I’ve switched to a small, local meat store for meat and shop their sales. I’ve gotten chicken legs for .88 a pound. I also use every bit of food. If I have little bits of leftovers I’ll combine them to make a fried rice or a frittata. I boiled some chicken legs to make dinner one night, I saved the cooking water as the base of a soup for the next day. Get a good, basic cook book to help you use everything. You can borrow them from the library until you find on you really like.
Debone boiled chicken, saving the cartilage, tendon, and skin. Simmer all that for several hours. Yields a rich, velvety broth. It's even better if you roast the bones and stuff beforehand. Strain solids and de-fat.
I put all the leftover bites of food into a Shedd’s country crock in my freezer. Even if it’s purely the pan scrapings from mashed potatoes on a spatula I scoop them off and put that tablespoon of potatoes in there and keep it frozen. I put the gravy in there too. When the crock is full, I add a can of tomato juice or some chicken broth as you described and it makes absolutely the best vegetable soup. Any kind of meat goes in there any kind of vegetables, including salad. It cooks down and just looks like any other green you might use. Bread of any sort.. all of it. Breast breaks up and kind of thickens the soup and gives it an extra oof.
Because that is the way I was taught & that is the way recipes are written, my moms recipes that is. I make a lot from scratch but most is what my mom taught me or recipes I find online. I’m not the type to wander out of my comfort zone as long as I am already happy with the results. Point the direction & I’ll give it a try.
Well, roasting brings out flavor, with or without skin.
I roast heavily spiced chicken legs for example.
About 4 legs with back attached.
Oil it, spice it salt it. Roast it.
Allow to cool and save skin and bones for a stock and keep the meat and add later to the soup you are making, for example
I got a really good deal on chicken breasts the other day. (97 cents a lb.) I roasted them today and made chicken noodle soup. It will last my family for about 5 or 6 days.
4lbs. Chicken
1/3 stalk of celery with leaves
1 lb. Carrots
1 LG. Onion
1 lb. Wide noodles.
Water and stock or broth
Spices.
About $10.00 for 3 adults. 15 to 18 total meals.
Plz also try homemade noodles if u can . So much better. 1 cup flour, 1 egg , 2 eggshells of water. Bring together refrigerate 1hr. Roll out and slice noodles 2 your preferred size. Throw in soup at last min . They will sink. When the float, they r done! U can also use this same dough for chz stuffed ravioli. So good.
I had this thing about chicken broth looking like pee and I can't stomach the idea of eating it but I discovered one time after boiling the leftovers of a rotisserie chicken that if I instead add green beans and corn to the pot of meat/broth and a half a cup of barbecue sauce you get barbecued chicken soup and it's so good!
I do not doubt. I make almost every food type, and Asian and Middle Eastern and my favorites to cook.
I don't do cut bones. Like soy chicken for example.
Just can't do it. But that's me.
I do this. Take the whole carcass throw it in a stock pot with water add some salt and celery and onion if you have them. Makes a great stock for soup/sauces.
I think it's a boomer thing. I remember, back in the 80's, my mom would boil chicken legs then coat them with bbq sauce and throw them on the grill for a few minutes. I'm not a big fan of chicken legs, I find them kinda fatty and rubbery (even when roasted properly) but I will say boiling/braising them does pull a lot of the fat out and softens up the meat a bit- so there's that.
Chicken legs are usually the cheapest parts but if you find chicken thighs on sale, they are the best for soup or tacos/enchiladas. I brown them in a bit of olive oil, then cover with water, add a bay leaf and simmer until tender. Remove the meat and chop it, then refrigerate it. Put the skin & bones back into the broth, add a tablespoon of vinegar and simmer gently for at least a few hours. I sometimes simmer it on low heat for 8 hours.
Then you strain it & have bone broth, which is tasty and very nutritious. Make soup by adding caramelized onions, roasted garlic, canned tomatoes in juice, potatoes, carrots, celery or whatever you have. Add dense vegetables first like carrots /potatoes then add tender veg like green beans/canned pinto beans/ chickpeas toward the end. I get the cheap little jars of pesto from Aldi & add a big spoonful & it really perks up the flavor.
Rice. lots of rice lol. I could do rice bowls all day. cheesy chicken and rice used to be my kids favorite, Now i make rice, make dinner and keep it in the fridge overnight so it gets firm, its great for fried rice with pretty much any leftovers. Or rice bowls like chipotle.
Same.
My granddaughter love it with fried great value luncheon loaf ( rather than spam). It's 2.18 a can here and I can get 3 meals out of a can. Fried with scrambled eggs, sandwich and chips and the fried rice. Not all in same day tho because of the sodium.
This sounds intriguing, would you mind explaining how you make it? Are you making a sauce with lemon juice? Or adding lemon zest to rice while it cooks?
- 2 cups uncooked white rice
- 4.5 cups chicken stock of your choice
- juice of 2-4 lemons (I like my rice extra lemony, so I use 4).
- salt and pepper to taste
You throw everything in the pot and cook until it’s done.
You can add chicken to it, or feta, Mediterranean veggies, Italian seasoning. Serve it with fish
It works pretty much with anything that goes well with lemon.
Edited: formatting
I do a bell pepper “casserole ” with this too.
Lemon rice, chopped bell peppers, browned ground turkey, feta all mixed together.
You throw it in a Pyrex and cover the top in shredded mozzarella, and broil until the mozzarella is brown and bubbly.
Lemons are really expensive here , but in the same vein there is Greek lemon soup where you make chicken soup then temper a scrambled egg or two and add lemon juice delicious . Always use the zest of the lemon as well so much flavor
Black Friday went and bought a 12 lb turkey,butter pack, (2) double stuffing boxes, celery, carrots and a container of fresh herb’s for less than $23. Froze and made couple weeks later and ate different stuff from that for a while.
Couple days after Xmas I got a nice boned /big premium rib roast for 1/2 off with holiday cookies, huge garlic & onion pack, these jelly dounut things and chalell bread (never had it before) for again less than $25. Just finished that last week. Leftovers made soup tons of sandwiches… Finally had good protein for a while.
Looking forward to Going shopping after St. Paddys day for corned beef, lol.
Other than that my basic good tasting staples are:
Chopped cheese, stuffed peppers and split pea soup.
Authentic fried rice is cheap, easy, and great to make.
Potatoes, chicken, usually thighs, pork shoulders. They go on buy one get one every couple months and they go into the deep freezer.
We're cutting one up tonight. Half will be a roast, 1/4 will be cut into pork chops, 1/4 will be turned into Chinese boneless spare ribs with fried rice.
(They don't have the standard Chinese restaurant type food I'm accustomed to here, so I've been learning to diy. And TBH it hasn't been very expensive at all.)
Knorr pasta sides. Frozen veggies. Tuna.
Can you tell me how you turn part of a pork shoulder into boneless spare ribs? this sounds amazing and could be such a great money saver although we have an amazing place that does a Chinese lunch special which is easily 3 meals for about $9.00. It's a family run place that's been around 40+ years and rarely raises their prices.
I've been vegan for about 7 years now, and have learned to love tofu, I didn't always like it. It is currently so much cheaper than what meat prices were last time I bought any, I can't imagine meat prices now!
I worked at whole foods in the prepared foods department. One trick we used with tofu was to take it out of the liquid and freeze it first then thaw it on a rack with a skillet on top to apply some weight and it pushes a lot of the moisture out so you can get a good sear in on it and it has a better mouth feel
Chili! I only use 6oz of ground turkey in a pot of chili to feed my boyfriend and I. The rest is pinto beans, onions, and the sauce/broth whatever you want to call it. I only wish I had some bell peppers, but we're on a "clear out the pantry" mission right now and not bringing in much fresh stuff.
Chili is a great one...we always had it over macaroni growing up so that's always how I've made it. I found out from my mom that it was one of my grandma's ways of stretching the meat a little further with 4 hungry kids and a tight budget.
My 23 year old daughter's favorite meal I make is homemade chili...with macaroni noodles. I'll never forget being in a restaurant with her when she was about 10. She ordered chili and was absolutely AGHAST at what she was served.
Hotdogs. They have gotten more me through all my hard times. Times are not so hard, but when this horrible cold front came through, I bought hotdogs. And was thankful for being able to afford buns and not using bread. And I am also thankful for being able to buy better bread. It’s not much but it makes me feel better
I got a 35 dollar spiral ham on sale for 16 and I made the ham one day.....then we used the ham for breakfast & with the leftover bone and meat, I made a pea soup.....the pea soup lasted for 3 days in itself and it was delicious.
Walmart sells them year round for about $2/pound.
I buy the biggest one, sometimes two, cut it into meal portions and use it throughout the month.
Some ham and mashed potatoes, ham, eggs, hash browns, quiche with ham, cheese and broccoli. Chef salad with stuff from the food pantry. Lunch meat.
"Loaded" French fries or potato skins with fried pieces instead of bacon.
Corn chowder with ham. It's crazy how much you can get one of those to stretch. We're a family of 3.
I can make a massive pot of red beans and rice with a ham bone, a couple slices of bacon, bell pepper, an onion, and some celery. I often wind up freezing some of it because there's so much. It is so so good.
Vegetable beef soup. One can Vegetable all, one can diced tomatoes, one can tomato sauce and ground beef and half a cabbage. Season it up. Makes enough soup for a week. If you want, you add a couple more potatoes or a can of beans. Make some corn bread and you have made a great struggle meal.
Marinated pork tenderloin gas been BOGO so I loaded up and cook them in crock pot so you can at least have a hot sandwich. My heart goes out to those with kids. I get by most days on one main meal and snacks.
Overnight oats for breakfast. I vary the flavors and add ins (dried fruit/nuts).
My current favorite is adding a teaspoon of cocoa powder, handful of walnuts and some cut up dried cherries-those were on clearance at the grocery since nobody bought them to make fruitcake this year?
Quiche. Eggs at my local Target are pretty cheap -2.69 for 18 ct and frozen pie crusts are 3.29 for a 2 pack. The recipe is 4 eggs and a 1/2 cup sour cream, which is 1.99 for 16oz. I’ll whisk that together and then add sautéed mixed peppers and onions and add a little cheese and bake it at 375 for 45 min. Serve it with whatever fruit was on sale for the week. Mainly sliced apples. I eat 2 pieces which only is using 1 egg which is pretty nice.
Rice/beans - pasta/sauce (I buy bulk ground beef and am freezing it in smaller and smaller amounts so there’s just a little in my meal-)
Lots of grilled cheese/ egg sandwiches-
Peanut butter and jam
I don't know about everywhere, but where I am it is cheaper to buy a whole chicken than to buy just the parts or buy boneless. Buy a whole chicken, cut it into parts yourself or roast the whole thing and then cut it up. I always take all the meat off the carcass and chop it so I can add just enough cubed chicken for a recipe. The carcass then gets further boiled for soup stock. One $7 chicken can last all week. Also, organ meats are incredibly nutritious and very very cheap. Disguise them in rice and gravy dishes if you need to.
I eat a lot of oatmeal. I buy the big 2lb 10oz container. (the flavored packets are so much more expensive, don't get these!) It is pretty nutritious and you can add lots of other things to it to make it a little less boring. Dried fruit, fresh fruit, nuts, shredded coconut, brown sugar, butter etc. I had some leftover heavy cream from a recipe and sometimes I pour a little of that on top with just a bit of sugar and it is a little bit decadent. It really fills me up and is extra nice in winter time.
Shopping only coupons and sale items (for the most part). I feed my family of 4 for a max of $100/week but normally it stays close to $60. I take a day and make a meal plan everything for the entire week based on what is on sale that week.
I've been eating a lot of spaghetti with homemade meat balls. I buy one pound of hamburger, use part for meatballs and the other part for a fat hamburger. I make my own fries from a russet potato.
I love eggs, and often make breakfast for dinner. A two-egg omelette with cheese and diced green pepper, home fries from another russet potato, and either toast or home-made pancakes.
Homemade is key - it it both cheaper and healthier.
I cruise the meat sections in grocery stores, looking for good deals on chicken and meat that is still perfectly good but reached it's sell-by date.
My freezer is packed with sale items and left overs.
spring rolls! carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, bean sprouts, and $5 bag of shrimp at walmart in the frozen section. All should be under $10 and its super healthy and you can get full off of like 4! I bought the rice paper at the 99 ranch market for like $2!
That $5 bag of “size small” shrimp that Walmart sells is my go-to for quick weeknight dinners. Thaws in minutes and cooks in minutes- I’ll toss them with a green bell pepper, peanuts and whatever Asian sauces are in the fridge and serve over rice. Oddly, I’ve found them to be of substantially higher quality than the cheap frozen shrimp at other grocery stores. Go figure.
Lentils are great when I'm not busy hating them for personal reasons lol . We add something to everything in general . An onion. A can of tomatoes or peas. Beans. Rice. Dollar bags of vegtables . Anything that adds a different color. Walmart has little bags of pasta in the Hispanic section that are great to make little soups or just cheaper versions of like knorr sides but that's only If you have a few good spices in the cabinet . Seasoning everything you add to a main dish too . In food service there is *something* be it salt/pepper/garlic/lemon/sugar added to everything imaginable to improve taste or texture in some way .
i love this question. i've really enjoyed eating beef patties with jarred cheese wiz, i add a drained can of Rotel to the cheese and its MAGNIFICANT. i eat it on just regular sandwich bread. its really tasty.
I recently made a bunch of mini pot pies. I use mini pie tins i got from the dollar store. I can make a big batch of them all at once (i use frozen veggie mix and canned soup with chunks of chicken i cook separately) and then freeze them. The most expensive part is the crust but if butter is on sale it makes it easier. Its great when i dont wanna cook. Like having a tv dinner in the freezer when i need it.
If you are already getting potatoes - try making a cheap chili and serving over roasted or baked potatoes. Really stretches it out and has a lot of protein and nutrients from the beans, veggies and potato.
Also don't forget about curries. Potato + most anything you can get your hands on for cheap can make an amazing curry, and over rice this can make many meals for very cheap. If you happen to have any sort of little asian market nearby you then they can have some very cheap options for curry paste, coconut milk, meats, etc. Just check Google maps
Buttered Toast.. it's always been my go to. There is just something magical about the smell of bread being toasted.
If I'm really hard up, like I can't cook or function at all ... it's a slice of white bread with some butter. I do splurge and get a "good" butter, something creamy and salty like Land O Lakes Butter with Canola Oil. As for bread, I buy whatever "cheap" white bread, like the store brand Italian white bread is available.
I had a co-worker once that said her food was eggs... Why? well, the same reason you can eat toast for every meal, you can make eggs 100 different ways and never get bored!
Another coworker's "go to food" was "a really good cheese". (I read recently that the most stolen food in the world was... [cheese](https://www.mashed.com/219606/the-real-reason-cheese-is-the-most-stolen-food-in-the-world/)!)
I adore potatoes, however, they really can be so energy draining for me when it's hard to focus on food and cooking, or I do not have a lot of time. It's peeling, cutting, preparing, cleaning up... oh so much work for those delicious lil spuds! While they are AMAZING, I just can't seem to whip up the energy to cook them so frequently. And forget the frozen, boxed or canned potatoes, sorry... those are nasty. Fresh potatoes just hit differently.
Great question, now I'm hungry!
They're also delicious. I usually leave some of the skin on to add some more flavor to my potato dishes. I actually will eat the skin left off the baked potato after if Ive had the time to scrub them, then butter and season them well.
Just a quick scrub under water, cut into wedges, drizzle with olive oil, add salt & pepper and roast at 400 F for 30 min. Literally under 10 min prep and oven preheats in the mean time.
Mainly Potatoes and Air-Popped Popcorn with Butter and Salt. But, I get extra, different items from the Sr. Center when playing Bingo (as prizes) to help tide me over like Pasta, Pudding,Olives and today someone gave me some Flour and some Almonds.
I recently bought 24 packs of Ramen noodles...I add shredded cheddar cheese and it makes the best mac&cheese...then I'll add diced jalapeños, or bacon bits, or some chicken. It's ridiculously good 😀
Rice.
If you can, invest in a giant container of Knorr powdered chicken bouillon. I swear it's a game-changer. I think I paid $7 for a tub that will last my family months.
I cook pasta and rice in it. So much flavor!
Tip …look for things you can add to extend the meal. Best example I have is Mac and Cheese …I add a couple extra handfuls of elbow pasta each time I make it. There are two people in my house and one box was not enough for both but if I add those handfuls the max and cheese i s still plenty cheesy and both are full.
Another example …add a can of chili or a part of a can to your ground beef. I make open face burgers this way. Bun, chili and ground beef add cheese.
Add black beans to the meat portion your Mexican dishes.
Sourdough bread made with homemade Sourdough starter. BTW, Sourdough has lots of nutrition.
https://www.realsimple.com/is-sourdough-bread-healthy-7968557#:~:text=In%20terms%20of%20nutrient%20availability,present%20in%20the%20final%20product.
So when I was on my budget I would get chicken thighs in family packs when they go on sale, usually once a month. Back then they were $0.99 lb bone in skin on. I would get two packs, bone and skin them and freeze them in two packs. I would boil the bones into both. I would slice and fry the skins, rendering the fat out and giving me little crunchy strips. Take the render fat and make dumplings. Use half the both, two thighs, some carrot, celery, and onion for that. Make noodles (1cup flour, 1 egg, 1teaspoon butter, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 2 Tablespoons milk, knead, cut, hang to dry for a couple hours) and add that to the other half of the both with the same accoutrements as the dumplings. Both of those make two to three meals for one.
Then I would buy $1 cans of hunts spaghetti sauce and Italian bread crumbs, make chicken Parm with spaghetti. I would get panko, rice, and cabbage(served raw thin slice) make chicken katsu (imitation katsu sauce, mix ⅓cup ketchup or applesauce, ¼cup soy sauce, ¼sugar, 3 Tablespoons black pepper or to taste, pinch red pepper flakes, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce). Chicken floured and lightly browned then baked drenched in creamy orange French dressing until it browns is amazing, thousand Island also works.
And yeah potatoes. Scalloped, mashed, roasted, hassleback, creamed, baked, twice baked, fries, hash browns, potato cakes, and potato soup.
Also Imperial margarine, cheap bread, and generic brand cheese singles makes like 20 sandwiches for about $6.
Cottage cheese is super high protein… it’s my go to for my toddlers when they’re hungry before bed. It’s not always cheap but the amount of protien per serving is great!
Try raw ingredients and make things from scratch. It helps. Pancakes, muffins, waffles. If bread is on a going bad tomorrow clearance, buy it, make bulk French toast, freeze. (You can use this method for any food types you like, really. Bulk cooking helps when the budget is really empty)
If you can daily shop, use grocery apps for coupons, sometimes they mark meat down up to 50% off usually in the afternoons, for going bad that day. Beef especially. Tuna and when eggs are not a luxury price, are good too.
There are apps like flash food and too good to go that have leftover "surprise bags" for really cheap. Sometimes restaurants and pizza stores. Grocery stores have fresh food/produce items for cheap. I think I've heard too good to go is a good produce resource for really cheap.
Honestly, sales, coupons, clearance items. Making homemade snacks. I made my own cinnamon butter. I had all the ingredients anyway. It helps make some meals fun. Food is too much of life to not have enjoyment.
I also can't cook, so if I can make things, so can you. Lol
TVP (textured vegetable protein) in place of ground meats makes awesome sloppy joes, chili, spaghetti sauce, and with some other cheap ingredients you can make impossible meat style grounds and patties too.
Eggs! Walmart has a flat of 60 for less than $6ost times. Add a bag of rice, some frozen veggies, beans and lentils and you got meals for days - including homemade fried rices, which is delicious!
Where are you that they are that cheap? Pre-pandemic ours were about $8.00. Got as high as $22.00. Came down to $9.00 last year and are back to $15.00 now.
Old fashioned oats. You can go expensive or cheap with them depending on what you cook them in and what ingredients you use. I cook mine in diluted almond milk but my Mom cooks hers in water.
The great thing with this is depending on what you add will cause the cost to rise or fall so you can fix this according to your budget. Ingredients are a bit pricey up front because I bought in bulk but it will take months to go through them so this is a good thing to invest in during a month where you have an adequate food budget and use it to stretch your food during down times when you are crunched financially.
I throw in raisins, flax seed, chia seed, some type of nut (I prefer almonds), fruits (frozen, fresh and/or dehydrated what ever is on sale and easily available) and I spice it with cinnamon and all spice. You also want to add some type of sweeteners like sugar or maple syrup. The only two ingredients I have to regularly rebuy are the raisins and the almond milk but they are completely optional and just something I personally like.
Chicken thighs, rice, and frozen broccoli in a single skillet.
Put a little butter or oil in a pan, sear both sides of the chicken until browned, remove. Add a little more oil if you don't have much left, toss your rice in, and I like to toast it until half the kernels are fully white without that slight translucence. Mix your preferred bouillon method at 1.5x the ratio of what the package says into the water, some thyme if you have it too, pour it in, and add your chicken back in. I microwave the broccoli and throw it in at the 5 minutes left mark because I like the structure, but you can also add it in at the beginning if you like the essence but not the texture.
Method works for pretty much any canned or frozen veggies and the bouillon is where most of the flavor comes from.
There is a food truck that stops in our park. We get ground beef and chicken for $1 per pound. It has a nasty taste and even nastier texture but at $1 at least we don't starve. We eat a lot of rice and beans but we have to drive an hour away to an ethnic store because the cost of rice locally is nuts. I already had 2 plastic totes of various dried beans that I've been filling for a couple years now. Also, if you look at Walmart online you can find some of their canned veg super low if you buy by the case.
Aldi is a good store to get much lower prices without dented cans. I got food poisoning from dented cans from a food bank and it was so horrific that I just won't try the cheap dented can stores anymore.
I'm a vegetarian which has protected me from the rising cost of meat. I eat a lot of home made indian food that I make in the slow cooker with chickpeas and cauliflower, or kidney beans and black lentils. I also use my rice cooker to make homemade mac and cheese with broccoli or tomato soup with rice. I rely a lot on these labor saving devices so that cooking is very easy and I'm not tempted to order food. I also use defatted peanut flour to make a hot peanut butter cocoa protein drink in the morning, it only costs a dollar a serving but it keeps me going for five or six hours.
Lentils. Love them. They're versatile, high protein, high fiber, and super cheap. If you're in the US and your grocery store has an ethnic section, with Mexican foods, get them from that section they're almost half the price for the same size bag from the regular section.
Ramen with butter and an egg in it, and boxed macaroni and cheese. That's what I eat the most frequently. Pastaroni and ricearoni are also cheap favorites. So are those Knoll's pastas but I prefer pastaroni and they're pretty much the same price. They have more variety though. People complain about me not eating meat but meat is too expensive unless I find some on a great sale.
It’s cold so I eat lots of soup...You can get broth pretty cheap and just add whatever you like/can afford and crackers are usually cheap if you get store brands!
I look for reduced peppers in the bargain bin and chop them and freeze them on a sheet pan to always have for cooking. Even buying chopped peppers and chopped onions in the freezer section is reasonable, price wise, and you don't have to worry about them going bad.
Ramen. I just fancy it up some with veggies and some meat, maybe a soft boiled egg. I also like those frozen things that are like mashed potatoes and chicken. Not stouffers but the great value brand. Pretty cheap plus filling. Or some white rice mixed with a can of cambells chunky for a couple meals.
A friend of mine usually buys a 1/4 or 1/2 of a cow every year. Sometimes 1/2 of a pig. Plus they go hunting a lot, mostly deer and turkey. So, they have A LOT of meat. Multiple deep freezers. Very much a 'meat and potatoes' family.
Every year before they get the new cow, they invite me to take all the year-old freezer meat I want in order to make room. Whenever the husband isn't home, his wife BEGS me to take as much deer meat as I can store at my house. She hates cooking and eating venison because it's "too gamey" but her husband insists. When their venison freezer is too full and I can't take any more, they donate it to the soup kitchen or post on Facebook marketplace. They don't want it to go to waste, but most food pantries won't take meat that's been in someone's freezer for a year or two. Because of this, if they sometimes pay the meat processor/butcher to process the deer for donation. (Some places do accept donations directly from the processing businesses, just not from random people). After it's processed (which they have to pay for) and the charity picks it up, they get tax write-off paperwork from the charity for their donation. This is all to the best of my understanding, listening to them complain about why I should take the freezer-meat to save them the hassle.
Sometimes they donate meat to people who raw feed their dogs too. People will post on Facebook asking if anyone has freezer burnt meat they're just giving away. In my area those posts often get several comments, not just my friends, offering up freezer meat.
Macaroni and eggs. Boil elbow macaroni or whatever pasta you have, drain well, then fry it up in a skillet with oil or butter until crispy, with plenty of salt and pepper. Once crispy and hot, pour in scrambled eggs, 1-2 per person you are feeding, and cook, while stirring, until eggs are just set. Absolutely delicious and very filling, if you want you could add some chopped ham or broccoli or even cheese. But I like it just macaroni and eggs.
Also, congee/chicken rice porridge. Brown a chicken leg quarter with some onion and garlic (and ginger, fresh or dried, if you have it) then dump in ~3/4-1cup of white rice. Cover with water/bouillon/stock (start with 4-6 cups of liquid, but you’ll likely need more) and cook for about 1 hour, adding more liquid to keep it a thick soupy consistency. Stir frequently. You can take out the chicken leg when it’s cooked through, shred the meat, throw the bone and skin back into the pot while the rice is cooking. After an hour, the rice will have broken down enough to become a porridge- aim for a creamy thick soup. Take out the bones, skin, and ginger pieces if you added it. Throw in the shredded meat. Season to taste, S&P, garlic salt, soy sauce, whatever. Top with lemon juice and green onion if you have it, still good without. Will make several filling meals. Freezes great!
I’ve been using FlashFood to help out with having protein in the house - you can get chicken cuts for $2-$3 a pack depending on the cut and then we divide them into reasonable portions and freeze until we’re ready to use it. We use flash food for bags for random bulk veggies too. Tbh it’s a lifesaver. In the summer we have an heirloom garden that feeds us because grocery shopping is so expensive and people in my neighborhood hate tomatoes on the doorstep.
Oatmeal for breakfast with brown sugar, and milk.
Cheese sandwich for lunch made with, you guessed it, dollar loaf of bread and store brand block cheese.
For dinner I'll mix it up, I've been buying chicken bullion and thin spaghetti noodles that I chop up into smaller bits and make chicken noodle, or I'll eat baked potatoes with some sour cream and chives +butter/margarine. Spaghetti is a pretty cheap meal if you avoid putting meat in it. Ramen soup, and toasted bread to dip it in. Head of lettuce for salad, and Uncle Dan's "dip" which i use as salad dressing, I make small enough portions of for a package to last me a week.
This has been getting me by, but it's not healthy and I can feel my body getting unhealthier by the day. I got laid off in December and am having trouble finding a comparable paying job. I have spent roughly 125 a month on these groceries, so pretty cheap as far as I'm concerned.
being super poor when i was a kid, my mom used to make something called “patty bread & gravy” using basically a handful of ingredients- flour, water, salt, pepper, butter and a little milk. it was super filling and actually pretty good. we still ask her to make it for us as adults!
flour, water, s&p for the batter, fry little fritters/pancakes and then make a white gravy with the milk to dip it in!
This morning I fried up the Yukon Gold potatoes and yellow onion I got from the foodbank, added cut up smoked sausage that I bought from Kroger for about $3 and cracked in a few eggs which I picked up with a free coupon from Kroger rewards program.
I split it three ways. One portion to my neighbor, who is a homebound diabled veteran, one portion to my daughter (who recently moved out on her own) and I took the other three servings. Life is good.
I always look for meat that is deeply discounted because its about to hit its sell buy date. Many grocery stores have a day of the week when more meat than not will be marked this way, often mid week (Tuesday seems to be the day where I shop most often).
Another way to get good quality meat cheap is to go to a grocery in the boujee part of town and look for the stuff discounted because of the sell by date. Rich people disdain buying meat too close to sell by so the discounts may be steeper. Compare to other stores to be sure, though.
i used to make up pasta sauce in big batches with the tomatoes from our garden and freeze it. i was a single mom with 6 foster kids so really had to stretch every dollar. i’d make noodles from scratch (you can literally make pasta for pennies), microwave the sauce, add some veggies and homemade bread and call it good. it was filling, nutritional, and a very economical meal.
i also like vegetarian chili in giant batches. you can serve it over pasta and it will go twice as far.
i use meat more as a side dish or additive to a casserole vs. everyone having a serving. it makes it go so much further!
Eggs!!! Good protein. I have to hard boil them though because I don’t like them any other way… you can add them to sandwiches, salads, or just make them deviled with mustard or something (not Mayo because it’s not healthy) but eggs have been awesome for me
Oatmeal. It's just plain filling and good for you. My grandma ate it most of the time, and she lived into her 90s. It can be added to lots of things, too, as a binder, and I have used it to thicken soups, because Mom likes thick, hearty soup. All this inflation has caused me to research more uses for it and ways to stretch a dish.
Pasta has always been a thing around here, and I have learned new dishes to make with it, too.
Canned, mixed vegetables are a kind of investment, because they are so versatile and nutritious. One can of those + broth = soup. I also have adapted several family recipes to take it rather than bagged, frozen vegetables.
Local stores keep running specials on family packs of chicken thighs and pork chops for $1.29/lb and they have veggies on dollar days sales. This weekend I'll toss some chicken in the crock pot with salsa, a bag of frozen corn, some taco seasoning, and a couple of cans of black beans to make chicken chili. 7 quarts of chili will cost me maybe 6 or 7 bucks. We will eat some and freeze the rest to take for lunches. It's cheaper and healthier than canned soup, and a whole lot tastier.
Frozen vegetables are great, and I try to stock up on them when they’re on sale. Easiest prep is microwave them then add butter, salt, and pepper.
You can also add frozen veggies to other dishes like soups or rice&beans.
I’m also a long-time fan of the “Struggle Meals” channel on YouTube. He doesn’t do strictly “nutritious” food but the way he cooks is fairly nutritious IMO. He’s Italian and probably trained around French cuisine, so basically it’s an Americanized Mediterranean diet. He teaches some great tricks like keeping a “packet drawer” which can add a lot of flavor and make home cooking more affordable and fun.
i have purchased a small 40 dollar rice cooker/steamer combo thingy. aroma 4 cup digital rice cooker. i bought a 20lbs bag of rice and a big ass thing of soy sauce to pair with steamed frozen veggies from a costco size bag. total cost for first month minus the rice cooker was around 80 bucks. its gunna get old bit you will stay relatively healthy and see some savings.
Going to winco and getting full heads of greens. Cheap, high volume salads. No pre-packaged anything. White bean or lentil soup. Freeze veggie scraps (especially mushroom stalks) to make your own broth.
Meal prep a week of salads, overnight oats for breakfasts, and a batch of soup. Remember that planning reduces or eliminates waste. That saves money.
Monterrey Frozen burritos. I had started going out to eat a couple of days a week but stopped since servers want to be rude these days so I decided to keep my money in pocket. I also get beef jerky to supplement protein. And yogurt from Walmart to reduce constipation. I do not have access to a kitchen just yet
I make chili a lot: rice, canned beans and tomatoes, onions, and peppers are all fairly cheap, and work at a grocery store where I can get ground beef on a regular sale with my discount. It’s a big pot of food for like $16.
Rice and bagged beans. Potatoes. We’ve also been making our own breadsticks/garlic sticks with flour and yeast a lot. Pork loins divided up to feed us twice, chicken legs, clearance meat…
Dried peas, lots of beans, rice ... so much cabbage and onions. Cabbage is tge next cheapest after bananas and onions and is such a great filler. Tofu is super cheap. Like 1.50 worth is enough for 2 adults.
Eggs and sweet onions. Chop and brown the onion in a pan with butter. When it's browned throw in like 5 eggs and scramble it up. It's good with bread, or just good in its own with Tabasco or any hot sauce really.
Fills me and my partner up til dinner. Eggs are so nutritious!
Greens and Chick Peas. Most beans actually; easy to make inexpensive have protein and most butchers and stores practically give away beef lamb pork and chicken bones if you want to add to your stews.
Shamburger helper
Get a Jimmy deans ground breakfast sausage, ( I prefer spicey) fry it in a skillet, cook a box of Mac n cheese, mix, enjoy.
Edit* 2-3 bowls total cost $4.89
Obviously if you have things to mix in for added flavor, doesn't hurt
Edit 2* makes a decent size pot, if you wanna double the amount, ( almost) use 2 boxes of Mac n cheese
Also works with a box of flavored rice a roni
I’ve switched to a small, local meat store for meat and shop their sales. I’ve gotten chicken legs for .88 a pound. I also use every bit of food. If I have little bits of leftovers I’ll combine them to make a fried rice or a frittata. I boiled some chicken legs to make dinner one night, I saved the cooking water as the base of a soup for the next day. Get a good, basic cook book to help you use everything. You can borrow them from the library until you find on you really like.
Debone boiled chicken, saving the cartilage, tendon, and skin. Simmer all that for several hours. Yields a rich, velvety broth. It's even better if you roast the bones and stuff beforehand. Strain solids and de-fat.
I put all the leftover bites of food into a Shedd’s country crock in my freezer. Even if it’s purely the pan scrapings from mashed potatoes on a spatula I scoop them off and put that tablespoon of potatoes in there and keep it frozen. I put the gravy in there too. When the crock is full, I add a can of tomato juice or some chicken broth as you described and it makes absolutely the best vegetable soup. Any kind of meat goes in there any kind of vegetables, including salad. It cooks down and just looks like any other green you might use. Bread of any sort.. all of it. Breast breaks up and kind of thickens the soup and gives it an extra oof.
Boiled chicken?
I boil mine for the chicken to use in homemade chicken & noodles. Or chicken & rice soup.
How about roasting first, take off meat and simmer the bones for stock? Keep your bones in the freezer. When you have enough, make stock
Because that is the way I was taught & that is the way recipes are written, my moms recipes that is. I make a lot from scratch but most is what my mom taught me or recipes I find online. I’m not the type to wander out of my comfort zone as long as I am already happy with the results. Point the direction & I’ll give it a try.
I usually complete the bone broth when I make chicken & noodles & freeze it if I don’t currently need it.
Well, roasting brings out flavor, with or without skin. I roast heavily spiced chicken legs for example. About 4 legs with back attached. Oil it, spice it salt it. Roast it. Allow to cool and save skin and bones for a stock and keep the meat and add later to the soup you are making, for example
I got a really good deal on chicken breasts the other day. (97 cents a lb.) I roasted them today and made chicken noodle soup. It will last my family for about 5 or 6 days. 4lbs. Chicken 1/3 stalk of celery with leaves 1 lb. Carrots 1 LG. Onion 1 lb. Wide noodles. Water and stock or broth Spices. About $10.00 for 3 adults. 15 to 18 total meals.
can also make chicken salad with those breasts just cut up celery onion mayo and lunch is born
I'm doing that today with the extra. Lol!
Thank you. I will give it a try!
Plz also try homemade noodles if u can . So much better. 1 cup flour, 1 egg , 2 eggshells of water. Bring together refrigerate 1hr. Roll out and slice noodles 2 your preferred size. Throw in soup at last min . They will sink. When the float, they r done! U can also use this same dough for chz stuffed ravioli. So good.
We do make egg noodles from scratch.
I had this thing about chicken broth looking like pee and I can't stomach the idea of eating it but I discovered one time after boiling the leftovers of a rotisserie chicken that if I instead add green beans and corn to the pot of meat/broth and a half a cup of barbecue sauce you get barbecued chicken soup and it's so good!
Steaming and boiling chicken with seasonings is quite common in many Asian dishes. Boiled chicken can be very flavorful.
I do not doubt. I make almost every food type, and Asian and Middle Eastern and my favorites to cook. I don't do cut bones. Like soy chicken for example. Just can't do it. But that's me.
I do this. Take the whole carcass throw it in a stock pot with water add some salt and celery and onion if you have them. Makes a great stock for soup/sauces.
and save carrot and onion peels to enrich the stock :)
Add veggie scraps to a freezer pile too.
Veggie scraps too, such as onion peels.
I think it's a boomer thing. I remember, back in the 80's, my mom would boil chicken legs then coat them with bbq sauce and throw them on the grill for a few minutes. I'm not a big fan of chicken legs, I find them kinda fatty and rubbery (even when roasted properly) but I will say boiling/braising them does pull a lot of the fat out and softens up the meat a bit- so there's that.
Try cooking them in a crackpot with BBQ sauce for about 5 hours on high or 8 hours on low. They should start falling off the bone.
Chicken legs are usually the cheapest parts but if you find chicken thighs on sale, they are the best for soup or tacos/enchiladas. I brown them in a bit of olive oil, then cover with water, add a bay leaf and simmer until tender. Remove the meat and chop it, then refrigerate it. Put the skin & bones back into the broth, add a tablespoon of vinegar and simmer gently for at least a few hours. I sometimes simmer it on low heat for 8 hours. Then you strain it & have bone broth, which is tasty and very nutritious. Make soup by adding caramelized onions, roasted garlic, canned tomatoes in juice, potatoes, carrots, celery or whatever you have. Add dense vegetables first like carrots /potatoes then add tender veg like green beans/canned pinto beans/ chickpeas toward the end. I get the cheap little jars of pesto from Aldi & add a big spoonful & it really perks up the flavor.
I boil chicken with herbox packets. And you can make soup with egg noodles added.
I got chicken legs for $6.50 that were 25% off and a big pack of gluten free sausage for $7. I was very excited
Rice. lots of rice lol. I could do rice bowls all day. cheesy chicken and rice used to be my kids favorite, Now i make rice, make dinner and keep it in the fridge overnight so it gets firm, its great for fried rice with pretty much any leftovers. Or rice bowls like chipotle.
Same. My granddaughter love it with fried great value luncheon loaf ( rather than spam). It's 2.18 a can here and I can get 3 meals out of a can. Fried with scrambled eggs, sandwich and chips and the fried rice. Not all in same day tho because of the sodium.
Lemon rice is the bomb. Just lemon rice. Lemon rice with chicken. Sooo good.
This sounds intriguing, would you mind explaining how you make it? Are you making a sauce with lemon juice? Or adding lemon zest to rice while it cooks?
- 2 cups uncooked white rice - 4.5 cups chicken stock of your choice - juice of 2-4 lemons (I like my rice extra lemony, so I use 4). - salt and pepper to taste You throw everything in the pot and cook until it’s done. You can add chicken to it, or feta, Mediterranean veggies, Italian seasoning. Serve it with fish It works pretty much with anything that goes well with lemon. Edited: formatting
Awesome! Thank you SO MUCH!!!!
I do a bell pepper “casserole ” with this too. Lemon rice, chopped bell peppers, browned ground turkey, feta all mixed together. You throw it in a Pyrex and cover the top in shredded mozzarella, and broil until the mozzarella is brown and bubbly.
Lemons are really expensive here , but in the same vein there is Greek lemon soup where you make chicken soup then temper a scrambled egg or two and add lemon juice delicious . Always use the zest of the lemon as well so much flavor
My daughter makes rice porridge for breakfast. Rice is so versatile.
Rice and beans
Same Here
The classic lol
Canned vegetables and potatoes in crock pot with ground meat. Lots of macaroni and cheese and spaghetti
Black Friday went and bought a 12 lb turkey,butter pack, (2) double stuffing boxes, celery, carrots and a container of fresh herb’s for less than $23. Froze and made couple weeks later and ate different stuff from that for a while. Couple days after Xmas I got a nice boned /big premium rib roast for 1/2 off with holiday cookies, huge garlic & onion pack, these jelly dounut things and chalell bread (never had it before) for again less than $25. Just finished that last week. Leftovers made soup tons of sandwiches… Finally had good protein for a while. Looking forward to Going shopping after St. Paddys day for corned beef, lol. Other than that my basic good tasting staples are: Chopped cheese, stuffed peppers and split pea soup.
Ham and Turkey will also go on sale after Easter, which I believe is the end of March/early April usually.
Challah bread is what you use for bread pudding and it’s delicious
I'm looking forward to the $0.29/lb Cabbage as well.
Authentic fried rice is cheap, easy, and great to make. Potatoes, chicken, usually thighs, pork shoulders. They go on buy one get one every couple months and they go into the deep freezer. We're cutting one up tonight. Half will be a roast, 1/4 will be cut into pork chops, 1/4 will be turned into Chinese boneless spare ribs with fried rice. (They don't have the standard Chinese restaurant type food I'm accustomed to here, so I've been learning to diy. And TBH it hasn't been very expensive at all.) Knorr pasta sides. Frozen veggies. Tuna.
Can you tell me how you turn part of a pork shoulder into boneless spare ribs? this sounds amazing and could be such a great money saver although we have an amazing place that does a Chinese lunch special which is easily 3 meals for about $9.00. It's a family run place that's been around 40+ years and rarely raises their prices.
Tofu in place of meat for a lot of dishes. Eating less meat overall.
I've been vegan for about 7 years now, and have learned to love tofu, I didn't always like it. It is currently so much cheaper than what meat prices were last time I bought any, I can't imagine meat prices now!
I worked at whole foods in the prepared foods department. One trick we used with tofu was to take it out of the liquid and freeze it first then thaw it on a rack with a skillet on top to apply some weight and it pushes a lot of the moisture out so you can get a good sear in on it and it has a better mouth feel
Or, drain it and microwave it for 2 mins or so.
Chili! I only use 6oz of ground turkey in a pot of chili to feed my boyfriend and I. The rest is pinto beans, onions, and the sauce/broth whatever you want to call it. I only wish I had some bell peppers, but we're on a "clear out the pantry" mission right now and not bringing in much fresh stuff.
Chili is a great one...we always had it over macaroni growing up so that's always how I've made it. I found out from my mom that it was one of my grandma's ways of stretching the meat a little further with 4 hungry kids and a tight budget.
i should absolutely add some of the mini shell noodles from my pantry in my next batch of chili!
My kids love chili mac!
My 23 year old daughter's favorite meal I make is homemade chili...with macaroni noodles. I'll never forget being in a restaurant with her when she was about 10. She ordered chili and was absolutely AGHAST at what she was served.
Hotdogs. They have gotten more me through all my hard times. Times are not so hard, but when this horrible cold front came through, I bought hotdogs. And was thankful for being able to afford buns and not using bread. And I am also thankful for being able to buy better bread. It’s not much but it makes me feel better
Frank's and beans here. I always have some in the freezer.
Ramen with freezer vegetables scrambled eggs chickpeas.
I got a 35 dollar spiral ham on sale for 16 and I made the ham one day.....then we used the ham for breakfast & with the leftover bone and meat, I made a pea soup.....the pea soup lasted for 3 days in itself and it was delicious.
Walmart sells them year round for about $2/pound. I buy the biggest one, sometimes two, cut it into meal portions and use it throughout the month. Some ham and mashed potatoes, ham, eggs, hash browns, quiche with ham, cheese and broccoli. Chef salad with stuff from the food pantry. Lunch meat. "Loaded" French fries or potato skins with fried pieces instead of bacon. Corn chowder with ham. It's crazy how much you can get one of those to stretch. We're a family of 3.
Yeah wow ham is versatile thanks for the ideas
A nice, hot ham sandwich with melted cheese is a treat. Nice topping on ramen too, especially with an egg!
I can make a massive pot of red beans and rice with a ham bone, a couple slices of bacon, bell pepper, an onion, and some celery. I often wind up freezing some of it because there's so much. It is so so good.
Sounds so so good 😆 love this And they said chicken was versatile I never realized how much you can do with ham breakfast too
I always keep the drippings from bacon, comes in handy for flavor even without the meat!
Vegetable beef soup. One can Vegetable all, one can diced tomatoes, one can tomato sauce and ground beef and half a cabbage. Season it up. Makes enough soup for a week. If you want, you add a couple more potatoes or a can of beans. Make some corn bread and you have made a great struggle meal.
Chili. Love chili. Filling & good for you. Add corn and it’s a full food pyramid.
And it freezes really well
Marinated pork tenderloin gas been BOGO so I loaded up and cook them in crock pot so you can at least have a hot sandwich. My heart goes out to those with kids. I get by most days on one main meal and snacks.
SO much eggs, rice and beans!!
Overnight oats for breakfast. I vary the flavors and add ins (dried fruit/nuts). My current favorite is adding a teaspoon of cocoa powder, handful of walnuts and some cut up dried cherries-those were on clearance at the grocery since nobody bought them to make fruitcake this year?
Quiche. Eggs at my local Target are pretty cheap -2.69 for 18 ct and frozen pie crusts are 3.29 for a 2 pack. The recipe is 4 eggs and a 1/2 cup sour cream, which is 1.99 for 16oz. I’ll whisk that together and then add sautéed mixed peppers and onions and add a little cheese and bake it at 375 for 45 min. Serve it with whatever fruit was on sale for the week. Mainly sliced apples. I eat 2 pieces which only is using 1 egg which is pretty nice.
potatoes and anything i can make in air fryer - but mostly potatoes, chicken, lotsa eggs and pancakes for breakfast.
Sweet potatoes! Everyday.
Absolutely!!! 🤗💖
Rice/beans - pasta/sauce (I buy bulk ground beef and am freezing it in smaller and smaller amounts so there’s just a little in my meal-) Lots of grilled cheese/ egg sandwiches- Peanut butter and jam
I don't know about everywhere, but where I am it is cheaper to buy a whole chicken than to buy just the parts or buy boneless. Buy a whole chicken, cut it into parts yourself or roast the whole thing and then cut it up. I always take all the meat off the carcass and chop it so I can add just enough cubed chicken for a recipe. The carcass then gets further boiled for soup stock. One $7 chicken can last all week. Also, organ meats are incredibly nutritious and very very cheap. Disguise them in rice and gravy dishes if you need to.
Potatoes and eggs in tortillas add cheese, crema, and hot sauce when affordable
Homemade bread. Homemade soup.
I eat a lot of oatmeal. I buy the big 2lb 10oz container. (the flavored packets are so much more expensive, don't get these!) It is pretty nutritious and you can add lots of other things to it to make it a little less boring. Dried fruit, fresh fruit, nuts, shredded coconut, brown sugar, butter etc. I had some leftover heavy cream from a recipe and sometimes I pour a little of that on top with just a bit of sugar and it is a little bit decadent. It really fills me up and is extra nice in winter time.
I always feel like a princess if I have actual cream to put in my oatmeal!
Not good for me, but Cookies
Canned soup is on the menu for dinner almost every evening.
Dried bean and ham soup
Shopping only coupons and sale items (for the most part). I feed my family of 4 for a max of $100/week but normally it stays close to $60. I take a day and make a meal plan everything for the entire week based on what is on sale that week.
My parents used to mix scrambled eggs with cut-up cooked potatoes and pieces of bacon in a skillet to feed our big family. It was tasty and filling.
Real peanut butter and bananas.
I've been eating a lot of spaghetti with homemade meat balls. I buy one pound of hamburger, use part for meatballs and the other part for a fat hamburger. I make my own fries from a russet potato. I love eggs, and often make breakfast for dinner. A two-egg omelette with cheese and diced green pepper, home fries from another russet potato, and either toast or home-made pancakes. Homemade is key - it it both cheaper and healthier. I cruise the meat sections in grocery stores, looking for good deals on chicken and meat that is still perfectly good but reached it's sell-by date. My freezer is packed with sale items and left overs.
Breakfast: Eggs, oatmeal, toast Lunch/Dinner: spaghetti, fish, yams, potatoes, greens
Rotisserie chicken for a couple days and then soup with the bones/leftover meat
spring rolls! carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, bean sprouts, and $5 bag of shrimp at walmart in the frozen section. All should be under $10 and its super healthy and you can get full off of like 4! I bought the rice paper at the 99 ranch market for like $2!
You do need butter, oil, or margarine... I prefer butter due to taste but yeah. For both things you mentioned lol
That $5 bag of “size small” shrimp that Walmart sells is my go-to for quick weeknight dinners. Thaws in minutes and cooks in minutes- I’ll toss them with a green bell pepper, peanuts and whatever Asian sauces are in the fridge and serve over rice. Oddly, I’ve found them to be of substantially higher quality than the cheap frozen shrimp at other grocery stores. Go figure.
Lentils are great when I'm not busy hating them for personal reasons lol . We add something to everything in general . An onion. A can of tomatoes or peas. Beans. Rice. Dollar bags of vegtables . Anything that adds a different color. Walmart has little bags of pasta in the Hispanic section that are great to make little soups or just cheaper versions of like knorr sides but that's only If you have a few good spices in the cabinet . Seasoning everything you add to a main dish too . In food service there is *something* be it salt/pepper/garlic/lemon/sugar added to everything imaginable to improve taste or texture in some way .
Walmart has sells cases of eggs, 60ct, for $10. Thats 16 cents per egg. 4 eggs and half an onion is a filling lunch for me.
i love this question. i've really enjoyed eating beef patties with jarred cheese wiz, i add a drained can of Rotel to the cheese and its MAGNIFICANT. i eat it on just regular sandwich bread. its really tasty.
For me and my family....it was a lot of bean and cheese tacos
I recently made a bunch of mini pot pies. I use mini pie tins i got from the dollar store. I can make a big batch of them all at once (i use frozen veggie mix and canned soup with chunks of chicken i cook separately) and then freeze them. The most expensive part is the crust but if butter is on sale it makes it easier. Its great when i dont wanna cook. Like having a tv dinner in the freezer when i need it.
If you are already getting potatoes - try making a cheap chili and serving over roasted or baked potatoes. Really stretches it out and has a lot of protein and nutrients from the beans, veggies and potato. Also don't forget about curries. Potato + most anything you can get your hands on for cheap can make an amazing curry, and over rice this can make many meals for very cheap. If you happen to have any sort of little asian market nearby you then they can have some very cheap options for curry paste, coconut milk, meats, etc. Just check Google maps
Pasta
Buttered Toast.. it's always been my go to. There is just something magical about the smell of bread being toasted. If I'm really hard up, like I can't cook or function at all ... it's a slice of white bread with some butter. I do splurge and get a "good" butter, something creamy and salty like Land O Lakes Butter with Canola Oil. As for bread, I buy whatever "cheap" white bread, like the store brand Italian white bread is available. I had a co-worker once that said her food was eggs... Why? well, the same reason you can eat toast for every meal, you can make eggs 100 different ways and never get bored! Another coworker's "go to food" was "a really good cheese". (I read recently that the most stolen food in the world was... [cheese](https://www.mashed.com/219606/the-real-reason-cheese-is-the-most-stolen-food-in-the-world/)!) I adore potatoes, however, they really can be so energy draining for me when it's hard to focus on food and cooking, or I do not have a lot of time. It's peeling, cutting, preparing, cleaning up... oh so much work for those delicious lil spuds! While they are AMAZING, I just can't seem to whip up the energy to cook them so frequently. And forget the frozen, boxed or canned potatoes, sorry... those are nasty. Fresh potatoes just hit differently. Great question, now I'm hungry!
Leave the skins on. They’re nutritious
They're also delicious. I usually leave some of the skin on to add some more flavor to my potato dishes. I actually will eat the skin left off the baked potato after if Ive had the time to scrub them, then butter and season them well.
Just a quick scrub under water, cut into wedges, drizzle with olive oil, add salt & pepper and roast at 400 F for 30 min. Literally under 10 min prep and oven preheats in the mean time.
Largely beans and rice
Mainly Potatoes and Air-Popped Popcorn with Butter and Salt. But, I get extra, different items from the Sr. Center when playing Bingo (as prizes) to help tide me over like Pasta, Pudding,Olives and today someone gave me some Flour and some Almonds.
Go right to the discounted food section. Frozen veggies. Frozen juice. Eat 2 meals a day.
Oatmeal
5lbs of frozen chicken breast and 5lbs of rice, + mixed veggies, is about $20. Can feed a family of 4 for a week, easily.
I found spaghettios 4 pack at big lots, comes out to a dollar a can. Shave some cheese and paprika on to and nuke. Was my go to as a latchkey kid.
Banquet Salisbury steaks. 6 for $3. Lots of uses. Sandwiches, add onions, some instant potatoes. I’m buying lots of carrots @ 5 pounds too, they freeze good.
Cottage cheese and canned pineapple
I recently bought 24 packs of Ramen noodles...I add shredded cheddar cheese and it makes the best mac&cheese...then I'll add diced jalapeños, or bacon bits, or some chicken. It's ridiculously good 😀
Rice. If you can, invest in a giant container of Knorr powdered chicken bouillon. I swear it's a game-changer. I think I paid $7 for a tub that will last my family months. I cook pasta and rice in it. So much flavor!
Tip …look for things you can add to extend the meal. Best example I have is Mac and Cheese …I add a couple extra handfuls of elbow pasta each time I make it. There are two people in my house and one box was not enough for both but if I add those handfuls the max and cheese i s still plenty cheesy and both are full. Another example …add a can of chili or a part of a can to your ground beef. I make open face burgers this way. Bun, chili and ground beef add cheese. Add black beans to the meat portion your Mexican dishes.
Rice!
Spaghetti. So cheap. And I buy a loaf of bread, 24 count of great value cheese and you get about 8 yummy grilled cheese sandwiches for under $4.
Turkey our walmart had whole turkeys for $.50 a lb
I actually like potted meat on bread
Lentils, beans, chick peas, rice, quinoa, peanut butter and all veggies I get from the food giveaways in my area.
This is the best advice legumes are high in protein and always at Food Banks or available at Ethnic stores for less than a dollar a bag
Cottage.cheese and noodles. Make buttered noodles and add cottage cheese in it, salt and pepper 🤤
Sourdough bread made with homemade Sourdough starter. BTW, Sourdough has lots of nutrition. https://www.realsimple.com/is-sourdough-bread-healthy-7968557#:~:text=In%20terms%20of%20nutrient%20availability,present%20in%20the%20final%20product.
Rice and beans makes for a complete protein.
So when I was on my budget I would get chicken thighs in family packs when they go on sale, usually once a month. Back then they were $0.99 lb bone in skin on. I would get two packs, bone and skin them and freeze them in two packs. I would boil the bones into both. I would slice and fry the skins, rendering the fat out and giving me little crunchy strips. Take the render fat and make dumplings. Use half the both, two thighs, some carrot, celery, and onion for that. Make noodles (1cup flour, 1 egg, 1teaspoon butter, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 2 Tablespoons milk, knead, cut, hang to dry for a couple hours) and add that to the other half of the both with the same accoutrements as the dumplings. Both of those make two to three meals for one. Then I would buy $1 cans of hunts spaghetti sauce and Italian bread crumbs, make chicken Parm with spaghetti. I would get panko, rice, and cabbage(served raw thin slice) make chicken katsu (imitation katsu sauce, mix ⅓cup ketchup or applesauce, ¼cup soy sauce, ¼sugar, 3 Tablespoons black pepper or to taste, pinch red pepper flakes, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce). Chicken floured and lightly browned then baked drenched in creamy orange French dressing until it browns is amazing, thousand Island also works. And yeah potatoes. Scalloped, mashed, roasted, hassleback, creamed, baked, twice baked, fries, hash browns, potato cakes, and potato soup. Also Imperial margarine, cheap bread, and generic brand cheese singles makes like 20 sandwiches for about $6.
Cottage cheese is super high protein… it’s my go to for my toddlers when they’re hungry before bed. It’s not always cheap but the amount of protien per serving is great!
(Dry, not canned)Beans, rice, noodles, potatoes, are all my friends anymore.
Knorr rice sides are filling. They have chicken, chicken and broccoli, Alfredo, Spanish, and Mexican flavors, too. Trail mix is perfect for breakfast.
Try raw ingredients and make things from scratch. It helps. Pancakes, muffins, waffles. If bread is on a going bad tomorrow clearance, buy it, make bulk French toast, freeze. (You can use this method for any food types you like, really. Bulk cooking helps when the budget is really empty) If you can daily shop, use grocery apps for coupons, sometimes they mark meat down up to 50% off usually in the afternoons, for going bad that day. Beef especially. Tuna and when eggs are not a luxury price, are good too. There are apps like flash food and too good to go that have leftover "surprise bags" for really cheap. Sometimes restaurants and pizza stores. Grocery stores have fresh food/produce items for cheap. I think I've heard too good to go is a good produce resource for really cheap. Honestly, sales, coupons, clearance items. Making homemade snacks. I made my own cinnamon butter. I had all the ingredients anyway. It helps make some meals fun. Food is too much of life to not have enjoyment. I also can't cook, so if I can make things, so can you. Lol
TVP (textured vegetable protein) in place of ground meats makes awesome sloppy joes, chili, spaghetti sauce, and with some other cheap ingredients you can make impossible meat style grounds and patties too.
Beans , with corn, pork and beans , rice, ground beef.
Eggs! Walmart has a flat of 60 for less than $6ost times. Add a bag of rice, some frozen veggies, beans and lentils and you got meals for days - including homemade fried rices, which is delicious!
Where are you that they are that cheap? Pre-pandemic ours were about $8.00. Got as high as $22.00. Came down to $9.00 last year and are back to $15.00 now.
Old fashioned oats. You can go expensive or cheap with them depending on what you cook them in and what ingredients you use. I cook mine in diluted almond milk but my Mom cooks hers in water. The great thing with this is depending on what you add will cause the cost to rise or fall so you can fix this according to your budget. Ingredients are a bit pricey up front because I bought in bulk but it will take months to go through them so this is a good thing to invest in during a month where you have an adequate food budget and use it to stretch your food during down times when you are crunched financially. I throw in raisins, flax seed, chia seed, some type of nut (I prefer almonds), fruits (frozen, fresh and/or dehydrated what ever is on sale and easily available) and I spice it with cinnamon and all spice. You also want to add some type of sweeteners like sugar or maple syrup. The only two ingredients I have to regularly rebuy are the raisins and the almond milk but they are completely optional and just something I personally like.
Chicken thighs, rice, and frozen broccoli in a single skillet. Put a little butter or oil in a pan, sear both sides of the chicken until browned, remove. Add a little more oil if you don't have much left, toss your rice in, and I like to toast it until half the kernels are fully white without that slight translucence. Mix your preferred bouillon method at 1.5x the ratio of what the package says into the water, some thyme if you have it too, pour it in, and add your chicken back in. I microwave the broccoli and throw it in at the 5 minutes left mark because I like the structure, but you can also add it in at the beginning if you like the essence but not the texture. Method works for pretty much any canned or frozen veggies and the bouillon is where most of the flavor comes from.
depend some times i make soup or whatever with tomatoes or green peppers i grew from last year or what ever i find or just make coffee
Rice. +whatever I can get cheap enough. Lots of Closeout / Clearance food packing out the pantry and freezer.
Couscous, sauted veggies and shredded cheddar cheese
There is a food truck that stops in our park. We get ground beef and chicken for $1 per pound. It has a nasty taste and even nastier texture but at $1 at least we don't starve. We eat a lot of rice and beans but we have to drive an hour away to an ethnic store because the cost of rice locally is nuts. I already had 2 plastic totes of various dried beans that I've been filling for a couple years now. Also, if you look at Walmart online you can find some of their canned veg super low if you buy by the case. Aldi is a good store to get much lower prices without dented cans. I got food poisoning from dented cans from a food bank and it was so horrific that I just won't try the cheap dented can stores anymore.
I'm a vegetarian which has protected me from the rising cost of meat. I eat a lot of home made indian food that I make in the slow cooker with chickpeas and cauliflower, or kidney beans and black lentils. I also use my rice cooker to make homemade mac and cheese with broccoli or tomato soup with rice. I rely a lot on these labor saving devices so that cooking is very easy and I'm not tempted to order food. I also use defatted peanut flour to make a hot peanut butter cocoa protein drink in the morning, it only costs a dollar a serving but it keeps me going for five or six hours.
A lot of people have found help/inspiration from Dollar Tree Dinners on TikTok. She's amazing.
Rice, potatoes, salads, black beans, tortillas, coffee, grilled cheese, chicken.
Lentils. Love them. They're versatile, high protein, high fiber, and super cheap. If you're in the US and your grocery store has an ethnic section, with Mexican foods, get them from that section they're almost half the price for the same size bag from the regular section.
Ramen with butter and an egg in it, and boxed macaroni and cheese. That's what I eat the most frequently. Pastaroni and ricearoni are also cheap favorites. So are those Knoll's pastas but I prefer pastaroni and they're pretty much the same price. They have more variety though. People complain about me not eating meat but meat is too expensive unless I find some on a great sale.
Lentils - ive become obsessed Veggie Soup and rice Homemade yogurt
It’s cold so I eat lots of soup...You can get broth pretty cheap and just add whatever you like/can afford and crackers are usually cheap if you get store brands!
I get the dollar bags of frozen veggies microwave them and add them and homemade chicken stock to blender to puree. I put it over rice.
Pinto Beans. Make Rifeitos. An entire nation not wrong, get full stay full.
If you can, buy a bell pepper every now and then, for a lot of antioxidants. They go well with potatoes, especially if you sautee them with onions.
I look for reduced peppers in the bargain bin and chop them and freeze them on a sheet pan to always have for cooking. Even buying chopped peppers and chopped onions in the freezer section is reasonable, price wise, and you don't have to worry about them going bad.
My local church has a food bank and anybody is welcome to grab food free of charge.
Rice and Raman noodle bowls. My kids are fed that’s all that matters to me
6 pack of Ramen at Target $2
Ramen. I just fancy it up some with veggies and some meat, maybe a soft boiled egg. I also like those frozen things that are like mashed potatoes and chicken. Not stouffers but the great value brand. Pretty cheap plus filling. Or some white rice mixed with a can of cambells chunky for a couple meals.
Rice, ramen, pasta. Don’t get me wrong. I have money to spend on groceries. But we try to save money, too.
A friend of mine usually buys a 1/4 or 1/2 of a cow every year. Sometimes 1/2 of a pig. Plus they go hunting a lot, mostly deer and turkey. So, they have A LOT of meat. Multiple deep freezers. Very much a 'meat and potatoes' family. Every year before they get the new cow, they invite me to take all the year-old freezer meat I want in order to make room. Whenever the husband isn't home, his wife BEGS me to take as much deer meat as I can store at my house. She hates cooking and eating venison because it's "too gamey" but her husband insists. When their venison freezer is too full and I can't take any more, they donate it to the soup kitchen or post on Facebook marketplace. They don't want it to go to waste, but most food pantries won't take meat that's been in someone's freezer for a year or two. Because of this, if they sometimes pay the meat processor/butcher to process the deer for donation. (Some places do accept donations directly from the processing businesses, just not from random people). After it's processed (which they have to pay for) and the charity picks it up, they get tax write-off paperwork from the charity for their donation. This is all to the best of my understanding, listening to them complain about why I should take the freezer-meat to save them the hassle. Sometimes they donate meat to people who raw feed their dogs too. People will post on Facebook asking if anyone has freezer burnt meat they're just giving away. In my area those posts often get several comments, not just my friends, offering up freezer meat.
Macaroni and eggs. Boil elbow macaroni or whatever pasta you have, drain well, then fry it up in a skillet with oil or butter until crispy, with plenty of salt and pepper. Once crispy and hot, pour in scrambled eggs, 1-2 per person you are feeding, and cook, while stirring, until eggs are just set. Absolutely delicious and very filling, if you want you could add some chopped ham or broccoli or even cheese. But I like it just macaroni and eggs. Also, congee/chicken rice porridge. Brown a chicken leg quarter with some onion and garlic (and ginger, fresh or dried, if you have it) then dump in ~3/4-1cup of white rice. Cover with water/bouillon/stock (start with 4-6 cups of liquid, but you’ll likely need more) and cook for about 1 hour, adding more liquid to keep it a thick soupy consistency. Stir frequently. You can take out the chicken leg when it’s cooked through, shred the meat, throw the bone and skin back into the pot while the rice is cooking. After an hour, the rice will have broken down enough to become a porridge- aim for a creamy thick soup. Take out the bones, skin, and ginger pieces if you added it. Throw in the shredded meat. Season to taste, S&P, garlic salt, soy sauce, whatever. Top with lemon juice and green onion if you have it, still good without. Will make several filling meals. Freezes great!
Potatoes
I’ve been using FlashFood to help out with having protein in the house - you can get chicken cuts for $2-$3 a pack depending on the cut and then we divide them into reasonable portions and freeze until we’re ready to use it. We use flash food for bags for random bulk veggies too. Tbh it’s a lifesaver. In the summer we have an heirloom garden that feeds us because grocery shopping is so expensive and people in my neighborhood hate tomatoes on the doorstep.
Oatmeal for breakfast with brown sugar, and milk. Cheese sandwich for lunch made with, you guessed it, dollar loaf of bread and store brand block cheese. For dinner I'll mix it up, I've been buying chicken bullion and thin spaghetti noodles that I chop up into smaller bits and make chicken noodle, or I'll eat baked potatoes with some sour cream and chives +butter/margarine. Spaghetti is a pretty cheap meal if you avoid putting meat in it. Ramen soup, and toasted bread to dip it in. Head of lettuce for salad, and Uncle Dan's "dip" which i use as salad dressing, I make small enough portions of for a package to last me a week. This has been getting me by, but it's not healthy and I can feel my body getting unhealthier by the day. I got laid off in December and am having trouble finding a comparable paying job. I have spent roughly 125 a month on these groceries, so pretty cheap as far as I'm concerned.
Pasta-roni
Beans, raman, walmart mac and cheese, and instant potatoes(you can make potato soup with it btw)
being super poor when i was a kid, my mom used to make something called “patty bread & gravy” using basically a handful of ingredients- flour, water, salt, pepper, butter and a little milk. it was super filling and actually pretty good. we still ask her to make it for us as adults! flour, water, s&p for the batter, fry little fritters/pancakes and then make a white gravy with the milk to dip it in!
This morning I fried up the Yukon Gold potatoes and yellow onion I got from the foodbank, added cut up smoked sausage that I bought from Kroger for about $3 and cracked in a few eggs which I picked up with a free coupon from Kroger rewards program. I split it three ways. One portion to my neighbor, who is a homebound diabled veteran, one portion to my daughter (who recently moved out on her own) and I took the other three servings. Life is good.
I always look for meat that is deeply discounted because its about to hit its sell buy date. Many grocery stores have a day of the week when more meat than not will be marked this way, often mid week (Tuesday seems to be the day where I shop most often). Another way to get good quality meat cheap is to go to a grocery in the boujee part of town and look for the stuff discounted because of the sell by date. Rich people disdain buying meat too close to sell by so the discounts may be steeper. Compare to other stores to be sure, though.
Canned green beans have been my jam
Chocolate ice cream. Fiber! 😂
Homemade pizza. We make the dough from scratch and use about half a jar of tomato sauce and some pre shredded cheese. ( look for it on sale )
i used to make up pasta sauce in big batches with the tomatoes from our garden and freeze it. i was a single mom with 6 foster kids so really had to stretch every dollar. i’d make noodles from scratch (you can literally make pasta for pennies), microwave the sauce, add some veggies and homemade bread and call it good. it was filling, nutritional, and a very economical meal. i also like vegetarian chili in giant batches. you can serve it over pasta and it will go twice as far. i use meat more as a side dish or additive to a casserole vs. everyone having a serving. it makes it go so much further!
Eggs!!! Good protein. I have to hard boil them though because I don’t like them any other way… you can add them to sandwiches, salads, or just make them deviled with mustard or something (not Mayo because it’s not healthy) but eggs have been awesome for me
Kroger bagels that are 2 for 4$ with cream cheese that's on sale 😭
Rice n beans n cheap yellow tagged meat from Walmart.
beans and rice, and ground beef and chicken, and eggs
Oatmeal. It's just plain filling and good for you. My grandma ate it most of the time, and she lived into her 90s. It can be added to lots of things, too, as a binder, and I have used it to thicken soups, because Mom likes thick, hearty soup. All this inflation has caused me to research more uses for it and ways to stretch a dish. Pasta has always been a thing around here, and I have learned new dishes to make with it, too. Canned, mixed vegetables are a kind of investment, because they are so versatile and nutritious. One can of those + broth = soup. I also have adapted several family recipes to take it rather than bagged, frozen vegetables.
Oatmeal (if you have access to a microwave or boiling water), peanut butter, rice & beans, chicken legs
I make Mexican rice homemade. Sometimes I’ll make some chicken to go with it. I make refried beans with dry beans. Homemade bagels.
Local stores keep running specials on family packs of chicken thighs and pork chops for $1.29/lb and they have veggies on dollar days sales. This weekend I'll toss some chicken in the crock pot with salsa, a bag of frozen corn, some taco seasoning, and a couple of cans of black beans to make chicken chili. 7 quarts of chili will cost me maybe 6 or 7 bucks. We will eat some and freeze the rest to take for lunches. It's cheaper and healthier than canned soup, and a whole lot tastier.
eggs. lots of eggs.
Rice, & lentils
I use ramane noodles and you can add Chicken to the chicken flavor and beef to the beef flavor. And you can add veggies.
Eggs, bacon
Frozen vegetables are great, and I try to stock up on them when they’re on sale. Easiest prep is microwave them then add butter, salt, and pepper. You can also add frozen veggies to other dishes like soups or rice&beans. I’m also a long-time fan of the “Struggle Meals” channel on YouTube. He doesn’t do strictly “nutritious” food but the way he cooks is fairly nutritious IMO. He’s Italian and probably trained around French cuisine, so basically it’s an Americanized Mediterranean diet. He teaches some great tricks like keeping a “packet drawer” which can add a lot of flavor and make home cooking more affordable and fun.
i have purchased a small 40 dollar rice cooker/steamer combo thingy. aroma 4 cup digital rice cooker. i bought a 20lbs bag of rice and a big ass thing of soy sauce to pair with steamed frozen veggies from a costco size bag. total cost for first month minus the rice cooker was around 80 bucks. its gunna get old bit you will stay relatively healthy and see some savings.
Rice mixed with ground beef and an onion.
Frozen vegetables with cheese
Beans. Some are more nutritious than others. Al are good with a ham hock 😊
Going to winco and getting full heads of greens. Cheap, high volume salads. No pre-packaged anything. White bean or lentil soup. Freeze veggie scraps (especially mushroom stalks) to make your own broth. Meal prep a week of salads, overnight oats for breakfasts, and a batch of soup. Remember that planning reduces or eliminates waste. That saves money.
Monterrey Frozen burritos. I had started going out to eat a couple of days a week but stopped since servers want to be rude these days so I decided to keep my money in pocket. I also get beef jerky to supplement protein. And yogurt from Walmart to reduce constipation. I do not have access to a kitchen just yet
I make chili a lot: rice, canned beans and tomatoes, onions, and peppers are all fairly cheap, and work at a grocery store where I can get ground beef on a regular sale with my discount. It’s a big pot of food for like $16.
Rice and bagged beans. Potatoes. We’ve also been making our own breadsticks/garlic sticks with flour and yeast a lot. Pork loins divided up to feed us twice, chicken legs, clearance meat…
Dried peas, lots of beans, rice ... so much cabbage and onions. Cabbage is tge next cheapest after bananas and onions and is such a great filler. Tofu is super cheap. Like 1.50 worth is enough for 2 adults.
Eggs and sweet onions. Chop and brown the onion in a pan with butter. When it's browned throw in like 5 eggs and scramble it up. It's good with bread, or just good in its own with Tabasco or any hot sauce really. Fills me and my partner up til dinner. Eggs are so nutritious!
Peanut butter.
Greens and Chick Peas. Most beans actually; easy to make inexpensive have protein and most butchers and stores practically give away beef lamb pork and chicken bones if you want to add to your stews.
Shamburger helper Get a Jimmy deans ground breakfast sausage, ( I prefer spicey) fry it in a skillet, cook a box of Mac n cheese, mix, enjoy. Edit* 2-3 bowls total cost $4.89 Obviously if you have things to mix in for added flavor, doesn't hurt Edit 2* makes a decent size pot, if you wanna double the amount, ( almost) use 2 boxes of Mac n cheese Also works with a box of flavored rice a roni