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You can have a full meal with a total cost of around or even less than 1 dollar, and this is by eating fish/meat etc ...
I saw someone earlier talking about soup, and yesterday I chuckled when my mother in law went to buy soup to the supermarket for her sick daughter. One serving!! 4 dollars!!! Are you kidding me?
Just pour a pound of potatoes, 1 gallon of water, carrots, green onions and you can have an awesome carrot soup that has 12 servings for what? 10-20 cents a serving?
We just used up the last of our home-grown peas. 2 weeks ago, I found that I had four potlucks to attend in one week. For the first potluck I made a crockpot of pea soup with our peas, carrots and salt-pork [it was my Dw's first attempt making salt-pork]. At that first potluck, someone said it smelled great, but nobody took any of it. I asked why and they said 'gluten'. I explained there is no wheat in my soup. I used our peas, our carrots and the salt-pork came from our herd. Then everyone pigged out.
Even though I was out of our peas, we still have 40-pounds left over in the pantry that we had bought long ago in a 50-pound sack for $10. I made a pot of pea soup for each of those potlucks that week. I got a lot of complements.
Soups can be very inexpensive.
The electricity used by the crockpot to cook the soup was, I am sure, more expensive then the ingredients were.
This is one of my 2015 goals - to reduce grocery costs. We tend to overspend in this area.
Has anyone here tried Earthboxes? We moved to a warmer climate so I am really excited to use mine here, and enjoy a much longer growing season! The amount of tomatoes and herbs we get every year is astounding! I don't know how to pickle/can but this year I believe I will be learning
I've not read all this thread, but scampered through it. You're inspiring. I spend way too much on food, though I buy nothing processed and cook everything fresh.
My biggest (potential) challenge is that I eat only about 30-40 carbs/day, so things like rice and beans and oatmeal and all that aren't options. I eat a lot of meat, fish, cheese, eggs, vegetables and nuts - and zero bread, potatoes, beans, grains, fruit, pasta, rice, etc. There's a lot one can do with an egg though! Food might be a little more where I live (SF Bay Area) than other parts of the country (except Alaska and Hawaii).
I should cook more in bulk and freeze portions since I'm big on variety - and cut out the waste.
Don't think I'd be comfortable on $150/month, but $250/month will be my first goal. Yeah, I know, but I'm a neophyte at this, not having adhered to a strict food budget in years, and back then I didn't eat low-carb. My food buying consists of wandering around the grocery store and tossing 'that looks good!' into my cart.
My biggest (potential) challenge is that I eat only about 30-40 carbs/day, so things like rice and beans and oatmeal and all that aren't options. I eat a lot of meat, fish, cheese, eggs, vegetables and nuts - and zero bread, potatoes, beans, grains, fruit, pasta, rice, etc. There's a lot one can do with an egg though! Food might be a little more where I live (SF Bay Area) than other parts of the country (except Alaska and Hawaii).
I should cook more in bulk and freeze portions since I'm big on variety - and cut out the waste.
This will get you started
One that I've posted before, the only true measurement are the 10 eggs!
"Clean Out The Refrigerator" Dish ...
10 eggs
whatever meat is in the fridge
whatever vegetable is in the fridge
whatever cheese is in the fridge
whatever spices sound good with the above
Sometimes a few blobs of salsa or shakes of tabasco sauce
Mix it all together, pour into a greased rectangle casserole dish (about 8 x 12), sprinkle with spices (I like red pepper flakes with almost everything), and bake for about 30 minutes at 350. Cut into 6 pieces, wrap and freeze for lunch at work.
Basically a crustless quiche - and extremely low carb.
Endless combinations - my only "Ick" failure was leftover pepperoni slices - red grease all over and through-out
Last edited by Gandalara; 12-31-2014 at 03:43 PM..
... Has anyone here tried Earthboxes? We moved to a warmer climate so I am really excited to use mine here, and enjoy a much longer growing season! The amount of tomatoes and herbs we get every year is astounding! I don't know how to pickle/can but this year I believe I will be learning
We have around 30 cardboard boxes each year that we grow stuff in, along with raised beds and buckets. They help a lot of control weeds.
Warmer climates do help also, here in the Southern half of Maine we have been able to grow about 80% of our food via gardening. Up North it would be a lot harder to do.
This was a side topic from another thread. I have a friend who is a single woman that claims she lives on a $1o0/month food budget. Some people thought this was doable, but I couldn't see how.
So... this seems like a good topic for a thread. How do you guys do it? I'm open to the idea but I can't quite grasp how you eat three nutritious meals a day on $5 a day. Please give as many specifics as possible, and remember I'm talking about living on a budget like that all year long (this person is not fasting or trying to lose weight). A grocery list would be great.
Lots of rice, lots of chicken lots of pasta. Many meal options there.
A question for the people who only spend 15-20$ a week on food and don't eat out. Is that all year long or do you occasionally have a week where you have to spend more? Maybe to restock? I am just trying to understand how you can get eat day in and day out for $3 or less a day. I can do it for a couple of weeks but then I usually spend more. When people say they never eat out do they really mean they never have pizza, mexican out? What about a fountain drink when you get gas? Just trying to understand because it's hard for me to imagine never going out to eat with friends or family. Thanks.
A question for the people who only spend 15-20$ a week on food and don't eat out. Is that all year long or do you occasionally have a week where you have to spend more? Maybe to restock? I am just trying to understand how you can get eat day in and day out for $3 or less a day. I can do it for a couple of weeks but then I usually spend more. When people say they never eat out do they really mean they never have pizza, mexican out? What about a fountain drink when you get gas? Just trying to understand because it's hard for me to imagine never going out to eat with friends or family. Thanks.
We too having been spending too much on food & I am going to start with a budget of $250.00/mo. & see how it goes. I have a pantry which has beans, tomatoes, broth & other staples which I will go to.
I am not including eating out in that budget, because that in itself is rare, & Pizza 2x month would be extra too for the time being until I see how my $250 budget is going to work. This will be strictly for food, not detergents, etc. that is once every 3 months when I buy those in bulk.
The month has begun and I plan on starting on my $250.00 budget next week when my husband gets paid. I am fortunate because all of our grocery stores are within a 2.5 radius. I make a list and know what food I am going to make for my husband and myself at least a week out. When that $250 runs out that will be it for the month.
This week I spent about $25 on food. The Menu was:
Italian French Toast for breakfast (sliced Italian bread dipped in 2 eggs, milk & parm cheese)
Lunch-Ham & cheese sandwiches
Dinners
Homemade Beef/Barley Soup, chicken cutlets, Caesar salad
" " Chicken Soup with little pasta noodles, Ham Steak, scalloped potatoes & peas
Pasta Fafoli---(Homemade pasta and beans) & salad & Italian Bread
Homemade Manicotti & Meatballs
Meatloaf (my market sells me ground Chuck for $1.49 lb)
Hamburgers, fries and salad
Chicken Marsala, salad and pasta on the side
I will let you know how this goes. Wish me luck! kelsie
Good Luck Kelsie, please let us know how it's going. I think that $250.00 is reasonable for two people, I would like to get down to $200.00 a month but I am not even close to that now.
This is a great thread! Me and my girlfriend currently spend around $360/month on groceries, which is kind of ridiculous. Getting lots of inspiration to lower the grocery bills in 2015; I think I'm going to shoot for $300/month first, then work down to $250.
Our biggest problem is that we like to cook "different" stuff and we often wind up buying lots of little things for different meals, when we should be buying stuff that could be re-purposed; for example, making multiple meals with staples like onion, garlic, canned vegetables, etc. Another problem we have is not wanting "bland" food, which has gone hand-in-hand with frugal meals in the past for us. Might just have to get a little more creative and suck it up, though.
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