Gamer™
I have commited the Num-Code for ™ to muscle memory.
Other interests include bicycles, bread making and DIY. I do own a 3D-printer and adore the Nintendo 3ds.
Well, same back to you. I never doubted you having that experience, but I asked if it’s normal.
Your own source says it’s only 12.8% of the US living in such areas. So it’s safe to assume that OP would also be interested in the cheaper recipes that involve mostly produce. Your life experience isn’t universal either.
Every supermarket I ever went to had a vegetable aisle and potato sacks for a few €. Variety in produce may be low, but that’s what a Turkish supermarket is for.
Granted, I never lived in an American BestBuy town, so this might be a cultural thing. But produce being unavailable or even just being out of one’s way seems insane to me. You sure that normal where you live?
I agree that how healthy something is should be put on the back burner (hah!), true, but when cost is the most important factor, produce is unbeatable. While not created equal, the means to prepare for most are 1 pot, 1 board and 1 knife, and there sure are recipes that don’t take up too much time.
Someone asking for recipes can be expected to have some time to cook them, while working 2 jobs is way too common nowadays, there are still more people struggling for money with some time on their hands. If you have no money, no time and no energy for cooking, you’re beyond asking for advice and should instead be asking for help.
My ultimate struggle meal:
In 1 pot:
Fast, really cheap, and has the important bonus that the only dish to clean is the 1 pot. When struggling, I also don’t feel like doing a lot of housework.
Sadly, I can never remember the best ratios, so the mayonnaise is rather mandatory as it can save a rather bland filling. Sometimes, I splurge and use guacamole instead, sometimes I also put in mini-spring rolls from the same shop I buy the rice and curry.
With my “recipe” out of the way, the important thing is to find some ingredients that have a low price for lot’s of weight, and then choose a recipe that’s like 90% cheap ingredients by weight. (Remember that some ingredients take on a lot of water, rice taking on twice it’s volume for example, so they’re cheaper than the price tag implies). I personally look for food that’s under 3€/kg. The other 10% of the meal can be way more expensive (curry paste in my recipe), but, because you only use so little of it, as a whole it’s still cheap.
Probably the absolute cheapest meal are homemade hash browns, potatoes are ridiculously cheap, with apples being the cheapest fruit where I live. Next cheapest vegetable around here are carrots.
The cheapest sort of pride is national pride; for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own of which he can be proud; otherwise he would not have recourse to those which he shares with so many millions of his fellowmen. The man who is endowed with important personal qualities will be only too ready to see clearly in what respects his own nation falls short, since their failings will be constantly before his eyes. But every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud adopts, as a last resource, pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and glad to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority.
Arthur Schopenhauer
It may a 200 year old quote, but the only thing that has changed is that we have since found even worse things to be proud of.
“Ah, but you see, dedicating 99% of the space to cars makes sense, since 99% of traffic here is personal vehicles. Aren’t I smart?”
“…”
“Ok, I agree to a temporary bike lane, but if bicycle travel doesn’t increase we get rid of it immediately. It will of course be just this one street, we don’t want to risk a bike network succeeding.”
Ah yes, the “it’s been 3000 years” guy, genuinely one of the series best moments.
What else was there? The villain? Whack. The champ? Whack. The prof? Whack. The 5 rivals? Whack. I don’t think 2 great scenes make a good story, no matter how elaborate the lore.
Thank you for your input, but I won’t leave my mountain to fight you on your hill.