Recipes: Poor mans delicacies, strange concoctions, or just cheap easy ingredients that taste great.

[Dave...]

Sometimes people face hard times and only have what is left in the cupboards to throw something together. And every once in a while, a masterpiece is created. What I would call a poor mans delicacy. If you have one to share, please do.

Here's a suggestion for stuffed cabbage or peppers.

Try about four small cans of tomato soup, preferably Campbells, but generic will do, and one large can of tomato sauce (not spaghetti sauce). The tomato soup flavor is always really good. The tomato sauce is just to stretch it out. You can also add rice to the hamburger to stretch it out. It will cook with the hamburger. As a bonus, that sauce also tastes really good with mashed potatoes as a gravy. Throw in some Mexican style corn and you're all set. To this day, I have never tasted a better sauce for stuffed cabbage or peppers, or gravy for mashed potatoes. Try it, it's awesome. Note: You'll need to spoon the grease off the top every once in a while from the hamburger. You may need to add water and cook it down depending on how you cook it.

As a bonus here's an easy strange concoction. If you've never had peanut butter and jelly on seeded Jewish rye bread (schwebel's prefered), then you haven't lived. It sounds awful, but tastes great.

Dave

 

[WIP]

I have a recipe for what I call a poor man's venison stroganoff. As yet, I have never had anyone not like it including my mother-in-law. That was a funny situation. I had made this recipe for myself and our daughters and just as we were sitting down for dinner, my mil stopped in. I asked if she'd like some stroganoff and she sat down. I didn't even think to tell her it was made using venison but to me meat it meat. Anyway, she liked it so much she had two helpings. Later that evening when my wife came home from work, she asked her mom what we had for dinner. Her mom commented that I had made a really good stroganoff. That's when my wife said, "You did realize that was venison, don't you?" Her mom's reply was, "I knew there was something wrong with it!" Really? Something wrong with it so much so that she had two helpings?

Of course, this could be applied using any canned or cubed meat adjusting amounts as desired.

Ingredients:
1 pint of canned venison
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 small to medium onion chopped
1 to 2 ribs of celery chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 to 2 Tbls of butter
1/2 cup sour cream
Course ground pepper to taste
Egg noodles

Also good served over rice or cubed toast.
Also makes a great gravy for biscuits and gravy breakfast.

• In a medium saucepan sauté the onions and celery in butter at medium heat until the onions get translucent then add the mushrooms and cook to desire doneness.
• Add the canned venison including the moisture
• Add the cream of mushroom.
• Add about 1/2 can of milk to rinse.
• Stir and reduce heat to simmer while cooking the noodles.
• Shortly before ready to serve, add the sour cream and stir it in.

 

[hawkman]

Later that evening when my wife came home from work, she asked her mom what we had for dinner. Her mom commented that I had made a really good stroganoff. That's when my wife said, "You did realize that was venison, don't you?" Her mom's reply was, "I knew there was something wrong with it!" Really? Something wrong with it so much so that she had two helpings?

 

[Dave...]

WIP, that actually sounds really good. Can you buy venison? I usually know people who hunt, but it's not always available.

Poor man's salmagundi.

Three box's of mac and cheese, (use the cheese packets too), add one pound of hamburger, and a jar of spaghetti sauce. Double the ingredients depending. It's fast, it's cheap ,and it's easy.

Also: Forgot with the stuffed cabbage in the OP, you might want to add water to desired consistency. Thinning it out a bit. Use a roasting pan with the lid on and bake. That will hold the water and protect the sauce from burning. You can cook it down later if needed by removing the lid, I suppose.

Dave

 

[for_his_glory]

My Mom's poor man meal, which I still make today, was cooked hamburg mixed with kidney beans heated through and fried potatoes with onions. Simple, quick and fed all ten of us.

 

[Corn Pop]

Nothing beats the humble pack of noodle.

I get a pack of noodles, boil in water, add the flavor sachet in packet, stir, and there we have a Asian noodle dish/soup. Can even add a slice of bread as a side dish, if it's a bit stale I just microwave it for a 10 seconds and have soft bread again. Luxury.

 

[Dave...]

Nothing beats the humble pack of noodle.

I get a pack of noodles, boil in water, add the flavor sachet in packet, stir, and there we have a Asian noodle dish/soup. Can even add a slice of bread as a side dish, if it's a bit stale I just microwave it for a 10 seconds and have soft bread again. Luxury.

I do that too.

An old friend who passed away a long time ago used to tell people that the bread with blue mold is free penicillin. I just break that part off or feed it to the dear at work. They love old bread. They even eat the blue part if they are hungry enough.

 

[Corn Pop]

I do that too.

An old friend who passed away a long time ago used to tell people that the bread with blue mold is free penicillin. I just break that part off or feed it to the dear at work.

Oh, i was more talking the stale before the mold stage. if there is even just a tiny spot of mold visable on one slice it's all going to the birds. I cannot do moldly bread. That's the cut off point for me.

 

[Corn Pop]

I know someone who is wealthy yet so full scrooge like not a joke they shop any deal they can find and they didn't even know because it was just cheap and got a massive bag of meat and cooked it up for a few of us guests and it was dog bones. Im convinced i got fed dog bones. Not intentionally.

It didn't say dog bones on the packet because I had to have a look and even worse it had no label, but it was dog bones because you don't get a like a 20lb big pack of meat out the freezer for like 5 bucks that has basically no meat and is mostly bones. Thats dog food. Lol.

 

[Hidden In Him]

My Mom's poor man meal, which I still make today, was cooked hamburg mixed with kidney beans heated through and fried potatoes with onions. Simple, quick and fed all ten of us.

I'll do this sometimes, only I use black-eyed peas instead. I used to use sausage, but then I found out hamburger patties work just as well.

 

[Dave...]

Here's a really good one for you.

I was shopping in a 'Spends a lot' store (Save a Lot), I ran into an elderly lady who spoke in broken English. I couldn't make out her accent. I'm guessing Polish or maybe even German. I don't know. But I was holding a T bone steak in my hand marked down to about 1/3 the cost because it had blue mold on it. She insisted that not only was still good, but that it would be the best steak that I've ever eaten. She went on to tell me that many people leave their steaks out and let them rot for a while to make them more tender. She also said that this only works for beef. Don't do this with any white meat.

Anyways, she was right. Very tender. Really good. Now, whenever I see beef marked down because of the expiration date, I usually snap it up. I only buy meat with mold in the form of a steak, not hamburger. Though, I'm going to try that idea with a roast if I ever run across this.

Apparently, this idea of letting meat rot to tenderize is nothing new. If you ever watched the original "Shogun" from the nineteen eighties. The guy hung a bird outside to tenderize it and a servant was ordered by the authorities to take the bird down because it was smelling bad. The servant did and then proceeded to kill himself for dishonoring his master by taking the bird down. Old school honor stuff. It's a movie, but the idea came from somewhere, right? Anyways...

I still to this day buy discounted steaks, even with mold on them. Just don't eat them raw. I'll buy any beef if the expire date has passed. As long as it doesn't look too bad.

Dave

 

[electedbyHim]

Here's a really good one for you.

I was shopping in a 'Spends a lot' store (Save a Lot), I ran into an elderly lady who spoke in broken English. I couldn't make out her accent. I'm guessing Polish or maybe even German. I don't know. But I was holding a T bone steak in my hand marked down to about 1/3 the cost because it had blue mold on it. She insisted that not only was still good, but that it would be the best steak that I've ever eaten. She went on to tell me that many people leave their steaks out and let them rot for a while to make them more tender. She also said that this only works for beef. Don't do this with any white meat.

Anyways, she was right. Very tender. Really good. Now, whenever I see beef marked down because of the expiration date, I usually snap it up. I only buy meat with mold in the form of a steak, not hamburger. Though, I'm going to try that idea with a roast if I ever run across this.

Apparently, this idea of letting meat rot to tenderize is nothing new. If you ever watched the original "Shogun" from the nineteen eighties. The guy hung a bird outside to tenderize it and a servant was ordered by the authorities to take the bird down because it was smelling bad. The servant did and then proceeded to kill himself for dishonoring his master by taking the bird down. Old school honor stuff. It's a movie, but the idea came from somewhere, right? Anyways...

I still to this day buy discounted steaks, even with mold on them. Just don't eat them raw. I'll buy any beef if the expire date has passed. As long as it doesn't look too bad.

Dave

Yes, similair to dry aging.

However, dry aging is done in a controlled climate environment.

Lot of different hacks out there to dry-age.

 

[for_his_glory]

I'll do this sometimes, only I use black-eyed peas instead. I used to use sausage, but then I found out hamburger patties work just as well.

Yuk, don't like black eyed peas.

 

[Dave...]

Yuk, don't like black eyed peas.

I second that. I had some out of a can once. If there is a good way to eat them, I can't seem to muster up the courage to try it again.

 

[electedbyHim]

I take leftover meatloaf and break it down and make meat sauce for pasta when I am lazy. No one can tell.

Then there is the boxed macaroni and cheese infused with boiled hot dogs and finished with some ketchup.

I have issues.

 

[Dave...]

Try scrambled eggs, yellow pepper rings from a jar (use desired heat, mild or hot), and leftover kielbasa cut into bite sized pieces.

 

[for_his_glory]

Here is another cheap dinner

Sliced Kielbasi, seasoned potatoes (buy the little potatoes at Walmart with the seasoning pack) and sliced Zucchini. Mix all of this with the flavor package. Take the Zucchini and set it aside. Back kielbasi and potatoes at 350 for half hour in butter then add the zucchini and bake another half hour. So good and the leftovers (except the Zucchini) I mix with scrambled eggs for another meal.

 

[Dave...]

Here is another cheap dinner

Sliced Kielbasi, seasoned potatoes (buy the little potatoes at Walmart with the seasoning pack) and sliced Zucchini. Mix all of this with the flavor package. Take the Zucchini and set it aside. Back kielbasi and potatoes at 350 for half hour in butter then add the zucchini and bake another half hour. So good and the leftovers (except the Zucchini) I mix with scrambled eggs for another meal.

Glory, anything potatoes and I'm in. I used to to thin slice potatoes into a frying pan and add many sliced onions, some cooking oil, a lid, and slow cook until soft and browned crispy on the outside. I could eat that alone for dinner.

BTW, why are eggs so expensive again? Are the chickens on strike?