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Someone Online Wondered: “What Is Some ‘Poor People Food’ That You Will Eat No Matter How Wealthy You Get?“, And 30 Folks Delivered
Food is fuel, and that's a fact – however, it's not only a source of nourishment. It keeps us together by gathering our families on holidays and Friday night dinners, and it instantly improves our moods when we're in need of a pick-me-up.
Do you remember how popular it was to make banana bread during the lockdowns? Even if you're not a fan of preparing the food, it's still a great way of bonding with your loved ones, plus you get to eat some delicious meals afterwards.
While some folks are more into gourmet foods, others enjoy more affordable cuisine. Well, this online user took it to one of Reddit's communities and asked fellow members to describe the "poor people's food" they'll always eat regardless of how big their wallets might get. The post has managed to receive over 45K upvotes in just a day and was showered with interesting answers.
More info: Reddit
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#3
Fried egg sandwich. When you’re rich, double up on the eggs and add some cheddar
Bettie-Jean Neal 2 years ago
Growing up we'd toast white bread, spread it with miracle whip and then add a hard fried egg. The miracle whip made it!
#4
Cinnamon toast. Not the cereal
Aisling Raye 2 years ago
I haven't thought about this in years but my grandma used to make this... homemade bread buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar toasted in the toaster oven. She's been gone 25 years and I've tried to do this myself but it's never been the same. (Possibly because of the nearly universal truth that anything your grandmother makes you will always taste better no matter what it is)
#6
Tacos! They're always so cheap to make, and many times cheap to purchase. Tacos just make you feel happy. I don't know what it is. They also seem to fill you up!
#8
Italian food is actually pretty cheep to make, but can be sold for expensive if made right.
#9
pickles
Benita Valdez 2 years ago
Ok I'm going to end up liking nearly everything on this post. Love pickles ❤
#10
Maruchan Ramen.
I love Maurchan ramen so much and ramen in general. I could be a millionaire but i would still have a pantry stocked with ramen.
I have bad insomnia and when i was younger and would wake up at night, my dad would make me chicken or beef Maruchan ramen. I still remember sitting in our dark dining room while my dad got the ramen from the top shelf. He would drain the water a little and put in the seasoning so it wasn’t ever FULLY cooked. I rarely see my dad anymore so when i have a bad day, i eat ramen. the same way he made it. I was 4 then and that’s the only way i’ll make it now.
#11
Meatloaf
Benita Valdez 2 years ago
Oh man now I'm getting really hungry. I make this hefty one where I goind the meat myself along with bacon and sweet breakfast sausage and it is dangerous; only make once a year
#12
Biscuits and gravy, with browned sausage bits and pepper mixed into gravy.
Deann Culver 2 years ago
Yes. Biscuits and bacon gravy (made with bacon grease and milk) was a staple in my house growing up. I didn't know until recently that I grew up poor.
#13
My disgusting guilty pleasure of shredded cheese microwaved on top of tortilla chips
#14
PB & J
#16
McDonald’s cheeseburgers. The little ones with the yellow paper wrapping.
#18
Vareniki. Potato dumplings, most Americans probably know them as pierogi.
#20
Burek, its a bosnian bred like dowe filed with meet and baked in the oven. My grandma used to make it all the time
Benita Valdez 2 years ago
I never heard of or tried before and am most definitely wanting to try just because of the photo
#21
Cheap instant noodles ftw
Kelzbelz79 2 years ago
No matter how much money I have or will ever have I will ALWAYS eat noodles...love, love, love em ❤ ♥
#22
Kraft Mac and Cheese
Lukas-not-Luca (he/him) 2 years ago
I don't care that it tastes like crap compared to homemade, but dang this s**t hits different
#24
Fried baloney sandwiches.
Bettie-Jean Neal 2 years ago
Childhood staple. Or you can just put a charred hot dog on a piece of white bread and it's almost the same thing.
#26
Porridge
Give it to me with milk, sugar and buttered toast. So yum.
#27
Stroganoff hamburger helper for life. Add some sautéed mushroom and onion and a scoop of sour cream if I'm feeling fancy.
Steve Fischer 2 years ago
In college one day I was so broke I had Hamburger Helper without the hamburger. Called it Helper Helper
#29
Stove Top stuffing
#30
Ramen and microwave popcorn, which fueled my entire time in college
What do you think ?
s. vitkovitsky 2 years ago
Some of these foods aren't that cheap, they're just processed, packaged and quick to use. I love instant mashed potatoes, for example, but a box works out to spuds costing about $17 a pound for raw spuds!
Molly Whuppie 2 years ago
Most of the food on this list isn't poor people food, its just food.
Benita Valdez 2 years ago
Baloney/bologna sandwich. Especially the sweet Lebanese bologna I found at Lidl; oh so yummy. Never gonna give you up
Thalia Lovering 2 years ago
I am not American and not familiar with some of those foods but most of them look processed which makes them not cheap where I live (Greece).
Ivana Bašić 2 years ago
Refried beans, homemade, my favourite dish, we have it every week, but I could have it every other day.
Regeena Button 2 years ago
Pretty sure "rich people" eat most of this stuff, just without the looming thought that what they're eating costs X amount of money and resources.
Kyndal T 2 years ago
I still eat homemade sausage rolls and sometimes, on special occasions I'll make right-side up upside down pineapple cupcakes. Sound ridiculous? Yup, I know it. My grandfather made the recipe and I'll treasure it forever. His adorable face when he successfully baked his first dessert (at age 64!) was so happy that I can't help but feel happy when I eat them. I miss him. But I'll never feel sad when I eat those cupcakes.
GenericPanda09 2 years ago
No one is ever going to drag me away from beans on toast..... I was raised on it as a quick and cheap filler breakfast and it's tasty. I'd still eat it a few times a month if I started shitting out diamonds.
Tiredofpayingforothers 2 years ago
I bring home a six figure salary, yet I still eat $0.25 cent packs of ramen noodles like I did in college. My wife asked me why, it's because I actually like them.
Stannous Flouride 2 years ago
Ironically, most of what are now considered gourmet foods began as staples of the working class: Beef stroganoff? a way to stretch what little meat was available. Fettuccine carbonara? the food of the charcoal makers. Pastrami and corned beef? the brisket they're made from is about the toughest cut of meat there is, it's necessary to brine or cure it to make it soft enough to eat. The list goes on and on and includes every portable food you can think of: pizza, calzone, burritos, pasties, sushi, sausages, etc.
Mama Penguin 2 years ago
Simple fried rice with garlic, scallion, egg, frozen peas, and whatever leftover meat is in the fridge. A cheap, filling way to stretch your leftover veggies and meat.
Angela Mccar 2 years ago
Seems more like a lot of comfort food and some things seemed the same so don't think it should even count.
PitbullmomAF 2 years ago
Hobo stew - baked beans , grounds (I'm vegan so now it's not beef) and an onion.
Israel Martinez 2 years ago
Hamburger Helper, tuna / sardines out of the can, Dollar Tree salmon, Pasta Roni shells and white cheddar, David's sunflower seeds ... to name a few ...
marianne eliza 2 years ago
Potato gnocchi. Very cheap and popular peasant food. Very filling and can be sauced or just butter/olive oil and Parmesano and/or Romano cheese.
Jess-a-men 2 years ago
A few boiled potatoes, a sliced boiled carrot and a soft-boiled egg. Toss it all on a plate, mash it up with a fork and stir it together. Looks like baby food, tastes amazing.
Diane Aguilar 2 years ago
This list is reminding me of one of the few meals my late mom would make (she was a terrible cook but a wonderful baker): take poorly drained canned tuna (in water) and add it to prepared Kraft Mac & Cheese, then throw in a can of poorly drained green peas. Now I'm wondering how that would taste with a well-drained, better quality of canned tuna (e.g. Bumble Bee albacore tuna) added to a better variety of box mac & cheese (there's a store brand of mac & cheese that tastes much more luxurious since it comes with one of those foil liquid cheese pouches) and some frozen peas and thinking that might actually turn out lots better.
Kate Jones 2 years ago
Just adding...Knorr Pasta Sides. Creamy chicken is my go-to. They're like 99 cents and super delicious.
Sarge's Heroes 2 years ago
Really BP? Poor people food? You couldn't just say 'cheap foods/eats?'.
First Last 2 years ago
Poor pancakes. It's just toast dipped in warmed syrup mixed with melted butter. Sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper, if you have bread then make it a sandwich. If you have mayo, even better! Banana sandwiches, mayo on one side and peanut butter on the other. Sounds nasty, but they're so good!! Smoked sausage goes in pretty much anything. Rice, beans, mac and cheese. Hot dogs in blankets, better if you have lil smokies. Wish sandwich, just a mayo sandwich or just bread and wish you had something else to put in it...
Hayhaypaula 2 years ago
"S H I T ON A SHINGLE" Aka: a 5oz can of tuna (drained), a 12oz can of sweet peas, and a 12oz can of cream of celery soup (condensed). Mix together (with some of the liquid from the can of peas) in a pot on the stove until hot. Serve over a slice of toasted bread. Eat with a knife and fork. It's fast and tastes great! Try it!
Elbert Jones 7 months ago
I think it's extremely stupid that some people consider certain foods to be "poor" people food. SPAM helped Americans survive the Great Depression. Who gives a $%%^ If you drink the same coffee that paris hilton drinks?
Mary M 1 year ago
Verankya is cottage cheese filled dough packet that gets boiled, then drained, and then served, hot, typically with a still-hot cream based gravy called schmauntfat. This is a Mennonite thing. Pierogies have nearly identical dough, but are filled with potatoes, primarily, and served with sour cream. These are a Ukrainian specialty... and also big in Poland.
Joyce Blodgett 1 year ago
Me, if I was suddenly wealthy, several things would never leave my diet, and I'd actually stock up on them in large quantities: Toasted ravioli, my homemade pasta sauce with spaghetti, pierogies, homemade ice cream, potatoes, cheeses, coffee (but I'd get the very best I could find, along with a really great coffeemaker), heavy cream for the coffee. I have zero interest in changing my food preferences, even if I could "afford" to do so. There's a reason so many of us choose to eat the foods we do, economy notwithstanding.
Kathleen Fair 2 years ago
Don’t forget Spam. That stuff is so good, sliced thin and fried until crispy.
Amy Broderick 2 years ago
I am addicted to a depression era food my mother used to make for us after my Dad died. Elbows with spaghetti sauce and tuna fish. I lived on it while single and pregnant and I'm kind of living on it now living paycheck to paycheck. One can of tuna, tiny can of spaghetti sauce, and box of pasta is 4 meals for 2.50.
D Camp 2 years ago
Ok, this has to take the cake as the most idiotic article. Maybe it's a brilliant article to show how out of touch people are? First, what the F is poor people food? I fall into the top 5% and I eat ramen because I can make a very good meal with it. Cold Chinese Noodles. Potatoes? Heck yeah! Spaghetti? Eggs? Y'all have not seen my grilled cheese. WTH? These foods aren't cheap. Even American cheese isn't cheap. Sweet muthah of gawd
robin aldrich 2 years ago
Poor people food? am I the only one that has an issue with the title of this "Category"???
Elleana Sky Lopez 2 years ago
Will always eat these simple comforts. Used to survive on this diet, specially noodles, in uni. Nothing has changed. My posh father still loves them as well. Timeless 😂
s. vitkovitsky 2 years ago
Some of these foods aren't that cheap, they're just processed, packaged and quick to use. I love instant mashed potatoes, for example, but a box works out to spuds costing about $17 a pound for raw spuds!
Molly Whuppie 2 years ago
Most of the food on this list isn't poor people food, its just food.
Benita Valdez 2 years ago
Baloney/bologna sandwich. Especially the sweet Lebanese bologna I found at Lidl; oh so yummy. Never gonna give you up
Thalia Lovering 2 years ago
I am not American and not familiar with some of those foods but most of them look processed which makes them not cheap where I live (Greece).
Ivana Bašić 2 years ago
Refried beans, homemade, my favourite dish, we have it every week, but I could have it every other day.
Regeena Button 2 years ago
Pretty sure "rich people" eat most of this stuff, just without the looming thought that what they're eating costs X amount of money and resources.
Kyndal T 2 years ago
I still eat homemade sausage rolls and sometimes, on special occasions I'll make right-side up upside down pineapple cupcakes. Sound ridiculous? Yup, I know it. My grandfather made the recipe and I'll treasure it forever. His adorable face when he successfully baked his first dessert (at age 64!) was so happy that I can't help but feel happy when I eat them. I miss him. But I'll never feel sad when I eat those cupcakes.
GenericPanda09 2 years ago
No one is ever going to drag me away from beans on toast..... I was raised on it as a quick and cheap filler breakfast and it's tasty. I'd still eat it a few times a month if I started shitting out diamonds.
Tiredofpayingforothers 2 years ago
I bring home a six figure salary, yet I still eat $0.25 cent packs of ramen noodles like I did in college. My wife asked me why, it's because I actually like them.
Stannous Flouride 2 years ago
Ironically, most of what are now considered gourmet foods began as staples of the working class: Beef stroganoff? a way to stretch what little meat was available. Fettuccine carbonara? the food of the charcoal makers. Pastrami and corned beef? the brisket they're made from is about the toughest cut of meat there is, it's necessary to brine or cure it to make it soft enough to eat. The list goes on and on and includes every portable food you can think of: pizza, calzone, burritos, pasties, sushi, sausages, etc.
Mama Penguin 2 years ago
Simple fried rice with garlic, scallion, egg, frozen peas, and whatever leftover meat is in the fridge. A cheap, filling way to stretch your leftover veggies and meat.
Angela Mccar 2 years ago
Seems more like a lot of comfort food and some things seemed the same so don't think it should even count.
PitbullmomAF 2 years ago
Hobo stew - baked beans , grounds (I'm vegan so now it's not beef) and an onion.
Israel Martinez 2 years ago
Hamburger Helper, tuna / sardines out of the can, Dollar Tree salmon, Pasta Roni shells and white cheddar, David's sunflower seeds ... to name a few ...
marianne eliza 2 years ago
Potato gnocchi. Very cheap and popular peasant food. Very filling and can be sauced or just butter/olive oil and Parmesano and/or Romano cheese.
Jess-a-men 2 years ago
A few boiled potatoes, a sliced boiled carrot and a soft-boiled egg. Toss it all on a plate, mash it up with a fork and stir it together. Looks like baby food, tastes amazing.
Diane Aguilar 2 years ago
This list is reminding me of one of the few meals my late mom would make (she was a terrible cook but a wonderful baker): take poorly drained canned tuna (in water) and add it to prepared Kraft Mac & Cheese, then throw in a can of poorly drained green peas. Now I'm wondering how that would taste with a well-drained, better quality of canned tuna (e.g. Bumble Bee albacore tuna) added to a better variety of box mac & cheese (there's a store brand of mac & cheese that tastes much more luxurious since it comes with one of those foil liquid cheese pouches) and some frozen peas and thinking that might actually turn out lots better.
Kate Jones 2 years ago
Just adding...Knorr Pasta Sides. Creamy chicken is my go-to. They're like 99 cents and super delicious.
Sarge's Heroes 2 years ago
Really BP? Poor people food? You couldn't just say 'cheap foods/eats?'.
First Last 2 years ago
Poor pancakes. It's just toast dipped in warmed syrup mixed with melted butter. Sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper, if you have bread then make it a sandwich. If you have mayo, even better! Banana sandwiches, mayo on one side and peanut butter on the other. Sounds nasty, but they're so good!! Smoked sausage goes in pretty much anything. Rice, beans, mac and cheese. Hot dogs in blankets, better if you have lil smokies. Wish sandwich, just a mayo sandwich or just bread and wish you had something else to put in it...
Hayhaypaula 2 years ago
"S H I T ON A SHINGLE" Aka: a 5oz can of tuna (drained), a 12oz can of sweet peas, and a 12oz can of cream of celery soup (condensed). Mix together (with some of the liquid from the can of peas) in a pot on the stove until hot. Serve over a slice of toasted bread. Eat with a knife and fork. It's fast and tastes great! Try it!
Elbert Jones 7 months ago
I think it's extremely stupid that some people consider certain foods to be "poor" people food. SPAM helped Americans survive the Great Depression. Who gives a $%%^ If you drink the same coffee that paris hilton drinks?
Mary M 1 year ago
Verankya is cottage cheese filled dough packet that gets boiled, then drained, and then served, hot, typically with a still-hot cream based gravy called schmauntfat. This is a Mennonite thing. Pierogies have nearly identical dough, but are filled with potatoes, primarily, and served with sour cream. These are a Ukrainian specialty... and also big in Poland.
Joyce Blodgett 1 year ago
Me, if I was suddenly wealthy, several things would never leave my diet, and I'd actually stock up on them in large quantities: Toasted ravioli, my homemade pasta sauce with spaghetti, pierogies, homemade ice cream, potatoes, cheeses, coffee (but I'd get the very best I could find, along with a really great coffeemaker), heavy cream for the coffee. I have zero interest in changing my food preferences, even if I could "afford" to do so. There's a reason so many of us choose to eat the foods we do, economy notwithstanding.
Kathleen Fair 2 years ago
Don’t forget Spam. That stuff is so good, sliced thin and fried until crispy.
Amy Broderick 2 years ago
I am addicted to a depression era food my mother used to make for us after my Dad died. Elbows with spaghetti sauce and tuna fish. I lived on it while single and pregnant and I'm kind of living on it now living paycheck to paycheck. One can of tuna, tiny can of spaghetti sauce, and box of pasta is 4 meals for 2.50.
D Camp 2 years ago
Ok, this has to take the cake as the most idiotic article. Maybe it's a brilliant article to show how out of touch people are? First, what the F is poor people food? I fall into the top 5% and I eat ramen because I can make a very good meal with it. Cold Chinese Noodles. Potatoes? Heck yeah! Spaghetti? Eggs? Y'all have not seen my grilled cheese. WTH? These foods aren't cheap. Even American cheese isn't cheap. Sweet muthah of gawd
robin aldrich 2 years ago
Poor people food? am I the only one that has an issue with the title of this "Category"???
Elleana Sky Lopez 2 years ago
Will always eat these simple comforts. Used to survive on this diet, specially noodles, in uni. Nothing has changed. My posh father still loves them as well. Timeless 😂
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