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[Sirus]

Staple foods? Any sort of sliced bread (sourdough is my favorite, but I mix it up frequently), sliced turkey, cheese (mostly cheddar, but again I mix it up a lot), fruit (apples and oranges for the most part), peanut butter (lots), strawberry jelly/jam/preserves...

[Bauglir]

Pasta with vegetables and cheese, for me. Sometimes a sauce, but I fry things up with enough oil and butter that I don't usually need another sauce. Carrot, onion, celery, broccoli, spinach, mushroom, and garlic are my staple vegetables, and I'll typically throw in an extra ingredient or two (kale, anchovy paste, lemon juice, peppers, something like that). Local Aldi sells a surprisingly good sharp cheddar for $2.50 for a 10 oz block, which is cheaper than 8 oz of the bottom-tier stuff at their nearest competition, so that's what I go with most of the time. Typically eaten on the side, rather than on top, but if there was a sale on shredded cheese that made it a better deal I'll put it right on there.

My schedule of late has got me into the bad habit of eating breakfast cereal every morning - a cheap knockof of Cocoa Pebbles, usually with chocolate milk.

[RedKing]

So can I ask what people tend to eat for staple food around here? I mean discussion of fancy things is nice and all, but what can you expect to just sort of have on hand?
For me it's generally some sort of pasta dish with some sauce boiled down from available things, or rice friend up with vegetables and sometimes meat if there's any left over from a special food product.

Yeah, lots of pasta. The go-to recipe is pasta, a jar of tomato sauce kicked up with fresh mushrooms and black olives, and round slices of smoked sausage which have been pan-fried a bit and then thrown into the sauce.

The other go-to is miso soup and potstickers. I usually keep three or four different bags of frozen jiaozi in the freezer, and I can make miso soup from paste and dashi stock in a few minutes. I also keep canned soup like chicken noodle and bean with bacon.

Periodically we'll go through a sandwich phase, but I'm often bad about falling out of that phase right after we've bought a bunch of deli meat and then it all goes bad. :-/
Likewise for salad mix (though if the kids are going to be here, I'll lay in a fresh stock of mixed greens....they nom salad like a pair of hungry rabbits).

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Bread, sliced meat, canned soups, and fresh vegetables and fruit

[aenri]

Bread and butter. You can't go more staple than that.
Yeah, some kind of salami/ham, cheese, vegetable goes with it. But bread and butter is the base.

[Arx]

My fall-back is a chicken stir-fry with rice and some kind of generic vegetable mix. Low effort, tasty and some level of nutritious.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

My fall-back is a chicken stir-fry with rice and some kind of generic vegetable mix. Low effort, tasty and some level of nutritious.

.... I will switch you staple foods right now....
I freaking love stirfry...


I also forgot to mention, my family always has a giant bag of rice around (thanks 5 years of living in Hawaii) so now we are known as the white people who eat rice arounds here....
We are also the only white people in this town who own a rice cooker... Or can eat more rice than the other stuff in our meal, compared to my friends who come over and grab like a spoon full of rice and they see me and my family grab a giant pile of rice...
Ya rice is delicious

[timferius]

You know you live in a small town when... haha.
Rice is a staple in my household, and I couldn't live without a rice cooker. If you want a super basic good rice recipe for those tight weeks, just make rice, then mix it in a bowl with mayonnaise (Not YOU miracle whip, faker), grated cheese, and a can or two of tuna. You can also add peas as well for some veggie content.

[RedKing]

Where the hell do you live that rice is considered an exotic foodstuff?? 

Also, rice cooker is love, rice cooker is life. Mine gets an almost daily workout, and I keep a 30-50 lb. bag of rice (usually Ponlai medium-grain or Calrose) in the pantry.

Rice + tonkatsu sauce = Instant cheap yums.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Middle of a small town in American Midwest
Fried rice from a Chinese restraunt is ok but god forbid you cook normal rice at home

[scrdest]

A random experiment that turned out pretty good thing I made yesterday: barley groats with stewed (?) tomatoes, bell pepper and onion, sorta like a lazy Lecso used for a sauce.

Cook two tomatoes in a small amount of water until soft, add half a bell pepper and half an onion, a bit of red wine vinegar and black pepper, on the generous side of reasonable (should be spicy; paprika might work too, I'll try it next time I make it) and reduce so it's a bit thick. Season with Worcestershire sauce. Filling, pretty tasty and cheap, although I'll have to mess around with it to improve it.

[timferius]

Another good one while we're talking rice. Cook rice, fry onions, carrots, peas, chopped garlic or other preferred veggies in sesame oil (best oil) in a large pan (wok would be best, but I don't own one sadly). Crack two eggs and cook it mixed in to veggies (takes a minute or two. Add cooked shredded chicken to pan (pre-cooked from grocery store works well) as well as lotsa rice, and a decent amount of soy sauce, stirring it all together. Congrats, you made chicken fried rice! (And it's better than a lot of take out places).

[Tellemurius]

Another good one while we're talking rice. Cook rice, fry onions, carrots, peas, chopped garlic or other preferred veggies in sesame oil (best oil) in a large pan (wok would be best, but I don't own one sadly). Crack two eggs and cook it mixed in to veggies (takes a minute or two. Add cooked shredded chicken to pan (pre-cooked from grocery store works well) as well as lotsa rice, and a decent amount of soy sauce, stirring it all together. Congrats, you made chicken fried rice! (And it's better than a lot of take out places).

That is fried rice

Pretty much how I make it at home. Jasmine is the best rice to use.

[BurnedToast]

So can I ask what people tend to eat for staple food around here? I mean discussion of fancy things is nice and all, but what can you expect to just sort of have on hand?
For me it's generally some sort of pasta dish with some sauce boiled down from available things, or rice friend up with vegetables and sometimes meat if there's any left over from a special food product.

Lots and lots of stew. It's so easy to make in the slow cooker, it always turns out perfect (even if you forget about it and it cooks two hours longer than it should have), makes excellent leftovers, and is usually pretty cheap to make.

I could probably eat chicken stew every night for a month and not get sick of it.

I also eat a lot of rice, I usually cook a whole bunch at once then stick the leftovers in sandwich baggies and put them in the freezer. Then I can take some rice out, throw it in a bowl with some veggies and leftover meat or whatever and microwave it for a super lazy lunch/dinner.

Also, rice cooker is love, rice cooker is life. Mine gets an almost daily workout, and I keep a 30-50 lb. bag of rice (usually Ponlai medium-grain or Calrose) in the pantry.

I keep thinking about buying a rice cooker, they aren't expensive but I'd have to order it online (the grocery store around here does not carry them, I checked) and every time I go to order one I get overwhelmed with the number of choices and just end up saying "forget it, a pot with a lid is good enough".

[timferius]

Another good one while we're talking rice. Cook rice, fry onions, carrots, peas, chopped garlic or other preferred veggies in sesame oil (best oil) in a large pan (wok would be best, but I don't own one sadly). Crack two eggs and cook it mixed in to veggies (takes a minute or two. Add cooked shredded chicken to pan (pre-cooked from grocery store works well) as well as lotsa rice, and a decent amount of soy sauce, stirring it all together. Congrats, you made chicken fried rice! (And it's better than a lot of take out places).

That is fried rice

Pretty much how I make it at home. Jasmine is the best rice to use.

I used to use basmati for most things, but I pretty much just buy Jasmine now, though I like both.