Dry goods. Bulk bags of dry rice, beans, lentils, corn grits. That stuff will last forever, and are healthy!

If you and some friends/family can pool your money together and afford it, buy a whole entire cow. Parcel out the meat, and freeze it. My family has been doing this for a long time now, and a whole cow, split between 3 households, lasts a little over a year.

Get into canning, pickling, etc. Don’t let the fresh produce you buy at the store, or grow in a garden, just flounder in your fridge, preserve it!

I can a lot of salsa over the summer. Its easy, and it’s easy to make in big batches that last awhile.

Rice cooker

Bought a nice one (zojirushi brand that has the little elephant), but I’ve read most rice cookers work well. I use it so often for different meals and it’s been a game changer and money saver. Making rice is so simple now, and an easy cheap way to supplement a meal.

Rice eggs is a staple for us now: Make some rice, and when there’s about 5 minutes left on time, throw in some scrambled eggs for a tasty protein.

Aldi and Lidl.

When I had no money and no time, I relied heavily on a rotation of the following meals, with current 2026 costs in my expensive city:

• Chili Mac: 1 lb dried pasta ($1.25 for 1600 calories, 54g protein) boiled in salty water (let’s call salt and water basically free), a can of chili ($2.50 for 540 calories, 32g protein), 2 oz of shredded cheese ($1 for 220 calories, 12g protein), 0.25 oz of hot sauce ($0.25 for flavor but negligible calories/protein). Total: $5, 2360 calories, 98g protein.
• Stir fried chicken and broccoli on rice: 1 lb chicken thigh ($4.50, 600 calories, 87g protein), 1 lb broccoli ($1.50, 150 calories, 9g protein), 1 lb rice ($1.50 for 1600 calories, 32g protein), $0.50 of condiments/seasoning. Total: $8, 2350 calories, 128g protein.
• Ramen with enough stuff to make it not suck: 1 package of Shin Ramyun ($2 for 500 calories, 10 g protein), 2 eggs ($0.30, 150 calories, 12g protein), 4 oz frozen edamame ($2, 90 calories, 9g protein), 2 oz scallions ($0.20, let’s round down to 0 calories and 0g protein). Total: $4.50, 740 calories, 31g protein.

I don’t buy stupid shit like Starbucks. You can get better “coffee” much cheaper. I buy half a cow from a farmer every year. It’s roughly $3.00/lb, but that includes 50lbs of ground beef, a couple dozen steaks, roasts, ect. All in I spend about $500 and it lasts 4 of us a year and it’s about $2,000+ in meat were in buy it at a store.

1. Don’t eat out.
2. Buy staples and spices and learn to make tasty dishes from them. Pretty much every culture on this planet has figured out super tasty and nutritious dishes from the staples that are available to them. Learn from them. (This will take time, as in it’s a long term goal, but it’s so worth it.)
3. Don’t buy processed products of any kind. Pre-processing terribly bad ingredients for convenience is how the food industry takes your money. Buy real food.
4. If you can, don’t buy meat. If you can’t, buy as little as possible. It will be better for you, for your wallet, for the animals, and for the planet. But also don’t buy any preprocessed meat replacement products (see point 3).

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

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

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

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

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

For dinners and lunches, buy grains like rice, bulgar, farro in bulk. International grocery stores sell big bags on the cheap. Buy protein in bulk at a store like Aldi. Simple meals are 2 parts grain, one part protein, one part vegetable. Sautee or roast and sauce.

Breakfast, buy oats. Lots of ways to do oatmeal/hot cereal.

Cooking for yourself is the cheapest way to eat. My wife and I spend around $120 per week for all the meals for a family of 4 because we can cook.

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

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

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

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

Bulk on the dry staples. I’ve found that a good hack for saving on having to buy on storage containers is buy the giant pickle jars and then reusing them for beans, rice, and oats. I break down my prices per ounce, so while most of my food comes from Winco, there’s a few things I get at Albertsons on occasion because their overpriced foods are less likely to sell and end up on exceptional markdowns. I hit food banks.

I’m fortunate to have a lot of growing space and ramped up my casual, for fun garden to an actual food producing garden. I’m planting in waves, little fast growers like radishes in the boxes the tomatoes are starting in. Eventually the tomatoes will block but I can get a few cycles of the radishes before that happens. Also built a coop and have four lovely little hens that should start laying in a couple more weeks. The trade off is that all of this takes a lot of time.

I bought quality pressure cooker and make giant batches of beans that can be divided and frozen. About every three weeks I have to cook a batch but they work as burrito filling, nacho topper, taco salad fill. I do a lot of stir fries with frozen veggies and ramen or brown rice I made in the pressure cooker.

Bread machines are a frequent find at thrift shops. People buy them, never use them, dump them, so they’re brand new but 1/10 the cost. You can get fancy with them or just spend about 10min getting the ingredients assembled, set it and forget it. It’s been one of the best investments I’ve made.

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

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

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

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

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

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

rice, beans, canned meats, food banks.

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

squash, tomato, eggplant, potato.

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

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

Only buy in bulk what you can and WILL eat before it spoils. Staring into a cupboard that’s empty except for a huge box of something that seemed like a deal but now makes you gag is … a life lesson.

Since it’s just you, buy cooking vegetables frozen in bags, so you can take out one serving and don’t have to hurry to eat up the broccoli wilting in the fridge. Unlike canned, frozen veg keep their nutrients. Which you do need. Being unhealthy isn’t frugal.

pushing my bank account to its limit lol