Mmmmmm...low budget "Chinese Food" from Panda Express for lunch today. What are you having?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Fried rice, egg roll, broccoli beef, green bean chicken...8 bucks. I've had better, I've had worse. What's on your lunch menu today?

[HopeHoops]

1. Ramen noodles - 20 cents a package.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. I stocked up on $1 a box pasta and $1 a can tomatoes today too

The Chinese food was a "treat" because I got paid by one of my clients yesterday. The majority of the money went toward bills. The rest toward filling up my gas tank and buying groceries. Most nights I open a can of tomatoes, add some olive oil, dried onions and garlic, let it simmer for an hour, add some spices and heat up some spaghetti...dinner for 2 bucks. Good thing I'm Italian and have a high tolerance for pasta.

[MiddleFingerMom]

5. I THINK it's Del Monte (though it might be Hunt's) that has pre-spiced small-diced tomatoes...

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...(Mexican chili-style, Italian pasta-style, etc) although none of them
are very tasty (at least not as tasty as I think they WANT you to
believe they are).
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Except one style that had balsamic vinegar as one of its ingredients.
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Simply half-a-can of that over pasta was heaven. And I'm pretty sure
they're about $1.50-$2.00. I haven't seen the "balsamic-flavored"
canned diced tomatoes in quite a while, though.
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Figgers. There have been some amazing prepared foods that I have found
in my lifetime -- and they all seem to get discontinued. La Choy used to
have an Egg Fu Yung packaged meal where all you had to do was add
eggs -- they had the veggies and the brown sauce (that was INCREDIBLE)
for $3-$4. And McCormick (I think) had a "Roastin' Bag for Sauerbraten" --
I think all you added was vinegar and a roast -- NO marinade time needed
(and usually it's a coupla days) and it was better than anything I've
had since I left Germany. All gone.
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If you see any of these products, please let me know -- I'd order them
online if possible.
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[Amerigo Vespucci]

7. I buy the Hunt's "Petite Diced" tomatoes (no spice), currently $1 a can at Safeway

One of the things I learned from the Rao's Cookbooks is that you need to put the herbs in right before you take the sauce off the heat, so they retain a fresh flavor and don't become bitter.

So I take a 14.5 ounce can of the Hunt's, one clove of garlic (minced) and about a quarter teaspoon McCormick Minced Onions (yeah, fresh onions are better, but the McCormick is more convenient).

I put one to two tablespoons of olive oil in the saucepan on medium heat. I add the minced garlic. Sauteing it takes about a minute, any longer and it will burn and ruin the flavor of the sauce. I add the tomatoes and minced onion and bring it to a boil. I put a lid on the pot, slightly tilted so it will vent, and bring the heat down to low. I normally let it simmer an hour, checking every 15 minutes or so, and using a wooden spoon to further break up the tomato pieces (even though they are already "petite diced."

At about the one hour mark, most of the "watery" liquid of the tomatoes has reduced and you have what looks like a thick sauce. At this point I add "approximately" 1/4 teaspoon each of salt, dried parsley, and dried basil, and about 1/8 teaspoon of oregano. I give it a couple of stirs, take it off the heat, add the cooked pasta, top with some grated Parmesan, and I'm done...a home-cooked dinner for about 2 bucks (tomatoes + pasta + Parmesan + spices).

Some times I'll go to the local markets with butcher counters that will sell me 1/2 pound of good-quality ground beef, or I'll go to the Neto Sausage Factory and get a couple of Italian sausages, or I'll add some of the reconstituted dried porcini mushrooms I keep on hand, or a small can of sliced black olives.

But most nights, it's just the canned tomatoes.

:toast:

[MiddleFingerMom]

11. Tomatoes, tomatoes... the musical fruit...

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No.
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That's not it. OH YEAH...
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[Amerigo Vespucci]

14. Isn't THAT the truth

I've discovered the secret to becoming a vegetarian / vegan must be one's ability to afford all the meat he / she wants and then making a conscious decision to walk away from it.

Because when I'm on that fucking spaghetti budget, all I want to do is sink my teeth into some carnivore-pleasing meal. A while back a friend gave me a gift card for Panera Bread...they have a roast beef sandwich that, if God eats roast beef sandwiches, this is the one He eats: roast beef, smoked cheddar, romaine lettuce, red onions, creamy horseradish sauce, on asagio cheese bread. You almost don't want to eat it, you want to sit and admire it for a while, and I DO, but that admiration is soon overridden by the fact that it one beautiful damned sammich and then it is GONE, but eating one gives me the mental and physical stamina to endure another fucking week of spaghetti dinners.

As long as I CAN'T afford to eat meat anywhere and everywhere I want, when someone talks to me about vegetarianism I just wanna fuckin' sock 'em in the snout and then go have a roast beef sammich.

:-)

[geardaddy]

12. That is the true low budget Chinese food.

[Kali]

3. lunch

hell did I eat breakfast? oops no wonder I'm getting dizzy - thanks for the reminder

think I will have a quesadilla - mmmm cheeezzee

[hunter]

4. "Chinese Food" like Taco Bell is "Mexican Food."

Hmmmmm. Taco Bell sounds good.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

8. Yep.

I've gotten food poisoning from Taco Bell TWICE (two different Taco Bells). After the first time I figured "What are the odds of THAT happening again" and it happened again.

:-)

[MiddleFingerMom]

9. That USED to happen to me at Taco Bell every time and I gave up eating there for years...

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...but I have no problem with their "Cheesy Bean & Rice Burrito" (except for
the sky-high sodium content).
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[old mark]

6. Almost the last of the turkey soup and a sandwich....might have the same for dinner, too!...nt

[BlueIris]

10. Chicken and dumplings. Organic. I wish I was having what you're having. nt

[Moondog]

13. Actually, I

skipped lunch; had too much going on.

But, I had a dinner once from Panda Express, in Hickory, NC when I was visiting.

Panda Express should have its ability to advertise that it is Chinese permanently lifted by the culinary Gods in the Sky. They suck. I mean, they really, really suck. Ptui! (Insert here whatever the sound is for someone clearing a hocker out of the back of their throat and spitting it out and onto the ground - hopefully where no one else walks, etc.)