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Someone Online Wondered: “What Is Some ‘Poor People Food’ That You Will Eat No Matter How Wealthy You Get?“, And 30 Folks Delivered
Food is fuel, and that's a fact – however, it's not only a source of nourishment. It keeps us together by gathering our families on holidays and Friday night dinners, and it instantly improves our moods when we're in need of a pick-me-up.
Do you remember how popular it was to make banana bread during the lockdowns? Even if you're not a fan of preparing the food, it's still a great way of bonding with your loved ones, plus you get to eat some delicious meals afterwards.
While some folks are more into gourmet foods, others enjoy more affordable cuisine. Well, this online user took it to one of Reddit's communities and asked fellow members to describe the "poor people's food" they'll always eat regardless of how big their wallets might get. The post has managed to receive over 45K upvotes in just a day and was showered with interesting answers.
More info: Reddit
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Fried egg sandwich. When you’re rich, double up on the eggs and add some cheddar
Growing up we'd toast white bread, spread it with miracle whip and then add a hard fried egg. The miracle whip made it!
Cinnamon toast. Not the cereal
I haven't thought about this in years but my grandma used to make this... homemade bread buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar toasted in the toaster oven. She's been gone 25 years and I've tried to do this myself but it's never been the same. (Possibly because of the nearly universal truth that anything your grandmother makes you will always taste better no matter what it is)
Tacos! They're always so cheap to make, and many times cheap to purchase. Tacos just make you feel happy. I don't know what it is. They also seem to fill you up!
Italian food is actually pretty cheep to make, but can be sold for expensive if made right.
pickles
Ok I'm going to end up liking nearly everything on this post. Love pickles ❤
Maruchan Ramen.
I love Maurchan ramen so much and ramen in general. I could be a millionaire but i would still have a pantry stocked with ramen.
I have bad insomnia and when i was younger and would wake up at night, my dad would make me chicken or beef Maruchan ramen. I still remember sitting in our dark dining room while my dad got the ramen from the top shelf. He would drain the water a little and put in the seasoning so it wasn’t ever FULLY cooked. I rarely see my dad anymore so when i have a bad day, i eat ramen. the same way he made it. I was 4 then and that’s the only way i’ll make it now.
Meatloaf
Oh man now I'm getting really hungry. I make this hefty one where I goind the meat myself along with bacon and sweet breakfast sausage and it is dangerous; only make once a year
Biscuits and gravy, with browned sausage bits and pepper mixed into gravy.
Yes. Biscuits and bacon gravy (made with bacon grease and milk) was a staple in my house growing up. I didn't know until recently that I grew up poor.
My disgusting guilty pleasure of shredded cheese microwaved on top of tortilla chips
PB & J
McDonald’s cheeseburgers. The little ones with the yellow paper wrapping.
Rice and beans.
Always, no matter how rich I get. Black beans, navy beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, white beans, fava beans, black eye pea beans, soybeans, lima beans, cannellini beans, great northern beans, and adzuki beans. I will eat them here I will eat them there, I will eat them everywhere!
Make sure you liver and a nice chianti with that! ;)
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Use brown rice and this is one of the simplest and most nutritious foods out there.
Rice and beans together have a perfect balance of amino acids, a very healthy protein package
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When I was a kid, we lived in New Orleans for a year and a half while my mom was in grad school. She was a single mom and didn't work during that time because she had to focus on school. This was back in the early 70s, so stuff was cheap, but we were on a tight budget then. We had red beans and rice a lot, and I still make it because I love it.
This is the everyday food in Brazil. I particularly don't eat daily anymore, but I love it with two fried eggs upon it
I can't believe this list didn't mention beans and weenies! That is my favorite childhood comfort food. My mom would cook them separate then cut the hotdog up on top in my bowl. Then I would put a dot of ketchup on each piece 😋
Hoppin' John Or Au Pigeon is my go to side dish for holidays, like any day that ends in "Y".
Rice and beans are the basic carbs for any Brazilian lunch and/or dinner. That's why we've been struggling so much due to the price we've been paying for basic items since this s****y president took office. Poor people are now miserable mas not able to afford any decent meals.
I remember seeing a soup kitchen in Spokane called “Beans and Rice and Jesus Christ”.
This picture looks horrible. But i like rice&beens the traditional way
I'll never be ashamed to eat beans and hamhocks. Then spend the evening checking my blood pressure.
Nope. Cant agree with this one. Way too much plain rice and beans as a kid. Never again.
Plain?? Ohh no. Get some sofrito and sazon in there.
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Vareniki. Potato dumplings, most Americans probably know them as pierogi.
Burek, its a bosnian bred like dowe filed with meet and baked in the oven. My grandma used to make it all the time
I never heard of or tried before and am most definitely wanting to try just because of the photo
Cheap instant noodles ftw
No matter how much money I have or will ever have I will ALWAYS eat noodles...love, love, love em ❤ ♥
Kraft Mac and Cheese
I don't care that it tastes like crap compared to homemade, but dang this s**t hits different
Fried baloney sandwiches.
Childhood staple. Or you can just put a charred hot dog on a piece of white bread and it's almost the same thing.
Porridge
Give it to me with milk, sugar and buttered toast. So yum.
Stroganoff hamburger helper for life. Add some sautéed mushroom and onion and a scoop of sour cream if I'm feeling fancy.
In college one day I was so broke I had Hamburger Helper without the hamburger. Called it Helper Helper
Stove Top stuffing
Ramen and microwave popcorn, which fueled my entire time in college
Note: this post originally had 40 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Some of these foods aren't that cheap, they're just processed, packaged and quick to use. I love instant mashed potatoes, for example, but a box works out to spuds costing about $17 a pound for raw spuds!
Yeah, where I live it's almost always cheaper to make things from scratch, though I think when mum did buy instant mash it was because it was on clearance for 25c.
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Well, there's this pizza you can get which has gold leaf on it...
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I still like baked beans on toast. Especially when I'm sick!
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Most of the food on this list isn't poor people food, its just food.
Baloney/bologna sandwich. Especially the sweet Lebanese bologna I found at Lidl; oh so yummy. Never gonna give you up
Ty, Lebanese bologna, is what I grew up on. Didn't even know there was other bologna well into my 20's. Mom use to cube it and fry it. Then add it to white gravy and some biscuits. Yummmm
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I am not American and not familiar with some of those foods but most of them look processed which makes them not cheap where I live (Greece).
They are processed and shelf stable so you can get them from a food pantry (free food for people under a set income donated by wealthier individuals and sometimes stores from thier overstock). Most food pantries have a really hard time getting fresh foods particularly produce which is stupidly expensive here except in the few month of summer/fall when the farmers markets are open. And since you can get canned veg and fruit at a food pantry many poor families save thier government assistance food money for meat (cheaper cuts generally), eggs, and milk, which are harder to get at a pantry. And shopping is often done at the pantry first then to a store to fill out what they couldnt get for free.
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Refried beans, homemade, my favourite dish, we have it every week, but I could have it every other day.
Take some flour tortillas and fill them with your refried beans and shredded cheddar or similar cheese, but make sure the beans are piping hot so the cheese can melt with the residual heat. You've suddenly made one of the most popular breakfast foods where I come from, bean and cheese breakfast tacos, and a couple of them with a cup of coffee or your favorite soda are an ideal way to start your day.
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Pretty sure "rich people" eat most of this stuff, just without the looming thought that what they're eating costs X amount of money and resources.
I still eat homemade sausage rolls and sometimes, on special occasions I'll make right-side up upside down pineapple cupcakes. Sound ridiculous? Yup, I know it. My grandfather made the recipe and I'll treasure it forever. His adorable face when he successfully baked his first dessert (at age 64!) was so happy that I can't help but feel happy when I eat them. I miss him. But I'll never feel sad when I eat those cupcakes.
No one is ever going to drag me away from beans on toast..... I was raised on it as a quick and cheap filler breakfast and it's tasty. I'd still eat it a few times a month if I started shitting out diamonds.
I bring home a six figure salary, yet I still eat $0.25 cent packs of ramen noodles like I did in college. My wife asked me why, it's because I actually like them.
Ironically, most of what are now considered gourmet foods began as staples of the working class: Beef stroganoff? a way to stretch what little meat was available. Fettuccine carbonara? the food of the charcoal makers. Pastrami and corned beef? the brisket they're made from is about the toughest cut of meat there is, it's necessary to brine or cure it to make it soft enough to eat. The list goes on and on and includes every portable food you can think of: pizza, calzone, burritos, pasties, sushi, sausages, etc.
Simple fried rice with garlic, scallion, egg, frozen peas, and whatever leftover meat is in the fridge. A cheap, filling way to stretch your leftover veggies and meat.
Seems more like a lot of comfort food and some things seemed the same so don't think it should even count.
Hobo stew - baked beans , grounds (I'm vegan so now it's not beef) and an onion.
Hamburger Helper, tuna / sardines out of the can, Dollar Tree salmon, Pasta Roni shells and white cheddar, David's sunflower seeds ... to name a few ...
Potato gnocchi. Very cheap and popular peasant food. Very filling and can be sauced or just butter/olive oil and Parmesano and/or Romano cheese.
A few boiled potatoes, a sliced boiled carrot and a soft-boiled egg. Toss it all on a plate, mash it up with a fork and stir it together. Looks like baby food, tastes amazing.
My best friend was German and had a house in Rokanje....I would visit from Portugal and we would get on our bicycles and go to the local chips-shop and gorge ourselves on fried chips with mayonaise....our summer treat...I miss her and our good fun...
Load More Replies... This list is reminding me of one of the few meals my late mom would make (she was a terrible cook but a wonderful baker): take poorly drained canned tuna (in water) and add it to prepared Kraft Mac & Cheese, then throw in a can of poorly drained green peas. Now I'm wondering how that would taste with a well-drained, better quality of canned tuna (e.g. Bumble Bee albacore tuna) added to a better variety of box mac & cheese (there's a store brand of mac & cheese that tastes much more luxurious since it comes with one of those foil liquid cheese pouches) and some frozen peas and thinking that might actually turn out lots better.
Just adding...Knorr Pasta Sides. Creamy chicken is my go-to. They're like 99 cents and super delicious.
Really BP? Poor people food? You couldn't just say 'cheap foods/eats?'.
Poor pancakes. It's just toast dipped in warmed syrup mixed with melted butter. Sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper, if you have bread then make it a sandwich. If you have mayo, even better! Banana sandwiches, mayo on one side and peanut butter on the other. Sounds nasty, but they're so good!! Smoked sausage goes in pretty much anything. Rice, beans, mac and cheese. Hot dogs in blankets, better if you have lil smokies. Wish sandwich, just a mayo sandwich or just bread and wish you had something else to put in it...
"S H I T ON A SHINGLE" Aka: a 5oz can of tuna (drained), a 12oz can of sweet peas, and a 12oz can of cream of celery soup (condensed). Mix together (with some of the liquid from the can of peas) in a pot on the stove until hot. Serve over a slice of toasted bread. Eat with a knife and fork. It's fast and tastes great! Try it!
My mom made something same name completely different. Ground beef or spam in gravy over a piece of bread. My grandpa said they called it that in the service because it looked like $hit on a roof shingle. They both sound like they fit that description though. It goes to show how many different things we all cook but call something similar
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Verankya is cottage cheese filled dough packet that gets boiled, then drained, and then served, hot, typically with a still-hot cream based gravy called schmauntfat. This is a Mennonite thing. Pierogies have nearly identical dough, but are filled with potatoes, primarily, and served with sour cream. These are a Ukrainian specialty... and also big in Poland.
Me, if I was suddenly wealthy, several things would never leave my diet, and I'd actually stock up on them in large quantities: Toasted ravioli, my homemade pasta sauce with spaghetti, pierogies, homemade ice cream, potatoes, cheeses, coffee (but I'd get the very best I could find, along with a really great coffeemaker), heavy cream for the coffee. I have zero interest in changing my food preferences, even if I could "afford" to do so. There's a reason so many of us choose to eat the foods we do, economy notwithstanding.
Don’t forget Spam. That stuff is so good, sliced thin and fried until crispy.
I am addicted to a depression era food my mother used to make for us after my Dad died. Elbows with spaghetti sauce and tuna fish. I lived on it while single and pregnant and I'm kind of living on it now living paycheck to paycheck. One can of tuna, tiny can of spaghetti sauce, and box of pasta is 4 meals for 2.50.
Ok, this has to take the cake as the most idiotic article. Maybe it's a brilliant article to show how out of touch people are? First, what the F is poor people food? I fall into the top 5% and I eat ramen because I can make a very good meal with it. Cold Chinese Noodles. Potatoes? Heck yeah! Spaghetti? Eggs? Y'all have not seen my grilled cheese. WTH? These foods aren't cheap. Even American cheese isn't cheap. Sweet muthah of gawd
They are all things that can be made with mostly items out of a food pantry with cheap extras if anything needed. And when you say you make a great meal out a ramen, Im assuming that means you add stuff to it, not just eat it with only what comes in the packet. Ramen just the noodles and spice packet is a very cheap and easy thing to make but it certainly isnt anything near the ramen you get at a noodle house and everything on this list can be made fancy but for a poor family grilled cheese is a couple slices of cheap white bread and a single slice of American cheese (not sliced fresh at the deli, right out of the platic wrap). And the fact that you CAN afford more but still eat a lot of this proves the point of the article that they are things people who have other choices will still eat.
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Poor people food? am I the only one that has an issue with the title of this "Category"???
Will always eat these simple comforts. Used to survive on this diet, specially noodles, in uni. Nothing has changed. My posh father still loves them as well. Timeless 😂
I neither up or down voted you but remember there are different levels of poverty. You can be poor and not live in the abject poverty you're describing and even then, poor people still eat when they can get food. Try not to take these silly lists so seriously 🙂
Load More Replies... Some of these foods aren't that cheap, they're just processed, packaged and quick to use. I love instant mashed potatoes, for example, but a box works out to spuds costing about $17 a pound for raw spuds!
Yeah, where I live it's almost always cheaper to make things from scratch, though I think when mum did buy instant mash it was because it was on clearance for 25c.
Load More Replies... Well, there's this pizza you can get which has gold leaf on it...
Load More Replies... I still like baked beans on toast. Especially when I'm sick!
Load More Replies... Most of the food on this list isn't poor people food, its just food.
Baloney/bologna sandwich. Especially the sweet Lebanese bologna I found at Lidl; oh so yummy. Never gonna give you up
Ty, Lebanese bologna, is what I grew up on. Didn't even know there was other bologna well into my 20's. Mom use to cube it and fry it. Then add it to white gravy and some biscuits. Yummmm
Load More Replies... I am not American and not familiar with some of those foods but most of them look processed which makes them not cheap where I live (Greece).
They are processed and shelf stable so you can get them from a food pantry (free food for people under a set income donated by wealthier individuals and sometimes stores from thier overstock). Most food pantries have a really hard time getting fresh foods particularly produce which is stupidly expensive here except in the few month of summer/fall when the farmers markets are open. And since you can get canned veg and fruit at a food pantry many poor families save thier government assistance food money for meat (cheaper cuts generally), eggs, and milk, which are harder to get at a pantry. And shopping is often done at the pantry first then to a store to fill out what they couldnt get for free.
Load More Replies... Refried beans, homemade, my favourite dish, we have it every week, but I could have it every other day.
Take some flour tortillas and fill them with your refried beans and shredded cheddar or similar cheese, but make sure the beans are piping hot so the cheese can melt with the residual heat. You've suddenly made one of the most popular breakfast foods where I come from, bean and cheese breakfast tacos, and a couple of them with a cup of coffee or your favorite soda are an ideal way to start your day.
Load More Replies... Pretty sure "rich people" eat most of this stuff, just without the looming thought that what they're eating costs X amount of money and resources.
I still eat homemade sausage rolls and sometimes, on special occasions I'll make right-side up upside down pineapple cupcakes. Sound ridiculous? Yup, I know it. My grandfather made the recipe and I'll treasure it forever. His adorable face when he successfully baked his first dessert (at age 64!) was so happy that I can't help but feel happy when I eat them. I miss him. But I'll never feel sad when I eat those cupcakes.
No one is ever going to drag me away from beans on toast..... I was raised on it as a quick and cheap filler breakfast and it's tasty. I'd still eat it a few times a month if I started shitting out diamonds.
I bring home a six figure salary, yet I still eat $0.25 cent packs of ramen noodles like I did in college. My wife asked me why, it's because I actually like them.
Ironically, most of what are now considered gourmet foods began as staples of the working class: Beef stroganoff? a way to stretch what little meat was available. Fettuccine carbonara? the food of the charcoal makers. Pastrami and corned beef? the brisket they're made from is about the toughest cut of meat there is, it's necessary to brine or cure it to make it soft enough to eat. The list goes on and on and includes every portable food you can think of: pizza, calzone, burritos, pasties, sushi, sausages, etc.
Simple fried rice with garlic, scallion, egg, frozen peas, and whatever leftover meat is in the fridge. A cheap, filling way to stretch your leftover veggies and meat.
Seems more like a lot of comfort food and some things seemed the same so don't think it should even count.
Hobo stew - baked beans , grounds (I'm vegan so now it's not beef) and an onion.
Hamburger Helper, tuna / sardines out of the can, Dollar Tree salmon, Pasta Roni shells and white cheddar, David's sunflower seeds ... to name a few ...
Potato gnocchi. Very cheap and popular peasant food. Very filling and can be sauced or just butter/olive oil and Parmesano and/or Romano cheese.
A few boiled potatoes, a sliced boiled carrot and a soft-boiled egg. Toss it all on a plate, mash it up with a fork and stir it together. Looks like baby food, tastes amazing.
My best friend was German and had a house in Rokanje....I would visit from Portugal and we would get on our bicycles and go to the local chips-shop and gorge ourselves on fried chips with mayonaise....our summer treat...I miss her and our good fun...
Load More Replies... This list is reminding me of one of the few meals my late mom would make (she was a terrible cook but a wonderful baker): take poorly drained canned tuna (in water) and add it to prepared Kraft Mac & Cheese, then throw in a can of poorly drained green peas. Now I'm wondering how that would taste with a well-drained, better quality of canned tuna (e.g. Bumble Bee albacore tuna) added to a better variety of box mac & cheese (there's a store brand of mac & cheese that tastes much more luxurious since it comes with one of those foil liquid cheese pouches) and some frozen peas and thinking that might actually turn out lots better.
Just adding...Knorr Pasta Sides. Creamy chicken is my go-to. They're like 99 cents and super delicious.
Really BP? Poor people food? You couldn't just say 'cheap foods/eats?'.
Poor pancakes. It's just toast dipped in warmed syrup mixed with melted butter. Sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper, if you have bread then make it a sandwich. If you have mayo, even better! Banana sandwiches, mayo on one side and peanut butter on the other. Sounds nasty, but they're so good!! Smoked sausage goes in pretty much anything. Rice, beans, mac and cheese. Hot dogs in blankets, better if you have lil smokies. Wish sandwich, just a mayo sandwich or just bread and wish you had something else to put in it...
"S H I T ON A SHINGLE" Aka: a 5oz can of tuna (drained), a 12oz can of sweet peas, and a 12oz can of cream of celery soup (condensed). Mix together (with some of the liquid from the can of peas) in a pot on the stove until hot. Serve over a slice of toasted bread. Eat with a knife and fork. It's fast and tastes great! Try it!
My mom made something same name completely different. Ground beef or spam in gravy over a piece of bread. My grandpa said they called it that in the service because it looked like $hit on a roof shingle. They both sound like they fit that description though. It goes to show how many different things we all cook but call something similar
Load More Replies... Verankya is cottage cheese filled dough packet that gets boiled, then drained, and then served, hot, typically with a still-hot cream based gravy called schmauntfat. This is a Mennonite thing. Pierogies have nearly identical dough, but are filled with potatoes, primarily, and served with sour cream. These are a Ukrainian specialty... and also big in Poland.
Me, if I was suddenly wealthy, several things would never leave my diet, and I'd actually stock up on them in large quantities: Toasted ravioli, my homemade pasta sauce with spaghetti, pierogies, homemade ice cream, potatoes, cheeses, coffee (but I'd get the very best I could find, along with a really great coffeemaker), heavy cream for the coffee. I have zero interest in changing my food preferences, even if I could "afford" to do so. There's a reason so many of us choose to eat the foods we do, economy notwithstanding.
Don’t forget Spam. That stuff is so good, sliced thin and fried until crispy.
I am addicted to a depression era food my mother used to make for us after my Dad died. Elbows with spaghetti sauce and tuna fish. I lived on it while single and pregnant and I'm kind of living on it now living paycheck to paycheck. One can of tuna, tiny can of spaghetti sauce, and box of pasta is 4 meals for 2.50.
Ok, this has to take the cake as the most idiotic article. Maybe it's a brilliant article to show how out of touch people are? First, what the F is poor people food? I fall into the top 5% and I eat ramen because I can make a very good meal with it. Cold Chinese Noodles. Potatoes? Heck yeah! Spaghetti? Eggs? Y'all have not seen my grilled cheese. WTH? These foods aren't cheap. Even American cheese isn't cheap. Sweet muthah of gawd
They are all things that can be made with mostly items out of a food pantry with cheap extras if anything needed. And when you say you make a great meal out a ramen, Im assuming that means you add stuff to it, not just eat it with only what comes in the packet. Ramen just the noodles and spice packet is a very cheap and easy thing to make but it certainly isnt anything near the ramen you get at a noodle house and everything on this list can be made fancy but for a poor family grilled cheese is a couple slices of cheap white bread and a single slice of American cheese (not sliced fresh at the deli, right out of the platic wrap). And the fact that you CAN afford more but still eat a lot of this proves the point of the article that they are things people who have other choices will still eat.
Load More Replies... Poor people food? am I the only one that has an issue with the title of this "Category"???
Will always eat these simple comforts. Used to survive on this diet, specially noodles, in uni. Nothing has changed. My posh father still loves them as well. Timeless 😂
I neither up or down voted you but remember there are different levels of poverty. You can be poor and not live in the abject poverty you're describing and even then, poor people still eat when they can get food. Try not to take these silly lists so seriously 🙂
Load More Replies...