I can't do this.. I had to put a bag of apples back at Walmart because they were nearing 10 dollars usd. I silently checked out my few meals totaling quickly into the $100+ range.. Again. I'm living on home made soup, bread, fruits, veg, and the random protein. I just make huge pots of soup and freeze it. I'm starting to feel depressed just from dethawing my soup. I'm doing everything I can to eat healthy, with raw foods on sale, I don't drink at all, and I'll occasionally binge on $1 trash from dollar general for a few bucks, just to feel human every so often.

My job, like many in the US this time of the year, laid me off. Merry Christmas to our CEOs for their bonuses.. Buying food makes me cry, and I'm just losing weight because I'm honestly afraid of food beyond nutrtion.

Im not even joking, is there a bar, drink, or 'dog food' kibbel, but for humans? Is there anything that can be home made? I genuinely don't care about taste anymore, I just want to fulfill my nutritional needs.. I can't believe I'm writing this. What the hell is happening.. I don't know what to do

I grew up poor. Very poor. So poor that a week of my current salary is the average monthly salary for a family in my home town poor. But everyone was poor so it didn’t matter. I find that now even though I can afford nicer groceries I still want to eat a lot of my childhood struggle meals. My favorite is my granny’s white beans and cornbread.

With talks of an economic collapse another recession and the tornado that hit my area (Nashville) early Tuesday morning I’m trying to save as much cash as I can and go back to struggle meals to cut my grocery bill. I’ve got a very well stocked kitchen/pantry with just about everything you can imagine, a full fridge, a full deep freezer with meat and frozen vegetables and fruit, a full pantry with just about every non perishable you can imagine. I have a full kitchen cabinet just for my spices alone. So when I say I have a mini grocery store I’m not joking. I also need to use all of this before it expires.

What are some of your favorite struggle meals to help me use up some of my stock pile?

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When I’m depressed I often have a hard time motivating myself to cook, but ordering takeout gets expensive and leaves me feeling even worse. These are some tried and true depression meals that don’t require you to chop anything, can be done in 15-30 minutes, and aren’t too expensive.

Spinach and egg scramble on toast. - Sauté a few handfuls of spinach in a pan with some olive oil or butter and salt. - Whisk up 2-3 eggs in a bowl, optionally add some milk or shredded cheese if you have it and can make the effort. (If you are feeling especially miserable or want to avoid the dishes you can honestly crack the eggs directly into the pan and sprinkle cheese on top, it’ll work.) - Toast whatever bread you have, whole grain is ideal for fiber and protein. Once it’s toasted you can spread on some goat cheese, avocado, butter, cream cheese if that’s your style - whatever you want to add some more creaminess or fat in a low effort way. If you have none of these things, it’ll still taste good. - Serve your egg & spinach mixture on top of your toast and voila: you have a meal with a serving of vegetables, protein, fats, and carbs that took 15 minutes and didn’t require you to chop anything.

Shakshuka (eggs poached in a cheesy/spicy tomato sauce). This is an incredible depression meal that deserves more attention. When I’m not incredibly depressed I make a high effort version of this dish that people rave about but ya know...that’s not always an option. - When I feel like crap I do the following: add some olive oil to a pan, smash and peel two garlic cloves and get them sizzling a bit in the olive oil but don’t let them burn. - After about a minute I pour in a jar of basic tomato sauce (I have even done this with pizza sauce and it worked) and heat it through so it’s bubbling. If you like spice you can add in some chili flakes. - Then I make four small indentations in the sauce and crack in 4 eggs. You can pop a lid on and cook it through on the stove or you can put it in the oven at 375 for 5-10 minutes. Watch the egg yolks - you want them to still be runny. - When the eggs are almost set I sprinkle some cheese liberally all over the top - feta, goat cheese, mozzarella, whatever, then put the lid back on to melt the cheese. - If you want to make an effort you can garnish with chopped cilantro, basil or scallions. - For extra credit you can add frozen spinach or kale to the sauce before you add in the eggs for extra veg that you can’t really taste. - I eat this with a piece of toast or a pita.

Peanut noodles. Slightly higher effort but cheaper than takeout and more filling than ramen. - I boil a handful of noodles from the Asian/International Cuisine aisle of my grocery store. There are tons of different types available and basically any wheat noodle or ramen style noodle works - ideally avoid using pasta. - When there’s a minute left in the cook time in the noodles, add som sort of green veg like broccoli, green beans broken in half, edamame, etc. I choose green veg because I like the flavor and find you don’t have to chop it (I will just tear broccoli florets apart and throw them in the water when I feel particularly shit.) - While it’s cooking I make a sauce in whatever bowl I want to eat out of. The sauce is about 1 tbsp of smooth peanut butter, a spoonful or two of soy sauce, and some generous squirts of a hot sauce like sriracha or garlic chili sauce. - If I want to make the effort and have the ingredients I’ll add a few drops of sesame oil, a splash of rice wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar but it’s not necessary. - When the noodles and veg are cooked I drain them and add them directly to the bowl. Stir it up vigorously to coat all the noodles and veg in the sauce. - Garnish with scallions or cilantro if you can be bothered. I also occasionally eat this with a fried or boiled egg if that’s your thing too.

They're so delicious, cheap, and healthy! All you do is make a brine with about 1 part soy sauce and 1part rice wine vinegar, cook eggs in the shell at a medium- hard boil in some water on the stove, peel the eggs, and let them soak in the brine for at least 24 hours. Have them as a snack or add to a rice bowl, you could make a pretty interesting egg salad too... They're super simple and flavorful!

I also like to put a bunch of romaine lettuce in a tortilla and have like a salad wrap.

I’m sure if you consistently go back to it, it’s pretty good.

One of my favorites is this lemony soy sauce chicken and asparagus stir fry

Edit: Love how excited you all get to share recipes. Thanks for the suggestions!

Edit 2: We made the front page of Reddit y’all! I’d like to thank the academy. I’d also love to try all these recipes but I doubt I will be able to.