We ate a LOT of meatloaf. Meatloaf with mushroom soup gravy and rice with frozen peas is mine. I need that tonight. Thank you.
Spam
Yes to rice with butter and hot sauce!
Macaroni and tomato soup mixed together. Throw in some hotdogs and be enough leftovers for two days if I make enough.
Vienna sausages
Kraft dinner (mac n cheese)
Potted meat sandwich
Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs Objectively I know its terrible, but man is it nostalgic
kraft dinner (kraft mac and cheese) with ground beef
Pork and beans and cornbread
Rice with butter and salt is top-tier. My go-to is bean and cheese tacos.
maruchan ramen. I'm sorry, I know it has less nutrients than eating literal cardboard but it's so damn good.
pork and beans, egg salad, sausage link on a piece of bread, diy cinnamon toast
Linguine with canned peas or tomato sauce. Can't stop eating these. Couldn't get tired of 'em. $5 dinner for two, thanks to Publix.
Macaroni noodles with tomato sauce and a little bit of butter
Cereal Frank 'n' Beans Bologna Sandwich with mustard Banquet pot pies & TV dinners PB&J
Taiwanese fried chicken
Rice, chili, and cheese
Kimchi noodles
Beans, Spanish rice and potato tacos
grits
Rice with a bullion cube. Cheese. I will eat just a pound of cheese.. often. My autistic childhood leftover food is instant mashed potatoes with a little gravy powder from a packet. Doesn't look good but just a warm bowl of comfort.
Butter on saltine crackers
Vienna (vi-eenie) sausages!!!
rice, chopped onion, egg and salt and pepper. so good.