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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    449 months 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
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    299 months 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.

    • Cadeillac
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      9 months ago

      I tried tofu once. I didn’t super love it, but I’ll give it another shot

      • @howrar@lemmy.ca
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        69 months ago

        There are so many different types of tofu and different ways to prepare them that all taste vastly different. That stuff is basically a blank canvas.

      • @maccentric@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        I find it’s key to squeeze out the water with tofu so it can absorb the flavors you’ve adding. I place it between two plates with some weight on top (a pound or so is plenty) for like 10 minutes, then squish the plates together a bit over the sink to drain and that’s usually plenty. Fish sauce makes a nice flavoring if you’re into that.

      • @benni@lemmy.world
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        49 months 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
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          39 months 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

          • trainsaresexy
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            39 months ago

            I’ve never been so bold. Maybe if you wrap it in foil with some sauce and veggies.

            • Cadeillac
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              29 months ago

              Yeah, I was thinking it would probably need to be wrapped

      • @idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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        29 months 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

    • @corvi@lemm.ee
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      199 months 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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        39 months ago

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

      • @scutiger@lemmy.world
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        29 months 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.

      • @ericbomb@lemmy.worldOP
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        29 months 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.

    • @Num10ck@lemmy.world
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      99 months 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.

  • @tektite@slrpnk.net
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    149 months 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!

    • @nednobbins@lemm.ee
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      139 months 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.

    • @sverit@lemmy.ml
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      59 months ago

      The title is quite literal. It’s not “some simple tasty recipes”, it’s depression-level-bare-minimum-effort-food ;)

    • @AlolanYoda@mander.xyz
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      29 months 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)

  • @theblackbox@lemmy.world
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    89 months 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…

  • @sentientity@lemm.ee
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    68 months 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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      28 months 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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        28 months 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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    29 months 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.