The cooking thread, both cheap and not so cheap

After giving it some thought I imagine there might be some interested in cooking for the guys here now I know some people might bitch about it being 'girly' but I'm sure any person here who is actually trying to get fit (unlike lazy me, for now) will be even better placed than me in explaining the importance of this stuff. Not only that but learning to cook yourself a decent meal is an important skill many NEET lacks so this could be important to any NEET reading this. Let me tell you this: just cooking a tv dinner or instant ramen isn't 'cooking'. Nothing wrong with eating that once in a while, we're all busy and its cheap but i'd wager this stuff is terrible for one's mental health. Loser food for loser people and believe me I'm some grade-A loser. I know the feeling.

As such why not share some basic stuff and help those people here who might be stuck eating tv dinners and instant ramen?

Permutation Is Life
That's my basic-ass trick. Its fine to eat the same, basic 2-3 things every week especially if cooking is not one's strong suit. The trick here is to find ways to make it healthier and more palatable. Basic things like instant rice and instant noodles can be made more edible and more varied by simply mixing and matching different veggies. Instant ramen also become more filling if you add a fuckload of cheap veggies and you need to only eat one bag rather than 2-3 (if you're a big eater).

Hell if you don't know wtf to add/try, make some tables and roll some dice to find out what you are adding to your soup today!

Cheapo Home Pizza
Like the above, permutation is life. Forget frozen Pizza. Buy the cheapest tomato sauce (must not be liquid, of course) and cheese and try different mix of veggies and meat. If you want to try something else, replace the tomato sauce with BBQ sauce. Don't know what to use for crust? Buy cheap, crappy hamburgers buns and use one half to make tiny pizza.

 

Yup, man. Beans will save your life. Although they might make you fart a lot depending on digestion...

 

Cooking is one of the manliest things out there and is on par with putting up drywall and chopping wood.

I made chicken cordon bleu for my girlfriend a while back and it was D I V I N E I super recommend it as an intermediate recipe. Just challenging enough to still be fun but not a massive project like beef wellington or other ridiculous dishes

Spoiler

 

Quite nice. Personally i'm pretty big on spicy food, as well as reusing as many ingredients from at least 1-2 other recipes since its a waste to buy a single thing for a single recipe and later lose it because I forgot to make it. That's why I over abuse pasta, rice, beans and various spices but its also why i'm big on the 'basic food hack'. Don't have a girlfriend to cook for so there is little need for my cooking to be something cool and fancy looking.

 

I don’t know about where you live, but here vegetables aren’t so cheap. Even just a bag of frozen peas isn’t so great, and for the recommended amount they suggest every day I certainly can’t afford it.

Health industries ask why people don’t eat healthier, well, maybe if they made bloody healthy food/vegetables cheaper instead of the alternative we’d get somewhere.

 

Is a bag of potato or carrots or a few onions this pricy where you live? Mind you, im cooking for myself not for a whole family so that is the math I got in mind.