It’s been documented on these pages that I have nothing against Spam. I know it’s essentially a can of preservative-laden, heavily salted pig buttholes, but Hormel spent generations’ worth of time and money to engineer the stuff to taste good, and it worked. It’s also super-simple: Just pop open a can and you’re good to go. It’s always around $2.50, you can buy it everywhere from 7-Eleven to Walgreens, and if you happen to have pasta—any kind of pasta—and a few pantry essentials, you can transform it into a quick, delicious dinner that pretty much anyone with half a tastebud is going to love.
It’s best to use low-sodium Spam and/or low-sodium soy sauce with this, as the full-salt combination of both is a little much.
As below, it makes 4 servings.
• 1 can Spam (preferably low-sodium): $2.59
• 12 oz. noodles of your choice (rice or egg, any shape; even spaghetti works): 75 cents
• 1/2 T-1 T sesame oil, to taste: 20 cents
• 2 T soy sauce (preferably low-sodium): 15 cents
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced: 3 cents
• 1 tsp or more ground black pepper, to taste: 1 cent
• At least 3 green onions (garden), sliced crosswise: $0
• Salt for salting pasta water: 1 cent
• 1 T vegetable oil: 3 cents
TOTAL: $3.77/4 = 94 cents/serving
Set a pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta. Cook until al dente according to package directions, drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water.
Heat the oil in a large skillet (I like nonstick for this) over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add the Spam and cook until browned.
Add the sesame oil, soy sauce, pepper, and green onions. Turn off the heat.
Add the cooked pasta, and stir well to coat, adding reserved cooking water when necessary to loosen and keep things from drying out.
Add more pepper, soy sauce, or sesame oil to taste, serve.
The $35 a Week Project 
This makes me feel better about the pork roll, egg and cheese sandwiches I made for breakfast! A friend brought me a pork roll back from New Jersey (it’s a Jersey “delicacy”… and it is similar in constitution to spam). I love pork roll but it most certainly contains salted pig buttholes. And it is delicious.
I would totally eat that without shame.
Many years ago (lots of my recipes are many years old since I am, too) Spam was often on our menu. One time I even studded a loaf of it with cloves like a ham. 🙂 My best recipe using Spam is for Egg Rolls and I haven’t used it in a long time. Guess what I am going to look for this afternoon?
Spam egg rolls! Sounds amazing!