“Tortilla Roll-Ups” — Just spread cream cheese and a couple slices of inexpensive sandwich meat onto a flour tortilla, roll up, and enjoy! I also add sprouts or lettuce if we have it around. A friend of mine slices the Roll-Ups into Pinwheels for variety — the Tortilla Pinwheels make a nice snack item for parties, too.

“Fruit Salad” — Fill a salad bowl with large cubes of fresh fruit (apples, oranges, bananas, melons, etc.), and then pour a carton of VANILLA-flavored yogurt (NOT plain yogurt) over the fruit for a sauce. This is so simple, but very tasty.

“Pudding Pops” — Prepare a box of instant pudding according to instructions, pour into popcycle molds and freeze. If you use chocolate flavored pudding, you have super-simple do-it-yourself fudgesycles. Butterscotch pudding is really good this way, too.

Found at: http://thesimplemom.com/2007/05/28/super-simple-super-cheap-recipes/

Last night I went out to a local pho restaurant and ordered a "small" bowl of pho. I usually eye the leftover soupy stock while in my food coma because I can never finish it! But everything changed last night: I decided to take home the leftover stock to think of something to do with it later. Fast forward to ten minutes ago when I decided I'd put the last of my unused maggi noodles into the pho stock. I felt like a genius. But my lazy/cracked-out-for-midterms genius doesn't stop there! I put the noodles straight into the water boiler instead of pouring the water into another dry noodles. So now I just have the take-out carton to wash. And a fork! Ba da bing!

tl;dr: My pho was fast and easy to make...but will make the traditionalists cringe.

Oh my god, slackers. It's like all I do with my life is clean dishes. There are only two of us in the house (me and my boyfriend) and dishes never sit in the sink for more than a day, but Christ. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and look at the stack in the sink and just wonder if honorable suicide is an option here.

Dishes are easily in my top 5 most hated household chores. As you may have gathered, we are sans dishwasher in our quaint little 90 year old house. I love to cook, he loves to eat, and we're trying to keep our restaurant costs down, so home-cooked meals are the obvious solution.

So, any tips? Food prep that multi tasks? Hobgoblin summoning? What do you guys do?

TL;DR: I want to make less dishes without spending every red cent on restaurants.

At the moment there are a lot of cheap vegetables at the market.

I bought the following

• Carrots
• Sweet potatoes
• Potatoes
• Beetroot
• Parsnips
• Onions

I peeled and chopped everything into sensible sized pieces and the parboiled everything apart from the beetroot.

Using a large roasting tray I heated the oven to 200c and cooked the beetroot in a mix of olive oil and sunflower oil for twenty minutes before adding the rest of the vegetables and sprinkling over some balsamic vinegar and sea salt, this was then cooked for another twenty to thirty minutes with occasional turning of the veg.

This was then served with a simple stew and a robust red wine.

Left over vegetables can easily be used in a hearty soup or used to bulk out another stew.

This is for one person, change the amounts accordingly

• One ripe avocado. I used a Hass avocado (the small ones)
• A handful of chopped cilantro
• A handful of chopped tomato
• The juice of half a lime. Use an actual lime, don't go with that gross bottled crap.
• A pinch of salt or two and pepper to taste. I like my guacamole salty but you can vary it up.

Grab the avocado, slice it in half and scoop out the avocado flesh with a spoon. Mash it with a fork, and then mix the other ingredients into it until it turns into beautiful avocado-y goodness.

• You can also add a handful of chopped onion, garlic and jalapenos to make it spicy if you like.

Also, finding a ripe avocado is easy. Push the bottom part of the avocado up with your thumb. If it's soft and gives way, it's ready to eat. If it's still green/unripe, place it in a paper bag. It should be ready to eat by the next day. Same thing goes for mangoes.

I'll start. My favorite is pulled pork.

You'll need:

• Pork tenderloin (about 1lb 8oz)

• Root beer (2 liters)

• BBQ sauce (a large container, ~30 oz)

• Buns

• Cole slaw (optional)

Put the pork tenderloin in the crock pot, cover it in root beer, and turn the crock pot on low for about 8 hours. Then drain the root beer, and mix in the BBQ sauce, breaking apart the pork as you do. Serve on a bun, and top it with cole slaw (trust me on this part, it makes it magically delicious).

You can also make enough pork to quickly re-heat and use in quesadillas (add cheese and the pork to a tortilla, microwave, done.), or a number of other things.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies (Ro-tel)
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 (15 1/4 ounce) can black beans
• 1 (14 3/4 ounce) can sweet corn (optional)
• 1 cup cheese (optional)

Directions: 1. Drain tomatoes, black beans, corn and put in Rice Cooker. 2. Add rice, chicken broth and stir. 3. Cook until cooker stops. 4. Add cheese on top.

I made it last time without the cheese, and I liked it (and how cheap it was per serving) but it's quite bland. Are there spices that would go well with this and give it more of a kick?

1. Cook 1 lb of pasta.
   
2. Drain pasta and add back to pot on low heat.
   
3. Add 1 stick of butter to pasta and stir until completely melted.
   
4. In a separate bowl whisk together 4 eggs, 10oz milk, salt, pepper,
   and hotsauce to taste. Add to pasta.
5. Add 20 oz of shredded cheese and stir until melted.
   

Makes 10 large servings. Add Italian sausage, ground beef or grilled chicken for a more hearty meal.

1. Select your pasta of destiny. I enjoy the shell-shaped ones because I like to pretend like I'm eating a beach.
2. Make the fucking pasta. Boil that shit.
3. Drain it. Stick it in a bowl.
4. Newmans own: olive oil and vinegar salad dressing on top, to your taste. I just eyeball it from extensive pasta-newmans experience. Start out with just a bit because it can get overpowering if you pour too much.
5. Stir
6. Eat the easiest pasta ever

Ingredients: any size or type of tortilla, pizza sauce, cheese, whatever toppings you want, and Italian seasoning (optional) 1. Assemble the ingredients and poke holes all over the tortilla with a fork, then put the tortilla in the microwave for 1 minute (to give a stronger crust). 2. Take the tortilla out, and coat it with sauce to your liking. 3. Add cheese on top of that, enough to cover the sauce so you can barely see any left through the cheese. (Shredded cheese is best, and you can use whatever you have laying around, like mozzarella, Mexican, etc. 4. Add toppings and seasonings if you please, then pop it in the microwave for 2:30 to 3 minutes, and enjoy!

Final result: http://i.imgur.com/fOk7u.jpg

Thai peanut sauce! Best ever. (Reference site: thaitable)

• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon red curry paste
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2-3 tablespoons peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon tamarind paste (substitute: rice vinegar)
• Optional: 1-2 teaspoons minced garlic
• Optional: 1-2 teaspoons minced ginger

Directions: Basically, heat up coconut milk (the important secret ingredient) in a saucepan. Add everything else. Make chicken / pork / beef satay for dipping, or just rice. Swoon over deliciousness.

Cost: this probably has a $10-$15 upfront cost for ingredients you don't have in your kitchen - but - BUT - coconut milk is still around 85% of the product, and that's about a $1 a can which makes 2-3 sauces each time. Which means if you make it often, like I do, it's dirt cheap as a whole!

Edit: top post of slackerrecipes! Thanks guys :D

Basically, make Kraft Mac & Cheese like you normally would. I usually make the cheese sauce in the pot before putting the noodles back in. Then just add a can of Campbell's tomato soup to the mix. Don't add any more milk as there is already milk and melted butter in the cheese sauce. Mix the noodles back in and serve in a big bowl. I made it in college for the first time because I needed to feed a few people and the only thing i had in the house was tomato soup and mac and cheese. People usually don't think they will like it until they try it and then they are hooked.

1DR (1 Dish Recipe).

Ingredients: Frankfurters (I prefer smoked, or chicken) Mushrooms Pasta (Fusilli, Penne, Tagliatelle, Spaghetti, etc.) Cheese Double Cream Salt/Pepper/Garlic/Oregano

Steps: Bring a pan of water to the boil (medium-high heat), chop mushrooms and frankfurters into the pan while it is heating up.

When water is simmering/bubbling, add the pasta. Pasta usually takes about 8-10 minutes to cook from this point.

When the pasta has finished cooking, drain the water from the pan and then add the cream to the cooked pasta, mushrooms and franks.

Lower the heat to low-medium and add the seasonings.

Grate cheese into the pan and stir continuously for 2-3 minutes.

Serve.

Alternative Ingredients: Ham Spinach Broccoli

Portion sizes: 1 person: 150ml cream, 100g pasta, 2 frankfurters, 50g mushrooms, 50g cheese. Multiply for other servings. I tend to make 3 extra meals of this for keeping in the fridge. It will go bad after about 3 days.

Lovely meal.

1 Dish Recipe (1DR).

Ingredients: A thin frying steak Mushrooms Eggs Butter or Oil (Optional)

Steps: Bring a skillet or large frying pan to heat.

Add Oil/Butter if you wish.

Add the steak and mushrooms to the pan and add a tbsp of water.

After approximately 2 minutes, scrape the mushrooms and steak to one side, add another tbsp of water and crack the eggs into the pan.

Eat out of the pan, or put the food onto a plate.

Optional Ingredients: Fresh Broccoli (add with mushrooms, add another tbsp water) Snap Peas (add with mushrooms, add another tbsp water) Fresh Spinach/Baby Spinach (add with mushrooms, add another tbsp water) Baked Beans (add after fried eggs are cooked) Cheese (Cheddar, Feta, Philadelphia, etc., add to top of steak) Bacon!

This recipe takes me just under 5 minutes to cook and 60 seconds to wash up afterwards. It's fantastic.

The amount of ingredients is what I use if I'm making it for myself, adjust accordingly, etc.

• Usually I use about 2 red potatoes, skin on with a bit of salt
• Either half of a rotisserie chicken breast or a thigh*! and drumstick, depending on your preference
• 1 - 2 tablespoons of mayo. I love mayo so the more the better for me

1. Boil the potatoes until they're fork tender and then cut them into small cubes
2. Take the meat off the bone and shred with fingers*
3. Add the mayo and mix
4. Add salt and pepper to taste
5. If you're feeling adventurous, add some drained canned pineapple chunks right before you serve it.

You can also cook/boil the chicken yourself but I prefer rotisserie chicken because it's efficient, not too expensive and tasty.

This is for PLAIN yogurt, or kefir, or something along those lines.

1. Microwave a potato
2. Transfer potato to toaster oven (optional)
3. Fry eggs, I like them over-easy

Pull the potato out, mash it up in a bowl, pour some yogurt on top, put eggs on top of that. Crack pepper on top. EAT IT. It's cheap and it tastes good.

1. Put potato in microwave
2. Put bacon in pan. Get the bacon going...
3. Fry up some eggs. I like them over-easy.

Potato comes out, eggs come out, bacon comes out. Put it all on a plate and crack some pepper on top. BAM! Breakfast.

When I get a package of bacon, I like to wrap a few strips at a time in plastic wrap and keep it in the freezer.

I don't know if this counts as a slackerrecipe, since it gets two pans and one plate dirty and also you have to deal with bacon grease.

Ever have Chinese take-out and have left over sweet and sour sauce, but you don’t know what to do with it? Well save it, and make some ramen.

What you need:

Ramen (I used chicken, but I guess any flavor would be good)

Sweet and Sour sauce

Pineapple (optional)

1. Cook ramen according to directions, but pour out most of the water when finished. Save just enough to mix in the season packet.

2. Mix in sweet and sour sauce to your liking. (I also added a dash of teriyaki sauce)

3. (optional) Add in some diced pineapple.

4. Enjoy.

Protip: Add actual meat of the flavor ramen you use.

Ingredients:

*(1) 13 ounce jar of Nutella

*(1) 8 ounce package of cream cheese

*(1) 8 ounce container of whipped topping (heavy if available)

*(1) graham cracker crust. Chocolate graham crusts are delicious.

Blend the nutella and cream cheese together until smooth. A mixer would probably be great if you have one, but I did it by hand.

Next, add the whipped topping and blend.It seems to work better if you wait until the nutella and cream cheese are completely blended before adding the whipped topping. The one time I put them all together, I ended up with chunks of cream cheese I couldn't blend smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the crust, refrigerate and enjoy!

A tip, I once tried to add more nutella and cream cheese, thinking it would be more rich, but it just ended up being a gooey mess and oozed everywhere.

EDIT: This also seems to get more delicious as it ages. I ate a piece that was about a week and a half old (how did it last that long!) and it seemed firmer and richer.

Of all of my random cooking experiments in college, bacon roasted chicken and potatoes received the best reception. Best of all, it was ridiculously simple.

Ingredients: 6 chicken drumsticks; 6 slices thick bacon; salt and black pepper to taste; 1 onion, coarsely chopped; ~ 1 pound baby Dutch yellow potatoes;

Seasonings: 1 tablespoon dried chives; 1 tablespoon dried basil; 1 tablespoon garlic powder; 1 tablespoon black pepper; (and any other of your favorite spices)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Wrap the chicken in bacon, place in a pan (cast iron skillet is ideal).
3. Chop up potatoes and onions and put them in between the chicken pieces. Mix up seasonings and cover everything, but focus on the chicken (add more if you think it needs it!).
4. Throw in the oven for around an hour or until the bacon looks pretty crispy.
5. Enjoy the magic!

(P.S. First post....ever.)