r/PovertyMeals

Classic struggle meal, 10/10 would struggle again

Cooking the pasta in the tomato actually made for a nice sauce. Added a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt and pepper.

I made a $.99 box of mac & cheese and my kid ate half of it with some chicken nuggets.
I added half a chopped onion, some garlic powder, some old bay (Maryland here 🦀), a can of white beans, frozen peas and a can of regular tuna. It turned out amazing and it stretches! Lots of protein. I used to eat something like this all the time as a kid, but I jazzed it up a bit.

I think the only stuff not from the food pantry was the stuff for the breakfast casserole. Which I’m pretty sure it was under $5. And I guess the spices lol.

The breakfast casserole is a can of croissants with the little frozen sausage links from Walmart sliced up and 6 eggs with yolks stirred and broken with salt, pepper, paprika, and onion powder in it. Oven was on 350. The video I got the recipe said 25-30 minutes, but think it took an extra 10-15 minutes before I felt comfy with the eggs not being runny still.

The second one is something my partner thinks I’m crazy for. It’s peanut butter rice something or other. I made some white jasmine rice (I had the rice but is something available at a lot of food pantries) in my rice cooker. And then put a little soy sauce. Like 4 heaping teaspoons of peanut butter. A drained can of green beans. 2 little packets of dried cranberries (I have used raisins in this before). And a little bit of peanuts (I guess this was something I already had also).

Third is just some kind of pasta noodles and then I had a can of traditional pasta sauce that I added a few random spices to and a can of chicken.

Third was Mac and cheese and then I mixed some black beans with a can of fire roasted garlic diced tomatoes and added some seasonings to it also.

Anyway. I am tired of cooking now. But at least have food for the rest of the week that I work now 🤣

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EBT comes on Friday so for now we have Poverty Nachos

Single serving bag of Sweet & Spicy BBQ Doritos (food bank)

1/4 package of frozen shredded cheese (50 cents)

4 packets of Taco Bell mild sauce

Just a roasted garlic and grated cheese sandwich, nicely toasted - easy meal when life is a struggle.

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Just mash 2 hard boiled eggs with a dollop of tomato sauce• Spread onto a slice of bread and top with another bread slice• Serve with any available salad.