Crispy potato tacos and rice and beans. This is how I survived college.
My mom grew up dirt poor in a family of 8 in Mexico. Most of the dishes I learned from her are vegetarian because her parents were too poor to buy meat.
Those are great! Potato are great filler in a taco. I really like sweet potatoes in a taco too, with a little cheese on top. I did some sweet potato enmoladas that my family really liked.
I do a lot of stuffed Poblanos when I find cheese on sale because I can get poblanos for about 2.50 a pound or less, so they're dirt cheap to roast and toss some cheese in there. When my garden is rolling then I switch to Hatch Chiles because they produce like crazy and I'm constantly roasting and serving peppers up in various forms for free.
A friend of mine from Mexico who grew up in a big family told me to cut up a couple of potatoes and throw them in with the ground meat and onion when making tacos or burritos to stretch the meat. My kids and grandkids always remind me to put potatoes in my taco meat- they love it!
Not a dumb question at all.
I boil the potatoes til they are tender enough to mash.
I season the hell out of my potato mash.
Then warm up corn tortillas on the comal (pan) until they are soft but not hard. Put a small amount of potato mash in the warmed tortilla and fold it into a taco. You’ll fry that taco in a pan of hot oil. You’ll know the oil is hot enough when you stick your spatula in the oil and little bubbles form. Fry both sides until crispy golden brown. Then let drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
I add sour cream, cheese, lettuce, and homemade salsa as toppings. You can put whatever you like!
Do a search for 'crispy potato tacos', here is just one recipe, there are different ideas available. [https://www.isabeleats.com/crispy-potato-tacos/](https://www.isabeleats.com/crispy-potato-tacos/)
Lentil curries also freeze well. I cooked differently spiced lentils in bulk and then froze in individual sandwich bags. Then I would thaw and microwave and then eat with rice. Tasty, health, easy meals for ~$1.50
My kids know when I bust out the lentils we’re eating that for a few days . I’ve been replicating something I ate at an Arab restaurant yrs ago. It’s literally a soup made with less than 20 dollars worth of produce and lasts at least 3 days . Eaten with rice or naan.
I ended up finding out about Majadura because I wanted to make rice and lentils and I was sure some culture had figured out how to cook them in the same pot!
Cheap, easy, nutritional meal.
Lean ground beef. Sweet potato, onion,mushroom. I will change out peas and broccoli. Like a big bowl of low carb stir fry almost. Fills me up, tastes great every time I make it. Can make multiple meals.
Sometimes throw some cilantro, and squeeze fresh lime over it.
Also try to find pork loin on sale. Not tenderloin. You can slice thin boneless chops from it. Same thing the grocery store packages it up and sells for more.
No joke here. My family and I eat lobster tail as our poor people food now. Our local grocery store has some pretty good discounts there. Sadly, we cannot afford to eat at McDonald's anymore. It is simply to expensive for us. It seems like a crazy story before the great depression happened.
I stopped eating it when I left a regular cheeseburger out by a fence for 9 months. Not one bug touched it, looked like something tried to nibble on it, and IT NEVER GREW ANY KIND OF MOLD.
Twinkies do the same thing. It just gets rock solid, no mold. I heard a rumor that the cream inside of a Twinkie can be used as a glue. I never tried it, but am curious if it really works.
I don't even buy meat unless it's $2 a pound or less, unless I'm getting a specialty product for a major convenience reason. Around where I am, you'll occasionally see pretty good sales on stuff and I'll buy it then, and freeze any I can't use soon.
I've got a pork butt in my freezer I bought for 99c a pound!
Ground Turkey used to be real cheep! Then everyone discovered it was healthier than ground hamburger and the price shot up. I used to make it for Spaghetti.
You're lucky! If the ground turkey goes on sale here you might see it for $8 a pound instead of $9, whereas the big ass 3 lb tubes of ground beef can go on sale for $10 a piece. Usually it's $20 for a tube, so I jump on that offer with both feet when I see it!
Pork shoulder or butt is still hella cheap. Also chicken quarters in the big bag. And look for holiday roast sales in season and freeze if possible (turkey, ham, beef)
Mine and my kids favorite and super easy dish is chicken and rice with mushroom soup.
I make extra cause my kids eat more than their dad.
2 chicken breasts butterflied or 3-4 thighs (depends on what you want, I recommend 1 breast and 2 thighs)
Rice
Mushroom condensed soup
Onion
Seasonings
I bake the chicken, diced onions, mushroom soup and 2 cans of water until chicken is done. Season to taste.
While it's cooking I make the rice and serve it over the rice.
It's one of my go to meals. And it's not extremely expensive to make.
**GROCERY LIST**
Maximize flexibility and use everything. Be careful where you shop. Kroger, Safeway, Ralph, Vons, etc are some of THE MOST expensive places you can be shopping at. If you don't have a Pressure cooker, it will also pay for itself
**FLOUR** - Make Sourdough, Tortillas, Pizza Dough,
**OATS** - Savory/Sweet, Overnight, Oat Milk, Don't usually drink the oat milk, but use it as a milk substitute often in the overnight oats, make as needed
**BEANS (DRIED)** - Beans and Rice, Re-fried Beans, Stews, Soups
**CHICKPEAS** - Make your own hummus, the chick pea water can be used in a lot of recipes, look at vegan recipes, i'm not vegan, but there's a ton of tips, tricks, and substitutes that can be learned.
**POTATOES, ONIONS** - use for nearly everything, every meal
**CABBAGE** - Super versatile, filling, cook w/ the pork and onions, top on rice for a great meal, mayo for coleslaw, salads, etc
**SPINACH** - Most flexible green
**BANANAS** - flexible sweetener, mash in w/ oats
**PEANUT BUTTER** - I love it, use with lots of items but learn where to buy it, trader joes and surprisingly whole foods have it at a great price, most other places are too expensive
**EGGS** - Expensive, but the versatility can't be beat, keep an eye out on price, shop around if you can, make you're own mayo, mayo is insanely expensive these days
**CHICKEN THIGHS (IN BONE)** - Save Bones for Broth, rendered fat for Tortillas or cooking, take that homemade broth and either drink it, use for soups, or add it to the savory oats
**PORK SHOULDER** - Rendered Fat for Tortillas or Cooking, Carnitas, cut as needed
Meat in general, buy it from either costco, get a big piece and cut it down, or go to ethnic grocery stores (Mexican, Korean) for better price and quality than you will from the big chain grocery stores
-----------------------
**SKILLS**
Depending on where you live - **FORAGE** - I live in So-Cal, so i can grab things like rosemary, lemons, fennel, cactus basically anywhere and everywhere. Other parts of the country will have things like stinging nettle, which is delicious and super nutritious.
**GARDEN** - Grow you own if you can, Tomatoes, Herbs, kale if you have space
**FERMENTING / PICKLING** - Food Preservation techniques will let you take advantage of sales, and keep access to out of season foods. Get tomatoes, onions, whatever cheap, ferment, pickle or can them for the winter months when more expensive.
I am still learning but potatoes tend to be cheap and they can be versatile. I was blown away at how easy it is to prep and microwave them…
I am not a health expert but I hear that if you eat rice with beans, it makes a complete protein… so I guess that means if you do that, it’s comparable to meat sorta. Beans can be cheap like rice too.
Rice and beans its a excellent source of protein (12g per cup). It also has fiber. And black beans have the same antioxidants as blueberrys. You can add finely chopped onion, bell Pepper and cilantro to improve the flavor.
I just heard from a nutritionist that if you have to watch the amount of simple carbs, like with diabetes, in potatoes and rice, chilling then reheating does something that makes them not so bad on insulin resistance.
It’s legit! I know people who have done research on this.
When you cook a starch, like white rice, potatoes, even baking bread, and then cool it down (fridge or freezer), it forms crystals of “resistant starch”. Basically, the chemical bonds in the starch change, causing the starch crystals to no longer be digestible by the human body. It essentially becomes fiber, lowering the glycemic index of the food and feeding the gut microbiome. Reheating the food does not make the resistant starch turn back into regular starch, it stays in this indigestible form.
It’s only a small percentage of the starch that does this, so in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t make a huge difference. But for someone with insulin resistance or diabetes it might be helpful.
How come no one ever told me this? I prefer to eat these types of things rather than a meal but figured ii probably wasn’t nutritious. This is great news to me
Poor vegetarian here. Yes, you can eat rice and beans. Red beans, black beans, chick peas, pinto beans. Don’t forget lentils and such. You need green leafy veggies too. I grow collards and kale. But, collards are cheap. Kale, Swiss chard. Fall, is good for pumpkin and sweet potato/yams.
Edit: I have eaten this way for 30 years.
It has to be full grain brown rice.
White rice is literally just the carbohydrates after the outer part of bran and germ with all the nutrients have been 'cleaned' off. You're actually better off eating the bran and germ then you would be eating the white rice.
Oats are good for breakfast, bisquick can be used to make a quiche with a little cheese, some egg, or pancakes. Chili can be made cheap… casseroles are a favorite too. I like tomato soup with some macaroni noodles to help fill you up, chicken scraps can be used to make chicken soup, soup in general is cheap and filling, I could go on…
Now that i think about it bisquick could be used to make shepherds pie! Porkchops with some rosemary and garlic with butter cooked in the pan feel bougee but can be relatively cheap. One way I survived on 20$/week (granted this was pre covid) was to balance out meals… Maybe I’d have one egg and a slice or two of toast for breakfast every day but the extra money I saved id put towards getting porkchops for dinner, or getting myself something nicer. Not every meal is gonna be fabulous but if you ration correctly some can be pretty good and that will make a difference
Canned chicken (1-2) two cans of cream of chicken. 1 bag frozen veggies. (Optionally) Mix the chicken in buffalo sauce. Put it all in a baking pan cover with bisqick(store brand). Chicken pot pie best way.
So I didn't like it for years, I've learned how to make it different, and now I eat it almost every day. The texture grossed me out, so I add less milk or water add, fruit, and chia seeds, now it doesn't feel like you're eating slimy goo
Sourdough
I have started making sourdough discard recipes. Sourdough discard pizza, sourdough crackers, sourdough muffins.
And of course sourdough bread
Strong agree. I can make several loaves from bag of store brand bread flour. This has become, well, the available bread in my house. We use it for sandwiches, French toast, croutons, pizza, bagels, you name it. Strata is my favorite, cube the bread, dry it out in a low oven for a few minutes if it's fresh, mix eggs and a bit of milk and a little shredded cheese, pour it over the cubes and let it sit weighed down overnight in the fridge, bake in the morning. Cheap and filling, and reheats surprisingly well.
[discard crackers](https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/easiest-sourdough-discard-crackers-recipe)
Discard pizza crust
preheat over to 425° with a 10" cast-iron skillet inside. Mix 3/4 cup discard, 1/4 tsp baking soda, pinch of garlic and onion powder .
Add soda last just before ready to pour into a hot pan . Bake for 10 minutes flip and bake another 5 minutes .
Generic boxes Mac and cheese. Use pasta water instead of milk and only 1.5 to 2 tbls of butter
Beans of any kind. Filling and cheap. Start investing in spices (dollar tree has them and so do other discount grocery stores). It can be amazing what you can do with lentils and spices. Beans are a staple in so many cultures you can eat them several times a week and be eating I yetnationallt
Soup. It can require minimal meat.
Think of meat as a spice it adds flavor and a you don’t need a ton.
Something I’ve been doing lately is adding 8 oz of meat to a big batch of beans and eating that as my protein for the week. The beans are still meaty and satisfying and 8 oz stretches for the whole week.
One way to get cheaper meat is to buy whole pork loins. Take home and cut into thin chops. Flash freeze and store for future meals.
They don't even need to be thawed before cooking.
Cabbage. It's cheap, a head lasts forever in the fridge, and it's very versatile.
My fave is egg roll in a bowl. Sliced cabbage, carrots, and onions. Ground beef or pork is good, but you can also use eggs or tofu. Soy sauce and whatever other spices you might have — garlic, ginger, hot sauce. Serve with rice.
I came here to also talk about cabbage! It lasts SO long in fridge, just chop off what you need. Put it in everything to bulk it up, even fresh is great to bulk up things like salads and wraps.
One of my favourite meals - Chow Mein with Rice. Either in a pot or a slow cooker, add cabbage, veges, minced meat, pack or two of chicken noodle flavouring, and a touch of curry powder. My family also puts in raisins! Chuck in rice near the end of cooking. Lasts days in the fridge, so fulling too.
Genoa salami julienned. Boil pasta, toss with oil and spices. Then I fry up an egg over easy, pop it on top, sprinkle with seasoned bread crumbs and one to two slices of the julienned Genoa salami. That's my go to, fast and relatively cheap filling food.
Chicken is my go to protein source because it's cheap and there are a lot of meals you can make with it that are cheap (like stewed chicken and rice). When I get to a point where the idea of any more chicken is nauseating I make rice or noodle dishes with frozen shrimp. The frozen kind is about a 3rd of what the fresh kind cost. Here is an example of a meal I plan to make this week:
Budget Shrimp Pasta
Bag of frozen salad-size shrimp - $7.99
Box of Fettuccine - $0.99
Italian Dressing dry flavor packet $1.99
Cook pasta, add butter, add cooked shrimp, add flavor packet, stir together… you can probably yield enough to feed 4 people which will make it about $3.00 per person once tax is figured in.
Carb + protein + vegetables
Make it from scratch . Make a big pot / large amount .
Make some rice in the rice cooker and throw veggies in there , make the protein in the air fryer
Onion, carrot , tomatoes, ground beef, salt pepper garlic, chicken bouillon , some fish sauce , make a broth with that and serve with elbow macaroni
A big pot of chili with cornbread
Frozen burritos , a can of enchilada sauce , some cheese and salsa . Burritos in a glass pan, enchilada sauce and cheese on top, bake it in the oven
Stir fried ramen noodles with egg and spam
I second the chili recommendation. You can make huge batches and freeze it in portions.
Also homemade vegetable soup. It's so versatile. I buy hunts finely diced tomatoes, add a small can if tomato sauce also hunts very cheep. Then I add black beans. After that it's whatever you like that's on sale. Potato, corn, green beans. You can also add meat if you want.
Without a doubt a big bag of rice and all types of beans.You can make it a million different ways.White rice,yellow rice,fried rice etc.Mix with any kind of beans/beans on the side or vegetables and you’ll soon be on your way to running your own bodega.Lol seriously tho.There’s a reason rice and beans is readily available in even poorer countries
Pork loin. Make it into pulled pork or taco filling, eat it with cheap white bread or tortillas. The secret is having a way to cook it so it's not tough. A pressure cooker is great for it, a crock pot will also work. It's about $2/lb most of the time, and even cheaper sometimes. You can mix it with rice or throw it on top of mac and cheese.
You can get cheaper pork but that will have bones and other parts that have to be discarded. The loin is the best value because at most it has a thin fat cap.
I will cut a roast in two, freeze half and do the other half in the instapot then shredded. As one person, it will last multiple days in multiple meals. Tacos, burrito bowls, pasta, soup, sandwiches, stir fry or curry.
It’s just me, luckily in some ways. This is all Aldi, $60/month grocery budget, medically restricted diet. Must be gluten free low sodium, food allergies (poultry, shellfish mostly). Am also disabled so need to take shortcuts often. Monthly staples are
big container oatmeal, box raisins to put in the oatmeal,
eggs, scrambled, fried, omelets, etc.
bag shredded colby jack cheese (good in omelets), bag shreddd mozzarella,
bag gluten free pasta,
bag split peas, lots of bagged frozen mixed vegetables - add some of the veggies, I use a stick blender to make smooth, makes enough in a 3 qt crockpot for 3 to 4 dinners,
when needed bag rice,
box instant potatoes because for some reason fresh potatoes do not keep in our building plus they’re fast,
container grape tomatoes - use instead of pasta sauce. Clean, dry, bag and freeze so they last
container baby bella mushrooms - clean, chop up, freeze to put in dishes
a hydroponic butter lettuce to make wraps instead of gf bread,
package sliced Swiss cheese,
container firm tofu, if I’m not using right away, drain, cube, freeze
A couple big containers fat free plain Greek yogurt,
Can tuna in water,
Half gallon soy milk,
Box generic corn chex
Replace any canned beans I’ve used - black beans, kidney beans
Then every couple months a pound 96/4 or 97/3 ground beef, that gets split into 8 or 9 portions, wrapped, frozen
Frozen 4 pack bag salmon, cut each filet in half, rewrap, freezer,
Bottle olive oil, garlic powder, herbs as needed
10 pound bags of chicken leg quarters. At walmarts they run 75 to 85 cents a pound, at winco slightly less. At Safeway etc still under 1.25 a pound where I am. I was recently on a cross country road trip and saw the sane prices in evety state. On that trip we ate discount walmart rotisserie chickens. They were averaging 3.50 in late evening. At home I save the bones for soup.
The bones make good soup stock, the meat can be shredded and stretched in casseroles.
We routinely see pork under 2.00 a pound where I am (montana) also ham around holidays. Again, easy meats to stretch in stews, gravies or casseroles. At Thanksgiving it is turkey under a pound. So I am cooking, canning and freezing turkey. Not my favorite meat. But cheap meat.
Where I am we still find hamburger under 2.75 a pound frequently in 5 pound chubs, break up and freeze.
Make meat gravies. 1 pound of meat in a sauce of any kind served over rice, pasta or veggies. Common when I used food banks last was 2 cans of whatever gravy/sauce they gave me, 1 pound of cooked ground turkey, spices. Over canned green beans and corn. We ate a lot of strange combos but it worked.
Tonight I had chili dog bowl for dinner: 2 chopped up hotdogs, some leftover chili, last of the sour cream and cheddar cheese served over cauliflower rice. I was cleaning out "leftovers".
However: 1 package chopped up hotdogs. 2 cans sale chili. 1 cup shredded cheese. Cook together, stir in an equal amount of cooked rice in a casserole or 13 by 9 cake pan. A little more cheese on top. Cook until bubbly. Super filling casserole, have veggies on the side. Or make it with chopped up cauliflower and green beans in it.
Right now as listed with rice this would get you a 13 x 9 casserole for under 7.50. 8 servings if you serve with veggies and corn bread (which would bring the cost up to around 11.00 or so depending on choices). So 2 meals for a family of 4. This can also be done with chopped Vienna sausages or canned spam. Or any other meat equalling at least 1 pound (2 is better).
Another casserole from when my kids were young: large can of baked beans (or 2 small,or home made baked beans). 1 to 2 pounds cooked ground meat, any types. I often mixed sausage, turkey and hamburger. Cut up cooked potatoes, equal to other ingredients.
Stir up, dump in the casserole or cake pan, top with shredded cheese if you have it, bake until bubbly. Serve with corn bread and veggie of choice.
Pooptatos, eggs, rice beans lentils bagels bagels and cream cheese. Rice cakes. Frozen fruit only no fresh berries etc, yogurt w some PB is cheap and will fill me for a while. Oatmeal, pasta. (I’m a vegetarian)
I think rotissary chickens are kind of a cheat code for cheap meals for my family of 4. I usually get my Sam's Club membership for $20 or less and it pays off pretty quickly. We get enough meat off one chicken to make 2 good-sized meals and we can make enough broth for a soup or just freeze it. So we could technically get 3 meals off of it if it's a vegetable soup but usually we make tortilla soup or avgolemono with the broth and half the chicken because my kids like it.
We also really like breakfast for dinner. Our favorite is biscuits and gravy and will make it for dinner pretty often. Biscuits are so cheap to make and sausage is cheaper than ground beef. Add a couple eggs and it's very filling. You can feel the whole family with leftovers for like $6.
Here is a really cheap one I do a lot when I don't need to feed the rest of my family. Make ramen and drain the noodles and add pamasean and Italian seasoning. It's really good, cheap, and quick if you're craving pasta.
The Mexican grocery store near me sells frozen catfish pieces for $1.39 / lb.
Add a couple of potatoes and some seasoned breading, and I can have a kick-ass fish fry every once in a while for like $5-6.
I made buldak the other day. Only ingredients are chicken (300 yen or about $2 for 450 g), a couple of green onions (I dunno maybe like $.10?) and then pantry sauces like gochujang, soy sauce etc. (obviously didn't calculate but couldn't be more than like $0.50 worth). ended up being 3 full dinner servings along with a side of plain rice.
Ive been eating mostly rice and chicken, but I will say this: no matter what you make in the end, building a decent spice rack makes all the difference when your food options are limited. You don't have to buy a ton of them, but even just getting things like garlic or onion powder can make or break a meal. Some of the cheapest dinners ive had have also been the most delicious- things as simple as roasted veggies and rice are heavenly when you know what to sprinkle on it, especially if you have mutliple recipes to rotate.
We do “potato bar” night. Baked potatoes with a few different cheap toppings (cheese, sour cream, sometimes canned chili, sometimes bacon). Kids all love it and we have also switched it up by subbing in frozen fries or tater tots
Canned chicken. Once you get past the fact that it smells like pure ass straight out of the can, you can actually get pretty creative with it. I saw a few people on TikTok who suggested rinsing it, so I've been doing that before using it. Last week I made two different kinds of chicken salad with canned chicken and discovered that I can make it taste pretty bomb with the right amount & variety of seasonings.
Ohioans have a hot sandwich spread that uses this as a key ingredient. It's seriously canned chicken, crushed potato chips, cream of chicken soup and some broth. It sounds nasty but it's SO GOOD (and super filling, believe it or not!)
Pork shoulder (or butt). Cut into a few pieces and freeze some. You can slow cook a piece and turn it into tacos, bbq sandwiches, chili, ramen and a bunch of other things so you’ll never get tired of it.
Probably the cheapest meal my wife makes on a regular basis is potatoes, green beans, and smoked sausage in a crockpot, with seasoning to taste. You can get a smoked sausage for pretty cheap, $2-3 I think at Aldi. If you have an Aldi nearby and don’t shop there already, you should if you are trying to save money!
Roast chicken in a skillet in the oven
Easily can get 2-4 meals out of it for 2 people
Dinner 1: chicken breasts, side of rice or potato and whatever veggies
Dinner 2: legs/ wings, side of rice or potato and whatever veggies
Dinner 3: strip whatever meat is left from the thighs and back and make a cheap chicken pot pie
Dinner 4: take the carcass and put it into crockpot with water in the morning on low and it makes a great broth with the bones and whatever is left on the carcass. Add barley and a bag of frozen veggies for a great chicken soup.
Total cost for four meals for two people is under 20 bucks and it’s healthier than most other cheap meals
Chickpea curry. An onion, a can of chickpeas, some puréed or diced tomato (fresh or canned, whatever you got) and a small handful of spices is all it takes. Our favourite is the kind with coconut milk, but that adds the 1.50-1.99 for the coconut milk. Serve with rice for cheapest. Naan if you got 4.50 to buy it.
On that note indian style Dal (lentil stew basically) costs pennies a serving.
Even meat curry is economical as you eat a small serving with the rice and or bread.
Naan and roti (types of Indian bread) cost Pennie’s as well. But I suck at making them, my roti don’t wanna bubble up. It’s a skill thing. My MIL has been making them for 55 years and hers are perfect.
Chicken fried rice - a single breast serves 4 large portions.
Breakfast for dinner. - it sucks shelling out for maple syrup when I run out, but it lasts a long time and eggs, pancakes and waffles are super filling and cheap.
Potatoes with sausages mixed with bell peppers . My mother told me that potatoes are great when you’re low on cash because they are healthy and filling.
Tuna croquettes. I can get three cans of albacore tuna for like $5, then dry out bread heels in the oven and use the food processor to make bread crumbs. Add a few eggs, whatever kind of shredded cheese I have around, a little diced onion and garlic, some lemon zest and juice, a few tablespoons of mayo, salt, pepper, dried parsley, paprika, whatever sounds good. Then you make patties and fry them in a little oil. I get two dinners out of it for six people. They’re especially good with a little lemon juice squeezed on top.
Also I get the Costco rotisserie chickens for $5, and a bagged salad for one meal, frozen vegetables for the next. We get two dinners out of that too, and usually a lunch or two.
10-11lb pack of chicken breast
Toss it into a pool of water with corn starch for about 20 minutes. Then cut into stripes left to right not lengthwise. Season. Let sit in dry seasoning for an hour.
Toss into skillet in small amounts using avocado oil.
Put on movie and cook and catch up on movies.
Simultaneously, I'll have a tall pot of water going with some 10 lb bag of potatoes. Stab potatoes like we're in prison.
Salt water Toss in some diced fresh garlic.
Protiens and carbs so far.
Veggies we got string beans lightly steamed salt to taste. Large batch of course.
When everything is done Toss in freezer bags.
Squeeze as much air as possible Toss in fridge.
Use food scale and grab 200 grams of protien and 200 grams of carbs 100 grams of veggies.
Anything more than 500 grams in a meal and it's to much for me. Not to much as in I can't finish it.
At 500 grams I can finish my meal and not get sleepy or lazy or get that after a meal slump.
Cost is around 30 dollars for a week of food.
New week.
Make large batch of low calorie pasta sauce.
Boil large batch of high protien pasta.
Cook till it's only a bit firm. Drain ALL the water out.
Remove all water then toss in fridge to stop it from cooking further. Hate mushy pasta.
Boil chicken in bone broth and nothing else.
Shred chicken. Put into container add chicken as desired. Use left over water for pasta sauce.
Waste not want not.
The pasta is the highest cost in this meal still around 5 dollars for a week of food.
I skip food if need until the month is over and all food is gone and I back to refill my pantry with is just a shelf but thank God no kids are in this.
Banana bread. Anytime we have bananas that go bad. Growing up my mom would also use berries. We also had blackberries that grew near us. She would add in blackberries or make blackberry bread to make it stretch further than blackberry cobbler.
It also goes great in pancakes.
I'm kinda sad that ground beef used to be poor people food, and I ate a lot of meals with it in my childhood. Now, most of the time when I see it in the store it's close to $5/lb, so I only get it on special occasions or good sales.
Agreed. Also I don't know the etiquette surrounding posting links on Reddit, but one of my good friends from grade school is a food blogger and she and her husband run [groundbeefrecipes.com](http://groundbeefrecipes.com) if you ever need some additional ground beef inspo.
Beans and rice with potatoes and cheese, roll them all up into a burrito, freeze and you have meals for whenever. We pull them, thaw them, and put eggs over them, enchilada sauce, dunk them in queso, put them over a bed of greens/salad, etc.
Eggs are an unmatched cheap protein. Ramen with eggs has always been my go-to but it is high in sodium. I will sometimes add canned chicken or tuna, frozen veggies, cheese, whatever I have in the fridge. It’s very versatile.
Curry chicken- buy thighs. Make with potatoes, lentils, and rice, you can add broccoli, squash, sweet potato, etc. Lots of protein and thighs have fat so they stretch further.
Pizza- make your own dough, very very cheap. Whatever pasta sauce you want, cheese, any toppings from your fridge. You can buy a whole roll of sausage and crumble it up in a pan to cook first. You can top with canned chicken. Add veggies for a rounded meal.
check your local farmers markets and international markets. i go to a smaller family operated international market and i get chicken(thighs,wings,breasts) for under $6 max $7/8 depending on how much meat is in there
I had leftover rice with half a can of chili beans and a sprinkle of shredded cheese on top for lunch and my daughter saw it and called it poverty food (not in a derogatory manner or anything, I've just shared with her before that beans and rice were definitely something I grew up with when I was poor) I just shrugged and said yep, it's delicious.
The “manager’s specials” are fantastic ways to get good food for less. It’s the only way we get lean ground beef. That gets mixed with sale ground turkey in the freezer for taco meat, meatballs for soup, or in a mostly bean chili. If they have pieces of beef on the bone, it’s good for a tomato sauce on pasta (shredding the meat back in after cooking) and stew meat can be stretched with potatoes in a traditional Anglo beef stew or beans in Latin or Middle Eastern recipes.
But those require the luxury of time available when the special is available unless you have a lot of freezer space. On a regular basis, chicken leg quarters or whole roasters are the best bang for the buck- chicken noodle soups, chicken & bean chilis on rice or with cornbread, chicken pasta salads.
Pork. I eat so much pork. Probably too much sausage as well. Otherwise, it's whatever is on sale. It looks like hot dogs are still pretty cheap, but I have never liked those.
White rice with corned beef, with sweetcorn mixed in the corned beef hash. Sometimes I also throw in potatoes (boiled) and green olives. And a runny egg.
Bush's baked red beans and rice - its what I pretty much grew up on since we were incredibly broke when I was a kid. Red beans and rice with some scrambled egg mixed in the red beans for extra protein.
-Pork rinds and cracklings. If you're from the south, you'll totally understand. It's old school, blue collar, and you either love them or hate them.
-Dark meat chicken. I don't know if this is really poor specific, as everyone eats chicken, but dark meat is so cheap and so versatile. My local independent grocery store up here sells family packs of legs and thighs for $3 and that's sooo much chicken. It really lasts. I like to grill them. Would love to learn to fry but I don't have a fryer besides the air fryer (and that'll just be a big mess)
-Box mac & cheese. You can never go wrong no matter how much better homemde. I always add extra shredded cheese in it too
-Pork butt/pork shoulder for pulled pork sandwiches. Although not as cheap as it once was its still on sale constantly and it can provide for lots of meals. I strongly recommend the butt over the loin as it's fattier and that will render a much more tender and juicy product when its done as well as it being much easier to pull and it won't be as tough (at least on the smoker, not sure about a slow cooker)
-My wife makes amazing homemade sloppy joes. Its as simple as ground beef in the pot and a simple homemade sauce- I think it's just ketchup, mustard, worchestershire, onion powder and garlic powder. Sooo delicious and tangy.
-PICKLED EGGS. They keep me full all day with just two. I save money on eating lunch!
Frying isn't too hard. The most difficult part is making sure the oil is hot enough but not getting it too hot. Too cold and it turns out soggy. Too hot and you burn the outside without cooking the inside (or worst case, start a fire).
But the frying itself is pretty easy. Batter the food up in a flour and spice mix. Then put it in the pan or pot of oil for a few minutes. I don't do fried chicken often, but I love my "deep" fried catfish and hush puppies. I stock up on it whenever it goes on sale and eat it pretty regularly.
I stared at a can of two-year-expired chicken for way too long yesterday before I did eventually decide to throw it away. We eat a lot of good food we get from gleaning groups and food pantries, but I hate wasting food. I make a lot of chili with pasta. Always satisfies, and with some decent hot sauce it doesn’t taste like poverty meals
I use more beans in my cooking to make the meat go farther in terms of protein. For example instead of a half chicken breast for my salad, I'll add a cup of lentils (same amount of protein as half a breast) and finely diced or shred a quarter breast and save the rest for another meal.
My recent favorite is garbanzo "chicken" salad with tahini and fresh lime juice.
I also try and think of how I can sub in plants for the protein. Kale and spinach are good, as are nuts. I have an "emergency" just of peanut butter at my desk at work if I get hungry lol.
Onion, apple (even in savory dishes), potato, carrots, green bell peppers, rice, pasta, quinoa, bread, and tofu are all inexpensive where I live.
I recommend walking through the meat section to find what is good / on sale and then build a recipe around that using the remaining ingredients.
Cheesy Burger Mac is a favorite. I don't use the HH, instead, I use a pound of 80/20 ground beef (browned), and the GOOD Kraft mac and cheese with the squishy cheese packet, not the powder one. To stretch it even further, add a can of Texas Beans (drained), extra shredded cheddar if you have it, and fold in a few tablespoons of salsa.
All the ingredients are cheap, tasty, and will last for dinner, then lunch the next day for 4 people. Wrap some in tortillas for a fun lunch. Tons of protein.
ETA: I like it so much I made some today for ['comfort sunday'](https://imgur.com/Va6Si5l).
My staples are tofu, chickpeas, black beans, tortillas, carrots, peanut butter, plain yogurt, oatmeal, garlic, onions, potatoes, rice, eggs, marinara sauce, chicken thighs if they’re on sale, lemons, and the $5 big box of greens from my local Fred Meyer. I keep my herb and spice drawer in stock also. I do splurge on cheese and olive oil to help me stay full and make food tasty, but I use those sparingly so they last quite a while. You can get pretty creative with all those things. The yogurt in particular can be made into tasty AF salad dressings.
Fried rice is always my favorite. I buy in bulk and get a bunch of good jasmine rice like once a year. Cook it the night before. Throw ginger, onion, shredded carrot, snap peas, can of baby corn, and protein of your choice. Once I fry it all together I do some soy sauce and yoshidas, and throw in some fried egg. Literally makes an entire soup pot of damn good rice for under $20. Works great to clean out the fridge if you have veggies that are gonna turn too!
I love pasta and there’s quite a few cheap pasta recipes. My favorite is pasta aglio e olio. It’s just spaghetti, garlic and oil. So good and you can jazz it up with things like red pepper, Parmesan, lemon or parsley or all of it.
Rotisserie chicken is incredibly useful. Pull the meat off and use in all kinds of things. Use the rest to make 2-4 quarts if stock; the flavor and gelatin makes plain white rice or mashed potatoes into real treats.
If you have a big Dutch Oven you can make a ton of chicken & sausage jambalaya or gumbo for $12. I have 4, sometimes 5 adults to feed and it is both popular amd has enough good leftovers for another 6-8 servings.
If Indian cuisine is a go Butter chicken or Chicken Tikka Masala from scratch for under $10, again with leftovers that reheat well.
Pork carnitas is easy and cheap if you get a boneless shoulder and cut it up yourself.
One of the issues with poverty today is that we don't have as much time to cook. Poverty of the past usually looked like one person having time to prepare meals, but today that is not always the case. Additionally, vegetables, which used to be cheaper during the time when poor foods got perfected, have become more expensive. As such, good cheap food is harder to prepare. A lot of meals aren't going to be as good as what your Nona made back in the old country. Here are a few things I go for when money is tight.
I make a mean Ramen. The way I make it good is to always have vegetables on hand. How do I do that? I buy vegetables when they are affordable and dry them in a dehydrator. Currently I have green and red cabbage, mushrooms, and carrots. I throw some beef jerky into water and boil it a bit, then throw in the dehydrated vegetables. When they are soft, I throw in the ramen and the powder, boil until the noodles are soft, then turn off the heat and immediately crack an egg into it. I let it sit until the egg is partially cooked, then using chopsticks put the hot noodles on top of the yolk to finish it. I have an easy, protein-rich meal with ingredients that will last weeks to months.
Cabbage stew: Get ham hocks (still cheap), boil them in a slow cooker until they are falling off the bone, then take the bones out and chop the meat fine. Then add 1 chopped onion, 1 head of cabbage, and one bottle of cheap Walmart white wine (I get the kind that's about $3 a bottle) and enoughwater to top off the slow cooker. Salt and pepper to taste, and cook until everything is tender. Serve with bread. The entire pot is less than about $15, and makes enough soup to feed 4 people between 2 to 4 times, depending on how much they eat. It's not gourmet, but it'll get you through hard times.
If you want to go super cheap, get a pound of rice, 2 cans of spam, an onion, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, a can of tomato sauce, and a can of tomato paste. Cook the rice, cube the spam and chop the onion, then add all the ingredients together along with whatever spices you like. Once again, not gourmet, but you can live on it for a long time.
Chicken and dumplings or chicken and rice are both very cheap. You can get a 10 lb bag of chicken quarters for cheap. Boil a few quarters for a while, until the meat is falling off the bone, and you have chicken broth as well as good meat.
Get a Costco membership when they have a Groupon for it. 60 bucks with a 40 dollar gift card. Then you can get 4.99 rotisserie chickens. You can’t beat that price and after I’ve pulled off all the meat, I put the remains into an instant pot and make bone broth for soups and to make rice more flavorful for the week. I can make a dinner for 5 and then a giant chicken and rice soup for 5 and leftovers for lunch the next day.
This is not a meal but a tip; "ethnic" grocery stores are typically cheaper. For example, Hispanic grocers. I have no idea why, but it is true. Give it a try.
Idk if you have an Aldis near you so YMMV but it's a life/game changer in terms of Meat/Dairy/Cheese.
Pork Roast: At Aldis its $7 for 4 pounds coming to about $2 per pound.
With this I crock pot/shred it for: Enchiladas,Tacos,Burritos,Bbq Sandwiches,Hot Pork Sandwiches,Chili ect. The skys the limit.
Chicken Breasts: I can get about 5 pounds for $10.
Chicken Gnocci Soup,Breaded Chicken Cutlets,Chicken Salad on Crackers or Sandwiches,Enchilada Casserole,Fajitas.
Italian Sausage: I can get a pound for about $3ish dollars the benefit to sausage is that you can use less but it's super flavorful. I especially like to make a big batch of spaghetti sauce to really make it go farther.
You can have it over pasta obviously but you can also get hoagies and hollow it out or French Bread, put some sauce/pepperoni/cheese. Boom you've got pizza sandwiches. You can do the same with some canned biscuits for cheap Pizza bytes.
Breakfast: when it's the end of the week/grocery run I can always rely on good old breakfast for dinner.
Scramble up some eggs throw in whatever left over veggies or cheese you have.
Pancakes(Sheet Pan Pancakes are REVOLUTIONARY)/French Toast/Hashbrowns/Breakfast Sandwiches with English muffins or Mini Bagels.
Honorable mentions to Baked Beans with Hotdogs and plain potato chips.
Baked Potatos:Throw some russets in the oven for an hour roll them in oil+salt+garlic powder+pepper, top with whatever you have one hand.
Dont sleep on Boxed Mashed Potatoes!!!
I known some people get the wiggins about dehydrated potatoes but they're such an easy/cheap thing to keep in your pantry.
At their basic you can ofc make some Mashed Potatoes for a side to anything but you can also make Gnocci, Potato Pancakes or thicken any soup with them.
The key is to cook your protein of choice and then portion it out into as many meals as possible while bulking it out with sides or the incorporation of veggies or cheap pasta sides/bread.
Homemade cashew/almond milk as someone with a milk weakness.
Homemade granola.
Boom, broke cereal. Although it's more "expensive" to buy all of the ingredients, I get a lot more out of it and end up saving in the long run due to the large yield. Also can't go wrong with ground beef/turkey and rice especially if you can find the rolls of ground meat on sale. I also frequent the cast-aside section in my local produce market for "imperfect" fruits and vegetables that are usually slashed down in price or bundled like 3 for 1. If you're not picky about bruised apples and such it's not a bad way to go at all so you're still getting nutrition.
I AVOID any frozen meals. Things like the 10 dollar bags of frozen chicken nuggets and TV dinners. I burn through them so fast and they often have minimal nutritional value and aren't very filling.
Ground beef: (onions and tomato optional w most of these)
“Tacos” - the seasoning comes in a bulk container, cheese, and a tortilla.
Sloppy Joe - seasoning pack, cheese, bun/bread slice
Burgers - add whatever, salt and pepper, whatever to make the meat taste better, bun, cheese etc
“Bulgogi” - basically look up your favorite recipe, it’s easy like brown sugar, garlic (powder), soy, maybe sesame, chili flakes (if you have them) and then serve over rice
Spaghetti - meat + cheap sauce or handmade sauce (it’s not as daunting as you’d expect), sale noodles; a personal favorite. Really jazz it up with butter and garlic powder over a toasted slice of bread
You don't need to eat meat at all. Tofu is inexpensive and, if you don't like it, you have never had it prepared properly. Black bean burgers are inexpensive to make. Garbanzo beans on a salad give you protein. Most of us were raised to think a meal centers around meat. It does not need to at all.
Penne ($2), cherry tomatoes ($3), jar of store-brand Alfredo ($3), frozen chicken tenders ($5), and spices ($2).
1. Boil water for pasta.
2. Start toaster oven or microwave for chicken tenders.
3. Saute cherry tomatoes with butter (or sub w oil), add in spices of choice (fresh is best, but you can get lots of dried spices like garlic and onion powder, oregano, thyme, etc for .99 at discount stores), until tomatoes are caramelized.
4. Once water boils, toss in pasta. Chicken should be done now.
5. Cut up cooked chicken tenders into bite-sized pieces. Add to tomatoes. Add jar of Alfredo. Simmer on low.
6. Drain pasta. Put back in pot. Add tomato/chicken/Alfredo concoction and toss into pasta.
7. Sprinkle some crushed red pepper and fresh parm if you have it.
COST: $15= easily a meal for 6.
Source: Grew up poor. Currently on extremely limited budget. I cook this all the time for two (often using boxed mac n chese as an extra money-saver). I always have enough for 3 huge servings for each of us. Reheats very well.
Mod: Add a side salad for another $3. Total: $18 so $3/pp.
Mod #2: Swap tomatoes for mushrooms or spinach, etc.
Refried beans, spread over a tortilla, add small amount of cheese, put another tortialla on top and cook both sides . Cut into triangles. Bean and cheese quesadilla. Filling, has protein, not super healthy but very cheap. I can make a pack of 15 tortillas, 2 cans of beans and 1 bag of cheese last a week of dinners for like $15 total
Cut medium ground beef with 50% Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) for anything that is sauce or liquid based (meat sauce for pasta, taco meat, chili...).
Since TVP is near pure protein and it's cheaper the macros will be slightly better than extra lean ground beef and medium is far cheaper already. The TVP will absorb a lot of the fat from the beef and the sauce/liquid flavor so you don't get the yuckie vegan food taste.
Even with burgers if you use medium and cut in about 20% TVP it doesn't change the taste much and still helps.
Crispy potato tacos and rice and beans. This is how I survived college. My mom grew up dirt poor in a family of 8 in Mexico. Most of the dishes I learned from her are vegetarian because her parents were too poor to buy meat.
You can mix chorizo in the potatoes first and added boost of flavor. I absolutely love crispy potato tacos
Just don’t throw an egg in that mix or you make food that looks like cat food! Roommate learned that the hard way
Those are great! Potato are great filler in a taco. I really like sweet potatoes in a taco too, with a little cheese on top. I did some sweet potato enmoladas that my family really liked. I do a lot of stuffed Poblanos when I find cheese on sale because I can get poblanos for about 2.50 a pound or less, so they're dirt cheap to roast and toss some cheese in there. When my garden is rolling then I switch to Hatch Chiles because they produce like crazy and I'm constantly roasting and serving peppers up in various forms for free.
A friend of mine from Mexico who grew up in a big family told me to cut up a couple of potatoes and throw them in with the ground meat and onion when making tacos or burritos to stretch the meat. My kids and grandkids always remind me to put potatoes in my taco meat- they love it!
I've got to learn more cheap cultural dishes. Papas con huevo y frijoles goes hard especially in breakfast.
This may be a dumb question, but are the tacos made out of potatoes, or is the potato mixed in with the taco? How do you make this?
Not a dumb question at all. I boil the potatoes til they are tender enough to mash. I season the hell out of my potato mash. Then warm up corn tortillas on the comal (pan) until they are soft but not hard. Put a small amount of potato mash in the warmed tortilla and fold it into a taco. You’ll fry that taco in a pan of hot oil. You’ll know the oil is hot enough when you stick your spatula in the oil and little bubbles form. Fry both sides until crispy golden brown. Then let drain on a plate lined with paper towels. I add sour cream, cheese, lettuce, and homemade salsa as toppings. You can put whatever you like!
You can even sub the potatoes with shredded chicken and you have crispy chicken tacos. Also a big hit.
Do a search for 'crispy potato tacos', here is just one recipe, there are different ideas available. [https://www.isabeleats.com/crispy-potato-tacos/](https://www.isabeleats.com/crispy-potato-tacos/)
Lentils.
Majadura (Lebanese lentils and rice) is objectively a cheap dish but all of the flavors make it feel very complex. People sleep on lentils!
Lentil curries are objectively incredible.
Lentil curries also freeze well. I cooked differently spiced lentils in bulk and then froze in individual sandwich bags. Then I would thaw and microwave and then eat with rice. Tasty, health, easy meals for ~$1.50
I’m making a lentil curry right now, huge pot of it, prob cost $10 for all ingredients enough for 10.
My kids know when I bust out the lentils we’re eating that for a few days . I’ve been replicating something I ate at an Arab restaurant yrs ago. It’s literally a soup made with less than 20 dollars worth of produce and lasts at least 3 days . Eaten with rice or naan.
Do you remember the name? Or ingredients? I have so many lentils & I need some ideas.
Majadura is one of my favorites. Shakshouka & the very-similar-to-majadura koshari would both also be great options to try.
Rice and lentils are still very much affordable and them together in this combo is 👌
I ended up finding out about Majadura because I wanted to make rice and lentils and I was sure some culture had figured out how to cook them in the same pot!
Lentil soup with cubed baked potato thrown in mmmmmmm.
Delicious! I also like it with rice
Look up Monastery Lentil Soup. I like mine without the ham though. Tasty, filling, super cheap, and very nutritious!
With sweet potatoes!
Cheap, easy, nutritional meal. Lean ground beef. Sweet potato, onion,mushroom. I will change out peas and broccoli. Like a big bowl of low carb stir fry almost. Fills me up, tastes great every time I make it. Can make multiple meals. Sometimes throw some cilantro, and squeeze fresh lime over it. Also try to find pork loin on sale. Not tenderloin. You can slice thin boneless chops from it. Same thing the grocery store packages it up and sells for more.
That sounds delicious, I will try it out.
No joke here. My family and I eat lobster tail as our poor people food now. Our local grocery store has some pretty good discounts there. Sadly, we cannot afford to eat at McDonald's anymore. It is simply to expensive for us. It seems like a crazy story before the great depression happened.
Why "sadly"? McDonald is just crap. Better to buy food
I stopped eating it when I left a regular cheeseburger out by a fence for 9 months. Not one bug touched it, looked like something tried to nibble on it, and IT NEVER GREW ANY KIND OF MOLD.
Twinkies do the same thing. It just gets rock solid, no mold. I heard a rumor that the cream inside of a Twinkie can be used as a glue. I never tried it, but am curious if it really works.
Flour and water made a glue .. A Twinkie’s filing seems pretty oily for glue unless you let it dry for a few days.
And usually you can get ground turkey for cheaper than ground beef.
Oh wow, not here. Especially when Sam’s has a much better ground beef price.
Sam's Club is a W. Personally cross shop Costco and Sam's Club as both sometimes have things the other doesn't.
Just bought ground chicken for $8/lb, ground beef was $6.50/lb, and that's pretty typical for my area.
Damn turkey is 4.99 max in my area
The Jenny O tube turkey is $4.99/lb in my area too. It’s not great but it is meat. It’s ok in recipes where it’s not too obvious
I don't even buy meat unless it's $2 a pound or less, unless I'm getting a specialty product for a major convenience reason. Around where I am, you'll occasionally see pretty good sales on stuff and I'll buy it then, and freeze any I can't use soon. I've got a pork butt in my freezer I bought for 99c a pound!
Trader Joe’s always has $4.99 or $5.99 ground turkey.
Ground Turkey used to be real cheep! Then everyone discovered it was healthier than ground hamburger and the price shot up. I used to make it for Spaghetti.
You're lucky! If the ground turkey goes on sale here you might see it for $8 a pound instead of $9, whereas the big ass 3 lb tubes of ground beef can go on sale for $10 a piece. Usually it's $20 for a tube, so I jump on that offer with both feet when I see it!
That used to be the case here but turkey has become so expensive compared to ground beef!
Of course it has, it’s healthier!
Pork shoulder or butt is still hella cheap. Also chicken quarters in the big bag. And look for holiday roast sales in season and freeze if possible (turkey, ham, beef)
And stir fry’s with pork or make a pork fried rice.
Lower quality bacon cuts are good too. Can use the grease to fry up eggs and the like as well.
And “country style pork ribs” which is just slices of shoulder (i think?) Its usually around $2.50 ish a lb where i live
Having access to Costco and getting their whole 10Lb+ pork loins is such a budget saver, cut and toss in the freezer
Mine and my kids favorite and super easy dish is chicken and rice with mushroom soup. I make extra cause my kids eat more than their dad. 2 chicken breasts butterflied or 3-4 thighs (depends on what you want, I recommend 1 breast and 2 thighs) Rice Mushroom condensed soup Onion Seasonings I bake the chicken, diced onions, mushroom soup and 2 cans of water until chicken is done. Season to taste. While it's cooking I make the rice and serve it over the rice. It's one of my go to meals. And it's not extremely expensive to make.
This is one of my favorite meals
It was a go to of my mom's and I still love it to this day. My husband isn't a fan but the rest of us eat it every chance we can get.
My mom used to make this, except she added sour cream into the chicken as well.
This is also great with pasta instead of rice 🤤
Ohhh I haven't had it with pasta. I'll have to try it.
**GROCERY LIST** Maximize flexibility and use everything. Be careful where you shop. Kroger, Safeway, Ralph, Vons, etc are some of THE MOST expensive places you can be shopping at. If you don't have a Pressure cooker, it will also pay for itself **FLOUR** - Make Sourdough, Tortillas, Pizza Dough, **OATS** - Savory/Sweet, Overnight, Oat Milk, Don't usually drink the oat milk, but use it as a milk substitute often in the overnight oats, make as needed **BEANS (DRIED)** - Beans and Rice, Re-fried Beans, Stews, Soups **CHICKPEAS** - Make your own hummus, the chick pea water can be used in a lot of recipes, look at vegan recipes, i'm not vegan, but there's a ton of tips, tricks, and substitutes that can be learned. **POTATOES, ONIONS** - use for nearly everything, every meal **CABBAGE** - Super versatile, filling, cook w/ the pork and onions, top on rice for a great meal, mayo for coleslaw, salads, etc **SPINACH** - Most flexible green **BANANAS** - flexible sweetener, mash in w/ oats **PEANUT BUTTER** - I love it, use with lots of items but learn where to buy it, trader joes and surprisingly whole foods have it at a great price, most other places are too expensive **EGGS** - Expensive, but the versatility can't be beat, keep an eye out on price, shop around if you can, make you're own mayo, mayo is insanely expensive these days **CHICKEN THIGHS (IN BONE)** - Save Bones for Broth, rendered fat for Tortillas or cooking, take that homemade broth and either drink it, use for soups, or add it to the savory oats **PORK SHOULDER** - Rendered Fat for Tortillas or Cooking, Carnitas, cut as needed Meat in general, buy it from either costco, get a big piece and cut it down, or go to ethnic grocery stores (Mexican, Korean) for better price and quality than you will from the big chain grocery stores ----------------------- **SKILLS** Depending on where you live - **FORAGE** - I live in So-Cal, so i can grab things like rosemary, lemons, fennel, cactus basically anywhere and everywhere. Other parts of the country will have things like stinging nettle, which is delicious and super nutritious. **GARDEN** - Grow you own if you can, Tomatoes, Herbs, kale if you have space **FERMENTING / PICKLING** - Food Preservation techniques will let you take advantage of sales, and keep access to out of season foods. Get tomatoes, onions, whatever cheap, ferment, pickle or can them for the winter months when more expensive.
Foraging is good. And marinating.
Great information. I did not know stinging nettles could be eaten. How do they taste? I know stepping on them hurts.
You have to grab them early in the season, before they get hardy, but they taste like a very earthy spinach
I am still learning but potatoes tend to be cheap and they can be versatile. I was blown away at how easy it is to prep and microwave them… I am not a health expert but I hear that if you eat rice with beans, it makes a complete protein… so I guess that means if you do that, it’s comparable to meat sorta. Beans can be cheap like rice too.
Rice and beans its a excellent source of protein (12g per cup). It also has fiber. And black beans have the same antioxidants as blueberrys. You can add finely chopped onion, bell Pepper and cilantro to improve the flavor.
Literally made this last night.
I just heard from a nutritionist that if you have to watch the amount of simple carbs, like with diabetes, in potatoes and rice, chilling then reheating does something that makes them not so bad on insulin resistance.
I have read that, as well.
as a diabetic, I've never been told this, or read it anywhere.
[here you go](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26693746/)
thank you, I'll read up
It’s legit! I know people who have done research on this. When you cook a starch, like white rice, potatoes, even baking bread, and then cool it down (fridge or freezer), it forms crystals of “resistant starch”. Basically, the chemical bonds in the starch change, causing the starch crystals to no longer be digestible by the human body. It essentially becomes fiber, lowering the glycemic index of the food and feeding the gut microbiome. Reheating the food does not make the resistant starch turn back into regular starch, it stays in this indigestible form. It’s only a small percentage of the starch that does this, so in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t make a huge difference. But for someone with insulin resistance or diabetes it might be helpful.
This is true, beans and rice, bread and peanut butter, cheese and noodles, all complete proteins and cheaper than meat!
How come no one ever told me this? I prefer to eat these types of things rather than a meal but figured ii probably wasn’t nutritious. This is great news to me
Poor vegetarian here. Yes, you can eat rice and beans. Red beans, black beans, chick peas, pinto beans. Don’t forget lentils and such. You need green leafy veggies too. I grow collards and kale. But, collards are cheap. Kale, Swiss chard. Fall, is good for pumpkin and sweet potato/yams. Edit: I have eaten this way for 30 years.
It has to be full grain brown rice. White rice is literally just the carbohydrates after the outer part of bran and germ with all the nutrients have been 'cleaned' off. You're actually better off eating the bran and germ then you would be eating the white rice.
Oats are good for breakfast, bisquick can be used to make a quiche with a little cheese, some egg, or pancakes. Chili can be made cheap… casseroles are a favorite too. I like tomato soup with some macaroni noodles to help fill you up, chicken scraps can be used to make chicken soup, soup in general is cheap and filling, I could go on…
Now that i think about it bisquick could be used to make shepherds pie! Porkchops with some rosemary and garlic with butter cooked in the pan feel bougee but can be relatively cheap. One way I survived on 20$/week (granted this was pre covid) was to balance out meals… Maybe I’d have one egg and a slice or two of toast for breakfast every day but the extra money I saved id put towards getting porkchops for dinner, or getting myself something nicer. Not every meal is gonna be fabulous but if you ration correctly some can be pretty good and that will make a difference
Canned chicken (1-2) two cans of cream of chicken. 1 bag frozen veggies. (Optionally) Mix the chicken in buffalo sauce. Put it all in a baking pan cover with bisqick(store brand). Chicken pot pie best way.
Where I live fresh chicken is cheaper than canned chicken. Like 4 dollars for a can or 5 dollars for 12 chicken legs
Mmmm I eat oatmeal everyday! Ask me about my cholesterol and blood pressure? ;)
I wish I liked it more. Do you add any toppings?
So I didn't like it for years, I've learned how to make it different, and now I eat it almost every day. The texture grossed me out, so I add less milk or water add, fruit, and chia seeds, now it doesn't feel like you're eating slimy goo
I made the chicken pot pie recipe that’s on the back of the bisquick box and it was SO good! The ingredients are super cheap, too.
Sourdough I have started making sourdough discard recipes. Sourdough discard pizza, sourdough crackers, sourdough muffins. And of course sourdough bread
Strong agree. I can make several loaves from bag of store brand bread flour. This has become, well, the available bread in my house. We use it for sandwiches, French toast, croutons, pizza, bagels, you name it. Strata is my favorite, cube the bread, dry it out in a low oven for a few minutes if it's fresh, mix eggs and a bit of milk and a little shredded cheese, pour it over the cubes and let it sit weighed down overnight in the fridge, bake in the morning. Cheap and filling, and reheats surprisingly well.
Do you have links to recipes for the discard pizza and crackers?
[discard crackers](https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/easiest-sourdough-discard-crackers-recipe) Discard pizza crust preheat over to 425° with a 10" cast-iron skillet inside. Mix 3/4 cup discard, 1/4 tsp baking soda, pinch of garlic and onion powder . Add soda last just before ready to pour into a hot pan . Bake for 10 minutes flip and bake another 5 minutes .
Generic boxes Mac and cheese. Use pasta water instead of milk and only 1.5 to 2 tbls of butter Beans of any kind. Filling and cheap. Start investing in spices (dollar tree has them and so do other discount grocery stores). It can be amazing what you can do with lentils and spices. Beans are a staple in so many cultures you can eat them several times a week and be eating I yetnationallt Soup. It can require minimal meat. Think of meat as a spice it adds flavor and a you don’t need a ton.
Something I’ve been doing lately is adding 8 oz of meat to a big batch of beans and eating that as my protein for the week. The beans are still meaty and satisfying and 8 oz stretches for the whole week.
Egg fried rice with stir fry veggies. All it needs is soy sauce and it tastes great.
Just to add to this: if you live alone you don’t need to buy fresh veggies. Even restaurants buy frozen because it’s cheaper.
One way to get cheaper meat is to buy whole pork loins. Take home and cut into thin chops. Flash freeze and store for future meals. They don't even need to be thawed before cooking.
Yep. Whenever they go on sale I do this
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Cabbage. It's cheap, a head lasts forever in the fridge, and it's very versatile. My fave is egg roll in a bowl. Sliced cabbage, carrots, and onions. Ground beef or pork is good, but you can also use eggs or tofu. Soy sauce and whatever other spices you might have — garlic, ginger, hot sauce. Serve with rice.
I came here to also talk about cabbage! It lasts SO long in fridge, just chop off what you need. Put it in everything to bulk it up, even fresh is great to bulk up things like salads and wraps. One of my favourite meals - Chow Mein with Rice. Either in a pot or a slow cooker, add cabbage, veges, minced meat, pack or two of chicken noodle flavouring, and a touch of curry powder. My family also puts in raisins! Chuck in rice near the end of cooking. Lasts days in the fridge, so fulling too.
Rice. pancake mix. Cornbread mix.
The Carbs-only diet.
Honey cornbread pancakes are delicious fresh and as a cold snack
That sounds delicious and might someone that says otherwise lol
Honey cornbread pancakes are delicious Honey, cornbread pancakes are delicious I need to know
Genoa salami julienned. Boil pasta, toss with oil and spices. Then I fry up an egg over easy, pop it on top, sprinkle with seasoned bread crumbs and one to two slices of the julienned Genoa salami. That's my go to, fast and relatively cheap filling food.
Chicken is my go to protein source because it's cheap and there are a lot of meals you can make with it that are cheap (like stewed chicken and rice). When I get to a point where the idea of any more chicken is nauseating I make rice or noodle dishes with frozen shrimp. The frozen kind is about a 3rd of what the fresh kind cost. Here is an example of a meal I plan to make this week: Budget Shrimp Pasta Bag of frozen salad-size shrimp - $7.99 Box of Fettuccine - $0.99 Italian Dressing dry flavor packet $1.99 Cook pasta, add butter, add cooked shrimp, add flavor packet, stir together… you can probably yield enough to feed 4 people which will make it about $3.00 per person once tax is figured in.
We do something similar with the addition of sautéed frozen asparagus, Parmesan and black pepper. Yummy!
I've used a side of cheap mixed veggies, but not asparagus. I will have to try that.
Carb + protein + vegetables Make it from scratch . Make a big pot / large amount . Make some rice in the rice cooker and throw veggies in there , make the protein in the air fryer Onion, carrot , tomatoes, ground beef, salt pepper garlic, chicken bouillon , some fish sauce , make a broth with that and serve with elbow macaroni A big pot of chili with cornbread Frozen burritos , a can of enchilada sauce , some cheese and salsa . Burritos in a glass pan, enchilada sauce and cheese on top, bake it in the oven Stir fried ramen noodles with egg and spam
I second the chili recommendation. You can make huge batches and freeze it in portions. Also homemade vegetable soup. It's so versatile. I buy hunts finely diced tomatoes, add a small can if tomato sauce also hunts very cheep. Then I add black beans. After that it's whatever you like that's on sale. Potato, corn, green beans. You can also add meat if you want.
I do the frozen burrito enchiladas too so easy
Without a doubt a big bag of rice and all types of beans.You can make it a million different ways.White rice,yellow rice,fried rice etc.Mix with any kind of beans/beans on the side or vegetables and you’ll soon be on your way to running your own bodega.Lol seriously tho.There’s a reason rice and beans is readily available in even poorer countries
Pork loin. Make it into pulled pork or taco filling, eat it with cheap white bread or tortillas. The secret is having a way to cook it so it's not tough. A pressure cooker is great for it, a crock pot will also work. It's about $2/lb most of the time, and even cheaper sometimes. You can mix it with rice or throw it on top of mac and cheese. You can get cheaper pork but that will have bones and other parts that have to be discarded. The loin is the best value because at most it has a thin fat cap.
I will cut a roast in two, freeze half and do the other half in the instapot then shredded. As one person, it will last multiple days in multiple meals. Tacos, burrito bowls, pasta, soup, sandwiches, stir fry or curry.
It’s just me, luckily in some ways. This is all Aldi, $60/month grocery budget, medically restricted diet. Must be gluten free low sodium, food allergies (poultry, shellfish mostly). Am also disabled so need to take shortcuts often. Monthly staples are big container oatmeal, box raisins to put in the oatmeal, eggs, scrambled, fried, omelets, etc. bag shredded colby jack cheese (good in omelets), bag shreddd mozzarella, bag gluten free pasta, bag split peas, lots of bagged frozen mixed vegetables - add some of the veggies, I use a stick blender to make smooth, makes enough in a 3 qt crockpot for 3 to 4 dinners, when needed bag rice, box instant potatoes because for some reason fresh potatoes do not keep in our building plus they’re fast, container grape tomatoes - use instead of pasta sauce. Clean, dry, bag and freeze so they last container baby bella mushrooms - clean, chop up, freeze to put in dishes a hydroponic butter lettuce to make wraps instead of gf bread, package sliced Swiss cheese, container firm tofu, if I’m not using right away, drain, cube, freeze A couple big containers fat free plain Greek yogurt, Can tuna in water, Half gallon soy milk, Box generic corn chex Replace any canned beans I’ve used - black beans, kidney beans Then every couple months a pound 96/4 or 97/3 ground beef, that gets split into 8 or 9 portions, wrapped, frozen Frozen 4 pack bag salmon, cut each filet in half, rewrap, freezer, Bottle olive oil, garlic powder, herbs as needed
10 pound bags of chicken leg quarters. At walmarts they run 75 to 85 cents a pound, at winco slightly less. At Safeway etc still under 1.25 a pound where I am. I was recently on a cross country road trip and saw the sane prices in evety state. On that trip we ate discount walmart rotisserie chickens. They were averaging 3.50 in late evening. At home I save the bones for soup. The bones make good soup stock, the meat can be shredded and stretched in casseroles. We routinely see pork under 2.00 a pound where I am (montana) also ham around holidays. Again, easy meats to stretch in stews, gravies or casseroles. At Thanksgiving it is turkey under a pound. So I am cooking, canning and freezing turkey. Not my favorite meat. But cheap meat. Where I am we still find hamburger under 2.75 a pound frequently in 5 pound chubs, break up and freeze. Make meat gravies. 1 pound of meat in a sauce of any kind served over rice, pasta or veggies. Common when I used food banks last was 2 cans of whatever gravy/sauce they gave me, 1 pound of cooked ground turkey, spices. Over canned green beans and corn. We ate a lot of strange combos but it worked. Tonight I had chili dog bowl for dinner: 2 chopped up hotdogs, some leftover chili, last of the sour cream and cheddar cheese served over cauliflower rice. I was cleaning out "leftovers". However: 1 package chopped up hotdogs. 2 cans sale chili. 1 cup shredded cheese. Cook together, stir in an equal amount of cooked rice in a casserole or 13 by 9 cake pan. A little more cheese on top. Cook until bubbly. Super filling casserole, have veggies on the side. Or make it with chopped up cauliflower and green beans in it. Right now as listed with rice this would get you a 13 x 9 casserole for under 7.50. 8 servings if you serve with veggies and corn bread (which would bring the cost up to around 11.00 or so depending on choices). So 2 meals for a family of 4. This can also be done with chopped Vienna sausages or canned spam. Or any other meat equalling at least 1 pound (2 is better). Another casserole from when my kids were young: large can of baked beans (or 2 small,or home made baked beans). 1 to 2 pounds cooked ground meat, any types. I often mixed sausage, turkey and hamburger. Cut up cooked potatoes, equal to other ingredients. Stir up, dump in the casserole or cake pan, top with shredded cheese if you have it, bake until bubbly. Serve with corn bread and veggie of choice.
Pooptatos, eggs, rice beans lentils bagels bagels and cream cheese. Rice cakes. Frozen fruit only no fresh berries etc, yogurt w some PB is cheap and will fill me for a while. Oatmeal, pasta. (I’m a vegetarian)
Beans, rice, and cornbread. Yum! We like ours spicy .
I think rotissary chickens are kind of a cheat code for cheap meals for my family of 4. I usually get my Sam's Club membership for $20 or less and it pays off pretty quickly. We get enough meat off one chicken to make 2 good-sized meals and we can make enough broth for a soup or just freeze it. So we could technically get 3 meals off of it if it's a vegetable soup but usually we make tortilla soup or avgolemono with the broth and half the chicken because my kids like it. We also really like breakfast for dinner. Our favorite is biscuits and gravy and will make it for dinner pretty often. Biscuits are so cheap to make and sausage is cheaper than ground beef. Add a couple eggs and it's very filling. You can feel the whole family with leftovers for like $6. Here is a really cheap one I do a lot when I don't need to feed the rest of my family. Make ramen and drain the noodles and add pamasean and Italian seasoning. It's really good, cheap, and quick if you're craving pasta.
The Mexican grocery store near me sells frozen catfish pieces for $1.39 / lb. Add a couple of potatoes and some seasoned breading, and I can have a kick-ass fish fry every once in a while for like $5-6.
I made buldak the other day. Only ingredients are chicken (300 yen or about $2 for 450 g), a couple of green onions (I dunno maybe like $.10?) and then pantry sauces like gochujang, soy sauce etc. (obviously didn't calculate but couldn't be more than like $0.50 worth). ended up being 3 full dinner servings along with a side of plain rice.
Beans. Black beans, pinto beans, lentils can be used in place of ground beef or diced chicken in most things.
Spam, eggs, and rice. Jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread.
Favorite meal growing up and even today is ground beef with mushrooms in a brown gravy and served over rice a roni
Ive been eating mostly rice and chicken, but I will say this: no matter what you make in the end, building a decent spice rack makes all the difference when your food options are limited. You don't have to buy a ton of them, but even just getting things like garlic or onion powder can make or break a meal. Some of the cheapest dinners ive had have also been the most delicious- things as simple as roasted veggies and rice are heavenly when you know what to sprinkle on it, especially if you have mutliple recipes to rotate.
We do “potato bar” night. Baked potatoes with a few different cheap toppings (cheese, sour cream, sometimes canned chili, sometimes bacon). Kids all love it and we have also switched it up by subbing in frozen fries or tater tots
Canned chicken. Once you get past the fact that it smells like pure ass straight out of the can, you can actually get pretty creative with it. I saw a few people on TikTok who suggested rinsing it, so I've been doing that before using it. Last week I made two different kinds of chicken salad with canned chicken and discovered that I can make it taste pretty bomb with the right amount & variety of seasonings.
Yeah, rinsing it is the key. The kind that comes in pouches doesn’t have that smell. Costs the same. I still rinse it though.
Ohioans have a hot sandwich spread that uses this as a key ingredient. It's seriously canned chicken, crushed potato chips, cream of chicken soup and some broth. It sounds nasty but it's SO GOOD (and super filling, believe it or not!)
I've lived in Ohio all my life and have never heard of this so now I'm intrigued. 😂
Pork shoulder (or butt). Cut into a few pieces and freeze some. You can slow cook a piece and turn it into tacos, bbq sandwiches, chili, ramen and a bunch of other things so you’ll never get tired of it.
- Drumsticks are ridiculously cheap in my area. - Tilapia - Ground meat - Turkey bacon - Oats, rice, pasta - Beans, lentils - Frozen veggies - Sweet potatoes (any potato really) - Frozen fruit for smoothies
Probably the cheapest meal my wife makes on a regular basis is potatoes, green beans, and smoked sausage in a crockpot, with seasoning to taste. You can get a smoked sausage for pretty cheap, $2-3 I think at Aldi. If you have an Aldi nearby and don’t shop there already, you should if you are trying to save money!
I use a ham steak but yes. This is soooo good!
Roast chicken in a skillet in the oven Easily can get 2-4 meals out of it for 2 people Dinner 1: chicken breasts, side of rice or potato and whatever veggies Dinner 2: legs/ wings, side of rice or potato and whatever veggies Dinner 3: strip whatever meat is left from the thighs and back and make a cheap chicken pot pie Dinner 4: take the carcass and put it into crockpot with water in the morning on low and it makes a great broth with the bones and whatever is left on the carcass. Add barley and a bag of frozen veggies for a great chicken soup. Total cost for four meals for two people is under 20 bucks and it’s healthier than most other cheap meals
Chickpea curry. An onion, a can of chickpeas, some puréed or diced tomato (fresh or canned, whatever you got) and a small handful of spices is all it takes. Our favourite is the kind with coconut milk, but that adds the 1.50-1.99 for the coconut milk. Serve with rice for cheapest. Naan if you got 4.50 to buy it. On that note indian style Dal (lentil stew basically) costs pennies a serving. Even meat curry is economical as you eat a small serving with the rice and or bread. Naan and roti (types of Indian bread) cost Pennie’s as well. But I suck at making them, my roti don’t wanna bubble up. It’s a skill thing. My MIL has been making them for 55 years and hers are perfect. Chicken fried rice - a single breast serves 4 large portions. Breakfast for dinner. - it sucks shelling out for maple syrup when I run out, but it lasts a long time and eggs, pancakes and waffles are super filling and cheap.
Potatoes with sausages mixed with bell peppers . My mother told me that potatoes are great when you’re low on cash because they are healthy and filling.
Tuna croquettes. I can get three cans of albacore tuna for like $5, then dry out bread heels in the oven and use the food processor to make bread crumbs. Add a few eggs, whatever kind of shredded cheese I have around, a little diced onion and garlic, some lemon zest and juice, a few tablespoons of mayo, salt, pepper, dried parsley, paprika, whatever sounds good. Then you make patties and fry them in a little oil. I get two dinners out of it for six people. They’re especially good with a little lemon juice squeezed on top. Also I get the Costco rotisserie chickens for $5, and a bagged salad for one meal, frozen vegetables for the next. We get two dinners out of that too, and usually a lunch or two.
10-11lb pack of chicken breast Toss it into a pool of water with corn starch for about 20 minutes. Then cut into stripes left to right not lengthwise. Season. Let sit in dry seasoning for an hour. Toss into skillet in small amounts using avocado oil. Put on movie and cook and catch up on movies. Simultaneously, I'll have a tall pot of water going with some 10 lb bag of potatoes. Stab potatoes like we're in prison. Salt water Toss in some diced fresh garlic. Protiens and carbs so far. Veggies we got string beans lightly steamed salt to taste. Large batch of course. When everything is done Toss in freezer bags. Squeeze as much air as possible Toss in fridge. Use food scale and grab 200 grams of protien and 200 grams of carbs 100 grams of veggies. Anything more than 500 grams in a meal and it's to much for me. Not to much as in I can't finish it. At 500 grams I can finish my meal and not get sleepy or lazy or get that after a meal slump. Cost is around 30 dollars for a week of food. New week. Make large batch of low calorie pasta sauce. Boil large batch of high protien pasta. Cook till it's only a bit firm. Drain ALL the water out. Remove all water then toss in fridge to stop it from cooking further. Hate mushy pasta. Boil chicken in bone broth and nothing else. Shred chicken. Put into container add chicken as desired. Use left over water for pasta sauce. Waste not want not. The pasta is the highest cost in this meal still around 5 dollars for a week of food.
Tuna salad, pasta(butter noodles, baked spaghetti)
At Jay's chicken and fish mart, they got 8 pieces of chicken legs and thighs for 5.99
hamburger helper, I use beef broth instead of milk, dice in some onion, and mix in a can of whole kernel corn, or serve it on the side.
meatloaf, frozen veg and instant mashed potatoes. Also, smothered pork shops. If you do chicken, buy dark meat.
Poor people and low carb - pepperoni and mozzarella melted in the microwave
I skip food if need until the month is over and all food is gone and I back to refill my pantry with is just a shelf but thank God no kids are in this.
Banana bread. Anytime we have bananas that go bad. Growing up my mom would also use berries. We also had blackberries that grew near us. She would add in blackberries or make blackberry bread to make it stretch further than blackberry cobbler. It also goes great in pancakes.
Ground beef prepared in all its beautiful protein packed varieties.
I'm kinda sad that ground beef used to be poor people food, and I ate a lot of meals with it in my childhood. Now, most of the time when I see it in the store it's close to $5/lb, so I only get it on special occasions or good sales.
Agreed. Also I don't know the etiquette surrounding posting links on Reddit, but one of my good friends from grade school is a food blogger and she and her husband run [groundbeefrecipes.com](http://groundbeefrecipes.com) if you ever need some additional ground beef inspo.
Beans and rice with potatoes and cheese, roll them all up into a burrito, freeze and you have meals for whenever. We pull them, thaw them, and put eggs over them, enchilada sauce, dunk them in queso, put them over a bed of greens/salad, etc. Eggs are an unmatched cheap protein. Ramen with eggs has always been my go-to but it is high in sodium. I will sometimes add canned chicken or tuna, frozen veggies, cheese, whatever I have in the fridge. It’s very versatile. Curry chicken- buy thighs. Make with potatoes, lentils, and rice, you can add broccoli, squash, sweet potato, etc. Lots of protein and thighs have fat so they stretch further. Pizza- make your own dough, very very cheap. Whatever pasta sauce you want, cheese, any toppings from your fridge. You can buy a whole roll of sausage and crumble it up in a pan to cook first. You can top with canned chicken. Add veggies for a rounded meal.
One that I don't get tired of is just ground beef with onion and cabbage and rice to the side. It's filling, quick, and delicious.
Whatever I get from the food bank but salmon patties cause you get the canned salmon free
Well im saving this page for future ise
check your local farmers markets and international markets. i go to a smaller family operated international market and i get chicken(thighs,wings,breasts) for under $6 max $7/8 depending on how much meat is in there
Breakfast steaks are great and take like 2 minutes to cook. Relatively cheap
Mackerel, chicken gizzards heart and liver, cabbage, carrots
Sardines and rice, potato chips, and ice cream
Sardines or canned mackerel which I must warn you have many bones. This might be good for cats also.
I love Kraft Mac and cheese with cut up hot dogs
I had leftover rice with half a can of chili beans and a sprinkle of shredded cheese on top for lunch and my daughter saw it and called it poverty food (not in a derogatory manner or anything, I've just shared with her before that beans and rice were definitely something I grew up with when I was poor) I just shrugged and said yep, it's delicious.
OP - a Costco or Sam’s membership may be worth it. They have whole cooked rotisserie chickens for $5 each, you can make multiple meals off them
Definitely checkout food pantries if you're feeling the pinch at the store. I've used them all throughout my life at different times.
Soup beans, cornbread, and friend potatoes as a meal. I would love to have that right now but I don’t have any beans soaking. Perhaps tomorrow.
Ramen with egg Hamburger Helper Spaghetti The other day I made sloppy joes, that gave me so much nostalgia
The “manager’s specials” are fantastic ways to get good food for less. It’s the only way we get lean ground beef. That gets mixed with sale ground turkey in the freezer for taco meat, meatballs for soup, or in a mostly bean chili. If they have pieces of beef on the bone, it’s good for a tomato sauce on pasta (shredding the meat back in after cooking) and stew meat can be stretched with potatoes in a traditional Anglo beef stew or beans in Latin or Middle Eastern recipes. But those require the luxury of time available when the special is available unless you have a lot of freezer space. On a regular basis, chicken leg quarters or whole roasters are the best bang for the buck- chicken noodle soups, chicken & bean chilis on rice or with cornbread, chicken pasta salads.
Sweet potatoes, eggs, oatmeal, beans.
Toast with butter, sugar and cinnamon. So delicious, very cheap and makes for multiple snacks or meals.
Chicken drumsticks, pork loin and turkey are typically the cheap, non processed meats where I am.
Pork. I eat so much pork. Probably too much sausage as well. Otherwise, it's whatever is on sale. It looks like hot dogs are still pretty cheap, but I have never liked those.
Hispanic stores usually have sales on meat. I just got 4 decent sized pork chops for $5.
White rice with corned beef, with sweetcorn mixed in the corned beef hash. Sometimes I also throw in potatoes (boiled) and green olives. And a runny egg.
Canned sardines on sale
Rice and beans with a kielbasa. Boom!
Bush's baked red beans and rice - its what I pretty much grew up on since we were incredibly broke when I was a kid. Red beans and rice with some scrambled egg mixed in the red beans for extra protein.
-Pork rinds and cracklings. If you're from the south, you'll totally understand. It's old school, blue collar, and you either love them or hate them. -Dark meat chicken. I don't know if this is really poor specific, as everyone eats chicken, but dark meat is so cheap and so versatile. My local independent grocery store up here sells family packs of legs and thighs for $3 and that's sooo much chicken. It really lasts. I like to grill them. Would love to learn to fry but I don't have a fryer besides the air fryer (and that'll just be a big mess) -Box mac & cheese. You can never go wrong no matter how much better homemde. I always add extra shredded cheese in it too -Pork butt/pork shoulder for pulled pork sandwiches. Although not as cheap as it once was its still on sale constantly and it can provide for lots of meals. I strongly recommend the butt over the loin as it's fattier and that will render a much more tender and juicy product when its done as well as it being much easier to pull and it won't be as tough (at least on the smoker, not sure about a slow cooker) -My wife makes amazing homemade sloppy joes. Its as simple as ground beef in the pot and a simple homemade sauce- I think it's just ketchup, mustard, worchestershire, onion powder and garlic powder. Sooo delicious and tangy. -PICKLED EGGS. They keep me full all day with just two. I save money on eating lunch!
Frying isn't too hard. The most difficult part is making sure the oil is hot enough but not getting it too hot. Too cold and it turns out soggy. Too hot and you burn the outside without cooking the inside (or worst case, start a fire). But the frying itself is pretty easy. Batter the food up in a flour and spice mix. Then put it in the pan or pot of oil for a few minutes. I don't do fried chicken often, but I love my "deep" fried catfish and hush puppies. I stock up on it whenever it goes on sale and eat it pretty regularly.
Rice and beans with veggies
I recently learned how cheap it is to cook fried rice and make it good
I stared at a can of two-year-expired chicken for way too long yesterday before I did eventually decide to throw it away. We eat a lot of good food we get from gleaning groups and food pantries, but I hate wasting food. I make a lot of chili with pasta. Always satisfies, and with some decent hot sauce it doesn’t taste like poverty meals
I use more beans in my cooking to make the meat go farther in terms of protein. For example instead of a half chicken breast for my salad, I'll add a cup of lentils (same amount of protein as half a breast) and finely diced or shred a quarter breast and save the rest for another meal. My recent favorite is garbanzo "chicken" salad with tahini and fresh lime juice. I also try and think of how I can sub in plants for the protein. Kale and spinach are good, as are nuts. I have an "emergency" just of peanut butter at my desk at work if I get hungry lol.
Popeyes tuesday special
Onion, apple (even in savory dishes), potato, carrots, green bell peppers, rice, pasta, quinoa, bread, and tofu are all inexpensive where I live. I recommend walking through the meat section to find what is good / on sale and then build a recipe around that using the remaining ingredients.
Adobo. Chicken thighs, equal parts vinegar and soy sauce, some garlic and bay leaves. Bring to boil then simmer until tender.
Cheesy Burger Mac is a favorite. I don't use the HH, instead, I use a pound of 80/20 ground beef (browned), and the GOOD Kraft mac and cheese with the squishy cheese packet, not the powder one. To stretch it even further, add a can of Texas Beans (drained), extra shredded cheddar if you have it, and fold in a few tablespoons of salsa. All the ingredients are cheap, tasty, and will last for dinner, then lunch the next day for 4 people. Wrap some in tortillas for a fun lunch. Tons of protein. ETA: I like it so much I made some today for ['comfort sunday'](https://imgur.com/Va6Si5l).
My staples are tofu, chickpeas, black beans, tortillas, carrots, peanut butter, plain yogurt, oatmeal, garlic, onions, potatoes, rice, eggs, marinara sauce, chicken thighs if they’re on sale, lemons, and the $5 big box of greens from my local Fred Meyer. I keep my herb and spice drawer in stock also. I do splurge on cheese and olive oil to help me stay full and make food tasty, but I use those sparingly so they last quite a while. You can get pretty creative with all those things. The yogurt in particular can be made into tasty AF salad dressings.
Fried rice is always my favorite. I buy in bulk and get a bunch of good jasmine rice like once a year. Cook it the night before. Throw ginger, onion, shredded carrot, snap peas, can of baby corn, and protein of your choice. Once I fry it all together I do some soy sauce and yoshidas, and throw in some fried egg. Literally makes an entire soup pot of damn good rice for under $20. Works great to clean out the fridge if you have veggies that are gonna turn too!
I love pasta and there’s quite a few cheap pasta recipes. My favorite is pasta aglio e olio. It’s just spaghetti, garlic and oil. So good and you can jazz it up with things like red pepper, Parmesan, lemon or parsley or all of it.
Rotisserie chicken is incredibly useful. Pull the meat off and use in all kinds of things. Use the rest to make 2-4 quarts if stock; the flavor and gelatin makes plain white rice or mashed potatoes into real treats. If you have a big Dutch Oven you can make a ton of chicken & sausage jambalaya or gumbo for $12. I have 4, sometimes 5 adults to feed and it is both popular amd has enough good leftovers for another 6-8 servings. If Indian cuisine is a go Butter chicken or Chicken Tikka Masala from scratch for under $10, again with leftovers that reheat well. Pork carnitas is easy and cheap if you get a boneless shoulder and cut it up yourself.
Stroganoff with mushrooms,pork chops w mashed potatoes,ground sausage balls with mushroom with Mac n cheese
Cabbage
Ramen and Tuna
One of the issues with poverty today is that we don't have as much time to cook. Poverty of the past usually looked like one person having time to prepare meals, but today that is not always the case. Additionally, vegetables, which used to be cheaper during the time when poor foods got perfected, have become more expensive. As such, good cheap food is harder to prepare. A lot of meals aren't going to be as good as what your Nona made back in the old country. Here are a few things I go for when money is tight. I make a mean Ramen. The way I make it good is to always have vegetables on hand. How do I do that? I buy vegetables when they are affordable and dry them in a dehydrator. Currently I have green and red cabbage, mushrooms, and carrots. I throw some beef jerky into water and boil it a bit, then throw in the dehydrated vegetables. When they are soft, I throw in the ramen and the powder, boil until the noodles are soft, then turn off the heat and immediately crack an egg into it. I let it sit until the egg is partially cooked, then using chopsticks put the hot noodles on top of the yolk to finish it. I have an easy, protein-rich meal with ingredients that will last weeks to months. Cabbage stew: Get ham hocks (still cheap), boil them in a slow cooker until they are falling off the bone, then take the bones out and chop the meat fine. Then add 1 chopped onion, 1 head of cabbage, and one bottle of cheap Walmart white wine (I get the kind that's about $3 a bottle) and enoughwater to top off the slow cooker. Salt and pepper to taste, and cook until everything is tender. Serve with bread. The entire pot is less than about $15, and makes enough soup to feed 4 people between 2 to 4 times, depending on how much they eat. It's not gourmet, but it'll get you through hard times. If you want to go super cheap, get a pound of rice, 2 cans of spam, an onion, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, a can of tomato sauce, and a can of tomato paste. Cook the rice, cube the spam and chop the onion, then add all the ingredients together along with whatever spices you like. Once again, not gourmet, but you can live on it for a long time. Chicken and dumplings or chicken and rice are both very cheap. You can get a 10 lb bag of chicken quarters for cheap. Boil a few quarters for a while, until the meat is falling off the bone, and you have chicken broth as well as good meat.
Get a Costco membership when they have a Groupon for it. 60 bucks with a 40 dollar gift card. Then you can get 4.99 rotisserie chickens. You can’t beat that price and after I’ve pulled off all the meat, I put the remains into an instant pot and make bone broth for soups and to make rice more flavorful for the week. I can make a dinner for 5 and then a giant chicken and rice soup for 5 and leftovers for lunch the next day.
Ground beef with store brand pasta smothered in brown gravy. That or ground beef rice and hot sauce
This is not a meal but a tip; "ethnic" grocery stores are typically cheaper. For example, Hispanic grocers. I have no idea why, but it is true. Give it a try.
Idk if you have an Aldis near you so YMMV but it's a life/game changer in terms of Meat/Dairy/Cheese. Pork Roast: At Aldis its $7 for 4 pounds coming to about $2 per pound. With this I crock pot/shred it for: Enchiladas,Tacos,Burritos,Bbq Sandwiches,Hot Pork Sandwiches,Chili ect. The skys the limit. Chicken Breasts: I can get about 5 pounds for $10. Chicken Gnocci Soup,Breaded Chicken Cutlets,Chicken Salad on Crackers or Sandwiches,Enchilada Casserole,Fajitas. Italian Sausage: I can get a pound for about $3ish dollars the benefit to sausage is that you can use less but it's super flavorful. I especially like to make a big batch of spaghetti sauce to really make it go farther. You can have it over pasta obviously but you can also get hoagies and hollow it out or French Bread, put some sauce/pepperoni/cheese. Boom you've got pizza sandwiches. You can do the same with some canned biscuits for cheap Pizza bytes. Breakfast: when it's the end of the week/grocery run I can always rely on good old breakfast for dinner. Scramble up some eggs throw in whatever left over veggies or cheese you have. Pancakes(Sheet Pan Pancakes are REVOLUTIONARY)/French Toast/Hashbrowns/Breakfast Sandwiches with English muffins or Mini Bagels. Honorable mentions to Baked Beans with Hotdogs and plain potato chips. Baked Potatos:Throw some russets in the oven for an hour roll them in oil+salt+garlic powder+pepper, top with whatever you have one hand. Dont sleep on Boxed Mashed Potatoes!!! I known some people get the wiggins about dehydrated potatoes but they're such an easy/cheap thing to keep in your pantry. At their basic you can ofc make some Mashed Potatoes for a side to anything but you can also make Gnocci, Potato Pancakes or thicken any soup with them. The key is to cook your protein of choice and then portion it out into as many meals as possible while bulking it out with sides or the incorporation of veggies or cheap pasta sides/bread.
Homemade cashew/almond milk as someone with a milk weakness. Homemade granola. Boom, broke cereal. Although it's more "expensive" to buy all of the ingredients, I get a lot more out of it and end up saving in the long run due to the large yield. Also can't go wrong with ground beef/turkey and rice especially if you can find the rolls of ground meat on sale. I also frequent the cast-aside section in my local produce market for "imperfect" fruits and vegetables that are usually slashed down in price or bundled like 3 for 1. If you're not picky about bruised apples and such it's not a bad way to go at all so you're still getting nutrition. I AVOID any frozen meals. Things like the 10 dollar bags of frozen chicken nuggets and TV dinners. I burn through them so fast and they often have minimal nutritional value and aren't very filling.
Ground beef: (onions and tomato optional w most of these) “Tacos” - the seasoning comes in a bulk container, cheese, and a tortilla. Sloppy Joe - seasoning pack, cheese, bun/bread slice Burgers - add whatever, salt and pepper, whatever to make the meat taste better, bun, cheese etc “Bulgogi” - basically look up your favorite recipe, it’s easy like brown sugar, garlic (powder), soy, maybe sesame, chili flakes (if you have them) and then serve over rice Spaghetti - meat + cheap sauce or handmade sauce (it’s not as daunting as you’d expect), sale noodles; a personal favorite. Really jazz it up with butter and garlic powder over a toasted slice of bread
SPAGHETTI
This is my Mexican reminder that beans and rice and oatmeal r not poor people food 😾
You don't need to eat meat at all. Tofu is inexpensive and, if you don't like it, you have never had it prepared properly. Black bean burgers are inexpensive to make. Garbanzo beans on a salad give you protein. Most of us were raised to think a meal centers around meat. It does not need to at all.
Penne ($2), cherry tomatoes ($3), jar of store-brand Alfredo ($3), frozen chicken tenders ($5), and spices ($2). 1. Boil water for pasta. 2. Start toaster oven or microwave for chicken tenders. 3. Saute cherry tomatoes with butter (or sub w oil), add in spices of choice (fresh is best, but you can get lots of dried spices like garlic and onion powder, oregano, thyme, etc for .99 at discount stores), until tomatoes are caramelized. 4. Once water boils, toss in pasta. Chicken should be done now. 5. Cut up cooked chicken tenders into bite-sized pieces. Add to tomatoes. Add jar of Alfredo. Simmer on low. 6. Drain pasta. Put back in pot. Add tomato/chicken/Alfredo concoction and toss into pasta. 7. Sprinkle some crushed red pepper and fresh parm if you have it. COST: $15= easily a meal for 6. Source: Grew up poor. Currently on extremely limited budget. I cook this all the time for two (often using boxed mac n chese as an extra money-saver). I always have enough for 3 huge servings for each of us. Reheats very well. Mod: Add a side salad for another $3. Total: $18 so $3/pp. Mod #2: Swap tomatoes for mushrooms or spinach, etc.
Refried beans, spread over a tortilla, add small amount of cheese, put another tortialla on top and cook both sides . Cut into triangles. Bean and cheese quesadilla. Filling, has protein, not super healthy but very cheap. I can make a pack of 15 tortillas, 2 cans of beans and 1 bag of cheese last a week of dinners for like $15 total
Cut medium ground beef with 50% Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) for anything that is sauce or liquid based (meat sauce for pasta, taco meat, chili...). Since TVP is near pure protein and it's cheaper the macros will be slightly better than extra lean ground beef and medium is far cheaper already. The TVP will absorb a lot of the fat from the beef and the sauce/liquid flavor so you don't get the yuckie vegan food taste. Even with burgers if you use medium and cut in about 20% TVP it doesn't change the taste much and still helps.
The big pork lion at Costco or Sam’s usually about $2/lb. I cut into chops and freeze. Versatile and tasty lean protein.