- Regarding meats:
1) Cheap proteins like chicken, pork, and egg are very versatile.
2) Go to the cheapest grocery store you can if you are shopping for meats. Most grocery store butcher shops operate by having most of the meat (this mostly applies to beef and pork) already pre-trimmed and vacuum-sealed in their own juices and possibly extra saline solution - and ready for meat cutters to finish and package.
3) Most retail stores get their meat from the same few major companies in the U.S. If you truly want high quality beef when you want to splurge, visit a local butcher shop and have a conversation with the employee about what you want to prepare.
4) Beef is a luxury meat in the U.S. You will find that even the cheapest of cuts have become much more expensive over the years because of people willing to cook @ home more mainly due to social media inspiration and YouTube. If you insist on a beef dish, I recommend cuts that are tough but become more tender with a longer and slower cooking process. If you want a more tender and flavorful cut like, say, Ribeye, just wait until it goes on sale. If you want, go ahead and buy extra then freeze it in an air-tight bag (Even better if you have a Food Saver)
5) Think about the classics you may have had as a child like "beef pot roast." Just about any beef cut can be slow-cooked but the tougher cuts. There are 2 cuts I very much dislike and will always recommend you AVOID: Eye of Round and sliced "Petite" Sirloin steaks. Avoid these like the plague because they are not worth your money. These cuts are best used as lean meat in ground beef IMHO. For pork I think its best to avoid all lean meats for slow cooking but this is my opinion and it also doesn't mean that fatty cuts can't be cooked quickly, but it is certainly important to know your cuts!
- Vegetables:
1) Try some canned or frozen vegetables. Nutritional content is great if not better in a lot of cases.
2_ For canned, you will notice some vegetables are pretty poor in overall quality -- but especially texture. Still, be adventurous and TRY cooking with some canned vegetables. You can cook off slimy/soft textures with dry baking or frying in oil... But yes, some canned vegetables pretty much are going to not budge for your budget. Try frozen as well and see which vegetables work for you in certain recipes.
3) I'm a huge fan of always having canned tomatoes and tomato paste on-hand.
4) There are actually a lot of better canned brands nowadays. Check the side of the can to see the ingredients; if it just says the vegetable with either salt or oil then you know it has been minimally altered. However, this does not mean it hasn't been it hasn't been "processed," and processed foods doesn't mean bad foods. American consumerism is always about having the "freshest, highest quality ingredients" so people stigmatize anything that isn't "Fresh."
- "Fresh?":
1) Believe it or not but much of retail meat is already weeks/months old after slaughter/initial packaging to ship. HOW is this possible? Because of how it is processed, packaged, and handled in very specific conditions before it arrives/facilities at stores for final processing. The same case with produce. Ever see bananas with cobwebs? Note how all tomatoes have next to no flavor? Did you know the average apple is already about a year old by the time it reaches the store?
2) Many practices mislead consumers into believing that what they are buying is less than a week old after harvesting but this simply isn't true, and makes a negligible difference on nutrition content or flavor so it shouldn't be heavily criticized aside from the fact that it is a shady practice of the American Free Market.
Still, don't be afraid of buying an apple just because you have learned this. If it is on the store shelf it is probably a perfectly good apple.
Lastly.. Be adventurous, but understand cooking concepts:
1) Look into how other cultures prepare food. Maybe try a dish that is foreign to you. Indian cooking is a great introduction into spices for example. Knowing how to use the spices is a key component to authentic indian cooking. Sure, you could just throw it all in a crockpot and forget about it but that takes out the "understand" process of cooking.
2) Try different grains like rice, quinoa, or oats... or plant-based proteins like beans/lentils. Rice goes a very long way and it is the easiest and most budget option imho. I like Jasmine but it is expensive. Long grain rice is much cheaper at the supermarket. If you want to buy rice in bulk that is better quality, sincerely visit an asian store. You will notice the brands are different and so is the rice quality which is by far more aromatic and enjoyable. Expanding your cooking skillset to try different grains and proteins will simply make preparing meals less stressful because they are incredibly cheap and have a long shelf life. You should always have these items on-hand and perhaps some meat in the freezer. Just in case.
3) Buy a rice cooker if you want to eat rice. You don't need to stovetop cook rice because Joe told you "its how asians do it," most people use rice cookers now in addition with their other cooking gadgets and it is nothing to be ashamed about. Don't add 1:1 ratio or 1:2 ratio for rice to water, either. Instead try about half cup more of water than rice. Cooking 2 cups rice? (Feeds 2-3 people) Add 2.5 cups of water. You can cook other things in a rice cooker as well.
4) Taking from this whole post, I hope it helps you expand your mindset if anything. Cooking is so diverse and there's a lot going on -- especially when you have to go shopping for it and times may be hard financially. There are a lot of things you will hear to push to away from changing your shopping/cooking habits. Break the barriers caused by American Consumerism and have fun trying to cook what you see being served at your favorite restaurants. Maybe the first 5-10 times you cook a dish it will not be very great, but you will learn and it gets easier and better.
Good Luck!
tl;dr just for some quick ideas try frying meat on medium heat until cooked, then sauteeing vegetables after. Serve with rice. Insanely easy and no-fuss if you are looking for simplicity. For a faster method you could marinate the vegetables in oil and salt, then bake it in the oven all the way until they are just beginning to turn black on the outside. This is fine, they are charred on the outside and probably perfect on the inside. You can do this with pretty much any vegetable from potatoes to carrots to peppers to squash. Want a whole mess of vegetables and enjoy something more... saucy? Tons of stews online that are pretty much "set it and forget it..." even if you don't have a fancy slow cooking kitchen gadget you can do it on the stove in a pot just as easily.
This post was edited by BruiserRiven on May 25 2022 11:27pm