I’m a good cook and very good at reconstituting leftovers (not just heating up), and I think this is helpful.

Frozen veggies.(used to be a snob about fresh only.)

No extra beverages. We have a water dispenser at home, tea and coffee. Sparkling water has gotten too expensive so buy this rarely.

Eating simpler, more humble meals.

We have a HHI over $300k and it makes me sad and scared to think what people who truly don’t have money for food are feeling right now.

I’m not with the exception of when we host a ton of people, extended relatives, bunch of college kids plus friends etc. Steak is off the table. Here are the economical things that have been hits.

1. Pork ( not bacon which is pricey). Pork shoulder slow cooked with barbecue sauce, shredded. Great for a crowd but also freezes really well. I have a meat grinder attachment for my mixer and will grind my own ground book. Vietnamese caramelized pork, egg rolls, egg roll in a bowl, chili, meatballs etc.
2. Beef buy chuck roast at coast. One gets ground in the grinder, hamburgers / meatballs, chili, ground beef bulgogi, tacos. One gets slow cooked as beef burgundy or pot roast or Mexican shredded beef.
3. Poultry buy frozen turkey right after Thanksgiving on sale, buy chicken on sale ( use velvetting technique or soaking in buttermilk)
4. Eggs - frittata, really good scrambled eggs, make your own hollandaise sauce for eggs Benedict.
5. Bread/ pancakes. The big bag of krusteez pancake mix. Buy the double loaves at Costco and freeze one.
6. Vegetables and fruitFrozen on sale, in season on sale
7. Potatoes are always popular and versatile.

Economic games
1. For sales outside of Costco, be wary of sales at stores like Safeway. They often raise prices prior to a sale to make it look cheaper.
2. Asian markets are good.
3. Use credit cards that give a % back for groceries and always pay off the balance each month.

Anonymous wrote:
One of the most cost-effective and easy to make foods is to make fresh pasta in bulk. I directly store it in freezer and use it for my parties. Similarly, I make a killer all-purpose meat based pasta sauce that is better than anything you can get commercially. I also make it in bulk too. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/130358/worlds-best-pasta-sauce

Thanks PP!

As soon as I cen get out to a store, I am going to try this! (just need the ground beef and fennel)

Biggest bang for your buck are menu planning, making the same menus monthly, and then tracking the price of your ingredients so you can confidently stock up when they go on sale.

Next tackle food waste by figuring out a system for leftovers. Freeze, reheat for lunches, or have one day per week when everyone eats leftovers; or use leftover wizardry to turn leftovers into something new.

Find a good cookbook or website with reliable recipes that don't cost too much. I'm quite fond of Spend With Pennies lately. Her recipes usually turn out great, and do not call for a lot of unusual ingredients.

Have some budget Old Faithful standbys for nights when you are too tired to cook so you don't resort to expensive takeout or delivery.

Learn to cook your favorite expensive foods more cheaply from scratch if you can.

Shop at stores strategically. My favorite these days is Lidl. I am a member of their "Club" but honestly the food is already so cheap, the discounts don't save much more.

Raise inexpensive kids who are happy to eat snacks like homemade popcorn and apple slices with peanut butter; eat breakfast like homemade oatmeal or musli instead of boxed cereal, and home made pizza dough for pizzas instead of delivery.

Make lunch sandwiches ahead of time (without the condiments) and wrap and freeze them. Add the coniments later whn you pack the lunch box.

Drink mostly water. Eat whole fruit.

Teach your children how to cook.

I try to save money by not wasting any food. So I make yogurt with excess milk, I cut up whole chickens and make stock with the carcass, meal plan carefully, lots of soup. It takes real effort not to throw food away.

Buying less eating through my pantry.

Switched primary supermarket to Lidl.
No Grubhubb, Instacart, etc.
Leftovers.
Limit coffee out.
Cook in bulk and freeze.
Dried beans and lentils.
Canned fish
Reduce packaged snacks
Packed lunches for office and school (leftovers)

Anonymous wrote:

We throw large parties at least 3 - 4 times a year. This means that I am always buying raw material in bulk - rice, various flours, lentils, whole spices, oil etc - to keep costs down, and I cook all the food myself.

One of the most cost-effective and easy to make foods is to make fresh pasta in bulk. I directly store it in freezer and use it for my parties. Similarly, I make a killer all-purpose meat based pasta sauce that is better than anything you can get commercially. I also make it in bulk too. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/130358/worlds-best-pasta-sauce/

I also Sandra Lee some of my recipes. I make a lovely dessert for large parties - sugared fruit and custard on a flaky crusty sweet pastry square...and I just saw at a bakery that these sell individually from $3-$6.

If you do not need bulk items - just go grocery shopping with a few friends at Costco, and then divvy up the portions. You will see your grocery bills halved, even with the inflation.

Recipe please. I'm so tired of buying $50 cakes for dinner parties.

Anonymous wrote:I guess “manageable” is relative to your income. However, the easiest things to do are no takeout, no food delivery, do your own grocery shopping, pack lunch for work, brew your own coffee. Those are where majority of people, especially those that really can’t afford it, lose a ton of money.

Exactly this. I also always make extra of things that are easy to freeze/defrost so that I have a stash of good options to pull out when I have lost the will to cook or couldn’t make it to the store. Think meatballs, chili, non-cream soups. Keeps me away from takeout.

We're eating down the freezer and pantry, and I'm using the crockpot and pressure cooker a lot. Yesterday was a split chana dal curry with roast acorn squash, with baked cinnamon raisin apples for dessert.

We shop mainly at Lidl and Aldi, only going other places for the sale items.

I guess “manageable” is relative to your income. However, the easiest things to do are no takeout, no food delivery, do your own grocery shopping, pack lunch for work, brew your own coffee. Those are where majority of people, especially those that really can’t afford it, lose a ton of money.

Anonymous wrote:

We throw large parties at least 3 - 4 times a year. This means that I am always buying raw material in bulk - rice, various flours, lentils, whole spices, oil etc - to keep costs down, and I cook all the food myself.

One of the most cost-effective and easy to make foods is to make fresh pasta in bulk. I directly store it in freezer and use it for my parties. Similarly, I make a killer all-purpose meat based pasta sauce that is better than anything you can get commercially. I also make it in bulk too. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/130358/worlds-best-pasta-sauce/

I also Sandra Lee some of my recipes. I make a lovely dessert for large parties - sugared fruit and custard on a flaky crusty sweet pastry square...and I just saw at a bakery that these sell individually from $3-$6.

If you do not need bulk items - just go grocery shopping with a few friends at Costco, and then divvy up the portions. You will see your grocery bills halved, even with the inflation.

They did not ask about hosting parties.

I'm having to shop in person instead of having them delivered.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I shop at Costco probably once/month.

I subscribe to a grocery delivery service. It seems counterintuitive, but the cost of the service is really minimal when divided over the course of the year and when I know I can get another delivery quickly later in the week I don’t buy as much on a one weekly trip because I have to “ stock up” and then inevitably I wind up throwing things out because our plans change. It’s much more economical to just order a small amount of groceries to be delivered every two or three days.

We buy meat from a farm that cost less than half of what it would in the store, and is still even less expensive than Costco.

Curious which grocery delivery service?

I'm not in the DC area, so likely not available in exactly the same capacity there, but it's the Safeway delivery service where I am - called Voila.

Well right now Im stuck in because of the ice so Im saving and working through my food. The most annoying thing is running out of berries and lunch meat.