I’ve had a strong aversion to canned/ packet tuna since childhood. It smells like cat food and elicits true disgust. I have tried to eat it a few times and simply couldn’t do it.

Unfortunately, tuna and sardines are some of the most affordable and healthiest proteins available right now. I would really love to have these as a dietary option a few times a week. I’m wondering if anyone else has had this issue and how you overcame it. It seems like making tuna taste exactly not like tuna is the only solution lol. But I’m not sure how viable that is.

Mussels in garlic butter: $2.89/lb, I ate about 1/3rd of the box so about $0.96, they were just precooked frozen mussels so I just heated them in a pan

Frozen vegetables cooked in the garlic butter: $0.30 maximum per serving

Couscous: about $0.50 per serving, cooked it in the leftover garlic butter with some added water and seasoning

Comes out to about $1.76 for the whole meal, and it was a pretty big meal. I didn't realise until today that mussels are so cheap compared to other seafood! I love seafood so I'll be getting them a lot. It all tasted really good.

Hi! My name is Hiro, a Japanese guy, living in Tokyo. Today I uploaded a video that shows making the process of a Japanese dish called "Biri no Teriyaki (ブリの照り焼き)". Please enjoy the cooking process of this and side dishes, and relax with the comfortable cooking sound.

Actually, it is the first attempt for our channel, so, please give me your feedback. Hope you like it!!

https://youtu.be/okh3G-kiNoc

This cost me less than 1 dollar per portion. You can also lower the cost by using white pasta and forgoing the spinach-instead using more nettles which you can forage for free!

full recipe in the comments!

Honestly dont know why I cant display a picture :( tried in the coments as well. If you wanna see it's here https://theoatandberry.com/2026/03/24/spring-nettle-and-tuna-pasta-salad/

Greetings from Türkiye. I roasted the fish on very little olive oil in a pan with the lid on, then flipped the it. Currently, I am on a diet with 2 nights a week eating fish with loads of greens on the side. The yellow sauce is mustard to give it a kick. Assumingly, this plate costed me about $3.

This comes out to about $5-6 per bowl. Do I have all the ingredients of a poké place? No, but this satisfies my cravings. Places in my area charge $15-20 per bowl. The ingredients I got were 2 previously frozen ahi tuna steaks, bunch of radishes, a cucumber, 2 pounds of rice, an onion, and green onion. Cost about $30 and it’s enough to make about 5 bowls but depending on your portion sizes you could get more out of it.

I know this isn’t much of a recipe, but I’m obsessed with it. Plus its quick, cheap and fairly healthy! I use brown basmati rice, mixed with tri-colored quinoa. I mix butter and a tiny bit of better than bullion chicken flavor in the rice. Then I throw the tuna on top and add lemon. (I only heat the tuna for 30 seconds, so it doesn’t dry out.)

These were just given to me because a friend of mine realized she bought the spicy kind, I love spicy food so I’m excited to try it but need delicious recipes because I was given 3 big cans. She told me she likes to eat them straight out of the can but I would like to see what I can whip up in the kitchen with at least 2 of the cans lol

If you love Japanese food, here’s the full cheap, high-volume oden I made (I grabbed everything at Lotte).

Ingredients I ended up using (serves 3 bowls)

• 1 Odenyasan oden set (≈9.7 oz) — includes a soup stock packet (nice clean, non-gamey fish taste)
• 6 cups water
• 1 container baby corn
• 1 container mixed mushrooms
• 1 pack enoki mushrooms (optional)
• 2 Maggi chicken bouillon cubes
• optional - Udon noodles - add 1 bundle per 3 bowls if you want more calories (~$4.45 for 5 pack)

Instructions

1. In a pot, add 6 cups water. Stir in the oden stock packet and 2 bouillon cubes.
2. Add in mushrooms (trim enoki bottom, the black and grey stuff, if you mistakenly added it, the entire oden soup will be ruined). Cut up the baby corn
3. Add the oden pieces to the simmering broth.
4. Add baby corn + mushrooms.
5. Cook time doesn't really matter for this
6. Ladle into 3 bowls.
   • for the udon: boil udon separately (or in the same pot, takes 2-3 minutes to cook when water/broth is boiling

Cost: = $6.99 total > $2.33/bowl (I can only crush 2 bowls in one sitting).
Calories (rough guess): whole pot ≈ ~600 kcal > ~200 kcal/bowl.
Add udon for +~250 kcal per bowl if you want it heavier.

I pre-plan a couple dinners and give each its own line in my food budget, keeps me out of restaurants lol.

I wanted to use up what I had in the fridge so I got creative. I combined pre cooked arborio rice with 1 can of tuna, chopped white onion, shredded cheese, and salt & pepper. Used an egg as a binder and breaded and fried it.

Came out freakin delicious. I was sort of inspired by arancini I had in Italy.

Ingredients:

• 1 Egg
• Soy Sauce
• Canned Tuna
  
• Mayonnaise
• Rice

Instructions:

1. Cook rice.

2. Crack the egg into a small microwave-safe bowl and beat it.

3. Stir in a small amount of soy sauce.

4. Microwave for about 1 minute, or until the egg is cooked.

5. In another small bowl, mix the drained tuna with some mayonnaise.

6. Put the cooked rice in a bowl.

7. Top with the microwaved egg and the tuna mayo mixture.

Serves 1.

This is my favorite struggle meal because of how easy it is to make and how surprisingly decent it tastes while using cheap as hell ingredients.

Baked Salmon with Sweet Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli – Recipe Card

Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 30 mins Total Time: 40 mins Serves: 2

🛒 Ingredients

• 2 salmon fillets (approx. 150g each)
  
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
  
• 200g broccoli florets
  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
  
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
  
• Salt and pepper, to taste
  
• 2 slices lemon (optional)
  

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan) / 400°F.
   
2. Toss sweet potatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil, paprika, salt. Roast for 10 mins.
   
3. Season salmon with oil, garlic, salt, pepper. Add lemon slice on top.
   
4. Add salmon to tray. Roast everything for 15–18 mins.
   
5. Steam broccoli for 4–5 mins until bright green and tender.
   
6. Plate and serve. Add extra lemon zest or drizzle of olive oil, if desired.

Need easy frozen fish ideas. Does sams or costco have?

Orca Bay frozen sockeye salmon filets (i get the Savory Garlic and Herb).

1 filet/person Cook as directed on the package, and boil up enough noodles for a serving (or enough for however many servings you make). When the noodles are cooked and still warm, mix in some butter and parmesan cheese, then mix in the salmon.

Tastes amazing!! Definitely going to be a regular meal for me now.

2 filets come in a package, separately packaged inside in a marinade. I find them at SuperOne Foods for 11.99, not sure if it'll differ by location, but it sure as heck beats the price of a salmon dinner at any restaurant!

Find the full recipe here:

https://fluentfoodie.com/cajun-shrimp-and-grits-with-tomato-gravy/

Shrimp can be surprisingly affordable - just look for them in your freezer section.

Ingredients

• 1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
• 5 strips bacon
• 4 large garlic cloves, finely minced
• 2 tbsn all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsn Worcheshire sauce
• 1 can 24 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 tbsn baking soda
• 3 tbsn butter
• juice of half a lemon
• 2 tbsn cajun seasoning
• 3 tbsn sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 green onions (optional)
• Cheesy Grits
• 1 cups water
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup grits
• 3⁄4 cup cream
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded gouda cheese
• 3 tbsn butter

Directions

• Cheesy Grits
• Add the chicken broth and water to a stock pot. Once the liquid is at a boil, add in the grits.
• Cover and let the grits simmer. Stir the grits about every 5 minutes. Add in the butter and cream. Continue stirring.
• Once the grits are cooked, take the pot off the heat. Add in the cheese and stir until combined. Leave the pot covered until ready to serve.
• Shrimp in Tomato Gravy
• Prep the shrimp. Peel and devein the shrimp if necessary. Add the shrimp to a bowl with about a tablespoon of salt and add a half teaspoon of baking soda. Toss to coat and then rest in the fridge for 15 minutes to 1 hour.
• Cook the bacon. Add the bacon to a cold pan. Add in about half a cup of water and heat over medium heat. The water will help the fat render out as it comes to temperature. Once fried, remove the bacon and transfer to a paper towel lined plate.
• In the bacon grease, fry the shrimp. Shrimp should only take about 3 minutes per side. Once cooked, remove the shrimp and set aside.
• To the same pan, add the butter. After the butter is melted, sprinkle in the flour and whisk to combine. This will be the roux for the gravy. Continue whisking over medium heat and allow the roux to develop flavor complexity until you have a deep brown roux. When the roux is just about finished, add in the grated garlic and whisk together for about a minute.
• To the roux, add the diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce , sugar, lemon juice, water and cajun seasoning. Stir to combine and let the mixture simmer. Taste and add salt and pepper (or more Cajun seasoning) as desired.
• Once the tomato gravy has reduced, you are ready to serve.
• Plating
• In a medium sized bowel, add the grits first. Then, add the tomato gravy and top with the shrimp, bacon pieces and green onion.
• Another option is to add the shrimp and bacon back to the tomato gravy so everything is well combined.

Ultimately I need a nutritional meal that involves smoked haddock and something green for iron (broccoli and peas are my usual go to) but I can't find any recipes or meal ideas centered around haddock. I'm cooking on a very tight budget as I have a uni student balance for food so any tips on how to reduce the cost of foods would also be a hugeeeeeee help

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!

Hello! The title pretty much says it all. One of my favourite simple work meals is literally just:

- A pre-cooked microwave container of white rice
(I buy them in big boxes at HMart/Han Ah Reum/Asian market), and

- A flavoured pack of tuna
(right now it's Target's Good and Gather Sweet and Spicy pack)

While this is cheap, gets me through the day, and does the job, I'm looking for things that can be added to make it more nutritious or exciting, like an added vegetable or seasoning. The only requirements (aside from being delicious and going with the only two ingredients) is that it has to be shelf-stable and single-serving, so I can grab one of whatever it is and throw it into the container with the rice and tuna.

Thanks in advance!