Patatoes
Eggs
Cheese
Rice
Legumes (lentils, beans, chickpeas…)
Salt
Oil
Vinaigre
Spices

This make a cheap but healthy diet that can be cooked as something terribly bland in texture and flavor or extremely flavorful and diverse in texture depending on what you like.

Add bread sometimes and you can makes hundreds of recipes.

You have a small budget but since eggs and cheese are pricier in many places, by reducing them, you can easily add the legumes and oil.
Sometimes don’t buy potaoes and replace it with rice.
Do use salt, it is crucial for health and for making a recipe work.

This way, you bugdet should stay the same.

Now, for spices, there is two routes :

1 - Buy prepackage mixes. They are cheap for the unit, the easiest to squize in a budget that can’t be streched any further. After a few servings the package is used up, so you can change the flavor for the next time. But they have additives that make them not the healthiest. But if you don’t eat or drink anything but water and what you say this is more than healthy compare to most people

2 - build you spice (and herbs) cabinet. Spices outside of blends are cheaper but sold in bigger format so you need more money in the short run. You might find the money by reducing slightly further cheese or eggs once a groceries trip every month or every six weeks and buy one more jar of spice to use in your cooking. If you are cooking for yourself and since you are not used to cook with spice yet, take a small size not the biggest one even if it is cheaper by the ounce. Focuse on what is used the most in your cuisine : For a westerner culture, it would probably start with pepper, then garlic powder, then oignon powder, then a herb mix, then paprika. You can get inspiration for ingredients in you favorite premade mixes to know what to buy next.

Choose an oil that has a neutral taste and that can be heated a lot (sunflower or canola) so it could be use in plenty of way. Use it generously, it help with feeling full, better tasting food and weight retaining.

Legumes can be bought in tins. They are very cheap, already cooked perfecty, for a price premium already flavored. They can be eaten cold, as a salad with a bit of acid from the vinaigre.
At the beginning eat small portions or you get flatulences. With the time, your body will get use to digest them.
Legumes can be smash/blend in sauces, soups or spread. They can be place on the side of potatoes or rice.

When you are use to them (you know which one you like, which ones you eat the most), buy them dry. It is even cheaper and makes your groceries bags much lighter. It is not complicated to cook but it you have to figure out how to manage a budget, eat differently and gain weight, make it easy on you and start with the tins.

White vinaigre is so cheap. You buy one bottle and it least very long. It is much more acid than lemon juice so it is used in very small quantity. But it is not flavorful, just acid.

For specific recipes, it will depend on :

• your time available
• the cooking equipment you have
• the space you have

But I speak from experience, with a very very small space and limited cooking equipment these ingredient can bring you very far.

Other useful cheap ingredient you might buy from time to time are :
All-purpose flour, baking soda, semolina, oat, granulated sugar. They will add even more diversity and will make you a pantry from which many dessert can be cooked.
Tins vegetable are cheap…ish. They store well, so they can be bought in advance when you got a little room in your budget or when there is a nice reduction. Same with the cheapest kins of jams and preserved fruits. Some frozen vegetable are cheap as well but you need a freezer, freezer space and to use electricity to store them.

I currently need to learn how to cook for people with diet very limited in diversity. I’m on a budget and want to do it healthy. So I would be very interested to know how your diet evolved and if I can be of any help don’t hesitate to message me. I’ll help you to the best of my advices.

Cheers

cheese and joghurt is a good source of protein. try to eat a lot of protein and do muscle work out to not only gain fat mass but lean mass aswell. because if youre ana it might be that your body already “consumed” a lot of your muscle mass to retain enegery.

Potatoes are actually super filling per calorie, one of the first and best foods I recommend for weight loss. The potatoes/eggs/cheese combo is especially filling, basically you’ve dialed into a budget conscious survival meal.

But you need to gain weight without spending much more money. What do you have to cook with? Knife cutting board pots pans stove?

First great option is soup. Pre fry aromatics directly in the pot (carrots, celery, onion, whatever you can get). Be HEAVY with oil, I recommend light olive oil. Heavier than you probably think with salt too. Then add mass (potatoes) and water. Dried lentils and split peas don’t need to be soaked overnight, just add them in and let them simmer for the last half hour. Tons of cheap calories and seasoning. Season with anything you have.

Then get into white rice. There’s a cost barrier here but if you can save up enough for a large 20lb bags the cost per meal is extraordinarily low. Tons of calories and doesn’t really fill you. Have it with the soup or as a bed under other veggies. Overdoing it with the rice can cause some health issues relating to blood sugar but it’s an extremely easy and cheap way to add 2-400 calories to a couple meals a day.

Check clearance for oily sauces. This is basically the reverse advice compared to weight loss - a lot of innocuously small jars can easily contain over 2,000 calories. If you can get them at 25% cost that’s a ton of weight gain potential and will help give you flavor variety and make your meals more calorific.

Just a few thoughts. Wish I could help, I know this situation sucks

At risk of going off-topic, exercise?

I don’t mean run marathons, but just stuff at home. Knee push ups, sit ups, squats, standing on your toes, sitting in a chair to lift your leg with your biceps; whatever you can manage until you are little winded.

You will gain some weight, keep more of the calories you ingest, and eating will feel better too.

I’d recommend some beans too. I like black bean bowls with rice, and both are cheap.

Fry potatoes, boil potatoes, bake potatoes… They will taste very differently. Use seasoning. Don’t be shy on salt/pepper/whatever your culture uses. Eggs can be very different too besides fried or boiled: soak bread with egg and fry it. Very tasty. Add some flour or whatever you have in the fridge to make an omelette. Not a fan of cheese, but I am sure there are many ways to use it too.

As someone who’s been cooking every meal with what is largely the same four to five ingredients for the past six months due to the economic situation here, I can say with confidence that varying preparation methods and spice profiles is key to thriving in spite of repetition.

Potatoes like the ones in your picture? Use them to make something akin to boxty: https://donalskehan.com/recipes/boxty-irish-potato-pancakes/

Unless you’re planning to make mash, though, you might benefit more from a method other than boiling your potatoes. Baking is far less effort and if you don’t feel like sticking them in the oven for an hour, you can microwave them for 6 minutes or so in a 1,000 watt microwave (if theyre still not soft, use more time).

What kind of bread are you working with?

Eggs, potatoes, cheese, and “bread” (traditionally tortillas, but wheat flour is wheat flour) are primary ingredients for a breakfast burrito. Splash of cumin, pinch of paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt (maybe a tiny pinch of chili powder, cilantro, oregano, annato, and coriander if you have them, or lime juice, or tomato) if you can squish the bread flat and warm it in a pan a little you can slightly crisp up one side for texture and make an improv breakfast burrito sandwich.

Polish https://eatingeuropean.com/authentic-polish-pierogi-potatoes-cheese/

Or even

Japanese https://www.kaveyeats.com/hokkaido-potato-cheese-dumplings-chizu-imomochi

Kitchens have been known to make potato cheese dumplings. Make the innards and serve as a spread on pan-fried (low heat) bread if you can’t make the dumpling exterior. (Edit – just saw that you said you’re from an eastern european country and I just recommended dumplings. LOL. That’s like asking an american if they’ve ever eaten a hot dog. I feel a tad silly. )

Italian potato frittata: https://cookingitalians.com/the-classic-italian-potato-frittata/

I’m sure someone has reccomended a Potato cheese omelette, but you can do those lots of ways, from a souffle omelete (separate eggs, whip the whites into stiff peaks, then fold in the yolks so it’s super fluffy) to gyeran-mari type rolled omelette https://www.koreanbapsang.com/gyeran-mari-korean-rolled-omelette/

Got sugar? Tired of eating bread in bread form?

French Toast Casserole: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/240502/easy-french-toast-casserole/

I’ll edit the post to add more if I think of them, but I’m not awake yet.

Edit – just read your comment about the sugar tax. Boo :(

And about boiling being cheaper. (which is weird to me because boiling water is one of the most energy expensive methods of cooking when i go camping, but that might be due to wind, and as you said, circumstances are different in your area of the world, so boiling it is )

I saw rapeseed oil mentioned, got any other ingredients handy that you’re willing/able to use without causing family strife?

Even seemingly minor ingredients can make a big difference.

I’ll see what I can come up with for ideas.

Hey my dude, you need some recipes and some mental health. Im happy to help on both fronts if you need.

Eggs and potatoes are easily the two most versatile substances on the planet, other ingredients to make them into things are actually equally as cheap, spices look expensive until you realize that $4 lasts up to 6 months. To add to that, I was once an incredibly picky eater and found personally and through feeding others that, outside of phobia and dietary constraints, the majority of food preferences is based on a history of bad cooking. Give me deets on your dietary limits and I’ll give you every recipe I know. If there’s anything you’re willing to experiment with, I’ll teach you everything you need to enjoy it. Anything from dry beans, to tofu, to grinding your own amaranth or acorns for flour.

If you’re in the western world, mental health services are decently accessible, even in the US without insurance. Shoot me a DM me your location and situation and I’ll do all the leg work, all you’ll have to do is make the appointment.

As for the information provided, the recipe that springs to mind is cheese gnochi bites.

You’ll need 3 large russet potatoes 2 eggs 1 cup shredded chedder or other strong cheese 1 cup flour Salt, pepper, garlic to taste Oil to fry in

Microwave the potatoes until baked, immediately shock in cold tap water and peal by hand. (fantastic trick for any mashed potatoes as it not only takes less time but does not add any moisture leading to fluffier potatoes)

In a large bowl, mash the potatoes and add the cheese, mix so that the cheese melts and spreads evenly.

Once incorporated, feel mix, if still hot, let it cool until luke warm or cool to the touch then mix in the eggs and spices.

Finally, add flour until it holds together when scooped.

Heat oil on medium in either a pot or skillet depending on oil availability and intended shape.

If using a pot with at least an inch of oil, scoop a glob of potato with a spoon and use another spoon to scrape it into the pot. Fry until golden all the way around.

If using a skillet with shallow oil, put the glob in the pan and gently press it flat leaving some thickness. Then flip like a Patty when golden.

If you have access to gallon bags, you can put the mix in the bag, cut off a corner, and squeeze the mix into the fry like a piping bag. Either making dollups for deep oil or doing a tight spiral for shallow.

Let cool on a wire rack but eat warm. Oil can be strained of bits and stored to fry with later.

You can also add extra cheese and cook in an air-fryer but the texture won’t be fried so much as baked. The extra cheese gets more oil in the mix to help the exterior crust up.

Have you tried eating more butter with your bread and potatoes?

The biggest thing you can do is to make the food you eat more enjoyable and eat more of it. I would have no appetite and starve if i had to eat your diet. The good news is that it’s possible to eat a lot better, but still very cheaply. Also you really need to eat two or preferably three or even four meals daily if you want to gain weight.

I would remove eggs and cheese as they aren’t a good value. Add black beans, chickpeas, and lentils, which are good over rice (very cheap, especially if you buy them dry in bulk). Pasta too. Add spices, cheap hot sauce, tomato sauce, etc and it becomes a good meal. Try oatmeal for breakfast too. I would also make sure that you are getting as many fruits and vegetables as possible (apples, bananas, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, etc. not too expensive but will complete the meals and provide good nutrition). Also consider pan frying the potatoes - it’s tastier than boiling.

(Calories_in>calories_out)=weight_gain (Calories_in<calories_out)=weight_loss (Calories_in~calories_out)=weight_stable

Since you mentioned that you hate cooking and have no interest in making it tasty but want efficient more calories: Pint of ice cream. Let it melt, drink it. 1000 calories per pint. Most of them useless, but if your goal is weight gain…

Otherwise, protein heavy diet (beans, rice, vegetables) plus a workout routine to actually build up muscles and not just fat

The only thing you’re really missing is some pulses/beans/legumes, and some more veg.

Buy yourself some more grains (jumbo oats go well as a porridge, they go well in soups, and you can use them to make flapjack (250g oat, 125 butter, 125 sugar, 3 table spoon of golden syrup, mix flatten in a tray bake at 200c for 15-30 mins, or in a covered pan on the hob), energy dense and can have other stuff added (dried fruit, ginger, choc chips, etc))

You could also add pasta and rice as two other carbs that effectively cost next to nothing, lentils and beans can give you the protein that you need, alongside the eggs

And buy an A-Z multivitamin+mineral if you don’t have them already, if you’re malnourished you won’t be feeling great to begin with.

Keep tins of tomatoes and beans around for when you do feel adventurous

Try lentils and Dahl if beans don’t agree with you

Find a local Asian/Indian supermarket and stock up on essential spices: ginger, cumin, pepper, paprika, chilli flakes. This is how the rest of the world doesn’t become bored living on potatoes/rice and lentils

I am the same as you, I eat 1 meal in the evening and don’t have an appetite for the rest of the day

My advice was going to be peanut butter, but someone beat me to it. Make sure it has sugar in it (almost all of it does).

Also, the expression is “hunger pangs.”

Why not other cheap foods like beans, vegetable oils, sugar? Sugar isn’t that healthy but it’s probably better than being borderline anorexic. There are even more possibilities if you add flour, which is cheaper than bread. Cake, pancake. Fried potatoes. Potato gratin or noodle gratin.

One of the pillars of Spanish cuisine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_omelette

https://www.themediterraneandish.com/spanish-tortilla-recipe/