GROUCH FUEL-------------------------------------Hello!
Grouch Fuel used to be about hobo eats, stuff you could prepare to eat decently in a camping/roughing it sort of situation. We're not dumping that, but rather than focus exclusively on it, I'm adding more content for those who are in some simple living situation in a room or studio or RV or whatever, with basic cooking equipment and looking to eat healthy and appealing meals without spending a whole lot.
Primary concerns of Grouch Fuel -
1) Requires only basic cooking equipment commonly found in most living situations -
oven or toaster oven, stove or hot plate, pots n pans, maybe a baking sheet, possibly a little slow cooker, microwave
2) Relatively inexpensive
3) Doesn't require massive time to prepare, or any serious culinary skill beyond following
basic instructions
4) Reasonably healthy, but not tasting like ass
A NOTE ON FOOD QUALITY
Food quality is very important. If you follow links from this site you will find a lot of other sites
upbraiding you for eating pretty much anything in the modern grocery stores because it is filled
with hormones, will give you diabetes, has the nutrients washed out of it, etc. For the most part
they're pretty much right. However, you know what else is not healthy? NOT EATING. If you happen
to live on a co-op farm and can grow your own vegetables and get free range organic eggs and etc.
that is a wonderful coincidence, likewise if you're rich and can afford to buy everything from Whole
Foods. Unfortunately most of us are not in that situation. Processed mass-distributed big-agribusiness
food is the only thing readily available in all areas, and usually the only affordable thing. With some
cleverness and legwork we can work around and get foods from alternate sources and make our own
foods, sure. However, the sources of truly healthy foods are so scattered and few and far between and
the time/money investment necessary for making all your own stuff like bread, etc. from scratch is so
vast that it's practically impossible to do, especially for poor people who are already running around
like chickens with their heads cut off just to get the basics of survival situated. This guide is concerned
with people in that situation, so I don't emphasize vegan free-range organic etc. It would be great if we
could measure absolutely everything and make sure we had the healthiest and most sustainable
possible options in every situation but nobody realistically has that kind of frickin' time except really
rich people. My take is, use some common sense, if you eat something with high sodium balance it
out by drinking plenty of water, etc. etc. Try to be as healthy as possible rather than going for
some impossible standard of absolute healthiness. If you just apply this principle while shopping at the
local discount grocery chain, flush yourself out with plenty of water, stay moderation minded and
exercise regularly you are probably going to come out OK and it beats the hell out of skipping meals.
Don't beat yourself up over eating some buttermilk pancakes from a box mix or eating white rice every
now and again, is all that I'm saying.
On with the grub -
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BREAKFAST!
Hi, my name is Ryan and I can't stop thinking about breakfast! Breakfast is cool, and by cool I mean totally sweet.
I think I have an obsession with breakfast because I was denied it for so long? I skipped it for most of my life tho. I didn't start really having breakfast and enjoying it on the regular until a few years ago, and then I dropped out of it for a couple years 'cause I was staying up late and sleeping through it. Now I'm back into it again and it is my favorite meal of the day. There is nothing like starting the day with a big plate of The Goods and also some hot tea or coffee.
**** EGG DISHES ****
I consider some sort of egg based dish the cornerstone of a hearty breakfast. They would have turned into a delightful fuzzy baby chick if you didn't cruelly cut their life short, but that's OK. They're cheap, tasty and filled with protein!
Eggs don't do well at room temp. so this is bad for hobos. Now previously, I had a tip posted about smearing Vaseline on eggs to keep them fresh for awhile when you are in a situation without refrigeration. Problem that occured to me since then - the way eggs are handled and shipped now, there's no way to know if there's already bacteria present in the egg and the refrigeration is just retarding the growth (hens excrete a protective mucusy layer over the eggs when they lay them which seals the egg pores, but then the egg dudes strip that obviously before shipping them. So really this could only be considered if you have access to fresh eggs straight from the hen. With supermarket eggs I wouldn't try it, if you don't have a frig your life is rough enough already, no need to add salmonella or whatever to the mix)
K-RAD TIPS ON CRACKING EGGS
and probably more info than you really needSCRAMBLED EGGS
are a pretty straightforward thing to cook
but this page has some good tips on keeping them moist and also interesting mix-in ingredients
Scrambled Egg RecipesHUEVOS RANCHEROS
is much more than just salsa on scrambled eggs!
yet, most of the time I'm lazy and that's all I want
this is called
HUEVOS A LA MEXICANA
to be absolutely correct and also culturally sensitive
here's a page that discusses such things in detail -
Mom's Huevos RancherosIn it's simplest form you can even make this in the microwave, which I used to do of a lazy morning
just dump eggs into bowl, SCRAMBLE SCRAMBLE, put in microwave, cook for whatever
some people say to add milk? never made a difference for me
texture is a little off but they taste OK, dump salsa on top and very convenient
anyway back to
HUEVOS RANCHEROS
This page explains that true huevos rancheros are prepared on tortillas and with some other things
Little more legwork but they're tasty
EGGS IN A BASKET
I like sourdough bread .... I like eggs. You gotta buy eggs in big cartons and sourdough in big loaves. Usually I chew through em all but sometimes they just sit for a bit and are getting close to going bad ... in this case, to make quick use of them in an easy breakfast, there is this -
Eggs In A BasketI guess British nerds got angry about this being in a movie? But I've seen it made in the U.S. like years and years ago, so go figure. Anyway, it's good and easy to make, like an egg sandwich on toast but even easier to cook up.
DEVILED EGGS W/ SLICED HAM
You got a choice here, you can actually make deviled egg filling or just hard boil some eggs.
This page discusses techniques for both. Then what I like to do is get a little sliced ham from the deli and have a forkful of egg and ham mixture. Honey baked is the preference here but in a pinch the ultra cheap Turkey Ham is always fine. I guess you could use hamsteak, kinda cumbersome and more expensive though, plus something about the thinness of the ham is key here.
EGG SALAD
Well this isn't really breakfast, but what a fab sandwich.
Egg Salad recipesOMELETTES
Now I love a good omelette but I can never seem to make one the way I like at home.
Most people hate the "fake egg" omelettes that come from liquified eggs but I got a taste for 'em.
I like a real thin omelette packed up with ham and cheese and onion and mushroom and such, using real eggs I have a real hard time getting it down to the thinness I want, I mean I want the eggs almost transparent. Only seems to work right with that fake egg batter.
I usually only get omelettes out anyway, and most places don't make them right anyway. I haven't had a really good one since I left Alaska. And I don't make them myself cause it's easier just to do scrambled eggs with all that stuff if I'm in that sort of mood.
Sorry no links,
if anyone has tips on making a real thin omelette though I'd appreciate them
****
PANCAKES ****
this....looks hecka goodHomemade pancakes are best,
here's a recipe that I haven't tried personally but looks solid.
I don't mind the premade batter though, I've had some good pancakes made from like cheap Bisquick stuff, and anyway they're getting drowned in syrup regardless
If you want to get into the healthy thing here's a
wheat recipe that I intend to try out sometime soon
I love pumpkin, here's a
Pumpkin Pancake mix I also intend to investigate and report on soon
****
SIMPLE FRUIT SALADS ****
I often get sweets/sugar cravings. I like to make a bunch of fruit salad and keep it handy for healthy/cheap solution to this.
My most favorite easy and cheap one is orange and banana fruit salad (no instructions necessary I hope?)
I also like to make a big mixed one with lots of fruits. Blueberries are my most favorite fruit, but they are usually heck of expensive, probably due to all this antioxidant marketing bullshit (not to say they're not healthy for you, I just wish the yuppies would stop buying up everything that they are told to buy at such prices that the rest of us are driven out of the market. I mean, there was a time when you picked blueberries off fuckin' bushes (trees?) in this country as a matter of course, now $4 for like some tiny little basket at the supermarket? Good gravy) Anyway my point was, I want to stretch the blueberries out, so I mix it up with sliced apple, banana, and whatever else is on sale at the moment. Certain fruits don't work in this mix though, like orange. Yet oddly enough pineapple does, and canned pineapple is always cheap and pretty tasty (fresh, forget it, 7 bucks for one thing and then you basically need a machete to get into it, no thanks). Pear no, but in season peaches and nectarines are pretty cheap and those work. Kiwi is good too. Basically nothing too strong/acidic except pineapple.
Also, and technically this is not a
FRUIT SALAD, but I sometimes just acquire and eat a big ol' mango for a meal. Mango is my second fav only to blueberries.
Here's a thing for a simple fresh fruit parfait with yogurt - another technique I add in there sometimes is to get cheap yogurt, for example Safeway had this one sale once where they had little snack pack things of it for 10 cents, mix that up with the fruit for some extra flavor (grab a little 99 cent tub thing of whip cream too and there it goes)
Also reccommended - cheap vanilla pudding, strawberries, blueberries, whip cream. Mush all together haphazardly and enjoy.
Ambrosia's a great dessert that they sell at Safeway for too much money and then don't make right anyway.
Here's a simple recipe that looks promising.
****
OATMEAL ****
When it comes to Oatmeal I take the easy way out, Quaker Instant (Apple/Cinnamon usually). It's so cheap at the discount stores, and pretty OK tasting, and cooks up quick in the microwave or whatever. I fully acknowledge that real oatmeal is far superior. Thing is, though I like oatmeal, I don't like it enough to do the kind of work that making real oatmeal takes.
However a couple recipes over at Mr. Breakfast have my curiosity piqued.
Here we have Pumpkin Oatmeal, as I've established I have a taste for pumpkin so this interests me
Also Peaches and Cream, they have a Quaker knockoff that is OK, but I'm picturing the deliciousness of real oatmeal with real peaches and real cream
****
FRENCH TOAST ****
I don't eat French Toast often but when I do I really enjoy it.
Here's a recipe for simple french toast sticks that looks not horribly fattening and pretty good. I would use brown sugar instead of Splenda tho, personally.
****
BANANA BURRITO ****
A Mexican Elvis special? I haven't tried this, but I don't see how it could be bad really.
Bananas and peanut butter are some of the most uber filling cheap foods, so this seems like a good combination, maybe not an everyday thing though.
The Banana Burrito (Plus no cooking)
****
HASH BROWNS ****
Some sort of potatoes are also essential, I love hash browns, but not so much all the grease.
Here's an oven-baked recipe that looks promising
**** PEANUT BUTTER PINWHEELS ****
I like to have both tortillas and honey on hand as I use them for a few things. I don't use them on a daily basis though. As you know tortillas are only sold in huge piles, and they get moldy. Honey keeps nearly forever, but the little honey bear looks so sad sitting there unused. So it's nice to find
a recipe that makes use of both of them and is simple to boot.
NOT BREAKFAST
Everything else consumed outside of the breakfast parameters and genre. While not as exciting and stimulating we can still have some good times here.
****
SALSA ****
Good salsa is an absolute necessity for eating cheap in an urban setting, as I see it - it livens up so many simple things at low cost, such as staple rice & beans.
I can't deal with most of that jarred junk that is used for like chip dips and stuff though, like Tostitos. Once you've had real homemade Mexican salsa from a good restaurant or such then there is no going back. You may not be able to replicate that sort of thing but even a simple homemade salsa recipe is better than prepackaged -
here's a page with a large assortment of possibilites**** SUPERIOR MAC AND CHEESE ****I actually enjoy mac and cheese. I can down the generic stuff with the powder cheese, certain brands anyway. While not an ideal meal it is always tempting at like 30 cents a box, then a dollar can of tuna (or 50 cents at the discount grocery) and there's a rib sticking meal that shuts your stomach up for the night for less than a buck.
I won't hesitate to employ such tactics in times of need but making REAL mac and cheese isn't that much more expensive and is far superior.
This page of Hungarian recipes has a thing that is similar to what I like to do, also tons of other stuff on there worth investigating
****
MEATLOAF ****
Yesh! You can do this up with ground turkey for the non beef fans out there.
Here's a recipe that has some Hines propaganda but of course you can use whatever the hell ketchup you want, or tomato sauce, pizza sauce, whatever
Here's another simple one that looks promising
****
QUESEDILLAS ****
Man since moving to California like 75% of my diet has become Mexican food. I don't know if there is a culture that does tasty simple cheap meals better. And South America seems to produce an amazing amount of good cooks generally speaking.
Anyway, I'm not gonna bother with recipes here because if you've seen a quesedilla you've probably already figured out how to cook one. I will say one thing, I used to have one of those small Foreman grills when I had an apartment. It was handy for a few things, like quickly cooking chicken without tons of oven baking, but wasn't really anything that couldn't be done in a pan (and despite George's claims I find the pan to be heck of easier to clean than the grill was with all it's little ridgies and nooks and crannies and shit leaking out the back of it onto the counter). The ONE thing that the Foreman grill was superior for, was quesedillas. Made them quickly and perfectly.
****
FRITO PIE ****
This is not healthy at all but I like it during the winter.
(of course you don't have to use Fritos, it's just shorter than Corn Chip pie. Right now I use 99 cent bags of Granny Goose chips from the local Grocery Outlet)
Apparently this is a Texas thing? A Texas girl taught it to me. You need - corn chips, a bowl, chili of some sort, shredded or grated cheese, maybe some onion, a spoon
1) Get bowl that you want to eat it from
2) Mush a bunch of corn chips into the bottom to create a corn chip sort of crust layer
3) Determine if you have a microwave
4) If you do, dump your preferred form of chili into the bowl on top of the crust layer
5) Put shredded or grated cheese all over the top
6) I like to put another layer of crust on top, I am told this is not traditional Texas style tho
7) Add onion, maybe even some bacon, whatever else strikes your fancy
8) Put bowl in microwave for awhile (alternately heat chili on stove before dumping in then quickly get the cheese in there so it melts)
****
RICE & BEANS ****
Probably have this at least 3,4 times a week in one form or another, if not more.
I stay pretty basic - boil up brown rice or sticky rice, cook up the beans and put em on top, put some good salsa all over that and there you go. Maybe a little shredded chicken or something if there's leftovers lurking around.
There's a lot of room for experimentation and variety here though. If I'm in the mood to do a little more prep I'll make Spanish Rice for better flavor -
here's a pretty good recipe.It's also nice to do something with the beans to give them a little more flavor, especially if there's no salsa on hand.
This page is a pretty authoritative source on bean cookery.
****
JUST THE BEANS PLZ ****
Sometimes you just want the beans, as a side dish, or there's no rice on hand, or you just got a taste for baked beans or whatever. No problem.
Here's a good page from a vegetarian site with tips on bean selection, storage, preparation and a few basic recipes.
Pretty good quick chili bean recipe from a pro chef friend of mine - pinto beans (boil em first unless you're using canned), chunks of tomatoes (fresh or canned), diced onion or onion powder, a dash of chili powder, chunks of bacon or sliced ham, pepper to taste. Put everything in an oven safe dish and bake uncovered at 375F for 40 min. (can possibly reduce this for toaster ovens?)
The Bean Bible has some good recipes for homemade baked beans among other things
****
TEXAS BBQ TUNA ****
Peeped
this recipe over at Cult of The Dead Cow a while back and actually tried it ... well it was OK, nothing I'd make on the regular ... but I could see it being useful when you're down to your last few bucks and trying to combine food leftovers and stuff to make a filling meal. So maybe check it out and keep it on hand.
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(This is a work in constant progress, check back sometime later for more things.
I can also always use suggestions, particularly vegetarian / vegetable stuff.
river_fireflies@yahoo.com
Meantime check out this
Wikipedia Cookbook for more fun, see you later!)