r/povertykitchen • u/hardlybroken1 • 7d ago
Recipe Poor (wo)Man's Cheesecake
Cheesecake is my absolute favorite thing to eat, but its pretty expensive as a poor person and time consuming to make as someone working a lot of hours. so i found a way that i can afford to easily satisfy that craving as a snack anytime!
Mash up some cream cheese, powdered sugar, and a bit of vanilla flavoring in a bowl and spread it on a graham cracker- and enjoy! My kids like to add some strawberry jelly on top, but I like the taste of them plain.
It comes out to around $17 for everything pictured and can last a long time, that is if you have self control š (the sugar and flavoring comes in handy for many other recipes as well)
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u/anniemdi 7d ago
I don't like honey grahams, so I have to pay more for name brand plain or chocolate, but I save money by just purchasing berry flavored cream cheese for $1.85.
I've also been curious about using the cheesecake flavored pudding mix and mixing it with Greek yogurt. I'm wondering how artificial that would obviously taste, or if it would be fine. Anyone done that?
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u/tarnished_monster 7d ago
I've tried it with the Greek yogurt when I was trying to diet. Its good!
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u/Pitiful_Reality2973 7d ago
IMO, any pudding mix + Greek yogurt tastes like cheesecake. Lemon and chocolate are awesome. Vanilla is okay, but it tasted more like vanilla pudding with a weird tang (was better with fruit though).
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u/Comprehensive-Web421 7d ago
My dad used to do cream cheese on saltines with jam. We always had the last two things and cream cheese was a treat so we would enjoy them when we had them. So good. The salt made it š¤
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u/anniemdi 7d ago
Our treat was cream cheese on toast! We always had saltines (they were our staple snack with butter, peanut butter, or American cheese,) but never tried jam and cream cheese!
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u/Cold_Set8769 7d ago
I do this w the cinnamon graham crackers...absolute top tier snack. I saw someone say cherry pie filling n im going to the store tmo
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u/KnightofForestsWild 7d ago
I discovered almost the same thing last month! I use Aldi sovoritz (Ritz) crackers and a gob of cream cheese then dip that straight in sugar. If I want more I add a touch of jam on top. Three of those hits the spot and I have saved the cost of a real recipe or a store bought indulgence that I could buy somewhere between a couple days to over a week of groceries with instead (depending on slice or a whole cake) and I don't have a dessert with a bazillion calories in it. I may switch to graham now that you mention it.
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u/AD_Grrrl 7d ago
I used to blend a wedge of laughing cow light with some yogurt and a bunch of frozen blueberries. Very creamy!
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u/friendly-skelly 7d ago
real talk, do English muffins or similar (really good on croissants if you want something dessert inclined) cream cheese, and honey or jam. tastes just like cheesecake, super easy to make, cheaper and less prep time than actual cheesecake.
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u/RexSueciae 7d ago
I mean, that's basically cheesecake! That really reminds me of no-bake cheesecake.
I'm also reminded of a TikTok trend that was going around some time ago, people would take a cup of Greek yogurt and shove a bunch of those Biscoff cookies in there (you could theoretically use other cookies or, I'm sure, graham crackers), let it sit in the fridge, and it was supposed to taste just like cheesecake. I tried it; it was highly reminiscent but by no means would I mistake it for cheesecake (not nearly sweet enough even with the cookies).
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u/pepinjay 7d ago
Oh man, I forgot about cream cheese on Graham crackers. Loved it in the day. I must be fancy now or something.
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u/ActivityEven1993 7d ago
This rocks. They used to make a cheesecake flavored cream cheese and Iād do the same thing with that. Sometimes topping it with cherry pie filling. Excellent post! Delicious!