I’m broke AF, and I’m good at making bread, which is cheap,
any recommendations about what to put in them that’s also cheap AF, I mean a tier lower than cold cuts/cheese slices? that won’t give me scurvy.
ideally something appetizing and not depression fuel. I’m open to vegan friendly options too.
sadly the cheapest meat are the “name brands” with nitrates in it. you can buy cheap sandwich meat from trader joes though.(instore brand). going vegan might be harder, as you will be nutrient deficient(you need supplments to compensate like b12).
Peanut Butter. As a diabetic it’s my go to when I want something sweet. As long as it’s natural.
Also I don’t know your kitchen situation but you can live off just Potatoes and they’re filling. Microwave, bake, or air fryer. They are awesome in air fryer.
But how bad off are you if you can’t even get cheese slices?
Like what’s your budget? How many days before you get paid and how long do you need a extremely tight budget for?
Peanut butter
Peanutbutter and jelly.
Canned tuna is good and cheap.
Sweet pickles or barbecue sauce on the meat between two pieces of bread, idk it isn’t bad. Definitely poverty food though.
1 little can will get you 2 or 3 sandwiches, and a big can will get you like 7 or 8.
You can also fake canned tuna with mashing up canned chickpeas, adding mayo, salt and seaweed. A 14 oz can of chickpeas is about a can of tuna.
The seaweed is probably a; bit expensive here, but you could probably omit it, just season to taste.
Tomato. PB. Egg.
Not exactly what you asked, but there are whole traditions of non-sandwich food eaten with bread. For example, if you can get lentils for cheap you should look into lentil soup, and same for broad beans and ful. Also you can put a thin layer of tahini on top of molasses for a surprisingly tasty breakfast. You eat all these by scooping them up with bread.
Peanut butter is one of the cheapest shelf stable foods, either per calorie or per gram of protein. It’s obviously delicious with some sort of fruit jelly/jam. And the protein in peanuts complements the protein in bread, covers all the essential amino acids.
Spreadable or meltable cheeses are pretty delicious on toast, and can be supplemented with seasonings. I put cream cheese and everything bagel seasoning on my sourdough slices most mornings.
There are also a ton of delicious toppings for open face “sandwiches” or toast:
- Avocado is a classic for a reason. If avocados are cheap near you, that can be an option.
- Fresh tomatoes on toast are a classic in Spain for a reason, too.
- Sardines or other canned fish/seafood, if you like that.
- Mediterranean spreads like hummus, baba ganoush, muhammara, harissa, etc.
- Shrimp, like gambas al ajillo or something similar, go really well on toast.
- Roasted mushrooms
If you’re baking your own bread, you can also try to shape some little bread bowls and fill them with soup. French onion soup takes some time but the ingredients are pretty cheap.
Not all of these options are ultra cheap, but many are flavorful enough that even small portions can work out to be really affordable on a per calorie basis, for stretching that budget with bread.
I’m Catalan, live in the US, I’d kill for tomatoes good enough for Pa amb tomaquet,
Op post a budget and how many days you need it to last. That’s far more helpful.
Also what do you have to cook in? Stovetop? Oven? Microwave? Air fryer? Crockpot?
We can be far more helpful if we know some details
Tomato sandwiches. Slice the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper and spread some mayo on the bread. Simple but delicious.
Slice your own cheese if you want to save money.
Also look for sales on tuna; tuna, mayo and spices makes a good sandwich, especially when fried in butter in a pan (and through in a slice of cheese if you’re feeling indulgent).
The idea of vegan sandwiches is kinda lame to me; think the bread would overwhelm whatever you put inside it, but I can think of incorporating bread into vegan meals–like vegetarian chili with a good hunk of buttered bread is delcioius.
Vegan chickpea salad sandwiches are great. You can also get something tasty using marinated tofu. I agree that vegan sandwiches can be tough, but there are some good ones out there.
I thought tofu was expensive? Where do you get it cheap?
In the US, it is incredibly cheap. It’s made out of one of our cheapest crops: soybeans. You can get a pound of tofu for less than $2 probably, even at my “health food” stores. I’d suggest looking for Chinese/Japanese/Korean markets and see what they sell.
sort of what I do, wondering if there was a lower tier in missing. my goal is bare survival.
Rice & dry beans. Find a friend with Prime or order in $35 increments to avoid shipping.
That’s what I’ve been waiting for the past week. need to vary it before I go crazy.
thanks
I try to mix 3-5 different beans together to keep it interesting. If you don’t add too much water into the boil, the broth is delicious to mop up with bread.
thanks for the soup idea, know a butcher that sells leftover bones for super cheap
Yup. Look for Latin/ethnic groceries too for cheap cuts of meat to throw in there. The Anglo stores price them higher if they stock them at all. I think the bargain basement meat is a tripa, which is just intestines; haven’t every bought cow stomach, but if you want to take the time, the dish is called mondongo.
Not a fan of eating chitlins, but can extract the nutrients in a soup
A lot of times, you can get them free. Ask around.
Maybe our conceptions of what a sandwich is are different, but jam works well in a sandwich.
The idea of vegan sandwiches is kinda lame to me; think the bread would overwhelm whatever you put inside it,
Laughs in onion and garlic-mint chutney.
The trick to getting people to eat vegan stuff is to just omit that it happens to be a vegan dish until after they’ve eaten it and are wondering how its made.
It depends on what your local store has at best prices, really. Depending on where you are, you might find anything at a locally better price.
Famously, though, the absolute cheapest sandwich that some people still love is a salt&pepper toast sandwich, literally softened butter on bread, toasted if you have a way to toast it, or maybe fried, with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, stuck between two other slices of bread. I have made it before and it’s way better than it sounds. If you’re wanting to push the price as low as possible, the salt and pepper might be gotten from fast food places’ condiment stations, maybe even the butter/margerine as well if you have the right kind of place.
A mash sandwich is also deceptively good if you make good mash or have good condiments, and skin-on potatoes are almost always good nutritional value for money.
Beyond that, almost any sandwich can be bulked out with leafy greens for not much cost. Great iron in spinach. Lettuce other than iceburg is mild and nutriticious so helps almost any savory sandwich. Fiber helps you feel full too.
Hummus on its own or any and all parts of lettuce, tomato, rocket, roast peppers. Om sourdought foccacia is phenomenal
I like to do hummus wraps with a bag of veggie slaw and hummus. You can add like roasted red peppers, pickled onions, or tomatoes if you have them. You could also do a salad dressing instead of hummus, but I’d suggest adding smashed chickpeas in that case.
It would probably be cheaper for you to pickle the onions yourself. I’d also recommend pickling carrots, if you never have. Absolutely delicious.
I used to make so much hummus for a mutual aid, good suggestion
As a kid, the default sandwich in my house was hummus, tomato, cucumber, in a flat rolled sandwich. Plus whatever seasonal vegetables we have. Or parsley or watercress if we have too much of that. Or mint. Or thyme. Just throw virtually any leafy vegetables in there and you’ll be fine.
I’m guessing you’re talking more like loaves/leavened bread, but that shouldn’t be a problem.
You can also cut your bread into crackers/sticks (do thicker slices and then slice those into bars) and eat hummus with them. Might need to toast them though.
Now to make a suggestion that is radically different from aspirational Mediterranean fresh food from my childhood: Marmite if you can get into it. It’s not a thing here, but I picked up a jar from a British grocery in the Gulf once and most people in my life think it’s a disgusting curiosity. But as a backup, marmite with butter or olive oil (more our style), or with vegetables, or cheese, or literally with nothing else, if you can enjoy it, its a great backup. The tiny jar lasts forever and can be used as a flavor enhancer for hearty dishes.
Shout out to baked potato sandwiches with oil, lemon, salt, and leafy vegetables. Or boiled egg sandwiches. Or potato and egg, I won’t tell you how to live. But admittedly these make more sense to me as flat bread sandwiches.
Brown bread (bread made with rolled oats and mollasses) and baked beans has been one of my goto cheap bulk meals since I was little kid
Ill try to remember to post the recipes when I get home from work.
Milk whipped into mashed potatoes also makes a barebones meal that covers essential nutrition. And it is the season where you can buy a large bag of potatoes for cheap. (Taste and fibre content can be improved if you throw in a can of corn nibblets as well)
