Eating the proper amount is hard. Eating when you have low time, money, mental energy, or education on cooking is even harder.

This book assumes nothing. Do you know how to turn on your stove? You are properly prepared to use this cookbook.

Just want to share it with more folks!

  • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    I really love Mexican food so sometimes my dinner is pulling a tortilla out of the bag and eating it.

    If you pass this recipe on please give me credit.

  • Maxnmy's@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    I’ll share my recipe since it isn’t in the book.

    Block of Smoked Tofu

    Preparation: cut open the packaging with a knife, put on a plate, and eat with your hands.

    Smoked tofu tastes good enough to eat it by itself, and it’s a great source of protein and fat.

      • benni@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        Yeah, tofu by itself can be very boring, but it really shines with the right spices or marinade. The simplest way to make tofu that still tastes great is to cut it up, put the pieces in a container with a tablespoon of soy sauce and some Sriracha (amount depending on your chili tolerance), and shake the container. Then you can use it in many ways, for example by placing it on something that is releasing a lot of steam, like rice that is almost done cooking.

        • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
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          15 days ago

          I’m in a motel with only a microwave and mini fridge at the moment (and for the foreseeable future) so unfortunately I can’t bake. Is grilled tofu a thing? They have some grills outside

      • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        I also eat raw smoked tofu blocks sometimes, but try cutting it into strips and sautéing them if you really want to give it a shot. You can eat that with whatever you like your fries with. I tend to go for a sriracha mayo.

        Before you cut it up, drain any water from it, and wrap it in a clean dish towel, then press it under a cutting board or something flat for like 20 seconds on each side. If you get extra firm smoked tofu, that should be all you really need to do, but you can also toss it in seasoned flour (or a seasoned 1:1 mixture of flour and corn starch) first

  • li10@feddit.uk
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    16 days ago

    I don’t get this one, surely you can just buy pasta sauce instead and it’s exactly the same steps but better 🤔

    • ericbomb@lemmy.worldOP
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      16 days ago

      Ahh this is not a “go buy” something recipe.

      This is a “If you are thinking of not eating because you feel like you have nothing to eat, eat this instead”

    • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      I don’t like ketchup like that. Fries, sure. Burger? A little. This? This is fucking gross. I also knew someone that put it on their pizza. On the inverse, I can eat yellow mustard straight

    • Tikiporch@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      Pasta and ketchup is a common meal in Paris according to the one French Netflix show I watched where they ate it and never commented about how absurd it is.

    • illi@lemm.ee
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      15 days ago

      I actually prefer to eat spaghetti this way instead of the sauce

    • corvi@lemm.ee
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      16 days ago

      Accepting that’s is ok to sometimes eat a frozen meal has been absolutely instrumental in helping me reduce eating out.

      I got caught in the trap of perfect, trying to make tasty, healthy, low-cost meals, and then giving up when I couldn’t just do that every day with no experience.

      • KittenBiscuits@lemm.ee
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        16 days ago

        Bertolli chicken parm and some garlic Texas toast is almost downright fancy, but it’s 100% dump, heat, eat.

      • ericbomb@lemmy.worldOP
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        16 days ago

        Yeah I like mixing it personally!

        Like I have fresh sour dough bread I made this morning. I then like to use said bread to spoon in store bought curries, pasta sauces, peanut butter, and jelly. Or sometimes I’ll use it as bread for a frozen fish patty to make a sandwich. I also have a big things of rice and beans I made that I will sometimes just plop into a tortilla and call a meal.

      • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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        15 days ago

        When I went back to college with a toddler and a baby on the way. I started feeling really bad about how I was feeding my kid. I’d do stuff like chicken nuggets with some frozen veggies on the side for example. I told someone about this and they were like “no you’re feeding your kid really well. They’re getting most of their food groups in every meal and getting consistent meals”

        • PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee
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          15 days ago

          Frozen veggies are said to be just as nutritious or sometimes even better than fresh, because they are flash frozen right after harvest and don’t have time to deteriorate. They’re almost certainly better than canned veggies anyway.

      • scutiger@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        If you’re looking for a fun Youtube channel to folliw, check out Sorted Food. They do a lot of silly food challenge videos, but a lot of them have some really good lessons for the average know-nothing cook.

    • Num10ck@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      just pointing out that the russian supermarkets have these for like $2-$3 per pound, basically ravioli. you can dump a serving into a pot of boiling water and then you’re done in a couple of minutes. can top with pasta sauce or even ranch dressing. feeds a while family for the cost of a single fast food meal.

    • shoresy@lemmings.world
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      16 days ago

      For any sweet pierogi, sprinkle some sugar on top of the sour cream or mix it up properly if you want to be fancy. So damn good.

  • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    15 days ago

    Instant Noodles Carbonara

    Cook instant noodles in a pan. Chuck an egg in and mash it about a bit.

    When the water is nearly all gone, chuck in a load of cheese (I use strong cheddar and grated mozzarella) and a couple of chopped up Peperamis. Mix it all about until the cheese starts burning.

    Eat that shit.

  • benni@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    I love the concept of this book but was pretty disappointed by the actual recipes tbh.

    • nednobbins@lemm.ee
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      15 days ago

      You might not be the target audience. I’m not currently the target audience either.

      My wife and I are really into cooking. We have a whole bookshelf of cookbooks, a metrowire rack full of “kitchen stuff” and we use it daily.

      There was definitely a time when this book would have been perfect. This book seems to cover a lot of stuff that’s obvious to me now but wasn’t always.

      If you’re food plan is a bulk package of Ramen, any help on how to make it not the same as every other day is culinary gold.

    • AlolanYoda@mander.xyz
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      15 days ago

      Same here. Last time this was shared I found a single recipe kind of interesting, but not enough for me to actually memorize what it was.

      Thinking back, it was probably the Mac and Cheese one, and I had already wanted to try to make it anyway (it’s not a very common dish in my country, or at least my circle)

  • tektite@slrpnk.net
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    15 days ago

    When I discovered this cookbook, I printed it out on regular printer paper and spent an hour or two hardcover binding it with a bookcloth spine and fancy foreign cover papers with gold foil and flocking. It looks so nice!

    Then I immediately had to use it because I can manage professionally binding a shitty printout of the Sad Bastard Cookbook, but I cannot adequately feed myself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This cookbook is great!

  • theblackbox@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    Thanks for sharing! I feel like I know some folks who need this in case of emergency. Will be passing it along to several friends…

  • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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    15 days ago

    Thank you for sharing this. Not only am I finding useful depression cooking ideas here but it also seems like a great “intro to cooking” book and just a “fuck I’m out of everything but don’t feel like going to the store” kind of cookbook

  • sentientity@lemm.ee
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    14 days ago

    Okay this made me tear up and is perfect. Peanut Butter On A Spoon is a large percentage of what i have been eating lately. I feel seen.

    • ericbomb@lemmy.worldOP
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      14 days ago

      Some days, or weeks, it’s enough!

      Maybe shake it up from time to time with something else from the book, but I understand where some months eating enough to keep the stomach pains away is just all that can be done.

      • sentientity@lemm.ee
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        14 days ago

        Yes! Very luckily my health flares only seem to get real bad for a few days at a time nowadays, so i do have some “real food” mixed in, but as a person who has been struggling with shame about eating less well than i wish i could on those days it is very nice to be reminded that food, literally any food at all, is good enough and in fact an act of love toward myself. Excited to peruse the book for some more ideas

  • Pazuzu@midwest.social
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    15 days ago

    my favorite depression meal is an easy rice and beans. buy those flavored rice sides that come in a bag, chicken flavor is a good default option. cook it per instructions, then throw in a drained can of black beans and whatever frozen veggies sound good. don’t even bother heating up the beans or veggies, there’s enough heat in the rice that everything ends up nice and warm. just give it all a stir and you’re done.

    the rice sides have enough flavor to make everything taste good as is, but there’s definitely room to toss in whatever spices are within arms reach that sound good.