One mum has shared her simple and delicious recipe for when you need to stretch your budget a few more days – and it feeds five for $2.
Australian families have had to turn to creative ways to feed their families during the cost of living crisis.
The Queensland woman revealed her favorite food when times are tough is a packet of Woolworths brand penne pasta (90 cents) and two packets of chicken flavored noodle soup (55 cents each).
“My mom used to do this when I was a kid,” she said on Facebook. ‘It wasn’t very nutritious, but she was a single mother with five children and it filled our stomachs. Sometimes that’s what matters.
“Pasta soup” could be taken a step further by adding frozen vegetables, eggs and cheese to the mix.
One mother revealed that her favorite food when times are tough is a packet of Woolworths brand penne pasta (90 cents) and two packets of chicken flavored noodle soup (55 cents each).
Many also shared their own budget staples.
“What my mother preferred was a package of pasta with 12 slices of cheese mixed in,” said one. ‘We now add a jar of bold cheese to spread with dried onion and herbs. If we can afford it, we cut a ham steak to give it more flavor.
‘I like to use a packet of mie goreng noodles, add a chopped onion, grated carrot and 1/4 cup of peas. I top it off with a fried egg. “Very tasty and cheap food,” said another.
“My pre-payday meal is a baked potato with cheese and beans,” one woman wrote.
Others have also opted for protein-rich chicken and rice bowls for just $5 a serving.
One shared how to make “surprise bread.”
“When I was a single mother I used to make surprise bread for my children,” said one mother.
‘In many places they sell bread and vegetables, and I looked at what was in the fridge or cupboard. It was usually butter, tomatoes, spinach and garlic; maybe some ham or cheese, if you had any.
‘I called it ‘surprise bread’ because it changed depending on what I had. It was a cob bread, my children loved it and it was abundant.”
Their process involved emptying an uncut loaf of bread, mixing the ingredients in a bowl, placing it back inside, and sealing it with the top of the crust.
Then the mother would put it in the oven until it was toasted enough.
‘To my surprise, it was my daughter’s favorite food and she told me about it when she was an adult. She had no idea that she had done it out of desperation.