Eating out has become so pricey, well at least from my experience here in SoCal, what are your inexpensive meals that you make at home or inexpensive meals you buy out?
Last night, I made spaghetti and meat balls. I did the math and it cost me $10 a plate. The same thing at a local very casual Italian Restaraunt is $24 a plate.
My Wife and I will also split plates if we eat out. Most restaurants actually serve you quite a bit of food.
The Habit has a pretty good $10 combo.
What about the rest of you?
I will Go to grocery stores occasionally for a precooked meal. Cheaper than going out. A little bit much then making from scratch. I also go to Aldi which is inexpensive as well. Cheap & Healthy are hard to find.
I’ll do frozen pizza and not eat all the crust. Snack on black olives first to fill me up. Then there are the $6 biggie bags fast food type meals.
On the grill or stove top, cook 5 or 6 frozen chicken breasts. Pair with Spanish or yellow rice, or with frozen mixed vegetables, or steamed brocolli.
An 18-count container of large eggs, a bag of russet potatoes, and a filet of salmon at the butcher counter will last me about a week.
Edit: The above averages about $7-$10/plate.
I also eat a lot of canned Albacore tuna. Either make a tuna salad sandwich, or put a scoop atop a Ritz cracker with a slice of Tillamook spicy Colby Jack cheese. Fabulous.
In the mornings, if I don't have time to prepare a meal, I'll mix a chocolate nutrition shake between three cups of coffee.
Protein Ramen. It's my newest obsession. I think it taste so much better than the original.
Literally pound for pound chicken is probably the best deal you're going to get for meat at the supermarket. And if you are willing to do the cutting buying a whole chicken cheaper than buying the pre cut pieces.
BUT if the goal is to have the convince of fast food without having to pay high prices. COSTCO rotisserie chicken is a game changer. The WHOLE chicken is $5. I don't even think you can get 6 piece chicken nuggets at McDonalds for under $5.
Now to be fair, the benefit of buying uncooked chicken is you can make it in a lot of different ways. Rotisserie chicken is always going to be rotisserie chicken. But with an uncooked chicken, cleaning it, cutting it and cooking it all take time. With the rotisserie chicken all you have to do is cut it (and cutting cooked chicken is a lot easier than uncooked chicken).
And you then have so much meat.
Get your favorite, sauces, salads, pastas, vegetables and rice (all of which don't cost much) and mix and match with your mountain of chicken meat.
One rotisserie chicken can provide enough meat for to have 8-10 meals/plates. Which means your meat per meal would be like $0.50, and with meat normally the most expensive thing on your plate, most meals should easily clock in at under $4.
Obviously you need to have a COSTCO card, but I honestly think the chicken alone makes it work it, and if you legit buy anything else in bulk it's a steal.
I also make my coffee at home. Nothing fancy, I just make drip coffee but I grind my own beans and I have the ground and ratios just right so my coffee is pretty dang good.
You guys are all so rich. When I think of budget meals I'm thinking of under £1 a plate. Equivalences are tedious to work out but in US terms that should be less than $1.50. And I do mean 'under', not 'about' or 'a couple of cents below'.
That's on normal prices obviously, if you can get offers you can do better. It does assume you have electricity, cooker, fridge, etc. Many British supermarkets have heavy discounts at the end of the day on products that have reached the end of their shelf life, and if you can shop then it can make a huge difference.
But yes, loss-leaders like the Costco rotisserie chicken can be a game-changer even with all the injected water. I shudder to think how much chemistry is in it though.
Speaking of Costco, one large slice of pizza there.is $1.99 and can be good enough for dinner at about 700 calories.
I like to make one meal a week in bulk. Whether it be meatloaf or chili or lasagna.
I have a big family and I shop sales and buy in bulk. Regularly save half the grocery bill by shopping their weekly offers! I do a lot of big meals so there's leftovers. Pot roast, various casseroles, chicken noodle soup, roasted veggies, rice and beans from scratch, etc.
I'm with @CuddleDuncan - $10 a plate is not a budget meal for most of the US, Europe, etc. With my current income and budget, if I cook something at home for $3+ per serving, it's a special occasion where I'm cooking for someone else and am splurging. Most of my meals have to be $1-2 per serving or less.
Lately I've been doing a lot of ramen + protein + veggies, beans & rice & cheese, pasta & sausage or ground beef, pb & j or grilled cheese sandwiches, oatmeal with fruit, basic salads, veggies & homemade dip. I've been making my own tortillas and bread when I have the energy, and recently splurged to get some vegan protein powders to make smoothies since I'm frequently not very hungry in the morning.
I no longer have a costco card, but I'll ask friends to pick me up staple items when they're on sale. Mostly I get my groceries from a local chain and supplement with food bank boxes and farmers market produce when I can afford it. Due to my health issues and heavy fatigue, I end up paying more for delivery and pre-cut veggies/fruit if I can. About once a month right after payday I'll splurge on takeout or a meal date with friends.
$5 a meal is more my target. I just gave an example of what I made last night. If I can keep it at $5 or less, I’m happy. I’m looking forward to hearing more suggestions.
Legumes is the best bang for your buck protein source and when you buy in bulk, it's cheaper. My house eats 50lbs of dry beans a year. Lentils are cheap dry, bulk and are good.
I make all my bread and pasta at home, so I can make meals even cheaper, and healthier.
Buying meat at a restaurant supply store helps cut costs or if you have connections in the restaurant industry .
Quinoa and vegetables are a cheap meal, toss some balsamic on top.
Yesterday I just happened to catch an episode of Kitchen Curious with Vivian Howard on PBS.
She featured a supermarket chain in France, Jean-Luc Picard Surgelés, that sells exclusively frozen food. She highlighted the significant reduction in sodium by buying frozen. And apparently this supermarket chain is extremely affordable.
Sounds like a great deal for les français.
I fix frozen pizza's once or twice a week. May add extra onion/olives/sausage, just to kick it up a notch.
I usually keep the carbs to a minimum. I also enjoy quick and easy meals/ meal prep since I work two jobs.
One of my favorite crockpot menu items is Salsa Chicken. I place 5-6 raw chicken breasts in my large crockpot and top it off with salsa. Sometimes I'll add Buffalo sauce or two low fat cream cheese blocks in it. Cook time is 4 1/2 hours. This yields enough for me for a week and a half.
I can easily add brown rice and any numerous sort of veggies to round out the meal. Sometimes I'll put it in low carb sun dried tomato tortillas
I also like having lettuce boats on hand to add hummus, lunch meat, and cheese
Zucchini taco boats and zucchini pizza boats are great too
Groceries have gotten so tricky to save. Eating out is a treat because it’s costing more than ever. Protein is the hardest part to save on.
Look into a local butcher shop or big boxes at Costco /Sam's Club for meat protein or buying a whole side. If you have a family/neighbor go in on the buy, it helps save serious coin.
Chicken thighs are my go to and Hulu Hulu chicken is the way to make them.
Buying in bulk saves! Watch the 6 week grocery store cycles to stock up on sale items you can freeze. A small deep freezer is about 200$ and you can math out the annual savings to get daily meals per person cost in your target range.
Frozen veggies & fruits are mostly higher in nutritional value while saving more money than buying fresh that go to waste if not prepared quick enough.
Momofuku noodles are high in protein when paired with eggs and a bit of left overs or tofu is hitting your protein goal while less than 3-5$ per meal.
Grocery Outlet in NorCal gets them for 3.99-5$ a 5 pack. Website direct saves only in bulk or sometimes imperfect grocery orders have them on discount. Hits less than 5$ a meal and still packs protein goals 40-75grams.
These noodles in my home are a staple. We cook mostly Asian, Mediterranean and less American meals since the savings and nutritional value is completely different.
Resistant starch was my lesson with nutritionist this week. And working on doing one day of bone broth to assist in healing and a better microbiome under 3$ a day per adult.
Beans, lentils, rice and potatoes stretch the meal and have significant savings.
The Amish have mastered canning and storing food for 2-8 years and eat very healthy. It’s a lot of work though and not many of us have the farm/eco system to sustain the canning lifestyle food supply. Not sure 🤔 on their math 🧮 per person.
Loving all the tips and ideas in this thread.
For those of you that make beans, how much do you make at a time? A big pot that lasts you all week or just enough for a meal?
I usually will make several days to a week's worth at a time. Sometimes I use dried, soak over night, but I'll also do large dump "salads" using canned goods - 2+ types of beans, corn, salsa, cheese, whatever other veggies and spices I feel like doing. I'll eat it with chips, tortillas, or rice.
Even just cooking for myself, I tend to batch cook and freeze as most days I don't feel like cooking after work and it's all I can do to throw something in the microwave or eat it cold. Freezing beans, rice, veggies, proteins all separately in single servings can be a life saver - you can mix and match at will for defrosting and eating.
I bought a pork shoulder this morning that was on sale for $1.49/lb (!). I just slow cooked that thing, and have protein for 8 meals or so - and I normally do like @cuddlefaery (batch cook and freeze). Not bad!
Beans and rice. Pinto beans, black beans, etc .. cook in bouillon. Add avocado. A fruit. I have buckwheat, not the cheapest but keeps me full. I don’t really eat meat so that helps.
@cuddlefaery ooooh I love those salads! Cowboy caviar with a twist🤌
@Morpheus you can make a big batch of beans, divide and freeze for later 🙌 I've done that with homemade refried beans
Ooo... another thing. Making the most of leftovers is big.
I mean obviously you should eat your leftovers until they're gone, but I know sometimes I get bored with a meal if I've already had it more than once, so the a plate or two might get put in the fridge "for later" but the longer it's in there the less likely you are to eat it. So see if there is something you can add to the leftovers to make it exciting.
Another game changer for me. If you use AI like ChatGPT or Claude, you can give it a list of everything in your fridge and pantry (including leftovers) and ask it to give you recipes to try. It has gotten to the point where I get as excited to make something brand new from my leftovers as I would to go out to a new fancy restaurant (guess which of those is cheaper).
Perishables do... um... perish, and that's basically money you are throwing away. So making the most of every perishables is big.
One of my favs I saw online as a budget meal in Italy - toss together pasta, tuna in olive oil, lemon squeeze (& then a little more olive oil). It’s amazingly good, healthy especially because I use protein pasta. Can add basil, pesto. And a veggie or salad on the side. Super cheap & fast to make.
I went vegan when all I could really eat was beans and rice and now I know how to make paella. Too many to list so…
Pasta marinara with vegan crumblers
Pasta Alfredo (smith in US has great store brand Alfredo and other rad vegan food) broccoli and chkn strips
Pita and hummus but like also ALL THE OLIVES and eff it roasted red peppers
Pacific soups that come in a carton and diced firm tofu and a dash of oil and bag of frozen veggies
Tortilla lasagna packed with beans, nutritional yeast, olives, chz, salsa, etc
Twice baked potatoes in the air fryer
I can certainly make spaghetti and meatballs less than $10 a plate
Rice & beans with organic frozen veggies! Canned sardines in rice or quinoa with tomato sauce!
@CuddleDuncan I have to agree with you in principle, but the reality in the US is that compounded inflation for the past 20 years has taken a big toll on food prices. I don't know what levels of inflation y'all have to deal with in the UK, but I can state categorically that broad food price levels have risen at least four-fold since 9/11/01 (when I started paying close attention to my grocery bills, heh).
So a "budget meal" at home for me is typically about $5-6 per person. I can get it down to $3-4 each if I'm being really frugal. But I can't make it on $2 or less each.
Every other week, I buy a big package of chicken, usually bone-in legs or leg quarters. I know the one place in the city I can get them for $.99/lb. I break them down into meat, bones, and skin. Then I portion the meat and freeze most of it. I make the bones into broth and render the fat for cooking. From there I make stir fries, curries, and casseroles, with onions, carrots, and whatever produce was on sale. Since I started doing this my grocery bill has dropped about 60%.