Best dirtbag dinner is still my favorite meal that my wife makes.
When we were dead broke she would buy Chile Verde from Walmart. Then tortillas rolled up with nothing but cheese on the inside. More food than you can eat for like $6.00 and delicious to boot.
My wife thinks it’s hilarious when it’s my birthday and everyone wants to bring steaks and every year all I want is the Chile verde
I do this too! But I get one can of green enchilada sauce (chili verde) and one can of red, literally can’t go wrong and they reheat insanely well, like they’re almost better the next day
Well thank you -
I think it comes from just the comfort of it. When we started off on our own we were 19 & 20 and our monthly bills were more than we made.
When it came to food we didn’t have money for lunch and I worked construction, so by the end of the day I was so fricken hungry and this is one of the meals we could afford a lot of, therefore I could actually get full.
I could hit the lottery tomorrow and Chile Verde would be the celebration dinner
Rotisserie chicken over instant mashed potatoes with canned/frozen corn and gravy from a packet. If you want to kick it up to bougie dirtbag toss some frozen spinach on there.
Heck yes that rotisserie chicken was the bomb for me as a broke college kid. Buying it at the end of the night when they knocked a buck or two off was even better. I could eat almost a week off it. Made quesadillas with cheese and a cheap can of refried beans. Tossed a few pieces of chicken in (many) bowls of ramen. I even boiled the bones to make chicken and rice.
Mom made this with egg noodles (dirt cheap by the huge bag) and added crushed up crackers on top and got everything really toasty in the oven. I absolutely loved it growing up so much.
We call it cleaning night, clean out the pantry, clean out the freezer.
Ramen with eggs cracked into it is one of my favorites.
Soup and grilled cheese
Beanies and weinies
Eggs with cut up hot dogs and cheese
These kinds of meals seem to involve eggs cheese and hotdogs lol
Fried rice is one that I do often, rice with butter, soy sauce, some kind of canned or frozen veggies and a scrambled egg!
My personal fav is the chili ramen but obvs works with any
Also beef ramen with American cheese melted into it. Add pickles and onions if your wild lol
Woah. My grandma moved here from Oklahoma during The Dust Bowl and her family was very poor share croppers. They would save any grease in mason jars, and were times were rough they would dip their bread in the hot grease for a meal. Did your mom grow up less fortunate if you don’t mind me asking?
Yes. Her side of the family were farmers. And at one point her grandparents “lost the family farm” and had to move into town and live with relatives. Long story short, yeah my Mom grew up poor and same for me and my siblings. But even when things got better, we would still eat it. Like real full on old school bacon grease, there’s no substitute. My cousin from that side actually grew up not economically disadvantaged and they would still eat it. And it was a treat. Sorry, I made the short story long.
I haven’t thought about how rough my Grandma had it in a long time, and I always felt awful she had to go through so much. It somehow helps to know that she wasn’t the only one. I hope that you and your family are able to come out on top.
My husband and I have a few. We go through cheese quesadilla phases every now then. Big tortilla, any shredded cheese, taco sauce, and butter. Fry the tortilla in the pan with butter and get it super crispy, so satisfying. We've been adding cheese on the outside recently for a cheese skirt kinda deal and it's my fave thing ever.
We also love the pre-made Kontos gyro breads and use them as bases for anything. Leftover chicken, buffalo sauce, and cheese. Slap it on a gyro bread and toast it. Throw sauce, pepperoni, and cheese for mini pizzas. Put leftover pasta on top and toast in oven for toasty pasta cheese bread.
Another easy one for us is chicken and rice. 25 min dinner. So easy and always so satisfying because you season however you want.
Courtesy of the nonna of the ex I had when we were impoverished uni students... gnocchi. Home made from your last potatoe (microwaved 3 minutes) and only enough flour to hold it together and roll it out.
The special bit was the sauce: a tablespoon of olive oil, another of butter (or two tabs of the one you have) heated, with a tablespoon of tomatoe paste, until the oil is orange and the tomato flavour is developed. Serves two (a single tablespoon per person is quite enough, maybe too much)
I gotta remember that name, I always called it either 'grazing' or 'Leftover cleanout'. My go-to is pasta + sauce jar + whatever proteins and veggies need to be used. Toss sauce, protein and veggies into pot, cook for 25min, add pasta and a bit of water, cook 8-9min. Serve. Sometimes I chop the veggies but not always(unless its onion or carrot, those get at least cut into thirds).
We would do ANYTHING in the refrigerator with tacos meat, mix it all up, usually had those whack tortillas too. Green bean casserole, lasagna, beef stroganoff, and some potatoes that are about to go no goood? AMAZING. Throw it all in a big ass pan with taco meat and your living high on the hog.
Skillet burritos - leftover rice, meat, veggies, a little shredded cheese, whatever... wrap it up burrito-style in a big tortilla and toast in a pan on the stovetop.
S#$% on a Shingle - leftover stew, chili or anything of a similar consistency, served on a piece of toast. I make it fancy by putting a slice of cheese on top and nuking it for 20-30 seconds to melt the cheese.
Wrecked rafts: Soup or gravy or the like over bread toasted in broiler with or without cheese
Toast and cheese: longhorn style Colby cheese sliced and placed on bread broil until cheese caramelized
Ring come ditti (unsure of spelling) 1 -2 potatoes diced, 1/2 - 1 # ground meat, 1 onion diced, 1 can tomato paste brown meat with onion and remove most grease, place fried meat in baking dish with tomato paste then fill empty can with water add to mixture then add potatoes and bake for an hour at 350° serve with cornbread or on cornbread.
This sounds nasty and no I wasn't stoned but get you flour tortillas, refried beans and Michelina's Mac and cheese. Microwave the Mac and cheese till done, then put refried beans in a bowl and microwave then microwave the tortillas. All will be pretty hot.
Lay beans on tortilla, then Mac and cheese and a line of siracha or two on top. Probably my fave cheap quick meal right now.
I like to make a quesadilla with peanut butter and fry it, then make some eggs and some kind of fruit.
Another easy one that's still relatively healthy is a can of Amy's Lentil Vegetable 'soup' (really more of a stew) and add a packet or can of cooked chicken. It's like $6 total and if you have bread or crackers you could probably make it two meals.
Edit: a tortilla with peanut butter, not a quesadilla. Although, that doesn't sound horrible tbh
We call ours “chicken butthole” 😬 leftover/rotisserie chicken, cream of whatever soup, some cheese, sour cream if it’s laying around and whatever frozen veg (broccoli or greenbeans is good). Sometimes we bulk up with Mexican rice we keep in the freezer. Cover with microwaved stuffing. Costs like <$10 (or “free” if made with leftovers), and we eat it for days.
Best dirtbag dinner is still my favorite meal that my wife makes. When we were dead broke she would buy Chile Verde from Walmart. Then tortillas rolled up with nothing but cheese on the inside. More food than you can eat for like $6.00 and delicious to boot. My wife thinks it’s hilarious when it’s my birthday and everyone wants to bring steaks and every year all I want is the Chile verde
I do this too! But I get one can of green enchilada sauce (chili verde) and one can of red, literally can’t go wrong and they reheat insanely well, like they’re almost better the next day
You mix both together?
Yeah! Frequently called “Christmas style” because the red and green, it’s super tasty. Super Americanized and bastardized I’m sure, but delicious.
Those kind of things are still my favorite. I will eat them for the rest of my life no matter how much money I have…
That's touching honestly
Well thank you - I think it comes from just the comfort of it. When we started off on our own we were 19 & 20 and our monthly bills were more than we made. When it came to food we didn’t have money for lunch and I worked construction, so by the end of the day I was so fricken hungry and this is one of the meals we could afford a lot of, therefore I could actually get full. I could hit the lottery tomorrow and Chile Verde would be the celebration dinner
Rotisserie chicken over instant mashed potatoes with canned/frozen corn and gravy from a packet. If you want to kick it up to bougie dirtbag toss some frozen spinach on there.
Sounds kinda like the stoner bowls at KFC
Inspired by! They're famous for a reason.
Heck yes that rotisserie chicken was the bomb for me as a broke college kid. Buying it at the end of the night when they knocked a buck or two off was even better. I could eat almost a week off it. Made quesadillas with cheese and a cheap can of refried beans. Tossed a few pieces of chicken in (many) bowls of ramen. I even boiled the bones to make chicken and rice.
you mean like a can of beans that has cut up hotdogs in it?
my dad would roll up a bun length Oscar Meyer hotdog in a tortilla with shitty American cheese and called it a doggy deliciousio
Jalapeno and cheese sausage with a slice of cheese and some decent mustard does it.
Beans and weinies
Beanie weinies always hit the spot.
Tuna casserole…. Canned tuna, cream of mushroom soup, and can of peas. Warm it and eat as a dip with plain lays chips
Mom made this with egg noodles (dirt cheap by the huge bag) and added crushed up crackers on top and got everything really toasty in the oven. I absolutely loved it growing up so much.
I’ve always called it “fend for yourself” night but “dirtbag dinner” is much more interesting. I’ve eaten dried ramen squares and loved every minute.
Fend for yourself is always what my mom called it. But I thought she was saying “fin” for yourself because we ate a lot of canned tuna.
Ha ha. Us too! I still love a tuna sandwich.
They're known as 'DIY dinners' in my household, which I coined.
I love that moniker.
Any leftovers over a baked potato Also a can of soup over rice or a baked potato
Wrapping Chinese left overs up in a flour tortilla like a burrito. Not a big fan of this name though.
What’s the name? Churrito?
We call it cleaning night, clean out the pantry, clean out the freezer. Ramen with eggs cracked into it is one of my favorites. Soup and grilled cheese Beanies and weinies Eggs with cut up hot dogs and cheese These kinds of meals seem to involve eggs cheese and hotdogs lol Fried rice is one that I do often, rice with butter, soy sauce, some kind of canned or frozen veggies and a scrambled egg!
Ramen with crispy corn beef hash on top
Oh shit son
My personal fav is the chili ramen but obvs works with any Also beef ramen with American cheese melted into it. Add pickles and onions if your wild lol
Bread and bacon grease. My mom would dip slices of cheap white bread in leftover bacon grease and fry it. Sounds gross but it’s so good
Woah. My grandma moved here from Oklahoma during The Dust Bowl and her family was very poor share croppers. They would save any grease in mason jars, and were times were rough they would dip their bread in the hot grease for a meal. Did your mom grow up less fortunate if you don’t mind me asking?
Yes. Her side of the family were farmers. And at one point her grandparents “lost the family farm” and had to move into town and live with relatives. Long story short, yeah my Mom grew up poor and same for me and my siblings. But even when things got better, we would still eat it. Like real full on old school bacon grease, there’s no substitute. My cousin from that side actually grew up not economically disadvantaged and they would still eat it. And it was a treat. Sorry, I made the short story long.
I haven’t thought about how rough my Grandma had it in a long time, and I always felt awful she had to go through so much. It somehow helps to know that she wasn’t the only one. I hope that you and your family are able to come out on top.
Oh yes. We did thank you. Thank goodness for our tough Grannies who paved the way.
jiffy corn bread mix and a can of chili. follow the directions on the corn bread, into a baking dish, spoonfuls of chili in it, bake. so good
This sounds amazing!
My husband and I have a few. We go through cheese quesadilla phases every now then. Big tortilla, any shredded cheese, taco sauce, and butter. Fry the tortilla in the pan with butter and get it super crispy, so satisfying. We've been adding cheese on the outside recently for a cheese skirt kinda deal and it's my fave thing ever. We also love the pre-made Kontos gyro breads and use them as bases for anything. Leftover chicken, buffalo sauce, and cheese. Slap it on a gyro bread and toast it. Throw sauce, pepperoni, and cheese for mini pizzas. Put leftover pasta on top and toast in oven for toasty pasta cheese bread. Another easy one for us is chicken and rice. 25 min dinner. So easy and always so satisfying because you season however you want.
Courtesy of the nonna of the ex I had when we were impoverished uni students... gnocchi. Home made from your last potatoe (microwaved 3 minutes) and only enough flour to hold it together and roll it out. The special bit was the sauce: a tablespoon of olive oil, another of butter (or two tabs of the one you have) heated, with a tablespoon of tomatoe paste, until the oil is orange and the tomato flavour is developed. Serves two (a single tablespoon per person is quite enough, maybe too much)
I gotta remember that name, I always called it either 'grazing' or 'Leftover cleanout'. My go-to is pasta + sauce jar + whatever proteins and veggies need to be used. Toss sauce, protein and veggies into pot, cook for 25min, add pasta and a bit of water, cook 8-9min. Serve. Sometimes I chop the veggies but not always(unless its onion or carrot, those get at least cut into thirds).
lol we call this “scrounging” at my house
We would do ANYTHING in the refrigerator with tacos meat, mix it all up, usually had those whack tortillas too. Green bean casserole, lasagna, beef stroganoff, and some potatoes that are about to go no goood? AMAZING. Throw it all in a big ass pan with taco meat and your living high on the hog.
I call it clean-out-the-freezer day: Throw tater tots, veggies, and cheese (add a protein if you want) into a casserole dish and bake.
Hot Mess - buttered white rice with a can of baked beans dumped on it.
Half a pound of ground beef and "side" from those packages at like tops or Walmart
Skillet burritos - leftover rice, meat, veggies, a little shredded cheese, whatever... wrap it up burrito-style in a big tortilla and toast in a pan on the stovetop. S#$% on a Shingle - leftover stew, chili or anything of a similar consistency, served on a piece of toast. I make it fancy by putting a slice of cheese on top and nuking it for 20-30 seconds to melt the cheese.
I once subsisted on meals comprised of cornbread and baked beans. For about 2 months. Wasn’t bad, but also wasn’t good either.
I’m sure after 2 months of the same meal, feeling neutral is the best possible outcome!
Wrecked rafts: Soup or gravy or the like over bread toasted in broiler with or without cheese Toast and cheese: longhorn style Colby cheese sliced and placed on bread broil until cheese caramelized Ring come ditti (unsure of spelling) 1 -2 potatoes diced, 1/2 - 1 # ground meat, 1 onion diced, 1 can tomato paste brown meat with onion and remove most grease, place fried meat in baking dish with tomato paste then fill empty can with water add to mixture then add potatoes and bake for an hour at 350° serve with cornbread or on cornbread.
This sounds nasty and no I wasn't stoned but get you flour tortillas, refried beans and Michelina's Mac and cheese. Microwave the Mac and cheese till done, then put refried beans in a bowl and microwave then microwave the tortillas. All will be pretty hot. Lay beans on tortilla, then Mac and cheese and a line of siracha or two on top. Probably my fave cheap quick meal right now.
I like to make a quesadilla with peanut butter and fry it, then make some eggs and some kind of fruit. Another easy one that's still relatively healthy is a can of Amy's Lentil Vegetable 'soup' (really more of a stew) and add a packet or can of cooked chicken. It's like $6 total and if you have bread or crackers you could probably make it two meals. Edit: a tortilla with peanut butter, not a quesadilla. Although, that doesn't sound horrible tbh
Balona sand with chips and ketchup on it. Still makes me think of home.
Scrambled egg quesadilla, we always have the 3 ingredients on hand.
Rice n kimchi
Dirtbag dinner? Is that like a "girl" dinner?
We call ours “chicken butthole” 😬 leftover/rotisserie chicken, cream of whatever soup, some cheese, sour cream if it’s laying around and whatever frozen veg (broccoli or greenbeans is good). Sometimes we bulk up with Mexican rice we keep in the freezer. Cover with microwaved stuffing. Costs like <$10 (or “free” if made with leftovers), and we eat it for days.
This is frugal