Hot dogs with white bread instead of a bun goes CRAZY imo

Fried chick peas (I use cans since they’re more convenient, but even cheaper dried beans are fine too but you have to soak for 24h and then boil them first). But either way, seriously cheap, loaded with protein and fiber, and delicious:

Rinse beans and dump into a large dry pan on high heat. Move them around until they have mostly dried up and just barely start sticking to the pan. Then add oil - just once or twice around the pan is plenty - and some salt. Then let them fry in that little bit of oil. Move them with a spoon every so often to keep from sticking too much.

After about 15 min you have these golden brown crunchy and slightly salty little things. They’re great, and go with everything as a side dish.

Graham crackers with whipped cream on top. This one was very much the bottom of the barrel. 🥲

Ghirardelli brownie mix from Costco, filled up to about 1/3 of a mug mixed with milk and microwaved for 45 seconds to make a little brownie. Serve with ice cream on top, or with a glass of milk. I actually still do this one, it is delicious and costs basically $0 per serving.

Rice + milk + sugar and then mixed up in a bowl into a kind of puree. This goes great as a dessert after rice + frozen vegetables sauteed up from those massive Costco bags lol. If you’re feeling bougie you can shred some cheese on top.

Crunchy peanut butter on a tortilla, rolled up. Add honey if you are feeling boujie

Rice and black eyed peas, cooked with some millet leaves for color. Fry slices of onion in about 1 T of oil and pour it over the top. Then sprinkle a mix of fine crushed red pepper, bullion, and salt over it.

Most of West Africa has this in one form or another on the regular.

Hotdogs in ramen, hands down.

Our poverty “treat” as kids was toast with tomato sauce and a slice of government cheese, for a makeshift pizza.

Toast bread with a bit of ketchup and a slice of cheese on top, sprinkle a bit of salt if necessary, then bake until the cheese bubbles. I call it the poor man’s pizza.

Fried bologna sandwich!

Rice and beans. Mine are usually white rice and black beans. Beans cooked with a little onion, green pepper and garlic. Salt and pepper. Hot sauce.

I eat it regularly, to the point I have a tiny slow cooker that I pretty much just use to cook beans.

Here my favourites:

• cook rice, add a canned tuna, shred a boiled egg (optional) into it and some ketchup and you got yourself a banger.

• Mix 1 can of corn, 1 spoon of corn flour, 1 egg, and milk (enough to almost cover the corn), season it with salt and pepper and blend it till homogenous. Add some shredded cheese to it. Put it into a pyrex with oil and bake it for like 30 mins or till it’s golden brown on 220°C.

• Roast 1 or half an onion (depends on the size) in a pan. Add Corned beef to the pan and break it down. Add your left over rice stirr it a little and enjoy it.

• shredd some patatoes (about 300g for each egg you use), add half an onion, add some shredded cheese, add some beaten eggs and season it to taste (salt, pepper) Put it in a pyrex and bake it for 30 mins or till golden brown on 220°C. Alternatively fry it on low heat in a pan. Make sure you can put a lid on that pan (I prefer the baked version as turning that thing in the pan is usually difficult).

My mom used to make my sisters and I cinnamon toast for breakfast when we were kids, pretty much like you describe only on toast.

Struggle broke or struggle sad?

Rice + blackbeans + whatever is around + a tortilla = poverty burritos

Also, potatoes in many forms.

Beans and rice are so healthy and cheap, with so many variations. It’s always beans and rice for me.

Fry ground pork and break them into small pieces (like 1/2 cm diameter). Add minced garlic (and onion optional), salt, and Maggi seasoning.

Eat with rice, butter, and fried egg (optional). To make it more nutritional, add some sort of vegetable. I like stir fried spinach with garlic and fish sauce.