1. Buy a rice cooker. Not only does it make rice so much more convenient, you can make meals directly in it.

2. Get a deep freezer, its useful for the points below. Honorable mentions go to a label printer and a vacuum bag machine.

3. Buy in bulk, but repack your bulk goods as soon as you buy them. I use cleaned, cylindrical PET bottles but you can use vaccum bags, glass jars (purchased or repurposed) or food storage buckets. The reason you repack them right away is because bulk goods aren’t as clean, sterile and impervious to atmosphere as you might think. There can be microscopic insect eggs in them, mould spores which will activate with the slightest moisture, and the packaging is often damaged in microscopic ways. I like to use PET bottles, washed, dried, and then pack an oxygen absorber into each one. Then I fill it with rice, small pasta, dried beans, chick peas, grains, lentils, etc. All these dry goods are way cheaper to buy in large qty. Once packed, I seal them, freeze them for 48 hrs, thaw them for 72 hrs to allow any dormant eggs to hatch, then freeze again for another 48 hrs. The oxygen absorber will collapse the PET bottle around the dried goods so you get a satisfied hiss when you open it. This way, when you get some rice, you’re only opening a single 1 liter bottle which might take a month or so to use up rather than a 25kg bag of rice which will take a year or more to use up while it gathers insects, dust, rodents, mould, moisture, etc. Stored in PET bottles, these dried goods will last for 20 years or more. I also store sugar and salt this way, but I don’t use an oxygen absorbers because these things don’t really expire at all.

4. You can buy bulk fresh vegetables (and even meat) and process it yourself. For meat, buy in bulk and portion it out into vacuum bags or ziploc bags. For fresh vegetables, buy them when they are inexpensive (usually when they are approaching the end of their shelf life, or from farmers market. I get a ton of very cheap veg from asian grocers near me) One of my favorite things to buy is butternut pumpkin for very cheap. I roast a couple of them, cut in halves, for a few hours. Then scoop out the flesh with a spoon, put it in ziploc bags, and freeze it into flat plates. When frozen, I break it up into chunks and keep them in a big tupperware in the freezer. I use them to thicken stews, pasta sauces, and make really quick soups. You can do something similar with any vegetable, whether you’re blanching them and freezing broccoli florets, or making apple sauce, or diced carrots. This also makes meal prep much easier.

5. Make more soup. Soup is really easy to make, but is infinitely variable. I have about 10-12 that I rotate through, but even if you’re just trying to use up leftovers or deal with wilty veg, you can make a soup

6. Learn how to make a bread that you like. I’m not suggesting you make loaves of whitebread, but you should try making a few different kinds of bread and find one that you like making and like eating. My go-to is foccaica, because its simple, easy, no-knead, and its not boring, it has salt and olive oil in it which makes any sandwich tasty. I make one a week, it takes about 30 minutes of actual work, and lasts me a long time. Sometimes I make mini loaves and use them for sandwiches and hamburgers. If you make your own bread with plain flour, which is the cheapest kind, it will cost you way less than storebought bread.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the label printer is for labelling all your repacked food, meal prepped food, and vacuum bags with the date of purchase, date of packing, and expiry date. Super helpful.

Rice cooker

Bought a nice one (zojirushi brand that has the little elephant), but I’ve read most rice cookers work well. I use it so often for different meals and it’s been a game changer and money saver. Making rice is so simple now, and an easy cheap way to supplement a meal.

Rice eggs is a staple for us now: Make some rice, and when there’s about 5 minutes left on time, throw in some scrambled eggs for a tasty protein.

When I had no money and no time, I relied heavily on a rotation of the following meals, with current 2026 costs in my expensive city:

• Chili Mac: 1 lb dried pasta ($1.25 for 1600 calories, 54g protein) boiled in salty water (let’s call salt and water basically free), a can of chili ($2.50 for 540 calories, 32g protein), 2 oz of shredded cheese ($1 for 220 calories, 12g protein), 0.25 oz of hot sauce ($0.25 for flavor but negligible calories/protein). Total: $5, 2360 calories, 98g protein.
• Stir fried chicken and broccoli on rice: 1 lb chicken thigh ($4.50, 600 calories, 87g protein), 1 lb broccoli ($1.50, 150 calories, 9g protein), 1 lb rice ($1.50 for 1600 calories, 32g protein), $0.50 of condiments/seasoning. Total: $8, 2350 calories, 128g protein.
• Ramen with enough stuff to make it not suck: 1 package of Shin Ramyun ($2 for 500 calories, 10 g protein), 2 eggs ($0.30, 150 calories, 12g protein), 4 oz frozen edamame ($2, 90 calories, 9g protein), 2 oz scallions ($0.20, let’s round down to 0 calories and 0g protein). Total: $4.50, 740 calories, 31g protein.

I don’t buy stupid shit like Starbucks. You can get better “coffee” much cheaper. I buy half a cow from a farmer every year. It’s roughly $3.00/lb, but that includes 50lbs of ground beef, a couple dozen steaks, roasts, ect. All in I spend about $500 and it lasts 4 of us a year and it’s about $2,000+ in meat were in buy it at a store.

While pretty much everyone here is taking a moment to talk about beans, peas are higher in a lot of nutrients and a lot easier to digest (I think they are tastier to). You can often get them frozen in bulk if you don’t want to deal with dried and they can disappear into a lot of recipes.

Consider backing up your rice dishes with peas if you aren’t a bean fan.

1. Don’t eat out.
2. Buy staples and spices and learn to make tasty dishes from them. Pretty much every culture on this planet has figured out super tasty and nutritious dishes from the staples that are available to them. Learn from them. (This will take time, as in it’s a long term goal, but it’s so worth it.)
3. Don’t buy processed products of any kind. Pre-processing terribly bad ingredients for convenience is how the food industry takes your money. Buy real food.
4. If you can, don’t buy meat. If you can’t, buy as little as possible. It will be better for you, for your wallet, for the animals, and for the planet. But also don’t buy any preprocessed meat replacement products (see point 3).

Bulk on the dry staples. I’ve found that a good hack for saving on having to buy on storage containers is buy the giant pickle jars and then reusing them for beans, rice, and oats. I break down my prices per ounce, so while most of my food comes from Winco, there’s a few things I get at Albertsons on occasion because their overpriced foods are less likely to sell and end up on exceptional markdowns. I hit food banks.

I’m fortunate to have a lot of growing space and ramped up my casual, for fun garden to an actual food producing garden. I’m planting in waves, little fast growers like radishes in the boxes the tomatoes are starting in. Eventually the tomatoes will block but I can get a few cycles of the radishes before that happens. Also built a coop and have four lovely little hens that should start laying in a couple more weeks. The trade off is that all of this takes a lot of time.

I bought quality pressure cooker and make giant batches of beans that can be divided and frozen. About every three weeks I have to cook a batch but they work as burrito filling, nacho topper, taco salad fill. I do a lot of stir fries with frozen veggies and ramen or brown rice I made in the pressure cooker.

Bread machines are a frequent find at thrift shops. People buy them, never use them, dump them, so they’re brand new but 1/10 the cost. You can get fancy with them or just spend about 10min getting the ingredients assembled, set it and forget it. It’s been one of the best investments I’ve made.

Start with a goal of no food waste. If you manage your food inventory like rations in a bunker then the savings on wasted food can help offset the expense.

Together with inventory management is preserving your food. Not jarring your stuff or pickling. Utilizing your fridge and freezer to limit food waste is good at saving you money.

Learning to cook and tapering your food expectations helps a lot with savings. Also learning that cooking with vinegar or acid can extend cooked food just like sweeter food lasting longer.

Or get a partner that came from poverty and learn how to cook(/s).

Dry goods. Bulk bags of dry rice, beans, lentils, corn grits. That stuff will last forever, and are healthy!

If you and some friends/family can pool your money together and afford it, buy a whole entire cow. Parcel out the meat, and freeze it. My family has been doing this for a long time now, and a whole cow, split between 3 households, lasts a little over a year.

Get into canning, pickling, etc. Don’t let the fresh produce you buy at the store, or grow in a garden, just flounder in your fridge, preserve it!

I can a lot of salsa over the summer. Its easy, and it’s easy to make in big batches that last awhile.

For dinners and lunches, buy grains like rice, bulgar, farro in bulk. International grocery stores sell big bags on the cheap. Buy protein in bulk at a store like Aldi. Simple meals are 2 parts grain, one part protein, one part vegetable. Sautee or roast and sauce.

Breakfast, buy oats. Lots of ways to do oatmeal/hot cereal.

Cooking for yourself is the cheapest way to eat. My wife and I spend around $120 per week for all the meals for a family of 4 because we can cook.

I eat out less, I order in less, I’m not going to events as much. I see the increases and it sucks but I’m fortunate enough that I can handle it. For now.

The restaurant prices are the real shockers to me. I’m trying to find some places to grab a burger for two in Toronto; not just a burger joint but a proper restaurant. I’m looking at something like $30 per person average before tax and tip, without fries. Lol. Like excuse the fuck out of me but… dining in it is.

Dumpster diving.

You’ll be distressed to find out how much shit your local supermarket throws out.

Bean beans n more beans

Nutrition is expensive, and controlling waste is crucial. So yes, if you can get a price break on anything essential, consider freezing and pickling (veggies) what would otherwise spoil. In general, try to learn about how different vegetables and meats will keep.

Rice, beans, and potatoes are great staples that last a while and are good for you.

Lower-end “potted meat product” and similar canned meats may be less expensive per ounce than full cuts. That said, it’s usually full of sodium and is usually only good on sandwiches and things like that.

Some grocery stores sell cooked rotisserie chicken as a loss-leader (discount). That said, cost-compare against whole birds in the freezer section just in case. Besides, you can’t beat home-made roast chicken, and it’s fairly easy to do.

I was broke-as-a-joke back in the 2000’s. So the following advice may have aged like the milk I bought back then:

• Obviously, go down-market on your grocery store chain. Cost-compare if your time/energy budget allows it.
• Learn how to cook what’s cheap. What’s not imported and in season is usually (not always) in this category.
• Avoid box-mixes (e.g. hamburger helper). Buy raw ingredients and consider seasoning packets or bulk seasoning to make the same dishes.
• Bologna, souise loaf, and pickle loaf (if they even still make that) can be cheaper than non-processed cuts
• Bananas and corn are subsidized as fuck. There are likely others. As a result, they’re artificially cheap.
• Regularly check the store circular (those newspaper things nobody reads) and jump on limited store specials and BOGOs.
• Tofu can be pretty cheap IF you buy it at an asian grocery store; there may even be bulk options. Making these can be a chore, but a huge bargain if you buy soybeans in bulk. It also freezes okay too, but it does change the texture (some recipes use this).

It really depends on circumstance. Do you have a broad pallette, do you cook, do you have access to land or community garden to grow pricer food per calorie (lettuce, fruit), will you lower your meat intake, can you reduce meals on the go or nights out?

There are a lot of ways to reduce your food budget, the biggest is refraining from eating out. Probably followed by more meals without meat, which is healthier anyway. Americans eat way too much meat. If you are a creative cook you can make the food you have on hand go further, instead of letting random ingredients go to waste.