My problem: chicken drumsticks are very cheap - like five bucks for enough I can divide up and make three meals out of. I marinate them in different hot sauces, then I can wrap them in foil and put them in the oven. For extra dopamine I eat them with blue cheese sauce.
The other cheap options are things like velveeta with canned chicken or fish, or chef Boyardee ravioli.
I don’t like eating meat or dairy for the clear ethical reasons and would like to go vegan. I was vegan for about a year or so, but I also have the kind of ARFID where I will let myself starve if there are not those kinds of “high dopamine” foods available.
I’d like some kind of close, cheap, easy approximation. When I was vegan, I had the financial resources to buy a lot of prepared food that met that quick/stimulating need, but I no longer have those resources to do so.
The closest to making something like that work for me is soy curl + coconut milk + curry seasonings. I don’t have the capacity to eat vegetables most days - this is not healthy, but I also physically cannot force myself to do so.
I know lentils are good and don’t require soaking, but I cannot get them to taste good. Indian restaurants make them perfect, but I can’t do it myself.
I watched some authentic indian mum making curry on youtube to learn how to recreate those yummy currys, they are the cheap, healthy and full of protein. My goto late-night-snack atm are korean instant noodle soups (not the cheap ones) topped with kimchi, tofu, tomatoes and spring onions.