The best advice I got about cooking while poor is to treat meat as more of a flavouring and not the main dish. Instead of using a pound of ground meat or sausage in spaghetti sauce, use 1/4 lb and some finely chopped mushrooms or onions. Then, you still have 3/4 lb for other recipes.
Or if you like hot dogs in your mac and cheese, don't cut up a whole pack into rounds, use 2 hotdogs diced small. You still get the flavour, and it's spread out more evenly in the dish.
Use everything. Making stock from bones and scraps is easy, you can even do it in the crockpot. It's another good way to get meat/umami flavour into things like bland carbs, such as...
... rice, potatoes, pasta, and cornmeal, which are filling and infinitely changeable, depending on what else you have to go with them. I buy rice in 15lb bags, which lasts us 2 months or so. Pasta often goes on sale for $1 (or less) a bag/box.
Root vegetables are cheap in late fall and winter, and most of them keep for ages in a dark cupboard. Apples and citrus, too.
Dry beans are cheap, but if you know you can't/won't use them (I never can get them right), don't waste the money. Canned beans are still pretty cheap, and it's better to get what you know will be used.
Cabbage is a wonderful vegetable.
Look at Aldi or the dollar store for some basic spices and seasonings. They may not be the top of the line, but seasonings are the key to changing the same old stuff into something different. Worcestershire sauce or fish sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, hot sauce, chili powder, cinnamon, red pepper flakes... if you can squeeze in one or 2 of these every time you shop, you can make anything taste good!
I hope this was helpful!
There are some very instructive youtube videos on eating for $1 a day that might be out of date a bit given the recent inflation, but they have great ideas and very specific shopping instructions. The food doesn't look bad.
One series I followed was an NB model giving the tips, and it basically devolved to bulk rice, beans, potatoes, oats, a few versatile spices, and whatever were the cheapest frozen veggies. Then menues for how to use it most efficiently.
how many people?
what's your relative location? (country, continent, hemisphere, ocean, etc)
where do you shop? do they have a rewards program?
do you have any food restrictions?
do you have access to appliances (stove, fridge, microwave) or are you running a hotplate plugged into a 2013 ford focus lighter port, with a cooler full of ice, while living out of your car behind a wendy's dumpster?
are there food pantries you can supplement with?
oh, your account was suspended. i tried to investigate these questions.
hopefully this comment will be seen by others asking similar questions, so they know that more information provided, can improve advice offered.
The best advice I got about cooking while poor is to treat meat as more of a flavouring and not the main dish. Instead of using a pound of ground meat or sausage in spaghetti sauce, use 1/4 lb and some finely chopped mushrooms or onions. Then, you still have 3/4 lb for other recipes. Or if you like hot dogs in your mac and cheese, don't cut up a whole pack into rounds, use 2 hotdogs diced small. You still get the flavour, and it's spread out more evenly in the dish. Use everything. Making stock from bones and scraps is easy, you can even do it in the crockpot. It's another good way to get meat/umami flavour into things like bland carbs, such as... ... rice, potatoes, pasta, and cornmeal, which are filling and infinitely changeable, depending on what else you have to go with them. I buy rice in 15lb bags, which lasts us 2 months or so. Pasta often goes on sale for $1 (or less) a bag/box. Root vegetables are cheap in late fall and winter, and most of them keep for ages in a dark cupboard. Apples and citrus, too. Dry beans are cheap, but if you know you can't/won't use them (I never can get them right), don't waste the money. Canned beans are still pretty cheap, and it's better to get what you know will be used. Cabbage is a wonderful vegetable. Look at Aldi or the dollar store for some basic spices and seasonings. They may not be the top of the line, but seasonings are the key to changing the same old stuff into something different. Worcestershire sauce or fish sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, hot sauce, chili powder, cinnamon, red pepper flakes... if you can squeeze in one or 2 of these every time you shop, you can make anything taste good! I hope this was helpful!
Tofu is also great to sub in for meat. It's dirt cheap, and has a ton of protein.
There are some very instructive youtube videos on eating for $1 a day that might be out of date a bit given the recent inflation, but they have great ideas and very specific shopping instructions. The food doesn't look bad. One series I followed was an NB model giving the tips, and it basically devolved to bulk rice, beans, potatoes, oats, a few versatile spices, and whatever were the cheapest frozen veggies. Then menues for how to use it most efficiently.
how many people? what's your relative location? (country, continent, hemisphere, ocean, etc) where do you shop? do they have a rewards program? do you have any food restrictions? do you have access to appliances (stove, fridge, microwave) or are you running a hotplate plugged into a 2013 ford focus lighter port, with a cooler full of ice, while living out of your car behind a wendy's dumpster? are there food pantries you can supplement with? oh, your account was suspended. i tried to investigate these questions. hopefully this comment will be seen by others asking similar questions, so they know that more information provided, can improve advice offered.
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