With all the bills tackling me at every corner I don't have the time or money to purchase 'real foods'. I like to try to 'fancy up' cheap and easy meals to make them a little more enjoyable and to have a larger variety of what to have. For example, sometimes I'll add alfredo sauce to my ramen and to me it tastes just as good as boiled pasta with alfredo. Yum yum! Does anyone else do any fancy, easy tricks to spice up a humble meal? Any ideas or thoughts?
Definitely, my favorite thing is to buy those small strips of chick covered in batter that every butcher seems to have. The kind you just put in the microwave for 10 minutes and are done. If you whip up a simple garlic sauce with it, and boil some frozen vegetables it only takes half an hour at most and ends up looking and tasting great!
I've been known to dress up some cheap and easy food, for sure. There are a million things you can do with ramen- add different sauces and herbs, crisp it up a little, give it some ethnic leanings. But if you spend some time and thought on it, you can get just as much (heck, sometimes more!) "real" food for the same price you're spending on cheap processed stuff. We go to our farmers market a lot and you can get plenty of fresh, locally grown food for really good prices. Not to mentioning mixing store adds and other coupons together can get you some steals on fresh, even organic food at a lot of stores. It's all about how you look at it =).
Cream of mushroom soup is my go to when I need to make a meal more appealing. I add the soup to noodles, chicken and peas, just make some garlic bread and a salad and you are eating like a king.
I don't know what I would do without my microwave. The toaster oven to warm up some chicken tenders, fish sticks, or fries is my second go-to option. There are certain dollar stores that have a frozen food section and have a bag of fries for just $1! A big bag too and they taste the same as the different types that can be bought at any other grocery store.
