Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chaz47]

I've been forced into a position where I need to scrimp. It sucks but you have to do what you have to do, right? Anyway, I went to my cupboard and found a can of kidney beans, a can of sweet corn and a can of tuna. In the spirit of experimentation I put them all in the same pot, mixed it all up and heated it to a simmer. It was actually quite good. A little salty, a little sweet and seemingly healthy. At least as healthy as canned foods can be.

Any other suggestions for cheapskate healthy meals do-able from the ROK?

[northway]

Tuna, a chili pepper, some chopped garlic, olive oil, and some salt and pepper put together and added to pasta makes for a hearty and tasty meal.

Carbonara can be made pretty cheaply with eggs and the cheapest bacon you can find along with some garlic and black pepper (about 1,000 a serving, perhaps even less). Again, very, very fast to make. This one is not so healthy, however.

[tombanjo]

dry beans, rice, veggies, eggs

[nukeday]

i've been lazy lately but stirfries are how i roll.

frozen chicken from gmarket, plus whatever cheap veggies you can find at the market. cabbage, carrots, cucumbers,etc

experiment with the sauces. soy sauce plus a bit of gochujang. maybe sriracha.

i've been putting on the lbs so i thinki should get back to this. if you buy "western" cabbage, a small head actually ends up being a lot of food and can really fill you up for quite a few meals.

[4024anna]

1. Chicken soup. First, make stock by boiling a whole uncooked chicken or collection of chicken pieces on the bone (v cheap from emart/homeplus) with some veggies like carrrot/celery/leek and onion and garlic for a couple hours. Strain the liquid and set aside while you remove the chicken meat from the bones. Then make a soup using the liquid and with any veggies you like, including some potatoes to make it filling, or some rice. Add the cooked chicken meat 5 mins before its ready. You can make a huge pot of this and divide it up into portions and freeze it then you have easy to defrost and heat up meals for during the week.

2. Chicken fried rice - cook some rice and fry it with some chicken pieces, beaten eggs and chopped carrots/ onions/leeks and a little soy sauce for flavouring.

3. Honey mustard chicken. (you can buy 12 chicken breasts for 14000 won in homeplus and freeze them)
Stirfry onions, carrots and chopped chicken breast until almost cooked then add a few spoons of mustard and honey and cook for 5 mins more. So so easy and so yummy - just serve with potatoes or rice.
This is so cheap if you already own the honey and mustard. If you dont then they are not that expensive to buy if you consider that you will get x amount of meals from them. You can also marinate chicken breasts in the honey and mustard, or just use the honey and add ginger and lemon...

4. Korean pancakes - you can buy the pancake mix for very cheap and then all you need to add is eggs and some veggies.

Also, from homeplus you can buy loads of different types of jigae, pre-cooked, in the chilled section next to the soups. It's only 3000 won a bag so cheaper than getting it in a restaurant.

[austinmc86]

Sundubu jjigae, budae jjigae, kimchi jjigae... basically any jjigae. It's filling and delicious.

[sojusucks]

You should know how to make things like this in case you are caught short the last few days before payday. But always try to keep something on hand for those last few days before payday like some tuna, spam, or something frozen. Also, always have eggs and you can make omelets out of almost anything. If you are too broke for eggs, then you need to do a better job of budgeting. Eggs are the cheapest thing available and can stretch any food budget.

The cheapest meals I've seen involve ramen as a soup starter and you add whatever you like.

Also, you can make some vegetarian chili with cans of tomatoes, beans, chopped onions, and some chili or taco seasoning. One month, buy the canned beans and tomatoes at Costco and then you'll have the starter for chili you can make many times over the next few months near the end of the month. Chili goes with many things or eat it by itself as a meal.

[sadguy]

fried/scrambled eggs, soy sauce and rice. simple, amazingly cheap and filling. add a tomato or some mushrooms if you have the money.

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

Cook brown rice in cooker. Saute an onion in some oil. Once rice is done, add a can or two of rinsed beans, salsa, and the sauteed onion. Optional cheese on top. It keeps for a few days on the warm setting.

[zhanknight]

We've been using costco mac n cheese plus a can of spam (gift set for new year, of course) for dinner way too often. It's better than I'd like to admit, and I think that it comes out to 3 or 4k for two people.

[sojusucks]

[Livewire]

You can buy a whole chicken at the supah for 5000 won. An extra 500 won if they cut it up for you into portions. Will do one person about 4 portions.

Shred / cut up the chicken off the bone.

Season if you must.

Chop up 3 decent sized potatoes, leave the skins on.

Fry potatoes in butter (easier if you salt and boil them for 10 mins first.)

When potatoes almost done, chuck in the chicken for 5 minutes.

You might want to add some ketchup or dongkatsu sauce or whatever.

Anyway, four cheap tasty meals for around 3,000 a meal there which fills you up and gives you fat, protein, vit c and carbs.

Also at the butcher's counter at supah they sell minced pork for about 700won per 100 grammes! Cheapest meat you can get, cheaper than spam and much tastier.

Can fry this up with some onions and peppers and seasoning if you wish and then eat with eggs or potatoes, or rice or pasta and some sauce. again - 3k a meal.

One concoction I really got into for a while was

200g minced pork
3 eggs
1 onion
1/2 a green pepper (way cheaper than the red and yellow ones here.)

Literally chop up ya onions and peppers, fry em for 2 mins, chuck in the minced pork until almost cooked, then whisk up your eggs and add them and mix and stir fry it all together until cooked and all stuck together like a weird pancake. Put on plate and put some ketchup or steak sauce. But tabasco, or oyster sauce were the best.

Unhealthy but very filling and YUM and my bp is still 63/61 and I smoke and I'm not fat.

[pangaea]

Scrambled egg sandwich on toasted bread with tomato and a little mayo. Yum.

Onions, peppers, and mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, mixed with rice and a can of mackeral. Season to taste.

Vegetable soup. Any fresh, canned or frozen vegetables that you want, a can of kidney beans if you like, and some fresh or canned tomatoes. Add some beef or vegetable bullion cubes and enough water to cover, bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. The last time I made it, I used diced tomatoes with chilies and threw in some mixed herbs. You can cheaply make enough to last for days and freeze some if you want to save it.

I am quite fond of the boil-in-the-bag packets of curry and jajangmyeon that you can serve over rice. I usually find them for 900 - 2000 won. Very cheap and makes a filling meal.

[s10czar]

Livewire I'm not convinced that your budget meal is all that unhealthy.

I frequently eat pork and I've been eating several eggs a day for the last 20 years and my cholesterol is 160 and bp is 120/80.

What you described is classic low-carb fare and quite healthy in my book. I'm gonna try it.

[Livewire]