Ideas for cheap comfort food meals from childhood

Boxed macaroni and cheese with tuna and peas was the clearest repeated answer among cheap childhood meals people still make or want to revisit. Hamburger gravy over potatoes also came up more than once, although home cooks in the cooking discussion remembered many different favorites rather than choosing one shared meal.

These childhood meals people wanted to make again were mostly personal memories, not fully specified recipes. They offer ideas for what to combine, but the discussion does not establish what those meals cost today.

What can you add to boxed macaroni and cheese?

Tuna and peas received the strongest repeated support. Multiple people remembered that combination, making it the clearest place to begin if boxed macaroni and cheese is the meal you want to revisit.

The remembered variations included:

• Tuna and peas mixed into macaroni and cheese, mentioned by multiple home cooks.
• Diced tomatoes added to the tuna-and-peas version, described by one person.
• A separate variation with 1/4 lb. of ground beef and 1/2 cup green taco sauce, also an individual suggestion.

One person described the tuna version as under $10, usually closer to $5, and said it made 1 big dinner and 2 smaller lunches. That was one household’s account, not a current price estimate or a dependable yield for every version.

How did people serve hamburger gravy?

Hamburger gravy over potatoes was the other meal remembered more than once. Boiled potatoes and mashed potatoes were both specifically mentioned as bases.

The useful distinction here is the serving choice: either keep the potatoes boiled or use mashed potatoes beneath the gravy. The discussion did not provide a complete measured hamburger-gravy recipe, so this is a meal idea rather than a set of cooking instructions.

Which vegetables fit these remembered meals?

Peas appeared repeatedly, especially with tuna macaroni and cheese. Other available vegetables also featured in the memories, so peas were not treated as a requirement for every meal.

For the rice-and-tomato-soup meal described in the original post, the home cook explicitly suggested choosing vegetables you prefer if peas are not appealing. That flexibility belonged to this particular meal, rather than being a tested rule for every suggestion in the discussion.

The same person used cauliflower rice in place of rice and described it as the same basic idea. This was an individual variation, with no broader agreement about which version to choose.

What was the chicken-and-biscuits idea?

One respondent described making a roux with two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of flour, then adding milk to make gravy. Chopped chicken and frozen peas and carrots went into that gravy.

This chicken-and-biscuits memory offers more method detail than most of the suggestions, but it is still incomplete as a recipe. The account did not specify all quantities or provide cooking times, so the stated butter-and-flour amounts should not be mistaken for a fully measured dish.

What other simple meals came up?

The discussion also offered simple meal ideas that each appeared as an individual memory rather than a widely shared recommendation:

• Rigatoni with broccoli, garlic powder, and butter.
• Potatoes with a fried egg.
• Grilled cheese with condensed tomato soup.
• Hamburger soup served on buns.

These are useful combinations to recognize, but none came with enough detail to present as a tested recipe. Their place in the roundup is as personal favorites, not alternatives that the discussion ranked above the macaroni-and-cheese or hamburger-gravy ideas.

What should you try first?

Start with boxed macaroni and cheese, tuna, and peas if you want the combination with the strongest support. If that is not the childhood meal you are looking for, hamburger gravy over boiled or mashed potatoes was the next repeatedly remembered option.