People Are Sharing Their Cheap And Easy “Rent Week” Meals, And These Are Brilliant
It's fair to admit that the end of the month can be a stressful time. Bills are being paid and rent is about to be due, all while you're waiting for your next paycheck to be deposited. Since I'm always looking for hacks to work smarter, not harder, I asked the BuzzFeed Community to share their go-to inexpensive dinners that get them through this stressful week. Here are some of them.
1."Back in college when funds were low, I would make two scrambled eggs or fry them with some jasmine rice — sometimes for lunch and dinner. Another go-to cheap meal would be cut-up Polish kielbasa cooked in the oven and served with jasmine rice. Dessert would be a spoonful of peanut butter."
2."Feta pasta bake. I know it was a TikTok fad meal, but I have found ways to expand it. It’s an easy way to use up any vegetables in my fridge that might be going bad soon, such as spinach, tomatoes, onions, broccoli, or zucchini. Sometimes when I don’t have feta or I don’t want to pay for feta, I’ll replace it with a block of cream cheese. Plus, it can make quite a few meals. So I take my cheese of choice and chopped-up veggies, mix it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic, and then cook it for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees in a casserole dish. I boil the pasta (usually a short pasta like rigatoni or rotini) while the veggies are cooking. Then when the veggies and cheese are done, I mix the pasta in the casserole dish. Ta-da — a meal in just about 30 minutes; plus, I saved what leftover veggies I had in the fridge from going bad. I always make it a bit different with different veggies each time, and it’s always yummy."
—Emy, 26
3."Cut pieces of corn tortillas, then fry in a pan. When they are golden on the tips, crack an egg and scramble. Serve with ketchup. We called it 'poor food' growing up."
4."Spaghetti, olive oil, fresh parsley (if on hand), garlic, lemon juice, and tuna."
5."Chicken tacos. I use two chicken breasts, a packet of taco seasoning, and my favorite salsa. I throw it in the slow cooker for four hours and shred it toward the end. Super easy, cheap, and usually makes a ton, so you’ve got extra leftovers."
6."Cook ramen like normal, but break up the noodles first and add a little margarine to the pot. After it cooks, add the seasoning packet and 1 cup of uncooked instant rice. Cover and let sit for five minutes."
7."Not so much a full meal but a strategy: Add rice, preferably brown rice, to everything. Food pantries have a lot of canned soups and vegetables — you can find a big bag of dried rice for pretty cheap, and adding rice to those canned goods makes them so much more filling and nutritious. Dried beans are a go-to as well. Another big advantage is that these things can be made on a hot plate in a single pot or saucepan if you don't have access to a full kitchen."
8."I have a few. I'm vegetarian, but these can easily be modified for meat. Ramen, no flavor packet, drain, add butter or olive oil and salt and pepper. You can even add garlic powder and cheap Parmesan cheese to it. You can also add frozen stir-fry-blend vegetables to this, and I sometimes use my spicy peanut sauce recipe, or you can use soy sauce or teriyaki sauce for flavor."
9."I make some rice on the stove top, and whatever chicken is on sale in the instant pot, then combine them along with a can of tomatoes, whatever veggie I have around, and some capers or olives or something acidic. I let it meld together on the 'keep warm' setting for about 10 minutes for a basic chicken and rice that feeds me for a week."
10."Noodle soup, which is two-minute noodles with an egg and some greens (whatever I have left or am growing), plus some condiments."
11."When the kids were young and we were broke, we’d have a big bowl of oatmeal. I’d put out a bunch of little bowls with things like cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips, coconut, peanut butter, brown sugar, marshmallows, broken cookie pieces, cereal, bananas, etc. Just odds and ends, but I served it like it was an ice cream sundae bar. They thought it was awesome."
12."Steamed white rice, freshly chopped tomatoes, and two poached eggs with salt and pepper."
13."Dumplings, broccoli, and rice. Either all microwaved or done on the stove or some of both. Either way, I mix up a very quick dip of rice wine vinegar and soy sauce. Load it all into bowls, sprinkle it with sesame seeds, and scarf it down."
14."Beans and rice or beans and pasta, whatever veggies I have on hand (often tomato, frozen peas, or frozen broccoli), then add some garlic and crispy fried onions. It’s filling, it relies on staples I always stock up on when they're on sale, it's quick to make, and it's my comfort go-to option."
15."Scrambled eggs and beans with a pickled jalapeño and some warm tortillas."
—Anonymous
What are your easy go-to end-of-the-month dinner ideas? Share them with me in the comments below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
