Struggle Meals From Your '80s Childhood That Are Still Delicious Today

As an '80s baby myself, and one who came from a family that relied on cheap dishes to feed the entire clan, struggle meals from the decade are nothing new to me. However, some of them were so yummy that kids like me were none the wiser that they were actually the product of lacking funds. Instead, they were just tasty, and even fun in some cases. Ask any kid if they want sliced hot dogs in their mac and cheese, and I'd bet my bottom dollar that the answer will be yes. Just saying. Regardless, some of these same '80s struggle meals are delicious enough to be enjoyed today. Finances be darned.

While there are some recipes from the '80s that shouldn't have ever existed, the 10 struggle meals coming up are still just as tasty as the day they first became popular — sorry, not sorry, weird jiggly Jell-O molds, you didn't make the cut. So, if you're ready to take a stroll down memory lane and add some nostalgic struggle meals back to your repertoire, look no further; I've got you covered. And who knows? Maybe they'll even trigger some long-lost memories for you to fawn over while you recreate them.

My all-time favorite struggle meal from the '80s is something that's commonly referred to as poverty nachos. Really, though, it's just tortilla chips with melted cheese, and you know what? It always hits the spot, then and now.

Here's the thing, though: Today I don't always make poverty nachos quite the same way. Back then, Velveeta cheese — you know the shelf-stable block with a gelatinous texture? — was the cheese of choice for the dish. We also used to microwave it for nearly instant gratification. Plus, as kids, it was probably the safest route to go when making a plate without help from an adult. Regardless, tortilla chips weren't key, either. Whatever you had lying around could easily fill in. I used to make them with Doritos at a friend's house (my mom never kept potato chips in the pantry) and, oh man, they were tasty.

You could also add lots of other stuff, like jarred salsa or pickled jalapeños, to this beloved struggle meal, but just chips and melted cheese have a special place in many '80s kids' hearts. I have and never will be too good for a plate of them. I might jazz them up a bit more now, but poverty nachos still give me all the feels.

Good old-fashioned butter noodles have always been a favorite of extra-picky kids, but they also make a fantastic struggle meal. In the '80s, you better believe me and my siblings enjoyed more than our fair share of them, too. Admittedly, I was the picky one, but everyone loves butter and pasta, so I don't remember anyone else complaining. You gotta admit it's easy to make as well. Boil pasta and stir in butter. Done. Whether your struggle is based on a lack of time or money, butter noodles have your back. Still do, for that matter.

In my home growing up, egg noodles were the pasta shape of choice for butter noodles, but no noodle was safe if we ran out of them. Adding a little bit of Parmesan cheese on top also upped the flavor ante quite a bit, but if we were out of that as well, it didn't matter. When we really wanted to go all out, we would also sprinkle Season All over the top.

Whether you're trying to appease a picky kid or not, a simple bowl of butter noodles still hits the spot, especially with a generous portion of Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. However, now that we are adults, I suppose including a veg on the side wouldn't hurt, either.

Oh, instant ramen. Do I even need to tell you how it is the ultimate struggle meal? Probably not, but just in case, a packet costs less than a dollar today, and back in the '80s, you could get 10 for $1. Enough said, am I right? Regardless of price, instant ramen packets were something you could find in nearly every pantry in the '80s, at least in the circles I ran in. It didn't matter which friend's house I was at; there was always ramen there when you needed it.

When the adults in my life decided to serve instant ramen for dinner, we always bulked it up with easy ingredient additions, turning it into what we called "fancy ramen." Common upgrades included things like frozen or canned veggies, or maybe even a fried egg. Corn and peas were at the top of our list, but when it comes to upgrading ramen with canned ingredients, the fun doesn't stop there.

The add-ins are practically limitless when you branch out of the canned territory as well. Honestly, that's why this old school struggle meal still slaps so hard today. Aside from an unbeatable price (although it is much more expensive today), you can jazz it up with whatever your heart desires. Or, at the very least, just about anything you find in your fridge or pantry. Thanks, instant ramen. Love you forever. 

Rice is cheap and versatile, always has been and always will be. With this in mind, it has to be featured on our list of struggle meals. In fact, its undeniable place in the realm of struggle meals spans well beyond the '80s; the decade is just one example. Regardless, during that time, simply heating up a bowl of white rice and topping it with a basic ingredient or two was just as popular as it is today. The go-to, dare I say, most basic add-ons included nothing more than soy sauce and butter. Just like butter noodles, you really don't need anything else, either.

If your struggle meal didn't have to be as basic as just white rice with butter and soy sauce, we used to add frozen or canned veggies, including beans, a fried egg, or maybe even a can of tuna. However, similar to ramen, the ways to turn up flavor and enhance white rice are virtually limitless. Today, I recommend you lean into this. No matter what you go for, keeping a base of rice, white or not, ensures your food costs stay low. I don't know about you, but in this economy, I'll take all the help I can get saving money at the grocery store. Rice for the win!

Just like today, Kraft Mac & Cheese was undoubtedly a struggle meal in the '80s. Of course, it didn't hurt that kids loved it, so it made keeping even the pickiest ones happy. But a box still only costs a little more than $1 today, so it fit the bill in every regard.

Something I don't see done nearly as much today with Kraft Mac & Cheese, though (that was a staple in the '80s), is adding sliced hot dogs to the mix. Seriously, every kid wanted their Kraft Mac & Cheese this way. The only thing that made it better was if you started with hot dogs that were already filled with cheese. Something about the way the fake cheese product from the hot dogs oozed out into the cheese packet sauce from the mac made it irresistible. If you were lucky enough to get mac made with shell pasta too, it was cause for celebration.

Today, you can still rely on Kraft Mac & Cheese as a fantastic, tasty struggle meal. There are so many ways to upgrade boxed mac and cheese, too. From veggies to spices and beyond, improvements are always welcome. Starting with an outstanding boxed mac and cheese certainly helps as well. Sorry, not sorry, Kraft. You simply aren't the best anymore.

Another classic struggle meal from the '80s is cinnamon sugar toast. It worked as a sweet treat or a quick breakfast, and the sheer presence of sugar was enough to get me excited as a kid. Even if you weren't the kind of person to get overly revved up for a bit of sugar, there's no denying how delicious cinnamon sugar toast was, and still is to this day.

Essentially, cinnamon sugar toast is a quick, affordable substitute for French toast or pancakes. The name pretty much says it all, too. It's a slice of toast, with butter and a mix of cinnamon and sugar sprinkled over the top. You also got serious bonus points if you made it with cinnamon raisin bread, but really, any bread would do in the '80s. After all, struggle meals are often all about making whatever you have on hand. So, if you had bread, butter, and the bare minimum on your spice rack, cinnamon sugar toast could easily be on the menu. The fact that it comes together in a couple of minutes sure was handy in the morning as well.

If the struggle isn't quite so real today, making cinnamon sugar toast with premium butter and bread takes the dish to new heights. Brioche anyone? However, even if you stick to the basics, it's a struggle meal that's still yummy enough today to satisfy a craving for something sweet or make light work of breakfast.

All this talk today of processed meats not being the best, and maybe even being quite bad for you, was not even on the radar in the '80s. Proof of that can be found in another one of the decade's iconic struggle meals: Fried bologna sandwiches. They consisted of nothing more than white bread and, as the name suggests, fried bologna. Adding mustard and maybe ketchup was also common, but you better believe kids everywhere would gobble them up with or without any condiments. Actually, just the thought of it has me singing "My bologna has a first name..." in my head. If you were feeling fancy, cheese never hurt, either. 

While my mom flat-out refused to buy bologna (what was she trying to prove?) I remember being at the grocery store and begging her to pick some up just so we could have fried bologna sandwiches. Much to my dismay, she did not, but that's okay. I had friends, and their moms weren't so strict. Suffice it to say, fried bologna sandwiches weren't hard to get your hands on in the '80s.

Along the same lines, we also used to roll up a hot dog in a slice of white bread when we ran out of buns. Either way, if you wanted a cheap, simple sandwich with a meaty center, white bread, and bologna, or a hot dog was here for the win.

TV dinners were a staple in American diets in the 1950s, and they remained fairly popular for decades to come. However, in the 1980s, TV dinners started coming in plastic trays (instead of the metal ones of the past), making them easily microwaveable. Hooray! I mean, the main perk of a TV dinner is that you can microwave it and have it in front of you in a matter of moments, right? Regardless, the ease and efficiency of TV dinners in the '80s made them a shoo-in for struggle meal success. And everyone had a microwave, so yeah, it was a no-brainer.

I don't know why, but when I reminisce on TV dinners from the '80s, Salisbury steak is the first thing that comes to mind. Not so popular today, it typically came with mashed potatoes and brown gravy, and some kind of soggy veggie, like green beans or peas. Turkey dinners were also quite popular, but the selection was pretty broad, so everyone could find something they liked.

I know not everyone is a fan of TV dinners today, but there are quite a few that are delicious enough to be added to your rotation of struggle meals. Don't believe me? Just go to Trader Joe's. They have an unbelievable selection, low prices, and the quality isn't lacking, either. My favorites are the brand's various Indian meals, but take a look next time you're there, and I'm confident you'll find something that more than piques your interest.

Making an entire pizza, ordering one, or even buying a frozen one doesn't always fit into the budget. Still, in the '80s, we had a delightful struggle meal that allowed us to get all the same yummy flavors and ingredients at a fraction of the cost (minimal effort, too). May I present white bread pizza! And yes, it's exactly what you think it is: white bread dressed up with pizza sauce and toppings. Often called poor man's pizza, we made it with canned tomato sauce, cheese, and spices at my house, but obviously, stuff like pepperoni was also welcome. No matter how you built it, though, we all got excited when it was pizza toast night.

I don't know if you've started to notice the theme by now or not, but white bread was all the rage in the '80s. As such, we used it for all kinds of struggle meals (by my count, this is the third mention of it on our list), and pizza is one of the finest. I mean, pizza? Yes, please. With this in mind, I dare you to make a poor man's pizza today and tell me it doesn't still hit the spot. Seriously, pizza in any format is a friend of mine. Pro tip: If you want a little extra crunch on the "crust," opt for end slices. Delish!

Succotash is one of many vintage side dishes you rarely see anymore. However, in the '80s, it was quite popular — not only as a side dish, but as a complete struggle meal as well. In its most basic format, succotash consists of lima beans and corn, but if you were lucky enough to have ham, bacon, or tomatoes around, it was easy to turn it into a complete meal. Also, I knew some kids who refused to eat veggies, and their parents would smother the dish with ketchup to get them into it. I always thought that was gross, but it worked.

We almost always used canned or frozen versions of the veggies to make succotash as well, making the dish extremely cost-effective. Plus, the veggies wouldn't spoil, so it was a quick fix when the time came that you couldn't find much else in the fridge. In addition to the super low cost, the beauty of succotash is that you still get a good amount of nutrition from the vegetables. That's something many of the struggle meals we've discussed thus far can't boast.

Best of all, succotash may have fallen out of fashion, but it's still delicious and inexpensive today. Besides, we all need a few more veggies in our lives. If you've never had this throwback struggle meal, I recommend you give it a go. Even if you just enjoy it as a side dish, it won't let you down.