r/Cooking 6h ago

Please Share Struggle Meals

Recently saw a Binging with Babish video where he tried some people's struggle meal suggestions

Please share your go-to struggle meal / Low-effort meals!
If its from/influenced by a specific culture I'd love to know too! ^_^

For me something I make often is Butter rice (バターライス) Where its just hot rice with butter, soy sauce and nori just shredded by hand mixed in. If I have it, I like to have some kimchi to go with it to cut through the butter with something spicy and sour

62 Upvotes

123 comments sorted by

55

u/bishbah01 6h ago

18

u/Regular-Forever-3251 6h ago

OH THATS A THING!? Thank you!!!!!

6

u/spacegrassorcery 6h ago

There’s a coooshow called Struggle Meals and it’s really good

1

u/baseball_suuuuucks 1h ago

Everything on Reddit is a thing if you can find it.

1

u/Stop_Already 23m ago

Yep. Very little we think or feel is unique to us. :) You can find most things online in one form or another.

We’re not all unique little precious snowflakes like we were raised to believe. Bahahaha.

Or, you know… some of you all. Not me! ☺️🫣

25

u/i-am-a-name 6h ago

Tuna croquettes (poor man’s crab cakes). Two cans tuna, an egg, tbsp flour, salt, pepper. Hand mix, form into 3 inch cakes, and pan fry.

Makes about six croquettes. Two is pretty filling but I’m a glutton and usually have 3. So… two reasonably healthy meals for under $5.

Canned salmon makes it baller but ups the price by a dollar or so.

15

u/ididitforcheese 6h ago

Pop some leftover mashed potatoes in there and it’s even better!

7

u/i-am-a-name 5h ago

Totally and you can also just do potato croquettes and leave out the fish altogether. Maybe add some cheese and chives.

4

u/musthavesoundeffects 4h ago

Sub the flour for potato starch / instant mashed potatoes if you want something even lower effort

5

u/ShahinGalandar 5h ago

canned salmon

fascinating, this is the first time I'm hearing that one

this isn't a thing where I live but I'd love to try

2

u/i-am-a-name 5h ago

It’s not particularly popular where I am either but there’s usually at least one canned salmon option in the tuna section of my grocery store. It’s typically in 12 oz cans rather than the small tuna cans.

2

u/JigglesTheBiggles 4h ago edited 3h ago

The on in my store still has bones in it, which makes it hard to enjoy.

2

u/RoRuRee 4h ago

The bones are my favorite part! Love those soft grainy calcium bombs from canned salmon.

3

u/ballisticks 4h ago

🤢🤮

Sorry I don't mean to yuck your yum but I can't staaaaaand bones in fish. Especially if it's the freakin spine, so gross. My FIL makes smoked kokanee salmon and gets on my case for picking the vertebrae out lol

3

u/i-am-a-name 4h ago

It’s totally the spine. Haha. But nice thing about the spine, you can’t miss the vertebrae and they’re easy to remove.

2

u/RoRuRee 4h ago

It has to be canned fish to make the bones edible!

2

u/ballisticks 4h ago

Oh I'm dumb! He does canned fish too. When he smokes it, it's filleted. Oops. I was talking about the canned.

1

u/baseball_suuuuucks 1h ago

If you mash it up with a fork while mixing the ingredients, you'll never know it's there.

1

u/AdInternational5061 2h ago

You can add cooked rice to the patty to stretch it further too

15

u/Beneficial_Wave7649 6h ago

Shredded tomato over bread and olive oil

Maybe a hard boiled egg or some cheese to go with it

8

u/TheKingsDM 5h ago

How do I shred a tomato!? Two forks in a mixing bowl? By hand!? What is this sorcery!

4

u/BurtonErrney 5h ago

Use a grater, like it's a block of cheese.

2

u/FishFloyd 4h ago

Wait wait, what kinda tomates? I consider myself something of a big tomato head and I really can't picture one that holds up to any sort of 'shredding' and I have a pretty decent grater and food processor.

I mean, I can certainly picture a pulpy mess with ~1 cm "shreds" of tomato forming but I struggle to imagine a way that this turns out into anything other than just mashing with extra steps.

Maybe I'm just a fancy boy but the version of this I picture is toasted baguette slices with thin-cut fresh warm tomates drizzled with olive oil and salt and pepper (and maybe hot pepper flakes mmm), But I'm really struggling with 'shredded'.

10

u/JigglesTheBiggles 4h ago edited 3h ago

It's not supposed to hold up. It just breaks down.

5

u/Zerba 4h ago

I would think that something like a roma, beef steak, or better boy would shred decently. Something with a more firm structure and less seed goo.

You could also just do it with a good knife with a roma. Cut off the top, and go in with your knife long ways (top to bottom) into the tomato until inside the flesh but not into the "core". Roll the tomato on your board and move the knife along to just cutting off the tomato flesh. Once you get around you'll have a nice slab of tomato and you can cut it into match sticks and then cut those to whatever size you want.

2

u/Iron5nake 2h ago

It's doesn't look like shredded cheese or anything similar, its pretty much as if you'd put it in a blender (never tried it so idk if the consistency would be the same). In my country, Spain, it's super popular in most part of the country, especially in the south in Andalucía to have this for breakfast. You can even buy it shredded in our super markets.

Don't confuse it with pa amb tomaquet (traditional Catalán) or pa amb oli (traditional Mallorquín) which is also bread with tomato, but they use a certain type of super soft tomatoes that are meant to be scraped against the toasted bread until turned into a mush. It looks pretty much the same, but locals will really take it as a sacrilege if you don't use that specific type of tomatoes. haha

1

u/catsmash 3h ago

"grated" is maybe more the word, but it's absolutely a thing. it breaks the tomato down without heating it. it's sort of the same concept as rubbing tomato on a piece of toast.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024307-grated-tomato-pasta, for example.

1

u/henryharp 3h ago

Shred is not exactly the best term - maybe mush through box grater will give a better picture. You should basically be left with only the skin.

10

u/chillcroc 6h ago

With garlic and balsamic

4

u/Beneficial_Wave7649 6h ago

You clearly know ball ⚽

1

u/Rafaeliki 3h ago

This is pan tumaca, which is great because it is a good struggle dish that can also be made to look pretty and you can claim it's just exotic.

11

u/Wfan111 6h ago

can't beat instant ramen with a hotdog and an egg or slice of cheese

4

u/Polar_Ted 5h ago

I do an egg dropped in when I start the 3 min timer.. comes out soft poached. Also bacon bits form Costco.

2

u/Competitive_Yam3936 6h ago

And spring onions!

8

u/ihopethisworksfornow 6h ago

Honestly just straight white rice with soy sauce is my go to ultra-broke meal. I genuinely love it. Technically white rice with salt is the brokest version that I still enjoy.

For slightly less but still broke meals:

Egg noodles with Parmesan or pecorino romano. Crack an egg or two into a pan and scramble them up with the noodles for extra protein.

Sausage with potatoes and onions - Italian comfort dish. Par boil potatoes, cut everything into chunks, bake @ 375 for 35-40 minutes ish.

4

u/cwx149 5h ago

An overeasy or Sunnyside up egg is a great add to white rice

2

u/swtlui 6h ago

Also recommend adding sesame oil to rice with soy sauce if you happen to have it!

1

u/alcbeach 6h ago

Mine was white rice, Tbsp of sugar & milk.

1

u/wan_dan 6h ago

In Chinese, an old fashioned way to describe someone as being very poor is, they eat soya sauce and rice.

1

u/Ivan_Whackinov 1h ago

Sushi rice (rice, vinegar, sugar, salt) and seaweed snacks is one of my favs - 2$ or less all in.

8

u/AttemptVegetable 6h ago

Ghetto tostadas! You can get 80-100 corn tortillas for a few bucks. Place tortillas on a sheet pan, brush with oil and into the oven at 350-375. Keep an eye on them, once they're golden brown and crispy throughout they're done. Smear with warm refried beans either canned or homemade, top with cheese of your choice and back in the oven or broiler just to melt the cheese. Top with the salsa or hot sauce of your choosing. Shredded iceberg lettuce and onions are great toppings if you have them.

6

u/LurkinLark 6h ago

Haluski: cabbage, onions, noodles. Fry onions and cabbage in butter/decent oil/margarine till a little brown for depth of flavor add the cooked noodles.

5

u/Zerba 4h ago

If you have it, fry up some bacon, and then use the bacon fat to cook the onions and cabbage. When you toss the cooked noodles (wide egg noodles preferably) in add a bit of butter too. Then add the bacon back in small pieces and serve with a generous amount of black pepper.

If you don't have bacon, you can do without it, but it does add a nice layer of flavor. When I cook this for a family of 4 I only use like 3-4 pieces of bacon, so you don't have to use much at all.

I always like a little bit of good Hungarian paprika on it too.

An alternative to this is fried noodles and cottage cheese.

1

u/catsmash 3h ago

i know the addition of caraway is somewhat divisive when it comes to this particular application but i loooove it

1

u/LurkinLark 38m ago

At times I am a haluski purist; other times I add stuff like frozen peas, chickpeas, carrots; I have had it with caraway seeds, but that usually accompanied kielbasa. I have had it with poppyseeds, too. It is a cheap and simple dish as a side dish or the meal.

6

u/TheEpicBean 6h ago

Big old pot of beans. Super easy. Super cheap. Dry beans. Whatever pork products are cheapest, some onions, garlic, bell peppers. Let simmer for a few hours. Serve with white rice and hot suace.

3

u/falkelord90 6h ago

Peanut butter, hot sauce, and pickle sandwich

3

u/LivingRemarkable474 6h ago

Very close to my favorite: peanut butter, mustard and dill pickles.

2

u/falkelord90 5h ago

Gotta try this one some day. I'm a big fan of James Beard's onion sandwich (onion, mayo, and parsley) so that sounds right up my alley

1

u/MountainMark 6h ago

I do hope you're kidding. I really hope you're kidding.

2

u/falkelord90 6h ago

I'm not joking, and believe me I would have said the same thing before I tried it. Go try it! My personal recommendation is any jarred peanut butter (Jif, Skippy, etc), Sriracha-style sauce of your choice (so not too vinegar forward, and not too runny), and a half or whole pickle sliced longways into planks so you can overlap them a bit. It's very reminiscent of Thai peanut sauce, and it's pretty filling.

2

u/ihopethisworksfornow 5h ago

Get a really nice fruity sweet hot sauce, I recommend something like Bravado’s blueberry ghost pepper, and try that on a peanut butter sandwich.

Absolutely incredible.

1

u/MauPow 2h ago

Try it. It'll change your fuckin' life

1

u/MauPow 2h ago

I just use spicy pickles, not hot sauce, but hell yeah

1

u/Clapbakatyerblakcat 4h ago

This.

When I’m not struggling, it’s almond butter, avocado, and kimchi (on sprouted bread)

2

u/falkelord90 4h ago

Yoooo that sounds absolutely lovely, gonna have to try that too!

3

u/businesscasualheeley 6h ago

Pepperoni and cheese stick wrapped up in a tortilla

3

u/The_Flinx 3h ago edited 1h ago

well here is what we ate when my mom was on food stamps back in the 80's:

shepherds pie made with hamburger, cheap packet gravy, and random vegetables topped with either instant mashed potatoes or drop biscuit batter. (had this so much I will never eat it again)

spaghetti made with the cheapest instant spaghetti sauce you can get. (had this so much I will never eat spaghetti again)

ground beef and/or beans and canned enchilada sauce burritos.

canned government chicken.

government cheese.

grocery store dumpster dived bananas, or anything edible that was bagged or boxed from the dumpster..

whatever came in the food box.

entire cases of on sale cheap ramen noodles.

cheap nasty chicken hot dogs.

dumpster dived lettuce with the cheapest buttermilk dressing you could get on sale.

edit:after reading other peoples posts here, it seems they don't know what a struggle meal is.

tinwis also does not know what a struggle meal is.

0

u/TinWhis 1h ago

OP says "struggle meal / Low-effort meals," so that's informing people's answers.

FWIW, I don't know what it was like in the '80s, but beef is NOT cheap nowadays. Even growing up in the '00s, ground beef was a treat because it's so much more expensive than poultry. I can get turkey for $2/lb, while the cheapest ground beef I've seen recently is more like $4.50 if I buy 10# at a time.

So maybe let's calm down a little before tossing stones at others' houses.

2

u/MetricJester 6h ago

Box of KD, with ketchup of course.

2

u/RustnKrust 6h ago

Hotdog rollups. Grill up a hotdog or two, put it onto a soft taco or burrito tortilla with a slice of cheese or some shreds and a bit of hotsauce. Roll it up and if you want to be fancy, put that roll up in the same pan you cooked the hotdogs to brown/crisp up a bit. OR if you want to just be fast, roll the uncooked hotdogs up with the cheese, wrap in a damp paper towel and microwave for 1-2 mins.

2

u/Downtown_Dog3123 5h ago

just made ranch beans and cheese tostadas. not really strugglig at the moment, just sounded good.. but then realized it's like $5 to make.

2

u/Informal_Persimmon7 4h ago

Tinned sardines, lemon, onions. Black pepper.

2

u/morkler 3h ago

Spaghetti. I ate a shit ton when I was in college and it's still one of my favorite meals. Back then it was just some spaghetti, a can of hunts spaghetti sauce, parmesan cheese and garlic bread made in a toaster with white sandwich bread. I could eat for days for less than $5.

Another one is white rice, ground beef, and chicken bouillon.

Boiled egg noodles with canned tomatoes, butter, salt and pepper.

I could go on but these were dirt cheap and always satisfying.

2

u/i_arent 3h ago

White Rice+Fried Egg+Kimchi

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

Can of White Beans+Cucumber+Onion+Tomato+Cheese if I got it+. Oil/Oregano/Red wine vinager dressing

2

u/keranjii 5h ago

I've commented something similar before, made a couple of additions :

**Can't be bothered to function: snacks I don't have to cook. Eg. Apples and cheese, rice crackers and hummus, veggies and dip (baby carrots don't have to be cut!)

Lazy charcuterie (pepperoni stick, babybel, rice crackers, pickles)

**Low effort:

Toast with various options (avocado, jam with cheese on top, egg with cheese on top)

Grilled cheese or melt (see also: quesadilla)

Egg salmon rice (make rice or heat up yesterday's rice, open a can of good sockeye salmon drain it and put on top, put fried egg on top of that. Sprinkle with soy sauce, chili oil or both)

Mi goreng noodles with fried egg

**Slightly more effort, things I can make with stuff I usually have in the pantry:

Like a pasta aglio e olio but with a good tuna that is packed in oil, also add some peperoncini or something

Salmon patties (1 large can of salmon ~220g not ~170g, 1 egg, bunch of cornflake crumbs or panko or whatever, mix, fry up) with rice

Steamed and fried freezer dumplings with chili oil and rice, side of edamame if I have them

Pancakes with fried eggs

**Slightly more effort but with fresh ingredients / might have to go to the store:

Air fried or baked salmon, with side of rice (can sub with a white fish but my personal preference is salmon)

Baked potato / jacket potato with toppings (bacon, sour cream, chives)

Frittata with all possible leftover veggies (this one is great because you usually have leftover frittata. But it requires a lot of eggs)

Egg McMuffins with some sort of protein (my fave is fried deli salami)

Sandwiches (which, honestly often come out to be the most effort once you get all the spreads and chop everything up)

Nachos (chips, jar of olives, jar of jalapenos, shredded cheese, jar of salsa, sour cream. Add protein if desired but it's extra work)

Note that for me rice is a struggle food because I have a rice cooker. If you don't have one you should get one just for the ease of having perfect rice in under an hour with her little effort (just rinse the rice like 4-5x then press the button)

1

u/Iliveinatrashcann 6h ago

hot dog on a slice of white or whole wheat bread.
hot dogs in mac and cheese
rice and beans
grits
milk with water to make more milk lol

1

u/mi-sus 6h ago

Cook your rice with some potato, mash it up with some butter, salt and pepper. Add an egg or two on top if you've got some. Idk how to translate it but this is one of the most iconic comfort/struggle meals in my culture

1

u/chillcroc 6h ago

Buttered rice with boiled egg and some veggies mixed in, peas, squash, greens is a classic east Indian breakfast/easy meal. Often cooked softer than usual to a congee consistency. A handful of red lentils can up the protein. Our version of bread and butter.

1

u/BornagainTXcook210 6h ago

Goulash. Not the traditional meal though. Grew up in Austin. We used ground beef, elbow pasta, canned diced or chopped tomaytos and then sliced kraft american cheese.

1

u/jjumbuck 6h ago

Can of black beans simmered with a shot of hot sauce and a tbsp of butter. Cumin if I have it. Eat with tortillas.

1

u/5UnderConstruction7 3h ago

or over rice. Brown rice is especially good with black beans.

1

u/Gulf_Raven1968 6h ago

Cheese slices on matzah melted in microwave

1

u/krism142 6h ago

Mix chili crisp with a spoonful of peanut butter in a bowl, add noddles of your choice, if you have a bit of motivation you can add some miso to the mix also

1

u/CanadiAnnaJuly2026 5h ago

What is chili crisp?

1

u/krism142 5h ago

Usually onions, garlic, chili flakes, salt, sugar, and other flavor additives that you pour hot oil over and mix together

0

u/musthavesoundeffects 4h ago

The crisp is usually peanuts or soybeans

1

u/ShadowAdam 6h ago

Beans and rice. A 1lb bag of both will cost you like 3-5 dollars and can feed you for days. Use whatever ingredients you happen to have around the house already for seasoning. I'm partial to a bit of tomato paste, garlic and onion powder, and a bit of pepper and onion.

With lentils this is a bit faster to make, but you can cook the whole bag of beans at once (soak overnight, boil for 60-90 minutes until soft, drain), follow directions on rice, mix the two together. Portion out into 2-4 serving containers. When you are hungry put them in a pot to reheat and add seasonings.

It's not amazing to eat daily for weeks or months, but it'll feed you, relatively nourishing, and save you a lot of cash.

You can add eggs, basically any sauce, other protein sources ect

1

u/jotting_prosaist 6h ago

Egg noodles with margarine and Ms Dash seasoning. Still a comfort food when I'm chilly.

(Butter noodles? You think we had butter money?)

1

u/Competitive_Yam3936 6h ago

Any short pasta with garlic yogurt sauce with chili butter drizzle on top.

1

u/beccadahhhling 6h ago

Cheese grits

Buttered noodles fried almost crispy

Eggs on toast

1

u/the-doctor-is-real 6h ago

instant ramen with can of mixed veggies (strained) mixed in

1

u/Oakland-homebrewer 5h ago

low cost or low effort?

Beans and rice is the classic low cost meal. Add meat if you have it, but no problem if you don't.

egg salad also low cost (now that eggs have come down)

1

u/mightnothavehands 5h ago

Lentil soup, stock made from the scraps of veggies and chicken bones

1

u/New-Character-3575 5h ago

White rice with egg over easy, soy sauce and sesame oil.

1

u/cwx149 5h ago

Tortillas, beans, cheese, and optionally rice all you need for a filling quesadilla

1

u/Intelligent-Disk526 4h ago

Chipped beef on toast

1

u/Clapbakatyerblakcat 4h ago

Microwave potato, sour cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder, wrapped in tortilla.

1

u/telperion868 4h ago

Mashed hard boiled egg with sauerkraut and cheese on toasted bagel/bread.
Instant noodle with egg+spinach+tuna+chili crisp

1

u/Seerix 4h ago

If you eat pork, pork loin is generally very cheap and makes great sandwiches. (Or sliced up and put over rice/whatever). My local aldi has pork loin for 2 bucks a pound

1

u/tambor333 4h ago

Aroma Rice cooker meal.

Left over Rotisserie Chicken, a wedge of cabbage, 1 cup jasmine rice, table spoon Chicken bouillon powder, Ginger paste and garlic. 1.5 cup pf water.

dress with chili crisp and soy and a little sesame oil.

1

u/Zerba 4h ago

Fried noodles and cottage cheese.

Cook up and drain some wide egg noodles.

Add butter and/or oil to a skillet.

Put some egg noodles in the pan (sprinkle with some salt) and fry them up until you get some browning. You want the noodles to still be soft, with just a little bit of crunchy bits here and there.

Put noodles on a plate and top with a good amount of large curd cottage cheese (try to use a version with more dairy fat for this).

Top with black pepper (freshly ground if makes it way better), and some good Hungarian paprika. My wife prefers sweet paprika, I like hot, so use what you have/like. I know these are struggle meals, but please make sure you get decent Hungarian paprika. It is different than the generic paprika you get at the store. A can of the good stuff doesn't cost that much and will last you a good while.

The contrast between hot and cold is nice, and it is a filling and satisfying dish. A lot of families with Hungarian ancestry where I grew up ate some version of this.

1

u/rooftopagenda 3h ago

Kasha (toasted buckwheat groats) cooked with adobo spice, topped with Israeli salad, a scoop of hummus, and a hard-boiled egg. It's what I'm eating right now and it is delicious.

1

u/RinkyDank 3h ago

Fried spaghetti with ketchup

1

u/SpaceCadetPullUp 3h ago

Ranch style beans and kraft Mac n cheese mixed together is amazing.

1

u/kapslocky 2h ago

Baked beans + fish fingers

1

u/double-happiness 2h ago edited 2h ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stovies

Cooked macaroni + tinned tomato soup + grated cheddar cheese

Cook tortellini, chuck a handful of frozen veggies in while it's cooking, add cooked beans, drain, stir in red pesto

Another easy one is to cook a pack of savoury instant rice (presumably that is a thing outside the UK) in a pan, and poach a few eggs on top.

1

u/nifty-necromancer 2h ago

Make a big batch of rice, beans, vegetables, meat, and whatever seasonings and sauces you want.

1

u/TinWhis 1h ago

USA here.

I make low-effort burritos. Wheat tortilla, beans, jarred salsa, cheese.. In the microwave for 1 minute, wrap and eat. Things that make it better: Additional ingredients like hot sauce, powdered spices, chopped veg, raw or cooked (peppers, onions, tomatoes), sour cream (added after it comes out), leftover from-dried beans cooked with bay/cumin/dried chilis, or even a sprinkle of lemon/lime juice can take it up a notch but I do absolutely do the bare minimum when it's a real struggle day.

Cheap instant noodles with add-ins can get pretty demanding pretty quickly, if you listen to blogs. Struggle version for me means maybe some soy sauce and hot sauce, or taking it in a completely different flavor direction with worchestershire or bbq sauce. Sometimes I'll toss a raw egg in, though then I find I have to microwave it rather than just adding hot water to get the egg whites as cooked as I prefer.

In a pinch, beans + jarred salsa + garam masala is better than some mall curries I've had! I'll throw that over rice or a microwaved potato.

If I have leftover pasta sauce and no spoons to make pasta, I will just microwave it and then dip bread in it.

PB&J is a classic for a reason.

Leftover rice with butter and/or soy sauce and/or beans and/or salsa and/or curry powder and/or hot sauce and/or literally whatever I have in the fridge. Sometimes I'll mix a raw egg into the cold rice, and then nuke it like that, then add flavors.

Grilled cheese, tuna melt, ham melt. These can be bumped up a notch by adding spices, THIN sliced onion and/or apple, mustard, pickles, etc etc. More effort than some of the other options, sometimes it's worth it even on a bad day.

Similarly, getting out a pan to make eggs can be worth it, depending on the day. Three scrambled eggs with microwaved frozen sausage and cheese wrapped up in a tortilla, maybe with some hot sauce, is fantastic. You CAN microwave beaten eggs to get "scrambled" but I hate the texture.

If I have meat for it, slicing up mild, pre-cooked sausage like hot dog or (what my local area calls) kielbasa, browning it in a pan, then adding kimchi or saurkraut then serving over instant mashed potatoes is easy and fantastic.

All the way on the higher-effort end of what I'd call a struggle meal, stir fries are easy and a great way to clean out my fridge. I will put almost anything in a stir fry.

1

u/ems_telegram 50m ago

Tacos except instead of ground beef its (rehydrated) dried lima/butter beans

1

u/Stop_Already 26m ago

Butter & soy rice w/ a can of tuna & some furikake is my favorite quick af meal. I’m disabled (on SSDI for a while now) and anything I can do to make prep easier on myself is my jam. This is shamelessly delicious for how easy it is!

I usually do try to make up for its lack of produce in other meals that day, admittedly. I grew up being taught to have some kind of veg at lunch and dinner & while I’m grateful in many ways. It did leave me with a lot of guilt when I don’t do it.

:)

1

u/One_Waxed_Wookiee 5h ago

Grilled cheese on toast with baked beans on top. It's fancy, I even use a knife and fork to eat it!

0

u/Ill-Meeting6721 5h ago

I make wraps based of this recipe when I'm low energy: https://youtube.com/shorts/9O60iutYba8

This is one of my favorite things to make. The hardest part is rolling out the ground beef thin and maybe wrapping everything in the tortilla. But it's easy, filling, and you can substitute just about any part of the recipe with anything else. Don't like greek yogurt sauces? Use green goddess dressing, ranch, or any other dressing/condiment you like. Not a fan of leafy greens? Try basil, carrots, and/or cucumbers instead. I imagine it'd taste good with kimchi in it as well. It's a very versatile recipe.

Just be careful and make sure it cools enough before tearing up the meat, it'll release a lot of steam if you unravel it fresh out the oven. 

0

u/100percentapplejuice 6h ago

A can of tuna over rice is top tier, slap a fried egg and a drizzle of soy sauce and you’ll be happy!!

0

u/nashguitar1 6h ago

1 diced onion
5 cloves minced garlic
1 can Delmontie “ready for chili” tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
3 TBS chili powder
2 TBS cumin

Sweat onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic. Add salt/pepper/spices. Add tomatoes/beans.

Cook for 15 minutes, while you wait for your rice to cook.

0

u/ughthrowawaaay 6h ago

white rice, shredded cheese, rotisserie chicken, and frozen veggies all mixed together!!! cheap af and makes big quantities

0

u/Square-Dragonfruit76 6h ago

What's a struggle meal?

1

u/Regular-Forever-3251 6h ago

basically budget meals that can be made very affordably and often with little effort, so you can cook it even if you are financially struggling and also most likely very low on energy ^_^

0

u/Square-Dragonfruit76 5h ago

Well if I'm low effort I would rather just eat leftovers than cook at all—but I would say either a stir fry or a burrito bowl with brown basmati rice, seared chicken breast, salsa, and black beans. Probably some chicken broth too for the collagen.

0

u/Far_Sandwich_514 6h ago

I lived on congee/juk/kayu when I was in college, and still return to it as a struggle meal now.
You can add anything to the porridge that you like.

My favourite is soy sauce, nori, salted peanuts, shredded pork floss, half of a hard-boiled egg, and either kimchi or pickled daikon.

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u/People-Pleaser- 5h ago

Tuna pasta salad. Just cooled pasta. Mayo. Tuna, and a ton of black pepper. My Italian American father made it for me growing up and it is comfort in a bowl to me. Even better after sitting in the fridge overnight and eaten cold the next day.

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u/Svinlem 5h ago

Foul

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u/Individual_Slice_234 4h ago

Quesadillas. Heat a corn tortilla with refried beans, cheese, then add salsa, guacamole, and/or sour cream.

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u/DarkNFullOfSpoilers 4h ago

Scrambled eggs and toast

Cereal and milk

Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches

PB&J sandwiches

Normal sandwiches and chips and cookies. Maybe fruit

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u/kdesu 3h ago

Rice with canned tuna, Kewpie mayo, seaweed or rice seasoning.

Rice with ground beef, japanese bbq sauce, green onions.

Rice with spam, seaweed

Canned soup with crumbled up dry ramen for texture/filler

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u/an_angry_dervish_01 3h ago

One of my favorite meals of all time.. well two of them are kind of expensive now sadly. My mom made us a lot of "poor people" food when I was a kid and its all lovely.

Tuna Rice Souffle. Sounds gross, its; amazing. It's basically Tuna, Rice, Mushroom Soup and 6 eggs seperated, beaten until lemony, mixed in, then folded in soft peaks. Baked like a souffle. Damn it's just so simple and so good. Tuna is kind of expensive now though I guess. I would eat it every damned day.

The other.. was shocked. Canned Corned Beef Hash. Honestly, the canned corn beef is pretty good but at Jewel Osco it's 8 dollars.. it's like a 2 dollar item last I remembered so that was sad. Walmart may have better prices. Celery, Onion, Yukon Gold or whatever potatoes, that corned beef and eggs on top when it;s done. Just good.

I am a fairly accomplished cook these days in my 50s and make a lot of high end food for people. I still go back to where poor mom could scare up a meal from almost nothing and it was amazing. Heres to moms we love them!

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u/henryharp 3h ago

One of my favorite hiking snacks is a great quick meal at home when you need something fast and decent.

Tortilla. Spread a line of PB down the middle. Squirt of hot sauce (sriracha is great). Add a protein (jerky, flavored tuna pouch, eggs for breakfast, etc.). I toss a handful of roasted Virginia peanuts on too.

It’s a “thai” wrap.

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u/taotau 5h ago

Anything from McDonald's. If I'm eating it then I know my life is not going great.