$5-6 rice and lentil 'struggle pots' that taste great

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For most of last year I had to squeeze on cash, had a lot of expenses hit at once and had loans to pay off with respect to them. I already wanted to do more of my own cooking but this forced the issue.

A couple things I figured out that were worth my while - making my own bread once per week (two loaves) and making rice and lentil 'struggle pots'.

What I'm liking about these rice and lentil pots is that I'm not getting sick of them so long as I vary the spices and try it different ways, and it seems like there are a lot of ways to work with the base recipe.


So the base recipe itself goes like this:

1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
1 cup lentils
4 cups warm water (4 cups for 'fried rice' style, 6 for more of a soup)
1/2 large sweet or white onion
2-3 cloves garlic (I do 1 tbsp of minced garlic in oil)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp salt
half bag / 5 oz frozen spinach (optional)
2-3 tbsp tomato paste (optional)

Spices - this is where there will be a lot of variance, I'll post the different batch names and spices below.


Directions

Heat cooking oil in a large pot to medium heat. Add onions. Sautee until soft (5 min) then sauté garlic for one minute with onions. After this add the spices and stir 30 seconds with onion and garlic to bloom.

After bloom add tomato paste (if using), diced tomatoes, rice and lentils, and then add the 4 cups of water. After this add salt.

(One thing I added to this - I have a Middle-eastern grocery store nearby so I can get a lot of the bulk spice tins but they also have relatively cheap dried red peppers, I like putting three in at this point.)

The next step - heat to high until you get a boil, then cool to low/simmer and cook for 30 minutes. For most of this time you do want the rice covered, for the first ten minutes as its coming down from high I prefer to, while avoiding too much stirring (don't want the rice starch to permeate), turn the pan and scrape the bottom so nothing's burning - so maybe ten minutes uncovered. After that, the last twenty minutes, I stir similarly maybe once per 10 minute interval. After that cool for a few hours before refrigerating.


With those ingredients I did a quick browse:

14.5 oz diced tomatoes - $0.99
4.5 oz jar minced garlic w olive oil - $3 (by 4 batches) - $0.75
1 large sweet onion - $1.25 (half needed) - $0.63
lentils ($3.50 / lb - .5 lb needed) - $1.75
rice ($1.00 / lb - .6-.7 lb needed) - $0.65

Subtotal: $4.77

Extras:
spinach (1.50-$2 per box/bag - half needed) - $0.85
tomato paste (1.50 / 3 or 10 tbsp total) - $0.50

Subtotal: $6.12

For the other items like oil and spices - consider that maybe another $0.50 overhead, so $5.27 or $6.62 respectively.



Where I've actually been having fun with this?

Middle East theme - 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp seven spice / Baharat, 1/2 tsp cardamom, 1 tsp paprika optional.
West Mediterranean theme - 1 tsp dry oregano, 1/2 tsp dry thyme, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1-2 bay leaves, 1.5 oz lemon juice (at the end when removing from heat) or juice from 1/2 lemon.
Hungarian theme - 2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp caraway seeds, 1/2 tsp cayenne, pinch of dill or marjoram
Spanish paprika theme - 2 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp oregano, pinch of chili flakes
West African theme - 1 tsp curry powder, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, pinch cayenne
Ethiopian theme - 2 tsp berbere, 1 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp cardamom
Baharat and curry theme - 1 tsp turmeric, 1 1/2 tsp seven spice / Baharat, 1/2 tsp cardamom, 1 tsp mild curry

One last bit of advice - spinach at the end along with maybe another couple tbsp oil, especially if it something high HDL like avocado, olive, etc..


Admittedly I'm not a super-experienced cook, I spent probably a year trying to figure out holes in a Turkish delight recipe I was working with, this has given me zero problems so far and at worst I sometimes get a wack texture if I over-stir.

What you can get out of these though is at least 4 or 5 lunches or dinners. I eat one big meal a day so that covers me for most of a week. The best part about these - it's a bit more financial freedom, money back in your pocket, and for me at least it beats the heck out of any $3-$4 frozen dinners, a fraction of the price, and they taste amazing so I figured these were worth sharing with others who I know are watching their expenses.

Thanks for the Struggle Pot recipe, will try

Thanks for this! It seems like a souped-up version of the South Asian staple, kichri. I could really do with cooking more of this type of thing, as it can avoid ingredients that wreck my stomach.

my grandma and my mother lived through the Great Depression and taught me many frugal ways to use food. People interested in learning how to eat nutritiously "on the cheap" can find good recipes in old cookbooks from the depression era. There are lots of good frugal websites for cooking and general every day living tips "out there' on the internet. Good post, thanks for the input!

I have a small 1.5 quart slow cooker that works great for cooking a single serving of beef stew.
I found that I can set it to the low setting and adjust the quantity of liquid inside so that it simmers around 190 degrees Fahrenheit.

The best thing about beef stew is that carrots, celery, onions, and potatoes can be safely stored for a week or more before being cooked in a stew.

I like taking general quantities of low sodium powdered onion soup mix, one small carton of eggbeaters, low-sodium beef bullion, tomato powder, cubed sourdough bread pieces [a loaf], dehydrated veggie morsels, sauerkraut, mixed beans, powdered romano cheese - put 'em all into a slow cooker, wait all day then at the last minute, add some diced seitan to it, divide into meal-sized portions and put into the freezer. useta do that back in the day, it would last me a week of 14 meals.

I cooked a struggle pot today. Turned out decently for a first try. It was a little too tomato-y, and I think it needs to be fattier next time. Maybe some coconut milk?

I think I'll give those a try.

Normally canned beans are terrible for my digestion - gassy - but when I soaked some green lentils overnight (they doubled in size), then boiled them sufficiently to soften them such that they weren't raw, nor were they turned to mush (still a bit of chewing necessary, were still texturally distinct in the stew) my intestines just loved them. Virtually no gas!

No more tuba-baloo

I cook single servings to eliminate the need to refrigerate food. Electricity is expensive where I live.
Plus I get to experiment until I find a recipe I like to eat.

I buy small appliances. A 1 liter deep fryer. A 1.5 quart slow cooker. A 3 cup rice cooker that will cook just 1/2 cup of rice. A few months ago I bought a 4quart Instant Pot for $65 but I've only used it to pressure cook chicken.

Food prices are just awful these days. Any little bit helps.

I've been learning how to cook bread in single servings. Last night I made pretzels in the oven. They can be cooked at the same time with frozen pizza.

This morning I made crumpets on the stove top. Another way to cook bread is to steam it. The Chinese call steamed bread mantou. They sell steamed bread filled with pork Bao at the Asian market.

This is related to autism how?

It isn't unusual for those of us with autism to live alone and need to cook for just one person.