c/budget-friendly-meals

My sister swore beans in spaghetti sauce was a money saver, I called her crazy

She said to swap half the ground beef for lentils and kidney beans in my bolognese, and after trying it last week the texture is fine and it stretched one pound of meat into three meals. Anyone else have a relative push a cheap swap that actually worked?

I miss when a pound of ground beef was under two bucks

Was digging through some old receipts from 2019 the other day and saw I paid $1.89 for a pound of 80/20 at the local Kroger here in Columbus. Now it's like $4.50 on sale if I'm lucky. Three years and that's more than double. What do you guys even use now to stretch meals? I've been doing half lentils half beef in tacos and it works okay but not the same.

Why does nobody talk about how much oil you waste deep frying?

After dropping $12 on canola oil last week and realizing half of it went into the jar for storage, I asked a buddy who runs a food truck and he said just reuse it 3 or 4 times straining through a coffee filter - has anyone else been tossing perfectly good oil this whole time?

Shoutout to the guy at Aldi who told me I was wasting money on pre-cut veggies

I used to buy those pre-cut veggie trays for like $5 a pop cause I thought they were a good deal. Last week some old dude in line behind me goes "you know you can get a whole head of broccoli for 88 cents and chop it in 2 minutes right?" I kinda laughed it off but then I actually did the math - I've been paying almost 4x more just to not use a knife. Been chopping my own for a week now and honestly it takes maybe 3 extra minutes. Has anyone else had that moment where you realize a "convenience" food is just a total ripoff?

Overheard a guy at the grocery store say canned beans are cheaper than dried if you factor in the gas to cook them

I did the math on my last batch of dried chickpeas and with my old stove taking 2 hours to simmer, he might actually be right, has anyone else checked their energy cost vs the store brand cans?

Thought I saved money buying bulk rice at the warehouse store

Spent $40 on a 50lb bag of rice that got weevils after three weeks because I don't cook rice fast enough. How do you actually store big bags of dry goods without them going bad?

Pro tip: Stop using canned beans for everything like I did for years

I spent 3 years making chili and soup with canned beans, draining and rinsing them every time, until my neighbor saw me doing it and asked why I was throwing away free bean broth. She showed me how to cook dried beans for like 50 cents a pound and now I freeze the broth for soups and stews. Anyone else have a cooking shortcut they learned way later than they should have?

Realized I was wasting $40 a week on pre-made rice packs

I used to buy those microwave rice pouches for like $3 each because I thought cooking rice from scratch was too hard... turns out I was just scared of it. Three months ago I bought a $20 rice cooker on clearance at Target and started making my own. Now I make a big batch every Sunday for about 50 cents worth of rice and it lasts me all week. The difference is wild, I'm saving around $160 a month just on that one swap. Has anyone else had a similar moment where one small change cut your grocery bill way down?

Tried a $3 bag of dried beans instead of canned for soup and saved like $12

Overheard a guy at the grocery store say he spends $8 a day on lunch

I was grabbing some rice and beans yesterday when I heard this dude on his phone bragging about his $8 sandwiches from a deli near his work. That's over $200 a month just for lunch. I make a big batch of chili on Sunday with canned tomatoes, kidney beans, and ground beef when it's on sale, and it costs me maybe $15 total for the whole week. Has anyone else noticed how much people just throw away on takeout without thinking about it?

My aunt swore by freezing leftover tomato paste in ice cube trays

I always thought she was being cheap for no reason until I threw away half a can for the third time last week. Each cube is about a tablespoon and it saves me from buying those little tubes that cost $2 each at the grocery store. Anyone else do something similar with their leftover ingredients?

Question about stretching ground beef with oats in a casserole

I tried adding rolled oats to a meatloaf last Tuesday to stretch a pound of ground beef into two meals. I used about a cup of oats and a half cup of milk to soften them first, but the texture came out mushy and kind of weird. Has anyone gotten this to work without it turning into a spongy mess? I am cooking for four in Oklahoma City and trying to keep our grocery bill under $80 a week.

My coworker laughed at me for buying bulk beans until she saw my grocery bill

At my office last month, Sarah saw me bring in a jar of dried chickpeas for lunch and said "you actually cook those? that's so extra." I just shrugged and told her it cost me about $1.50 for the whole week's worth of lunches. She was spending $12 a day on takeout salads. Three weeks later she came up to me and asked if I could show her how to meal prep because her credit card statement was brutal. Felt pretty good honestly. Has anyone else had someone judge your budget meals and then come around later?

Tried making lentil soup with a $2 bag of split peas and ended up with a gelatinous blob that smelled like wet dog for three days

I followed a YouTube video from some guy named Chef Bob who said to simmer it for 90 minutes but I left it on low for 4 hours while I ran errands and came back to a pot that looked like a science experiment, so has anyone else had split peas turn into weird cement on them?

Switched my stance on frozen veggies after reading a USDA study that said they lose way less nutrients than fresh produce sitting in the fridge for a week

Found out from a food science blog that frozen peas actually retain about 30% more vitamin C than fresh ones that have been in my crisper drawer for 5 days, has anyone else switched to frozen for meal prep?

Ngl I just realized I spent under $60 on groceries all last week and that's never happened before

I was just adding up what I bought and it came out to $58 for seven days of meals including breakfast and lunch. Has anyone else hit a super low week like that or am I just lucky with what I had in the pantry?

Took me three entire weeks to realize I was wasting $15 a week on bulk spices I never actually used.

I kept buying those big jars of cumin and paprika from the discount store in Tacoma because they seemed like a steal, but after cleaning out my pantry I found five half-empty containers that all expired over a year ago, so has anyone else just accepted that you probably need like a teaspoon of turmeric every six months?

The month I bought pre-chopped veggies and wondered why my grocery bill doubled

I was spending $80 a week on groceries for just me and my dog, and I couldn't figure out where the money went. Then I noticed I was paying $4 for a bag of chopped onions when whole onions cost $0.50 each and last twice as long. Has anyone else found a good way to break the habit of buying pre-prepped stuff?

Googled 'cheapest calories per dollar' and ended up down a rabbit hole about vegetable oil

I found some USDA data from 2023 that said a gallon of vegetable oil has like 12,000 calories for under $4, which is crazy efficient but also kind of gross if you think about eating it straight. Has anyone actually used that kind of stat to plan meals?

TIL that rice isn't actually cheaper than pasta per serving

Was meal planning last night and actually crunched the numbers on my grocery receipt. A 2lb bag of store brand rice costs $2.40 but gives you about 16 servings, while a 1lb box of pasta is $1.20 for 8 servings. Turns out they're basically the same price per serving at around $0.15 each. I always assumed rice was way cheaper, but now I'm second guessing my whole meal prep game. Anyone else ever actually compared prices on pantry staples like this?

I used to buy pre-shredded cheese every week until I saw the price difference

I finally crunched the numbers last month and realized I was paying almost $2 more per bag for shredded cheese compared to a block. At Aldi, a 16oz block of cheddar is $3.49 but the shredded version is $5.29. So now I just grate it myself in five minutes and save about $40 a year. Has anyone else made that switch and noticed a big difference in their grocery bill?

Bought a whole chicken for $5.49 and it took me 3 days to use every bit

Last Tuesday I grabbed a whole chicken at Aldi for $5.49, figured I'd just roast it for dinner. Ended up with 4 meals from the meat, then boiled the carcass for broth that made 6 cups of soup base. Never realized how much food I was throwing away buying just breasts or thighs. Has anyone else tried stretching one chicken like this?

Stumbled on a stat about canned beans that blew my mind

I was browsing through a USDA report last Tuesday and found out that dry beans are about 70% cheaper per serving than canned ones. That really surprised me because I always grab canned for convenience. I did some quick math on my own shopping from last month and realized I could save around $15 a week just by switching to dried. That adds up to nearly $60 a month for my family of four. Has anyone else made the switch and found a good trick for soaking them faster without a special gadget?

Bought bulk rice from a restaurant supply store and regretted it

I went to US Foods Chef'Store in Austin last Saturday and grabbed a 50 pound bag of jasmine rice for $28. Seemed like a steal for budget meals. Got home and realized the bag had tiny weevils in it by Tuesday morning. Now I freeze all my bulk grains for 48 hours before storing them. Anyone else run into pests from these big bags?

My $20 immersion blender gave out halfway through a big batch of tomato soup

It started smoking and then just died, so I had to finish blending with a potato masher like a caveman. What's the cheapest immersion blender that actually lasts more than a year?