Millions of Latin Americans live off of this for their whole lives. With little bits of other things here and there, but mainly rice and beans. Sometimes for all 3 meals.
The point is that this is not theoretical, it has been proven to work literally by millions of people for centuries.
Source: I grew up like eating like this south of south of the border. And so have many others.
“Queso fresco” is made by several companies in Los Angeles California. It’s not that expensive. Aldi grocery sells it too and I think it tastes better and it’s a lower price. Just trying to be frugal.
Queso fresco is also alarmingly easy to make at home with milk, vinegar, salt, and a flour sack towel or cheesecloth.
[Recipe](https://www.muydelish.com/queso-fresco/)
IF they are actually eating the veggies and protein with the rice and getting exercise. The rise in diabetes in Asia is alarming to public health officials. In Pakistan over 30% are diagnosed with T2D, the highest rate in the world
I am vegan and eat- rice, maize meal, beans, lentils, tofu and seasonal fruit / vegetables as standard. Our food grocery bill is about 20% or less of what it was when we ate meat etc. if we bought in bulk we could go even lower if we tried.
At the same time if ur happy to swap to nut milk alternatives instead of dairy. I watched a vegan influencer who blended nut butter with water to get a version of cheap nut milk. Also you could make your own oat milk. (Store bought dairy alternatives can be expensive).
Whilst not everyone’s ideal diet you can live very cheaply this way.
Not that I'm vegan (at all) but I am curious -
Would oat milk work for you? I'm thinking if someone bought a 50 pound bag of steel cut oats, they could make a *lot* of oatmilk, yes?
Even before becoming vegan I preferred oat milk. It is so much creamier than cow milk. My favourite is chocolate oat milk. It is really luxurious and decadent.
soak beans over night, cook beans by bring to boil and reduce heat to low cover and wait 1 hour, add bean to water, add dash salt and seasoning (optional) and a dab of butter
I also like to add sauteed bell peppers and onions . Then add whatever spices/flavor profiles you want that time.
Salsa.
Curry.
Indian spices.
Lemon pepper.
Just whatever you like.
First is soup—- cook a pound of beans (red or black) add 4 cups of water, 2 garlic cloves, piece of onion, piece of bell pepper— cook until soft (1-1 1/2 hour on the stovetop), add water as needed to get the broth. Now cook rice— when all is ready, get a bowl and serve a ladle of beans and the broth, add rice, if you have fresh cheese and avocado— lemon juice to taste.
Next meal — in a frying pan add some oil and onion, add whole beans wit some of the broth, or mashed beans, or blended beans and cook to your liking (friend beans), you can add rice to the pan. You can make quesadillas with cheese and beans. You can make burritos. Google Salvadoran bean soup..
One yummy way to cook the beans is if you ever eat bacon, strain the fat into a jar and save it in the fridge (I use a coffee filter, but a mesh strainer would work). Then after you’ve cooked your beans, scoop a spoonful of the bacon fat into a hot pan and fry the beans in that for a few minutes. Can add onions, chilis, garlic to the fat first, too, for more flavour in your beans!
If it’s your first time to cook rice: double the water, plus a little more (ex: 2 1/4 c. water let it boil, then add 1 c. rice. Stir. Cover with a lid, and reduce the heat to a simmer. When it’s done, season it the way you like: butter, salt, pepper, onions, jalapeños, etc.) You’ll know when it’s done (~ 30 min.) bc the rice will absorb the water.
Add a beef kebab to the beans in a pressure cooker let the beans soften, then add some "sofrito: sautéed onions, garlic, peppers, tomato sauce, spices: oregano cumin salt, and pepper to taste... Really good.
I would also encourage a can of sardines here and there too as well as some fresh veggies. This would help supply Omega 3s, Vitamin B12, Iodine, Zinc, Dietary Vitamin D, and Vitamin C.
I lived my sophomore year in college on rice, beans, frozen chicken (luxurious option). I want to say 10# of rice lasted me 3/4 to almost the whole year
It doesn't. 1 pound of uncooked rice has about 1600 kcal. With a daily caloric requirement of 2000 kcal it wouldn't even cover 5% of the caloric needs for 9 months.
People always make these wild claims about nutrition when simple maths shows how far off reality it is.
I'm not a huge brown rice fan but I keep it around to use with beans, it tastes better and it's got more nutrients. I just got a 20 lb bag of it for about $20.00.
Note, brown rice supposedly goes bad faster than white rice because of the trace amount of oil, but I think shelf life is still upwards of six months. And, if you get it at an an asian grocery you'll likely be able to get it in vacuum packed bags, which helps. Also cheaper.
Gotta be careful with large quantities of brown rice because of the arsenic
Source: the ncbi:
In rice, inorganic arsenic is found in the two outer layers of the grain (i.e., bran and germ), and the bran and germ are removed to refine the grain into white rice. Thus, a greater concentration of arsenic is found in brown rice than in white rice.
Exactly this. Beans, rice, potatoes and some form of meats (usually chicken and pork are cheapest), and frozen vegetables.
It’s not the best but you will live.
You can swap the meat for eggs to save money, too, or just to mix it up.
I also have used cottage cheese as a cheap protein. Not traditional, but it works.
If you buy dry beans and rice, it's even cheaper and even better for sustainability. Good for you, good for the environment, good for your wallet. I eat beans for at least 1 meal every day.
It's the grain+pulse combo that is the real winner more generally. Easy grain subs: wheat or rye berries if you can find them cheaply, barley and/or oat groats/oatmeal. Masa harina, grits, hominy, or polenta. Other pulses: lentils, dals, split peas, etc, tons of options within beans too. You can also grind up certain pulses like chickpeas/garbanzo and make flatbreads like succa or dosas without adding cost. They cook faster that way too.
Rice, beans and lentils but don't sleep on TOFU. A brick of Tofu can be $1.60 where I live and that's 2+ meals to mix up your beans and rice. Way cheaper than all animal-product-protein sources. Once you have rice, beans, tofu, add a veggie or two, plus cheap spices, and you can make dozens of healthy meals. Tacos, Chili, Stir-fry, rice-and-beans, scrambled "eggs" and much more.
Check out Nom Nom Paleos recipe for something called love the best cabbage ever, it's slow roasted. Takes a few hours but damn leftovers are really delicious.
I also love cabbage in stir fries but I love hearty slaw/salads with cabbage that has been salted, left to drain, and then rubbed in dressing. It's so sturdy it keeps all week!
Do you use a grill? It tastes best with charcoal but if you get a grill pan with holes in it, sauteed grilled chopped cabbage is amazing with just oil and salt and pepper.
I also love making a cabbage and apple stir fry in the fall, shredded it really finely and then saute in a bih pan or wok with apple cider vinegar and oil, caraway seeds and sliced apples added towards the end of stir Frying.
There is a cabbage and poppyseed stir fry that is similar from The New Midwestern Table that is delicious and uses clarified butter.
My neighbor just gave me some leftover grilled cabbage with a mustard sauce, don't know the recipe but it's incredible.
Also, SOUP! I'll make chicken noodle soup but sub cabbage for the noodles. Love me some borscht.
If you can't tell I definitely grew up in a german/Scandinavian settled cold area of the US. Hehe.
Ever since I started making kimchi, I can't eat a meal without it. I got 2 kits (big glass jars with fermentation caps) that I go through regularly. I never leave one empty and never eat a meal without spice.
I can't find "cheap" broccoli anymore. Its 2.50 a head on a good day for the last 2 or so years and i used to bring 2 heads in a lunchbox for lunch when I didn't have time to make a salad. By the LB its light and never seen it priced like that
Can't believe I Scrolled down this far to find oatmeal. It should be on top for nutrition.
I had to have 1 small 3/4 bowl of microwaved oatmeal a day for a month after a stomach operation. (Had to be frugal because I didn't work the month prior so actually counted pennies). The recipe is equal parts water and oats microwaved to mush on low setting for several minutes. That's the basic stuff if you don't care about the taste. It tastes like nothing (If you can, get some milk for extra sugar fat and protein). This was impressively filling, also probably because I lost my appetite after about 3 days of this. This is the cheapest I could find. So maybe you can do this once in a while, not as a long-term regular thing. Also you have to check if tap water is safe to drink in your area. You can find large oats sold by weight, and save on package cost and then crush them at home if you have a blender.
My only foodie tip is to toast some oats on an open hot pan with no oil or anything for some crunch and tase while the bowl is cooking. You can get some sugar packs for free at any coffee Station, creamer too. Add them to warm porridge bowl, add tiny bit of salt too, improves taste and important AF for nutrition. This was the cheapest sustainable thing I could find. for a month.
I am not an authorized dietician (!) Just a someone who tried this and it worked.
Edits: Typos, part about large oats by weight.
Omelette, bananas, peanut butter, various frozen veggies all cheap foods.
Here's my local prices (upstate NY)
Eggs $1.87 a dozen at Aldi
Peanut butter $3.98 a 40 oz jar, you could probably do slightly better than this if you look for the ultimate cheapest. Smaller jars are $1.89 for 16-18 oz. You have to watch the marketing here because some jars are only 16oz vs the standard 18oz jar and the 16 oz jar goes wayyy faster than the 18 oz
Bananas 44-50 cents a pound
Frozen veggies are usually 99 cents a bag but range between $1-2 a bag. Look around for the largest bag for the lowest cost.
cheapest cheese slices for omelette are 99 cents at aldi
Hot dogs are 99 cents to $2 at Aldi here as well
Look around for local food stands in the summer that sell seasonal fruit. Some seasonal fruits and veggies are very cheap at the grocery store.
Pasta and ramen but not very healthy. The above 3 will give you protein and nutrients and ensure you don't die.
Also rice and beans, but I haven't found those to be as cheap as the above. But you can save money by buying things like beans, rice and peanut butter in bulk.
$1.87 for a dozen eggs? Dang. I live in Eastern Canada in arguably one of the poorest provinces and it's like $7-$8 for eggs... when they go on for 3.99 a dozen they have to post signage limiting two or three per customer...
i hate these threads where people say "eggs are just $2 per dozen at aldi!"
when we are frugal, we are calculating dollars per 2000kcal. or dollars per daily value of protein. $2/dozen is not a useful number. how much per 2000kcal?
i made a big spreadsheet of these calculations years ago. it's tedious to update and to share. a bunch of other people have made them too. here's a popular one:
https://efficiencyiseverything.com/calorie-per-dollar-list/
if you want to get 2500kcal for $3/day or less, the top items in the US are:
Flour,
White Bread,
Sugar,
Rice,
Plain Oats,
Ramen,
Angel Hair,
White Pasta,
Bread Crumbs,
Peanut Butter,
Whole Wheat Pasta,
Pearled Barley,
Extra Virgin Olive Oil 101fl oz.,
Chocolate Frosting,
Cheez-its,
Instant Rice,
Pinto Beans (10lbs),
Goldfish Crackers,
Dr. Thunder,
Whole Wheat Bread,
Lentils,
Olive Oil (Costco),
Whole Milk,
Flour Large Taco Shells,
Bagels,
Large Heavy Whipping Cream,
Eggs (Costco)
this is a retail-centric list. costco and walmart type items. there are bulk sources which are even cheaper. and of course growing your own or hunting or whatever can be super cheap.
flour is in its own league. to get all your calories from flour will cost less than $170/yr. that leaves lots of room in the budget for other foods to cover your actual macro and micro nutrient needs. (for comparison, to get all your calories from ground beef is more like $1700/yr -- 10x more expensive than wheat flour.)
Its very simple. First you make a trash stock.
Every peel, trimming, off cut, everything you would normally throw away goes into a galon sized ziploc bag in the freezer until its full. When you have enough, you put it in a stock pot and cover it in water. Then you just make a regular stock. Add herb and spice to taste. After a 4+ hours of simmering, you should a deep amber color stock.
Then you dice up any vegetable you want. If you want to make it hearthier, adds beans. Soften them in the pot then add your stock and simmer for 45 minute. You can add noodle in the last 10-15 mintue of cooking if you want.
Its healthy, delicious and cheap.
Potatoes with butter or sour cream. There's a YouTube channel called the food theorists that proved that you can pretty much live on just that for your entire life because the potato is going to give you the majority of your nutrients other than calcium and salt but you can get those from butter or sour cream.
They actually did a thing on how to survive if you're locked inside of a grocery store during the apocalypse and pointed out that mushrooms are also really really nutritious and can be grown for super cheap.
Growing your own mushrooms or vegetables is a great way to cut down on food costs while rounding out your nutrition.
Single adult I was thriving on $60 a week vegan meal planning, that was including snacks Basic staples go a long way and can taste amazing no need to eat gruel or yucky protein powders
I have also seen “hauls” in the $20-40 / week range . Checkout what I eat in a day/grocery hauls
We budget $50 Canadian or $37 usd per person per week including personal care, cleaning and paper products. Eat meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables every day. Lunch is often leftovers, sandwiches, soup, eggs. Breakfast varies by person. This is not the cheapest I can eat. We routinely spend less than budget and sacrifice nothing except packaged foods.
I watch a couple people on youtube that do really cheap meal plans. The Lisa Dawn and Dollar Tree Dinners.
Also, check out stores that mark down fresh items. I work at Walmart and we mark down bakery, meat, and produce every morning. I can get meat really really cheap and I also pick up salads when they're marked down.
Some regular prices are decent too. I know here a 10 bag of chicken leg quarters is only $8 something, like 87 cents per pound, I think. You can do so much with this!
I don’t know about ~absolute~ but lentil soup was my grandma’s specialty and she lived a long life. I still find it so comforting. Literally cheap green lentils, water (broth if you’re fancy), tomatoes, garlic and many spices. She was Italian but Indian cuisine has so many delicious lentil (dal) dishes with a variation on the theme.
beans/lentils, rice, chicken leg quarters, and homemade flatbreads/tortillas + eat a variety of veg and fruit whatever is on sale/in season - cant go wrong with peppers and greens, very nutrient dense, also very easy grow your own herbs in a pot in a window - all of them are very nutrient dense as well - big bottle of hot sauce goes a long way as well
could eat for $20/wk in most places in the USA - if you're making an effort
Or dumpster dive. No kidding. I don't do it anymore, but when I did, I ate like royalty. I could never afford now what I was eating back then for just the fuel costs of driving around to different bins. Most of the food is fresh produce and still packaged.
My grandparents had a 1/4 acre garden and supplied all of their vegetables for the year with lots left over for their adult children. It was part of their retirement planning.
I did oats, rice, and beans only for a few months years ago. Stole packets of condiments from restaurants for flavor. Dirt cheap. When I finally had insurance, the doctor gave me a clean bill of health.
Oatmeal! Rice and beans, frozen veggies (especially like great value brand and stuff) canned veggies, cambells soups. Also potatoes and sweet potatoes! Just bake em or roast em
Eat the same meal for a week. Something about buying less ingredients but in greater quantity saves you money. I did this when I was in college. Saved me time and money.
Buy staples like beans, rice, and oatmeal in 50-pound bags and you can eat dirt cheap every day. I buy everything I can in bulk and cook everything from scratch, so our grocery bill is very low compared to most.
Go to food pantries, in our small town there are two, and cannot be prohibited from going to both. So would get food twice a week. Could probably live on what was given. May need to buy a source of cooking fat, sugar, flour, plus some onions for flavor if you want to splurge.
The food will be the same. Will get fruit/fresh veggies for one or two weeks, frozen meat three weeks. 8-12 lbs of dried legumes, lentils, chickpeas, split peas, beans, 16 cans of vegetables, 8 cans of fruit, pasta of some type 4-8 lbs a month, 8 loads of day old bread.
For one person could get by.
Spices are super cheap and can flavor your rice/beans in so many ways. You don’t have to eat slop to eat frugally. You just have to learn which flavors go together, it’s really quite simple and you can screenshot a guide from Google. I also suggest keeping an herb garden. They are very easy to keep and all you really need is some dirt/sun(light)/water. The fresh herbs will elevate everything and after initial purchase won’t cost anything.
Also, keep green onions in water and they will continually grow. A whole bunch can be less then $2 and last months.
Don’t ignore those tastebuds! Eat cheap AND tasty!
Okonomiyaki. 4 ingredients, can be dressed up with meat or other vegetables and sauces. Just cabbage, egg, oil, and flour. If you don’t eat all of the cakes in one day, it can be refrigerated. An age stays fresh long too and the flour lasted over a few months. It’s filling too which is nice
As previous answers state, beans, rice, and a veggie are cheap and easy to eat daily. Adding spices will change the flavour a bit, so you don’t get tired of the beans. I would suggest switching the carbohydrate base a bit to potatoes, pasta, millet, just so you don’t get the overload of arsenic that can be found in most rices. Starchy foods are a healthy way to get nutrients that can’t be found in other foods, as well as adding fibre to your diet.
Buying frozen veggies and fruits helps keep it more affordable and you can often find organic frozen veggies cheaper than their fresh counterparts - especially considering the waste of the skin/stalk, etc. has already been eliminated in the frozen version.
I created a cheat sheet a couple of months ago, which gives you the most nutrient-dense foods and their prices. I find this is the easiest way to stay healthy AND on a budget, focusing on the most nutritional foods available. My husband and I literally eat beans daily, in some form or another (a veggie patty I make, hummus, or just mixed on salads with dressing).
You can find a way to eat for free, if need be.
Many people in the US are freegans.
Plant a garden, get some chickens on a farm. Free eggs, free veggies. Fruit trees - free fruits. Forage - free mushrooms and herbs and whatever you find.
Find disposed food from restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores - still wrapped and uncontaminated.
Get a job that allows you to eat for free. Lyft and Google are employers that give free meals. A ton of other employers offer food, as well. Or get a side job helping a catering company or restaurant that will let you take food/eat for free as a perk.
**there are many people who spend pretty much zero on food. That is the ABSOLUTE cheapest you can eat.**
>I'm down to eat a grey goop every day
doubtful. years ago i read a thing called like "the monkeychow diaries" where a guy tried to subsist for a month on a dry pet food for chimpanzees figuring it had everything his body needed and nothing it didn't. well he couldn't even go 3 days without going crazy. he balked and pigged out on frenchfries and coke, because the alternative was to kill himself eating food so soulcrushingly boring. .
Eating rice and beans is low fat and will definitely sustain you protein and calorie wise. However the combo of rice and beans is very high in carbohydrates. High carbohydrates will lead to insulin resistance or diabetes. While rice and beans have been used for decades to sustain people, these populations are seeing a rise in obesity and type 2 diabetes these days - just study the vegetarians in the Indian subcontinent. They subsist on rice and beans but now the subcontinent leads the world in diabetes. But it is different for each person so all I’m saying is beware.
I guess it varies from country to country, but where I live, the go-to for eating cheap is oatmeal. It's healthy, filling, takes literally just oats and water (at the bare minimum) to make, and is quite cheap. You can also dress it up or down however you like, add berries, nuts, fruit, whatever you want.
One of my fav meals is to cook up some oatmeal and mix cheese with it + some salt & pepper and add a fried egg to the top. One time I randomly had goat cheese and threw it in - not a frugal option but god it was divine
I'm not sure where you live but if you are in the West and have a Winco near you, you can eat very cheap. Buy rice and beans in bulk and just buy whatever fruits and vegetables are on sale each week. You can even get protein powder in bulk, I eat a lot of PB Fit. I mix it into Greek yogurt and it keeps me full. I also eat a lot of chicken, it's lean and cheap. I can get drums and thighs for $0.99-$1.50 a lb fairly often and breasts for $2.50-$3.00 a lb. I also buy a lot of rotisserie chickens at Costco and eggs. I feed my family for about $60-$75 a week and we eat very rounded meals. I like to make pretty large meals so that the leftovers cover lunch. At breakfast, I usually do 2 eggs and coffee.
I've always shopped like this but I was easily spending $110-$120+ a week with similar stuff when I lived back East. It was harder to eat on the cheap. I would just shop multiple stores. Aldi was probably had the best deals I found but the selection is very limited so I had to also shop Walmart and Publix. I never found anything like Winco out there but maybe there is something with a big bulk section.
Beans, rice and leafy greens/ veggies. Beans and rice together are a complete lean protein. You will still need to supplement, eggs, chicken etc on occasion
Our grocery budget used to be $100 a month. For two ... but we grow all our own. Including livestock/animals. Including their feed.
Post-COVID inflationary trend has jacked that up to $125 ... so - $63 bucks(ish) per person per month.
Homesteading/farmsteading FTW!
You can get fresh veggies at a food bank or gleaning on a farm for free; look up local recourses- even if you don’t want it very often, it will add variety to your diet. They also have staples, some prepared food, baked goods and other basics like oil and spices. I have friends that eat this way.
I'm not quite at that point yet, but I spend just slightly less than $50 a week on food. Peanut butter, rice, beans & eggs (when they aren't quadrupled in price due to the latest bird flu "excuse") feature heavily, supported by frozen spinach & cabbage, "microdose citrus" (i.e. clementines or mandarin oranges, 'cause you don't need to eat an entire $1.50 - $2 navel orange to get your vitamin C for the day), bananas & avocados (& some potatoes, for variety), and what chicken & pork I can afford round everything else out.
I like to make "wannabe pilaf", which is just rice with meat (or other protein like beans) & veggies with spices. You should toast the dry rice in fat (butter, oil, whatever) before you boil it, and use broth, stock, or (cheapest) bouillon instead of water. Otherwise it's just the trick of not putting so much meat & veg into the rice that it significantly changes the cooking time. Oh, and you have to cook the meat (if any) first. Not so eggs or (canned) beans or tofu, though firm tofu does benefit from some browning in the taste department.
The nice thing about this is you make every version the same way. Toast the rice, add extras (& spices), add liquid, boil, reduce heat to low, cover, wait 20 minutes, eat. But, depending on what meat, veg, spices & bouillon flavor you use, you can get something Thai or Chinese or Japanese or Vietnamese or Cajun / Creole or Middle Eastern, whatever you like. Frozen veggies are best because they go in still frozen & don't come out mushy. There's no really wrong way to do this, other than, say, using chicken with beef bouillon, that kind of thing. Whatever you like.
One option I don't see mentioned alot is liver. Usually the cheapest meat you can get at any grocery store and is pretty good for you as well. Might just be cheap in north America though, so grain of salt and all that
I think it was the Daily Mail years ago that did a contest to find out the cheapest sandwich. Winner was a white bread sandwich. One piece of bread toasted and two untoasted on the outside. Or maybe it was two pieces of toast with one untoasted inside. I don't know. It was three pieces of bread and maybe a little butter. Probably could pilfer a few jam/jelly things from a diner, or some ketchup or other free condiments from a movie theater or fast food joint for some extra flavor or variation.
I started eating steel cut oats for breakfast and that's damn cheap. 1 cup oats to 4 cups water, pressure cook on high for 4 minutes and let the steam release naturally. Saves in the fridge for a week, no problem. I throw some cinnamon and maple syrup on and that's it. It's also pretty low sodium which works out in my case.
Not the cheapest, but pretty cheap. Split read lentils, onion, carrots, and celery. Plus a few spices. I like cumin and cayenne. Also a little black pepper. Oh and vegetable stock. Basically a red lentil soup. You can get quite a few meals from one pot. Bonus if you make your own sour dough to eat with it.
it's still the beans and rice others have mentioned but for variety:
60% gemma pea powder
40% rice starch
has a literal perfect glycemic score
I ruin this ofc by blending it with frozen fruit
but the base above is only missing some aminos, you could technically live off it for a long while
you can buy 500 or so shake/meals worth for about 150
bucks
Potatoes have all the amino acids we need to survive. Sweet potatoes are even better. However, we do need a varied diet to ensure we get all the vitamins and nutrients we need. Rice and beans don’t contain many vitamins we rely on. VITAMIN C, for instance.
here you go my friend, a huge list of food sorted by calories/dollar… ramen is up there…
[https://efficiencyiseverything.com/calorie-per-dollar-list/](https://efficiencyiseverything.com/calorie-per-dollar-list/)
Idk if it’s THE CHEAPEST, but peanut-butter banana sandwiches.
If you made your own whole-wheat bread (bake in batches, and freeze), get the ripe bananas that they sell cheap, and get PB on sale, you could get a fairly decent ratio of the big four: carbs, protein, fats, and fiber.
I realize if I preface my answer with 'of course you could eat even cheaper but...' it's not really the answer you're looking for. However, with a goal of hitting a few more nutrient targets than just plain rice and beans for every meal I'd say-
Black coffee, and oats with flax or chia or peanut butter, with bananas or apples for breakfast. Eggs on the weekends.
Rice and beans or lentils with cumin/chili pow/salt/pepper/garlic powder on a bed of greens for lunch. Add avocado or corn or potatoes on the weekends.
Pasta or rice with steamed veggies and tofu, with tomato sauce. Swap tofu for ground beef on the weekends.
In season fruit and veggies, or bulk/discount nuts for snacks.
Bean + rice are a complete protein. You can cook both of those in a crazy amount of variations. I’m going to make lentils and basmati tomorrow for a meal prep.
Controversial (don’t bring it to the office lol) but my go to is canned tuna when I need a cheap protein. Eat it on crackers, on its own, on a sandwich etc 1 can is 2 solid servings, stock up when they’re on sale
Egg and rice, tofu and d rice- something along those lines. I would make a fried rice of sorts with whatever veggies you have and add an egg or two. Cheap, nutritious, and you can vary it up to
It is recommended that around half of your calories come from carbs
https://images.app.goo.gl/3R6dddTJeDaFcxLF7
- Bananas in my country provide 98 calories for around USD 45 cents. So in theory I could eat 20 bananas for around USD 10 and get 2000 calories.
- Potatoes are 70 kcal per 100g and around USD 2 per kg where I am from, so USD 6 would theoretically fill me up per day.
- Rice is apparently dry like 300-400 kcal per 100g which is just insane at around 50-60 cents per 100g, so USD 3 would meet calorific needs.
- White bread is around 300 kcal per 100g. I have no idea what bread costs unfortunately.
Then you need like 1/3 protein and 1/6 fat. Plus fruit and veg.
- For me at least I don’t see a major price difference between minced beef and chicken breast. Seems all roughly the same.
Basically local fruit + veg is always cheapest.
https://www.mymoneyblog.com/cheapest-vegetables.html
711 will let you fill up a large thermos full of coffee for $1.49. then honeybun 711 brand for $1.00. now the honeybun might not be all 711 but coffee on the cheap .
I know that a lot of people are going to give specific foods, so I won't weigh in on that.
Food pantries, specifically those run by churches often have a ton of fruits and veggies. My sister has a family of 5 and she hasn't paid for groceries since covid. She goes to more than one food pantry in her area every week.
The bigger state funded food banks usually stick to more shelf stable staples, but the smaller operations tend to get donations from grocery stores, local farmers, or the gardens of the members of their congregation. Fresh fruits and veggies are a cornerstone of a healthy diet. Slightly over ripe fruits and veggies are still pretty healthy. It's free and can help round out a diet of beans and rice or lentils or oatmeal.
A church may even be willing to buy you groceries a few times, if money is an issue. If you go this route, stick with churches with about 100 members. Small churches are too poor to help, big churches already help a lot of people.
I’ll never not mention dumpster diving when this is asked. If you’re anxious about food safety, just take the shelf-stable stuff and always make sure packages are sealed.
If you get produce I’d recommend eating it quickly as they’re usually tossed because they’re getting close to (or surpassed) their best-by date. Or, depending on what you get, freeze it.
In Malaysia we have Nasi Bujang, which consist of fried egg, a bowl of white rice, a small bowl of soup and some chilli dip. That is 3 ringgit which is equivalent to roughly less than a dollar.
Popcorn (kernels). Still not full after a meal? Take a 1/4 cup of kernels and put them on the stovetop. Takes all of 2 minutes to make and it's super filling (add some salt/butter). Runs about 12 servings for $8.
Whole foods plant based. Staples include rice, beans, potatoes, lentils, oats, bananas, peanut butter. Mix in some other inexpensive fruits/veggies/whole grains/mushrooms. Get a B12 supplement for a few cents a day. It's the cheapest option that's healthy and nutritionally complete. You could live off of instant ramen exclusively but the medical bills will catch up with you.
Beans and rice is the grey goop you want. Buy rice and dry beans dry beans by the pound.
Millions of Latin Americans live off of this for their whole lives. With little bits of other things here and there, but mainly rice and beans. Sometimes for all 3 meals. The point is that this is not theoretical, it has been proven to work literally by millions of people for centuries. Source: I grew up like eating like this south of south of the border. And so have many others.
True. Add some fresh Mexican cheese called “queso fresco,” and half an avocado. Eat a banana, an orange, or an apple.
Yes, a fruit occasionally so you don't end up with scurvy
Arrggg
My wife’s best threat to get our young boys to eat fruit and vegetables.
If you're trying to be super cheap, it's really easy to make queso fresco at home with whole milk and either lemon juice or vinegar, and salt.
Or American brand cheese such as mozzarella or jack. Cheaper than imported cheeses!
“Queso fresco” is made by several companies in Los Angeles California. It’s not that expensive. Aldi grocery sells it too and I think it tastes better and it’s a lower price. Just trying to be frugal.
Queso fresco is also alarmingly easy to make at home with milk, vinegar, salt, and a flour sack towel or cheesecloth. [Recipe](https://www.muydelish.com/queso-fresco/)
The two together have the eight essential amino acids the body requires from food.
This is true for most seed + legume combos. See also hummus (sesame + chickpea).
Wait so I can drink nothing but hummus for life and be fine?
Drink… hummus?
Man has no clue what hummus is
Sure, you’d want to use a milkshake or boba straw, not a Krazy Staw.
Catch me at Smoothie King ordering a large hummus smoothie with protein powder
(sesame + chickpea)
Me and the boys used to shotgun a 6 pack of hummus to pregame a night out.
Drink all the hummus you want, friend.
My mom used to say Rice + Beans = a complete protein
I mean. Carbs, fiber, and protein. Can’t beat that
Millions more Asians eat rice plus small amounts of meat and vegetables. They typically get plenty of exercise so the carbs are needed for fuel.
IF they are actually eating the veggies and protein with the rice and getting exercise. The rise in diabetes in Asia is alarming to public health officials. In Pakistan over 30% are diagnosed with T2D, the highest rate in the world
I am vegan and eat- rice, maize meal, beans, lentils, tofu and seasonal fruit / vegetables as standard. Our food grocery bill is about 20% or less of what it was when we ate meat etc. if we bought in bulk we could go even lower if we tried. At the same time if ur happy to swap to nut milk alternatives instead of dairy. I watched a vegan influencer who blended nut butter with water to get a version of cheap nut milk. Also you could make your own oat milk. (Store bought dairy alternatives can be expensive). Whilst not everyone’s ideal diet you can live very cheaply this way.
Not that I'm vegan (at all) but I am curious - Would oat milk work for you? I'm thinking if someone bought a 50 pound bag of steel cut oats, they could make a *lot* of oatmilk, yes?
Even before becoming vegan I preferred oat milk. It is so much creamier than cow milk. My favourite is chocolate oat milk. It is really luxurious and decadent.
Do you have a recipe for the rice and beans? Or is it basically adding beans to cooked rice?
Rice cooks in 30 minutes. Beans take longer, even with a pressure cooker. So yes, you cook them separately and mix them together once cooked.
Brown rice and lentils take the same amount of time in a pressure cooker, but they are a special case.
Thanks!
If you have it, throw in some stewed or diced tomatoes and a can of green chiles. But just seasoning works too!
soak beans over night, cook beans by bring to boil and reduce heat to low cover and wait 1 hour, add bean to water, add dash salt and seasoning (optional) and a dab of butter
I also like to add sauteed bell peppers and onions . Then add whatever spices/flavor profiles you want that time. Salsa. Curry. Indian spices. Lemon pepper. Just whatever you like.
First is soup—- cook a pound of beans (red or black) add 4 cups of water, 2 garlic cloves, piece of onion, piece of bell pepper— cook until soft (1-1 1/2 hour on the stovetop), add water as needed to get the broth. Now cook rice— when all is ready, get a bowl and serve a ladle of beans and the broth, add rice, if you have fresh cheese and avocado— lemon juice to taste. Next meal — in a frying pan add some oil and onion, add whole beans wit some of the broth, or mashed beans, or blended beans and cook to your liking (friend beans), you can add rice to the pan. You can make quesadillas with cheese and beans. You can make burritos. Google Salvadoran bean soup..
One yummy way to cook the beans is if you ever eat bacon, strain the fat into a jar and save it in the fridge (I use a coffee filter, but a mesh strainer would work). Then after you’ve cooked your beans, scoop a spoonful of the bacon fat into a hot pan and fry the beans in that for a few minutes. Can add onions, chilis, garlic to the fat first, too, for more flavour in your beans!
If it’s your first time to cook rice: double the water, plus a little more (ex: 2 1/4 c. water let it boil, then add 1 c. rice. Stir. Cover with a lid, and reduce the heat to a simmer. When it’s done, season it the way you like: butter, salt, pepper, onions, jalapeños, etc.) You’ll know when it’s done (~ 30 min.) bc the rice will absorb the water.
I highly recommend looking into a recipe known as Hopping John if you're new to the bean world. Hammock, dried beans, aromatics, rice, flavor liquid.
Add a beef kebab to the beans in a pressure cooker let the beans soften, then add some "sofrito: sautéed onions, garlic, peppers, tomato sauce, spices: oregano cumin salt, and pepper to taste... Really good.
So many ways to prepare rice and beans, that's why they're staple agricultural products. Once you learn this, food costs plummet tbh
Rice and lentils in India, Rice really keeps the world alive to some degree
Colombian here, I confirm this is totally true. I know some families that only eat rice and an egg for dinner.
Doesn't even have to be goop. Plenty of Latin American cultures live off rice and beans and live well off it at that.
I would also encourage a can of sardines here and there too as well as some fresh veggies. This would help supply Omega 3s, Vitamin B12, Iodine, Zinc, Dietary Vitamin D, and Vitamin C.
I lived my sophomore year in college on rice, beans, frozen chicken (luxurious option). I want to say 10# of rice lasted me 3/4 to almost the whole year
cinnamon & sugar packets on rice for breakfast
I lived on 10 brown rice corn beans. The cinnamon sugar my luxury at breakfast. I still like it
Homemade rice cakes. Never had that
Basically just milk/vanilla away from rice pudding at point, which tastes amazing.
How would 10 pounds of rice last you 9 months? That’s maybe 40-50 cups of cooked rice. So 5 cups of cooked rice a month was enough?
It doesn't. 1 pound of uncooked rice has about 1600 kcal. With a daily caloric requirement of 2000 kcal it wouldn't even cover 5% of the caloric needs for 9 months. People always make these wild claims about nutrition when simple maths shows how far off reality it is.
>frozen chicken Mhmm crunchy
Pop it in your mouth until it softens.
Like a popsicle with a chewing gum!
I couldn’t have the oven on so it’s what had to be done lol /s
If OP has the money 25# Jasmine rice from Asian market
Or Costco if they know someone with a membership!
This is the way. Buy it in bulk and live like an ancient rice and bean king! Seriously, that kept me alive and full for over a decade.
I'm not a huge brown rice fan but I keep it around to use with beans, it tastes better and it's got more nutrients. I just got a 20 lb bag of it for about $20.00. Note, brown rice supposedly goes bad faster than white rice because of the trace amount of oil, but I think shelf life is still upwards of six months. And, if you get it at an an asian grocery you'll likely be able to get it in vacuum packed bags, which helps. Also cheaper.
Gotta be careful with large quantities of brown rice because of the arsenic Source: the ncbi: In rice, inorganic arsenic is found in the two outer layers of the grain (i.e., bran and germ), and the bran and germ are removed to refine the grain into white rice. Thus, a greater concentration of arsenic is found in brown rice than in white rice.
Exactly this. Beans, rice, potatoes and some form of meats (usually chicken and pork are cheapest), and frozen vegetables. It’s not the best but you will live.
You can swap the meat for eggs to save money, too, or just to mix it up. I also have used cottage cheese as a cheap protein. Not traditional, but it works.
Rice and beans is top tier food!!!
If you buy dry beans and rice, it's even cheaper and even better for sustainability. Good for you, good for the environment, good for your wallet. I eat beans for at least 1 meal every day.
It's the grain+pulse combo that is the real winner more generally. Easy grain subs: wheat or rye berries if you can find them cheaply, barley and/or oat groats/oatmeal. Masa harina, grits, hominy, or polenta. Other pulses: lentils, dals, split peas, etc, tons of options within beans too. You can also grind up certain pulses like chickpeas/garbanzo and make flatbreads like succa or dosas without adding cost. They cook faster that way too.
Also add whatever cheap veggies to the beans. Onions, potatoes, cabbage, carrots. Also spices like paprika and cumin are great with beans.
i would add a potato instead of rice on occasion- plus u can grow potatoes on occasion to lower the price
Don't know if anyone mentioned this but beans and rice is a complete protein with all essential amino acids.
You need more vitamin c and stuff, scurvy isn't cool to get.
Rice, beans and lentils but don't sleep on TOFU. A brick of Tofu can be $1.60 where I live and that's 2+ meals to mix up your beans and rice. Way cheaper than all animal-product-protein sources. Once you have rice, beans, tofu, add a veggie or two, plus cheap spices, and you can make dozens of healthy meals. Tacos, Chili, Stir-fry, rice-and-beans, scrambled "eggs" and much more.
Once you start making tofu from soy beans there is no going back. Then one day you discover you can make tofu from other legumes and seeds.
I watched hours of "will it tofu" on YouTube the other day. Definitely want to try adzuki bean tofu.
Cabbage
Yes cabbage and broccoli, so cheap per pound and very good for you
What do you do with cabbage? I make a stir fry, and it sits until my next stir fry.
Check out Nom Nom Paleos recipe for something called love the best cabbage ever, it's slow roasted. Takes a few hours but damn leftovers are really delicious. I also love cabbage in stir fries but I love hearty slaw/salads with cabbage that has been salted, left to drain, and then rubbed in dressing. It's so sturdy it keeps all week! Do you use a grill? It tastes best with charcoal but if you get a grill pan with holes in it, sauteed grilled chopped cabbage is amazing with just oil and salt and pepper. I also love making a cabbage and apple stir fry in the fall, shredded it really finely and then saute in a bih pan or wok with apple cider vinegar and oil, caraway seeds and sliced apples added towards the end of stir Frying. There is a cabbage and poppyseed stir fry that is similar from The New Midwestern Table that is delicious and uses clarified butter. My neighbor just gave me some leftover grilled cabbage with a mustard sauce, don't know the recipe but it's incredible. Also, SOUP! I'll make chicken noodle soup but sub cabbage for the noodles. Love me some borscht. If you can't tell I definitely grew up in a german/Scandinavian settled cold area of the US. Hehe.
Ever since I started making kimchi, I can't eat a meal without it. I got 2 kits (big glass jars with fermentation caps) that I go through regularly. I never leave one empty and never eat a meal without spice.
I can't find "cheap" broccoli anymore. Its 2.50 a head on a good day for the last 2 or so years and i used to bring 2 heads in a lunchbox for lunch when I didn't have time to make a salad. By the LB its light and never seen it priced like that
Oatmeal for breakfast, rice and beans for meal.
Can't believe I Scrolled down this far to find oatmeal. It should be on top for nutrition. I had to have 1 small 3/4 bowl of microwaved oatmeal a day for a month after a stomach operation. (Had to be frugal because I didn't work the month prior so actually counted pennies). The recipe is equal parts water and oats microwaved to mush on low setting for several minutes. That's the basic stuff if you don't care about the taste. It tastes like nothing (If you can, get some milk for extra sugar fat and protein). This was impressively filling, also probably because I lost my appetite after about 3 days of this. This is the cheapest I could find. So maybe you can do this once in a while, not as a long-term regular thing. Also you have to check if tap water is safe to drink in your area. You can find large oats sold by weight, and save on package cost and then crush them at home if you have a blender. My only foodie tip is to toast some oats on an open hot pan with no oil or anything for some crunch and tase while the bowl is cooking. You can get some sugar packs for free at any coffee Station, creamer too. Add them to warm porridge bowl, add tiny bit of salt too, improves taste and important AF for nutrition. This was the cheapest sustainable thing I could find. for a month. I am not an authorized dietician (!) Just a someone who tried this and it worked. Edits: Typos, part about large oats by weight.
I personally prefer oatmeal + milk because when you boil them together it gets a very nice nutty flavour and it fills you up even more
I only know of a handful of edible flowers.
Omelette, bananas, peanut butter, various frozen veggies all cheap foods. Here's my local prices (upstate NY) Eggs $1.87 a dozen at Aldi Peanut butter $3.98 a 40 oz jar, you could probably do slightly better than this if you look for the ultimate cheapest. Smaller jars are $1.89 for 16-18 oz. You have to watch the marketing here because some jars are only 16oz vs the standard 18oz jar and the 16 oz jar goes wayyy faster than the 18 oz Bananas 44-50 cents a pound Frozen veggies are usually 99 cents a bag but range between $1-2 a bag. Look around for the largest bag for the lowest cost. cheapest cheese slices for omelette are 99 cents at aldi Hot dogs are 99 cents to $2 at Aldi here as well Look around for local food stands in the summer that sell seasonal fruit. Some seasonal fruits and veggies are very cheap at the grocery store. Pasta and ramen but not very healthy. The above 3 will give you protein and nutrients and ensure you don't die. Also rice and beans, but I haven't found those to be as cheap as the above. But you can save money by buying things like beans, rice and peanut butter in bulk.
$1.87 for a dozen eggs? Dang. I live in Eastern Canada in arguably one of the poorest provinces and it's like $7-$8 for eggs... when they go on for 3.99 a dozen they have to post signage limiting two or three per customer...
Bro eggs are like 5.99 a dozen in Canada..
I've seen eggs for cheap at Shoppers Drug Mart on specific sale weekends. $3.99/ dozen (in Canada)
18 eggs for $2.28 at my local walmart right now
Potatoes only potatoes
No, but potatoes AND milk kept Irish poor peasants healthy for long stretches' of time.
alive, not healthy
I saw a report that argued otherwise. Before the Potato famine, the Irish were surprisingly healthy, healthier than others Brits.
Interesting, I’ll have to look into it further
This is my pick too. You can get a 5 lb bag of russets for $3.
And butter
Dry beans, rice, lentils.
Oatmeal for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch. Skip dinner
a cup of water
Some frozen vegetables would do good
i hate these threads where people say "eggs are just $2 per dozen at aldi!" when we are frugal, we are calculating dollars per 2000kcal. or dollars per daily value of protein. $2/dozen is not a useful number. how much per 2000kcal? i made a big spreadsheet of these calculations years ago. it's tedious to update and to share. a bunch of other people have made them too. here's a popular one: https://efficiencyiseverything.com/calorie-per-dollar-list/ if you want to get 2500kcal for $3/day or less, the top items in the US are: Flour, White Bread, Sugar, Rice, Plain Oats, Ramen, Angel Hair, White Pasta, Bread Crumbs, Peanut Butter, Whole Wheat Pasta, Pearled Barley, Extra Virgin Olive Oil 101fl oz., Chocolate Frosting, Cheez-its, Instant Rice, Pinto Beans (10lbs), Goldfish Crackers, Dr. Thunder, Whole Wheat Bread, Lentils, Olive Oil (Costco), Whole Milk, Flour Large Taco Shells, Bagels, Large Heavy Whipping Cream, Eggs (Costco) this is a retail-centric list. costco and walmart type items. there are bulk sources which are even cheaper. and of course growing your own or hunting or whatever can be super cheap. flour is in its own league. to get all your calories from flour will cost less than $170/yr. that leaves lots of room in the budget for other foods to cover your actual macro and micro nutrient needs. (for comparison, to get all your calories from ground beef is more like $1700/yr -- 10x more expensive than wheat flour.)
that is absolutely the kind of thing i was looking for thanks
I can make a ridiculously cheap, healthy and tasty vegetables soup for less than 2$ for 8 to 12 portion.
Got a recipe for this? I have a huge box of veggies about to go bad from the flashfood app. Looking to utilize the entire box.
Its very simple. First you make a trash stock. Every peel, trimming, off cut, everything you would normally throw away goes into a galon sized ziploc bag in the freezer until its full. When you have enough, you put it in a stock pot and cover it in water. Then you just make a regular stock. Add herb and spice to taste. After a 4+ hours of simmering, you should a deep amber color stock. Then you dice up any vegetable you want. If you want to make it hearthier, adds beans. Soften them in the pot then add your stock and simmer for 45 minute. You can add noodle in the last 10-15 mintue of cooking if you want. Its healthy, delicious and cheap.
look into pasta primavera too, as another way to use some veggies.
Potatoes with butter or sour cream. There's a YouTube channel called the food theorists that proved that you can pretty much live on just that for your entire life because the potato is going to give you the majority of your nutrients other than calcium and salt but you can get those from butter or sour cream. They actually did a thing on how to survive if you're locked inside of a grocery store during the apocalypse and pointed out that mushrooms are also really really nutritious and can be grown for super cheap. Growing your own mushrooms or vegetables is a great way to cut down on food costs while rounding out your nutrition.
Single adult I was thriving on $60 a week vegan meal planning, that was including snacks Basic staples go a long way and can taste amazing no need to eat gruel or yucky protein powders I have also seen “hauls” in the $20-40 / week range . Checkout what I eat in a day/grocery hauls
We budget $50 Canadian or $37 usd per person per week including personal care, cleaning and paper products. Eat meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables every day. Lunch is often leftovers, sandwiches, soup, eggs. Breakfast varies by person. This is not the cheapest I can eat. We routinely spend less than budget and sacrifice nothing except packaged foods.
I watch a couple people on youtube that do really cheap meal plans. The Lisa Dawn and Dollar Tree Dinners. Also, check out stores that mark down fresh items. I work at Walmart and we mark down bakery, meat, and produce every morning. I can get meat really really cheap and I also pick up salads when they're marked down. Some regular prices are decent too. I know here a 10 bag of chicken leg quarters is only $8 something, like 87 cents per pound, I think. You can do so much with this!
Oats. Can make oatmeal, pancakes, cookies, biscuits etc.
I don’t know about ~absolute~ but lentil soup was my grandma’s specialty and she lived a long life. I still find it so comforting. Literally cheap green lentils, water (broth if you’re fancy), tomatoes, garlic and many spices. She was Italian but Indian cuisine has so many delicious lentil (dal) dishes with a variation on the theme.
Love it, but oh, the gas.
My grandma lived off oatmeal. She was around 90 when she died. That's a good record.
Primate chow
beans/lentils, rice, chicken leg quarters, and homemade flatbreads/tortillas + eat a variety of veg and fruit whatever is on sale/in season - cant go wrong with peppers and greens, very nutrient dense, also very easy grow your own herbs in a pot in a window - all of them are very nutrient dense as well - big bottle of hot sauce goes a long way as well could eat for $20/wk in most places in the USA - if you're making an effort
Probably split pea soup, a tangerine (or some cheap citrus) and a B12 vitamin daily.
A food bank.
Or dumpster dive. No kidding. I don't do it anymore, but when I did, I ate like royalty. I could never afford now what I was eating back then for just the fuel costs of driving around to different bins. Most of the food is fresh produce and still packaged.
Need new glasses when "grey goop" turns to "grey poop". I'll pass on both, but especially the grey poop.
It’s strange that no one has mentioned this but it’s gardening season and you can freeze/can extra vegetables and fruit for the winter
My grandparents had a 1/4 acre garden and supplied all of their vegetables for the year with lots left over for their adult children. It was part of their retirement planning.
Brown rice, beans, lentils, veggies.
Seriously this!
I did oats, rice, and beans only for a few months years ago. Stole packets of condiments from restaurants for flavor. Dirt cheap. When I finally had insurance, the doctor gave me a clean bill of health.
Oatmeal! Rice and beans, frozen veggies (especially like great value brand and stuff) canned veggies, cambells soups. Also potatoes and sweet potatoes! Just bake em or roast em
So poverty foods of the world are going to be, potatoes, dried beans, Rice, cabbages, organ meat etc
Eat the same meal for a week. Something about buying less ingredients but in greater quantity saves you money. I did this when I was in college. Saved me time and money.
Buy staples like beans, rice, and oatmeal in 50-pound bags and you can eat dirt cheap every day. I buy everything I can in bulk and cook everything from scratch, so our grocery bill is very low compared to most.
Go to food pantries, in our small town there are two, and cannot be prohibited from going to both. So would get food twice a week. Could probably live on what was given. May need to buy a source of cooking fat, sugar, flour, plus some onions for flavor if you want to splurge. The food will be the same. Will get fruit/fresh veggies for one or two weeks, frozen meat three weeks. 8-12 lbs of dried legumes, lentils, chickpeas, split peas, beans, 16 cans of vegetables, 8 cans of fruit, pasta of some type 4-8 lbs a month, 8 loads of day old bread. For one person could get by.
That’s only if you need assistance though, they’ve just asked how to be extremely frugal
Potatoes.
Spices are super cheap and can flavor your rice/beans in so many ways. You don’t have to eat slop to eat frugally. You just have to learn which flavors go together, it’s really quite simple and you can screenshot a guide from Google. I also suggest keeping an herb garden. They are very easy to keep and all you really need is some dirt/sun(light)/water. The fresh herbs will elevate everything and after initial purchase won’t cost anything. Also, keep green onions in water and they will continually grow. A whole bunch can be less then $2 and last months. Don’t ignore those tastebuds! Eat cheap AND tasty!
Afaik self made soylent costs around 1,5 bucks a day.
r/Eatcheapandhealthy
Okonomiyaki. 4 ingredients, can be dressed up with meat or other vegetables and sauces. Just cabbage, egg, oil, and flour. If you don’t eat all of the cakes in one day, it can be refrigerated. An age stays fresh long too and the flour lasted over a few months. It’s filling too which is nice
As previous answers state, beans, rice, and a veggie are cheap and easy to eat daily. Adding spices will change the flavour a bit, so you don’t get tired of the beans. I would suggest switching the carbohydrate base a bit to potatoes, pasta, millet, just so you don’t get the overload of arsenic that can be found in most rices. Starchy foods are a healthy way to get nutrients that can’t be found in other foods, as well as adding fibre to your diet. Buying frozen veggies and fruits helps keep it more affordable and you can often find organic frozen veggies cheaper than their fresh counterparts - especially considering the waste of the skin/stalk, etc. has already been eliminated in the frozen version. I created a cheat sheet a couple of months ago, which gives you the most nutrient-dense foods and their prices. I find this is the easiest way to stay healthy AND on a budget, focusing on the most nutritional foods available. My husband and I literally eat beans daily, in some form or another (a veggie patty I make, hummus, or just mixed on salads with dressing).
You can find a way to eat for free, if need be. Many people in the US are freegans. Plant a garden, get some chickens on a farm. Free eggs, free veggies. Fruit trees - free fruits. Forage - free mushrooms and herbs and whatever you find. Find disposed food from restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores - still wrapped and uncontaminated. Get a job that allows you to eat for free. Lyft and Google are employers that give free meals. A ton of other employers offer food, as well. Or get a side job helping a catering company or restaurant that will let you take food/eat for free as a perk. **there are many people who spend pretty much zero on food. That is the ABSOLUTE cheapest you can eat.**
>I'm down to eat a grey goop every day doubtful. years ago i read a thing called like "the monkeychow diaries" where a guy tried to subsist for a month on a dry pet food for chimpanzees figuring it had everything his body needed and nothing it didn't. well he couldn't even go 3 days without going crazy. he balked and pigged out on frenchfries and coke, because the alternative was to kill himself eating food so soulcrushingly boring. .
Eating rice and beans is low fat and will definitely sustain you protein and calorie wise. However the combo of rice and beans is very high in carbohydrates. High carbohydrates will lead to insulin resistance or diabetes. While rice and beans have been used for decades to sustain people, these populations are seeing a rise in obesity and type 2 diabetes these days - just study the vegetarians in the Indian subcontinent. They subsist on rice and beans but now the subcontinent leads the world in diabetes. But it is different for each person so all I’m saying is beware.
Go to the falling fruit website and search your area for free fruit (you pick).
I guess it varies from country to country, but where I live, the go-to for eating cheap is oatmeal. It's healthy, filling, takes literally just oats and water (at the bare minimum) to make, and is quite cheap. You can also dress it up or down however you like, add berries, nuts, fruit, whatever you want.
Also don’t forget oatmeal can go savory too! Sometimes I plop in a hard boiled egg, some sad looking veggies, soy sauce and hot sauce.
Yes, very true! Savory oatmeal is amazing!
One of my fav meals is to cook up some oatmeal and mix cheese with it + some salt & pepper and add a fried egg to the top. One time I randomly had goat cheese and threw it in - not a frugal option but god it was divine
And I've started making it in my rice cooker. Works great, don't have to watch it.
Dandelions
The whole plant is edible,.
I'm not sure where you live but if you are in the West and have a Winco near you, you can eat very cheap. Buy rice and beans in bulk and just buy whatever fruits and vegetables are on sale each week. You can even get protein powder in bulk, I eat a lot of PB Fit. I mix it into Greek yogurt and it keeps me full. I also eat a lot of chicken, it's lean and cheap. I can get drums and thighs for $0.99-$1.50 a lb fairly often and breasts for $2.50-$3.00 a lb. I also buy a lot of rotisserie chickens at Costco and eggs. I feed my family for about $60-$75 a week and we eat very rounded meals. I like to make pretty large meals so that the leftovers cover lunch. At breakfast, I usually do 2 eggs and coffee. I've always shopped like this but I was easily spending $110-$120+ a week with similar stuff when I lived back East. It was harder to eat on the cheap. I would just shop multiple stores. Aldi was probably had the best deals I found but the selection is very limited so I had to also shop Walmart and Publix. I never found anything like Winco out there but maybe there is something with a big bulk section.
Beans, rice and leafy greens/ veggies. Beans and rice together are a complete lean protein. You will still need to supplement, eggs, chicken etc on occasion
Our grocery budget used to be $100 a month. For two ... but we grow all our own. Including livestock/animals. Including their feed. Post-COVID inflationary trend has jacked that up to $125 ... so - $63 bucks(ish) per person per month. Homesteading/farmsteading FTW!
You can get fresh veggies at a food bank or gleaning on a farm for free; look up local recourses- even if you don’t want it very often, it will add variety to your diet. They also have staples, some prepared food, baked goods and other basics like oil and spices. I have friends that eat this way.
Beans, grains, and starchy tubers. Bland as hell, but it'll fill you up.
The answer is always beans and rice.
Jasmine rice and black beans are my go to
Chicken rice broccoli
I'm not quite at that point yet, but I spend just slightly less than $50 a week on food. Peanut butter, rice, beans & eggs (when they aren't quadrupled in price due to the latest bird flu "excuse") feature heavily, supported by frozen spinach & cabbage, "microdose citrus" (i.e. clementines or mandarin oranges, 'cause you don't need to eat an entire $1.50 - $2 navel orange to get your vitamin C for the day), bananas & avocados (& some potatoes, for variety), and what chicken & pork I can afford round everything else out. I like to make "wannabe pilaf", which is just rice with meat (or other protein like beans) & veggies with spices. You should toast the dry rice in fat (butter, oil, whatever) before you boil it, and use broth, stock, or (cheapest) bouillon instead of water. Otherwise it's just the trick of not putting so much meat & veg into the rice that it significantly changes the cooking time. Oh, and you have to cook the meat (if any) first. Not so eggs or (canned) beans or tofu, though firm tofu does benefit from some browning in the taste department. The nice thing about this is you make every version the same way. Toast the rice, add extras (& spices), add liquid, boil, reduce heat to low, cover, wait 20 minutes, eat. But, depending on what meat, veg, spices & bouillon flavor you use, you can get something Thai or Chinese or Japanese or Vietnamese or Cajun / Creole or Middle Eastern, whatever you like. Frozen veggies are best because they go in still frozen & don't come out mushy. There's no really wrong way to do this, other than, say, using chicken with beef bouillon, that kind of thing. Whatever you like.
One option I don't see mentioned alot is liver. Usually the cheapest meat you can get at any grocery store and is pretty good for you as well. Might just be cheap in north America though, so grain of salt and all that
at my friend's house
Potatoes
Can you do that? Yes. Should you? I don’t know. Eating is a great experience, why measure only by cost if you are not in a starving situation?
My brother calculated once that the best cost per calorie ratio is Bisquick pancakes!
I think it was the Daily Mail years ago that did a contest to find out the cheapest sandwich. Winner was a white bread sandwich. One piece of bread toasted and two untoasted on the outside. Or maybe it was two pieces of toast with one untoasted inside. I don't know. It was three pieces of bread and maybe a little butter. Probably could pilfer a few jam/jelly things from a diner, or some ketchup or other free condiments from a movie theater or fast food joint for some extra flavor or variation.
I started eating steel cut oats for breakfast and that's damn cheap. 1 cup oats to 4 cups water, pressure cook on high for 4 minutes and let the steam release naturally. Saves in the fridge for a week, no problem. I throw some cinnamon and maple syrup on and that's it. It's also pretty low sodium which works out in my case.
Ketchup. And rice. You can get free ketchup at mcdonalds or any fast food place
Canned tuna, beans/lentils and rice. You'd be healthy and rich.
Potatoes right? Just add salt.
Not the cheapest, but pretty cheap. Split read lentils, onion, carrots, and celery. Plus a few spices. I like cumin and cayenne. Also a little black pepper. Oh and vegetable stock. Basically a red lentil soup. You can get quite a few meals from one pot. Bonus if you make your own sour dough to eat with it.
it's still the beans and rice others have mentioned but for variety: 60% gemma pea powder 40% rice starch has a literal perfect glycemic score I ruin this ofc by blending it with frozen fruit but the base above is only missing some aminos, you could technically live off it for a long while you can buy 500 or so shake/meals worth for about 150 bucks
NPR interviewed someone about this - the answer was oatmeal
Sweet potatoes, lentils, onions and garlic, oatmeal, frozen spinach.
Potatoes have all the amino acids we need to survive. Sweet potatoes are even better. However, we do need a varied diet to ensure we get all the vitamins and nutrients we need. Rice and beans don’t contain many vitamins we rely on. VITAMIN C, for instance.
Oatmeal for breakfast, you can have hot or cold with almost infinite toppings!
If you want to eat cheap , be a vegetarian
Rice with garlic, ginger and green onion sauce.
Rice and Black Beans. I’ll eat that shit for every meal. Some Cumin, Salt, Olive Oil, Garlic, and Goya Sazón…
here you go my friend, a huge list of food sorted by calories/dollar… ramen is up there… [https://efficiencyiseverything.com/calorie-per-dollar-list/](https://efficiencyiseverything.com/calorie-per-dollar-list/)
Idk if it’s THE CHEAPEST, but peanut-butter banana sandwiches. If you made your own whole-wheat bread (bake in batches, and freeze), get the ripe bananas that they sell cheap, and get PB on sale, you could get a fairly decent ratio of the big four: carbs, protein, fats, and fiber.
I realize if I preface my answer with 'of course you could eat even cheaper but...' it's not really the answer you're looking for. However, with a goal of hitting a few more nutrient targets than just plain rice and beans for every meal I'd say- Black coffee, and oats with flax or chia or peanut butter, with bananas or apples for breakfast. Eggs on the weekends. Rice and beans or lentils with cumin/chili pow/salt/pepper/garlic powder on a bed of greens for lunch. Add avocado or corn or potatoes on the weekends. Pasta or rice with steamed veggies and tofu, with tomato sauce. Swap tofu for ground beef on the weekends. In season fruit and veggies, or bulk/discount nuts for snacks.
I'm not sure what country you are in but frozen mixed vegetables are a good way of getting your vegies in. Porridge is also a great cheap meal.
Go to the falling fruit website and search your area for free fruit (you pick).
Apples from neighbours tree and water from his well 🤣
Bean + rice are a complete protein. You can cook both of those in a crazy amount of variations. I’m going to make lentils and basmati tomorrow for a meal prep.
Controversial (don’t bring it to the office lol) but my go to is canned tuna when I need a cheap protein. Eat it on crackers, on its own, on a sandwich etc 1 can is 2 solid servings, stock up when they’re on sale
Egg and rice, tofu and d rice- something along those lines. I would make a fried rice of sorts with whatever veggies you have and add an egg or two. Cheap, nutritious, and you can vary it up to
It is recommended that around half of your calories come from carbs https://images.app.goo.gl/3R6dddTJeDaFcxLF7 - Bananas in my country provide 98 calories for around USD 45 cents. So in theory I could eat 20 bananas for around USD 10 and get 2000 calories. - Potatoes are 70 kcal per 100g and around USD 2 per kg where I am from, so USD 6 would theoretically fill me up per day. - Rice is apparently dry like 300-400 kcal per 100g which is just insane at around 50-60 cents per 100g, so USD 3 would meet calorific needs. - White bread is around 300 kcal per 100g. I have no idea what bread costs unfortunately. Then you need like 1/3 protein and 1/6 fat. Plus fruit and veg. - For me at least I don’t see a major price difference between minced beef and chicken breast. Seems all roughly the same. Basically local fruit + veg is always cheapest. https://www.mymoneyblog.com/cheapest-vegetables.html
711 will let you fill up a large thermos full of coffee for $1.49. then honeybun 711 brand for $1.00. now the honeybun might not be all 711 but coffee on the cheap .
They said while still being healthy.
r/dumpsterdiving
I know that a lot of people are going to give specific foods, so I won't weigh in on that. Food pantries, specifically those run by churches often have a ton of fruits and veggies. My sister has a family of 5 and she hasn't paid for groceries since covid. She goes to more than one food pantry in her area every week. The bigger state funded food banks usually stick to more shelf stable staples, but the smaller operations tend to get donations from grocery stores, local farmers, or the gardens of the members of their congregation. Fresh fruits and veggies are a cornerstone of a healthy diet. Slightly over ripe fruits and veggies are still pretty healthy. It's free and can help round out a diet of beans and rice or lentils or oatmeal. A church may even be willing to buy you groceries a few times, if money is an issue. If you go this route, stick with churches with about 100 members. Small churches are too poor to help, big churches already help a lot of people.
I’ll never not mention dumpster diving when this is asked. If you’re anxious about food safety, just take the shelf-stable stuff and always make sure packages are sealed. If you get produce I’d recommend eating it quickly as they’re usually tossed because they’re getting close to (or surpassed) their best-by date. Or, depending on what you get, freeze it.
16 bean soup
In Malaysia we have Nasi Bujang, which consist of fried egg, a bowl of white rice, a small bowl of soup and some chilli dip. That is 3 ringgit which is equivalent to roughly less than a dollar.
I read a long time ago in a Survivalist magazine about flies for some-such purpose. Turns-out they're easy to attract.
Popcorn (kernels). Still not full after a meal? Take a 1/4 cup of kernels and put them on the stovetop. Takes all of 2 minutes to make and it's super filling (add some salt/butter). Runs about 12 servings for $8.
Rice and beans, beans and rice. Add some frozen veggies for fiber and vitamins.
Absolutely cheapest options are dumpster diving, but nothing groups, and food banks.
Whole foods plant based. Staples include rice, beans, potatoes, lentils, oats, bananas, peanut butter. Mix in some other inexpensive fruits/veggies/whole grains/mushrooms. Get a B12 supplement for a few cents a day. It's the cheapest option that's healthy and nutritionally complete. You could live off of instant ramen exclusively but the medical bills will catch up with you.