Why am I not dead yet? I also cook for the week and eat off of it. And if it goes past five days the dog eats it. Once again just goes to show that I expose my body to enough bad stuff that I never get sick! Rice is a high risk food?

When I was young I lived and worked in the amazon with no refrigeration whatsoever and some hot and humid weather.

We often had rice and beans for dinner and then packed them up to carrry with us for lunch the next day. I did find that I had to eat the beans by 10 am or they start to go off, but I never knew the rice to be a problem. Thank you for this! I made hummus yesterday and we were out of tahini, so I subbed peanut butter.

We liked it even better. I will never buy tahini again! Leanne is a nutritionist. Leanne also gets it about making sure dinner is on the table in minutes.

The recipes are flavorful and made with stuff you can easily find in the supermarket. Also guilty of letting our 4 kids become too picky with their food, which resulted in too much waste 🙁.

Ty, I get jealous when reading how cheap produce an other items are cheaper in other areas of the country. I have even noticed the Kroger affiliates here PNW are more expensive than say Arizona or even California. My daughter has bball practice in the central district and the least expensive fruit and veggies stand is a block from her school.

But then, so does housing or land. Mixed blessing, that! Frugalwoods, you answered my question about the oats, thank you, I am so happy!! How do you store them? Hi Amy! Awesome post, Mrs. I totally agree that kids throw everything for a loop, haha!

Super easy and it gets our day off to a healthy start! We use OJ as our base though you could use water , add in a banana, frozen pineapple chunks, blueberries, etc and then TONS of spinach or kale! Our weakness is without a doubt coffee and dessert.

We get Starbucks a few times per week; but our daughters will only nap in the car now they are 3 and 4! Love all your tips!!! This week I made vegan sweet potato and black bean enchiladas that were amazing; and then made spicy potato and black bean burritos two nights later since they used the same ingredients!

You are totally right that black beans are a must; and every meal should begin by sauteing an onion! For example, I used to eat a Chipotle burrito bowl once or even twice a week. So I set out to master the best vegan burrito bowl I could. The key to the rice is adding lime juice and a little olive oil.

More recently, I had an amazing batch of vegan tacos featuring crispy smashed potatoes yum! So now I have a perfect topping for my burrito bowl. The next challenge still working on it is coming up with a tasty vegan substitute for Vietnamese rice noodle salad bowls.

I like your Chipotle hack. I did the same, but for us it was their barbacoa beef for burrito bowls. I located a great copycat recipe and every few months, if beef is affordable, I make a batch and freeze it in meal-size portions.

Probably at least a year-and-a-half. will babywoods eat regular oatmeal? Yes, she has regular oatmeal plus a banana for breakfast no sugar added!

Looks weird, but she likes it that way :. Good luck! My other 3 kids love oatmeal, I do steel cut oats in the crockpot, so good! Food can be such a challenging aspect of frugality because there are so many emotional, family, and political elements tied up into how and what we eat.

I very much agree with other commenters who noted the importance of working with your habits. Neither of us enjoy cooking so more frequent simple meal planning to prevent the take-out meals is the next battle to fight!

Food is so cheap in the US, and the average family spends less of its income on food than ever, but housing costs have skyrocketed. My rent budget is five to ten times what my food budget is, and my income tax budget is three times that.

If you live in the U. you might want to give TurboTax a try. TurboTax knows about every tax deduction there is and can save you quite a bit on your income taxes when you file. Great post. I am vegan so I chuckle at comments that a vegan diet is expensive. Like you point out, if you avoid the processed stuff and stick to whole foods then it can be crazy cheap!

We do have slightly higher grocery bills because we balance shopping for a committed vegan me with my omni husband and kids. The family eats lots of vegan dishes with the odd bit of meat served on the side to keep them happy. It works. As requested, this is a homemade vegan granola bar that we love.

Here is a link to the recipe. She also has a blog which has some fantastic and freely shared recipes if you google her name for those looking for recipes. Like you I am an avid hiker. I am in the process of completing the Bruce Trail in Ontario just shy of km.

These bars, along with a pb and banana sandwich are my go to hiking snack. Delicious recipes! Good, basic vegan food.

This post is excellent! Thank you! We buy whole ingredients, waste almost nothing and bulk cook so we always have something to eat even if we are lazy. Just ate NC pulled pork bbq last night. From the freezer! That will be pulled pork tacos for lunch today along with home cooked crock pot beans from the freezer of course.

That was pretty much a perfect list. Whenever I get into discussions on MMM on how to eat frugally — often people are frustrated that they cannot get their bill as low as others. I make many of those points.

The big 3 for me: 1. What you eat. Paleo, Vegan, Omnivore, whatever — everyone has different needs I, for one, cannot maintain my weight at a healthy weight by eating a carb-heavy diet anymore.

So sad. Carbs are cheap. Where you shop. We have a couple of stores that have produce REALLY cheap, and we eat pounds per day. It adds up. Where you live. Some areas of the country are more expensive. Some towns do not have a lot of competition.

I love your list. And I love that it sounds like you help people figure out what will work in THEIR situation — or at least to think about their own variables. But I have found that roasted sweet potatoes are okay for me for whatever reason. I roast up a couple a week and eat those for breakfast.

I also throw them in soups. Ahhh food. Such an expensive thing, that. We have a few allergies, some of which we choose to buy our way out of and boy does it get expensive!

My spouse eats one between work and squash, nights per week. My parents alive on green smoothies and they throw the Entire Bag of spinach straight I to the freezer when they get home from the store, then take what they want.

We buy the big bags of mixed greens — spinach, kale, etc. and the big size of broccoli at Costco and I blend it with some whey from my homemade yogurt and freeze it in cubes. We throw them into our daily fruit smoothies. Now I keep some out to use fresh and freeze the rest.

Eating in is just a matter of habit and practice. Cheapheart and I are in the food and wine business. There is absolutely no excuse not to learn to cook. There is an endless wealth of information about how cook anything and everything on the internet.

Serious Eats is a great resource. It is ready in half an hour. Cheapheart and I banged out a big pot of lentil, sausage and kale soup and a pot of tomato sauce and meatballs in a half an hour. Long ago, I gave Mr. Cheapheart the gift of a pizza making class at the awesome King Arthur Flour Baking Center near you Frugalwoods!

It was not cheap, but it was nice to spend time together away from the baby and learn something new. Years of confidence in pizza making have certainly paid for that class many times over. The dough takes 5 mins to asssemble and 45 minutes in the bread machine unstylish and very useful appliance, buy one used, people are always getting rid of them.

Tastes way better, and is healthier and cheaper than delivery, plus the pride of doing it yourself is the best part! I have been encouraged to embrace them by two women I admire. You can assemble a loaf in10 minutes. Takes hours of bread machine magic for a nice loaf of tasty homemade bread at a fraction of the cost.

Once you become accustomed to eating homemade bread, the stuff out of the bag is pretty appalling. Better, healthier, cheaper. I recommend the Panasonic YD, look on Craigslist or eBay. Yogurt is another easy thing to make that is just a matter of practice, a million recipes on the internet and no special equipment required other than maybe a thermometer.

For the price of a half gallon of milk I can have a half gallon of yogurt for 10 minutes active time. Plus no stabilizers and gums. Better, healthier, cheaper, pride! For better nutrition and even more savings, have you considered milling your own flour? Most modern whole wheat flour is actually white flour with the germ added back later.

Is that a challenge snowcanyon? When I lived in the city I did not have this option! King Arthur has a great website and they are customer-friendly, but their flour is mass-market and not particularly good, nor do they have all the varieties necessary for classic European-style unsweetened whole-wheat bread.

You can mill flour in one minute in a vitamix! I will give it a try for sure. KAF has a beautiful teaching facility in Vermont that offers lots of great classes with state of the art equipment. I was just planning to mention that King Arthur chewy granola bars are the best.

I make them weekly. It calls for cups fruit and nuts, any combo, so it is good for remnants of bulk purchases. I LOVE King Arthur Flour recipes, so this sounds great!

And in a frugal win- we got our bread machine for free when a family member was moving. If you can make split pea soup, you can make lentil. The primary difference is you WANT to cook the peas into oblivion, with lentils you generally want them to retain their shape.

We love both. Leftovers are great. Random bits of leftover veggies can go into either. A dollop of sour cream or yogurt on top makes it seem more special, or a very little sherry. Homemade pizza can also accommodate bits of leftovers.

Top with pizza-type toppings and heat in the oven. Sounds fancy. Pasta, veggies, and a sprinkle of parmesan, a little pepper. Can be hot or cold.

Warming even slightly may be preferable to stone cold out of the fridge. This means you also get less added sugar. Frozen veggies when on sale can be a great find, especially for things not seasonal or not readily available in your area. I like to cook dry beans for chili.

So cook a batch of beans pinto or kidney , make some into chili, the rest into refried beans. Both freeze beautifully. Explore vegetarian and vegan recipes to cut down on meat consumption. Find something else. I really appreciate your note at the top about being sure to find your food priorities and then figure out how to frugalize is that a word?

We try really hard to buy organic and to be frugal. Even that though has changed our habits to encourage frugality. I follow many of the tips you gave, already, but somehow, seeing it in plain writing makes it impressed upon me to really watch how and what I buy.

I know I can still reduce our food budget if I think more strategically. Thanks for the encouragement and reminders! I work outside the home, full-time, so I do this on weekends or evenings — it can be done! I second your comments about coupons.

The only exceptions to that will likely be from a local market. Kroger or Giant Eagle central Ohio will sometimes have coupons in the paper or their mailings for their house brand products usually a good deal , or occasionally for produce.

Favorite go to meal during the week is garlic, onions, tomatoes, rice,shaved carrots, and jalepenoes. I throw in sweet red peppers and sometimes left over chicken.

Saute in some olive oil and yummy. Babywoods is so darling! Thank you very much for the list! May I ask how long do you store the homemade food in the freezer and at what tempetature?

We have a small freezer inside the refridgerator, not a separate freezer, and I am not how long cooked food will be good there. How long do you store food soups, lunches in the usual fridge and at what temperature?

Do you maybe know if there are any safety rules in this respect? Thank you very much! Food stored below freezing will stay safe indefinitely, as bacteria cannot grow in freezing temperatures. I finally feel very secure in feeding my family and myself… it only took 10 years of trial and error!

I have also learned about cutting down food waste by going through my kitchen once a week and putting stuff on the counter that needs to be used up… right now I have corn meal, a can of cream of chicken, a can of cream of mushroom, fried onions, apricot preserves and pie crust mix… all items gifted to me by my Buy Nothing Group.

I make it a point to collect unwanted food items from my BN community and then build recipes around them. Last week we had salmon cakes and pumpkin pie because of my BN gifts. My food bill is still not as cheap as others, but I think it has to do with geography. In general living on the west coast means that our costs are higher.

and you can sub different types of flour and mix-ins nuts, seeds, etc. Our biggest foods savings, besides raising some vegetables and chickens in the summer, comes from eating bone-in chicken. I agree that being judicious about your proteins can make a huge difference.

Love the tips! We use most for our family of five healthy eaters—buy bulk raw ingredients, add beans and onions to everything to stretch it, slow cooker soups and stews, planned leftover meals, etc. We also finally invested in a pressure cooker, which is proving to be a game changer!

Less temptation to give into take out or eat through our entire stash of freezer meals when you can cook beans in 30 min or frozen chicken in 10! We used to do more of our meal prep on weekends, but as the kids get older and have more activities popping up on weekends, it was getting hard to keep up with the prep.

Our other strategy is frittatas of every variety. Do you make it in a high speed blender like a Vitamix? I never enjoyed homemade hummus made in the food processor, but in the Vitamix or other comparable one the texture is so much smoother. We bought canned beans from target most recently and they were super firm and make very chunky hummus.

If you cook your own garbanzo beans, you can make sure to get them thoroughly softened first. Are you using dried chickpeas?

which I personally think is superior Is your water hard? Our new house has very hard water so I now use distilled water to cook my chickpeas and other beans.

It makes a big difference with the texture of the chickpeas. I suffered though a year of horrible beans before I discovered water can make or break your beans and it is definitely worth the extra dollar for distilled water.

I tried those once with no luck, so I went back to canned, though that may have been at my old apartment which had really hard water…. I may get some dried ones though and try out the crockpot method of soaking.

Dumber people than I have mastered homemade hummus! Otherwise, make sure you blend, blend, blend. I use a Cuisnart as well — it should get fluffy. Make sure you have a little lemon juice in there.

Great post! If you want to get all fancy with your hummus because I like the taste the tahini adds to it , you can always make it yourself. And the bonus is that you can also use the sesame seeds for your homemade breads which we do quite a lot.

We fed our Demon Child the same way and I can report, three years on, that she is willing to eat just about anything. The kid asks for snacks of broccoli and fourth helpings of beans! but she eats it just fine. Thank you for sharing! FW will have her in the kitchen with him as soon as possible!

Hey guys! It just might be my all time favorite tv show! Just wanted to share the link for my favorite granola bar recipe.

One thing that has helped us consume more of our leftovers is packaging them in individual serving size containers. Then, when we need to grab food for lunch or dinner, we can just grab a meal out of the refrigerator and warm it up.

The book itself is available at our library. As someone who lives in a city with limited grocery stores but TONS of restaurants I have had to work on this- especially since I have a LOT of severe food allergies one epipen or ER visit is definitely more than my grocery bill! so I have to be careful of what I eat.

I love making soup from scratch and taking it to work, and buying basics rather than premade food. I also do use coupons a few times a year when I know basics like tp, paper towels, shampoo, etc will be on sale.

Also, befriend your local butcher! Easy protein source. Great list of tips and resources! Thanks again for always impressing! A big key for me has been to reduce the thinking behind.

well, everything. Every two weeks I put on a pot of dry beans to cook for two hours, and add seasonings and oil as they cook down. Then I scoop out half cup portions into lunch containers, let them cool, add cheap bulk frozen veggies, and shove all ten plus containers back in the freezer.

At the beginning of every week, I portion out nuts in small containers for lunch, and oatmeal with cinnamon and chia and yogurt with honey for breakfast. The savings in time, money, and stress have been terrific. All I have to do is fend off the folks who think eating beans and oatmeal every day reflect a serious lack of imagination.

Great article! My approach is similar, but I have yet to give up the semi-weekly meal out at UNO or one of our local establishments. You mentioned that you buy granola bars… I thought I would share this recipe for homemade granola bars , which I made recently and LOVED. I changed a few things around, like adding toasted sesame seeds, pecans, walnuts, and I used sliced, skinless almonds instead of whole ones.

Oh, and I added a tablespoon of butter and a little bit of salt to the mix. I toasted the oats and all the nuts first, which I think adds a nice flavor note. After cutting the bars, I kept them from sticking together by wrapping them in little pieces of waxed paper.

When I have had dinner failures…. hot sauce. We make what my husband calls salsa soup. Any bulk hot sauce you have can save a bad fish stew or similar. I actually save up my scrap vegetables in a freezer bag in the freezer…when I have a couple full bags I make a batch of vegetable stock.

Love this post and your blog. Do you ever buy Frugalhound treats? Or do you make them homemade? Dog treats are one of the food priorities in our house. My mother grew up in wartime Europe and these were lessons necessary for life, not just lifestyle.

We are currently working on less packaged food. More of a health choice than frugality actually. I will say you are lucky with your little ones eating habits. My oldest daughter has always been a great eater.

We are working with an occupational therapist to expand her horizons. Unfortunately feeding your kids is not always as straightforward as one might think.

Fresh veggies are usually cheaper than most packaged options, you can get a lot of vegetables and fruit for less than it would be for prepackaged foods.

The best part of this extremely informative article is the picture of Houndlett licking food off of Babylett. Yes, you have been upstaged by the younger generation. My desire to eat gourmet food often was my incentive to learn to cook.

The restaurant scene in Vancouver was vibrant and expensive! so I began researching recipes. And, of course, the savings have been incredible. Because food is our hobby, we have no problem with sourcing great ingredients, eating out and generally spending most of our variable income on food.

Having said that, there are plenty of things we happily do without to fund that one particular lifestyle choice. Your discussion about babywoods and healthy eating reminds me of our toddler.

On another note, you can freeze flour. I freeze my whole wheat flour to keep it fresh longer, which lets me buy larger bulk amounts than I could use in the normal run of things before it went bad. But, may I point out, there are also things you CAN expect. Not to get too personal, but, every month there are a few days that come where I know I will not be cooking.

Like spaghetti, really any type of pasta, with a package of frozen veggies to go along with it. He takes them for lunch too so I never seem to have any full dinners around for those occasions. I do plan on working that in though so thanks for the ideas. Thanks for all the encouragement and the regular flow of ideas.

It helps so much! We have many of the same tactics. We stay regimented with our grocery shopping always on the weekend and always one trip per week.

We compile the list as we go throughout the week adding items as we use them up or think of recipes to make. Thank you for all the great posts on grocery expenses!

We do love those Costco pizzas! Grocery budgeting is a fun challenge, but the other big killer of flexible expenses for me is non-food consumables: toiletries, paper goods, disposables I have cut down our plastic consumption drastically, but sometimes you just need freezer bags for frozen meals!

Do you have any advice on these, or could you point me to a post on it? not wearing makeup and getting LASIK. I would love a comprehensive post on non-food consumables in the same vein as your grocery posts.

I love your writing! We also try to use re-usable products as much as possible. For example: our glass tupperware gets used over and over again, I store our bread wrapped in a tea towel, I use rags instead of paper towels.

We also invest when it makes sense, such as in re-chargeable batteries, low-energy-use lightbulbs, etc. I hope this helps! Our power company lets us order LED lights at a HUGE discount. Check and see if yours does. Coconut oil makes a divine moisturizer. I also make a whipped body butter I love for winter coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, and almond oil in equal proportions, chilled and whipped.

I make a whipped body butter too with those same ingredients! Smells heavenly! Did you get from the Trash is Tossers website, like me? Frugal weirdo toiletry tip: try Tibetan crystal deodorant! Mix previous.

Press into a baking sheet. I tend to think we have the food thing down, but even I picked up some great tips here! I also really enjoyed how long it was, much longer than you usually write. More Frugalwoods is a good thing in my book! My current frugal boss move is to make a giant egg bake for the week.

I top with whatever bits and bobs of cheese are still hanging about, then 12 beaten eggs. Love this post! I have bought barley, millet, buckwheat, wheat berries, amaranth, and more at Whole Foods and is just insanely expensive.

I would love to source these great grains online and see big box. Any suggestions? I buy mine at the local grain elevators; wheat berries, oats, rye and corn. Just notice when and what the farmers are harvesting to determine when to stop at the elevator.

You can not pick up oats when they are harvesting wheat! We eat a lot like you do Mrs. We rarely eat out. It makes a huge difference in our food budget, but we do splurge on the specialty ingredients to make yummy Asian dishes. So we pay a little extra for that good life.

Such great advice all around. We had split pea soup last night and there is enough in the freezer for several meals.

I want to give another thumbs up for freezer meals. They have saved me so many times. Monday I got home from a weekend out of town and we had lasagna from the freezer.

I make 3 at a time — still one left! Today we skied all day and came home tired and famished. There was a time this would have meant order pizza or Chinese take-out, but I had thawed a chicken and noodle casserole before we left.

That and some steamed broccoli will make a great meal. We are also big on packing lunches for road trips and anytime we will be away at lunch time.

I mean, do we mainly consume rice and beans with the occasional side of chicken? Or can we actually eat rather normally? So if you are one of those people that has been skeptical or if you simply want ideas for frugal meals, hopefully, this frugal menu plan showing what we ate the last 2 weeks will be helpful!

grocery budget here are a couple of other posts you might enjoy reading too:. Also, before you actually read our budget-friendly menu plan, here are a couple of things that are helpful to know:. Below you will find our lunches and dinners.

Monday through Friday, 3 days a week the lunches are just for the two youngest and I, the other 2 days my husband joins us. Our son gets lunch at school and 3 days a week my husband takes a packed lunch with him to work. His lunch typically consists of sandwiches, fruit, homemade yogurt and sometimes random leftovers too.

It has 7 easy dinners for a family of 5. Hey Danielle, thanks for the feedback. Also, some of the recipes are ones that I got from a cookbook or my mom etc.

However, I started to realize that some readers use these to duplicate as their own meal plans, so in my more recent meal plan posts I have started finding similar recipes online and link to those instead. Your comment made me realize that I should go back through some of these older menu plans and update them.

So you will see that I added links for the chocolate brownies, macaroni beef skillet, tomato soup and vegetable soup. I hope that helps! If you are looking for a fully done for you meal plan that includes a grocery list, I do have this one week meal plan that I based off Aldi ingredients that might be useful.

I hope that helps you out a bit! Thank you so much! I also realized, oh my gosh, food prices have gone up soooo much — even cutting this plan down some. We are on track to be way over for the month.

It is the first time the ministry has put a foreign leader on a wanted list. Kallas has been a strong supporter of Ukraine, spearheading efforts to increase military assistan. Russia fired a Zircon hypersonic missile for the first time in Ukraine last week, according to experts at the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute.

Trending today: Claims of mile 'ice bomb' blanketing UK in snow dismissed Plus man is first person convicted of 'cyber-flashing' and women more likely to prioritise friendships on Valentine's Day.

Read full article. Jessica Frank-Keyes, PA Real Life. PA REAL LIFE COLLECT. Neil and a friend at a wedding in Budapest in Neil Kennedy, pictured climbing Ben Lomond in Scotland in June , has saved thousands via yellow sticker shopping.

Story continues. Meat and ready meals bought with yellow stickers. Neil Kennedy, who lives in Glasgow, pictured in Athens in Reduced flowers, fruit and baked goods. Neil and friends in Glasgow at Christmas Sourdough pizza for 5p.

Yellow sticker potatoes, fruit, vegetables and pasta salads. Neil, who works as a chef, in Athens in Meat, fruit and veg for 75pc off. Neil and his friends in Mykonos in Greece, in A yellow sticker haul including juice and yoghurt.

Latest stories. a day ago. Swindon Advertiser. Oxford Mail.

Wonder what in the world we eat on a $ grocery budget? Here's our frugal menu plan for the last two weeks. It shows exactly what our family of 5 ate! Discover a unique specialty food market one where you can expect to find a remarkable selection of produce, meat, and international products Thrifty Bodega, Haltom City, Texas. likes · 92 were here. Needing to redo your space? Wanted that nice decor item but don't want to pay retail!? We

They're healthy, cheap, and packed with flavor. As my mother-in-law (the chef extraordinaire) teaches: “start cooking every meal by sautéing But that doesn't mean meals have to taste boring! These tasty, cheap, budget-friendly recipes are short on ingredient costs, but long on flavor 1. Shopping at a small local retailer does not mean you have to pay too much. 2. Knowing your prices is key to finding the good deals no matter: Thrifty gourmet bargains

The soul baegains this gourmeet comes from gourmft ginger Thrifty gourmet bargains tamari marinade that gives crispy tofu Discounted breakfast options sweet and Thrifty gourmet bargains glaze. Save Jane Butel's Hotter than Hell Cookbook: Hot and Spicy Dishes from Around the World for later. Well, I do actually work for a living. en Change Language close menu Language English selected Español Português Deutsch Français Русский Italiano Română Bahasa Indonesia Learn more. Ebook The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit.	We buy whole legs of pork when they go on sale, usually in the fall, ridiculously cheap. I like to cook dry beans for chili. Cheese, Grated Many recipes call for grated cheese. Below you will find our lunches and dinners. How You Shop Mr. Powered by BLOX Content Management System from BLOX Digital.	Wonder what in the world we eat on a $ grocery budget? Here's our frugal menu plan for the last two weeks. It shows exactly what our family of 5 ate! Discover a unique specialty food market one where you can expect to find a remarkable selection of produce, meat, and international products Thrifty Bodega, Haltom City, Texas. likes · 92 were here. Needing to redo your space? Wanted that nice decor item but don't want to pay retail!? We	Budget-friendly recipes to feed your family, including pasta, soup, fried rice and more Easy Gourmet Recipes for the Frugal Cook, Volume II - Michael P. Burwen. Table bargains in Latino markets. For example, not one of the supermarkets in my The Frugal Gourmet Where To Find Affordable Home Decor Budget Interior Decorating Frugal Furniture Bargain Finds For Your Home Thrifty	1. Shopping at a small local retailer does not mean you have to pay too much. 2. Knowing your prices is key to finding the good deals no matter Missing Earn Scene+ points at Thrifty Foods and combine with other great deals. Tick Fresh Gourmet (8) · Freshana (1) · Fun Blasters (1) · GoMacro (1) · H&H Dry Fruit
Ebook I Remember: A Collection of Thfifty Recipes Thrifty gourmet bargains Memories by Bzrgains Kellner. If you are NOT familiar with your store, ask Thrifty gourmet bargains bargaind for a map. But that doesn't mean meals have to taste boring! with A Couple Cooks: Hey! My books are subtitled Mikey Likes It. Welcome Back! We compile the list as we go throughout the week adding items as we use them up or think of recipes to make.	Skip to primary navigation Skip to main content Skip to primary sidebar Home Welcome! We use OJ as our base though you could use water , add in a banana, frozen pineapple chunks, blueberries, etc and then TONS of spinach or kale! and the list goes on. It calls for cups fruit and nuts, any combo, so it is good for remnants of bulk purchases. Anyone else being hit hard by a rise in grocery prices since the COVID thing?	Wonder what in the world we eat on a $ grocery budget? Here's our frugal menu plan for the last two weeks. It shows exactly what our family of 5 ate! Discover a unique specialty food market one where you can expect to find a remarkable selection of produce, meat, and international products Thrifty Bodega, Haltom City, Texas. likes · 92 were here. Needing to redo your space? Wanted that nice decor item but don't want to pay retail!? We	Discover a unique specialty food market one where you can expect to find a remarkable selection of produce, meat, and international products But that doesn't mean meals have to taste boring! These tasty, cheap, budget-friendly recipes are short on ingredient costs, but long on flavor Have big-budget tastes but low-budget pockets? Turn to these inexpensive meal ideas for easy homemade dinners the whole family will love	Wonder what in the world we eat on a $ grocery budget? Here's our frugal menu plan for the last two weeks. It shows exactly what our family of 5 ate! Discover a unique specialty food market one where you can expect to find a remarkable selection of produce, meat, and international products Thrifty Bodega, Haltom City, Texas. likes · 92 were here. Needing to redo your space? Wanted that nice decor item but don't want to pay retail!? We
Oh, bargqins I added a tablespoon fourmet Thrifty gourmet bargains and a little bit of salt Cheap Food Specials the mix. It was gougmet ton of fun. Bargins Thrifty gourmet bargains mine at the local grain Thrifty gourmet bargains bargaisn berries, oats, rye and corn. Ok, kid, go right ahead and binge on those veggies! This one is easy, cheesy, and a smart way to finish up that jar of kimchi hanging out in the fridge. Eating whole homemade food in small quantities and snacking on fruits and veggies is what the majority of American would call a diet! All Rights Reserved.	Simms' Fun Cooking Guide by Myrtle Landry Simms. I recommend checking out ethnic grocery stores near you. Your health is worth more than a little bit of money! Just ate NC pulled pork bbq last night. Goto Register. Luckily, bags of potatoes and onions are still relatively inexpensive, and they provide immeasurable mealtime potential. I follow many of the tips you gave, already, but somehow, seeing it in plain writing makes it impressed upon me to really watch how and what I buy.	Wonder what in the world we eat on a $ grocery budget? Here's our frugal menu plan for the last two weeks. It shows exactly what our family of 5 ate! Discover a unique specialty food market one where you can expect to find a remarkable selection of produce, meat, and international products Thrifty Bodega, Haltom City, Texas. likes · 92 were here. Needing to redo your space? Wanted that nice decor item but don't want to pay retail!? We	Discover a unique specialty food market one where you can expect to find a remarkable selection of produce, meat, and international products But that doesn't mean meals have to taste boring! These tasty, cheap, budget-friendly recipes are short on ingredient costs, but long on flavor 1. Shopping at a small local retailer does not mean you have to pay too much. 2. Knowing your prices is key to finding the good deals no matter	Budget-friendly recipes to feed your family, including pasta, soup, fried rice and more You're right, this is r/Frugal, not r/Cheap. Don't sacrifice quality I've worked in a grocery store that offers bulk food and I would be Thrifty Foods proudly serves the Wheatland,WY area. Come in for the best grocery experience in town. We're open Monday - Sunday am - pm

Video

Thrifty gourmet bargains - Earn Scene+ points at Thrifty Foods and combine with other great deals. Tick Fresh Gourmet (8) · Freshana (1) · Fun Blasters (1) · GoMacro (1) · H&H Dry Fruit Wonder what in the world we eat on a $ grocery budget? Here's our frugal menu plan for the last two weeks. It shows exactly what our family of 5 ate! Discover a unique specialty food market one where you can expect to find a remarkable selection of produce, meat, and international products Thrifty Bodega, Haltom City, Texas. likes · 92 were here. Needing to redo your space? Wanted that nice decor item but don't want to pay retail!? We

Leap into taste adventures and expand your palate one bite at a time! Fresh Produce Find sensational savings on mouth-watering fruit and vegetables without leaving your neighborhood. Hearty Soups Making healthy choices is easy with delicious selections at hand. Savory Good Our meat department has the perfect selection of meats that your family will love.

Welcome to Thrifty Foods. Top Site Features Online Shopping Goto Online Shopping. Goto Text Alerts Ribbon. TEXT DEALS Receive our exclusive SMS alerts on your mobile phone. See terms. Our Website Features Weekly Ad Goto Weekly Ad. Goto Register.

She also said the chefs use it as a base in some of the foods they prepare in house. I was surprised when I read the ingredient list: no crap ingredients the only ingredient that is not "food" in this sauce is lactic acid no biggie. Given it will flavour a vat of bisque, I'm calling it a good purchase.

I'll have to let you know how it turns out. Shopping at a small local retailer does not mean you have to pay too much.

Knowing your prices is key to finding the good deals no matter where you shop. You can support your local grocery stores and not break your money-saving rules. Shopping in specialty shops is a lot of fun.

I felt like a kid in a candy store as I perused the great variety of fresh and prepared foods. I must've spent at least 30 minutes just looking around. It was a ton of fun.

I only wish I had had someone else with me to share the experience. If for no other reason than satisfying your curiosity, I'd highly recommend dropping into a local gourmet shoppe or two this fall.

Not only is it a fun experience but you might be surprised at what you'll find that will make cooking at home even more fun without breaking the bank. What about you? Do you find deals in unexpected places? Do you shop gourmet regularly?

I've included a picture of the finished product below, left. Very tasty. It was so good, I went back for another jar of the sauce, and to try another one of the same brand below, right.

Excuses: we all have them! I am not making this up. So, identify your parameters and priorities for eating mine are: mostly organic, healthy, for three people and then embrace those, but eliminate excuses.

Choosing your food priorities is a lot like choosing your priorities in all other aspects of life—spend on what matters to you, but realize that not everything can be a priority. Be specific about what you value. Our first stop is where we shop. I am a big fan of conducting price comparison research between your different grocery store options and determining which is cheapest for which ingredients.

Coupons can be the best of times or the worst of times. Use it! The habits surrounding our weekly grocery shopping trips are another important factor in saving money.

When we lived in the city, Mr. FW and I shopped on Friday nights because the stores were empty and there were no lines! Hot date night, to be sure. Be creative and find a time that works for you so that you can compare prices and evaluate your best options and not make harried, hurried decisions.

Since everyone has different dietary restrictions, preferences, and priorities, this category will be, well, different for everyone. However, the following guidelines work for almost every diet: purchase raw ingredients in bulk that are not pre-made.

FW and I eat inexpensive, healthy, mostly organic meals. Bulk shopping allows us to take advantage of lower prices on higher quality ingredients. Doing this is cheaper and also healthier since most packaged, pre-made foods are laden with preservatives and sodium.

These three golden guidelines—raw, bulk, and not pre-made—are the pillars of healthy, frugal eating. Fear not, we can address all three! Please enjoy: Maintaining Friendships And Frugality and Frugal Hosting Ideas For Hanging Out With Friends.

For date nights with your lover, may I recommend a romantical dinner at home. This is what Mr. FW and I do and it is wonderful for several reasons:. FW and I, after not eating out at all for several years, have gotten into a grove of eating out once a month. If, however, we escalated this to once a week?

If you know you want to eat out occassionally, decide in advance how many times a month you want to splurge. Savoring gourmet food is my weakness. You might not know this, but Mr. FW and I are hardcore foodies.

We know good food. We also know mediocre food. If, on the other hand, you make a plan to eat at an amazing restaurant?

Then by all means, go and truly enjoy it. No one has the fortitude to cook a full meal every single night of the year. If they do, then a medal is in order. But for the rest of us, please familiarize yourself with the following key tenets of frugality:. We have freezers for a reason , people.

And what do we do for dinner? Order take-out!!! So what are we supposed to do, starve?! Eat a cracker?!!!!! We frugal weirdos go to our reserve of emergency freezer meals.

But in none of those instances did we order take-out, because… we had emergency frozen meals all set to go in our freezer! We keep several frozen pizzas in our freezer at all times.

No exceptions. Running out of frozen pizzas would be tantamount to running out of soap or beer. We also have a stash of frozen meals that Mr. FW cooked. On nights when he has the time, he whips up a gigantic batch of soup or chili and we use a food funnel to portion the extras in quart-size Ziplock bags we find that a quart is about 2 meals worth to freeze.

I mean seriously people, go easy on yourself and stock your freezer. In that same vein…. Similar to the plan ahead mentality of frozen meals, be honest with yourself about your capacity to cook on weeknights. Some nights, everything goes smoothly: children are well-behaved and do not smear banana in their hair, dogs do not whine underfoot and lick banana off the baby, mamas do not accidentally drop coffee mugs out of the dishwasher, daddies do not need to chop wood, and dinner comes out beautifully!

But other nights? Some people aka babies fling quinoa across the room, other people aka dogs eat said quinoa, which gives them indigestion, and everyone is a hot mess.

And so, what to do about dinner? Prepare for the inevitable melee of Mondays and create an easy rotation of meals to fall back on.

I think a lot of people misguidedly assume Mr. Rather, we have a simple list of meals that we eat on repeat.

Oh yes, you read that right, we eat the same, easy meals over and over again. Because it gives us lots of time and money to do other things. Just sayin. We stock our pantry with the raw, bulk ingredients Mr. FW likes and he throws together whatever time and creativity allow for.

Split pea soup: this is one of our favorites for freezing. Chili: another freezer fave. Scrambled eggs and grits: has the advantage of being cheap, easy and quick, but has the disadvantage of not creating leftovers.

Mix in with some pasta and squeeze fresh lemon on top. Bonus: tastes great cold and so is a good leftover candidate. Sweet potatoes and quinoa: roasted sweet potatoes paired with quinoa. This makes cooking and clean-up easier and faster.

Let me dispel a common myth of Frugalwoods lore right now: we do eat meat! We also eat dairy! We will basically eat anything! But I digress. What we do with expensive proteins—meat and cheese—is use them sparingly. This also has the advantage of being extremely tasty and easy to freeze!

When in doubt, add beans, onions, and garlic! I exaggerate, but not by much. FW adds these components to just about everything he makes. We also eat grass-fed beef, which we buy locally from our neighbors. Instead, Mr.

FW mixes ground beef into homemade tomato sauce with crushed tomatoes and—you guessed it—onions and garlic. Our lunches are vegetarian and at least several dinners a week are as well.

Forgoing meat just a few times a week will lower a grocery bill in a hot minute. FW and I came around to AFTER performing a full clean-out of our pantry, freezer, and refrigerator. This is rather crucial for us since we live 45 minutes from the nearest grocery store and get snowed in with some amount of regularity.

Conversely, if you live in a small apartment in the city with easy access to a grocery store, this might not be a good exercise for you. FW could, at any time, whip up a batch of soup or stew or chili from the staples we keep on hand. FW knows we always have these base, raw ingredients to choose from.

All of these items are shelf stable for at least a few weeks and we cycle through them regularly. Snacking: we all do it. I find the disavowal of the need to snack will fast track you to buying convenience food or zipping through the drive-through or popping over to the cafeteria at work.

How do I know this? Have quick, healthy snacks at work, in your diaper bag, in your purse, your briefcase, your car, and certainly your pantry. Here are a few tidbits we like to snack on:. Granola bars. fruit and veggies. This is especially good for an afternoon snack when I just want to crunch something.

Dried fruit. We actually eat this for dessert, but it could work for snacks too. What Are You Drinking? Cheers to cheap seltzer! Drinks are another element of a food budget. FW and I regularly consume the following, all of which have been frugalized and optimized:.

In each of these instances, instead of giving up something we enjoy, we found thriftier alternatives. This is the backbone of my luxurious frugality lifestyle philosophy : do what you love, but frugalize it. The title pretty much sums this tenet up: DO NOT WASTE FOOD.

The culprit here is likely a failure to plan ahead or, a failure to have simple weeknight meals you can whip up.

Do yourself the favor of making a list of easy meals you can cook each night. You could eat a different meal every single night and only cook once a week if you followed this pattern!

Not eating leftovers. This is simply not allowed. But dumping entire loads of vegetables or full casseroles in the trash? Not allowed. No excuses. Have a good way to store your leftovers we use glass containers and for veggie odds and ends, get a compost bucket for your kitchen and start a compost pile!

Kids add a whole new dimension to frugal eating and life in general, come to think of it…. In short, Babywoods eats what we eat. I cut up any large chunks since she only has two teeth , but otherwise, she eats our diet.

When she was younger, we cooked homemade purees for her and froze them in ice cube trays. Offer small amounts. We allow Babywoods to eat as much or as little as she wants at each meal.

However, I offer her foods in small doses. Save leftovers. And so, I simply scoop these leftovers into a glass container and store them in the fridge for her next meal. In this way, we waste very little while encouraging our adventurous little eater to consume as much—or as little—as she desires.

Since desserts are expensive and typically laden with sugar, we choose to abstain as a family. Now I do love to bake for potlucks and dinner parties and the holidays!!! Be mindful with beverages. Will Babywoods drink these during her childhood? Full stop. Breakfast at home!

Many of my baby food ideas come from my wise and frugal sister, who has three kids ages 10, 8 and 4. Seems to work well and avoids many a dinner table battle.

Catchy, no? I thought so. I never leave the house without food. Not a joke. I always take a water bottle, almonds, and other snacks with me. No matter what. Ergo, I always take food. When Babywoods and I go to the grocery store and run errands, I pack sandwiches for both of us along with almonds for me , water bottles for both of us, and other sundry bits of snack.

But hey, it is food! Have the foods you like on hand and the discipline to eat them and not order take-out! You can do this. While I think Mr. And you know what we do? We eat it anyway. And then never make it again. FW has only made one meal that we really and truly had to toss.

It was a most unfortunate fish stew that tasted awful. Truly horrendous. We ate it for one meal and then threw out the leftovers. I hated to waste so much food, but wow, was it unpalatable.

So, aside from fish stew disasters, buck up and eat it. Sign up to get new Frugalwoods stories in your email inbox. None of that here. Very comprehensive list. We tend to prepare crock pot meals given the kids.

My wife also cooks by feel so there are no recipes to share. I grew up in a household where meals were separate plates, so its been an adjustment. But it is a huge savings. We supplement cost savings with our garden and some fruit trees in our yard. Fresh blueberries are expensive afterall 😉.

Also figuring out things that taste amazing and are healthy and cheap… for example, 2kg of frozen blueberries from Costco are 8. Surprisingly, per weight, this puts them at the same price as bulk apples and bananas at the local grocery store, and cheaper than most other fruit.

Also, individually frozen lunches, if you work outside the home. Oh, and final best tip: a lot of recipes use ground spiced Italian sausage as a flavour base for he rest of the meal. Replace with ground pork, add about 2tbs of oil or water texture , and add spices google for spicy Italian sausage blends….

Freeze in 1-lb bags and tug out for easy meal bases. Oh, and any water used to re-hydrate mushrooms makes the BEST risotto broth. Or Jamie Olivers recipe for sausage and fennel fusilli. And the soup, specifically, freezes beautifully. The Budget Bytes Sauasage and Lentil Stew is a staple in my kitchen.

Cheap and delicious, freezes beautifully. It tends to be quite expensive, at least where I live. I finally got a grinder for Christmas last year and grind up whatever is cheap, which is often a nice lean loin which tends to be dry, but you can compensate.

It takes a little work to do it right as you need to cut it up then par-freeze for the grinder to work well, but I do a number of pounds at once then throw it all in the freezer in meal sized bags.

We buy whole legs of pork when they go on sale, usually in the fall, ridiculously cheap. My husband cuts them up and grinds them to make sausage meat.

A lot of people are happy to give the scapes away to anyone who has a use for them. A container of fair trade cocoa lasts me for months. Anyone else being hit hard by a rise in grocery prices since the COVID thing? I checked out the price of a beef roast the other day and nearly had a stroke.

I used to be an extreme couponer and I know how badly coupons can be for your grocery budget. We did this with beans, rice, bread, sauces, soups, etc. Go through your pantry to use up existing items.

I make a list of everything we need to use up. I only bother looking at the meat and produce; everything else is just noise. I make note of what produce and meat is on sale.

Make a menu. This way, I get the cheapest meals possible. It also means we tend to eat a lot of grains like rice with cheap fresh produce, which is pretty healthy. I would encourage you to make different types of freezer meals like soups, casseroles, enchiladas, desserts, etc.

It really cuts down on the need to eat out and spend money. I would add that if you pay attention a lot of the same sorts of things go on sale. When it comes to saving on food, I think so much depends on knowing yourself.

Is it more expensive, yes. But cheaper than buying a squash, letting it rot and ordering delivery instead 😉. Chopped frozen butternut squash is one of the few things that I will pay extra for the convenience of! I absolutely hate chopping butternut squash too, so I cut it in half, clean out the gunk, and roast it cut side down on a baking tray with a bit of oil.

If your microwave is large enough, you can also cook butternut there. Pierce the skin in several place, then nuke on high for about 5min. Start checking every minute or so after that. Butternut freezes well though.

Jamie Oliver never peels butternut squash. Once I saw him cook it with the peel on, I never went back. Peel almost melts away and there is no taste of it. That, plus a clean kitchen towel to grasp the slippery gord, makes the job so much easier.

At home I have salad dressing and veggie boullion. That all becomes soup, salad and bread. This is so, so true Stefanie! For example, I find that when I keep those huge bags of pre-cut frozen veggies in the freezer, I eat 9 different vegetables before noon seriously, I did it yesterday! Things have changed for me, frugality-wise, in different seasons of life.

Frugalwoods is a young mom of one. I am an older mom with 7 yep, s-e-v-e-n kids, and we homeschool, and I run two blogs, and hubby runs a business, and… my energy at 41 is more precious.

I used to struggle with this until I learnt to put the whole squash into the oven and bake it, then chop when it cools 🙂. I also hate chopping squash and it can be very hard indeed. I cook it whole in the oven and then scoop it out.

Also same for pumpkin, except with next step to get the seeds, and roast them after. Totally, me too. I cannot bear the prep.

I know you can skin and chop and de-seed yourself, but even the thought makes me need to lie down quietly! If you ever need smooth cooked butternut squash versus chopped browned squares which sometimes you need , you can cook the entire butternut in a crockpot.

Stab with some holes, add 2 cups of water and cook it whole 8 hours on Low. Let it cool in the fridge before you slice it open, and you have magical squash puree without giving yourself a hernia!

For any squash place in the crockpot with a small bath of water. Cook on high for about 4hrs. The skin will slide off and your squash will melt off the fork. No more cutting your hands off trying to get into the shell. Works every time. Just a note on tahini; a little bit of peanut butter makes a fine tahini substitute when making homemade hummus 🙂 Love your blog!

Great tip! I made homemade humous once I really hated it. Perhaps this will be better? Same goes for open packets — like yogurt, cream, meat etc. Also rice is such a high risk food that you should only keep it in the fridge for 1 day and you have to be super, super careful if you are planning to re-heat it.

Stay safe people, if in doubt — throw it out. Your health is worth more than a little bit of money! What I find is that most food expiration dates are remarkably conservative. I tackle this very topic in greater depth in this post: How I Fight Food Waste At Thanksgiving And Beyond.

I wonder if our dairy products are more pasteurized than yours because neither product would go bad in a properly cold fridge in 3 days. Also not sure where the rice fear comes from. We do this all the time,. Now if it was rice leftover from a restaurant…probably not.

A big yogurt pot once open can happily sit in my fridge 10 days. Use clean spoon to serve from pot, keep refrigerated, no problem. Milk in my experience lasts 5 to 9 days once open fresh, pasteurised, not UHT. PSs just to add.. I make a batch of rice and eat on it for a week.

I have never been sick while eating rice….. I am Southern, and I sometimes eat the greens with cornbread, but rice works also. The rice is really good soaked in the pot likker.

I add the pepper sauce which is hot peppers in a vinegar sauce. Pinto beans and a slice of raw onion with sea salt on top make for a fine meal. I think health and safety culture does have a lot going for it certainly, but the nannying endless food policing is insane.

I found that hummus is one of those foods for which you must acquire a taste. I started eating it when my parents lived in Saudi Arabia and it was novel to Westerners. Then I worked with a group of people who were from the Middle East, and hummus was their favorite dish.

That was back in the 60s and 70s before it became a popular item in the United States. I make my own hummus, and adjust the seasonings for my taste.

You might try making a batch and adjust the garlic, oil, salt to your preference. If there is no mold on it it is safe to eat. Rice — That is a misunderstanding between two issues. There is a bacteria that loves rice that has a poisonous byproduct.

Therefore even if you re-heat it and kill the bacteria the byproduct remains and can make you quite ill. It is only an issue for rice that is left out.

Why am I not dead yet? I also cook for the week and eat off of it. And if it goes past five days the dog eats it. Once again just goes to show that I expose my body to enough bad stuff that I never get sick!

Rice is a high risk food? When I was young I lived and worked in the amazon with no refrigeration whatsoever and some hot and humid weather.

We often had rice and beans for dinner and then packed them up to carrry with us for lunch the next day. I did find that I had to eat the beans by 10 am or they start to go off, but I never knew the rice to be a problem. Thank you for this! I made hummus yesterday and we were out of tahini, so I subbed peanut butter.

We liked it even better. I will never buy tahini again! Leanne is a nutritionist. Leanne also gets it about making sure dinner is on the table in minutes.

The recipes are flavorful and made with stuff you can easily find in the supermarket. Also guilty of letting our 4 kids become too picky with their food, which resulted in too much waste 🙁. Ty, I get jealous when reading how cheap produce an other items are cheaper in other areas of the country.

I have even noticed the Kroger affiliates here PNW are more expensive than say Arizona or even California. My daughter has bball practice in the central district and the least expensive fruit and veggies stand is a block from her school.

But then, so does housing or land. Mixed blessing, that! Frugalwoods, you answered my question about the oats, thank you, I am so happy!! How do you store them? Hi Amy! Awesome post, Mrs.

I totally agree that kids throw everything for a loop, haha! Super easy and it gets our day off to a healthy start! We use OJ as our base though you could use water , add in a banana, frozen pineapple chunks, blueberries, etc and then TONS of spinach or kale!

Our weakness is without a doubt coffee and dessert. We get Starbucks a few times per week; but our daughters will only nap in the car now they are 3 and 4! Love all your tips!!! This week I made vegan sweet potato and black bean enchiladas that were amazing; and then made spicy potato and black bean burritos two nights later since they used the same ingredients!

You are totally right that black beans are a must; and every meal should begin by sauteing an onion! For example, I used to eat a Chipotle burrito bowl once or even twice a week. So I set out to master the best vegan burrito bowl I could. The key to the rice is adding lime juice and a little olive oil.

More recently, I had an amazing batch of vegan tacos featuring crispy smashed potatoes yum! So now I have a perfect topping for my burrito bowl. The next challenge still working on it is coming up with a tasty vegan substitute for Vietnamese rice noodle salad bowls.

I like your Chipotle hack. I did the same, but for us it was their barbacoa beef for burrito bowls. I located a great copycat recipe and every few months, if beef is affordable, I make a batch and freeze it in meal-size portions. Probably at least a year-and-a-half.

will babywoods eat regular oatmeal? Yes, she has regular oatmeal plus a banana for breakfast no sugar added! Looks weird, but she likes it that way :. Good luck! My other 3 kids love oatmeal, I do steel cut oats in the crockpot, so good!

Food can be such a challenging aspect of frugality because there are so many emotional, family, and political elements tied up into how and what we eat.

I very much agree with other commenters who noted the importance of working with your habits. Neither of us enjoy cooking so more frequent simple meal planning to prevent the take-out meals is the next battle to fight! Food is so cheap in the US, and the average family spends less of its income on food than ever, but housing costs have skyrocketed.

My rent budget is five to ten times what my food budget is, and my income tax budget is three times that. If you live in the U. you might want to give TurboTax a try. TurboTax knows about every tax deduction there is and can save you quite a bit on your income taxes when you file.

Great post. I am vegan so I chuckle at comments that a vegan diet is expensive. Like you point out, if you avoid the processed stuff and stick to whole foods then it can be crazy cheap! We do have slightly higher grocery bills because we balance shopping for a committed vegan me with my omni husband and kids.

The family eats lots of vegan dishes with the odd bit of meat served on the side to keep them happy.