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Grocery shopping for broke people

notkool59

Go Kart Champion
Location
Chicago
You can eat for under $30 a week..

Frozen Pizza : I like market basket brand, its a Digorno and only costs $3.50, if not walmart has awesome prices

Mac n' Cheese w/ chopped up hot dogs: I'd reccomend 2-3 hotdogs per box of mac n cheese, if you have someone else eating add more dogs or another box of mac. $3 maybe

Hotdogs, buns, beans : again, super cheap and straight forward

Chicken Kiev/chicken and stuffing, chicken cordon bleu : they come frozen in 2 packs for like 2.50, super tasty and you just add like the lipton easy rice/noodles and a frozen veggie, your dinner again is under $4

Ramen is good but high in sodium, I personally pour out the water after cooking to reduce some of the sodium in the meal.

buy lots of store brand bread, milk, meat etc.. you save the premium price and usually they are the same.

Shop at a price chopper, sav-a-lot, Market basket etc. in my town grocery store prices can vary as much as 40% on some items.. $7 pizza at one place may be $5 at another.. shop around.. find out where is best in your area.. I usually only eat dinner at home but with a package of bagels and peanut butter for breakfast and dinners for the week I only spend $50 for myself and my GF this past sunday at the grocery store. we were bugeting $60 combined a week and we ended up stockpiling so much food after 2 months that we took 2 weeks off to use up what we built up.

hot dogs and mac and cheese is amazing lol. Also buy a ricer cooker, easy to use and you can make tons of meals with rice.


Things to buy that can be made in a microwave:
Ramen
Easy Mac
Hot Dogs
Pasta/Ricearoni
Hot pockets
frozen dinners
left-overs from home
Canned soup
pop corn
hot pretzels

if you live in an apartment and want to eat healthy:
http://www.menshealth.com/cda/contentlist.do?site=MensHealth&channel=nutrition&category=food.for.fitness&type=recipe
 

Strange Mud

Autocross Champion
Location
Small Town CT
Car(s)
Assorted
For inexpensive food, one of the better places to eat while at a decent cost is El Pollo Loco. At this moment, they have a deal for 7 pc leg/thigh for $5.99. Request them for 5 packs from tortilla (each pack as 2) for $1, so that is $7, and that should top off 2-4 individuals, contingent upon the amount you eat.
chicken spam?
 

riceburner

Autocross Champion
Location
nice try PPNT
Car(s)
MK5 Best GTI
i began a journey about eating a whole foods, plant based diet a few years back.

i am not 100% yet - hardly 40% - but for a diet that is according to nonbiased science (far as i know), it is by far the healthiest way to eat.

"but eating fresh food is sooo expensive!"
nope. its actually amazingly cheap.

think:
fruit - for the amount of fiber apples, bananas, etc have, i found out just one apple can actually fill me up for a while. an apple costs like 30 cents. i could eat a box of oreos for $5.99 and be hungry an hour later
veggies of all sorts, as many as possible. Veggies are really quite cheap overall. onion - like 50 cents. avocados are a little pricey and other hip stuff like that. my tip is skip anything thats been bagged, cut up already, shit like that. thats where it gets 'expensive'
beans - dollar a can. get a bag of beans which could last months for like 5 bucks
whole grain rice - cheap as frigg
spices; stock up, and save.
sweet potatoes are cheap

by comparison, cheese is fucking expensive. think about meat; enough steak for 2 is like 10-20 bucks! and of course, all that processed crap we eat every day. $5 bag of chips could have been like 4 lbs of apples.

a real key takeaway is that all of the foods i mentioned above are packed with plant protein, and tons of fiber. fiber is what the body actually takes its sweet time digesting. thats why we can eat tons of meat, cheese, and processed food and be hungry later - that, of course and the fact that sugar and cheese are addicting as anything else - i make bowls of things like sweet potatoes, mixed with whole grain rice, some black beans, broccoli, and seasoned with tumeric and stuff like that, and will be quite full for a long ass time. i dont yet feel SATIATED the same way having a big ass burger and fries do, since i'm not giving my microbiome what it really wants, but with time i hope my gut flora kick the sugar / cheese habits and start crying for fruits and vegetables.
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Location
Aurora, CO
Car(s)
2014 GTI
Riceburner is the only person to mention the most important cheap food. Potatoes.

Compared to ramen, and many of the other things mentioned, potatoes are the least expensive way to get NUTRITIOUS food. There's a thousand ways to prepare potatoes.

Potatoes, rice, grains, and beans are easy to store, they are cheap, easy to prepare in bulk, and with a little veggie added can cover most of your nutritional needs. These are a must for eating on a tight budget.
 

Subliminal

Autocross Champion
Location
Vegas
Car(s)
Slow FWD VW Hatch
In winter my favorite meal to make is chili. Full of nutrients and protein, relatively cheap, and makes a ton that I don't mind eating all week. Lots of different ways to make it, can even do chicken or beef. I usually pour a beer (lager or pilsner) into it too.

Get a pressure cooker if you don't have one, they make cooking dinner super easy. Air fryers are also badass
 

daconchslop

Autocross Champion
Location
SC
Car(s)
ACS SE/Tech
Crock Pot for set and forget while at work cooking.
 

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
Riceburner is the only person to mention the most important cheap food. Potatoes.

Compared to ramen, and many of the other things mentioned, potatoes are the least expensive way to get NUTRITIOUS food. There's a thousand ways to prepare potatoes.

Potatoes, rice, grains, and beans are easy to store, they are cheap, easy to prepare in bulk, and with a little veggie added can cover most of your nutritional needs. These are a must for eating on a tight budget.

One of my friends rents out 5 acres on their property to a potato farm. They have access to all you want potatoes.
 

Corprin

Autocross Champion
Location
Magrathea
Car(s)
A car
I got an instapot a couple years ago. It will cook everything from steamed veggies to cheap as shit dried bulk beans, rice, pot roast, you name it. $12 in pork and some ingredients, and I’m eating carnitas for a week. That appliance is worth it’s weight I’m gold.
 

jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
I got an instapot a couple years ago. It will cook everything from steamed veggies to cheap as shit dried bulk beans, rice, pot roast, you name it. $12 in pork and some ingredients, and I’m eating carnitas for a week. That appliance is worth it’s weight I’m gold.
I have a different brand that does the same things and it's the best cooking device I've bought. So easy and easy to clean.
 
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