BachelorontheCheap.com
Most of us have been there and done that at some point in our lives, the drop in income, the unexpected big expense, or inflation taking a bigger bite out of your paycheck.
One of the common moves to make when money is tight is to cut back on the grocery budget.
Replacing cuts of meat with more ground beef and buying the store or discount brand rather than the name brand are ways to save money, but let’s talk nutrition.
While it’s tempting to go with foods like ramen, boxed mac & cheese, and hot dogs in terms of both flavor and low-budget price, those aren’t the healthiest foods to buy. They’re processed foods, loaded with sodium and bad carbs. Cheap eats like that are tasty and I’ve had my share of them, but there are smarter ways to save money, and still enjoy flavorful eats while being kinder to your body.
Stay away from processed foods.
Try to shop and eat with the following rule in mind: “If it didn’t grow, don’t eat it.” For those of you who live in Valley Center, that means a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos can’t be on the shopping list.
Buy a 10-pound bag of potatoes. You can fix potatoes in a multitude of ways to avoid food boredom, they’re not empty calories – yes, even french fries have nutritional value, just don’t overdo it – and potatoes are truly cheap eats. A 10-pound bag of spuds costs less than $6 at the mainstream grocery store as of this writing and a potato per serving will last you a while when you have 10 pounds worth. There are many meals in a bag of spuds.
Onions add flavor, bulk, and nutrition to just about any savory dish. A 3-pound bag of onions will run you about $3 and supplement a large number of meals. Slice, dice, and mince!
Pork loin is one of the more inexpensive cuts of meat out there, cheaper per pound than ground beef, it’s leaner, and has more protein. A typical half pork loin runs around $2.99 a pound and comes in a package weighing around 3-4 pounds. You can cut it into chops, stew meat, and a small roast to create a number of meals. It’s versatile as well, pork loin is a great substitute in just about any recipe calling for chicken.
Oatmeal is a nutritional powerhouse food, tastes good on its own, can be served sweet or savory, and can supplement other dishes. Add some oatmeal to any ground beef dish to extend the number of servings. Nobody will know you did it either when eating those tacos or sloppy joes. A 42-ounce canister of oatmeal runs around $4 – $5 depending on the brand at the mainstream grocery store.
Even though eggs skyrocketed in price in 2022, the price has come down some since February and they remain an inexpensive protein. A $2.50 carton of eggs breaks down to 21 cents per egg. So two eggs, a bit of cheese, some onion, perhaps some diced tomato, and a few chunks of pork makes for a cheap breakfast at a little over $1.00 to prepare.
Although a canned good means an elevated level of sodium, it’s not a bad level if eaten in moderation and canned tuna is a cheap eat that packs some protein. At about $1 a can at the mainstream grocery store, think beyond tuna salad. Tuna is great on some leafy greens and pairs well with white beans. You can make patties with tuna and for a change of pace replace mayo with smashed avocado when making that tuna salad.
Ground beef is a solid budget buy, but consider replacing a pound or two with ground turkey. Ground turkey is cheaper and leaner than ground beef. Ground chicken is also an option to ground beef because it’s leaner, but for some reason costs about the same as beef. If you’re not into the flavor of ground turkey, try cutting ground beef with it, do a half-and-half.
Roma tomatoes are a great budget buy and you can do so much with them. I specify Roma tomatoes because they are the cheapest variety available at around 99 cents a pound. Compare that to $1.99 and up for cherry or beefsteak tomatoes. Packing a nice flavor punch, Romas are ideal for making sauces but they’re also great sliced up for salads, diced up for soups, stews, and chili, they’re fantastic as a snack with Ranch dressing.
No pantry is complete without a jar of peanut butter. Creamy or chunky, it makes no difference, it’s a cheap eat that packs some nice protein. Think beyond sandwiches and cookies. Peanut butter is great in smoothies, it’s good in oatmeal, and can make some fantastic sauces for oriental dishes. A 16-ounce jar of name-brand peanut butter will run you about $3, a discount/store brand is about $2.
Bell peppers can add a lot of flavor to a variety of dishes without breaking the bank. Green peppers are the cheapest, costing less than $1 each. Slice and dice into just about any meat dish. They don’t pack much protein, but peppers are a low-carb veggie and they’re good carbs, not processed carbs. They’re great to snack on with Ranch dressing too. It’s a change of pace ingredient for tacos, make them the main dish by stuffing them, combine them with cubed meat for grilled kabobs, or slice them up for a charcuterie board.
Carrots are a smart budget buy, a versatile veggie that adds great flavor and texture to a number of recipes and is great for snacking too. You can go for the peeled and ready-to-eat baby carrots if you like, great with Ranch dressing by the way, but you’ll save more money by buying the 2-pound bag of whole carrots which runs just over $2.
Even if you don’t like celery as a snack with cheese or peanut butter, celery is a must to cook with, adding flavor and bulk to a dish. It’s a great addition to soups, stews, and chili. It’s a delightful crunch texture element in tuna, chicken, and egg salad. A nice bunch of celery costs less than $2 and will really help you stretch some dinner recipes.
Beans, beans, and more beans. Just about any kind of bean will do, beans are probably about the cheapest eat out there and packs a decent amount of protein. And while canned varieties are convenient (just watch the sodium), dry beans are the most economical. Sure, soaking them can be a pain, but considering a 1 pound bag of dry beans only costs around $1 or $2 depending on the variety, it’s worth it.
Cheese packs some nice protein and compliments a variety of foods. But don’t go for the sliced or shredded options. Buy cheese in bricks, it’s cheaper with the more common varieties, and if you didn’t know, many sliced and shredded cheeses contain potato starch additives so they don’t clump up which drives up the carb count, can alter the flavor/texture, and may not melt as it should in food preparation. Have you ever melted cheddar cheese for a dish and it came out lumpy/gloppy? That’s the potato starch (or really crappy cheddar cheese). Shredding your own cheddar eliminates lumpy/gloppy melted cheese. An 8-ounce brick of Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Mozzarella cheese costs around $2.50 at the mainstream grocery store.
Avocados are considered a superfood and it’s CHEAP superfood! A medium avocado runs about 69 cents at the mainstream grocery store and it’s a very tasty 69 cents! Whether simply sliced or mashed into guacamole, avocados are great eats! Try swapping out mayo for avocado in making other foods besides tuna salad.
Ranch dressing is a meal-and-snack-on-a-budget-friend. It pairs with so many foods and so many recipes. It’s great on a salad, great as a dipper for carrots, celery, and buffalo wings. It kicks the flavor profile for meatloaf up a notch and is a nice marinade for chicken. The budget buy is the dry mix packet versions of Ranch, which cost less than $1 for the store/discount brand.
Lettuce may be rabbit food to some, but it’s a budget saver and the addition of a side salad makes for a more ‘bountiful’ meal. Don’t buy the bagged stuff, buy a whole head. You’ll get many bowls of salad by buying a whole head vs. the 3 or so bowls you get from a bagged product. And buying a whole head will stay fresher longer than the bagged stuff. You can buy a whole head of lettuce for around $2 at the mainstream grocery store.
Milk isn’t the cheapest eat, OK, drink, but it packs some good protein and can stretch, and fortify a number of recipes calling for water. Vitamin D whole milk is the way to go here, not 2%, or skim. Similar to how bread and pasta don’t keep you full for very long, the same applies to whole milk, which will keep you fuller, for longer, than the lesser milk options. In a pinch or in a hurry, a glass of milk will keep the hunger at bay. As of this writing, a gallon of whole milk will cost you around $3.39 for the store brand at the mainstream grocery store.
Rice is kind of an iffy one for this list. It’s cheap eats and tasty, but white rice is a bit processed and some folks aren’t really into brown rice despite its superior nutrition. Brown rice takes longer to cook, has a different taste and texture, and doesn’t take on other flavors near as well as white rice. Rice also has a lot of carbs per serving and minimal protein. That translates into not staying full for as long. A 2-pound bag of rice (white or brown) costs around $1.89 at the mainstream grocery store.
It’s tempting to buy cheap eats like mac & cheese, bread, bologna, chips, hamburger helper, and the like, but don’t do it! You’ll stretch your grocery dollar further by applying the “if it doesn’t grow, don’t eat it” rule… Sure, pasta and bread are made from wheat, but it’s heavily processed and not nutritionally great. Bologna, while tasty and cheap, is a highly processed meat, not a cut of meat. It has some protein, but nearly as many grams of carbs from fillers put into the making of the product and the sodium level makes eating a lot of servings of bologna nutritionally prohibitive. Hamburger Helper is relatively cheap, more so when on sale, but regular pasta is for the most part empty calories and high in carbs. Replacing pasta with white beans is a nice alternative and you can create your own hamburger helper with a well-stocked spice cabinet. You’ll stay fuller, for longer, making your own version of hamburger helper and swapping out the pasta, with beans. Don’t do Ramen and hot dogs, go for pork loin and avocados instead!
Buying everything on this list would cost less than $50, with plenty of options to create more than a week’s worth of meals.
$pend Wisely My Friends…
~ Mike
Enjoy this post?
If you appreciate the article you just read and want to support more great content on BachelorontheCheap.com, you can help keep this site going with a one-time or a monthly donation. Thank you so much for your support! ~ Mike
Related: Grocery Store Prices
Foods to buy when money is tight – Bachelor on the Cheap
Most of us have been there and done that at some point in our lives, the drop in income, the unexpected big expense, or inflation taking a bigger bite out of your paycheck.
One of the common moves to make when money is tight is to cut back on the grocery budget.
Replacing cuts of meat with more ground beef and buying the store or discount brand rather than the name brand are ways to save money, but let’s talk nutrition.
While it’s tempting to go with foods like ramen, boxed mac & cheese, and hot dogs in terms of both flavor and low-budget price, those aren’t the healthiest foods to buy. They’re processed foods, loaded with sodium and bad carbs. Cheap eats like that are tasty and I’ve had my share of them, but there are smarter ways to save money, and still enjoy flavorful eats while being kinder to your body.
Stay away from processed foods.
Try to shop and eat with the following rule in mind: “If it didn’t grow, don’t eat it.” For those of you who live in Valley Center, that means a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos can’t be on the shopping list.
Buy a 10-pound bag of potatoes. You can fix potatoes in a multitude of ways to avoid food boredom, they’re not empty calories – yes, even french fries have nutritional value, just don’t overdo it – and potatoes are truly cheap eats. A 10-pound bag of spuds costs less than $6 at the mainstream grocery store as of this writing and a potato per serving will last you a while when you have 10 pounds worth. There are many meals in a bag of spuds.
Onions add flavor, bulk, and nutrition to just about any savory dish. A 3-pound bag of onions will run you about $3 and supplement a large number of meals. Slice, dice, and mince!
Pork loin is one of the more inexpensive cuts of meat out there, cheaper per pound than ground beef, it’s leaner, and has more protein. A typical half pork loin runs around $2.99 a pound and comes in a package weighing around 3-4 pounds. You can cut it into chops, stew meat, and a small roast to create a number of meals. It’s versatile as well, pork loin is a great substitute in just about any recipe calling for chicken.
Oatmeal is a nutritional powerhouse food, tastes good on its own, can be served sweet or savory, and can supplement other dishes. Add some oatmeal to any ground beef dish to extend the number of servings. Nobody will know you did it either when eating those tacos or sloppy joes. A 42-ounce canister of oatmeal runs around $4 – $5 depending on the brand at the mainstream grocery store.
Even though eggs skyrocketed in price in 2022, the price has come down some since February and they remain an inexpensive protein. A $2.50 carton of eggs breaks down to 21 cents per egg. So two eggs, a bit of cheese, some onion, perhaps some diced tomato, and a few chunks of pork makes for a cheap breakfast at a little over $1.00 to prepare.
Although a canned good means an elevated level of sodium, it’s not a bad level if eaten in moderation and canned tuna is a cheap eat that packs some protein. At about $1 a can at the mainstream grocery store, think beyond tuna salad. Tuna is great on some leafy greens and pairs well with white beans. You can make patties with tuna and for a change of pace replace mayo with smashed avocado when making that tuna salad.
Ground beef is a solid budget buy, but consider replacing a pound or two with ground turkey. Ground turkey is cheaper and leaner than ground beef. Ground chicken is also an option to ground beef because it’s leaner, but for some reason costs about the same as beef. If you’re not into the flavor of ground turkey, try cutting ground beef with it, do a half-and-half.
Roma tomatoes are a great budget buy and you can do so much with them. I specify Roma tomatoes because they are the cheapest variety available at around 99 cents a pound. Compare that to $1.99 and up for cherry or beefsteak tomatoes. Packing a nice flavor punch, Romas are ideal for making sauces but they’re also great sliced up for salads, diced up for soups, stews, and chili, they’re fantastic as a snack with Ranch dressing.
No pantry is complete without a jar of peanut butter. Creamy or chunky, it makes no difference, it’s a cheap eat that packs some nice protein. Think beyond sandwiches and cookies. Peanut butter is great in smoothies, it’s good in oatmeal, and can make some fantastic sauces for oriental dishes. A 16-ounce jar of name-brand peanut butter will run you about $3, a discount/store brand is about $2.
Bell peppers can add a lot of flavor to a variety of dishes without breaking the bank. Green peppers are the cheapest, costing less than $1 each. Slice and dice into just about any meat dish. They don’t pack much protein, but peppers are a low-carb veggie and they’re good carbs, not processed carbs. They’re great to snack on with Ranch dressing too. It’s a change of pace ingredient for tacos, make them the main dish by stuffing them, combine them with cubed meat for grilled kabobs, or slice them up for a charcuterie board.
Carrots are a smart budget buy, a versatile veggie that adds great flavor and texture to a number of recipes and is great for snacking too. You can go for the peeled and ready-to-eat baby carrots if you like, great with Ranch dressing by the way, but you’ll save more money by buying the 2-pound bag of whole carrots which runs just over $2.
Even if you don’t like celery as a snack with cheese or peanut butter, celery is a must to cook with, adding flavor and bulk to a dish. It’s a great addition to soups, stews, and chili. It’s a delightful crunch texture element in tuna, chicken, and egg salad. A nice bunch of celery costs less than $2 and will really help you stretch some dinner recipes.
Beans, beans, and more beans. Just about any kind of bean will do, beans are probably about the cheapest eat out there and packs a decent amount of protein. And while canned varieties are convenient (just watch the sodium), dry beans are the most economical. Sure, soaking them can be a pain, but considering a 1 pound bag of dry beans only costs around $1 or $2 depending on the variety, it’s worth it.
Cheese packs some nice protein and compliments a variety of foods. But don’t go for the sliced or shredded options. Buy cheese in bricks, it’s cheaper with the more common varieties, and if you didn’t know, many sliced and shredded cheeses contain potato starch additives so they don’t clump up which drives up the carb count, can alter the flavor/texture, and may not melt as it should in food preparation. Have you ever melted cheddar cheese for a dish and it came out lumpy/gloppy? That’s the potato starch (or really crappy cheddar cheese). Shredding your own cheddar eliminates lumpy/gloppy melted cheese. An 8-ounce brick of Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Mozzarella cheese costs around $2.50 at the mainstream grocery store.
Avocados are considered a superfood and it’s CHEAP superfood! A medium avocado runs about 69 cents at the mainstream grocery store and it’s a very tasty 69 cents! Whether simply sliced or mashed into guacamole, avocados are great eats! Try swapping out mayo for avocado in making other foods besides tuna salad.
Ranch dressing is a meal-and-snack-on-a-budget-friend. It pairs with so many foods and so many recipes. It’s great on a salad, great as a dipper for carrots, celery, and buffalo wings. It kicks the flavor profile for meatloaf up a notch and is a nice marinade for chicken. The budget buy is the dry mix packet versions of Ranch, which cost less than $1 for the store/discount brand.
Lettuce may be rabbit food to some, but it’s a budget saver and the addition of a side salad makes for a more ‘bountiful’ meal. Don’t buy the bagged stuff, buy a whole head. You’ll get many bowls of salad by buying a whole head vs. the 3 or so bowls you get from a bagged product. And buying a whole head will stay fresher longer than the bagged stuff. You can buy a whole head of lettuce for around $2 at the mainstream grocery store.
Milk isn’t the cheapest eat, OK, drink, but it packs some good protein and can stretch, and fortify a number of recipes calling for water. Vitamin D whole milk is the way to go here, not 2%, or skim. Similar to how bread and pasta don’t keep you full for very long, the same applies to whole milk, which will keep you fuller, for longer, than the lesser milk options. In a pinch or in a hurry, a glass of milk will keep the hunger at bay. As of this writing, a gallon of whole milk will cost you around $3.39 for the store brand at the mainstream grocery store.
Rice is kind of an iffy one for this list. It’s cheap eats and tasty, but white rice is a bit processed and some folks aren’t really into brown rice despite its superior nutrition. Brown rice takes longer to cook, has a different taste and texture, and doesn’t take on other flavors near as well as white rice. Rice also has a lot of carbs per serving and minimal protein. That translates into not staying full for as long. A 2-pound bag of rice (white or brown) costs around $1.89 at the mainstream grocery store.
It’s tempting to buy cheap eats like mac & cheese, bread, bologna, chips, hamburger helper, and the like, but don’t do it! You’ll stretch your grocery dollar further by applying the “if it doesn’t grow, don’t eat it” rule… Sure, pasta and bread are made from wheat, but it’s heavily processed and not nutritionally great. Bologna, while tasty and cheap, is a highly processed meat, not a cut of meat. It has some protein, but nearly as many grams of carbs from fillers put into the making of the product and the sodium level makes eating a lot of servings of bologna nutritionally prohibitive. Hamburger Helper is relatively cheap, more so when on sale, but regular pasta is for the most part empty calories and high in carbs. Replacing pasta with white beans is a nice alternative and you can create your own hamburger helper with a well-stocked spice cabinet. You’ll stay fuller, for longer, making your own version of hamburger helper and swapping out the pasta, with beans. Don’t do Ramen and hot dogs, go for pork loin and avocados instead!
Buying everything on this list would cost less than $50, with plenty of options to create more than a week’s worth of meals.
$pend Wisely My Friends…
~ Mike
Enjoy this post?
If you appreciate the article you just read and want to support more great content on BachelorontheCheap.com, you can help keep this site going with a one-time or a monthly donation. Thank you so much for your support! ~ Mike
Related: Grocery Store Prices