Was craving spam musubi, but didn’t have the time to build them - a layer of jasmine rice, nori fume furikake, diced spam airfried in 1:1 soy sauce/sugar, rinse & repeat, top with kewpie mayo & (optional) sriracha. Serve with seaweed snacks, & you’ve got yourself a nice little dinner for two.

I use dairy free milks amd I'm sugar free but this is what I'm eating this week Rolled oats or basic omelette upgrades for the budget and (culinary) challenged. I don't have any cash left to buy new things so I only have pantry Staples to use but all idea are welcome as I can use them I'm the future.

Obviously food is getting more expensive and unfortunately one of my kids has Celiac disease and a bad soy allergy and on top of that is a picky eater.

This season is hard because my vegetable garden and fruit trees aren't producing anything but in a few months there will be less of a need for variety because I'll just have the veg to create seasonal variety. (Tomatos, peppers, eggplant, sugar snap pees, green beans, squash, melons, apples, pears, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, pears, plums, persimmon, huckleberry, honey berry, kiwi ans gooseberries)

What I do have right now is a lot of eggs from my chickens so eggs = more or less free

Chickweed & dandelion I can forage on my property and I'm going to a different wooded area on Monday to collect nettles and mushrooms so that'll help with the for variety next week (I'm an experienced forager so don't just go pick things from the forest and eat them if you're not) But I'm running in circles trying to figure out what I can add to my rotation now that I don't have to rely on growing or foraging, stuff I can just make with ingredients I can either store long term or have available without too much of a huge seasonal markup.

Meal 1) Costco pork belly+ white rice+ kimchi+ sesame oil

Meal 2) runny egg + white rice + kimchi+ sesame oil + coconut aminos (expensive but I don't have much of a choice)

Meal 3) GF pasta (expensive but again I don't have a choice)+ ground meat (whatever is cheapest) sauce

Meal 4) congee + chicken drumsticks (or wings whatever is cheaper) I only make this with leftover rice and I don't make it often because I feel like it lacks a good vegetable component, also it's getting warmer so a hot soup isn't what the family wants I also make a minestrone type soup using broth that I make myself but again it's getting past soup season.

Meal 5) seafood + gf pasta/rice, +-kimchi I can sometimes get seafood on sale at Costco, (or we go fishing when the weather is good)

Meal 6) fried fish cakes, leftover seafood + potato +eggs + olive oil

Right now the bulk of our vegetable intake is kimchi because it can be stored for long periods and I can get it year round for around the same price and a lot of our meals are kimchi + rice plus a random protein and I can tell the family is getting kinda bored of it.

I live in southeast asia.

Around here we primarily eat rice.

But rice is such a hassle to make and clean up, also the leftover is a waste, so I bought a big batch of instant potato mash, and I would like to stock up gravy to go with it, preferably one that can be stored for a relatively long time.

The problem is I need it to be cheap to make in big batches with limited ingredient options that is available in my area.

Adding preservative is fine if it's necessary.

What's the difference between Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaronie and Double Cheeseburger Macaronie? The HH website says they use the same amount of beef so I'm wondering what the difference is?

I am looking for a cheap but ok quality chef's knife as I am just beginning my cooking journey and don't want to spend too much yet. What is a good brand I can buy at TJ Maxx or another discount store that is a decent starter chef's knife?

I’m starting to work on creating monthly menus/meals where I’m going to cook meats and sides one day a month and freeze everything. Then for vegetables I’m thinking I’ll do fresh and prepare throughout the weeks as needed.

Im not very sure what sides freeze well though? I’m also not very good at coming up with sides to begin with and all I can think of is like mashed potatoes? But has anyone tried freezing those? Has anyone tried freezing things like pasta and rice? I would love any advice and suggestions on affordable sides and dishes that I could freeze. Thank you!