The 1 Dollar Lasagna | But Cheaper

Can we get a “But Lazier” with some of your best recipes, but with shortcuts to make them easier/faster/more accessible?

Joshua: "You could roll it with a rolling pin, but it just wouldn't be the same." Pasta Grannies: "Hold our beers."

"Then run that through a pasta roller" *Ka-chin* 130$

What you could do to make this even less expensive (and even more authentic to real italian lasagna) is to make a bechamel sauce rather than using ricotta. It's literally just butter, flour, milk, salt, and nutmeg. Could even use pepper if you don't have nutmeg (:

As someone who has made homemade lasagna on multiple occasions, I can attest that homemade is superior to store-bought in every way, so thanks for showing how to save money when making it.

I use a large wooden dowel with rubber bands on the end to roll out my pasta. Simple and cheap. The rubber bands are my depth gauge. Works well and I’ve been doing it this in my culinary school for many years.

This recipe was delicious. We made the pasta ourselves and followed the recipe. What I enjoy about the 'But Cheaper' series is it gives me and my kids stuff to do. We watch the video and then go in the kitchen and make it. Never over look the quality time of cooking with your kids or significant other. Keep them coming Josh!

Italian here. A couple things. First, I would like to say that Joshua did an amazing job with this. You know, his channel is so incredible and videos like this are such an inspiration to people who want to cook but often don’t have the money. Now, people can cook great food at low costs. Joshua truly deserves every single subscriber that he has, and he deserves much more. Coming from someone who’s been cooking his entire life, stick with Joshua, people. He knows his stuff, he’s funny, he’s passionate about food, and he’s just the kind of guy who ignites a fire in you to cook more. Additionally, this lasagna was perfect for the budget constraints. I mean, are you kidding me? $1 per portion? That’s just fantastic. It looks beautiful, it’s made with proper technique, it’s bound to be flavorful, AND it’s cheap. Bravo, signor Weissman. Cucini le lasagne come una vecchia italiana. And that’s a compliment. That said, there are a couple of slight missteps for my liking. Firstly, where’s the soffritto? You made a ragu, but you didn’t have the soffritto. You added the onions, but where are the carrots and the celery? Now, I understand if those were omitted for price, but I just can’t do without it. But other than that, your sauce was perfect. All in all, I’m not going to take you to task too much on that, because this is a But Cheaper. The other thing is the ricotta. So many here in the states use the ricotta. But it’s a regional thing. In the south of Italy, that’s where you’re more likely to find that done. Since many Italian-American immigrants came from the south of Italy, ricotta became the primary way to do it here in the states. However, in the north, where my grandparents are from (they lived in Milan) and where I lived for a few years (the other 5 years I lived in Europe were in Nice, France), they typically use a bechamel, which is cheaper than ricotta. You can mix that with mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, parmigiano reggiano, or even provolone. You don’t need the ricotta, even though I do like it. That’s an extra expense you can cut out. Just use a bechamel and free up some room in the budget for the celery and carrots. Other than that, you did a fantastic job. Once again, bravo. If you didn’t tell me what was in that, I would never guess it’s a $1 portion. That’s something I would be happy to pay $15 for any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

What I've learned from this series: Anything can be made cheaper if you simply ignore labor costs.

Garfield is taking notes as we speak

Love the "but cheaper" series. I actually was going to start a whole youtube channel on eating good on the cheap. And it get's SUPER cheap when you are buying in bulk and concentrating your recipes around cheaper products. An egg is 16 cents. A serving of rice is 10 cents. That right there could be your meal... but I was going to come up with a channel with actual decent recipes where you're out the door for around 50 cents. Oh well, never did it, and josh is doing a slightly more expensive version better than I could have. Keep em coming Josh!!

Thanks Joshua. My wife and I enjoyed the video and promptly made lasagna this weekend. Overall, it was easy and tasted great. It was much better than the lasagna I recently had at a local Italian place. When assembling, it really seemed like there needed to be more ricotta. I found that I could barely coat the layer of noodles with it. Also, when it was finished, my wife and I both thought it seemed a little dry. The recipe does mention that we could add some water, if needed, and apparently we should have done that. Next time we'll add more water to the sauce (or more tomato sauce) along with extra ricotta. Thanks again for the entertaining video. I was looking for a lasagna recipe and now I found my new favorite food channel.

Garfield would be impressed

I wish he would actually use the ingredients used in the price quotes. I’ve seen several times he’ll quote crushed tomatoes for under a dollar and then use a can of Cento which is at least 2 bucks. There’s a huge difference between great value crushed tomatoes and Cento crushed tomatoes.

Made my first ever lasagna following this recipe and it was amazing and really easy!

Me and my broke ass: writes down the ingredients Him: “run that through a pasta roller” Me: Me: aight, Imma head out.

You could go even cheaper by making a simple thick bechamel sauce instead of an expensive tub of ricotta. I'm not sure if it's a regional thing, but my Nonna always used a bechamel sauce instead of ricotta. Anyway, yours looks delicious too! 👏

I feel as if the Parmigiano Papa was a missed opportunity.

Josh. Love your informative attitude. Your comical twist makes it entertaining. You throw in many options and additives which I love. Thanks man for posting. Keep it up 🙏🏻

Yummy as always! Can't wait to try this one and take it camping with us!