
Ask HN: got any food hacks? - johnswamps
I'm having trouble finding a way of consuming food that has an optimal balance of being healthy, cheap, quick, and tasty. I don't want to eat ramen (or most processed foods), but I don't want to spend an hour every day preparing, cooking, and cleaning. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to share (tips, recipes, whatever). I'm a single grad student, but advice for others is also appreciated.<p>For example, I remember an HN submission where the writer talked about paying someone who lived nearby and cooked well to drop off leftovers most evenings. Someone else talked about preparing a whole bunch of meals the first weekend of the month then freezing them (this probably requires a second fridge). From the body building community I picked up the idea to drink a lot of milk, because it's a great source of cheap good calories. I'm not necessarily looking for actions so drastic and perhaps "gimmicky", simpler ideas would work just as well ("making such-and-such is really quick and makes a bunch of leftovers that taste just as good as the first time", etc.)
======
mmaunder
You need the Julia Child Omlette! All you need are eggs, water, butter and a
hot pan and it takes 3 minutes and tastes awesome! The water is the trick.
When you whisk water and eggs together, as they hit the hot pan the water
turns to steam and fluffs the eggs up. I've made this many times and once you
get the pan shaking and timing right, you will impress the hell out of your
friends every time.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWmvfUKwBrg>

Get a dozen eggs and some friends over and practice making this. Then start
throwing in pre-cooked items like bacon bits etc. The possibilities are
endless.

Once you've got it down, make this for breakfast for a date one morning and
you won't be single long.

~~~
dilap
Wow, I just made the best omelette of my life. Thanks!

~~~
bretthoerner
Man, I came here to post the same thing. So delicious.

------
mattmaroon
What you just asked for is a full-sized SUV that costs $10,000, rides like a
Lexus, gets 45mpg city, and never loses the new car smell.

If you don't want to cook or clean, that means someone has to cook/package for
you. If you don't want processed food (and I don't blame you) where this is
done by machine, then you have to pay for something done by real people. This
will by-definition be not cheap, since labor is relatively expensive in food
prep.

You could just snack on raw veggies but I'm guessing you wouldn't consider
that tasty for long.

Much better would be to structure your life in such a way that you can spare
the hour. Go read In Defense of Food as to why, then ask yourself about your
priorities. To do otherwise is to put work/school above your health which
makes no sense at all.

~~~
phugoid
Amen.

Cooking is an investment. The more you cook, the better you get at it; the
faster and tastier the results. And the more you cook, the healthier you will
eat overall (at least if you're living in North America).

As for hacks, here's one. Take semi-prepared food, like macaroni & cheese in-
the-box-with-the-faux-cheese-powder-in-the-paper-pouch, and augment it. The
basic recipe is written on the box and fool-proof. Add something else to it
like chopped-up left-over chicken that you warm up in the oven until sizzling.

~~~
PostOnce
Isn't it strange to talk about cooking being an investment, and healthier
eating in one sentence, and then recommend a way to prepare mac & cheese in
the next?

~~~
phugoid
I'm suggesting to start small. Hello World small. It's easier to build on
successes than failures.

------
shard
In my bachelor days during my bulking phases, I'd do the following to pack in
the nutrients I needed:

1\. Buy several bags of chicken drumsticks (de-skin if you want to lower fat
intake), poke holes with a fork, marinate with wine / vinegar / soy sauce /
herbs and spices for a few hours, put into broiler. I'd cook 30 or so at a
time, and it'd last me days.

2\. Ham or turkey or peanut butter sandwiches.

3\. bags of frozen veggies. Stir-fry if you have time, boil or microwave if
you don't.

4\. Peanut butter & banana & milk & protein powder drinks. I'd make a big
glass every night for my snack.

5\. Mixed nuts to snack on.

Lots of good fats, low glycemic index carbs, and protein; inexpensive and
quick.

~~~
JesseAldridge
My list is similar. Healthy, cheap, and dead easy to prepare.

1\. Cereal and milk

2\. Oatmeal

3\. Rice and beans

    
    
      - You have to soak the beans overnight before you cook them
      - After that, you cook them with rice in a rice cooker
      - After they're cooked, mix in some frozen vegetables and cook for a while longer to thaw the vegetables
      - Some kind of sweet and sour sauce is good with this
    

4\. Noodles (all kinds)

    
    
      - You can also cook pasta in a rice cooker
      - Add frozen vegetables to this too
      - And tomato sauce (of course)
    

5\. Chips

    
    
      - The baked variety are healthier and taste better (imo)
    

6\. Fish

    
    
      - Buy frozen filets, cook in microwave
    

7\. Melons

    
    
      - Cut off the rind with a big knife
      - Cut the flesh up into chunks 
      - Stick the chunks in tupperware and refrigerate
    

8\. Peanut Butter

9\. Whole-grain bread

10\. Mixed Nuts

11\. Carrots

    
    
      - Baby carrots are good snacks
    

12\. Apples, oranges, and bananas

13\. Cookies

14\. Deli cheese

    
    
      - My favorite is gouda
    

Ok, those last two aren't so healthy, but they're delicious enough to be worth
it imho.

(Also, I'm pescatarian if you couldn't tell.)

~~~
jackowayed
You can make pasta in a rice cooker? Do you just stick the noodles and water
in and check it periodically until they're done?

~~~
JesseAldridge
I use a rice cooker that you stick in the microwave.

This one, to be specific: [http://www.amazon.com/Maxi-Aids-Microwave-Rice-
Cooker/dp/B00...](http://www.amazon.com/Maxi-Aids-Microwave-Rice-
Cooker/dp/B00011R41Q)

13 minutes works for spaghetti in my microwave.

------
awongh
I think the ultimate time saver for cooking good tasting food with little
effort is a crock pot. Anything that cooks food over low heat over a long
period of time.

This method always seems to produce food that has that special "something"
where all the ingredients meld into something magic. It's virtually impossible
to mess up and it's good for getting rid of odd bits left in your fridge.

It can also be easily adopted to your nutritional requirements, and to any
type of cuisine. Basically every single culture on earth has a version of
stuff-thrown-in-pot-and-cooked-for-a-long-time.

The secret to success is to begin with similar ingredients. Usually onions and
carrots and garlic- then celery for something european, bell pepper for
something south american, maybe ginger for something asian.

Then you add some kind of cheap cut of meat, chicken, pork, beef, it doesn't
matter, (sausage or ham, leftover meats- doesn't matter if they've been cooked
already) then some other appropriate long cooking vegetable (potatoes, corn,
anything that won't fall apart during cooking, an hour before eating, you can
put in the more delicate vegetables). Then some water. Cover and leave it for
like 4 or 5 hours and when you come back it'll be amazing. If it's
appropriate, you can also add any kind of dried beans.

Prep is also easy, because you dont really have to worry about cutting the
vegetables carefully. Just cut them any way you like and dump them in.

You can make rice or cous cous or quinoa (starch) to go along with it, or you
can have it with bread or crackers.

Some specific examples: osso bucco, coq au vin (adding alcohol in really helps
make it good) cassoulet, chili, goulash, tangine, gumbo, indian-style curries,
etc., you can see how versatile this method is.....

~~~
mbenjaminsmith
+1 for the slow cooker. I cook 25% of the time with a slow cooker. There is
magic to it and it's fast for prep.

Recommendations:

\- Buy a decent pair of kitchen scissors. I cut up almost everything directly
into the slow cooker with a pair. It's very fast.

\- Load up on fresh veggies (a local farmer's market would be ideal). If you
make something like chili, cut in 2 - 3 extra bunches of greens like parsley,
coriander, young celery, etc.

\- Buy an extra large cooker and always make enough to have leftovers. I
usually plan on getting a solid lunch out of it the next day.

\- You can make noodle dishes right in the pot if you have access to fresh
(refrigerated) noodles. Fresh spaghetti or udon work well. Just rinse and
throw them in the pot 5 - 10 minutes before you eat. They soak up sauce and
are great.

------
davidedicillo
My mom would cry if she could read english...

Cheap and fast: PASTA

Base for the pasta: \- boil the water and salt it \- add pasta (but please,
don't overcook it, just stick to the box instruction. Barilla is an excellent
brand and decently priced)

Sauces for the pasta

Tuna Pasta \- In a small pot add a spoon of olive oil and diced onion, crushed
red pepper, and stir-fry it. \- When the onion looks "gold" add a can of tuna
(drain the water from the can first) and a can of tomato sauce. \- let cook
for 15 minutes medium heat

Pasta Carbonara \- on a small pan stir-fry some cured bacon \- in a bowl beat
1 egg, a spoon of heavy cream and 1/4 cup of parmigiano cheese. \- when the
pasta is ready add first the bacon with its oil and then the mix from the bowl

~~~
enjo
I don't want to get too pendantic, but the main thing I developed while living
in Italy is a carbonara fetish. What you describe is most definitely not
Carbonara...

Carbonara:

4 eggs 1 lb spaghetti 1/2 lb Pancetta 1/2 cup Parmesan Reggiano (although I
often use asiago as it's far cheaper) 1 onion chopped

Combine the eggs and 1/2 of the cheese in a large bowl, stirring to break the
egg yolks. Cook the pasta. Cook the pancetta and onion together. When the
pancetta/onion is done pour it into the bowl with eggs and cheese and mix.
When the pasta is done add it to the bowl as well and combine quickly to mix.
Pour the rest of the cheese into the bowl (it's important that it's still hot)
and mix.

Your left with this beautiful creamy mixture. Most importantly there is no
cream involved:)

~~~
tomsaffell
+1 for the lack of cream

-1 for the inclusion of onion and the _exclusion_ of garlic..

------
keefe
This will probably get lost in the sea of messages, but this is a topic I
spend a lot of time on. First off, <http://nutritiondata.com> is a valuable
resource - I treat the body as a machine with certain fuel requirements. The
key ones are fiber, protein and calories. You need to know your input profile
or you're just guessing. Next, pick a few dishes that satisfy this profile. I
eat a bowl of carrots a whole can of corn (canned corn is a GREAT fiber per $
ratio if you buy it in bulk) and a large protein shake. Next up is a vitamin,
which is absolutely crucial for micronutrients. If you let veggies + protein
be the centerpiece of your diet (that is my breakfast) then the rest of the
day tends to fall around it, because the bulk makes you less hungry and your
body has what it needs. I'd also recommend you workout at least 3 days a week
if you don't already - body maintenance is not optional for optimum
performance.

If you honestly are saying ONE hour is too much time for a full day of quality
cooking? You're dreaming to some extent.

~~~
TheSOB88
How do you compute an input profile? I thought this would be on the site you
referenced, but I couldn't find it.

~~~
keefe
The keywords are "daily needs calculator" it's under tools on that site. The
#s vary, but after researching I found their #s reasonable.

------
fbailey
oh god, don't hack food... it's not worth the saved time. Just learn to cook,
good food is cheap. I make dinner for friends all the time 5 courses and the
cost per person is 5€ if I want. Preparing good pasta never takes an hour, a
simple rice dish is fast, you can cook nearly everything with very little
preparation time, it's just a matter of training. So don't hack food hack your
food preparation skills. It's like buying something like this
<http://www.stimrx.com/instead> of finding a a better way to exercise. If you
learn to cook well, you will be able to do it without concentrating on it, so
it's not lost time. Now imagine how long you are going to eat.. 60 years for
every day? What would you do with every other kind of work you have to do for
that amount of time? How long did you need to learn driving? Or to learn to
programm?

And don't believe anybody who tells you with some kind of powder and some
nutrients you will be perfectly healthy, if the research into nutrition has
shown anything it's that the system is pretty complex and the only safe bet is
a mixed traditional diet.

~~~
rokhayakebe
5 courses? Do you have room for a new friend?

------
thunk
Rice cooker. Rice-to-water ratio 1:1.5 for white and 1:2 for brown. 15-20
minutes for white and 30-40 minutes for brown. Throw in vegetables and/or fish
for the last 7-10 minutes to steam. Season to taste. I like teriyaki sauce
(with tons of garlic and ginger) on it. Corn starch is the key to a thick,
shiny sauce.

~~~
Batsu
There are rice cookers you can purchase which will finish the rice according
to a schedule. They're more expensive than the the average, but if you're
going to use it frequently and you want rice ready when you get home, it's top
notch.

Essentially, you measure you rice, clean it (as always) then add the water,
leave it in the cooker, the the timer you want it to finished, and the cooker
does the rest.

Edit: A thought on top of this: Sushi is often a mix of rice, vinegar, salt
and sugar, then seaweed and a meat. If you have the rice cooker, most of the
time for prep is taken out.

~~~
jseliger
What exactly does cleaning rice consist of? I thought that just meant "run
some water over it."

~~~
chadaustin
Put it in a bowl. Cover with water. Swish it around until the water is cloudy.
Drain. Add more water. Repeat until water stays clear.

On the other hand, I kind of like all of that excess starch or whatever.

------
PostOnce
Spend money to save time, or spend time to save money. There aren't a whole
lot of ways around it.

There are some tricks, but it boils down to either you spend the time or the
money, or you're going to end up with unhealthy/bland/repetitive food. If it's
fast, cheap, and healthy, then it's one of the few meals in that category and
will therefore become repetitive. You see where I'm going.

------
samdk
Couscous. It's cheap, cooks _really_ quickly (about 6-7 minutes), makes no
mess, and requires no dishes other than the pot it's cooked in.

It's also really versatile. I often use it instead of rice in simple rice
dishes (rice and beans, etc.), and it can substitute for pasta too.

~~~
jsonscripter
I've also found that you don't even need the pot. If you prepare an excess of
boiling water and use some to pre-heat your bowl and cover, it's possible to
actually cook the couscous sufficiently.

------
rjett
Breakfast: Some sort of cereal; for mornings that I have more time, I might
make an omelet and toast. Snacks: Peanut Butter Sandwiches Lunch: Turkey,
cheese, lettuce, condiment on wheat, apple, cottage cheese Dinner: I usually
get home late so I don't have the energy to cook. I love to cook though so I
do all my cooking on the weekends and store it for the week.

Spaghetti with Italian sausage is cheap to make and lasts 3-4 meals. Stir Fry
using frozen chicken breasts, rice, and frozen stir-fry vegetables is also
cheap and lasts for a few meals. For my "nice" meal, I usually buy a manager's
special (a couple days from being unsaleable) London Broil or a pot roast and
have that with potatos and peas. Then there's always the old constant of beans
and rice any of the 5000 ways you want to prepare it.

I'm not a ramen fan btw. There are plenty of healthy, cheap alternatives. In
Sacramento, this diet costs about $45/week.

------
lotharbot
1) get a rice cooker, preferably one with a top basket that lets it double as
a veggie steamer. Rice with some veggies and lean meat is fairly healthy,
tasty, inexpensive, and requires little active prep time (which is what I
assume you mean by "quick".) You may have to cook the meat separately,
depending on the type.

2) get a slow cooker. Much of the same applies, only instead of a rice base,
use potatoes and/or beans. This works pretty well with larger portions of meat
(chicken is cheap.) IIRC you can do some pasta dishes in a slow cooker as
well.

3) For variety, change up the specific mix of veggies, the type of meat (may
need to be cooked separately), and the spices in both of the above. You'd be
amazed how different rice with chicken, carrots, onions and potatoes tastes
when you spice it with oregano vs. curry powder vs. garlic and ginger.

4) Hit up the day-old bread rack, the reduced-price meat section, and so on.
It's a good way to add occasional bits of variety at a low cost. I also get
most of my produce from a small neighborhood produce stand, rather than the
big grocery store.

5) [EDIT]: one simple dish I've started making on the stovetop recently: Throw
some pasta, canned/frozen/fresh-cut veggies, and a can of concentrated soup
(tomato, cream of chicken, etc.) in a saucepan with the appropriate amount of
water. Cook it just like you would cook plain pasta. Again, you can add a bit
of meat and change up the spices, veggies, or soup type and have a totally
different meal.

------
punkrockgeekboy
My favorite vegetarian food hacks are Quinoa and Peanut Butter Oatmeal. Both
are great sources of protein.

When I want to spend a weekend hacking, and don't want to be bothered, I'll
cook a big batch of steel cut oats in the slow cooker, starting it on a Friday
night. Then I know I can just mix in a few table spoon of the good "grind it
yourself" peanut butter with a cup or two of oatmeal. It leaves me feeling
satiated, and is rather healthy with lots of fiber and protein without much
fat, and without sugar.

~~~
ramidarigaz
Quinoa is great. I have two primary recipes:

Breakfast: cook with cinnamon, apples, raisins and honey (and any other dried
fruit you care to add). Serve with pecans/walnuts/your favorite nut to add an
extra protein boost.

Lunch/dinner: cook and cool, add onions, cilantro, black beans, a little
tomato, a bit of crushed garlic. Basically a fresh salsa that is mostly
quinoa.

~~~
dnsworks
Quinoa FTW! My girlfriend likes to make Quinoa salads .. She'll just make a
basic quinoa pilaf style, but without the sauteed onions, then add corn,
spinach greens, heirloom tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, the super crunchy
japanese cucumbers, some apple or jicama slices, and some blood orange (or
regular orange).

Quinoa also makes a good porridge. I've mixed a cup of cooked qunoa cookd
porridge style with a cup of softly cooked (and drained and rinsed) black
beans with hot milk and a TBsp of agave syrup for a super awesome breakfast.

~~~
sojourner
I love quinoa tabouli. Tabouli is a Middle Eastern salad. You'll find various
recipes on the web. I like to use cilantro in place of the usual parsley &
mint, scallions, cucumbers, tomatoes, salt, pepper, and a dressing of fresh
lemon juice, garlic, salt and extra virgin olive oil. I make a huge batch of
that and snack on it for a couple of days.

------
anateus
I've found fish tacos to be a fantastic food, I try to eat them for breakfast
as often as I can.

    
    
      --------------
    

_Ingredients:_

* Frozen tilapia fillets (probably the healthiest fish you can buy, not as high in Omega-3 as larger ocean fish, but it's super low in mercury).

* Yellow corn tortillas (much lower in fat and sodium than the wheat or white corn ones).

* Salsa (I buy Herdez brand, it's basically Pico De Gallo with no additives. I can't stand tomatoes in any other form. Red vegetables are good for you, and it's the one way I can get some)

* Queso Fresco or some other cheese (not too much)

 _Procedure:_

The tilapia you can just stick in a toaster oven (or a full on oven) under
broil for 15-20mins, with some salt and pepper, and whatever other spices you
feel like that day.

Put tortillas on ungreased skillet (or hot plate) for 10-15 secs each side.
Take off, add your cheese, put in fish (slice the fillet as you see fit), and
add salsa and whatever other vegetables (some chopped lettuce, and sometimes
even cabbage works).

EAT!

    
    
      --------------
    

1 tilapia fillet is very filling and makes 2-3 tacos.

In conclusion: fast, easy, delicious, and very healthy. The frozen tilapia
fillets keep in the freezer for quite a while. Trader Joe's sells panko-
crusted ones that you can substitute once in a for some extra fun.

~~~
anateus
I should mention that I'm plagued for a huuuuge amount of taste aversions. I
disliked most cooked fish as well as tomatoes. But in this quick and easy
combination, it becomes a delicious meal that's quick to make, and quick to
eat :)

------
byrneseyeview
I've recently switched to a fairly paleo diet; I enjoy it. My first step was
to start every day with scrambled eggs. There are infinite variations (you can
mix in about a quarter of a pound of arugula or spinach, or a couple sliced
mushrooms--or you can pour some salsa on it when you're done). Takes about
fifteen minutes to cook, consume, and clean, and you'll simply have a better
day once you do it. I've found that a protein-and-fat breakfast at seven means
I can decide whether I want to eat again at noon or at three, which is nice.

------
NZ_Matt
I make a big batch of 30 - 40 wraps (burritos or kebabs) and freeze them.
After a 60 second nuke they are good to go.

I'm also a student and have found that carrying a water bottle everywhere
stops me from buying sodas. It saves me money and of course is a lot
healthier.

------
dood
The best trick is to batch it. Fill your freezer with tasty, quality foods
which can be made in nice big batches: stew, casserole, bolognaise (which can
be quickly converted to chilli), curry, dal, etc.

All of the above foods can be reheated quickly, can be eaten in a variety of
ways (various carb-staples & veg), and you can tweak the recipe each time if
you like.

If you don't have much money, or don't want to eat much meat, you can add as
much beans/potatoes to the basic dish as you like, and/or eat small portions
combined with whatever staples you prefer.

Every week cook a big batch of something. Soon you'll have a freezer full of a
variety of tasty, nurtitious goodness.

------
thomasthornton
At least once a week I microwave a sweet potato (10 minutes or so). Then
microwave black beans and mix in a little salsa. Serve the potato with the
bean mixture as a topping. The result is a healthy dinner in about 15 minutes
with almost no work. You can also add cumin and ground corriander to give it
more flavor.

~~~
chadaustin
Amen to that! Few people realize how easy it is to make a sweet potato in the
microwave.

They cost a dollar or two each. Poke a couple holes, nuke on high for 8
minutes, slice open and eat.

Lots of calories and vitamins.

Add butter and brown sugar if you want. Or salt.

------
armandososa
Well, I think I'm going to advocate tacos. The best thing about tacos is: they
are easy to make and can be filled with just about anything.

Take one or two hours off the weekend you can cook nice meals for the rest of
the week. Cook some meat wit tomato sauce, fry little potato squares with some
olive oil, grill some chicken steaks. Also grab a can of beans, some cheese
(mozzarella or oaxaca for better results) and of course good tortillas.

That's it. You can have an infinite variety of tacos for each day of the week.

Dude, this thread made me hungry.

------
x2Opteron
Oatmeal is healthy, cheap, quick, and add a bit of honey or brown sugar makes
it super tasty. Steel cut oats take longer to cook than quick oats, but
they're more satisfying IMO.

~~~
gcv
Hack for making steel-cut oats quicker: soak the portion you plan to cook
overnight. Cuts cooking time down to about 15 minutes. Tastes exactly the same
(IMO). If you like to add cinnamon, or dried apricots, raisins, or dates or
whatever, do that before actually cooking.

------
edj
A few of things I do:

1) Leftovers. I often cook chili, dal, chana masala, or soups in large
quantities. I eat them fresh, then from the fridge for a day or two, then
freeze the rest. Anything flavorful and goopy works (since textures degrade
with freezing and reheating).

2) Rice cooker. Most useful kitchen appliance I've ever owned. They really are
fire and forget. I bought mine for $13 at target. It only has one button
(maybe Apple should get into this market?). It's pretty forgiving--I don't
even measure the water anymore.

3) Whole pre-cooked chickens. They can cost as little as $3 or as much as $10
(for the organic ones). I get 2-4 meals from one chicken depending on its size
and what I eat with it. Then I throw the carcass in a pot of water with onions
and celery and make soup stock. (Throw away the bones, onions, and celery
before making soup).

4) Instant oatmeal is the cheapest good breakfast I know of. I use fancy steel
cut organic instant oats with organic milk and the cost is around $0.50 per
meal. Adding fresh berries brings it to around $1.50. (That said, my current
favorite breakfast is whole wheat bread, scrambled eggs, and sauteed kale or
spinach.)

~~~
rjett
Regarding #3: I've found that blending the boiled down onions, celery, [and
carrots] into your stock after boiling it makes a much better base.

~~~
edj
If you like a thicker broth, go for it. My preference is to consider that
first round of veggies as flavor enhancers.

When I cook thicker soups I blend, e.g. with butternut squash soup, I always
blend the sauteed onions and garlic, as well as a portion of the squash.

------
peter_severin
I use Niçoise salad as a starting point for many salads:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ni%C3%A7oise_salad>

I don't bother with aesthetics and just mix everything. A usually add a boiled
potato, chopped bacon along with the egg to make the salad more consistent.
This makes the salad a main dish of its own. I use other ingredients like
beans, peas, spinach, boiled beet, salmon, tuna, cheese, avocado, various
herbs etc. Quite often I put a shredded carrot in the mix.

The salad is pretty quick to make. I cook an egg and a potato in the same pot.
I take the egg out after 5 minutes of boiling and leave the potato a bit more.
Meantime I wash and chop the greens, tomatoes any other ingredients that I
have. I add the egg and the potato, put some balsamic vinegar and olive oil
and it's good to go.

I make a point to buy the best vegetables and greens I can. This means that I
always try to get them from the market, directly from people that produce
them. It's not always easy when you are living in a big city.

------
ubergeekchick
_Learn to Bake_ Required Hardware: The best food hack ever is as older than
the origins of the word "hack" and almost every one has one: its called an
oven.

The best part of baking is all the wonderful things that can be hacked
together to improve your daily caffeine supply. From biscuits/cookies, cakes,
coffee cake, yummy biscotties, and so so much more.

\--BAKING HACK README--

Dependencies: Than on to ready-to-raise flour, eggs, water, and butter. With
those four ingredients you can begin an template for many baking projects.

Recommended Ingredients: Sugar, Salt, Cinnamon, and Milk.

Optional Ingredients: Fruits, Veggies, Meats, and just about about any thing.

Optional Hardware: Aluminum foil and any of many various baking pans, e.g.:
Cookie Sheets, Pie pans, Muffin pans, Bread pans, Pie pans, and etc.

To prove your "leet skillz": try replacing any said pan with an aluminum foil
struct of a similar thickness & shape. Though for reasons of taste & safety
this may also prove your absolute stupidity as well. But who care's cause
you're leet: right? :-)

Now: go get baked!

------
pasbesoin
There have been some previous threads on this topic. Search will probably turn
them up.

My recurring suggestion: Microwave a sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are much
more nutritious than white potatos; currently, the popular press has taken to
labeling them a "superfood" (insert skepticism here).

Wash it

Poke it (deeply) in a few places to vent steam

My vintage microwave takes approximately 8 - 10 minutes, depending on size. If
your microwave does not have a carousel, flip and rotate the sweet potato
halfway through.

They can cook somewhat unevenly, so let it stand for a couple of minutes after
cooking, while the heat continues to disperse and cooking completes.

Season and eat. I cut mine in half, sprinkle each half with a bit of (raw)
sugar, and dust liberally with cinnamon (also now being shown to have health
benefits).

P.S. I went to check the manufacturing tag: It was made in 1977! How's that
for durability? No explicit statement of wattage, but 13 A at 120 V, 1 (of 3)
phase (sorry, I'm not sure what to assume for the power factor).

------
chunkyslink
Shameless self promotion.

Our startup (coming soon) helps solve exactly the problem you are having. In
fact, one of the reasons we started building it was to solve the problems you
describe, which we also suffer from.

<http://delicioustasty.com>

It will be free and as a tool, does some things we haven't seen done (very
well) on the web before.

~~~
nickpp
Delicious & Tasty = Repetitive Redundancy.

------
adam-_-
Make things like stew, soup or chilli in large quantities and freeze
individual portions for later.

For a quick meal, try stir fry: quick, tasty and nutritious:
[http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-recipes/oriental-
por...](http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-recipes/oriental-pork-with-
noodles)

More importantly, learn to embrace/enjoy cooking. I love taking half an hour
to unwind and cook something really fresh and tasty (and I'm a student). I'd
recommend Jamie Oliver's website for recipe inspiration...

Cooking with fresh ingredients ticks all the priorities and doesn't need to be
slow, there are plenty of "20/30 minute meal" type books, might I suggest
something by Nigel Slater: [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Fast-Food-Nigel-
Slater/dp/01410...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Fast-Food-Nigel-
Slater/dp/0141029501/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270303569&sr=8-2)

------
ableal
Beans. They have protein and fiber, no sugar. Canned pre-cooked red or brown
beans. (In the U.S., buy chili beans - they don't have sugar added, the others
do.)

Add a little meat for flavor. I'm partial to a small chunk of
sausage/chorizo/pepperoni, diced in small bits. Plus tomato paste (not ketchup
- sugar again) and paprika. Spice up at will, but I find Tabasco too vinegary.

Add water to make it soupy, boil for 10 minutes, eat with bread. Microwave in
a bowl if you're lazy (er, efficient) like me, or are re-heating a leftover
portion.

Tossing a portion of chicken breast, in a dry non-stick frying pan, into the
oven for 20 or 30 minutes (?), while doing something else, was also a favorite
in my grad student days.

------
waivej
I like making pots of rice and beans. It's really cheap and you can add just
about anything. A pot should last a few days and supply good nutrition. I like
to start with a good rice, add some veggies, a fat source, and a salt source.
Fish sauce is nice. Cheese works well. Crack an egg or two for variety. If you
use canned beans, rinse them well and add at the end. Water should be 2.5 the
volume of the rice. You get one pot for several days of food and don't even
need dishes. No need for anything but a $0.33 can of beans and part of a $2
box of rice and a pan.

It is a bit extreme, but I lived on $12/week when I started my company and
just ate beans and rice.

------
plaes
<http://www.cookingforengineers.com/>

This guy even "invented" his own style recipe card.

~~~
warfangle
This seems like a valuable resource - so I'm bookmarking it for later
reference.. however, I have no idea where to start with it. I'm a complete
cooking neophyte - so I'm guessing 'recommended reading's is where I should
start. Wish the site was both accessible to newcomers and returning
gastrohackers both.

------
pgbovine
subway sandwiches are probably the cheapest, quickest, and healthiest 'fast
food' that you might tolerate eating on a daily basis. you can get a decent
sandwich for ~$4.

~~~
spahl
Without the cheese, bacon and sauce... But even then, there is way too much
sugar in the bread.

~~~
lpolovets
You can ask the person behind the counter to scrape some of the bread out from
the middle before they start adding meats and veggies. I do it all the time
and it makes the sandwich taste better too (due to the higher flavor-to-bread
ratio)

------
sketerpot
Chili. Make it in a slow cooker in a large batch, and refrigerate most of it
for later meals. Here's what you do:

Brown these in a pan:

1 pound cheapest ground beef

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

some thyme, salt, pepper, any other spices you think are cool

soy sauce

Put the contents of the pan into the slow cooker. Then stick this stuff in the
cooker after it:

1 Anaheim pepper, chopped

4 pods okra, chopped

1 can kidney beans

1 can black-eyed peas

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

some salt

1 tblsp cumin

chili powder, liberally sprinkled on top

enough habanero sauce to make it spicy. This is important.

a dash of fish sauce. Also important.

a dash of vigegar (optional).

Be sure to drain the beans first. Add a bit of water if it seems too thick.
Add any other spices you think are nice. Stir and let it cook for 8 hours on
low or 4 hours on high. Eat some, refrigerate the rest. Takes maybe 40 minutes
to prepare, but it lasts for a while.

------
cynicalkane
Problem: Vegetables are gross, and hard to prepare such that they taste good.

Solution: vegetable smoothie. Ice, a banana, yogurt, milk, and a whole bunch
of spinach, in proportions according to taste. This sounds disgusting, but it
actually tastes really good. Make sure you have a banana though. Otherwise it
will tastes like spinach, and that's not the goal here.

After trying to report my discovery to the world, it seems I'm the only person
who thinks spinach smoothies are a good idea. For some reason, everyone thinks
it's disgusting to fill a blender with spinach and other things and then drink
it. I can't imagine why.

~~~
limist
I echo your choice of "green smoothies" - they're an outstanding solution to
the cheap, fast, and healthy requirements. Though like you, the reactions I
get from people generally involve disgust, even when those same people will
happily pay $4 or $5 for essentially the same concept/drink at a health food
store, for a quarter of the quantity and quality. Hell, half the drink may be
ground-up ice and they only get half a banana too.

Most people are not rational, especially when it comes to food.

~~~
sojourner
I love green smoothies. I use other fruit in addition to bananas, also use
collards, kale, dandelion and other dark leafy greens, and I don't skip the
dairy. They are delicious and very filling.

------
aheilbut
Greek yogurt is tasty (especially if you add some fresh fruit and honey to
it...) and has lots of protein.

------
jseifer
You just can't have all those at the same time. Healthy and cheap almost never
go together though healthy and quick can if you prepare for a few days. That
said, the best source for cheap healthy food is usually farmer's markets. I
get fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, butter, and milk from a couple of
different local farmers markets. Fruits are usually much cheaper ($5-$8 for 2
dozen oranges) but meat is usually more expensive because it's much better
quality.

Get your ingredients and figure out two days to cook. I do the bulk of
everything Wednesday and Sunday. This is a good balance for me with freshness
of food and cooking frequency. Also fresh OJ only last 2 to 3 days. Whole milk
(preferably raw if you can find good stuff) is a good balanced snack, so is
fruit and cheese.

If you're really wanting to be healthy and cheap, and can stomach it, animal
parts that people don't usually want are priced pretty well. The Whole Foods
here sells grass-fed beef liver at $4/lb and it's incredibly good for you
though it tastes terrible (email me for a recipe that makes it tolerable if
you're interested). Make broth out of beef ox tails and marrow bones or
chicken feet. Eat every 2-3 hours. Eat shellfish once a week.

Anyway, as another poster here said, it's worth it to spend the time on your
food. You'll be surprised how much better you feel and work when you're
healthy.

------
Frazzydee
This is going to sound really simple, but it's what I do. Take at your own
risk, because I have a strong stomach.

I cook food in bulk, and just re-cook it on the stove, make a bowl of rice,
and eat it over the next week. Even meat, and it tastes about as good as the
first time. I usually keep it in the fridge, but I'm fine even if it's left
outside and covered.

Might take a bit of time to cook the first time, but you can make some healthy
and nutritious food, and it'll be ready in minutes every time after the first.

~~~
phugoid
You'll eventually poison yourself, Frazzydee. There are simple steps you can
take to limit bacterial growth.

If you have a fridge, you probably have a freezer. Invest 20$ in dollar-store
tupperware, and freeze your food in single-servings.

Try to keep your food either frozen or at least as hot as boiling.

~~~
Frazzydee
I do have both, although I usually use the fridge.

I picked up this habit in China, where it seemed to be common to cook food and
leave it out, covered with a net to keep mosquitos out. So I think whether or
not you get really sick from this depends on your immune system.

That being said, you're right there can still be significant bacterial growth
in a fridge.

------
iamelgringo
I wrote this post a while back:
[http://iamelgringo.blogspot.com/2008/12/hacking-your-food-
su...](http://iamelgringo.blogspot.com/2008/12/hacking-your-food-supply-
perennial.html) I think that's one of the posts you were referring to.

We haven't done once a month cooking for a while, though. We've actually
outsourced a lot of our meal prep to Dream Dinners now. Link:
<http://www.dreamdinners.com/main.php?static=index>

You can either go there and prep the meals in a two hour period, or for an
extra $20, they will actually prep the food for you. It's not really grad
school budget, but we figure it saves us around 40-60 hours a month of cooking
prep time. So, to us, the extra time is worth the expense.

That takes care of our main courses and every weekend, we go to the local
farmer's market, and get our produce for the week. We also stop by the local
deli, and pick up some fresh bread.

And, we recently discovered Trader Joe's wine selection. They have a bunch of
wines for less than $10. A lot of them are undrinkable, but we've found a
couple of $4 bottles of wine that we love, and we tend to buy several cases of
them at the same time. That helps us keep the Mediterranean diet going.

For a long time, we also went to Costco or Sam's club. We'd buy a whole bunch
of food in bulk and then wrap it up into smaller portions and save it. I hate
grocery shopping, and it really helped to only have to do it once every couple
of months. The $200 mini freezer also helped a lot. It's move from Chicago, to
New England, to the Bay Area with us. We love it.

We also love SafeWay's grocery delivery. It's $10, or $8 if your order is over
$100. It really helps cut down on spending time dealing with buying groceries.
They keep track of the products that you buy and like, and it's really easy to
reorder stuff. The prices are exactly the same as in store, too, so you're not
paying hidden fees. I don't know why more people don't do that.

We've been trying <http://Alice.com>, too for non-grocery items. It's a pain
to tell them what you purchase up front, but over all, after the initial hour
of setting up the account and preferences, it makes recurring purchases of TP,
deodorant, toothpaste, etc.. a cinch.

------
btilly
The trick is called advance planning.

Similar to the "whole bunch of meals" I remember a fellow grad student who
would cook a large dish every Sunday, then parcel it out into meal sized
portions which he would then freeze. He always had meals from multiple weeks
in there, so he could microwave chili, lasagna, stew, etc, whatever he felt
like.

He did this with a normal sized freezer, but it was a well organized one.

Personally I'm fond of pancakes. I always cook more than I need, put the
excess in the fridge, then microwave one when I want a pancake. See
<http://www.recipefiles.org/view_user.php?user=ben_tilly> for some of the
pancake recipes I make. Particularly with the buttermilk, I find that the pan
gets hot in the same time it takes me to make the batter, and cooking from
scratch tastes a lot better.

You'll also find there something called "Daddy's chicken". I do that as a
marinade in the fridge. Many marinades are surprisingly fast to cook. You just
prepare them, let them sit in the fridge, then the next day pop them into an
oven and come back when they are done. Sure, it takes 40 minutes to an hour of
cooking time. But that is wall time, not _your_ time.

------
reasonattlm
Alternate day fasting. Cut your work in half, drop your food budget by 2/3 or
so.

Cook lentil + onion + carrot + split pea soup in a pot on the weekend, then
freeze it in portion sized boxes for the coming week. Buy bread with very high
fiber content to go with it. That makes for one meal a day that's so easy no-
one can mess it up, and doesn't take more than two hours a week to arrange in
advance.

------
gcv
Learn to make stews in a Dutch oven. The cooking process takes about 2-3
hours, but prep only requires about 20 minutes. Just learn to use a chef's
knife efficiently. Easy, efficient, and produces several days' worth of
delicious dinners. Eat with raw vegetables.

PS: If you drink whole milk in large quantities, make sure you do the weight
training to compensate. Otherwise, you'll just get fat.

------
Flemlord
I consider this as a hack--I never was able to consistently cook/grill meat
until I got a good instant-read thermometer. Now it's embarrassingly easy.
Char the meat on the stove or grill for a couple minutes, then throw it in the
oven on low heat until it hits the right temperature. It comes out perfectly
every time and there's very little effort involved.

------
caseycrites
I'm a 24 year old bachelor and have been looking for these kind of tips as
well. These are the things I've found and used.

Cooking utensils:

-George Foreman

-A bunch of those throw away plastic containers

Breakfast (Takes 2-3 minutes):

-Get the All Whites egg whites and pour some of it in a small plastic container and throw it in the microwave for a minute and a half

-Throw that egg on a wheat tortilla with some salsa and spinach and you have a breakfast burrito.

Lunch (~3 minutes to prepare, ~3 minute to cook):

-Black beans + Chunk chicken + spinach + salsa + guacamole + hot sauce + (whatever else you want for flavor) all into a bowl and toss it in the microwave. Quick and tasty.

Dinner (~10 minutes to prepare, ~5 minutes to cook):

-Chicken breasts grilled on the George Foreman. I generally cook a bunch at a time, store the rest in the fridge and then heat them up at a later date. Throw whatever you want on top of them for added flavor.

-Boil broccoli or some other bagged vegetable in a plastic container in the microwave

-Black beans, pinto beans, some other good beans.

Snacks:

-Nothing beats baby carrots for me. Grab some hummus for some extra flavor.

-Bananas, Apples, Oranges. If you're dieting try to avoid too much fruit, but don't neglect it either.

Notes:

-This is for a super healthy diet, so if you're not looking for really healthy switch some of these things out. However, I generally split my lunch into two meals making all 4 meals about 4 hours apart a piece and I never get hungry between them, even with exercise. Not being hungry definitely helps kill cravings.

-This follows the slow-carb diet, all except for the wheat tortilla in the morning

------
pingswept
A few suggestions:

1\. Fresh pasta cooks faster than dry pasta, is still pretty cheap, and it
tastes better too. Definitely an improved taste/time ratio.

2\. If you can find a place that sells enormous sandwiches, you can make each
half a meal. I often eat half a sandwich at 11 AM and the second half around 3
PM.

3\. I think a rice cooker is a worthwhile investment (google Zojirushi).

------
nate
I have a book called The Best 1001 Short, Easy Recipes. I brought this with me
when we started Y Combinator. Each recipe has at most usually 4-5 ingredients
that are often very easy and cheap to get. I don't think anything in that book
would take over 30 minutes to prepare and cook.

[http://www.amazon.com/Best-1001-Short-Easy-
Recipes/dp/193129...](http://www.amazon.com/Best-1001-Short-Easy-
Recipes/dp/193129478X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270313186&sr=8-1)

I'm sure there's some other books of this same ilk that are filled with good
ideas that just take a few things to put together.

Also my wife just got a groupon to this <http://thescramble.com/>

We've made about 5 meals so far, and they've all been awesome and pretty
healthy and easy to make. Even has a handy grocery store list aggregator thing
for the recipes you decide to make that week.

------
samratjp
If you like milk - make chai (indian tea)

Also, to get in some veggies with some taste, try some curries (you can learn
to make a decent potato curry and save leftovers - you can get some ready to
make mixes at your local asian grocery store). Also, cauliflower curry is
pretty good tasting yet economical and lots of leftover. With curries, indian
flat bread (naan) is pretty good.

As about Ramen, you can make that better by getting better flavored ones
(again, hit the asian groceries). A crazy cool trick - make ramen stove top;
but first, fry some onions and w/e veggies then set it aside. Do your ramen
with water thing, then throw in the veggies and your local asian grocery curry
mix.

As about eggs - a bagel and omelette in the middle is a pretty decent
breakfast. Throw in some fried onions and some basil flavored pasta sauce (try
the pasta sauce section) in the omelette and you have a winner.

------
cool-RR
Fish fillets. Specifically Perch. I buy them frozen.

Defrost in 20 minutes by putting in a bag (or box) of tap water.

Put oven (or toaster-oven) on high heat so it'll be already hot when you need
it. Put a bunch of butter on a porcelain/ceramic plate. Put in microwave for a
minute to make it melt and cover the plate. Put the fish on the plate. Turn it
over so it'll have butter all over it. Pour lemon juice on it. (Can use store-
bought lemon juice from a bottle.) Put salt on it. Put it in the oven. Come
back after 7-10 minutes. Ready to it.

Healthiness: Awesome. (You can use less butter.)

Price: Awesome. Where I live the whole deal is $4-$5.

Quickness: Mediocre. Total time is ~30 minutes, but most of it you can be
away. No need to stir like in cooking. Also, no pots or pans to watch! You
make it straight in the plate!

Tastiness: Awesome, assuming you love fish. (And I do, so that's good for me.)

------
RevRal
Get potstickers, use ~5 for every bowl of ramen. Eat the raman, then a carrot.

I am highly anticipating Roger Ebert's book "The Pot And How To Use It." A
rice cooker pot, not marijuana -- I got excited, too. The book sounds like
it'll be a compilation of the best food hacks ever.

------
macco
My personal favorites are frozen veggies and pre-washed salad. For a simple
salad you don't need no time. Put the salad in a bowl add tuna (best cheap
protein source), onions, corn or what to like; then add vinegar, oil, salt -
then you are finished. Frozen veggies are great if you have a microwave - put
it in, 5 to 10 minutes and they are ready to eat - they have more vitamins
than fresh veggies. Frozen stuff is also good for meat and fish, but you have
to cook it in a pan, so you need about 10 minutes. Often I would prepare
things in the evening so you have to cook only once a day. This way you can
have healthy food that is tasty and prepared in 15 minutes per day.

------
tptacek
You don't want to spend an hour cooking... have you considered 72 of them,
instead? It's easier when it's unattended. Check out sous vide cooking:

    
    
      http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1093433
    

SV is to crock pot cooking as Google is to Archie.

------
Mz
It can be done. I and my kids cook from scratch daily because of health issues
in the family. Those same health issues means none of us can afford to be
chained to the stove. We shop carefully for wholesome ingredients, we are
picky about some things we won't eat, and we follow the KISS philosophy. Some
tricks:

Bake something. Buy frozen chicken or cornish hen, clean it, toss on some
spices and organic butter, put a little water in the bottom of the pan so it
doesn't spatter grease everywhere and stick it in the oven. If you want, you
can toss in some potatoes and veggies. New potatoes don't have to be peeled,
just washed and cut to smaller sizes. If you aren't handy with a knife, some
veggies can be bought already peeled, chopped, etc. Prep work should be under
20 minutes after you get the hang of it.

Quesadillas (or other similar "traditional" foods which involve some sort of
flat bread) are quick and versatile. Toss in a little cheese and other
ingredients of your choosing (like frozen mixed veggies) and fry for a few
minutes on each side.

Homemade soup for one doesn't haven't to take long. Potato soup can be made
quickly with just 2 to 4 potatoes. Or you can beef up cup-a-soup or ramen
noodles with an egg swirled into the boiling water and/or a few carrots or
other veggies cooked for a few minutes in the water. (You may need to add some
salt if you add a _lot_ of other stuff.)

Pick up beef that is cut thin or sliced up like stir fry or ask the butcher to
cut a London broil into a bunch of "breakfast steaks". Thinly cut beef cooks
rapidly. If you aren't handy with a fry pan, get a George Foreman grill.
Actually, if you do that, you can also put thick slices of onion, yam and
fresh pineapple on the grill with some eye of round steaks. Voila, meat with
sides.

Stick to "one dish" meals and add easy things on the side to keep it from
getting boring. The practice of making a main dish and a whole bunch of side
dishes "with all the fixins" basically requires servants to keep up if you are
ever going to get anything else done other than eating. Now that I am no
longer a homemaker, I no longer cook that way but because we are picky about
buying wholesome ingredients and making things fresh, we eat a lot healthier
than we used to.

------
bmj
A quick favorite in my house is lentil-rice casserole. Basic recipe is here:

[http://www.gettingfreedom.net/2009/02/lentil-brown-rice-
cass...](http://www.gettingfreedom.net/2009/02/lentil-brown-rice-casserole-my-
way.html)

Very easy, and can produce several days of leftovers.

Another variation on the easy burritos is simply taking a can or two of beans,
mashing them with a jar salsa, and adding some rice.

Quinoa is another option for cheap, healthy food. It cooks relatively quickly
and is purported to have one of the most complete types of protein.

Also, to spice up rice, couscous, or quinoa, cook it with vegetable broth
instead of plain water.

------
mprovost
The ultimate food hack is the pressure cooker. You can cook things much
quicker than usual by changing the rules (ie raising the boiling point of
water). They're really good for making basics like rice and quinoa very
quickly and you can turn something like boiling potatoes from a 20 minute
exercise into about 7 minutes.

Another good one is using an electric kettle/jug to boil water. It's the
fastest way (obviously immersing the heating element directly in the water is
going to be more efficient than going through a pan). Lots of people use them
for tea etc but I use mine to boil water for pasta.

------
renesugar
Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of
Endocrinology, has a video titled 'Sugar: The Bitter Truth' where he talks
about how fructose (sucrose is broken down into glucose and fructose via
sucrase) shuts down the signal to stop eating.

If you eat a diet with less fructose, you will eat less.

You can do a search on 'fructose intolerance diet' which is used by people who
cannot metabolize fructose. It shows you how to reduce the amount of fructose
you consume.

To make bread without using sugar, you can do a search on 'The Minimalist' and
'no knead bread'. Making bread yourself is cheaper than buying it.

------
themullet
Personally do mass cooking, picking up ingredients either from a farm shop or
if I'm short on time from one of the veggie box schemes.

Started off with big chillis and curries, making 6 times the amount I would
normally do and freezing the rest. Now also do pastas and soups. I make sure
to give some extra sauce as well as try not to use a microwave for the
reheating. A meal is as simple as getting out of the freeze the night before
and reheating whilst I surf the web.

Breakfast:have scrambled eggs on brown toast with an orange.

Snacks: fruit or peanuts.

Healthy food every day and it's quicker and cheaper then cooking properly
every day.

------
limist
Cheap, fast, and potentially very healthy: smoothies. One basic recipe:

2 cups fruit juice, e.g. orange juice or apple juice

2-3 tablespoons ground flax seed (omega-3, trace minerals, fiber)

2-3 tablespoons protein powder (soy, hemp, whatever)

2 bananas

2-3 cups of greens: kale, frozen spinach (organic, conventional has too much
pesticides), collard greens; frozen means no washing, so it's faster

1 cup frozen mango, blueberries, etc.

1 kiwi

spices (cinnamon, etc.)

Obviously, you can mix and experiment and find what you like. You can also
include a lot more greens than you'd ever eat in one salad, and thanks to the
blender, not spend time chewing, nor get sated with the (sometimes bitter)
taste of greens. Enjoy!

------
stck
I'm somewhat surprised no-one has mentioned just plain fruit. Often times I
eat nothing but apples, oranges, avocados, kiwis, pineapples and bananas after
work. Doesn't get much healthier than that.

------
bluesmoon
I'm a geek living alone and working long hours. I like to eat healthy. I treat
cooking the same way I treat website optimisation... iterate till I get it
right, and I blog about my cooking experiences (at least the ones that work)
at <http://food.bluesmoon.info/>

The food's good enough that I can invite people over for dinner every now and
then. Some of it takes time, but my stirfrys and salads are all under 10
minutes preparation time.

I went from being 20Kg overweight to 8Kg overweight.

------
garply
In terms of preparation speed - there's a reason we Americans like sandwiches
- if you're preparing food for yourself, a sandwich is about as fast to
produce as you can get. Also, can be made just about as healthy as you want,
depending on what you put in.

For example, buy a chunk of deli meat, a block of cheese, some lettuce, some
tomatoes, and various sauces (mustard, mayo), and you can slice them up and
have a meal in about 5-10 minutes. You can do that all week, alternating
condiments, meats, and cheeses for variation.

------
ramidarigaz
Rice and dal is excellent, and if you invest in a rice cooker, you can make
pretty much the entire dinner without thinking about it. The lentils are
apparently pretty good protein.

I posted a recipe a while back, and it's still one of my favorites.
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=726619>

Edit: Rice and lentils are both quite inexpensive if you buy bulk, and they
both keep for a long time. The spices are initially more expensive, but they
last for a long time as well.

------
wazoox
Risotto. A pack of rice, an onion, some garlic, two carrots, two tomatoes,
some spices (saffron or curcuma, pepper, cumin, clove), some oil, two chicken
breasts. Cut the chicken and vegetables in small cubes, pour oil in the
cooker, fry the onion, then add the chicken; add the rice, wait for a minute
until the rice becomes translucid; cover with boiling water, add the garlic,
vegetables and spice as wished. Boils gently 10 minutes, et voilà.

------
herdrick
Dried lentils are _really_ cheap, wonderfully healthful, and much faster to
cook than dried beans.

Peanut butter is already ready to eat, and pretty cheap.

Eggs are cheap protein.

You can pour milk right over uncooked, raw rolled oats and eat it immediately.
(This is Quaker's (or store brand) traditional oatmeal or old fashioned oats
or something like that. It's the kind that comes in a big cardboard cylinder.)
Very cheap and it is delicious and takes only seconds to "prepare".

------
inevaexisted
1/2 cup cous cous 1/2 cup chicken/beef stock \+ shallots (chopped finely) \+
any vege's you want

\+ curried meat ( you can make this in a batch for the week and dish out as
required or resort to chinese/indian take out - just a box of curry make the
rice yourself..you might as well)

It takes 5min for the cous cous and about 1min to reheat the curry.

This meal gets me by when I need something in a rush..

If its winter a pot of chicken soup goes down well too.. add rice for more
'substance' when required..

------
dkarl
The first hack is practice. (I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you
aren't very experienced; otherwise, you would have told us how experienced you
are.) In this way, cooking is like programming. As with a programming task, a
recipe that takes an hour of attention now may take half an hour of your
attention next year, and there's no way to enumerate the difference as a
handful of tips and tricks. The biggest difference between a beginner and an
expert is that the expert executes the fundamentals quickly and sparely while
the beginner gets bogged down in uncertainty. "The recipe doesn't specify what
kind of oil to use. Does it matter? How big is a pinch of salt? What size and
shape am I supposed to cut the asparagus into? The way I'm holding the knife
is giving me a blister. The dishwasher is running and all the cup measures are
inside -- how do I measure a quarter cup? Do I have to get it exactly right
for this recipe? I forgot to buy carrots. Do I have to drive back to the
grocery store, or will the recipe be fine without them?"

None of the answers to those questions could be called "hacks," but the
experienced cook saves a lot of time by knowing the answers right away and
proceeding without thinking about them. Luckily, expertise is context-
specific, and you can develop narrow yet valuable expertise by making the same
recipe several times. You'll become experienced at that recipe quickly. If
you've made a recipe six times, you can make it in your sleep. Learn ten
recipes and you're set for life, at least for the days when you want cooking
to be quick and cheap and predictable. Just because a dish takes you an hour
doesn't mean it won't work for you; it only means you're slow because it's
your first time making that dish.

Repetition is also the key to improvisation. With a little experience, you can
browse through the grocery store (or your refrigerator) thinking about how
your favorite recipes might accommodate the attractively-priced (or about-to-
go-bad) ingredients that are available to you.

Of course, you need recipes to get started. Here are two books that have been
extremely useful to me. (My bookshelf looks much more interesting and
sophisticated than this, but like you, I need healthy, quick, and cheap more
often than I need a cultural or historical adventure.)

Kimiko Barber's _The Chopsticks Diet_ [http://www.amazon.com/Chopsticks-Diet-
Japanese-inspired-Reci...](http://www.amazon.com/Chopsticks-Diet-Japanese-
inspired-Recipes-Weight-Loss/dp/1904920985)

This book has the kind of gimmicky title I would normally pass over in a
bookstore, but I went looking for Kimiko Barber's books after reading some
articles by her in the _Financial Times_. Fast, simple, probably dumbed-down
Japanese cooking. You won't have to adjust the portion sizes.

Mollie Katzen's _Vegetable Heaven_ [http://www.amazon.com/Mollie-Katzens-
Vegetable-Heaven-Uncomm...](http://www.amazon.com/Mollie-Katzens-Vegetable-
Heaven-Uncommon/dp/0786862688/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_11)

Not exciting, but more of my quicky standards come from this book than from
any other.

If you want particular recipe recommendations, I would say:

Bean stews and chili are great for freezing in large quantities. When you
freeze food, remember to store it in quantities that are convenient to reheat
later.

Miso soup is ridiculously easy. Here's a relatively complex variation, still
ridiculously easy, that is a complete meal thanks to the addition of soba
noodles: [http://kitchenoperas.com/2010/01/11/miso-soup-with-soba-
nood...](http://kitchenoperas.com/2010/01/11/miso-soup-with-soba-noodles-and-
greens/)

Salads and raw veggies are great. You can skip the bowl and just shovel them
into your mouth. They're great for snacking on at the office, especially since
packing them just means rinsing, patting dry, and putting them into a
Tupperware container. Expand your idea of what's great for snacking: the older
you get, the more asparagus and green beans taste like candy.

There are a lot of ways to consume wilted, sad-looking greens that you can't
afford to throw away: learn them and don't forget them! Miso soup, pasta
puttanesca, stir-fries, perhaps anything with a sauce with a strong flavor.

If you like kimchi, there's nothing that can brighten a cold lunch or add
flavor to a boring dish of rice and lentils better than a few pieces of
kimchi!

P.S. Final edit, I swear: Sharpen your knives! Using a very sharp knife
instead of a very dull one cuts your vegetable prep time in half. The easy way
is to take your knives to a professional. The geekier, cheaper, but much more
time-consuming alternative is to get a sharpening stone and learn to do it
yourself.

~~~
dkarl
P.P.S. One more quick meal formula. This one is actually my favorite in terms
of time, nutrition, and budget: brown rice and lentils with roasted
vegetables.

Rice and lentils can be stored dry for months, and lentils (unlike other
beans) can be cooked without soaking them first. If you always have rice and
lentils on hand, you're always halfway to a decent meal. Cook the rice and
lentils however you like; there are a million ways to do it. You can even just
cook the rice and lentils together in a pot and rely on the roasted vegetables
to provide all the flavor.

Roasting vegetables is extremely fun and satisfying for two reasons:

1) It's by far the simplest and laziest way to prepare vegetables. Roasting
makes stir-frying look like railroad chain gang work.

2) You can roast damn near anything. Potatoes, carrots, onions, cauliflower,
broccoli, asparagus, garlic, Brussels sprouts, fennel, endives....

Here's a short (2:25) video telling you absolutely everything you need to know
to start roasting vegetables:

[http://www.chow.com/videos/show/all/12072/how-to-roast-
veget...](http://www.chow.com/videos/show/all/12072/how-to-roast-vegetables-
with-lisa-jervis)

You can get fancier than that, but you might never want to.

------
grendel
Pre-washed baby spinach, baby tomatoes, bacon or leftover meat (like steak,
hamburger). Top with two fried eggs and cheese. I tend to eat it for
breakfast.

------
dylanz
Bulk Nori, 50lb's Sushi Rice, Bulk Tamari, Bulk Rice Wine Vinegar, Bulk Hot
Pepper Sesame Oil, Bulk Avocados. Cheap, relatively healthy, and delicious!

------
wesley
You could try the morphy richards steamer:

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Morphy-
Richards-48780-Intellisteam-S...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Morphy-
Richards-48780-Intellisteam-
Steamer/dp/B001CDKL62/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1270315834&sr=8-1)

It has several different compartments that can each have an individual timer.
So just put the food in and wait for the alarm to ring. Voila!

------
SlyShy
Ramen noodles don't have to be unhealthy, if you add a tiny bit more expense.

Start cooking ramen like normal. When it starts to boil, crack and egg in and
stir. The soup will cook the egg, of course. Also peel a few leafs off a head
of lettuce, cut them to your preference, and toss those in too. When you are
done you've got a meal that has protean and fiber, in addition to your loads
of gluten. ;)

------
Mark_B
I always end up getting extra sauces from Arby's. I end up making egg
sandwiches with the Horsey Sauce. Awesome + Super Cheap!

------
dlevine
A friend of mine runs a blog called BrokeAss Gourmet, which focuses on cheap
and easy to make meals <http://www.brokeassgourmet.com/>

It's not exactly $1 per meal cooking, but you can make a good meal for not all
that much (especially because, if you're single, one recipe will yield
multiple servings)

------
wazoox
Soup. 3 potatoes, 5 leeks, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 2 parsnips, some celery,
parsley, one onion. Peel them, throw them in 3 liters of cold salted water,
boil for 20 minutes in a pressure cooker, then mix. In one hour you have soup
for 1 week for 4 persons. You may freeze it and keep it for later, too.

------
roundsquare
One "dish" I used to eat was was canned mixed vegetables mixed with salsa. Eat
with chips or tortillas, whatever. Enough vegetables to make it fairly
healthy, if you get salsa you like it tastes good (you can even add a little
cheese) and if you use multi-grain tortillas, it gets pretty healthy.

------
grandalf
Check out this great blog dedicated to exactly the purpose you describe:

<http://vegstrong.org>

edit: this is one of my favs: <http://vegstrong.org/post/422370700/tasty-
breakfast-scramble>

------
radu_floricica
Liver. If there's just one diet hack, this should be it: eat liver once or
twice a month. It'll make up for the most atrocious junk food diets, and
supplement nicely pretty much anything. If you're vegetatian the alternatives
would be spinach and beans.

------
rjb
I usually overbuy bananas since they are so easy to eat on the go, but can
also be quickly turned into the most amazing vegan ice-cream.

1\. Freeze ripe bananas

2\. Mash with strawberries/blueberries/mangos/etc.

3\. (optional) Add agave nectar and coconut milk to taste

------
pmccool
Yeah, cooking can be difficult when you're time poor. I've found that:

A dishwasher helps.

Razor sharp knives that are properly cared for help. Blunt knives waste a lot
of time when cooking.

Putting a bit of time into mastering quick recipes (e.g. stir fries) helps.

------
vishaldpatel
I have a small blog here: www.seevishal.com. In it I keep a log of what I've
eaten for the past week. Many of the things I make take 15-20 minutes to
prepare, taste pretty damn good and are good for you.

------
araneae
[http://hackerhousewife.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/hack-
shredde...](http://hackerhousewife.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/hack-shredded-
chicken-for-quick-easy-healthy-meals/)

------
askar_yu
does not really apply to you... but those living with roommates could cook
alternately throughout the week. A _duty_ cooks and cleans everything up for
everybody in house - so you get to cook fewer times than everyday but eat
healthy dinner everyday. not sure if it's common thing in here, but I remember
being surprised (when I first came to US) seeing Americans (students sharing
house/dorm) eating dinners separately. of course, it only applies to dinner,
but that's the most time consuming one I guess.

------
tcc619
a simple recipe for my tofu soup:

1\. boil a can of (chicken/veggie) broth soup for 3-5 mins

2\. while boiling, chop up tofu, broccoli, green onions

3\. toss in that order once the broth is boiled.

4\. stir for 3-4 mins on medium heat

eat with brown rice and sriracha. Serves 2-3, under $4 and done in less than
10 min.

\- my fast cooked meal is a permutation of:

\- brown rice

\- meat or protein: eggs, chicken, tofu

\- veggies: broccoli, carrots, onions

other random food tips: \- a 20 lb bag of brown rice costs $20 and will last
you 1-2 months

\- wheat > white

\- olive oil > butter

\- don't eat microwaved packaged foods if you care for your health

------
FreeRadical
For breakfast - instant porridge! Simple, quick, high protein and good for
you. You can always vary it slightly by throwing in other things like raisins.

------
phillaf
Bach student here. here is the best ratio health/$ that I've found. Hard
boiled eggs (the white part only) Canned Tuna oatmeal Bananas Frozen
vegetables

------
nhebb
I thought "sudo make me a sandwich" was the ultimate food hack:
<http://xkcd.com/149/>

~~~
dasil003
Dustin's totally got this covered at Hacker Dojo in Mountain View
<http://breakfast.agileordering.com/>

------
tjr
I've consistently enjoyed a can of fat-free refried beans, salsa, corn or
flour tortillas, and (optionally) some shredded cheese.

------
cianestro
<http://www.dollaradaybook.com/kitchen> or Costco food.

------
daniel-cussen
I just bought a 55 pound bag of dextrose. I mix it with mineral water so I can
drink a solution containing it (the carbonation inhibits fermentation, too).
It's not very labor intensive, very healthy, and it tastes like what it is:
rocket fuel. It is very, very good for your brain.

I have yet to ask a doctor about this though. And it's bad for teeth, like
normal soda.

~~~
jackowayed
Isn't dextrose just glucose?

That doesn't seem healthy at all. In moderation to give you a boost, it would
probably be fine, but you definitely shouldn't get a significant amount of
calories from straight sugar.

As a vegetarian who has to worry about protein, I think about that a lot.
Basically, the more crap you eat with no nutritional value, the more nutrient-
dense the rest of your food has to be.

So if I got all my calories from rice, I'd be fine protein-wise. But if I eat
500+ calories of various things-that-are-just-fat-and-sugar, I need to eat
more protein-dense food, like lentils. (Not that just eating rice would be
healthy anyway. That's just an example of how the more nutritionally-useless
calories you get, the healthier the rest of your food needs to be.)

~~~
daniel-cussen
Dextrose is glucose. It is not sugar; it has no fructose. Glucose is that
stuff that goes into mitochondria to make energy; it is the food of life. They
give it intravenously to patients who can't eat. It's pretty healthy, believe
me.

I still eat other stuff.

------
pgbovine
iirc, pg mentioned something about cooking rice and beans or some other cheap
but healthy food during his startup hacking days ... could somebody post a
link if you remember it?

~~~
matthew-wegner
Bottom of <http://www.paulgraham.com/ramenprofitable.html>

------
adw
"Real Fast Food" by Nigel Slater. Brilliant cookbook.

------
Raphael
Hard-boiled eggs.

------
gte910h
Eat lots of blueberries.

Buy from vegan delivery chefs in your area.

I's pretty easy, and a counterbalance to any eating out you might want to do

~~~
endtime
As it stands, this is a bit of a surreal answer. Why do you advise eating lots
of blueberries? And are vegan delivery chefs actually a widespread thing? Is
there a central place to find local ones?

~~~
jws
I think he's trying to turn the OP blue. I checked the nutrition data at
wikipedia and compared to carrots. Except for vitamin B5 and a slight
advantage in vitamin C, carrots kick blueberries butt by a wide margin. (plus
cost a lot less)

Of course, maybe I'm trying to turn people orange.

~~~
gte910h
Blueberries are one of the cheapest foods that prevent the genesis of new
blood vessels (and therefore is a good cancer fighting food). Carrots taste
much less good than blueberries. Frozen blueberries are only slightly less
tasty than ice cream and are nutritious as hell.

~~~
stck
Blueberries also help to fight Alzheimer's disease. You gotta start young, if
you want to live long and prosper.

------
vahakota
With similiar goals as the OP this fine-tuned protein shake has become the
cornerstone of my food intake:

3 dl of non-fat milk (taste & liquid) 1 dl of ice cream (taste & carbs) 1 dl
of whey protein powder (taste & protein) 5 ml of dry-pressed sunflower oil
(omega-6 fats) 5 ml of dry-pressed flax oil (omega-3 fats) 1 cl of ispaghula
husk (fiber) 1 cl of freeze dried fruit powder (antioxidants)

The energy intake is divided quite evenly among carbs, protein and fats. It
provides 1) the essential fats in a decent ratio, 2) a good dose of varying
amino acids, 3) enough fiber for the digestive system to function and 4) a
good dose of antioxidants. With a quick preparation now and then it is super
fast to produce, takes almost no cleaning afterwards and the taste can be
varied with different ice cream flavours. It might take a few drinks to get
used to the taste if you have never consumed protein supplements but if you
pick the right protein powder, use milk instead of water and get good ice
cream, this tastes very good. And for some reason I haven't gotten bored with
this even after months of almost daily use (on several meals).

For fast consumption buy a big bowl (with a lid as ispaghula reacts with
moisture without it) and mix 10-20 portions of protein, ispaghula husk and
dried fruits in the correct ratio. Store a dedicated 1 dl cup in the bowl.
Prepare a ready mix of flax and sunflower oil in the correct ratio and keep it
in the fridge with the milk - you can learn to pour about 10ml of it by hand
fast. Cut a whole pack of ice cream in small (about 2cl) bits in advance and
store it in the original pack in the freezer. For mixing I use a protein
shaker which can be flushed with water after use.

I get my protein powder, fruit powder and the shaker from
<http://myprotein.co.uk/> in bulk, which makes this one of the cheapest
healthy snacks (below 1$ per serving of about 400kcal). My preferred protein
taste is Chocolate Smooth. Ispaghula seeds I get in the form of Pfizers
laxative medicine (which is nothing but ispaghula husks and a bit of added
sweetener) which goes by the name of Vi-Siblin in the nordics. You might find
it with the brand Isogel. I prefer Vi-Siblin S which is sweetened with
sorbitol instead of sugar.

Don't let the "unnatural protein shake" scare get you. This is a balanced and
healthy choice proven by active athletes around the world and it provides your
essential macronutritients in easy form. You should still make sure you get
enough micronutrients elsewhere as the dried fruid powder is in the mix mainly
for it's antioxaditive qualities, but also on that front I would not shy away
from the vitamin supplements as this drink provides a good essential fat
balance which helps the intake of fat soluble micronutrients also in that
form.

For those who are trying to get leaner, the drink works pretty well also
without the ice cream. This shifts the calorie balance heavily on protein and
good fats which keeps you fed for long and provides pretty much all you need
to sustain muscle mass while losing fat.

------
sfgfdhgfdshdhhd
Technology could certainly help with the time aspect. Rig an electric timer to
your toaster or toaster oven so that it's cooking you breakfast before/as you
wake up. Hack together a device to do the stirring for you for foods that need
to just be stirred over heat for a long time. Just be wary of fire hazards.

------
dnsworks
You might follow <http://www.foodhacking.com/>

------
dnsworks
I'msurprised nobody else mentioned this, but in the past decade there's ben
quite a growth in chains that prepare home-cooked meals for you. I know people
who buy 7 of these at a time, and freeze them. Then you just mix the
ingredients together, and bake or fry it. No thought has to go into it, but
where's the fun in that?

------
dnsworks
Also, if you're not vegan & can stomach it, Cottage Cheese is a fantastic
source of protein. It's also cheap and really simple.

