I love cooking but I’ve had a really difficult time making budget friendly food since I’ve moved. Especially with single burner in my current apartment when I had 4 and an oven back home lol.
What’s some meal prep you guys do that doesn’t hurt the wallet too much? Bonus points if they’re not as carb heavy but I’m open to any ideas.
I’ll share one of mine
Spaghetti noodles, leek, garlic, mushrooms, heavy cream, コンスめ.
Cook noodles, drain, set aside. Cut vegetables and cook on medium heat with olive oil, salt pepper and コンスめ.
Add heavy cream and cook until it thickens up some more, mix noodles back in. Easy two dinners for around 800 yen excluding olive oil cost.
8 comments
Bean or legume dishes! Curries, stews, tagines. Bored of a bean? Search another cuisine’s approach to it. Bored of a cuisine? Try a new bean or legume! Cook in bulk for maximum value.
A flank of salmon for like, 3 to 500 yen.
Pack of yellow and red peppers.
Garlic.
Dice veggies and fry, serve with rice.
Cheap, easy, quick, healthy, delicious.
Blanche vegetables like bean sprouts, komatsuna, spinach etc to use as toppings for salads, soups and noodles.
In winter I buy nabe vegetables (daikon, cabbage, sprouts, nira, mushrooms, green onion etc) cut everything up on Sunday and portioned into containers for the next several days.
Edit: Don’t cut up the green onions ahead of time unless you have a good airtight container otherwise your fridge and everything in it will stink.
I’ve been struggling with this too, just moved here in August. Most are pretty carb-y though. Some one my cheapest meals have been: Omurice (カモ井の seasoning pack, frozen veggies, egg, rice), Mabo tofu (丸美屋instant pack + tofu), spaghetti with meat sauce (Ajinomoto Rumic pack, ground meat, onion), curry, gratin (House brand pack + onion+ chicken or shrimp), frozen gyoza (コスモス brand ¥250 for 30) with egg fried rice or somen or cold udon, and chili. Chili was a little expensive in the beginning because I had to buy a lot of spices, but now that I have them, I can make more for less. I made a huge pot and it was very easy to freeze portions. These aren’t obviously all healthy but cheap and/or fast. I’d love to learn more healthier meals, but I’m in poverty mode rn until my first paycheck lol.
I buy those ramen or nabe vegetable packs (usually they have cabbage, carrot, onion, and sometime other things like mushrooms), add some soup stock or nabe pods, whatever protein you like (tofu, chicken or white fish works well) and water. Bring water to a boil, add soup flavor and the rest of the ingredients and in 7-10 minutes, you have a soup.
Only need 1 pot. Easy, cheap and filling.
You can vary the flavors by adding toppings such as eggs, kimchi, different instant soup packs. For a more filling version, add rice or oats.
A salad. Half a carrot (grated), half a cucumber (grated), half a pepper sliced, half an onion sliced and diced, a few cherry tomatoes, some corn from a can, a bit of snow cheese and, if necessary, a few slices of baloney or ham. Add a boiled egg and a bit of dressing, salt, pepper, spices to your liking. Eat without bread, if you don’t like carbs.
This will give you a dinner and a bento for the next day comfortably.
These aren’t exactly low carb but definitely easy to make with one burner.
For breakfast pre-portion oatmeal and any dry ingredients, then any wet ingredients in another container (milk, yogurt, protein powder, fruits, etc), and cook in the morning (microwave if you’re lazy like me). or, bypass the cooking all together and make overnight oats. you can up the protein content and customize flavors so you never get bored (chocolate oats go hard)
Also instead of rice i just tried out some bulgur wheat and it’s so yummy, and easy to toss in uncooked veggies (bell pepper, cucumber, lettuce, etc). you just have to pour boiling water over them and let it soak up (but make sure it’s not wet when you eat it or it’s gross), add some olive oil. cook up some fish with those easy seasoning packets from the supermarket (again, lazy) and done!
[kaldi has it on sale now?](https://www.kaldi.co.jp/ec/pro/disp/1/8691440305590)
I just go super and see what is cheap or sale… Fresh product will end near have a discount… Look a cheap chain near you… Valor, Tachiya, big Aeon, etc…
What more cheap is around my area is fish but usually hole even with stomach then I must clean at home and is a “mendekusai” just try but fillet of fresh fish…. Sometimes find mix meat cheap is easy with can of alubias make a chili with meat… If is interesting I could let the recipe…
When find cheap potato and onion make a omelette…
Eggs usually are not to much expensive then is a good… With olive oil, could be used several times (keep it just for these) a emergency lunch/dinner is fried eggs on olive oil… If you have old rice…
I cook rice everyday because I need feed a Japanese family then I usually cook for 4ppl…
Did try Japanese food? Tonteki? Butashoga?