Hello.
My microwave died in spectacular fashion today. It was the lifeblood of my kitchen. I’ve had it so long I’ve forgotten how to cook without one. And I can’t afford to buy a new one. I was going to post in eatcheapandhealthy but that place looks as dead as my microwave. I don’t know what I’m going to do.
Jamie Oliver often went on about cheap recipes… that required 30 ingredients and a bunch of equipment I don’t have. These are not helpful. I need recipes that are cheap to shop for, cheap on electricity usage, easy to prepare with limited equipment, and it would be a bonus if they are healthy and tasty. I know I’m being picky, but I don’t have much to work with.
I figured this would be the community to ask because to cook well, you need to know stuff that a bad cook wouldn’t know. I hope I can get a few useful ideas. Thanks.
Stir fry is one of my big go-tos. All you need is a pan and spatula or tongs, whatever veg you have on hand, oil, salt. You can mix in seasonings but honestly if cooked well I don’t find it to be that necessary. Fried rice or rice stuff is in a similar vein. Cook whatever random stuff you have around, remove from the pan, start frying the rice, throw in an egg, add it all back into the pan briefly.
Street tacos are baller and you can put all kinds of things in them and make them work with just about any dietary restrictions. I prefer to go heavy handed with the seasoning but you can make it work with only a couple spices. Best with two pans, one to heat up the tortillas. Making pico de gallo is good knife skill practice and extra can the thrown on nachos directly or quickly turned into salsa.
All the soup and then some seriously there are so many great soup recipes and tricks. I love egg drop because it can be as simple as broth and an egg, though usually I put in some frozen veg and thicken with corn starch. If you eat meat and have these in your area, you can grab one of those hot held roast chickens for cheap. Lazily process it, throw all the bones and whatever is stuck to them into a pot and make a quick and cheap stock. Plus now there is a bunch of chicken laying around ready to be a chicken noodle or chicken tortilla soup.
If your stove has an oven: Ratatouille is surprisingly easy to make, costs basically nothing, and can be done in an oven or a slow cooker. Jalapeno poppers can also be weirdly cheap and easy to make. Really anything where a main component is a veg and you put it in the oven. Roast broccoli only needs oil and salt to come out great.
I like to make savory oatmeal and have pre-measured containers for breakfast prep. Oats, salt, pepper, brewers yeast. Just add water. I mix in cream cheese and put a fried egg on top. It’s cheap and filling and you can really push what you’re adding to them and at worse still come out with something okay enough.
I hope these are the kinds of things you’re looking for and they get some ideas going. If you have questions about anything or need inspiration let me know! I’ve been living with a chef for a lot of years and have a decent bit of knowledge I can share
The stir-fry thing sounds good. It will give me a break from rice!
I’ve been frying stuff in margarine because it’s cheaper, and the vast array of cooking oils confuse me. I read one oil is used for one particular type of frying, and another for a different type of cooking, etc. Is there a cheap cooking oil that’s OK to use for frying lots of different things?
The default cooking oil is usually rapeseed oil aka canola. Has no taste and has a high smoke point.
Oh that’s one of the cheaper ones! No taste is good - I’ve eaten stuff cooked in peanut oil and it makes everything taste like hot peanut butter. Canola oil is on the shopping list! Cheers!
Refined peanut oils can remove the peanut smell/taste. But yeah canola oil is your friend
I just use generic vegetable oil for everything. It’s just a mix of different kinds of vegetable oils like soy and canola.
Awesome. Cheers.
If anyone is interested in stir frying correctly you should read The Wok which goes over the technique and recipes. The short summary is high heat and short time and make sure everything is prepared ahead of time.
I made a quick vegetable stir dry last week with broccoli, mushrooms and beans (the only three vegetables in the fridge). The entire thing was 10 minutes on the pan from frying the mushrooms for 1 minute before adding the broccoli and beans and cooking for 30 seconds. I added salt along the way and finished with cooking wine and soy sauce for a sauce for 1 minute. Everything then sat in the wok off the heat for 5 minutes while I cleaned and plated. The vegetables were cooked but still had a snap and it was delicious. When used correctly its the perfect pan for everything
Depending on the wok construction sometimes they work really poorly with electric stoves, getting super hot right at the bottom and not so much on the sides. Generally though they are quite versatile. One of my favorite tricks is using one to fry an egg to keep the yolk centered
Don’t anything nonstick. Pretty much ever. I got a nice carbon steel one for my birthday that I love. Our nonstick works okay on our electric stove but the carbon steel gives much better flavor.
Nonstick has two very specific use cases: Eggs and cheese. If you’re ever cooking either one of those, nonstick is often the best option. But for pretty much anything else, cast iron or carbon steel will be a better bet.