A general discussion on cheaply eating in America - everybody is eating, eating USA

[Neo-Holstien]

Assuming you have routine access to a kitchen with adequate storage, functioning appliances, and working utilities:

Don't stock up on shit you won't use. It's probably a bad idea to buy a 50lb bag of rice if you aren't already in the habit of cooking and eating rice dishes. Establish the habit first and make sure you'll stick with it. Otherwise you'll just be throwing out a shitload of infested rice.

Unless you're one of those people who sees bean weevils and thinks meh, extra protein, you will want to commit to keeping a very clean pantry and make sure your kitchen hygiene is on point before you invest in bulk staples. Research how to store your provisions to keep pests out and prevent spoilage. Divide your purchases into smaller containers, so if one gets contaminated, becomes infested, goes bad, or spills, you'll only be throwing out a relatively small amount of food.

Every week, try to put aside a portion of your grocery budget for one spendier pantry item like olive oil, chili oil, miso paste, gochujang, soy sauce, hot sauce, or whatever spices you like. Once you build up a library of flavors, you can coax more variety out of your inexpensive staples and your thrifty ways will be more sustainable. That is, unless you like eating the same predictable meals day in and day out, in which case enjoy your autism.

It's a good idea to buy produce at peak season when it's cheaper; what's the best value at which time of year will vary based on where you live, and you can probably find a handy local produce guide online. Sometimes, you buy produce only to find that its texture is off, it doesn't have much flavor, or it's about to go bad. Learn how to roast, season, macerate, or hide these disappointing purchases in other recipes, or else you'll just push them to the back of the fridge until they go bad and you end up wasting them. It's easy to prepare quick, simple, delicious meals with fresh, high-quality ingredients, but learning how to make something palatable out of suboptimal provisions is trickier. Compare prices between fresh, frozen, and canned fruit and veg, and challenge yourself to use the tougher or less palatable bits like leathery beet greens or fibrous broccoli stems.

In a similar vein, I'm sure you've noticed that a lot of inexpensive ingredients tend to be dry, tough, or fibrous. These attributes make them cheaper and easier to harvest, transport, and store, but you'll often have to cook them longer to end up with something palatable. If you pay for your own utilities and especially if you are cooking for one, consider investing in a small slow cooker. For example, you can prep dry beans for a few meals without ending up with an absurd quantity of beans because you tried to optimize energy use, and without heating up your house in the summer.

i would say grains make up 7/8th of my diet, I buy frozen vegetables because fresh produce is more expensive and i try to keep the meet frozen till use, and i am not paying for utilities directly

 

[XYZpdq]

Aldi helps a lot. Meat runs about the same price as Costco or a bit cheaper.
Costco generic vodka for your booze. 1.75l of nice enough vodka for under fifteen bucks.
Chicken legs are usually pretty cheap, thighs less cheap but I prefer their meat.
Rice is usually my preferred cheap grain.

 

[Trig.Point]

Assuming you have routine access to a kitchen with adequate storage, functioning appliances, and working utilities:

Don't stock up on shit you won't use. It's probably a bad idea to buy a 50lb bag of rice if you aren't already in the habit of cooking and eating rice dishes. Establish the habit first and make sure you'll stick with it. Otherwise you'll just be throwing out a shitload of infested rice.

Unless you're one of those people who sees bean weevils and thinks meh, extra protein, you will want to commit to keeping a very clean pantry and make sure your kitchen hygiene is on point before you invest in bulk staples. Research how to store your provisions to keep pests out and prevent spoilage. Divide your purchases into smaller containers, so if one gets contaminated, becomes infested, goes bad, or spills, you'll only be throwing out a relatively small amount of food.

Every week, try to put aside a portion of your grocery budget for one spendier pantry item like olive oil, chili oil, miso paste, gochujang, soy sauce, hot sauce, or whatever spices you like. Once you build up a library of flavors, you can coax more variety out of your inexpensive staples and your thrifty ways will be more sustainable. That is, unless you like eating the same predictable meals day in and day out, in which case enjoy your autism.

It's a good idea to buy produce at peak season when it's cheaper; what's the best value at which time of year will vary based on where you live, and you can probably find a handy local produce guide online. Sometimes, you buy produce only to find that its texture is off, it doesn't have much flavor, or it's about to go bad. Learn how to roast, season, macerate, or hide these disappointing purchases in other recipes, or else you'll just push them to the back of the fridge until they go bad and you end up wasting them. It's easy to prepare quick, simple, delicious meals with fresh, high-quality ingredients, but learning how to make something palatable out of suboptimal provisions is trickier. Compare prices between fresh, frozen, and canned fruit and veg, and challenge yourself to use the tougher or less palatable bits like leathery beet greens or fibrous broccoli stems.

In a similar vein, I'm sure you've noticed that a lot of inexpensive ingredients tend to be dry, tough, or fibrous. These attributes make them cheaper and easier to harvest, transport, and store, but you'll often have to cook them longer to end up with something palatable. If you pay for your own utilities and especially if you are cooking for one, consider investing in a small slow cooker. For example, you can prep dry beans for a few meals without ending up with an absurd quantity of beans because you tried to optimize energy use, and without heating up your house in the summer.

Great advice. I think a lot of it comes down to where you live and the access you have to decent supermarkets, grocers butchers etc.

If you have the time and money to build up a decent selection of pantry items (ignore the youtubers dried spices are fine in most dishes) you'll be able to take advantage of special offers as they appear.

Also if you have access to a large enough freezers, items like curries, meat sauces, stock, keep really well, and allow you to cook in large batches.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Potato is the most useful plant, probably. Tastes best, lot of things it can be used for, and one can survive on it and milk alone (if you're White).

As far as bread goes, cornbread is heartier/more filling than wheat breads.

 

[オウム]

Rice, beans, potatoes, oats from the bulk food section and peanut butter, then whatever meat and veg is on sale.

 

[Papa Adolfo's Take'n'Bake]

Buy a steaming basket or pan. You can steam chicken with some vegetables like beets and potatoes, and use what you would have on cooking fats on spices and sauces.

 

[Babyspackle]

lentils / other dried legumes are cheap af / literally boil with spices and you've made a meal. Decent protein content for something that cheap.

 

[RLS0812]

$40 for 2 weeks ... there is not a lot you can get for that here in 2019
28 meals - $1.42 per meal or $2.85 per day

Fresh produce is out of the question ( cheapest veggies are $0.99 per 6 oz frozen at the local Walmart ), all meat is expensive ( $2.80 /lb is the cheapest the local Walmart has ) ...

If someone can only afford $80 per month for food, they sure as ## are not going to be able to afford buying stuff in 50 and 100 lb lots as mentioned above.

 

[Neo-Holstien]

$40 for 2 weeks ... there is not a lot you can get for that here in 2019
28 meals - $1.42 per meal or $2.85 per day

Fresh produce is out of the question ( cheapest veggies are $0.99 per 6 oz frozen at the local Walmart ), all meat is expensive ( $2.80 /lb is the cheapest the local Walmart has ) ...

If someone can only afford $80 per month for food, they sure as ## are not going to be able to afford buying stuff in 50 and 100 lb lots as mentioned above.

i buy 20 lbs of rice for 6 bucks at my local store

 

[RLS0812]

i buy 20 lbs of rice for 6 bucks at my local store

That's great - for you.
Remember food prices are not the same around the world. 50 lb bag of white rice is about $165 here. In smaller quantities it goes for over $5 /lb .
Potatoes are the cheapest by weight, at just over $2.50 /lb last I bought a bag. I'm guessing they are much cheaper where you live.

Now that I think about, by weight the cheapest meal I can make ( here ) is chopped cabbage, potatoes and 75-25 hamburger boiled in a pot for 6 hours.
( at Walmart ) About $4 for a head of cabbage, about $5 for the potatoes, and about $3 for the meat.

 

[wylfım]

That's great - for you.
Remember food prices are not the same around the world. 50 lb bag of white rice is about $165 here. In smaller quantities it goes for over $5 /lb .
Potatoes are the cheapest by weight, at just over $2.50 /lb last I bought a bag. I'm guessing they are much cheaper where you live.

Now that I think about, by weight the cheapest meal I can make ( here ) is chopped cabbage, potatoes and 75-25 hamburger boiled in a pot for 6 hours.
( at Walmart ) About $4 for a head of cabbage, about $5 for the potatoes, and about $3 for the meat.

It's expensive even in bulk if you buy it from a traditional store. You have to try looking for exclusive bulk sellers (Gordon Foods is the big one I can think of) in your area, the kind of stores that usually large organizations (like school cafeterias) buy from.

 

[Slap47]

Ghetto Casserole, chopped up hotdogs and mac 'n cheese baby.

Pretty much all casseroles are ghetto. It's either basic stuff like hamburger and potatoes or a bunch of processed stuff.

Great advice. I think a lot of it comes down to where you live and the access you have to decent supermarkets, grocers butchers etc.

If you have the time and money to build up a decent selection of pantry items (ignore the youtubers dried spices are fine in most dishes) you'll be able to take advantage of special offers as they appear.

Also if you have access to a large enough freezers, items like curries, meat sauces, stock, keep really well, and allow you to cook in large batches.

Just buy Oregano and Garlic powder and put that on everything.

 

[unetserv]

In college I survived (and got actually pretty buff) eating only tuna and lentils for about half a year. It was bland as all hell but spices helped me get through it.

The poops were bad though but other than that, I felt and looked great.

 

[M0JY0]

It's in everyone's interests to have a healthy body and a healthy bank account. What are some healthy and cheap meals that you used to make, or still make? When I was going to school I would do small things, like cooking up vegetables and adding them to my ramen noodles. Stir fry is another classic budget meal, it's very versatile and filling.

Another good tip when it comes to saving money on chicken is to buy the whole bird, I followed this DIY when I first started. You get more meat for less and you can use the other parts of the bird to make stock.

I'd love to hear tips, tricks and recipes from other food (and money) lovers!

Edit: Thank you for merging, my dumb ass missed this thread somehow.

 

[Tim Buckley]

#1: Rice: Tasteless but extremely cheap and nutritious enough.
#2 Beans: As a professional hobo this is what keeps me alive around my trash bonfire at night.

 

[Quantum Diabetes]

I find that waiting for shift change at pizza hut and sneaking in the back to steal fresh ingredients is a money saver

 

[Dell Conagher]

start growing food, its the cheapest way to make food. and you have the most control

 

[XYZpdq]

I've ended up with a bunch of cans of red beans. Been having good results using them when a cheese sauce needs an emulsifier. Rinse the crap out of them, dump them in, mash them up.

 

[I can't imagine]

Rice and beans are predictable enough answers, so I'll just mention them quick. Good choices; last for a long time, cheap, work with a wide variety of cuisines.

As far as other starches go, grits are inexpensive and pretty versatile. Quite bland on their own, but they pair well with a lot of things. If you've got a grocery store nearby with a decent bulk section, couscous is generally pretty cheap and can be used in most situations where you would use rice. Bulgur wheat is a bit more expensive, but still not that bad, and can offer a bit of added variety.

For proteins, eggs are super cheap right now. Obviously not great for your health to eat them every meal, but in moderation, they work great. As @喪女 mentioned, whole chicken's a great deal, though it does require prep work and, if you have a small kitchen, it may be a bit tricky to cut it up at home. However, any step you take out of the packaging will make the product cheaper; bone-in chicken with skin is a fair bit cheaper than boneless skinless, even discounting the weight for the bone and skin, and you can still use the bones and skin. Thighs are cheaper than breasts, and are ideal for things like stir-fry; they get a bad rap because saturated fat and whatnot, but you don't need that much to make a meal. Processed meats have a bad reputation, not entirely undeserved, but using a little bit of bacon or sausage in a soup or stew adds a lot for not a lot of money.

Fruits and veggies are highly variable depending on your area. Like, if you live in the central valley, California, you can go to a farmer's market and get practically everything that's in season for half what you'd pay in a grocery store. This is a slightly less viable option where I live, since not a lot of stuff grows around here. But if you buy locally, in season, from local vendors, the prices are generally quite good. This is particularly the case for stone fruits, citrus and apples. Still, for most of the staple products (potatoes, broccoli, bananas, lettuce, cabbage, carrots), prices tend to have little variation no matter where you buy them. Also, if you live by yourself, it may be more practical to buy frozen vegetables. If you only buy groceries once a week, you're going to have some nasty veggies by the end of the week.

If you're in an location conducive to it, having a windowsill herb garden isn't a bad idea. A lot herbs grow pretty well without a lot of work, take up little space, and will give you some great added flavor to the simple foods you're making. It does require a bit of cash outlay to do, though. Dried herbs work well enough in most situations, and may be more practical depending on the person's situation.

 

[Freshly Baked Socks]

I remember eating a lot of tuna sandwiches when poor, maybe the market has changed but if you can stomach canned fish, it might be affordable in your locale. Mixed with mayo, makes a spread to smear onto crackers - garnish with a sliced pickle, make a plateful to share with your comrades.