learn me: cheap food!

Rice cooked in chicken broth.

Rice cooked in coconut milk with raisins and crazins

Rice cooked with a tea bag

Rice cooked with wasabi powder

Rice cooked with......

Egg noodles

My go to meal is : 1 chicken breast boneless, skinless gut into 1 inch pieces

1/3 bag of frozen bell pepper slices

1 bag or box of random frozen veg

1 cup rice cooked with currents

Cook chicken in skillet add peppers, some Mr. Yosheda's sweet and savory, Worcestershire sauce, ground Cheyenne pepper and grill mates Monterrey steak seasoning low sodium

That will feed 2 people for about $6

Buy the family sized packs of chicken breasts. Butcher then freeze for latter.

For beef invest in a meat grinder and buy whats on sale then feed the grinder.

We do Bountiful Baskets, which is a produce Co-op. Good deal of fruits and veggies for $15 if there is one in your area.

We also use emeals which is a subscription service that gives you weekly menus based off of this weeks ads.

We've been looking at zaycon foods but haven't tried it yet. Mainly a meat buying co-op.

As far as cooking food on the cheap, chili, tortilla soup, pizza sandwiches, country fried steak, breaded chicken turns into chicken strips, or melt some Italian cheese on top add sauce and noodles and your spaghetti turned into chicken Parmesan.

Johnboyjjb wrote: We also use emeals which is a subscription service that gives you weekly menus based off of this weeks ads.

How is that working for you? Would it be good if you don't eat a whole lot of grains/starches and processed foods?

iceracer wrote: Strange, no one mentioned fish/sea food.

at costco the fresh salmon is half price of the grocery store i normally would buy it at. i bought a huge fillet for $13 the other day and cut into 6 good sized portions, 3 meals for 2.

ALDI is awesome for quite a bit of things.

I buy the whole pork loins when they are 1.99/lb and the 10lb bags of all natural fresh chicken breasts when they are 1.99/lb. the pork loins i cut into roasts, chops, i cut the fatty parts off and mix with the other cutoffs and make sausage.

make a garden, grown your own veggies. i made about 40 jars of pickles last year for about what it would have cost me to buy 4 cheap jars at the store, and mine are a million times better. and i make pasta sauce out of my tomatoes and freeze or can it.

make a big pit of chili by getting the gallon can of crushed tomatoes, divide into individual serving freezer bags, freeze it flat on a tray so it stacks well, and you have ready to go to work lunches if your work has a microwave.

eating cheap does not mean you need to eat millions of carbs or processed food. i make everything fresh aside of the stray cup of ramen noodles or something else out of convenience when i pop in from the garage. i refuse to eat processed pre prepared crap

Someone suggested making soup by boiling the noodles then dumping the noodles into the rest of the soup. Why? Let the noodles soak up the soupy goodness; they'll cook just fine while the soup is simmering.

iceracer wrote: Strange, no one mentioned fish/sea food.

I'm a lttle scared of the salmon being sold today. A lot comes from China and want no food products from there.

I suspect you can buy catfish filets pretty cheaply if you try. When I moved to Alabama in 1982, everybody down there raved about catfish. We had always considered catfish a trash fish with a strong flavor. I can assure you, farm raised catfish tastes like chicken. Yummy!!

I shopped at ALDI when I lived in Illinois. Closest one I've found here is about 45 miles away. Not bad, and would work for non-perishables, but milk and meats would be out of the question.

I am not reading all of this, but we go to farmers market and buy things when they are in season and can/freeze them for appropriate times. A giant thing of peaches for $5 and some pectin and work = 20 jars of peach jam. We buy our beef a half cow at a time and we're talking about buying a whole pig. It's actually pretty cheap that way, and you get bones for broth too.

one cup of rice two cups of water 2chicken breasts or 4 chicken tenders season to taste with dry spices and/or soy sauce

Bake in cast iron pan in oven with lid on 350 for 45

Baking bread or making pizza from scratch while not much cheaper than store bought is much more rewarding and delicious.

spitfirebill wrote:

iceracer wrote: Strange, no one mentioned fish/sea food.

I'm a lttle scared of the salmon being sold today. A lot comes from China and want no food products from there. I suspect you can buy catfish filets pretty cheaply if you try. When I moved to Alabama in 1982, everybody down there raved about catfish. We had always considered catfish a trash fish with a strong flavor. I can assure you, farm raised catfish tastes like chicken. Yummy!!

I have worked 4 years in seafood at Wegmans, GOOD seafood will not be as cheap as chicken or beef. A couple of things to look at is farmed vs. wild, fresh vs. frozen, country of origin, and preservatives.

Farmed vs. wild, both are good. For something being farmed, it will be for any of a handful of reasons. Sustainability(Atlantic salmon), availability(tilapia), DEC law(freshwater like trout/cat).

Fresh vs. frozen, again, both are good, but... I only like to go with frozen if I am getting it from the freezer, not previously frozen thawed product from the service case. Frozen will be cheaper, and time between catch/harvest and freezing will be hours. It also enables wild fish to be available out of season. Finally, good frozen fish will usually be individually vacuum sealed, allowing easy thawing of individual pieces.

Country of origin, look for where it comes from. Most of my fresh product is US or Canada. Notable exceptions include fresh tilapia from Ecuador, and wild fish range and migration patterns. The only Chinese fish we sell at Wegs is our frozen tilapia. Also, most farmed shrimp will be from SE Asia. I'm not big on the concept, but knowing the standards that we demand from our suppliers, I won't hesitate to get Wegmans branded products from asia.

Preservatives, most options in cheap seafood will be loaded with things like Sodium tripolyphosphate. I refuse to eat anything with this.

As far as cheap catfish, that is mostly a thing of the past. In the last 2 years, price has gone up 50%. This is for several reasons. #1 being the growth of Swai, a Vietnamese framed fish similar to catfish. Partly due to swai, there are now only 2 large scale commercial cat fish farms in the US anymore. Finally, flooding along the Mississippi last year wiped out a lot of soy crop, rising the price of soy, the main ingredient in catfish feed.

Sorry for becoming a Wegmans Canoe.

Why, lookie here!

Lots of great stuff in that thread.

In reply to neon4891:
What are your thoughts on China Farmed fish? I had been buying the Talapia individual frozen filets but I now notice that all three chains I was buying these from are all farmed in China. I have stopped buying them but I miss them.

Surprised nobody's mentioned chili. Here's how I make it when I don't feel like using dried beans.

1. Fry up a pound of cheap ground beef with seasoning salt, stirring so you get tiny bits of meat.
2. Drain this meat and put it in a pot.
3. Add one chopped onion, 2 cans of pinto beans, and 1 can of diced tomatoes.
4. Season with a pinch of cumin, plenty of oregano, and as many diced fresh chili peppers as you can stand.
5. Simmer for about half an hour. More if you feel like it.

Here's a different way to make spaghetti - instead of tomato sauce, use a mix of mashed steamed broccoli, olive oil, and diced chicken. Serve with lots of Parmesan.

BoostedBrandon wrote: I shopped at ALDI when I lived in Illinois. Closest one I've found here is about 45 miles away. Not bad, and would work for non-perishables, but milk and meats would be out of the question.

Check if there is a Costco or Sam's Club anywhere near you. We do save a lot of money on groceries simply by doing most of the grocery shopping at Costco and freezing the "excess" (IOW, most of it). Plus at least their meats seem to be of better quality compared to the local supermarkets and cheaper. Well, cheaper if you have the space in your freezer to store 6 steaks rather than two.

MadScientistMatt wrote: Surprised nobody's mentioned chili. Here's how I make it when I don't feel like using dried beans. 1. Fry up a pound of cheap ground beef with seasoning salt, stirring so you get tiny bits of meat. 2. Drain this meat and put it in a pot. 3. Add one chopped onion, 2 cans of pinto beans, and 1 can of diced tomatoes. 4. Season with a pinch of cumin, plenty of oregano, and as many diced fresh chili peppers as you can stand. 5. Simmer for about half an hour. More if you feel like it. Here's a different way to make spaghetti - instead of tomato sauce, use a mix of mashed steamed broccoli, olive oil, and diced chicken. Serve with lots of Parmesan.

Chili mentioned on page one, but i dig the recipe!!!

I wind up cooking rice about twice a week...I use it in EVERYTHING to stretch my food "resources". If you eat a bowl of cereal in the morning, just substitute rice for a similar amount of the cereal that you can tolerate (for me it's about half cereal / half rice.) I'm not a user of sugar in most foods but it helps to add some cinnamon and/or sugar to taste. Eggs are a cheap staple too. Salsa is another good staple, and when I think of it while I'm in TARGET I get the brand that they have that sells for $2.00+- a bottle. Adding a spoonful (usually a tablespoon full) perks up the cheapest food.

oh yeah, i make and can my own salsa too in the summer. a few days worth of tomatoes plus some spices or even the "can your own salsa at home" packet equals 8 jars for under $4.

When it comes to fish, if it's caught at sea, it's frozen at sea, on the ship. If you're seeing it unfrozen on the shelf, they've simply thawed it out.

Sam's Club is in the same city as the Aldi. 45 minutes is a fast trip. Maybe with a cooler and some ice, but I still don't think it's as feasible.

iceracer wrote: Strange, no one mentioned fish/sea food.

Oh yeah... by the way, fish/sea food.

I'm a bit picky. There are some cheap fish-like alternatives out there, but I have some issues. If beef is slightly mishandled its not the end of the world, but I just can't trust "fresh" salmon that was supposedly flown in from Alaska but only costs $3/lb.

If you live on the coast, get all the local seafood you can, but I'm not really a fan of supermarket seafood. Its kinda like getting Sushi from the Food Court.

In all honesty, I might suggest hunting depending on where you live. In some places you can buy a $15 license and use it to kill several deer, boar, bear, turkey, quail, pheasant, squirrel, rabbit.... the list goes on. In TX (for instance) you can't make meat cheap unless you know someone with a ranch. Most deer hunting in TX is by leasing land. Until you average the cost of your license, the gun, the ammo, the clothing, and the lease, and the processing (if you kill anything) its expensive meat.

I must say, though... hunting is like racing. You don't just buy a car and head to the track unless you want to die or kill someone. I mention it mostly to suggest; if you have a relative, friend, or concubine who IS a hunter and can teach you the ropes, its a good way to get cheap food.