I’ve recently been fixated on the idea of struggle meals, probably because I’ve been struggling both financially and mentally. I’ll share a couple of mine:
-Egg on hash brown patty: as simple as it sounds, bake a frozen hash brown patty, cook a sunny side up egg and put it on top. I like to season the egg with salt/msg, pepper, and garlic powder, then add a few drops of Tabasco sauce. Bonus points if you have avocado to spread on the hash brown first
-Flaming Hot Cheetos taco: toast a corn tortilla on both sides on a pan, then add sour cream and shredded cheese and flaming hot Cheetos as the “meat”, add any other taco toppings you like/have (shredded cabbage/lettuce, hot sauce, etc)
Would love to hear everyone else’s struggle meals when you just don’t have the means mentally/financially to put much effort into cooking
[off topic?]
Get a 5 quart/liter pot. I like to make a pot of chili / soup/ strew and freeze meal size portions.
Takes about seven minutes to microwave a pint sized container.
edit = many people in small places don’t have a good sized freezer. It’s actually a great investment.
I do the same thing. I’ve been perfecting my chili recipe for decades. I’ve nailed the last few batches. Cumin is the magic herb for chili, otherwise it just tastes sort of generic. I also add cocoa powder, and red wine.
I generally alternate between big batches of chili, and big batches of spaghetti sauce. Just brown a bunch of ground meat (I use beef/ pork, but you could use turkey or chicken, or nothing at all), and a bunch of sliced mushrooms, a whole bunch of Italian herbs and garlic, and add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes. A few ounces of red wine is nice. Then just let it simmer all day, and keep adding herbs throughout, balancing the flavors until it’s perfect.