Cheap Eats: 7 Cheap Ingredients That Taste Like A Million Bucks

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This week we've shown you tons of cheap eats options from around the country and even down the block, but you don't always have to dine out to experience a low-budget, amazing meal. Stock your pantry with these seven ingredients and you'll be cooking like a fancy restaurant chef in no time, and for almost no money. Check out our slideshow of seven overachieving ingredients below.

Polenta

This popular ingredient made of finely-ground cornmeal has been a staple in Italy for centuries and originated as a peasant food, although ironically today you'll find it on fancy menus everywhere. The grain is so easy and cheap to prepare and the results so absurdly delicious it's hard to believe that it costs basically pennies to make. Simmered with chicken stock, milk or cream and butter, this highly affordable ingredient when prepared properly can taste like a five-star dish.

Celery Root

When you see this giant, bulbous, bizarre-looking veggie in the produce island, don't turn your nose up - this root vegetable is used widely in gourmet presentations in purees, sauces and soups because of its creamy texture and delicate savory quality. Not only that, but you get a ton of veggie for your money - one celery root, which won't set you back more than $3 in most markets, when shredded or pureed will yield cups and cups of usable product. 

Shallots

Shallots are no secret ingredient by any means, as they've been utilized in French cooking for centuries, but their delicate sweet flavor sets them apart from other sharper-tasting alliums like onions and garlic. Whether slowly cooked in oil or butter or grilled, shallots on their own can impart some incredible flavors, but when used in a vinaigrette or as the base of a sauce, they add a mellow sharpness and sweetness to whatever you're preparing. As for their value, a bag of shallots will barely set you back more than a dollar or two in most places.

Anchovies

Gourmet flavor from a can? Believe it. These tiny oily fish may skeeve some diners out, (especially as a pizza topping), but the flavor of anchovies when cooked tastes almost nothing like fish, but instead gives a nutty umami quality to sauces and salads. In fact, you've probably eaten anchovies half a dozen times without realizing it because they're used as part of the flavor base in so many restaurant dishes. For only a couple bucks, you can take a pasta dish from ordinary to extraordinary by melding these little babies into some garlic and olive oil. Yum.

Rutabaga

This ingredient has been making a comeback of sorts on New American menus in NYC and elsewhere, but it's essentially a root vegetable that originated as a cross between cabbage and a turnip. We had it recently at a fancy restaurant and mistook it for polenta because it was so super creamy and delicious. When mashed up and laced with butter, it could replace potatoes as the most delicious and affordable side dish of the century. We're all about rutabaga these days.

Bacon/Pancetta

This one's a no brainer but there's few cheap ingredients that can so easily take a dish from boring to next level as bacon. Whether crisped up and used inside a dish, or whether you just use the fat to start a sauce, bacon (or its non-smoked Italian cousin pancetta) packs tons of flavor for hardly any money. 

Sriracha

OK, so technically sriracha is a condiment but this delicious Thai hot sauce is popular with chefs because it combines heat, sweetness and acidity with its mix of vinegar, chili peppers, sugar, garlic and salt. While chefs love to cook with it or use it to top a dish, it can also be used at-home to add heat and depth to any number of sauces, soups or stews. And of course, this multi-purpose ingredient won't set you back more than $5-6 in most cases.