Let me tell you something about “just making it at home.” We’ve always told ourselves that kind of thing when we drive past the restaurant and really wish we could stop in and grab a sandwich or full meal plus dessert. It’s not that you don’t deserve take-out some time, but when you’re staring down an empty bank account, you can’t justify the expense.
Making stuff at home sounds great in theory. You’ve seen all the videos online of some cooking influencer in a spotless kitchen with a “better cut of beef” budget. When you’re in the grips of poverty – and not just that “Oops, I overspent a bit this month” type – cooking at home isn’t about being cute.
It’s about survival, and when you’re in survival mode, whipping together a decent meal can feel like climbing a damn mountain.
“I will just make it home.”
After realizing you don’t have any other options, this becomes the obvious choice. When you get back to your place, however, and stare at the fridge, it seems almost ridiculous. What kind of meal are you going to whip up with a few squishy potatoes and the ketchup packets you took from the last fast-food joint you visited.
Maybe you have some decent options because you just got back from your weekly grocery run or hit up the food bank, which was miraculously stocked with some produce.
Now you just need the time and energy to put something together. Poverty fatigue is real. Decision fatigue is real too. After a long day spent working, chasing kids, riding the bus, begging the bank to waive the overdraft fee again, and just existing while broke, the last thing you have the energy for is becoming a chef. It takes a lot to transform a few random ingredients and one working burner into a healthy meal.
The Rock Bottom Recipes
Hunger can be the mother of invention. You can order food delivery, and the days of visiting your neighbor to ask for a little help are long gone.
First, figure out what you actually have in your kitchen. If you take some advice from this site and use your common sense, you undoubtedly have some stuff that can turn into a meal. Some sort of carb base like pasta or rice is one of the cheapest options. A few cans of beans are both affordable and a good source of protein. Add some canned or frozen vegetables, and you have a complete meal.
These three things together can keep you alive and relatively energetic as you seek to better your life or just survive for another week. “I’ll just make it at home” is usually exciting, but it is empowering.
Cooking While Broke Is Different
Forget all the delicious-looking recipes online that start with phrases like “Prepare your organic chicken” or “Take your fresh herbs.” They can be fun to look at, but don’t torture yourself if they make you hungry or simply reinforce the idea that you’re missing out on something you can’t currently have.
Collect a few no-recipe recipes that cover the basic macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat). Things like peanut butter toast and an apple, scrambled eggs with spinach, or tuna and pickles on crackers are all simple, headache-free, and will get you through to the next day.
Choose things you can cook in a single pot or container. You can create an awful lot of good meals without dirtying or even buying a whole set of cookware. You also have no energy or time to hand wash 20 things after enjoying your dinner.
Take it easy on yourself. Give yourself grace. Stop comparing your meals or your lifestyle with the people you see online who are shaving truffles on their morning omelets or sprinkling Himalayan sea salt on their braised artichoke hearts.
Sometimes It Feels Like To Much
You are not lazy. You are tired. You’re surviving.
Poor Folk Finance is not some fairytale blog that will teach you how meal prepping will save you $300 a month (Although it might help, and we do have some information about that on here). I’m not going to teach you how to eat like a gourmet with your weekly food bank haul.
You don’t have to be perfect. You certainly don’t have to live up to some digitally enhanced ideal you see on Pinterest. “I’ll just make it at home” doesn’t have to involve despair, and it can actually give you yummy, healthy meals.
Food prices are just going to keep going up. The world sometimes feels rigged to keep us hungry. Home cooking is not only essential but can also feel a bit like a quiet rebellion. You can take care of yourself and your family even when everything seems pitted against you. In an easy DoorDash and food influencer world, razor spatula high and take control of what’s on your table.
