c/budget-friendly-meals

My grandma's cheap chili recipe got a whole lot cheaper after I lost my job last fall

I used to make her chili with canned diced tomatoes, kidney beans, and ground beef from the butcher counter, you know, the decent stuff. But after I got laid off from my property management gig in October, I had to rethink everything. Now I buy the store brand tomato sauce (which is basically the same thing, just thinner) and swap half the ground beef with a can of black beans I get for 88 cents. The biggest change was ditching the fancy chili powder blend I bought at that spice shop downtown and just using cumin and paprika from the big bag at the grocery store. It's not exactly the same, but honestly my wallet thanks me every time I stir that pot. Does anyone else have a recipe they've had to strip down to the bare bones because of money?

My roommate swore by those dollar store spice blends for months and I finally caved and tried her taco seasoning last night and honestly it beat my expensive stuff by a mile.

She told me the key is to toast it in a dry pan for 30 seconds before adding meat and I cant argue with results when our whole dinner cost like $4 for two people has anyone else given up on fancy seasoning blends?

My neighbor thought she could save money by cooking beans on the radiator

Last winter I walked into my building's hallway and smelled something burnt. My neighbor had a slow cooker on top of the radiator in her apartment, trying to cook pinto beans with just hot water from the tap. She said her electric bill was too high and she saw a life hack online about using radiator heat. It took me 10 minutes to explain why that doesn't work and that she'd probably get salmonella. Has anyone else run into people trying to save a buck in the weirdest ways?

Frozen veg vs fresh for stews - made me rethink everything

Used to always grab fresh carrots and celery for my Sunday stews. $4 a bag at the store near me. Switched to frozen last month after a tight week. Honestly, the texture is almost the same after two hours simmering. Saves me like $3 each time - anyone else ditch fresh for frozen in their cooking?

Still think dried beans are cheaper than canned after my cost check

I used to buy dried beans every month thinking they saved me big money but last week I actually did the math in my Denver kitchen and canned came out cheaper per serving when I factored in my gas and time. A coworker swore I was wrong but the numbers showed canned for 89 cents versus dried at 72 cents after 3 hours of soaking and boiling. Anyone else find canned beans actually beat dried when you calculate the full cost?

Question about buying bulk dried beans vs canned for soup

I spent $8 on a 5 pound bag of dried pinto beans at the grocery last week, thinking it'd be way cheaper than canned. But after soaking them overnight and cooking for 2 hours, I realized I forgot to factor in the extra electricity and time. The texture was great for soup, but man, cleanup took forever because some stuck to the pot. Has anyone else found dried beans just aren't worth the hassle for weeknight meals?

Hit my $30 weekly grocery budget for the first time in 10 years

I been trying to keep my grocery bill under $30 a week for like a decade and it finally happened last month. My grandma used to cook everything from scratch on a tiny budget and I guess I finally learned her tricks. I planned every meal around dry beans, rice, and whatever veggie was on sale that week. Has anyone else hit a budget goal that surprised them like that?

Hit $200 in my grocery budget last week and it felt like a win

I've been trying to keep our family of four's grocery bill under $250 a week for months now. Last week I actually hit $197.52 and I almost couldn't believe it. The trick was I planned all our meals around what was on sale at the Piggly Wiggly near my house. I made a big pot of chili on Sunday that stretched into three meals with rice. Then I did a cheap chicken and dumplings thing using those canned biscuits. I also stopped buying name brand cereal and got the store brand instead. It saved like $4 just on that one swap. Have any of you found a certain meal that just keeps giving for cheap?

Bought $10 worth of dry beans last month... saved me $40 on groceries

I finally tried swapping canned beans for dry ones after seeing a YouTube video. A 2 pound bag of pintos cost me $2.50 at the local Aldi and made like 4 cans worth of cooked beans. I just soak them overnight and boil for an hour on Sunday. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a big difference in their weekly bill?

Serious question, how does a person mess up rice 4 times in one week?

Last Monday I decided to save money by making a big batch of rice for lunches. First attempt I forgot to rinse it and it came out gluey. Tuesday I tried brown rice and it was still crunchy after 30 minutes. Wednesday I used too much water and basically made rice soup. Thursday my roommate bumped the pot and half of it ended up on the stove. By Friday I just ate a raw carrot and called it a win. Anyone else have a week where the simplest thing just won't cooperate?

Just realized I was overspending on ground beef for years

I was buying the expensive pre-packaged stuff at Publix until my neighbor told me the butcher counter sells it for $2 less per pound if you just ask for it ground fresh - has anyone else found a similar trick at their local grocery store?

Used to make pasta from scratch every Sunday. Now I just buy the $1 box.

Lost my job 8 months ago and the $4 for flour and eggs adds up way too fast. The cheap dried stuff gets the job done. Anyone else ditch their fancy cooking habits lately?

Scored a 10-pound bag of chicken thighs for $7 at the local grocery markdown bin

Last Wednesday I hit the discount meat shelf at Kroger right when the butcher was stocking it, grabbed the bag and froze them in 2-pound portions for easy meals. Anyone else find a crazy deal like that lately?

Spent 3 hours trying to open a can of chickpeas because my can opener broke

I was making budget chickpea curry last night, super simple stuff with like $2 of ingredients. My ancient can opener decided to give up halfway through the can, the little wheel just spun and wouldn't catch. I thought I'd be clever and use a knife to pry it open but that took 20 minutes and I almost stabbed myself. Then I tried using pliers to twist the lid off and that just bent the can. Eventually I remembered my neighbor across the hall has a backup can opener so I knocked on her door at 9pm holding a half mangled can of chickpeas. She laughed at me and I felt like such an idiot. What do you guys do when your can opener dies mid recipe? Has anyone else had a can opener fail at the worst possible time?

Went back to the old market in Detroit and noticed how cheap produce used to be

I was in Detroit last weekend visiting family and stopped by Eastern Market for old times sake. Man, I remember going there with my grandma back in 2008 and you could get a whole bag of apples for like 2 bucks. Now I saw the same apples going for 6 or 7 bucks a bag. It really hit me how much grocery prices have shot up over the last 15 years. I used to be able to make a week's worth of meals off what I spent in one trip there. Now I gotta plan way more carefully and hit up discount grocers instead. Has anyone else noticed their old go to spots getting way more expensive?

Watched a neighbor turn 3 cans of beans into dinner for 6

Last Sunday at a block party in Chicago, my neighbor Sarah pulled out three cans of black beans, corn, and diced tomatoes from her pantry. She threw them in a skillet with some cumin and garlic powder, served it over rice, and fed her whole family plus two guests. I asked her how she kept costs down and she said she always buys store brand canned goods for under a dollar each. Has anyone else tried stretching meals with just pantry staples like this?

Swore by pre-shredded cheese for years until I actually added up the cost per pound versus blocks at Aldi

Realized I was paying almost $2 more per bag just for convenience, and the blocks melt way better in my budget casseroles anyway - has anyone else switched and noticed a difference?

The $3 trick that stretched my ground beef twice as far

I was so tired of feeding my three kids expensive ground beef every night, so I tried adding a can of drained black beans to the pan after browning the meat. It cost me like $1.20 for the beans and suddenly my usual pound of beef turned into enough for two meals. I mixed it with taco seasoning and nobody even noticed the difference, even my picky 7 year old. Has anyone else used beans or lentils to bulk out their meat dishes?

Canned tomatoes almost ruined my spaghetti sauce for weeks

I started buying the store brand canned tomatoes to save maybe 60 cents a can, figuring tomatoes are tomatoes right? Well after three separate batches of sauce that tasted kind of flat and metallic I finally looked closer at the cans. Turns out the cheap brand uses unlined cans with a liner that doesn't hold up, so you get that tinny flavor leaching in. Switched back to the name brand that costs a buck more and my sauce went back to normal. Anyone else notice certain canned goods just taste off from certain stores?

My aunt told me I was wasting money on name brand beans

She watched me dump a $3 can of Goya black beans into my chili and just shook her head. Said I could get the store brand for 89 cents at Aldi in St. Louis and they taste exactly the same after you rinse them. I switched 6 months ago and honestly can't tell the difference, saves me like $8 a week on just beans alone. Anyone else have a family member call them out on overpaying for basic stuff?

My old trick for stretching ground beef with lentils backfired hard last night

I spent 45 minutes simmering red lentils to mix into a pound of 80/20, but they turned to complete mush and my kids called it 'beige slop' so now I'm trying to figure out if green lentils hold up better in taco meat.

Talked to a cashier at Aldi who feeds her family of 4 on $60 a week

My slow cooker cracked mid shift and I lost a whole batch of chili

I had a big batch of chili going in my old slow cooker last Tuesday before heading into work, figured it would be done when I got home. Came back to find a crack running down the side and burnt chili all over the counter, probably from the thermal shock of going from cold to hot too fast. Anyone else had a slow cooker give out on them and found a decent replacement under $40?

Just had a grocery store checkout clerk show me the light on cheap eats

This lady at Aldi last week pointed out that my bag of black beans was 79 cents vs $2 for canned ones. She just shrugged and said 'soak em overnight, same thing.' Now I always do that and save like $5 a week on beans alone. Anyone else got a cashier or random person drop a budget tip on you out of nowhere?

My rice cooker gave out mid dinner and I had to get creative with a pot

Last Tuesday I was all set to make a big batch of chili to stretch out for the week. I threw everything in the slow cooker but forgot to check my rice cooker before starting the rice. About 20 minutes in I heard a weird pop and the rice cooker just stopped working. I ended up having to cook the rice in a regular pot on the stove which I always thought was harder but honestly it turned out fine. The bottom got a tiny bit crispy but it was actually pretty good like a crust. I think I'm going to stick with the pot method from now on because it's faster and I don't have to worry about another appliance breaking. Plus it saved me from having to buy a new rice cooker which would have been like forty bucks minimum. Has anyone else ditched their rice cooker for just a plain pot for budget savings?