15+ People Admit to the Cheap Meals They Are Always Ready to Eat

You probably remember some delicious yet simple meals from your childhood. We loved those meals but it wasn’t until we grew up that we realized that our parents made them for us because they didn’t have a lot of money. So, internet users decided to remember the favorite cheap, but yummy meals that were served in their families.

We at Bright Side have chosen some meals for this compilation that made us feel a little nostalgic.

• Before going camping, my grandma would always take a baguette, cut it into 3 pieces horizontally, put some butter and jam inside, and put the pieces back together. When we sat down for a snack, she would cut the baguette into regular pieces, and it would taste like a cake. © Diana2807 / Pikabu
• “Ghetto Mac” it’s where you make some pasta and add in whatever you can find in the fridge or cabinets. Cheese, lunch meat, spices, etc. No two meals were ever the same. © RhondaTheHonda / Reddit
• Take a big piece of any type of bread, put some mayo or sour cream on it. Take a sausage and cut it into pieces, don’t forget a pickle. Put all this on the bread. © vdenom / Pikabu
• Boiled potatoes and butter. Don’t care if I am rich or poor, that is my go-to snack. © dap***addict / Reddit

• I remember a big pot of beans living in the fridge. Hungry? Get some beans. Don’t like what was for dinner? Get some beans. Upset stomach? Beans. © Veronicon / Reddit

• Pancakes. Cheap to make, filling, and can be eaten with whatever is in your fridge. © HrabiaVulpes / Reddit

• My mother used to make fried mush. This was graham flour stirred into boiling water, salt and pepper added, then poured into a greased pan or bowl to set until firm. As children, we loved this and thought it a special treat not knowing it was because the food budget for the month had run well down. © Jo Turner / Quora

• Steamed white rice, crack a raw egg in it while it’s scorching hot, stir aggressively and dash with soy sauce. Add some roasted seaweed to that mix. Super cheap breakfast but, oh man, is it delicious. © MrCosmicChronic / Reddit
• My favorite soup from my childhood: a pot of water with canned fish, a big potato, and an onion. If you have some parsley, put it in there too. If not, just add salt. Delicious. © Svetiggg / Pikabu

• My grandma (who grew up during WWII) taught me that you can make soup from almost anything. At least once a week I just throw a bunch of scrap veggies, leftover meat, rice, and whatever other random bits are left over from the week’s meals into a pot with some stock, boil it all together, and bam! © OreoHeaux / Reddit

• I was reminiscing about meals from my childhood when I remembered the super-carrot-balls that my mom used to make. I called my mom, asked for the recipe, and she started crying. She asked me why I had no money and I told her that I just wanted this meal. And she started crying even more. She explained that when I was a kid, we had no money at all, and when I would ask for meatballs, she would make “meatballs” from carrots. © Stripjobnsk / Pikabu

• We made bread: water, salt, sugar, a bit of oil, and flour. We mixed it all and baked it on a dry frying pan under the lid. My kids love this bread even now. © LalyFam / Pikabu

• Sometimes we would have a special treat and have pancakes for dinner. These would have been topped off with some golden syrup or lemon and sugar. For the lemons, we would have to go around to our aunty and get them off her tree. It was only sometime later, after we were all adults, that we found out that the reason for the pancakes was that some of our milk had soured and the recipe mom used for the pancakes used sour milk as one of the ingredients. © Robert Thompson / Quora

• I’m a chef. I own a restaurant. I’ve eaten some of the finest foods on this planet. Very few things taste better than a box Mac and cheese with cut-up hot dogs. © Sirnando138 / Reddit

• Cinnamon toast. Just bread, butter, cinnamon, and sugar mixed together. © shaingel_sle / Reddit

• My mom made crusts: flour, water, and salt. She fried them in oil, topped them with sugar, and we ate them. I loved this meal. © ExtremalnoDerzko / Pikabu

• One evening we were having spaghetti for dinner, with “garlic bread.” Nothing fancy — spaghetti noodles, canned sauce, some powdered parmesan cheese in the green can. Our garlic bread was just sliced bread, toasted, with butter and garlic powder sprinkled on it. One day, we had an extra kid at the table. Well, the next day, his mom called my mom — “WHAT did you feed my kid last night? He won’t stop talking about this AMAZING garlic bread that he had at your place.” My mom was kind of embarrassed describing it to her — and when her friend finally understood, she was kind of shocked. They always had big fancy garlic loaves with their pasta! I still enjoy my garlic toast made this way — it’s easy and quick and goes well with my spaghetti. © LeeAnn Pultz / Quora

• Cut a circular hole in a piece of white bread, put a little butter on both sides, drop it in a pan, and break an egg in the middle. © YamsAreTastyBro / Reddit

We wanted to eat some of these meals while preparing the article. Do you have your own cheap meals that you love! Share the recipes with us!