The title more or less says it all. I'm going to go over some really good, low cost things that are great to have on hand for low budget meals. Now do keep in mind I will be listing things I personally buy that work with my partners diet. (Long story short, missing gallbladder and pancreatic problems.) You might be able to get away even cheaper in some cases. Most of these ingredients will be helpful in well rounded meals, and will be easy to incorporate into many different uses. My hope is to start showing you all the skills I have been learning about making balanced meals, at an affordable price. I have been feeding the two of us off of roughly $150-200 a month for food, and that is including meat. I won't lie, we don't get it every night, but it's there and there have been no complaints so far.
Now without further ado.
Rice - Rice goes without saying that it's cheap and very filling. Normally white rice is priced at a few cents per serving and there are so many ways to jazz it up. Even something as simple as cooking it in some kind of broth makes a world of difference. (We sometimes use left over ramen noodle flavor packets. More on that later.) I personally prefer to spend a bit more and get Calrose rice. It's a short grain rice that can be used for sticky rice, as well as dishes like risotto. Personal preference there and our normal grocery store has their own brand of it so it's still very cheap and a bag lasts the two of us for about a month. Depends on how much rice I make.
Crackers- Some people bread their chicken with bran flakes. Ewww. You can also get crackers in so many different flavors and use them not just for breading but for snacking as well. They are also pretty cheap. You can even make small peanut butter sandwiches for finger food after school for kids.
Canned pork and beans- We personally buy the cheap kind in normal tomato sauce because Calico cannot handle the pork. Those can's normally run about $1 each and I can add them to just about any kind of dish to stretch it. I've added them to tacos, made dips out of them, and toss in some hot dogs to make a meal out of them.
Hot dogs- I know, this is such a common item on the cheap list, but they can be stretched and made into many other dishes. We buy the turkey dogs. (I find them on sale 2/$3 and stock up when I can.) We can also split the pack of eight into two meals, at two dogs each it's a real good money saver. I use them a lot in place of any other protein. They don't always work, but a lot of the time they still fill us up pretty well.
Ramen noodles- I use these so much it's almost not even funny. They are cheap, lets face it. $.25 for two servings. (yes according to the package it's two per pack.) Not only do they make for hearty lunches alone or with some crackers, but you can use them in many other things. Soups, stir fries, use them in place of normal noodles. You also don't always have to use the flavor packet (noted above used sometimes with rice instead), I add my own sauces to them and have never been disappointed.
Frozen mixed veggies- Mixed here being the key word. Amazing to have on hand and normally you can find them for about $1.50 a bag. The two of us normally go through about two bags a month. They are great in soups, fried rice, stir fries, and whatever else you can really add veggies too. Now there are also other mixes, sometimes we upgrade and buy the asian mix, sometimes we just buy a bag of pre-cut bell peppers, but no matter what it is a worth while thing to have on hand. Note: also doubles as an ice pack!
Mac and Cheese - You can find some boxes as low as $.52. Where are you going wrong? Add some hot dogs, or even a diced up chicken breast (or canned fish as well!) and you have yourself a meal. Heck toss in some of those frozen veggies and bake it a bit and bam, full balanced cheap meal.
Those are just a few things I personally love to keep on hand and there are so many more things out there, canned beans are great, seasonal veggies that are fresh, on sale family packages of meat. Just watch your portions. America is good for making meat and slow carbs (like pasta and bread) heavy meals, but just balance them out a bit more and you will watch your dollar stretch a bit more.
~Skadia, the cheap food loving panther.
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