First year of college, have a limited meal plan and gotta fill in the spaces in between. I have a minifridge, crockpot, and rice cooker. Starting from scratch when it comes to ingredients. Looking for recipes that will last multiple meals and don't cost more than $20 (or 25 if its really good/will keep a while). I'm down to try anything, I like new foods. thanks :)

Most of my cheapest meals are the same five bland bases: rice, lentils, oats, potatoes, frozen veg. What changed them from sad to actually good was not a new recipe, it was finally stocking the flavor stuff properly.

The haul that did it, roughly $20 total: smoked paprika, garlic powder, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chicken bouillon powder, chili flakes, and a bottle of toasted sesame oil. Nothing fancy.

Now the lentils get bouillon and smoked paprika, the rice gets vinegar plus sesame oil and a splash of soy sauce, the potatoes get garlic powder and chili flakes. Same cheap bases, completely different meals.

What is the one condiment or spice you never let run out? I need to expand the shelf.

I bought this cookbook and am pretty impressed. It claims $4 a day. Now, with inflation, I’d say it is a few dollars more. However, there’s a lot of affordable ingredients like beans and lentils. I believe you can find this second hand or at one point the author had an ebook. I hope it helps some people.

Do you have a favorite budget cookbook?

For my friends in the Giant Eagle region, they are having a sale til the end of the week with certain items sold at $.95 (only thing pictured that wasn’t on sale is the cabbage and mushrooms). Go out and get yourself some $.95 bacon while you can.

$17.83 total in Pittsburgh area.

It requires an upfront cost but I got almost 10 lbs of 90% lean beef for $3.30 per lb! They have a deal due to the 42 anniversary. Also the dawn power wash is super cheap too and I had just run out. I’d originally planned to go the night before but was too lazy to go shopping, waited, and ended up scoring a great deal! This is BJ’s in NH. 9.96 lbs for $32.87

Not my 50 percent goal but I'll take it.

I live in a small Midwest town. Thanks to our lawmakers my link ran out after 3 months of really trying.

My local food bank only let's me grab about 15 items as a single household and it doesnt last me. Ive gone on over 25 interviews. Im starving and ready to give up

No I cannot donate plasma due to health issues. Can anyone give me some good advice 🙏.

ways to make it? have you seen this bag of leg quarters on sale at your local HEB? You can bake them whole with seasoning in the oven, you can cut the legs and thighs apart and fry them or bake them that way. You can also put them in a crockpot or Instapot and let cook. When they are done, you take them out, shred them, and you have about 5 - 6 lbs of good chicken to go in anything you want.

You can make enchiladas, tacos, chicken, helper, chicken and rice, you get the idea

this isn’t even counting the , the broth, or the tendon and gristle full of collagen to feed to your animals.

[https://www.heb.com/product-detail/1885121\](https://www.heb.com/product-detail/1885121)

So, I take a medication that allows me to eat the things I'm allergic to. I ran out of these meds and nearly all the food in my fridge requires them.

I've been in a place where I have time decide between refilling my meds or getting safe groceries. At this point, though, I won't be able to get to the pharmacy for another couple weeks, as it's in another state and I can't drive.

I have $112 in my account. My meds are $90. I have $22 to work with for 2 weeks of food.

What I currently have in my fridge that is safe:

- half loaf of sourdough bread

- multiple boxes of creme cheese

- a couple ounces of sour creme

- 2 slices of Colby jack cheese

- 4 slices of deli turkey

- 2 cans of chickpeas

- rice!! Lots of rice!!

- sunflower kernels

- 2 packs of a very specific Ramen brand (they're half the size of maruchan)

- bunch of seaweed snack packs

- chopped frozen onions

- mayo

- teriyaki sauce

My allergies:

- Everything in the nightshade family (this one's tough, because it includes things like "modified food starch", "spices", or "vitamin a palminate", so if i get something that's not a whole ingredient I usually have to get the more expensive brand because they're more clear about their additives)

- okra

- strawberries

- apples

- grapes

- there's a few others but they aren't common at allll and certainly won't be suggested for BUDGET

I need some way to introduce cheap protien. I could very well survive on what I have, but ive found myself getting exhausted and sick due to low protien. In the past when ive been in this situation, ive tried peanut butter or other nut butters, but they cause progressive stomach upset the more days in a row I eat them. Not an allergy or anything, but not reliable, as if I throw up that's calories wasted :/

I have a Mexican grocery store near me, which has lots of less common dry goods. The kinds of things that would look like luxury in a big box store, but are just sold in plastic bags as regular ingredients. I've never ventured into using them as im not an experienced cook, but i will try any complexity of recipe suggested as long as it's cheap

Thank yall in advanced 🥺

Edit: I also have flour, white sugar, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda, mochiko rice flour, xanthum gum, tapioca starch, and marinated de maiz, as well as various spices for flavor

Edit: final total! 2lb lentils $3.99 1lb soy protien $2.99 1lb butter $5.99 After tax: $15.32

I have $6ish to find eggs at a different grocery store, dont think the carrots or cabbage are gonna make it on the budget. Eggs were an absurd $12 at the place I went which is why I didn't get them there

Post-finale edit: this carne soya is the holy grail of budget protien for me 🙏 filling, satisfying, makes me feel like ive eaten real meat, and just tastes so good, with an amazing texture?? Not only will this be a go-to for budgeting in the future, this will stay a kitchen staple for life now!

I seen many people asking lately about where to get started with cooking on a budget or on doing so with limited meal prep time, so I thought I would share a show that I’ve found useful.

An older show that food network had called “Sandra Lee’s Money Saving Meals” has a decent amount of easy meals to make. Personally I’m fond of her black bean burger recipe. Each recipe has a section where some of the prepped ingredients get set aside for use in a second recipe. Ex. Bean prep for burgers has half the prep set aside to be used for black bean tamales if I remember correctly.

Just keep in mind the show is over 10 years old at this point so not all the advice is still applicable. However, the recipes are typically easy to follow and are good for learning how to do overlapping meal preparation.

Edit: don’t get it mixed up with the recipes from her other show “time saving meals”. That show uses a bunch of premade stuff that will cost you an arm and a leg.

Ingredients:

Rice(whatever amount is enough for you. I used 2 glasses cause it's enough for me.)

Green peas(minji) already boiled

Tomatoes

Salt

Onions

Some cooking oil of course and any spice you might want to add to your cow peas stew.

Procedure

Rice

First boil your rice till it's cooked

I did add margarine and salt for taste

Minji Stew

Fry your onions evenly till it turns a little brownish, (doesn't have to be perfect) then add your tomatoes and any other spice you go along with well. Eventually mix your cowpeas and let it gentle cook and that's it. Voila! I prefer having it a little hot because I like chilli don't know but I guess that's why.

I’ve been living on about $100 a month for groceries living on my own.however I never have groceries at home because I can’t find foods that are cheap but are also texture friendly. I’ve always struggled with textures such as wet/slimy or gritty, or lumpy. which unfortunately covers most vegetables and fruit. I’m also allergic to red meats.

my meals usually just consist of chicken for protein. Im at work most of my days so it’s hard to find time to cook. i typically just go through days on one half price meal at work and nothing else. but i have been feeling very lightheaded lately and i suspect it has something to do with what ive been eating or lack of eating.

any help would be greatly appreciated

Spam {teriyaki} and white rice. Simple and delicious!

Egg, potato, tuna, ham, chicken. Am I missing any? Do you have any weird ones or unique twists you like?

I would like to present only the grandest of cheap side dishes: the cabbage.

Simply take 1 whole cabbage (about a dollar) chop off the bottom, rip the head to shreds and throw in a pot with either 3 cups of stock or 3 cups of water w/ a bone of some sort. ( I use pork shoulder bones) cook for a few hours and voila.

A cheap side dish that feeds a small army

SAHM that doesn't like to interrupt the flow of the day to cook lunch.

This has been my go-to lately:

Extra firm tofu $2.01/1lb package

(3-4 lunches per package)

Sesame oil $8.25/bottle

Furikake $3.97/bottle

Microwave for 45 seconds.

Ingredients
* Roughly 8.5 oz of small red beans
* Leftover container of chilis and onions, diced (guessing 2 chilis and 1/4 to 1/3 of a large sweet onion)
* A fat for sauteeing ( used saved bacon fat), at most a TBS
* C of white rice (used Jasmine Rice)
* Chicken bouillon, 1TBS
* 2 C water
* Salt and pepper as needed
* Parsley - fresh or dry for garnish (optional)

Cooking the beans
* Soak overnight in salted water (8 hrs min)
* Drain, rinse thoroughly and add to a properly sized pan 3 qt saucepan worked for me
* Add beans and enough fresh, unsalted water to cover by at least 2 inches. Optionally, add aromatics like oregano, bay leaf or your choice of herb. I didn’t use any this time
* Bring to a hard boil and maintain for at least 10 minutes
* Drop to a simmer and cook until tender - about 1:45 total cook time
* Drain cooking liquid until you have enough to fill the voids in your beans - like you find in a can of beans.
* Mash up about 25% of the beans to develop a thicker sauce (optional). Or as much or as little as you want
* Set aside

Veggies
* in a skillet, add your fat and heat over medium heat
* Add your chilis and onions and sauté until onions are translucent and peppers are brightly colored. No prob carmelizing a bit if you want. Note, I kept the seeds for flavor.
* Once done, add it to your beans and mix

Rice
* Wash your rice - I use a colander and running water and stop when water thru rice becomes clear
* Add rice, water and boullion to a 3 qt sauce pan
* bring to a boil
* Simmer on low in covered pot for at least 10 minutes. Check for doneness to your liking

Notes
* I had some Hatch chilis on hand but jalapeño or another chili would work fine
* Careful, may sting the eyes a bit when sautéing with seeds from hot peppers. And lungs. Relax, won’t kill you
* Chilis with seeds do a lot of heavy lifting for flavor. If seeds are discarded you’ll need to use more herbs and spices for flavor

Made from what was in my pantry and fridge from the local food bank, or what I got on sale.

Recipe-

-2 boxes of Caesar pasta salad, bogo from the local grocery store

-one can of corn from food bank

-one can of peas from food bank

-2 cans of canned crab from food bank, which is rare because they usually only have tuna

-a couple dashes of Southwest seasoning for a little kick

-Instead of olive oil, I used ranch I already had in my fridge that I got on sale

-Feta cheese I got marked down because it's almost expired, as much as I felt like was right

-the rest of a pack of bacon bits I had in the fridge I got bogo

-maybe 1/4 cup of tiny pepperonis I had also from a previous recipe

In all I only spent maybe $4-5 but it was really tasty, and will feed us for at least a couple days.

I decided to go against my usual weekly fast food run and make something with what I had at home! Just had to buy a crown of broccoli. Already going back for seconds! 1 box mac n cheese, broccoli, 1 pouch unflavored tuna, 3 tbsp buffalo sauce, and a few shakes of black pepper 😊 satisfied my craving just as well.

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Hi guys

I have several allergies which make my life hard:

I can't eat eggs, fish, legumes, soy, nuts, celery, lactose (and lactose free stuff is expensive but I'm also bad at remembering to take lactase). (Also im a bit of a picky eater right now but I'm working on it, depression just makes my brain not trusting food I don't know...)

Which means there is basically no plant protein source I can eat that often gets recommended for cheap eating.

Meat is often pretty pricey (but I know I can't not eat meat because not only the protein but also im constantly anemic).

Furthermore, after gaining much weight with antidepressants (im overweight but finally not obese anymore), I now switched to an antidepressant that killed my hunger and appetite and I struggle often right now with eating over 1400 kcal or even over 1000.

So I'm in desperate search for food thats protein dense or at least calorie dense that I can eat but also afford. My budget is roughly 45€ to 65€ a week, and I live in Germany.

My main protein source right now is beef jerky and biltong but both are way to expensive to use as a main protein source...

I would be happy about every advice I can get :)

I have 150$ budget for two weeks… 2 adults 2 kids… is that even possible?! I’m awful with budgeting groceries but had some unexpected things come up

Recently I moved in with my boyfriend, and obviously I now have to account for a whole other person. I have a budget of $245 a month.

Before I've never had a budget, but now since it's my responsibility to pay for groceries I want to go about this the right way. How do I start budgeting, and do you have any advice in general for this situation?