The $2 - make a meal for $2 or less

This is the text I wrote on a Usenet newsgroup ten years ago (another lifetime ago). In true Usenet fashion, it devolved into a flame war over the ethics of taking (or stealing) free ketchup packs from fast food restaurants. Ahhhhhhhh, Usenet. [Edit: they were small drumsticks.]

Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking, alt.slack From: Modemac (modemac@modemac.com> Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 01:21:31 GMT Subject: $2 Challenge

I was on my way home from work, and I had two dollars in my pocket. I was hungry. I thought to myself "What can I do with $2?" Not too much...I could get perhaps a 99-cent hamburger and a 99-cent soda; or I could get a bag of chips (if they were on sale) and a soda (or maybe a quart of milk). But while browsing through the supermarket, I was reminded that they often sell chicken at cheap prices, so I looked there. $1.60 for seven drumsticks isn't bad: take it home, coat it with salt, pepper, and garlic, and microwave it at half-power for 40 minutes. Voila - a decent meal for one, for under two dollars.

And for no real reason, I'm sitting here thinking, "What else could I do with $2?" It occurs to me that there a lot of simple, cheap dishes one could make for under $2...and if you're living on a tight budget (as many of us are), then you've probably learned a few tricks on how to take cheap food and jazz it up to make it more appealing.

I'm not very creative when it comes to cooking, but a number of the folks here on the Net are. So here's the question: What kind of meal can YOU make for two dollars or less? The rules are simple: It can be a meal for one person, and it's assumed that you have basic condiments at home. Any food item is acceptable, as long as it's cheap. And there's nothing wrong with using the old stand-by that many starving artists and college students live on .