This is an alternate to the thread for chefs. A number of posters echoed my own thoughts that cooking at home is cheaper and better (often) than eating out. Time to actually share some of that wisdom, and for those of us who do cook regularly it would be great to exchange some notes. Seriously, my whole reason for posting this is that I want your cheap-ass recipes.CMoon wrote:
Seriously, this forum needs the lonely videogamer's guide to cheap (and healthy) cooking.
Or, let this thread die and just go back to talking about ponies.
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Anyway, a few thoughts for the hungry bachelor:
1) Slow cookers are the lonely videogamers' friend. Not only are they affordable, they turn huge piles of the cheapest vegetables and the poorest cuts of meat into tender stews.
2) Use your fucking freezer. It's easy to complain that cooking takes too long, but if you cook in quantity and freeze the bulk you will quickly find yourself with tons of readily available food. More money to buy anime body pillows???
3) Don't get intimidated by fancy food. Many great dishes have short cuts (see my example below) that turn what could be a complicated dish into fuckin' hamburger helper.
4) If you have the cash, buy a goddamn food processor. Single best kitchen gadget since humans invented fire.
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Getting on with this, I love curries and have been trying to teach myself Indian and Thai cooking. I'd been making everything from scratch, which is fine, but the lonely videogamer might find that too intimidating. A friend of mine pointed out that curry paste could be purchased from the local Asian market for cheap ($3), saving me probably 20-30 minutes prep time (what do I do with my spice rack now?)
Hence: "Starving Shmupper/College student Red Curry" (prep time ~ 15 min, cook time ~ 1hr+, servings 5-6 (use that freezer, bitches)
Stir fry 2 diced onions until golden in 2-4 tbs of light cooking oil in a wok.
Add Mae Ploy Red Curry paste (I added 120 grams, but shmuppers without scales can just use a 3rd of the container) and 1 can coconut milk; simmer.
Add 2 lbs chicken; simmer
Add 3 carrots, 4 potatoes, 1 lb green beans (all chopped); add another can of coconut milk. I wanted to add bean sprouts and bamboo shoots, but literally ran out of room in my wok.
Continue simmering for about an hour or until edible. You can even play video games while its simmering. I watched a movie while I was making this.
That's right, I made a weeks worth of food for under $16 (<$2 paste, $4 coconut milk, <$4 vegetables, $4 chicken, <$1 oil, <$1 for the rice I'm gonna serve it on.) If you can't do this too, what the hell is wrong with you?
In my next post I will be explaining good hygiene habits and why you shouldn't sit so close to the TV.
Love,
Mom