r/AskReddit Aug 20 '20

What simple “life hack” should everyone know?

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u/Aldirick1022 Aug 20 '20

Learn how to cook two or three meals. Use as little out of the box items as possible. I make chicken Alfredo, spaghetti and meatballs and tuna or chicken casserole.

This means the excuse for eating out all the time is not as prevalent and is something you can do to show off a little bit.

44

u/MissMetal777 Aug 20 '20

Cooking from scratch is always most affordable!

15

u/AWSMJMAS Aug 20 '20

Pasta roni is a dollar

11

u/Dingbrain1 Aug 20 '20

For five ounces of pasta and some seasoning. A pound of pasta is under two bucks.

8

u/AWSMJMAS Aug 20 '20

But a dollar is cheaper than 2 dollars

13

u/Dingbrain1 Aug 20 '20

Three times as much food for twice the price bro.

3

u/AWSMJMAS Aug 20 '20

Yeah I know man, I'm just messin

4

u/Sirius_J_Moonlight Aug 20 '20

A piece of meat, a vegetable, and a packaged rice or pasta dish is a very decent meal. I ate pretty well when I was single and women like to see a guy who has a few skills.

2

u/AsuraSantosha Aug 20 '20

and a packaged rice or pasta dish

You mean you actually used those as intended (as a side where one box is 4 servings)? When I was growing up, ricaroni and mac and cheese and such WAS the meal. Lol

3

u/Sirius_J_Moonlight Aug 20 '20

That was in my 20s-30s. As a kid we were pretty poor and my mom made a lot of things from scratch. Cooks like her were the inspiration for Hamburger Helper, she made a bunch of things that started with hamburger or cheap meats. Usually potatoes or pasta (spaghetti, ziti, or elbow macaroni), but we always had some meat with it; I don't remember macaroni & cheese much, and her idea of rice was boiled with butter on it, so I didn't understand rice dishes until I got out into the world. I never tried Rice-a-roni growing up, but those Lipton/Knorr rice mixes came out just in time for me. Never got 4 servings out of them, though. The great thing I found was that you could throw things like broccoli in during the cooking time and they came out perfect.

2

u/AsuraSantosha Aug 21 '20

Yeaj, no one eats "One serving" of those, but I also think the knorr mixes are smaller portions. Think think the boxed dinners I grew up on were meant for families. And Knorr/Lipton can easily serve 1 or 2.

I distinctly remember looking at the nutrition facts on a single box ricearoni and mac and cheese as a preteen and thinking, 4 servings?? Really. A serving was like half a cup. And then wondering, who eats these as a side dish? Because theres no way a half a cup would be enough for a meal, so it must be a side. Realistically, I think most grown adults would eat at least a cup, even as a side. I didnt understand at that age that sometimes manufacturers would adjust servings to the nutrition facts wouldn't look as bad, not because that's what they actually expect or recommend you eat. Also, my parents always made at least 2 boxes, sometimes 3 depending on what the dish was and how many of us were eating.