my usual go-to coffee drink lately: a mug of hot water, plus about a heaping tablespoon of instant coffee. add french vanilla creamer until it tastes like the toasted outer part of a toasted marshmallow. ....I've been doing it with decaf lately, because this isn't even about the caffeine any more, I legit just love the taste of this.

Food hack for instant hot cocoa that's disgustingly thin because it's made with water instead of milk: mix in a generous amount of whipped cream.

It's more fat dense than milk, so it evens out with the water base to something drinkable.

Garlic pizza bread

also all of these Captcha Check

oatmeal! (note, I do this in a large latte/soup mug, which is basically like. a 24oz-ish ceramic bowl with a handle. still have to keep an eye on it if you microwave it, though.) ...take plain oatmeal, get it covered in water and then some. microwave the heck out of it, until it's so cooked it's kinda gelled up some. mash in an over-ripe banana.

add cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin spice, cardamon, idk, whatever you have on hand, a very generous pinch of salt if you're feeling brave and your diet will allow you to, and butter on top. the result is basically banana-bread except as an oatmeal. 🤤

It's not exactly going to turn it into gourmet hot cocoa, but it'll salvage cheap corner store cocoa if you need a hot drink on the go and don't want coffee.

One thing I like doing is adding Alpine Spiced Apple Cider mix (that specifically, the generics are more sugary and have less Vitamin C) to hot tea. It works very well in Constant Comment/orange spice, but there are many more teas it works well in too.

savory tomato bisque soup dirt cheap: get a store-brand can of tomato soup, Walmart brand is great. only add a half to a third of a can of water, NOT the whole can as directed. just. use it to get the last of the soup out of the can, lol. add a very generous giant spoonful (or two!) of sour cream, and a couple good shakes of basil. omg amazing.

oooh

oh also, if anyone wants to add dirt-cheap/easy-as-heck recipes to this, those'd prolly be great. I know I didn't feel like spending any effort at all on food today, so uh. my toasted-marshmallow-impersonating coffee drink and a pbj it was, heh.

Oh! One thing I love but haven't had the spoons to make in ages: cubed beef seared in the bottom of a pot, then boiled in cream of mushroom soup until cooked tender, served over rice.

comfort foods, easy foods, cheapo foods, let's get it all in here. times may be tough, but that doesn't mean we can't still have nice things!

plus: it's not called "being lazy". it's called "applied efficiency"!

ooh.

Can also work with chicken, adding in poultry seasoning to taste.

am reminded of an easy one I had all the time, growing up, and some again lately: put raw chicken in a baking pan. frozen chicken breasts is fine! drumsticks and wings? fine! it's all good, just dump it in, spread it out a bit. now cover it in cream-of-something soup. chicken and mushroom and even broccoli are all good choices. just cover it. only need to

add a bit of water to the bottom so it doesn't just end up dehydrating on the lower part. shouldn't be hard to find the oven times and temps online; I'm just blanking on it atm, sorry.

is excellent served with rice and some veggie or other. if you have a rice cooker, that's a single button, just push it and walk away, lol.

Mom's spaghetti.

(Requires ground meat, green peppers, mushrooms, onions, tomato sauce and paste, and time, but the result is worth it, and can be made at 'feed a large gathering' scales.)

I REALLY want a new rice cooker, it's one of the things I lost when my house got broken into :T

reminds me: my mom's taco sauce lol. brown and crumble a pound or two of ground beef. throw in a bunch of dried minced onions. squirt in a bunch of ketchup and yellow mustard. should be tangy and sweet when done. (cheap? cheating? yes to both. also easy af. don't even need to measure it much, just eye it/to taste, lmfao.)

serve in tortilla or taco shell, or over nachos with other toppings. said other toppings suggestions include: chopped tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, shredded cheese, olives, guacamole, and absolutely cannot forget heated-up refried beans!

that was a party favorite at my house, growing up. most of the work was simply in chopping up the veggies and grating cheese, lmfao

it doesn't have to be elegant, it just has to taste good and feed you, right?

also THANK YOU EVERYONE who's posted in here so far, this is all lovely and I'd be glad to have it keep coming!

Oh! If you like teriyaki, you can make it at home pretty easily! It's just soy sauce, mirin, and brown sugar, mixed together and cooked down to the desired thickness.

instant ramen hacks
Maruchan-brand chicken flavor: with boiled egg and fresh green onions

also Maruchan chicken: cook the noodles, drain off the water, THEN add the seasoning packet... and RANCH DRESSING!

any brand: beef, pork, or chicken. cook the noodles. drain off the water, THEN add seasoning packet... AND BARBECUE SAUCE!

If you have proper, sweet mirin, it's equal parts soy sauce and mirin, half as much (by volume) brown sugar. If you're using a dry cooking wine/sake, double the brown sugar.

sweet-and-tangy works great for it. ask for a barbecue sauce or two from McDonald's next time you get something there; about one of their little tubs is both the perfect size and taste for one brick of chicken ramen!

Adding whatever scraps of lunchmeat and leftover veggies you have in the fridge to instant ramen and eggs can work great, too.

other ramen hacks: consider chopping up your veg in advance. bok choy is generally awesome, especially for this purpose. ....and freeze it. then once you've cooked your ramen, and are waiting for it to cool down so you can eat it without burning your mouth? toss in the frozen veg! it'll chill the soup, and since freezing it destroys the cell walls'

structural integrity, by the time they've been properly heated up by your ramen broth, they're basically "cooked" already, soft and glossy!

Oh! If you have a local Chinatown, they tend to have small, independent groceries that sell ingredients and Chinese foods for fairly cheap.

oh heck yes, seconding import grocers!

I'll come back to this to post my cookie recipes; I gotta get some food real quick.

(yanno, speaking of, and all. XD)

I lived right by Chinatown when I was in San Fran, and they had fish there that was so fresh, it might splash you as you walked past!

OH but first: boxed mac and cheese. I know the instructions say to use milk and butter, but to heck with that, try using milk and sour cream. makes it super thick and fluffy and gives it a sharper cheddar flavor instead of mild. A+, absolutely my favorite way to fix it, hands down.

(There were also dim sum places that sold bao buns for $.50 each, and I fell in love with them.)

If you have chai tea powder at home, try this trick I use to make it similar to Starbucks’ Chai Tea Latte: add some hot milk and vanilla syrup.

My instant-ramen hack of choice is 'dump leftover meat into noodles.' I let mine sit for a while after the cooking time, and that's plenty for the meat to get reheated.

(My favorite to do this with is leftover Chili's ribs, but whatever leftovers you have hanging around the fridge will do nicely. If I remember it's there tomorrow I'm planning to add some leftover meat loaf.)

Two-Minute Cookies:
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup milk

Boil for one minute. Add:

1/2 cup peanut butter

Mix in. Add:

2 cups oatmeal (regular, uncooked)

Mix. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper or lightly buttered cookie sheet. Let cool.

THEY MAY BE GOOEY, and if they're too gooey to fall apart, either A, eat them with a spoon, why not, or B, cook them on the stove a little longer next time. XD

Easy FLOURLESS Peanut Butter Cookies:
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar

Mix it up

Ball it up into 1 1/2" balls

Flatten balls with fork onto cookie sheet

Bake at 350*F for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Oh this is pretty yummy

^ this is what those look like, fyi

just sourcing images from Google Images, but this is representative!

If you want to also make them dairy free, you can substitute mashed banana or softened quinoa for the egg.

SCOTCHAROOS
these take a little more work than those two recipes, but they're a family favorite of mine:
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar

Bring to just under a boil, dissolving the sugar. Stir.

1 cup creamy peanut butter

Stir that in well, dissolve it.

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal (name brand works best!)

Mix it in, coat the cereal thoroughly.

Flatten cereal mix into a large cookie sheet or baking pan, and let cool. Top with choco-PB frosting.

the frosting:
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon peanut butter
3 tablespoons cocoa

Mix together.

2-3 tablespoons milk

Add milk GRADUALLY.

Peanut butter candy is also easy to make, just mix peanut butter and powdered sugar over low heat until you get it to the consistency and sweetness you want.

^ that image WAS taken by me, one of the times my dad made scotcharoos.

(he didn't bother with a baking sheet, he just put some plastic wrap over a huge cutting board that night, lol)

there, bot and its evidence has been removed.