Punchy-academic - This Is Really Something

Low Budget Meal Ideas

So most of your paycheck is consumed with various bills & rent and you feel like you can’t afford to eat, or your a student and not only is your money limited but also your time, or maybe you’re just saving up to buy something special. Here’s a few ideas that may help you & your stomach through with more than just a loaf of bread.

Key Staple Ingredients

Powdered milk - 1kg makes about 7L, which means that you’re spending about 80c for a litre of milk. If used wisely this will last you weeks. I wouldn’t recommend it for having just a glass of milk or with your coffee, but it’s perfect if you’re making scrambled eggs or rice pudding… if you’re cooking with it basically. This milk is a make-as-you-need-it milk.

Alternatively if you don’t like powdered milk or you have to have some coffee or cereal, look into UHT Long-Life milk. They can last months without refrigeration before opening.

Rice - It’s filling, it’s cheap, and it’s incredibly versatile. Most grocers you can buy it at ~$1.50/kg

Flour - It may be time consuming, but it’s so much cheaper, and more rewarding, to make your own bread. Again it’s about $1/kg, sometimes less, and it’s generally worth it. You can store it up to a year and there’s so much you can do with it.

Eggs - Meat can be expensive, but to go without protein is a dangerous thing. They’re not too expensive, but probably the most expensive item on the list, generally around $4 for a dozen. You can eat them as is (after cooking of course) or use them in baking. They generally only last about a week before you have to start getting rid of them.

Sugar - Now this one isn’t an urgent ingredient that you need lots of, but it does help add a bit of that serotonin to your life, be it when you make a sweet loaf, add a bit to your tea, who knows. It’s generally handy to have some on hand.

Optional Extras

Bananas - If you’ve got room in the budget for more, try and get some Bananas. I know my local green grocer sells bananas which are almost overripe and pretty much only good for baking for 50c/kg when he’s got excess. I snatch ‘em up like hotcakes and make smoothies, banana bread, ice cream…. there’s so much you can do with Bananas.

Carrots - Carrots are amazing and oh-so-cheap. 80c-$1/kg, and you can chop them up to snack on, roast them, boil & mash them, grate them, carrot cake…

Oranges - I cannot express how good Oranges are for you, and they keep quite a while as well. Now making your own orange juice will chew through your supply, I wouldn’t recommend it, but slice up half an orange and take it with you to classes or work.

Onions - Not as versatile as some of the other foods I’ve mentioned but if you’ve got an extra dollar, they can help add some flavour. Fry up an onion in some oil and add it to your eggs perhaps, use it in a rice dish… It generally just helps add flavour.

Potatoes - Potatoes are something you can buy in massive bulk, which like carrots you can use in so many ways. Their shelf life is incredible but for the love of god do not store them with your onions. They go off so much faster, which you can tell when they start sprouting!

Garlic - Long shelf life and though your friends may not appreciate your breath, you can’t pass up some good old garlic bread. I’m sure there’s more you can do with it but that’s all I can think of at the moment…. mmm garlic bread.

Honey - With an infinite shelf life, it’s perfect to drizzle over almost anything for a sweet treat.

Other thoughts, if you have the space in your home for vertical/wall herb garden, something small, that’ll generally put you back at most $50 total for the pots, soil, plants, and hooks (be it for a wall or railing), but to invest in some hard-to-kill herbs like rosemary, oregano, and mint, can add something special to your dishes.

For what to do with these ingredients that I’ve listed, follow @cook-n-tell for more recipes, tips & tricks.

Also a massive thank you to my friend Baccano for helping me bounce ideas and come up with others for this post.

time is fake

“With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?”

- Oscar Wilde

Can't decide whether it's funnier to say "my hungry ass could never work at a" and then say something that implies you're eating something truly grotesque or something that just, makes no sense

I am a slut for stories where the characters refer to each other purely by last names even though they are close and their first names are like secret names you only invoke when its a super serious/intimate moment am i going insane

congrats, once you enter the magpod universe you are now bisexual unless it becomes important somehow.

I don't know if this is a thing but...

I can't stop thinking about Dark Cottagecore...

Consider:

Milk swirling into your tea reflects the stormclouds in the darkened sky as rain pelts at your window. It is trying to get in.

You sleep wrapped up in the quilt your grandmother made you. The pictures she sewed into it show scenes from the stories she whispered in your ear as a child. Sometimes, you swear the monsters on it move.

The warm, freshly baked bread is made to show hospitality to any visitors. The kindness you show them binds them into their visiting form and stops them from stealing you away at night.

Beautiful picture books you had as a child, all lined up on your bookshelf. At least three of them intone the dark rituals you know like the back of your hand.

You braid her hair, weaving wards into the plaits so you know she'll remain safe even after she crosses the threshold out of your home.

Your cat is soft as he purrs and leans into you. He is satisfied that he stopped the Things disguised as rats from getting into your home.

i'm down to fuck

-ing isolate myself from everyone i love

Temples are built for gods. Knowing this a farmer builds a small temple to see what kind of god turns up.