The Economy Thread III: Not Actual Advice And You Shouldn't Lie To Investors

[Daydreamer]

It doesn't help that healthy food also takes more effort to make it not taste like shit.

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Somewhat disagree here. I think it takes more knowledge but not actual effort once you know what you're doing and feel comfortable in a kitchen, but again, that takes time to learn that.

Example, my dinner last night cost me about $1. It was a rice bowl with kewpie, furikake, a fried egg, and sauteed greens and tomatoes from my garden. It's an absolute joke of a meal to make but it's easy to screw up if you don't know basics like how to season well and what type of rice to use. If done right though it's delicious.

[Sirious]

How much time, including washing dishes, makes that meal cost likely over $22

You can get 3000 calories delivered in pizza form for $10. Done and done. No driving to the store. No dishes. No cooking.

[Daydreamer]

Active prep including dishes was 15 minutes maybe?

Wash rice, place in cooker hit on (this will take an hour but it only takes a minute or two to start), harvest veggies and cook in wok, cook eggs while veggies are going. Clean as I go.

But I did used to be a chef which obviously helps a ton and also backs up what I was saying that like, it IS possible to do this stuff for cheap but only if you actually have the time and knowledge to do so.

[Tyrath]

You can get 3000 calories delivered in pizza form for $10.

Where? Where can you get that delivered just for $10??

[Meresgi]

Time spent going to and back from grocery store + time spent planning things out + time spent in grocery store + time spent cooking. Also lets be fucking honest "healthy" meals aren't generally great tasting (though you can add some shit to them). It's not a huge amount of time effort and you can argue back and forth over it but the point is we shouldn't have to.

People should be getting paid enough to eat what they want within reason, not getting fucking filet every night of the week.

My lunch for past few months has just been a sticky rice bowl from costco (you can buy a box of the things) plus some chicken back from costco (comes with 12 packs of pretty good chicken bits) and then some sauce on top to make a chicken bowl. Super quick, cheap and healthy and i'm doing it for weight loss + bodybuilding stuff but dinners i'm 50/50 ordering out or cooking and I don't have to deal with kids, spouse and I work from home so no commute either.

Where? Where can you get that delivered just for $10??

Maybe little ceasars? But I feel like the delivery itself is gonna cost you $5 at least in fees so that's a pretty shit pizza lol

[Daydreamer]

People should be getting paid enough to eat what they want within reason, not getting fucking filet every night of the week.

This right here. I felt like I finally was financially stable when I could go to the grocery store and not have to really worry about prices as long as I wasn't buying like a $50 pack of steaks or whatever.

Your sticky rice bowl is also an excellent hack. One I'll contribute are those $6 rotisserie chickens almost every grocer has. Let it cool, pick it all, and you got a whole lot to work with and enough for 4-6 people depending on what you decide to do with it.

[Tymon]

Little caesars outsources to doordash so the fees are going to push it well over

You might have been able to swing it in the last few months when a bunch of places were doing $6.99 mediums. If you didn't tip your driver. At all.

[Elizara]

I actually am the COOK in the house and yes, it takes effort. My brothers don't..I'm always looking for new recipes and all.

Boys? they'd order takeout if they could. But even home cooking and buying things, it's EXPENSIVE. We can't even afford rump steaks right now; we can barely afford ground beef.

As for Little Caesars, we usually Go and Get It (tm) which is cheaper but I can understand why you'd get pizza delivered. Your fav place may not be close to you; but delivery COSTS. (The Troll doesn't get that and we're on Instacart again; bet he's sorry even tho I only pretty much use it for Aldi's.)

[Bardicrune]

Also, don't forget Costco pizza. You can pick up a whole cooked pepperoni pizza for $10 from their food court. That's at least 6 meals @ $1.66~ each.

[zoobernut]

Also, don't forget Costco pizza. You can pick up a whole cooked pepperoni pizza for $10 from their food court. That's at least 6 meals @ $1.66~ each.

Not if you have kids. Last night we got a cesar salad kit and a pepperoni pizza from costco and the whole salad is gone and only 2 slices of pizza are left.

Though feeding a family of 5 for ~$20 isn't too bad. Could be less if we cooked at home but we had a dr appointment that went late and didn't get home till 6pm.

[6souls]

Also, don't forget Costco pizza. You can pick up a whole cooked pepperoni pizza for $10 from their food court. That's at least 6 meals @ $1.66~ each.

Sounds like one meal for $10

[Byrthnoth]

Back when I was in grad school, my favorite low cost meal was vegetarian chili. Used to be like $4/pot, but now it's probably more like $8. 3x Canned Beans, 2x Bell Peppers, 3x Onions, 1/4 head of Garlic, spices, and 2 or 3C of rice to stretch it. Probably ten meals? Could add meat too, of course, and I still save the drippings from any meat we make / rotisserie chickens from costco in the freezer. Use the fat to soften the veggies / use the water for broth.

Eggs were our big go-to for making leftovers more interesting. You need to remember to add a pinch of salt per egg, but you can make something (like leftover vegetarian chili) that you're pretty unenthusiastic about eating a lot more enjoyable if you give it an egg and a new flavor or two.

Of course, the undisputed king of making you not want to eat food anymore is cabbage. Buy one head of cabbage and you have SO MUCH CABBAGE. Try to eat it and you will quickly become disinterested in the idea of food and learn to prefer hunger.

#thenewdepressioneracuisine

[6souls]

Are we really hating on sauerkraut in 2026?

[Byrthnoth]

I'm here for some sauerkraut (although not as much as RFK is), but jesus christ you get one head of cabbage and you have sauerkraut for a year

Every time I make a recipe with cabbage I use like 1/8 of a cabbage

[Daydreamer]

You're bringing back memories of when I decided to grow my own massive cabbage, then had to figure out wtf to do with an 8 pound cabbage.

Good thing is they store in the fridge for like a month.

[Tymon]

I use costco rotisserie chickens all year round.

My main use for them is for a white chicken chili. Since the chicken is already cooked all you have to do is pull the breasts and thighs and chop them up (or pull them if you prefer that texture) and toss in a pot after sauteing veggies. One chicken makes about 6 normal servings. I usually serve it with breadsticks to dip.

Then you have the wings legs and bones. That goes into an instant pot with veggies and herbs and water for 1 hour on high pressure. Strain everything out with cheesecloth and you have 8-10 cups of chicken stock. 50000000000x better than anything store bought. Freeze in a mason jar for 6-12 months.

[Mrbeansman]

FWIW I can still get a lot of chicken legs/wings/thighs for like 6 bucks a pack and it takes like 30 mins to season it and cook it in the air fryer. I still make a lot of sandwiches with my favorite wheat pita bread which is like 15 dollars for ingredients and covers about 3 or 4 meals.

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[Salodin]

All this is great advice

Unless you hate eating the same shit every day

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[Xno Kappa]

FWIW I can still get a lot of chicken legs/wings/thighs for like 6 bucks a pack and it takes like 30 mins to season it and cook it in the air fryer. I still make a lot of sandwiches with my favorite wheat pita bread which is like 15 dollars for ingredients and covers about 3 or 4 meals.

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An air fryer is probably the single greatest investment I ever made for the kitchen.

[Xno Kappa]

Or maybe the panini press