I’ve been there a hundred times if I’ve been there once.  Hungry, broke, and have a bunch of random ingredients in the house.  The goal is to make something that tastes decent (which it will because you’re starving), and is somewhat filling.  Some of these recipes may be familiar to you, some will be new.  Give them a try (if you dare) and let me know what ghetto meals you have made!

1. Bootleg breakfast taco
   Ingredients: eggs, cheese (optional), soft or hard taco shell, BBQ sauce (or ketchup or taco sauce)
   You scramble the eggs w/ cheese and put it inside the taco, adding BBQ sauce for flavor.  I am eating a bootleg breakfast taco as I type.  And the taco shell is stale
2. Rice cereal
   Ingredients: white rice, milk, sugar, butter
   Cook the rice.  While still hot, add sugar and butter to taste.  Add milk as if you just made a bowl of cereal (because you just did).
3. Pasta with chopped up hot dogs
   Ingredients: pasta, hot dogs, pasta sauce if you have some
   This is a ghetto alternative if you don’t have any chicken, ground beef, shrimp, or other meat in the house that you would normally add to your pasta.  Cook your pasta and hot dogs separately.  Chop up the hot dogs and add to the pasta.  Extra ghetto points if you’re using Ramen noodles.  You can also put a can of tuna fish in there instead of hot dogs.
4. Snickerdoodles
   Ingredients: 1 cup butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and 3 tblsp. of sugar (keep separate), 2 eggs, 2 3/4 cups flour, 2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 3 tsp. cinnamon
   The full recipe is available on Food.com.  I have routinely left out the cream of tartar and the baking soda, and the cookies came out just fine.  No matter how empty the fridge and cabinets are, I usually seem to have butter, sugar, eggs, flour, salt, sugar, and cinnamon.  So why not make some cookies?  Not the most nutritious dinner, but none of these recipes really are!
5. Cheese and sauce
   Ingredients: shredded cheddar cheese, pasta sauce
   My brother used to make this.  You simply put sauce on a plate (not a paper plate), and sprinkle cheese on top.  Microwave until the cheese melts.
6. Crouton delish
   Ingredients: croutons (preferably seasoned), pasta sauce, cheese (shredded or sliced)
   You notice how many of these recipes involve cheese and sauce?  Lol.  One of my favorite food combinations.  You put the croutons in a bowl, cover them with pasta sauce, and put the cheese on top.  Microwave until the cheese melts.  Mmmmm.
7. Biscuit sandwiches
   Ingredients: Bisquick, milk, anything else you can find in the fridge
   The possibilities are endless.  Make some biscuits using the Bisquick and milk, cut the biscuits in half, and put anything in between.  I like them with syrup or jelly, or my favorite combination– cheese and sauce.  Can put any type of meat in there too.  Things get creative when you’re hungry.
8. Doritos and salsa
   Just pop open the bag of chips and jar of salsa, and scoop away.  More of a ghetto snack than ghetto meal.
9. Boxed mac n cheese w/ hot dogs
   Cook mac n cheese and hot dogs separately.  Chop up hot dogs and mix in.  You can also put a can of tuna fish in there instead.
10. Ghetto fried rice
    Ingredients: white rice, onion, soy sauce
    Cook the white rice, add chopped onion and soy sauce.  If you’re feeling fancy, you can add veggies.

Ghetto meal tips:

-When I have pasta but no sauce, I usually mix BBQ sauce and ketchup, and sometimes a bit of calamari sauce.  Salad dressing also works.

-I try to add some type of starch to get and stay more full.  Hence the use of croutons, taco shells, pasta, etc.

-You can use Saltine crackers instead of tortilla chips and make ghetto nachos.

-Cat food tastes gross.