Eat like an Arab

When your grocery bill starts to climb, just pretend you're an Arab. Every Arab knows how to eat like a king on minimal money.<br><br>* Stews. Stews are the ideal Arab money-saving meal. You can put anything into a stew: chickpeas and spinach, lentils and onions and garlic, whatever you have. Stews feed you for two days and make you strong.<br>* Rice and lentil soup. This is what Arabs call mujadara--lentils and rice. But if you're poor, you just make a big pot of lentils with a few carrots, onions, garlic. You mix it with rice and eat it for days, then mix it with bread to make kisra and eat it some more. Serve with some yogurt and you have a meal fit for royalty.<br>* Flat bread. Arabs eat a lot of flat bread, or khubz arabi. It costs pennies to make and you can eat it with anything: meat, cheese, eggs, hummus, baba ganoush, or nothing at all. Fry it with some garlic and you have perfect garlic bread.<br><br>* Chickpeas and tahini. These are staples of Arab cuisine. Chickpeas and tahini make great hummus, which is a delicious dip for bread or veggies. You can fry the chickpeas and eat them with bread, or put them in a stew. You can put tahini in your hair or on your body as a moisturizer, or you can dip your bread in it. Arabs love tahini.<br><br>* Roast chicken. You can buy a whole chicken for a few bucks, put some oil and spices on it, and roast it in the oven. It'll feed you for days and will be so delicious you won't even care you're eating leftovers. Serve it with rice and lentils, or on top of a stew, or with some bread and veggies and you have a great meal.<br><br>* Yogurt. Yogurt is another Arab staple. You can put it on chickpeas or rice or bread or on its own. You can make it into cheese or mix it with cucumbers and garlic for a great cold side dish called raita. Yogurt is cheap, healthy, and versatile. And it will help you poop. Arabs love yogurt.<br><br>* Fried eggs. Fried eggs are a staple of shawarma restaurants in the Middle East, though people eat them at home all the time too. Fried eggs are a perfect meal when you're broke: cheap, nutritious, and easy to make. Arabs fry their eggs in olive oil and serve them with bread or in a sandwich. And of course they mix them with veggies and spices and tahini and chickpeas. Who needs bacon when you have chickpeas?<br><br>* Ful Mudamas. This is a staple of Egyptian cuisine but Arabs all over the world love the stuff. Ful mudamas is basically stewed fava beans, garlic and lemon. You can eat it in a bowl with bread or as a dip for veggies. It's healthy, delicious, and about as cheap as it gets.<br><br>* Molokhiya. This is a staple of Egyptian cuisine but Arabs everywhere love the stuff. Molokhiya is like spinach, and you can stew it and eat it with rice or flat bread or as a dip. It's a great meal for when you're broke. And it's healthy. Even though it often comes with meat, you don't need meat to make great molokhiya. Arabs love molokhiya.<br><br>* Ta'ameya. These are like falafel, but made with fava beans instead of chickpeas. They're a staple of Egyptian street food, especially in Lower Egypt. They're cheap and delicious and nutritious. Arabs love fava beans.<br><br>* Kisra. This is a great meal when you're broke: fried flat bread with spices and veggies and meat if you have it. Arabs eat kisra all the time, and if you have a frying pan and some bread and oil, you can too. Fry up some onions and garlic and put them on your flat bread and you'll be eating like an Arab.<br><br>* Baba ganoush. This is a staple of Arab cuisine, and though it originated in Lebanon, it's popular among Arabs everywhere. It's eggplant, garlic and tahini, and it's healthy and nutritious and versatile. Arabs put baba ganoush on their flat bread or dip their bread in a bowl of the stuff. Arabs love baba ganoush.<br><br>* Spinach. Spinach is as healthy as it is versatile. Arabs put it in stews or fry it up and eat it with bread or lentils or chickpeas. Arabs love spinach.<br><br>* Chickpea patties. If you don't have meat, you can always make patties out of chickpeas. Just mash up the chickpeas and mix them with some spices and flour, shape them into patties and fry them up and you have a healthy and delicious meal. Chickpea patties are a staple of Arab street food, and they'll keep you going all day. Arabs love chickpeas.<br><br>* Stuffed grape leaves. These are called dolmas in Arabic, or mahshi. Arabs stuff grape leaves with rice and spices and sometimes meat, and roll them up and boil them and eat them as a snack. They're cheap and delicious and nutritious. Arabs love mahshi.<br><br>* Turnips. Turnips are the ideal Arab money-saving veggie: cheap, nutritious and versatile. Arabs put them in stews or fry them up as a snack. Arabs love turnips.<br><br>* Potatoes. Arabs love potatoes--french fries, mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes. Arabs fry up potatoes and onions and make a great, healthy omelet. Arabs are often poor but they always have potatoes. You can buy twenty pounds of potatoes for a few dollars, and they'll last you and your family for weeks.<br><br>* Meat soup. Arabs love meat soup. Not only do you get a nutritious, healthy meal, but you can eat the broth with bread and the meat with rice. Arabs put all kinds of meat into their soups, from beef to chicken to lamb, and of course they always add veggies and spices. Arabs love meat soup.<br><br>* Beet stew. Beets are ideal for Arabs on a budget. You can get two pounds for a dollar and they'll last you a week. Arabs put beets in stews with chickpeas or lentils or meat, and sometimes with all three. Beets are nutritious and healthy and versatile, and they make a great stew. Arabs love beets.<br><br>* Pita bread. Arabs eat a lot of pita bread. Not only is it cheap and delicious and healthy and nutritious, but you can eat it with anything. Arabs put meat and cheese and hummus and falafel in their pita, but they'll also just put some veggies or chickpeas or lentils in their pita and eat it. Arabs love pita.<br><br>* Fried veggies. Arabs fry up potatoes, eggplant, cauliflower, carrots, beets, chickpeas, falafel--anything. Arabs fry up veggies and eat them as a snack or side dish, or put them in a sandwich. Arabs fry up veggies and make a great healthy omelet out of them. Arabs love fried veggies.<br><br>* Lentil soup. This is a staple of Arab cuisine. Arabs put all kinds of things into their lentil soup: carrots and onions and garlic and sometimes meat, but it's always nutritious and healthy and delicious. Arabs love lentil soup.<br><br>* Arab salad. This is a staple of Arabic cuisine: lettuce, onions, tomatoes and cucumbers mixed with zatar. Arabs put all kinds of things into their salads, from lentils to chickpeas to meat to cheese, and sometimes they put all of those things together. Arabs love salads.