Meals on the cheap?

I like rice. Spaghetti is another of my favorites that even in better times I can make that into a gourmet meal with different kinds of meat.

I used to have a nice little rice cooker, but I don't know what happened to it. We should probably eat more rice. What kind of nutritional value does it have?

I always had a difficult time making brown or wild rice in the rice cooker because it takes so much longer to cook. I love wild rice.

+100 on rice or pasta-Sam's has huge packs of both for cheap. Spices and assorted meats that are on sale make great additions. My son and I have a running duel to see who can make the the best meals on the cheap. I was amazed at how good he was at it-he developed that skill trying to live on his own. Now he realizes how cheap it is living with Dad. He even got me to try grocery shopping at Wally World this week. I did pretty good switching over to their generic brand-Great Value. Saved quite a bit and stocked up on staples pretty good. Keep the ideas coming folks-I'm watching this one. [Beer]
Stuart-I just picked up a decent rice cooker at Big Lots a few weeks ago for cheap.Good for pasta also.

We have a lot of cans of Great Value and Eating Right (from Safeway). Gloria hated Safeway at first, but she loves them now. Says the coupons on the receipts are always something she will buy and that $.10 off of gas for every $100 we spend at Safeway is nice.

Potatoes, lots and lots of potatoes. Fried, baked, mashed, whatever I'll eat em with just about anything or as a meal themselves.

Also accumulate some parmesean cheese from pizza joints (or buy it I guess) and cook up whatever noodles you got + some parm and some butter

I personally hate potatoes. I have nothing against other cheap "filler" foods like rice, noodles, and beans. Okay, I don't hate potatoes, but they are my least favorite. French Fries have to be orgasmic for me to enjoy them, let alone pay for them. I guess I'd just have to be more creative with potatoes. I use to make decent hash browns (LOVE hash browns), and I like mashed potatoes.

Throw a little ranch dressing in them when you mash them-best thing ya ever flipped a lip over.

Or when you mash them throw in garlic powder, yum! One of the cheap meals I used to make a lot of was that I would purchase a large box of instant potatoes and some smoked sausage links and made them on a Foreman grill. Another good one is buy some frozen biscuits in a bag, then with a bit of butter (better: bacon grease) and milk you can do a really simple biscuits and gravy. Of course I'm a southern boy, you can never go wrong with some biscuits and gravy!

I almost forgot one but. Tuna fish mayo and some crackers. Its got to be the best fast cheap food ever made.
Grilled cheese and noodles for dipping the samich in. Another great meal.
I do have a camp stove and BBQ grill that still have fuel. The kitchen stove uses electricity so that's out. However, I don't see why someone can't make a spaghetti on a BBQ burner if they need to?

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Originally Posted by Stuart

What kind of nutritional value does it have?

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White rice actually has pretty much zero nutritional value, it's pretty much a filler, carbs are about all it has going for it (energy). Brown rice is a much better option, in that it is processed differently, leaving behind the important nutrients.

Edit: The way I said leaving behind, may have been confusing. Brown rice is made when only the outer layer is removed (husk),
When the bran and germ layers are removed, you have white rice. Basically, the more processing a particular food goes through, the more nutrients are stripped from it.