Eating Well on a Budget

[ditsydine]

Hey guys, I figured if anyone could give me good input it would be all of you. Without much detail, I am having to put myself on a STRICT budget. I have figured approximately $40 a week for groceries (I'm single) max! Somethings I can't give up, diet soda, but I am not afraid of the store brands. I have figured I could save some money by going to the farmer's market, but that is not always feasible due to my schedule. Included in this budget will be my breakfast (usually Kashi oatmeal or similar high fiber cereal bar) and lunch at work which I bring.

As it stands I've had to live off a lot of frozen meals, which not only get boring, just get gross. My larder is pretty bare right now, but I have most basic spices.

My budget hould include these factors:

-If I shop for just a receipe--my budget is blown

-I am sick of pasta, and to be honest, while i did not go total low-carb, i did lose 30+ lbs not eating it all the time, and i have 30 more to go.

Other than that, other than cottage cheese and offal I'm flexible.

Love to hear your feedback!

Edited July 20, 2005 by ditsydine (log)

[Mottmott]

Perhaps you could give us an idea of your cooking skills. You speak of frozen dinners, soda, and processed cereals instead of home cooked meals, tea, and cooked grain cereals. All of the latter would be cheaper and more nutritious.

[Jim Dixon]

Beans, onions, cabbage, carrots, potatoes

olive oil (get something cheap but still extra virgin), bacon (buy the ends and pieces)

Take advantage and sales and your freezer

You may have to work a little more, but you can eat well.

Jim

[raxelita]

Dinner Tonight:

Spicy delicious super nutritious black beans and rice

Organic wild rice (cheap in bulk), cooked with whole garlic and olive oil (staples), tossed with steamed broccoli and carrots, topped with spicy black beans (sautee jalapenos, garlic, red onion, add beans, salt, finish with salsa).

Made enough for 4 servings. Cost about $5 with carrots and broccoli to spare.

[maggiethecat]

Dinner Tonight:

Spicy delicious super nutritious black beans and rice

Organic wild rice (cheap in bulk), cooked with whole garlic and olive oil (staples), tossed with steamed broccoli and carrots, topped with spicy black beans (sautee jalapenos, garlic, red onion, add beans, salt, finish with salsa).

Made enough for 4 servings. Cost about $5 with carrots and broccoli to spare.

←

Outstanding. And if you cut in in half, you'll still have another serving for lunch or dinner later in the week.

Roast a chicken -- for one person that's at least three meals. And don't forget the nutritional value and versatility of potatoes. Buy some rice noodles and a Vietnamese cookbook. Make your own stock from the chicken carcass and make a risotto with a few well-chosen veg and a scrap of good sausage. Keep cheese, tortillas and eggs around.

Forty dollars a week for one person is downright princely.

[rooftop1000]

The roast chicken is a perfect start but make sure is its a real big one and on sale, everything you dont eat the first night can be sliced and diced ( another dinner portion in one zip bag, chicken salad for lunch in another zip bag etc. While the oven is on stick another hunk of meat in there too a pot roast or pork butt, also portion out out for meals and sandwiches. Freeze most of it. Now you have at least 2 choices to start a meal out of the freezer with. definately make stock after you strip that bird and freeze in different size containers all the way down to ice cube trays. Further fixins for soups can be sauteed lightly and also portioned and frozen. (I once took most of a leftover crudite and sauteed the veg then made bags of frozen goodies to jump start meals)

Now next week you can spend big on fresh veggies

T

[ditsydine]

Perhaps you could give us an idea of your cooking skills. You speak of frozen dinners, soda, and processed cereals instead of home cooked meals, tea, and cooked grain cereals.  All of the latter would be cheaper and more nutritious.

←

I would say overall I have excellent cooking skills, except for baking--I've never had the patience. Besides the budget issue, I am always running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I plan on taking on a second job and I am afraid of doing more of the same.

Basically I am tired about reading about the food I love & can cook.

Let's see my kitchen is pretty basic apt. standard-fourt top electric range, microwave, no major appliances but I have some decent knives, bowls, etc.

[ditsydine]

Thanks for everyone's wonderful suggestions--I meant to add that I am tired of beans and rice, lord knows they have been a saving grace for me. One of the big challenges cooking for one, budget or not is being savvy and proactive enough that things don't go bad if you don't eat them right away & I live in the land of cars and large markets.

The roast chicken--why didn't I think of that, not long ago I made a wonderful roast chicken for my boyfriend! Master of the obvious here!

Keep on with the suggestions, I am sure I am not alone in this need!!

[ditsydine]

Thanks for everyone's wonderful suggestions--I meant to add that I am tired of beans and rice, lord knows they have been a saving grace for me. One of the big challenges cooking for one, budget or not is being savvy and proactive enough that things don't go bad if you don't eat them right away & I live in the land of cars and large markets.

The roast chicken--why didn't I think of that, not long ago I made a wonderful roast chicken for my boyfriend! Master of the obvious here!

Keep on with the suggestions, I am sure I am not alone in this need!!

←

BTW I meant to add I will definitely report you all after a week on my new budget/good food lifestyle!

[maggiethecat]

Basically I am tired about reading about the food I love & can cook.

.

←

Um, I'm interested in this statement, and confused a tad. So you want to read about food you dislike and can't cook? Please expound.

I'm not being arch here: I just want to understand.

[rjwong]

ditsydine, I understand your situation. I'm single and used to be poor until I was fortunate enough to get a good-paying job.

First, follow everybody's advice, within reason of course.

In terms of appliances, if it's possible within your budget at this time, get a crock pot and a bunch of small plastic containers for the freezer. That will free up your time tremendously. Soups and stews can be cooking away while you're away at work. And when you get home, the only prep you need to do is your salad and dinner is served! The leftovers can be portioned out into the containers and put into the freezer. Instead of buying frozen meals, make your own frozen meals!!

I hope this helps.

[fiftydollars]

do you braise?

tougher cuts like shoulders, ribs, breast, brisket, etc. yield substantial and satisfying meals that reheat beautifully and they are almost invariably cheap.

Edited July 20, 2005 by fiftydollars (log)

[Bernaise]

If you like curry-buy a jar of Patak's curry paste -lots of variety around heat and type. Plenty in the jar for tons of meals!

Some of my fav's include:

coconut curried pork

chick pea curry - chana aloo

curried cauliflower with onion and red peppers-add potatoes and it is gobi aloo

curried carrots and red lentils

and last a quick and easy - curried green peas with paneer or extra firm tofu crumbled and then spoon this into a piping hot baked yam! yum!

If any of this sounds worthy, let me know and I will post recipes as requested.

[Milagai]

If you like curry-buy a jar of Patak's curry paste -lots of variety around heat and type. Plenty in the jar for tons of meals!

Some of my fav's include:

coconut curried pork

chick pea curry - chana aloo

curried cauliflower with onion and red peppers-add potatoes and it is gobi aloo

curried carrots and red lentils

and last a quick and easy - curried green peas with paneer or extra firm tofu crumbled and then spoon this into a piping hot baked yam! yum!

If any of this sounds worthy, let me know and I will post recipes as requested.

←

ITA with Bernaise;

and, if youa re in the US,

usually canned beans (esp Black eyed peas) are usually

extremely cheap. ARound 3 cans for $1. can't beat that with a stick.

1 can will feed you for several days, if drained, and simmered in

"curry" sauce. you can approximate "curry" sauce even cheaper

by sauteeing minced onion +garlic+ginger with turmeric,

cumin+coriander powder, garam masala and a little red chili powder to taste,

along with salt.

takes ~ 10 minutes.

Becomes even more nutritious and one-pot dish if you add

a carton of frozen chopped spinach.

Eat with rice or tortillas, and yogurt on side,

and you are set...

you can sub any beans (e.g. kidney, chick peas, etc etc)

milagai

[mizducky]

Heh. I am all about cooking on a budget. I'm living very frugally now, and also had the lovely experience a few years ago of getting laid off and living on unemployment and food banks (thank you, dot-com bust!). Here are my own favorite strategies:

1. Animal protein is damned expensive. The more you can economize on meat/poultry/fish, the better your budget will fare. I never went totally vegetarian even at my poorest, but I did eat a lot more meatless meals, and when I did use meat it was more often as an accent/seasoning than the meal's main event. It helped greatly for me to take a few lessons from cuisines from less affluent cultures and communities--Asian cuisines in which a little meat goes a long way in a stirfry; soul food in which a single ham hock flavors a whole potful of greens or beans; etc. and so forth. And speaking of Asian cuisines, tofu is great for your financial as well as physical health.

2. I hear ya about rice and beans getting way boring after awhile. But they're so budget-friendly, it's worth coming up with strategies to perk them up a bit and make them more attractive. Try other grains besides rice--bulghur, barley, millet, kasha, etc etc. Try different types of legumes--I discovered I found chick peas, lentils, and black beans to be a whole lot more interesting to my palate than pintos and kidneys and navy beans. Spike the grains and legumes in various ways--spices, herbs, tomato products, onions, garlic, vinegars, chiles all help a lot. And don't forget variants on the grains/legumes theme, like hummus; split pea soups; lentils vinaigrette; fried rice; kasha varnishkes; pilaus; tabbouli; even a nice risotto becomes reasonable if you can find a bulk-foods source for the arborio (like at my local food co-op) ...

3. A lot of the cheaper foods (the beans and rice, the braiseable cuts of meat) do take more time to cook. The crockpot has already been mentioned as one tool to make these foods more manageable time-wise. I also highly recommend the pressure cooker--especially handy when you come home from work hungry to discover you forgot to stick dinner in the crockpot before you left in the morning. There are all kinds of fancy expensive pressure cookers out there, but you can find cheap-but-reliable ones that will serve you just as well in your local Target/KMart/big box store.

4. The bulk foods bins in your local natural foods market are your friends. Generally the price per lb./whatever will be significantly lower than the equivalent food in the fancy packaging on the supermarket shelves. And the variety of foods available in bulk form keeps growing.

5. Your local ethnic markets are often your friends as well. I have often found that produce is significantly cheaper in the local 99 Ranch than at the local Von's/Ralph's/Albertson's, and one can also often find some real bargains at the meat counter (like chicken legs for 25 cents a pound).

6. Farmer's markets also offer many bargains--especially when closing time looms near and vendors drop their prices to get rid of stuff they don't want to haul back home. You might need to trim off some bruised and banged-up bits, but that's a small price to pay when you get a whole crateful of veggies for cut rate.

[kellytree]

besides the $$ factor it sounds like you dont have much time to cook

Omlettes are good and easy.

When you do cook , make a little more and stick it in the freezer (max 1or 2 extra portions)

cous cous is cheap and quick (especially if you have a little sauce in the freezer to dump on top)

Keep your house stocked with basic things - flour, eggs, milk , a few cans of beans ( I usually cook up a bag and then freeze some .... worse than fresh but better than canned), a little cheese

and veggies that dont rot in a day.

[origamicrane]

As a student i used to spend sunday evening just cooking in bulk.

I would just freeze everything so during the week i would just have to defrost and reheat stuff.

For me one of the most important things is that the food has a sauce and it is tasty. So not sure if you have any good butchers in your area but

i think a good start would be to go down and get a whole load of soup bones and it will only cost you a few cents.

Just take a lazy sunday and turn the whole lot into stock and freeze it all.

From there you can make beautiful soups and sauces for pies, risottos, noodle bases, cous cous, curry etc.

Edited July 20, 2005 by origamicrane (log)

[jackal10]

Pork (or bacon) hocks are cheap, and the basis of many dishes:

roast or breised, then use the left-overs for CHar Sui buns, and the stock add to the beans.

Avoid frozen or pre-made foods - they add a lot of expense

Start a supper club - cook for others, who pay you, and you eat for free

[jsolomon]

Many have mentioned making several days' food out of one bout of cooking.

To stretch that a little more (using crock pot, stock pot, pressure cooker, or oven braise), you can make many servings out of a soup or a stew and then freeze them and eat them over a longer period of time, which would give you a greater variety.

1 hour of cooking soups/stews a night over 4 nights could give you 4 different soups portioned out as you would wish (I find 2 cups per portion to be good, but I'm a big eater). 2 cups goes into 8 quarts 16 times, so you can see how this can stretch your food dollar if you choose your soups wisely (lots of carrots, potatoes, and onions!)

Also, let your oven/crockpot work for you. If you trust it, set it at 225F or 250F with a large, cheap, tough cut of meat to braise for your whole workday. Be sure that there is a little moisture in with it and it's fairly well-sealed. Your patience (and courage) will be rewarded.

Also, think about getting a second-hand bread-maker. $2+ bread is insane.

[GordonCooks]

Give up your isp and sell your computer - buy a bushel of heirloom tomatoes

[JPW]

2 words -- chicken thighs

[HungryChris]

I think buying whole chickens and roasting them is a great idea. Chicken sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, sliced chicken with a simple salad as well as chicken soup will streach things out quite a bit. An occaisional smoked sholder (when they go on sale) simmered for a few hours with root vegetables added for the last 40 min makes a good meal and provides sandwich meat and split pea soup stock later on. Pizza dough is cheap to buy and cheaper to make and offers a good variety of pizza options. Bean salad can be a welcome addition from time to time and cans of beans are pretty reasonable. A bit of chopped onion, a few spices, salt and pepper and a little oil and vinegar and there you go. Think of it as a challenge and just be creative.

I know these words are easier to say than to adhere to, but it worked for me and it can work for you.

Cheers,

HC

[bergerka]

Do you have a crock pot? They're PERFECT for people with extremely busy lifestyles - you can stick the food in the pot in the morning, turn it on low, and go do your day.

If you don't have one, get someone to buy you one for your birthday or a holiday. The cut of meat will be somewhat pricey, but will last you several days and once the meat is cooked you can do all kinds of things with it!

K

[dockhl]

What a lot of great suggestions for ALL of us . One of my current goals is to have less food go bad in the fridge !

One thing I have found to help with limited freezer space, is how I freeze soupy leftovers. Rather than putting them in little containers, I freeze them flat on a cookie sheet in ziplock bags. That way I can stack them and they take up much less room (also are easier to tuck into available spaces).

And, as we were reminder on 'Frasier', nothing wrong with 'tossed salads and scrambled eggs' !

[DRColby]

I just spent about $40 at Rancho Gordo on beans. They are, of course, premium beans with a big shipping added. But most of those beans originated from the poor and for the poor.There is also many,many, different meals in those bags with just about anything I candream up to throw in with them.

The point is : Beans is beans. They deon't have to be expesive ones,a nd cheap ones in bulk (get someone to buy you a bag at Costco) can be used just as well to mash, throw in salads, make soups, fry up with some old meat, created stews with a bunch of meaty bones, etc.

If you also start to eat seasonally, buy in-season produce, you can dine very well and very cheaply. Corn is just about to go to 12 for $1. Man, some sweet corn,beans with some herbs picked along the roadside or from an Asian market....tough to beat.

I often shop at Hispanic markets where there's lots of off-cuts of meats; most of those shopping there are in as tough of shape budget-wise as you.

Another great source of ideas is your local food bank. The one we work at has weekly cooking demos (and gives out printed recipes for cheap, healthy eats that are quick and eay to make.

It really is pretty easy to control the cost of your food, the biggest elements are thought and preparation.

dave