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What meals do you cook when very low on money? (lemmy.today)

submitted 2 days ago by FritzApollo@lemmy.today to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 73 points 2 days ago

Rice, potatoes, beans, and lentils are all solid low cost choices.

[-] memfree@piefed.social 19 points 2 days ago

Yup. Buy dry beans and dry rice -- none of that precooked stuff. Buy fresh potatoes tho. If you can afford it, I'd also get a bag of onions, maybe carrots, and some spices that do NOT contain salt. You can also buy salt, but it is way cheaper per-gram to get salt and other spices on their own. Note that brown rice has more vitamin content than white rice (thiamine deficiency), but most white rice is enriched to compensate.

[-] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 15 points 2 days ago

I have to admit that I do not do beans nearly as much as I should. I think it is because canned beans are not nearly the deal money-wise as dried beans are ... and I am not good at letting beans soak without forgetting them and ruining them.

[-] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 1 points 20 hours ago

I started vaguely planning my meals by the week sort of by accident. A friend made me a "weekly planner" whiteboard that had a "menu" section I thought would be totally useless.

But I started jotting down some ideas there, just on a whim, and I'll be damned but I love it!

I don't always follow my own plan, and I often just write the main/protein part and wing it a bit, but it's great having at least an idea what's coming down the pipe for the week, so I can actually plan prep and shopping, and use up what I have. It looks something like:

MON lentils
TUE beans
WED tofu
....

Etc, so like now I know to soak beans overnight on Monday, and go buy tofu before Wednesday.

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 11 points 2 days ago

I'm not sure they're quite ruined if over soaked. Cooking time will be greatly diminished. I've left beans soaking for 24 hours because I forgot, they turned out fine.

[-] xylol@leminal.space 3 points 2 days ago

I thought at least 24 hours was the requirement

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 5 points 2 days ago

Overnight/8 hours is what's normal where I am. Or boil for 10 minutes, soak for a couple of hours.

[-] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 1 points 20 hours ago

Yeah you can just soak them in boiled water to shorten the time required.

[-] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago

You don't actually need to soak them before you cook them.

I've made plenty of bean dishes, starting with completely dry beans. It takes a little longer to cook because they are rehydrating while they cook, but they still come out great.

[-] Eq0@literature.cafe 7 points 2 days ago

Part of the reason to soak is for them to release sone long proteins that are hard to digest. You can achieve the same result by carefully removing the foam they produce at the beginning of the cooking (or replace the water completely after 10-15 minutes of boiling)

[-] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Oh, cool. Thanks for sharing that, I wasn't aware.

That's one of the reasons I love cooking. No matter how much I know, there's always so much more to learn.

[-] heatermcteets@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

Adding to this. A pressure cooker brings the cook time down dramatically and I think it produces a superior result.

[-] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

I second this.

Also works for things like cheap pieces of beef which normally require long cooking times before you can comfortably eat them.

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 6 points 2 days ago

dry lentils can be cooked with rice in a rice cooker right with them because they are so small.

[-] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Do a quick soak (bring to a boil, turn off heat, cover, let sit for an hour) and use a timer.

[-] solrize@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

Magic words: pressure cooker. Electric ones are simplest, press one button and wait for beepng.

[-] mcbenavides85@piefed.social 10 points 2 days ago

I mix lentils and rice with sautéed onions and I have a meal for a couple days. Add a dollop of sour cream.

this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2025

219 points (100.0% liked)

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