Enjoying yourself on the cheap: this is how we do it
Who says you need money to enjoy delicious food is wrong. The tastiest snacks, drinks or even entire meals are often dirt cheap. Maybe you’d rather not shout it from the rooftops, but of course we at FavorFlav do, so we took a shameless round of the editorial office. This is what we shovel down (when no one’s looking):
Preferably with an olive on every finger
Sharon : A tin of pitted black olives from Carbonell. Costs about a euro. Drain them and just eat the whole tin in front of the TV. Preferably with an olive on every finger, but that’s only possible when the housemates are out. Legend has it that Hojiblanca olives are hand-picked and ripened according to an authentic process. In Spain, they’re also called the ‘Perlas del Guadalquivir’; the ‘Pearls of the Guadalquivir’, named after the river that flows from Córdoba to Seville. Whether it’s true? No idea. But who cares—it’s a delicious cheap-ass treat, every single time.
BBQ Chicken for the win
Laura: I love pizza, all day everyday. And nine times out of ten I choose the old, reliable oven pizza instead of delivery. Having pizza delivered takes ages, is often cold and limp, and there’s more cheese on the box than on the pizza. Plus: oven pizzas are wonderfully cheap. The supermarket offers endless choice, as long as you don’t go for one of those new, hip deluxe versions that cost €5 or more—that’s too expensive, too ‘delicious’ and looks far too healthy. No, I simply go for a crispy Ristorante or a really thick Big American (BBQ Chicken for the win). You have a truly great evening when there are two of you. First, you put a thin one in the oven; it’s ready after 11 minutes (much faster than delivery!). And while you’re devouring the first round, you slide that thick Big American in; it takes a little longer, but it’s so worth it. Cheap enjoyment: two delicious pizzas for just €5.60. What’s not to like?
But make sure it’s the absolute cheapest one from the AH own-brand range
Steffi: Admittedly, I haven’t eaten it in years for self-protection, but in my student days, a bake-off baguette with herb butter was pretty much the pinnacle (but it had to be the absolute cheapest one from the Albert Heijn own-brand range). Just like instant noodles. And chicken satay bapao. In the ‘sweet’ category, iced cakes (yes, just the supermarket ones) always give you pretty good value for money. Deliciously filthy and cheap. But actually, my all-time favourite is simply a jar of Calvé (with nuts). Delicious with banana, delicious with dates, delicious with cucumber, delicious with sambal (and cucumber), delicious stirred through your noodles, or just delicious on its own: a bite straight off the spoon. Peanut butter is simply fantastic.
A little scary, but very delicious
Sabina: I love Lidl sausage rolls; they’re very cheap and very tasty. The roll gets wonderfully crispy in the oven (apparently that’s not how sausage rolls are supposed to be, but I love it), and the sausage inside is a little scary, BUT VERY DELICIOUS. I can easily eat a whole pack. Or, when I’m feeling healthy: four of those rolls with a glass of milk. Plus a handful of cheese crisps. Perfect dinner. Lidl has since removed them from its range, and I’ve already emailed them, but apparently they ignore their satisfied customers these days, so yeah, that’s my situation now.
Importcorn
Delilah : Ready-made salted popcorn. Not even microwave popcorn, because I don’t have one, but simply one of those bags of pre-popped popcorn, whose entire inside is left greasy once it’s empty (because it will be), along with your fingers. You can seriously go cheap and spend a euro on the own-brand version, or go mega fancy and spend €2 on imported corn.
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