Bean beans n more beans

1. Buy a rice cooker. Not only does it make rice so much more convenient, you can make meals directly in it.

2. Get a deep freezer, its useful for the points below. Honorable mentions go to a label printer and a vacuum bag machine.

3. Buy in bulk, but repack your bulk goods as soon as you buy them. I use cleaned, cylindrical PET bottles but you can use vaccum bags, glass jars (purchased or repurposed) or food storage buckets. The reason you repack them right away is because bulk goods aren’t as clean, sterile and impervious to atmosphere as you might think. There can be microscopic insect eggs in them, mould spores which will activate with the slightest moisture, and the packaging is often damaged in microscopic ways. I like to use PET bottles, washed, dried, and then pack an oxygen absorber into each one. Then I fill it with rice, small pasta, dried beans, chick peas, grains, lentils, etc. All these dry goods are way cheaper to buy in large qty. Once packed, I seal them, freeze them for 48 hrs, thaw them for 72 hrs to allow any dormant eggs to hatch, then freeze again for another 48 hrs. The oxygen absorber will collapse the PET bottle around the dried goods so you get a satisfied hiss when you open it. This way, when you get some rice, you’re only opening a single 1 liter bottle which might take a month or so to use up rather than a 25kg bag of rice which will take a year or more to use up while it gathers insects, dust, rodents, mould, moisture, etc. Stored in PET bottles, these dried goods will last for 20 years or more. I also store sugar and salt this way, but I don’t use an oxygen absorbers because these things don’t really expire at all.

4. You can buy bulk fresh vegetables (and even meat) and process it yourself. For meat, buy in bulk and portion it out into vacuum bags or ziploc bags. For fresh vegetables, buy them when they are inexpensive (usually when they are approaching the end of their shelf life, or from farmers market. I get a ton of very cheap veg from asian grocers near me) One of my favorite things to buy is butternut pumpkin for very cheap. I roast a couple of them, cut in halves, for a few hours. Then scoop out the flesh with a spoon, put it in ziploc bags, and freeze it into flat plates. When frozen, I break it up into chunks and keep them in a big tupperware in the freezer. I use them to thicken stews, pasta sauces, and make really quick soups. You can do something similar with any vegetable, whether you’re blanching them and freezing broccoli florets, or making apple sauce, or diced carrots. This also makes meal prep much easier.

5. Make more soup. Soup is really easy to make, but is infinitely variable. I have about 10-12 that I rotate through, but even if you’re just trying to use up leftovers or deal with wilty veg, you can make a soup

6. Learn how to make a bread that you like. I’m not suggesting you make loaves of whitebread, but you should try making a few different kinds of bread and find one that you like making and like eating. My go-to is foccaica, because its simple, easy, no-knead, and its not boring, it has salt and olive oil in it which makes any sandwich tasty. I make one a week, it takes about 30 minutes of actual work, and lasts me a long time. Sometimes I make mini loaves and use them for sandwiches and hamburgers. If you make your own bread with plain flour, which is the cheapest kind, it will cost you way less than storebought bread.

Dumpster diving.

You’ll be distressed to find out how much shit your local supermarket throws out.

It really depends on circumstance. Do you have a broad pallette, do you cook, do you have access to land or community garden to grow pricer food per calorie (lettuce, fruit), will you lower your meat intake, can you reduce meals on the go or nights out?

There are a lot of ways to reduce your food budget, the biggest is refraining from eating out. Probably followed by more meals without meat, which is healthier anyway. Americans eat way too much meat. If you are a creative cook you can make the food you have on hand go further, instead of letting random ingredients go to waste.

While pretty much everyone here is taking a moment to talk about beans, peas are higher in a lot of nutrients and a lot easier to digest (I think they are tastier to). You can often get them frozen in bulk if you don’t want to deal with dried and they can disappear into a lot of recipes.

Consider backing up your rice dishes with peas if you aren’t a bean fan.

Cooking more with canned ingredients.

Rice , rice cooker , various sauces , dried beans, peanut butter, making bread is cheap and easy ( I haven’t gone there yet but its coming). I don’t buy shit else unless it’s on sale.

I don’t really make a grocery list anymore other than fruit, veggies, tofu etc and buy non perishable items on sale when I see them and got a serious stock pile going of decent stuff .

I like going to middle eastern and asian food markets where things are a little cheaper and ingredients seem better.

✌️

Start with a goal of no food waste. If you manage your food inventory like rations in a bunker then the savings on wasted food can help offset the expense.

Together with inventory management is preserving your food. Not jarring your stuff or pickling. Utilizing your fridge and freezer to limit food waste is good at saving you money.

Learning to cook and tapering your food expectations helps a lot with savings. Also learning that cooking with vinegar or acid can extend cooked food just like sweeter food lasting longer.

Or get a partner that came from poverty and learn how to cook(/s).

Nutrition is expensive, and controlling waste is crucial. So yes, if you can get a price break on anything essential, consider freezing and pickling (veggies) what would otherwise spoil. In general, try to learn about how different vegetables and meats will keep.

Rice, beans, and potatoes are great staples that last a while and are good for you.

Lower-end “potted meat product” and similar canned meats may be less expensive per ounce than full cuts. That said, it’s usually full of sodium and is usually only good on sandwiches and things like that.

Some grocery stores sell cooked rotisserie chicken as a loss-leader (discount). That said, cost-compare against whole birds in the freezer section just in case. Besides, you can’t beat home-made roast chicken, and it’s fairly easy to do.

I was broke-as-a-joke back in the 2000’s. So the following advice may have aged like the milk I bought back then:

• Obviously, go down-market on your grocery store chain. Cost-compare if your time/energy budget allows it.
• Learn how to cook what’s cheap. What’s not imported and in season is usually (not always) in this category.
• Avoid box-mixes (e.g. hamburger helper). Buy raw ingredients and consider seasoning packets or bulk seasoning to make the same dishes.
• Bologna, souise loaf, and pickle loaf (if they even still make that) can be cheaper than non-processed cuts
• Bananas and corn are subsidized as fuck. There are likely others. As a result, they’re artificially cheap.
• Regularly check the store circular (those newspaper things nobody reads) and jump on limited store specials and BOGOs.
• Tofu can be pretty cheap IF you buy it at an asian grocery store; there may even be bulk options. Making these can be a chore, but a huge bargain if you buy soybeans in bulk. It also freezes okay too, but it does change the texture (some recipes use this).

rice, beans, canned meats, food banks.

if you can, grow a garden with staples that you can eat.

squash, tomato, eggplant, potato.

anything to add to a meal that can stretch grocery ingredients out and make them not as expensive.

not enough room to grow your own? find a community garden in your area. not find one? reach out to city planning and ask if there’s anywhere you can use for a community garden. they might even have some funds to help you get it established.

I’m an old guy. I usually go to my local grocery store when the kids get out from school for lunch. It gets really crowded in there and everyone is looking at the kids with suspicion while I’m shoving cans of beans and lunchmeat into my haversack.

Stealing/grifting from the conservatives who caused it.

Aldi and Lidl.

Step No. 1 is find the lowest cost grocery store in your area. Stores like Lidl and Aldi are usually substantially cheaper than other big name alternatives, even Walmart.

Step No 2. Especially if you’re talking about actual food insecurity, is shaping what you eat. A pound of spaghetti and red sauce will feed 4 people for less than $5. Actual sacks of rice and orzo are extremely cost effective. If you have an honest to goodness local meat butchers around (these aren’t so common so you may have to go looking), they will often have bulk deals in meat you can buy and freeze. This is much more cost effective than $8-$12 a pound refrigerated ground beef in your local grocery store.

Step No 3. Is something to approach with caution, but certain credit cards often have good cash back rates on grocery stores. If you use them exclusively for grocery and gas purchases, and only use them to pre-spend the money in your checking account so you’re never carrying a balance or paying any interest, they can save you some money. American Express for example has a no-fee rewards card that gives you 3% back on groceries, and a higher tier one that was a $100 annual fee that gives you 6% back on groceries and 3% on gas. Make it your dedicated gas and groceries card, don’t spend more on it than you have money to pay for, and you get a nice little break on two of the most expensive costs of living right now. Something else that might work in this arena is to join a bulk membership store like BJs, Sam’s Club, or Costco and they might have a rewards credit card or even just a store card that puts a little money back into your pocket when you use it.

I know BJs has a program too where if you spend a certain amount on groceries you get a discount on gas if you fill up that day at one of their gas stations, which are usually already cheaper than regular gas stations.

If things are very dicey you can always visit a food pantry. Some Christian churches also do weekly/monthly free meals no questions asked. I know Episcopal churches are usually big on this.

Where I live, oats or potatoes are even cheaper than beans and rice. Dairy (milk, yoghurt etc), peanuts and eggs are also cheap here. Meat is expensive but frozen is cheaper.

Anything that is in season and produced locally/in my country (and/or has excellent shelf-life) tend to be what I look for.

A bowl of oats, yoghurt and peanuts is a simple and filling staple when I don’t feel like cooking something “proper”.