c/budget-friendly-meals

TIL that 'meal prep' doesn't have to mean eating the same thing for 5 days straight

I spent about $60 last month on bulk chicken and rice, thinking I was being smart prepping all my lunches for the week. By Wednesday I couldn't stand another bite of dried out chicken and ended up tossing half of it. Now I just prep ingredients like chopped veggies and cooked grains separately, then mix them different ways each day. Has anyone else found a better system for making meal prep actually work without getting sick of it?

Just switched from canned beans to dried beans after a cost breakdown

I always thought dried beans were too much work, like who has time to soak stuff overnight right? But last month I did the math on a bag of dried black beans I got for $1.50 at Aldi in Columbus and realized it makes about 6 cans worth of beans. A single can costs like $1.20 here so I was basically paying 7 times more for the convenience of not waiting. I did a big batch last Sunday, just soaked them while I watched football and then simmered for an hour. The texture is way better too, they don't get mushy like canned ones sometimes do. I froze half in ziplock bags and they thaw fine for tacos or soup. Anyone else find a specific meal that works better with dried beans versus canned?

TIL a neighbor lady told me she feeds her family of 4 on $35 a week by shopping only the clearance meat section

She told me at the bus stop that she hits the store at 7am on Wednesdays when they mark down the close-dated packs. Has anyone else found a specific day or time when your local store slashes prices on meat?

Warning: My 'budget' grocery store failed me on meat quality last week

I hit up Aldi on 42nd street for some ground beef because the price was right at $3.50 a pound. But the fat ratio was so off it basically shrunk to nothing in the pan. On the other hand, I got a chuck roast at the same place last month for $6 and it was fantastic. Is it worth paying more at a butcher for consistency, or do you just gamble on the cheap stuff and deal with the losses?

Burnt a $5 batch of rice on Tuesday and had to get creative

I was making rice and beans in my tiny apartment in St. Louis and forgot to set a timer. The rice got black and smelly on the bottom, but I scraped the good part off and mixed it with canned tomatoes. Has anyone else salvaged a ruined meal with something unexpected from the pantry?

Chose lentils over ground beef for chili night, saved $8 and nobody noticed

Last Tuesday I was making chili and staring at $6 ground beef versus $1.50 bag of lentils. I figured why not try it, worst case I grab tacos after. Threw in extra cumin and a smoked paprika I had sitting around. My wife ate two bowls before asking if I changed anything. Has anyone else swapped meat for beans or lentils and gotten away with it?

That old timer at the farmer's market in Des Moines showed me how to turn a $3 bag of potatoes into 5 different meals

He was selling them for 50 cents a pound and gave me a recipe card for potato soup, hash, baked, roasted, and pancakes that all cost under a dollar per serving, so what do you do with a bag of potatoes that lasts two weeks without going bad?

My neighbor told me I was wasting money on 'organic' vegetables and now I'm not so sure she was wrong

A chat with the deli clerk at Kroger changed how I buy chicken

I was complaining about high meat prices and she told me to check the markdown section near the bakery instead of the regular meat case. Said they discount whole chickens by up to 40% just because the sell-by date is close. She even showed me a pack for $4.20 that would have cost me $7.50 two aisles over. Have any of you found good deals in the weird spots of your store?

Had to pick between bone-in and boneless chicken thighs for $1.99 a pound at Aldi in Nashville last Tuesday

I grabbed the bone-in pack thinking I could save the bones for broth, but after trimming and deboning them myself I realized I lost almost a third of the weight. Ended up paying way more per edible ounce than if I'd just bought boneless at $2.49. Did I mess up the math or is the bone broth actually worth that extra effort?

Can we talk about using a slow cooker for dried beans instead of canned?

I switched from canned beans to cooking dried ones in my slow cooker overnight. A 2 pound bag of pinto beans costs about $2.50 and makes enough for 5 meals. Has anyone else noticed how much better the texture is when you do them yourself?

Had to choose between store brand canned tomatoes and the name brand last Tuesday

I grabbed the store brand to save $1.20 but they were watery and made my chili taste like metal. My kids wouldn't even eat it and I threw half the pot out. Anyone else had bad luck cutting corners on something as simple as canned tomatoes?

Bought a 50 cent bag of lentils on a whim and they stretched into 4 dinners last week

I was always team canned beans because I thought dried lentils would be bland and mushy, but after simmering them with some garlic and a bay leaf I was proven completely wrong, so has anyone else had a cheap pantry staple surprise them like that?

I used to think frozen veggies were a waste, then a friend from work changed my mind.

My coworker Sarah told me she saves like $15 a week by buying bags of frozen broccoli and spinach instead of fresh. She pointed out that they don't go bad in three days either, so she never throws food away. That conversation at the break room last Tuesday stuck with me because I was tossing out half my fresh produce every week. Now I grab a big bag of frozen mixed veggies for $2.50 at Walmart and they last me two weeks easy. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a big difference in their grocery bill?

My mom told me I was wasting money on takeout, so I changed my meal prep routine

Last month my mom visited and saw my fridge full of takeout containers from that week. She straight up said "you're spending $15 a meal when you could make 4 dinners for that price." I got defensive at first but then I actually tracked my spending. Found out I was blowing about $200 a week on takeout just because I was too tired to cook after work. So I started doing Sunday afternoon prep sessions and now I make big batches of chili and stir fry that cost me maybe $4 per serving. Does anyone else have go to recipes that freeze well and save you money?

Can we talk about how dried beans are actually more expensive than canned?

I always thought dried beans were the budget winner until I did the math last week. At my local Kroger, a 1-pound bag of dried black beans is $2.50, but a 15-ounce can is only $1.20. After cooking, that pound gives me about 6 cups, which is the same as three cans at $3.60 total. So canned actually saved me $1.10 and a lot of soaking time. Has anyone else checked their own numbers on this?

Grocery store cashier changed how I think about canned beans

An older lady at the checkout in H-E-B told me to always rinse canned beans for 30 seconds to cut the gas and sodium, and after trying it on a can of black beans for taco night last Tuesday, my stomach didn't complain once - has anyone else tested this hack with other kinds of beans?

TIL a $10 bag of 'baking potatoes' nearly ruined my whole dinner party

Honestly, I thought I was being smart by skipping the fancy Yukon Golds and grabbing a big bag of generic baking potatoes from the discount bin last Saturday. I made mashed potatoes for six people and they came out gluey and bland no matter how much butter I added. Turned out those cheap baking spuds have way more starch and less flavor for mashing. I wasted about $8 on the bag plus another $5 on extra butter trying to fix them. Now I'm stuck eating sad leftovers and my friend literally said 'these taste like paste' at the table. Has anyone else found a decent budget potato that actually works for mashing without breaking the bank?

Tried making black bean burgers from scratch and they fell apart in the pan

So I figured I'd save some cash by making my own veggie burgers instead of buying the $5 box at the store. Followed a recipe from a blog, used a can of black beans, some breadcrumbs, an egg, spices. Mixed it all up, formed patties, put them in a hot skillet. Within 2 minutes they were just crumbling into a mess of beans and crumbs. Ended up eating it like a weird scramble with a fork. Has anyone actually gotten homemade bean burgers to hold together without falling apart?

That cafeteria at the county building has the worst $5 lunch I've ever seen

I had to go to the county building downtown last Tuesday to renew my tags and grabbed lunch at their cafeteria. $5 for a tiny scoop of mashed potatoes, a piece of dry chicken, and some canned green beans that looked sad. For that price I could've hit the grocery store and made 3 whole meals. Anyone else notice how government cafeterias charge restaurant prices for prison food?

Hit my 50th freezer meal prep session today

Started doing freezer meals back in January just to save cash. Today I hit 50 preps exactly. Made 8 servings of chili for about $12 total. That's $1.50 per meal. Beats the $8 fast food lunch I used to grab. Anyone else track how much you save per serving?

My $3 thrift store rice cooker taught me a lesson about volume

I picked up this tiny rice cooker for $3 at a Goodwill in Portland last month. Thought it was a steal until I tried making dinner for 4 people and realized it only holds 2 cups of rice max. I ended up cooking 3 separate batches while my friends waited. Now I always check the capacity before buying any kitchen gadget. Does anyone else have a budget tool that just doesn't scale up?

Hit $100 on a single grocery trip of beans and rice

I spent exactly $18.43 on dry beans and a 20lb bag of rice last month and I'm still eating off it. Has anyone else actually tracked how long one big bulk buy of staples can stretch?

Found a way to stretch ground beef that actually tastes good

So last week I was looking at my grocery receipt and saw ground beef was $6 a pound now which is just crazy. I remember 3 years ago when I could get it for like $3.50 easy. Anyway my aunt from Texas told me to mix in finely shredded mushrooms and grated onion with the beef. I tried it Tuesday night making tacos and used half the meat I normally do plus like 2 cups of mushrooms and one onion. My husband didnt even notice and actually said the texture was better than usual. I saved like $4 on that one meal alone. Has anyone else tried stretching meat with veggies and found a combo that works?

My cheap rice cooker died after only 4 months of use

I bought this $15 rice cooker from a discount store back in March because I was tired of burning pots on the stove. It worked great at first, but last week the heating element just stopped working in the middle of cooking dinner. I ended up with a pot of cold, raw rice and had to order pizza instead which cost me way more than the cooker did. Everyone on here always says the cheap ones are fine, but mine failed completely after maybe 30 uses total. I took it apart to see if I could fix it, but the coil was totally fried and there was no way to replace it. Now I'm stuck deciding if I should spend $40 on a name brand one or just go back to using a regular pot. Has anyone else had a cheap rice cooker give out that fast?