Ways to save money on food?
October 4, 2024 8:08 AM Subscribe
I am a single 31F (living alone) with my two cats. I need to save money and one of my biggest expenses is food. Please give me your tips.
I eat pretty much anything, but I do have autoimmune polyarthropathy (arthritis is many joints) that I am medicated for, so eating anti inflammatory would be beneficial. I tried veganism for a time over a decade ago. I have a lot of weight to lose (like 80 pounds). I work full time in office 8:30am to 5:00pm. I commute and it’s about 25 minutes. I have an instapot and toaster oven in addition to of course an oven/stove and microwave.
Currently I have been stopping at Starbucks on the way to work way too often (dumb) and sometimes eating lunch at work, buying from the cafeteria. Sometimes I’m eating fast food at night. Other times I do cook, but since I live alone I get a bit uninspired. My weight loss method is to log my calories.
Any recipes, meal planning tips, etc. you can share would be helpful! Thank you!
I eat pretty much anything, but I do have autoimmune polyarthropathy (arthritis is many joints) that I am medicated for, so eating anti inflammatory would be beneficial. I tried veganism for a time over a decade ago. I have a lot of weight to lose (like 80 pounds). I work full time in office 8:30am to 5:00pm. I commute and it’s about 25 minutes. I have an instapot and toaster oven in addition to of course an oven/stove and microwave.
Currently I have been stopping at Starbucks on the way to work way too often (dumb) and sometimes eating lunch at work, buying from the cafeteria. Sometimes I’m eating fast food at night. Other times I do cook, but since I live alone I get a bit uninspired. My weight loss method is to log my calories.
Any recipes, meal planning tips, etc. you can share would be helpful! Thank you!
When I was on a tight budget I would pick up things in bulk from the Dollar store (lentils, rice, beans, etc) and then batch-cook meals for the week. Having a Tupperware with a mix of beans/rice/spices/onions or lentil stew that I would bring to work took the willpower-draining "what shall I do for lunch today?" question out of the mix.
posted by egeanin at 8:37 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by egeanin at 8:37 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
save money and eat healthy or eat less fast food are all differing goals.
save money: try to add more beans/lentils/pasta dishes to your diet.
eat more healthy: add more vegetables, but vegetables are generally expensive on a per-serving basis, and especially for variety, and so your budget might increase.
Avoid fast food: fast food can be very cheap, so again, if trying to lower your budget, it's not a defacto bad idea to eat fast food. Skip fries (empty calories) and soda (or get kid size if you like soda like me) the mains aren't generally that bad. Skip the snacks too.
Best way to avoid fast food is to have food at home that is equally fast, ie: you only have to microwave or just 2 minutes of preparation. Sandwiches, and some batch prepared food helps for this.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:57 AM on October 4, 2024
save money: try to add more beans/lentils/pasta dishes to your diet.
eat more healthy: add more vegetables, but vegetables are generally expensive on a per-serving basis, and especially for variety, and so your budget might increase.
Avoid fast food: fast food can be very cheap, so again, if trying to lower your budget, it's not a defacto bad idea to eat fast food. Skip fries (empty calories) and soda (or get kid size if you like soda like me) the mains aren't generally that bad. Skip the snacks too.
Best way to avoid fast food is to have food at home that is equally fast, ie: you only have to microwave or just 2 minutes of preparation. Sandwiches, and some batch prepared food helps for this.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:57 AM on October 4, 2024
Is there anyone in your life that gives gifts? A cappuccino machine will break your Starbucks habit.
posted by shock muppet at 9:00 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by shock muppet at 9:00 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
Where do you get your groceries? Do you price-compare? I was shocked to learn that my long-time very average non-luxury chain grocery store was massively, massively more expensive than Target, Aldi and Trader Joe's, and I now only buy a handful of specific things there.
Are you set up to make coffee at home and take a travel mug? I know that's a new habit that is harder than just buying, but that also seems like the fastest way to cut costs.
What do you eat in the cafeteria? If you eat something that gives you a pleasurable break in your day it's going to be hard to replace that with, like, Virtuous Stodge. Do you have to eat in the cafeteria even if you bring your own, so that it's tempting to buy?
A fatigue dinner for me is half a pack of ramen with a LOT of cut up greens and some tofu - just split the seasoning packet and the noodles and cook some broccoli, mushrooms, broccolini or whatever strikes your fancy in with the noodles, top with white pepper and sesame oil and a couple of sliced green onions. The ramen noodles make it tasty enough to be enticing when you want fast food, the greens (about two cups-ish) make it fairly healthy. I do live near a pan-Asian grocery store, so I can pick my ramen and often pick up some baby bok choy or water spinach, etc to add.
Another inexpensive fatigue dinner is lavash bread from Trader Joe's rolled up with cream cheese and sliced cucumber or other vegetables.
posted by Frowner at 9:01 AM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
Are you set up to make coffee at home and take a travel mug? I know that's a new habit that is harder than just buying, but that also seems like the fastest way to cut costs.
What do you eat in the cafeteria? If you eat something that gives you a pleasurable break in your day it's going to be hard to replace that with, like, Virtuous Stodge. Do you have to eat in the cafeteria even if you bring your own, so that it's tempting to buy?
A fatigue dinner for me is half a pack of ramen with a LOT of cut up greens and some tofu - just split the seasoning packet and the noodles and cook some broccoli, mushrooms, broccolini or whatever strikes your fancy in with the noodles, top with white pepper and sesame oil and a couple of sliced green onions. The ramen noodles make it tasty enough to be enticing when you want fast food, the greens (about two cups-ish) make it fairly healthy. I do live near a pan-Asian grocery store, so I can pick my ramen and often pick up some baby bok choy or water spinach, etc to add.
Another inexpensive fatigue dinner is lavash bread from Trader Joe's rolled up with cream cheese and sliced cucumber or other vegetables.
posted by Frowner at 9:01 AM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
Best answer: There are some great blogs that meet your criteria, if you haven’t seen them yet:
Budget Bytes
Cooking on a Bootstrap
No Money, No Time
posted by Weng at 9:15 AM on October 4, 2024 [4 favorites]
Budget Bytes
Cooking on a Bootstrap
No Money, No Time
posted by Weng at 9:15 AM on October 4, 2024 [4 favorites]
Best answer: We eat very frugally.
My advice is to cook ingredients in bulk so they can be re-heated together in combinations to vary flavour. When meats go on sale I buy the bulk packs and cook everything all at once with generic but tasty spices and freeze it in small containers.
We'll use the rice cooker to keep a few small containers of cooked rice in the fridge. The same can be done with pasta, beans, lentils, potato, yam, whatever carb you like.
This, coupled with lots of different sauces and seasonings means that a hot tasty meal in almost infinite variety is no more than five minutes away.
I buy preserved meats and cheeses when they're on sale -- the back corner of the frlidge is a strategic cheese reserve -- so snacking protein is always at hand.
I see you have an instant pot -- a rice cooker is an excellent compliment to that.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:22 AM on October 4, 2024 [7 favorites]
My advice is to cook ingredients in bulk so they can be re-heated together in combinations to vary flavour. When meats go on sale I buy the bulk packs and cook everything all at once with generic but tasty spices and freeze it in small containers.
We'll use the rice cooker to keep a few small containers of cooked rice in the fridge. The same can be done with pasta, beans, lentils, potato, yam, whatever carb you like.
This, coupled with lots of different sauces and seasonings means that a hot tasty meal in almost infinite variety is no more than five minutes away.
I buy preserved meats and cheeses when they're on sale -- the back corner of the frlidge is a strategic cheese reserve -- so snacking protein is always at hand.
I see you have an instant pot -- a rice cooker is an excellent compliment to that.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:22 AM on October 4, 2024 [7 favorites]
Best answer: I hope it's okay but I thought you might be the person who wrote the recent question about your budget, and you are. So, you're looking to spend less than ~850 a month (your September actual) on food. Let's lop off $200 off that and say your new food budget is $650. You could go lower, sure, but right now you're at $850. Planning for $650 means you're definitely spending less than $850. Cutting costs too much will make it so hard to stick to a plan, so be generous with yourself for now. Similarly, fast food and takeout don't have much to offer with nutrition, so you only need to improve a little there, and having some treats planned might help you to adjust to a less restaurant-based meal plan.
Most people decide what to eat through some combination of time available, convenience, taste/satiety, money, and nutrition. Right now you're prioritizing the first three, but it sounds like you want to focus some more on the last two. It's really hard to make a full cutover to rice and beans, so you need to find the easiest path to fairly nutritious and not overly expensive meals for you.
For me that looks like:
Breakfast
Usually either a bean burrito(1) or granola(2) with yogurt. These things are tasty to me; if they're tasty to you, the recipes are below. BUT this could also be frozen breakfast sandwiches, burritos, or bowls. They'll be somewhat less expensive if you buy them in bulk from a store, rather than individually at Starbucks, and you won't have coffee to go with them. If the coffee is what gets you in the door, figure out how to make your favorite drinks at home. There are flavored syrups in the coffee aisle at the grocery store.
Lunch
Store bought bag of salad (I look for ~400 calories for the full bag, which seems pretty common) and store bought cooked chicken. You can find that at the deli sometimes, or in the salad bar. Those plus some fruit is about 700 calories.
Dinner
How do you feel about frozen dinners? There are some tasty ones out there; could you go buy 5 different brands and experiment each night next week? There are some bags of vegetables in the frozen food aisle that have seasoning and starch (beans, potatoes) included. Or can you work up a rotation of dinners? The key here is to be realistic about what you'll be able to take on at the end of the day and what you'll find satisfying.
I like a pretty balanced meal of protein/veg/fiber/fat, so if you want to follow that path, that can look like:
1. Chicken breast, broccoli, sweet potato with cheese sprinkled over.
2. Beans and greens - saute some garlic and onion, add a can of drained white beans, cook a bit, then add in a 5 ounce bag of spinach. Add some cheese if I'm feeling that, and eat with wholegrain bread.
3. Premade meatballs (storebought or made over the weekend and stashed in the freezer) with a bag of frozen mixed vegetables
4. PBJ if I'm really don't have much in me
5. Once a month or so, I'll cook something stew-like over a weekend that I put in individual tupperware containers - last month it was creamy sweet potato and sausage soup. That gives me a pretty substantial backlog of meals ready to go, because I don't eat all 8 servings over the course of a month. So, a tupperware picked at random from the unlabeled tupperwares in the freezer.
(1) Get a thing of 6 burrito-sized tortillas, a bag of shredded cheese, 2 cans of refried beans, and either frozen cooked pepper strips, some pre-cut pepper strips, or a couple of peppers. If you get the peppers, cut them in chunks or strips and saute them until burnt a little around the edges.
Lay out the burritos, then smear a 1/3 of a can of refried beans on each. Top with 1/6 of the peppers and 1/6 of the cheese. Then fold them like this.
(2) Mix 4 cups of oatmeal, 1 cup pumpkin seeds, 1 cup large-flaked coconut (not sweetened), 1-2 cups of roughly chopped nuts, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup maple syrup, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Bake at 300 for 20 minutes, stir, bake another 10, stir, bake another 10, etc. Take it out when the coconut starts to look dark golden on the edges. Mix in some dried fruit if that's your thing. I like pistachios with apricots, walnuts with raisins, and pecans with dried cherries. This makes about 12 servings.
posted by punchtothehead at 9:26 AM on October 4, 2024 [5 favorites]
Most people decide what to eat through some combination of time available, convenience, taste/satiety, money, and nutrition. Right now you're prioritizing the first three, but it sounds like you want to focus some more on the last two. It's really hard to make a full cutover to rice and beans, so you need to find the easiest path to fairly nutritious and not overly expensive meals for you.
For me that looks like:
Breakfast
Usually either a bean burrito(1) or granola(2) with yogurt. These things are tasty to me; if they're tasty to you, the recipes are below. BUT this could also be frozen breakfast sandwiches, burritos, or bowls. They'll be somewhat less expensive if you buy them in bulk from a store, rather than individually at Starbucks, and you won't have coffee to go with them. If the coffee is what gets you in the door, figure out how to make your favorite drinks at home. There are flavored syrups in the coffee aisle at the grocery store.
Lunch
Store bought bag of salad (I look for ~400 calories for the full bag, which seems pretty common) and store bought cooked chicken. You can find that at the deli sometimes, or in the salad bar. Those plus some fruit is about 700 calories.
Dinner
How do you feel about frozen dinners? There are some tasty ones out there; could you go buy 5 different brands and experiment each night next week? There are some bags of vegetables in the frozen food aisle that have seasoning and starch (beans, potatoes) included. Or can you work up a rotation of dinners? The key here is to be realistic about what you'll be able to take on at the end of the day and what you'll find satisfying.
I like a pretty balanced meal of protein/veg/fiber/fat, so if you want to follow that path, that can look like:
1. Chicken breast, broccoli, sweet potato with cheese sprinkled over.
2. Beans and greens - saute some garlic and onion, add a can of drained white beans, cook a bit, then add in a 5 ounce bag of spinach. Add some cheese if I'm feeling that, and eat with wholegrain bread.
3. Premade meatballs (storebought or made over the weekend and stashed in the freezer) with a bag of frozen mixed vegetables
4. PBJ if I'm really don't have much in me
5. Once a month or so, I'll cook something stew-like over a weekend that I put in individual tupperware containers - last month it was creamy sweet potato and sausage soup. That gives me a pretty substantial backlog of meals ready to go, because I don't eat all 8 servings over the course of a month. So, a tupperware picked at random from the unlabeled tupperwares in the freezer.
(1) Get a thing of 6 burrito-sized tortillas, a bag of shredded cheese, 2 cans of refried beans, and either frozen cooked pepper strips, some pre-cut pepper strips, or a couple of peppers. If you get the peppers, cut them in chunks or strips and saute them until burnt a little around the edges.
Lay out the burritos, then smear a 1/3 of a can of refried beans on each. Top with 1/6 of the peppers and 1/6 of the cheese. Then fold them like this.
(2) Mix 4 cups of oatmeal, 1 cup pumpkin seeds, 1 cup large-flaked coconut (not sweetened), 1-2 cups of roughly chopped nuts, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup maple syrup, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Bake at 300 for 20 minutes, stir, bake another 10, stir, bake another 10, etc. Take it out when the coconut starts to look dark golden on the edges. Mix in some dried fruit if that's your thing. I like pistachios with apricots, walnuts with raisins, and pecans with dried cherries. This makes about 12 servings.
posted by punchtothehead at 9:26 AM on October 4, 2024 [5 favorites]
Hey, you sound a lot like me! I live alone with my senior dog, and I eat an anti-inflammatory diet (modified AIP) so I can stay off Plaquenil, which I took for 17 years. My preference is a medium-size breakfast & lunch and light dinner.
My food strategy looks like this: I do the bulk of my shopping at Aldi, which is notably less expensive than even Walmart. Every few weeks, I make a Costco run, generally for meat and cheese. Now and then I'll hit the Asian market for noodles, non-Aldi veggies like bok choi, etc.
On Saturday or Sunday morning, I decide what's for lunch that week, shop, and spend Sunday afternoon in the kitchen, cooking lunch(es) and prepping stuff, like peeling carrots and washing lettuce. I also buy or prepare a small amount of something for the two or three nights when grazing in the fridge isn't enough.
Often, my recipe will make more of something than I can eat in five lunches. I freeze the extra; this gives me dinner material that I'll eat in a few weeks. Weekends I'm usually polishing off the week's fruits and veggies.
I already know what's for lunch next week: kimchi fried rice!
posted by workerant at 9:26 AM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
My food strategy looks like this: I do the bulk of my shopping at Aldi, which is notably less expensive than even Walmart. Every few weeks, I make a Costco run, generally for meat and cheese. Now and then I'll hit the Asian market for noodles, non-Aldi veggies like bok choi, etc.
On Saturday or Sunday morning, I decide what's for lunch that week, shop, and spend Sunday afternoon in the kitchen, cooking lunch(es) and prepping stuff, like peeling carrots and washing lettuce. I also buy or prepare a small amount of something for the two or three nights when grazing in the fridge isn't enough.
Often, my recipe will make more of something than I can eat in five lunches. I freeze the extra; this gives me dinner material that I'll eat in a few weeks. Weekends I'm usually polishing off the week's fruits and veggies.
I already know what's for lunch next week: kimchi fried rice!
posted by workerant at 9:26 AM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I'm a single woman (though catless, alas) who also has to perpetually work on either losing weight or keeping her weight down. My grocery budget is $200/month, and my rule is that amount has to cover not only all my food but all the basic supplies for my house (cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, batteries, etc.), as well as all my personal care products (i.e., shampoo, body wash, hair dye, razors, hand lotion, deodorant, makeup, perfume, etc., and I even try to squeeze my Retin-A prescription in there).
Here's how I do that:
-- I go to the grocery store (No-Frills) every Friday and try to buy everything I need for the week in one trip, though I will pick up specific items at other places if they're cheaper elsewhere or if the grocery store doesn't carry it.
-- I hardly ever eat out (and admittedly when I do... it's someone else's treat:D), and in nearly eighteen years of living in my house, I have never once ordered in. Maybe twice a year I get take out.
-- I try to keep my grocery bill at $40 or less a week, and then on months when I only have four Fridays, I have an extra $40 to spend stocking up on things, or maybe splurge on eating out or perfume or something.
-- I have a PC Financial rewards credit card and can usually get $10 or maybe even $20 back a month in points, which I spend on groceries. I don't count that money as part of the $200, though if I spend less than $200 in a month, the balance goes towards my non-grocery expenses -- it doesn't "roll forward".
-- I have a little spiral bound shopping notebook I keep in the kitchen odds & ends drawer, with dated entries for each shopping trip. I add items to the list whenever I realize I'm out or running low on them, and it's also helpful to be able to refer back to previous lists sometimes.
-- On Thursdays I finalize my grocery shopping list for the week in my notebook. I decide what I'll make for the coming week and figure out what I need to buy to make those items as well as what other staples I'll need. I check the PC Financial site to see what my offers are that week and what to buy to maximize my points, and price things on the No-Frills site. I check the unit pricing for things to see what the cheapest brand/size package of things is. Sometimes it's a bit of a juggling act, where I have to decide to postpone a purchase of something I don't need right away in order to keep the amount down, or I'll decide to wait until something goes on sale.
-- Friday I go shopping. I take my set of homesewn cloth shopping bags for extra points.
-- I batch cook once a week, on Saturday mornings. My standard things to cook/bake are breakfast muffins, some kind of entree such as a (usually vegetarian) casserole, a value-priced package of meat such as chicken, sausages, or meatballs, and hard-boiled eggs, and usually either soup or a salad. Sometimes I make a dessert, but not at present, as I'm trying to lose weight. With the muffins, meat, and entrees, my rule is to make a 9-12 serving batch, which I box up in 3-4 serving sizes and freeze, and then can have 3-4 times a week for three weeks. I usually make about three things each Saturday. Two weeks ago, for instance, I made two dozen muffins, a tray of sausages, and hard-boiled seven eggs. Last week I made two dozen chickpea cutlets, cooked up two cans of cream of chicken soup, and hard-boiled eggs. This week I'll be making a bread pudding to use up a lot of crusts I have in the freezer, hard-boiled eggs, and another carafe of soup.
-- My daily meal plan is this: for breakfast I have a glass of milk and either two homemade muffins or two slices of whole wheat toast with butter and jam or oatmeal (or sometimes bread pudding as indicated above;)); lunch is meat and baked potatoes or a serving of homemade casserole or other entree, and always fresh fruit; and supper consists of a hard-boiled egg with soup or salad. I try not to snack between meals, but if I feel I must have a snack, I have fresh fruit, some raisins, or a spoonful of peanut butter.
This isn't some perfect diet of course, but it is pretty decent nutrition-wise, and I find that it's efficient, flexible, inexpensive, convenient, and that it helps me with weight control without making me feel deprived at all. (In September, due to this meal plan and my exercising for at least an hour every day, I lost 8 pounds.) I'm a very decent cook, but I don't really enjoy cooking, and I really like it that I can cook just once a week and get it over with instead of having to do it multiple times a day. At meal times it usually takes me about two minutes of active work to fix myself a plate.
Hope you find these ideas helpful! I would suggest that when you're trying to cut costs and improve the way you eat that you make changes one at a time and see how they work for you and if you find them livable before making another change, rather than trying to make a radical switch to some drastic new regime. I've never been able to stick to any sort of commercial/restrictive diet for long, but designing my own meal plan by making healthy improvements to the way I already ate and that allows me to have basically any kind of food I want has worked really well for me.
posted by orange swan at 9:27 AM on October 4, 2024 [11 favorites]
Here's how I do that:
-- I go to the grocery store (No-Frills) every Friday and try to buy everything I need for the week in one trip, though I will pick up specific items at other places if they're cheaper elsewhere or if the grocery store doesn't carry it.
-- I hardly ever eat out (and admittedly when I do... it's someone else's treat:D), and in nearly eighteen years of living in my house, I have never once ordered in. Maybe twice a year I get take out.
-- I try to keep my grocery bill at $40 or less a week, and then on months when I only have four Fridays, I have an extra $40 to spend stocking up on things, or maybe splurge on eating out or perfume or something.
-- I have a PC Financial rewards credit card and can usually get $10 or maybe even $20 back a month in points, which I spend on groceries. I don't count that money as part of the $200, though if I spend less than $200 in a month, the balance goes towards my non-grocery expenses -- it doesn't "roll forward".
-- I have a little spiral bound shopping notebook I keep in the kitchen odds & ends drawer, with dated entries for each shopping trip. I add items to the list whenever I realize I'm out or running low on them, and it's also helpful to be able to refer back to previous lists sometimes.
-- On Thursdays I finalize my grocery shopping list for the week in my notebook. I decide what I'll make for the coming week and figure out what I need to buy to make those items as well as what other staples I'll need. I check the PC Financial site to see what my offers are that week and what to buy to maximize my points, and price things on the No-Frills site. I check the unit pricing for things to see what the cheapest brand/size package of things is. Sometimes it's a bit of a juggling act, where I have to decide to postpone a purchase of something I don't need right away in order to keep the amount down, or I'll decide to wait until something goes on sale.
-- Friday I go shopping. I take my set of homesewn cloth shopping bags for extra points.
-- I batch cook once a week, on Saturday mornings. My standard things to cook/bake are breakfast muffins, some kind of entree such as a (usually vegetarian) casserole, a value-priced package of meat such as chicken, sausages, or meatballs, and hard-boiled eggs, and usually either soup or a salad. Sometimes I make a dessert, but not at present, as I'm trying to lose weight. With the muffins, meat, and entrees, my rule is to make a 9-12 serving batch, which I box up in 3-4 serving sizes and freeze, and then can have 3-4 times a week for three weeks. I usually make about three things each Saturday. Two weeks ago, for instance, I made two dozen muffins, a tray of sausages, and hard-boiled seven eggs. Last week I made two dozen chickpea cutlets, cooked up two cans of cream of chicken soup, and hard-boiled eggs. This week I'll be making a bread pudding to use up a lot of crusts I have in the freezer, hard-boiled eggs, and another carafe of soup.
-- My daily meal plan is this: for breakfast I have a glass of milk and either two homemade muffins or two slices of whole wheat toast with butter and jam or oatmeal (or sometimes bread pudding as indicated above;)); lunch is meat and baked potatoes or a serving of homemade casserole or other entree, and always fresh fruit; and supper consists of a hard-boiled egg with soup or salad. I try not to snack between meals, but if I feel I must have a snack, I have fresh fruit, some raisins, or a spoonful of peanut butter.
This isn't some perfect diet of course, but it is pretty decent nutrition-wise, and I find that it's efficient, flexible, inexpensive, convenient, and that it helps me with weight control without making me feel deprived at all. (In September, due to this meal plan and my exercising for at least an hour every day, I lost 8 pounds.) I'm a very decent cook, but I don't really enjoy cooking, and I really like it that I can cook just once a week and get it over with instead of having to do it multiple times a day. At meal times it usually takes me about two minutes of active work to fix myself a plate.
Hope you find these ideas helpful! I would suggest that when you're trying to cut costs and improve the way you eat that you make changes one at a time and see how they work for you and if you find them livable before making another change, rather than trying to make a radical switch to some drastic new regime. I've never been able to stick to any sort of commercial/restrictive diet for long, but designing my own meal plan by making healthy improvements to the way I already ate and that allows me to have basically any kind of food I want has worked really well for me.
posted by orange swan at 9:27 AM on October 4, 2024 [11 favorites]
Also - something that my partner and I find helpful is plotting out the week and figuring how many meals we need and what we'll make. We don't stick to this 100%, and my breakfasts are entirely unplanned because I default to just a few options, but it really really helps to have a plan as long as that plan is realistic. In other words, I know on Sunday that I'm having ice cream on Thursday, and that makes it easier not to have 14 cookies on Tuesday.
posted by punchtothehead at 9:28 AM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by punchtothehead at 9:28 AM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
Do you buy a savory breakfast at Starbucks? Or a pastry? I'm assuming it's not just coffee but actual food that is luring you inside. If you have access to a fridge at work, you could stash some hummus or cheese and have a box of whole grain crackers at your desk and be set for a quick savory breakfast as soon as you arrive (honestly I like Triscuits and there are often digital coupons for those mega-conglomerate brands). If you don't have a fridge at work, bringing a little insulated lunch bag with dips is also good. If it's something sweet you are craving in the mornings, perhaps you can buy or make a banana bread loaf or some other baked good that has a decent amount of fiber and not too much added sugar (Trader Joes comes to mind) and have a nice thick slice for your breakfast.
As for home cooking, I also do some pre-cooking or at least prep of ingredients like seanmpuckett. My go-to is cooking a double batch of pasta that can be refrigerated (with a generous glug of olive oil to coat the pasta so things don't get stuck together). Then when I am hungry, all I have to do is figure out the sauce. You can figure out if there are jarred sauces you like, and then freeze the leftover sauce. I have minced garlic stored in the freezer so I can up the flavor profile of any sauce. Or my go-to AskMe recipe is tuna olive/caper pasta since nearly all of that is shelf stable.
While I think "girl dinner" is a silly name, the actual idea of assembling a picnic for dinner is a good one. Is there a good bakery near you where you could grab a good baguette? Again, the freezer is your friend here as a solo eater -- cut some slices off the baguette and then freeze them. They will toast up beautifully and you won't have to be worried about the bread going stale or getting moldy.
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:47 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
As for home cooking, I also do some pre-cooking or at least prep of ingredients like seanmpuckett. My go-to is cooking a double batch of pasta that can be refrigerated (with a generous glug of olive oil to coat the pasta so things don't get stuck together). Then when I am hungry, all I have to do is figure out the sauce. You can figure out if there are jarred sauces you like, and then freeze the leftover sauce. I have minced garlic stored in the freezer so I can up the flavor profile of any sauce. Or my go-to AskMe recipe is tuna olive/caper pasta since nearly all of that is shelf stable.
While I think "girl dinner" is a silly name, the actual idea of assembling a picnic for dinner is a good one. Is there a good bakery near you where you could grab a good baguette? Again, the freezer is your friend here as a solo eater -- cut some slices off the baguette and then freeze them. They will toast up beautifully and you won't have to be worried about the bread going stale or getting moldy.
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:47 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
I would work the budget angle first, THEN work the health aspect. Some people can make a drastic change all at once-- some people, like me, need to break habits down very small and work on pieces in stages.
So for breakfast-- if you're going to Starbucks and getting a sausage sandwich and iced coffee, and that's $10, what can you replace it with? I would look in the frozen aisle of Aldi for sausage sandwiches, and bottled coffee that is close enough to what uou usually get. If you come out to $5 for the meal then you're ahead. I would then make that at home and stash a couple spares in my office freezer.
Lunches-- I guarantee every fast food thing is available in a frozen and microwaveable form at lower cost. The key here is that it has to be as palatable as what you are used to eating, just cheaper. When you get used to making/bringing your own food, then you can look at options that increase nutrition. Nobody is going to go straight from burgers to lentils, you know? That is a much harder transition if you do it all at once.
My other advice is to carry only cash, and only the amount you can lose. This means it's harder to overspend because you have to go get money to do it. It also means you need AAA or a friend you can call if something happens and you need money suddenly, but it's another way of breaking the habit of spending.
posted by blnkfrnk at 9:53 AM on October 4, 2024 [3 favorites]
So for breakfast-- if you're going to Starbucks and getting a sausage sandwich and iced coffee, and that's $10, what can you replace it with? I would look in the frozen aisle of Aldi for sausage sandwiches, and bottled coffee that is close enough to what uou usually get. If you come out to $5 for the meal then you're ahead. I would then make that at home and stash a couple spares in my office freezer.
Lunches-- I guarantee every fast food thing is available in a frozen and microwaveable form at lower cost. The key here is that it has to be as palatable as what you are used to eating, just cheaper. When you get used to making/bringing your own food, then you can look at options that increase nutrition. Nobody is going to go straight from burgers to lentils, you know? That is a much harder transition if you do it all at once.
My other advice is to carry only cash, and only the amount you can lose. This means it's harder to overspend because you have to go get money to do it. It also means you need AAA or a friend you can call if something happens and you need money suddenly, but it's another way of breaking the habit of spending.
posted by blnkfrnk at 9:53 AM on October 4, 2024 [3 favorites]
If you like Indian food, then Indian is the way to go because beans/lentils are the healthiest and cheapest things out there. I like rice but I'll often eat them with quinoa for more fibre/protein and lower glycemic index.
I have learned a bunch of staples (chana masalsa, rajma, dal tadka) from watching this TikTok account (@therealmonicasingh) - a nice, patient mom home cooking for her family.
To cook Indian food, you'll always need a certain set of spices (pick the recipes you want and make a list. Might cost a bit at the outset, but they'll last for a very long time), and
- tomatoes (canned is fine)
- onions
- garlic (I always use jarred)
- ginger paste (again I use jarred)
I cook ginormous batches and freeze them.
posted by kitcat at 9:58 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
I have learned a bunch of staples (chana masalsa, rajma, dal tadka) from watching this TikTok account (@therealmonicasingh) - a nice, patient mom home cooking for her family.
To cook Indian food, you'll always need a certain set of spices (pick the recipes you want and make a list. Might cost a bit at the outset, but they'll last for a very long time), and
- tomatoes (canned is fine)
- onions
- garlic (I always use jarred)
- ginger paste (again I use jarred)
I cook ginormous batches and freeze them.
posted by kitcat at 9:58 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
Dollar Tree and Grocery Outlet (if you have them) tend to have the cheapest groceries I see anywhere.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:59 AM on October 4, 2024
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:59 AM on October 4, 2024
I order my groceries online for free curbside pickup. This lets me avoid most of the impulse purchases I make when shopping in person. If the total gets higher than I want, I can decide ahead of time whether I really need everything, rather than just being shocked when I get to the checkout with a full cart.
posted by belladonna at 10:17 AM on October 4, 2024 [4 favorites]
posted by belladonna at 10:17 AM on October 4, 2024 [4 favorites]
something that my partner and I find helpful is plotting out the week and figuring how many meals we need and what we'll make. We don't stick to this 100%, and my breakfasts are entirely unplanned because I default to just a few options, but it really really helps to have a plan as long as that plan is realistic.
Seconding this. I felt like a suburban grandma when I first considered making a weekly meal plan, but I was completely floored by the impact it had on my budget. I started doing it more to figure out how to use all the stuff I was getting in a farmshare ("Okay - I have those funky Italian long peppers, so I can make a couple servings of that sausage-and-peppers thing I like...and I got some ears of corn and potatoes, and some more sausage can go with the corn and potatoes in a sheet pan dinner, so that's 4 dinners sorted out - and then the rest of the corn can go into a black bean and corn and tomato salad I can use for work lunches...."), but then noticed that when I went through all that and then made the list of what groceries I needed to round things out, I only had to get, like, a pack of sausages, milk, and a bag of Doritos and that's it. It blew my mind.
Speaking of a farmshare - that's turned out to be another budget hack, even though it may not look like it at first. A farmshare would ask you to pay for everything up front - which feels like sticker shock. But most farmshares cover several months, and if you split that lump sum amongst the week-to-week, it's a great deal. My farmshare charges me about $750 upfront for fruit and veg, but that's 20 weeks and I get a crapton each week - way more than I'd be getting for the $38 it would be costing if I tried to buy week by week.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:33 AM on October 4, 2024 [4 favorites]
Seconding this. I felt like a suburban grandma when I first considered making a weekly meal plan, but I was completely floored by the impact it had on my budget. I started doing it more to figure out how to use all the stuff I was getting in a farmshare ("Okay - I have those funky Italian long peppers, so I can make a couple servings of that sausage-and-peppers thing I like...and I got some ears of corn and potatoes, and some more sausage can go with the corn and potatoes in a sheet pan dinner, so that's 4 dinners sorted out - and then the rest of the corn can go into a black bean and corn and tomato salad I can use for work lunches...."), but then noticed that when I went through all that and then made the list of what groceries I needed to round things out, I only had to get, like, a pack of sausages, milk, and a bag of Doritos and that's it. It blew my mind.
Speaking of a farmshare - that's turned out to be another budget hack, even though it may not look like it at first. A farmshare would ask you to pay for everything up front - which feels like sticker shock. But most farmshares cover several months, and if you split that lump sum amongst the week-to-week, it's a great deal. My farmshare charges me about $750 upfront for fruit and veg, but that's 20 weeks and I get a crapton each week - way more than I'd be getting for the $38 it would be costing if I tried to buy week by week.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:33 AM on October 4, 2024 [4 favorites]
Good and Cheap is a masters thesis on eating well using SNAP benefits (4 bucks a day at that time in NYC). It is available for a free download too. I used this when I was unemployed for 2 years and it really helped me. The book has some good suggestions.
Eggs and Lentils (if cooked from dry) are cheap sources of nutrition.
I have started doing a 20+4 intermittent fasting to reduce my caloric intake. See if intermittent fasting is an option for you.
Spices/herbs are a great way to add flavor to any foods you cook for cheap. Buy them in bulk from Ethnic grocers.
You already have an Instantpot. Lean into cooking most of your meals in that using bulk, dry goods.
posted by indianbadger1 at 10:47 AM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
Eggs and Lentils (if cooked from dry) are cheap sources of nutrition.
I have started doing a 20+4 intermittent fasting to reduce my caloric intake. See if intermittent fasting is an option for you.
Spices/herbs are a great way to add flavor to any foods you cook for cheap. Buy them in bulk from Ethnic grocers.
You already have an Instantpot. Lean into cooking most of your meals in that using bulk, dry goods.
posted by indianbadger1 at 10:47 AM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
Become a squirrel and stash nuts and seeds in your car to have on the way to work. Start out just having only a drink from SB because you’ve got your snacks in the car, and then switch to bringing your own drink in a tumbler from home as you adjust. Buy your nuts in bulk and keep them in the freezer so they last a long time, and bring out about a week’s worth at a time to keep in your car. Mix it up for variety and what you can get a good deal on, since nuts are expensive but absolutely worth it nutritionally and convenience-wise.
If your cafeteria options are actually good, satiating and nutritious, then maybe let that lie for a while. It is super nice to have a meal where someone else is making it for you. There might be better options at the cafeteria than what you are choosing now, so check that out. It’s good to know that if everything else goes awry at least you can get a reasonably nice lunch, so figure out like three or so cafeteria meals that you can default to when you need to.
I really like the advice above to batch cook ingredients and not so much entire meals. Sauté a few different vegetable combinations depending on the kinds of food you like and freeze them in portions. Then if you find a deal on a protein or sauce or whatever, you can pull out your already cooked veggies as a side or flavor base or nutritional add-in. Ideas for combos: onions and sweet peppers, broccoli and carrots, mushrooms and onions, eggplant zucchini and cherry tomatoes, ginger garlic and scallions, collards and tomatoes, kale and mushrooms with garlic, celery green bell peppers and onions, shiitake mushrooms and green beans with ginger.
You can do something similar with proteins, have them cooked simply and ready to combine. If you make bunch of roasted chicken thighs, you can put some of them and some sautéed veggies in a crock pot with stock and rice and get a lovely hot slow cooker meal, or reheat the chicken thighs and give them a saucy glaze and have with a pile of steamed greens, or shred some of the chicken and toss with some thawed peppers and tomatoes plus spices to have in tortillas. Beans of course are a huge cost saving protein if you cook from dried, so batch cook them and portion them out, have a single serving ready to pull out of the freezer whenever.
Start small with the batch cooking though. It can get overwhelming and you’ll feel like you don’t have the right equipment and whatnot if you go all-in right away. Maybe start with one batch of beans and two or three veggie combinations, and add things to your stash as you find time.
posted by Mizu at 11:27 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
If your cafeteria options are actually good, satiating and nutritious, then maybe let that lie for a while. It is super nice to have a meal where someone else is making it for you. There might be better options at the cafeteria than what you are choosing now, so check that out. It’s good to know that if everything else goes awry at least you can get a reasonably nice lunch, so figure out like three or so cafeteria meals that you can default to when you need to.
I really like the advice above to batch cook ingredients and not so much entire meals. Sauté a few different vegetable combinations depending on the kinds of food you like and freeze them in portions. Then if you find a deal on a protein or sauce or whatever, you can pull out your already cooked veggies as a side or flavor base or nutritional add-in. Ideas for combos: onions and sweet peppers, broccoli and carrots, mushrooms and onions, eggplant zucchini and cherry tomatoes, ginger garlic and scallions, collards and tomatoes, kale and mushrooms with garlic, celery green bell peppers and onions, shiitake mushrooms and green beans with ginger.
You can do something similar with proteins, have them cooked simply and ready to combine. If you make bunch of roasted chicken thighs, you can put some of them and some sautéed veggies in a crock pot with stock and rice and get a lovely hot slow cooker meal, or reheat the chicken thighs and give them a saucy glaze and have with a pile of steamed greens, or shred some of the chicken and toss with some thawed peppers and tomatoes plus spices to have in tortillas. Beans of course are a huge cost saving protein if you cook from dried, so batch cook them and portion them out, have a single serving ready to pull out of the freezer whenever.
Start small with the batch cooking though. It can get overwhelming and you’ll feel like you don’t have the right equipment and whatnot if you go all-in right away. Maybe start with one batch of beans and two or three veggie combinations, and add things to your stash as you find time.
posted by Mizu at 11:27 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Different angle on this: Figure out WHY do you eat out when you eat out.
Is it lack of time in the morning?
Is the Starbucks barista cute and friendly and you like this quick interaction before your workday starts?
Are you bored of the food you have at home?
Is the work cafeteria ALSO a way to network and to catch up on work gossip?
Do you intentionally not buy any snacks (If it's not there, then I won't eat it!) but the late night cravings hit and when you're hungry it all goes out the window so you end up ordering anyway?
There are so many emotional reasons why we eat out, and I think you need to get to the bottom of that so your plans stick.
So for me, eating leftovers is a big problem. I can eat the same meal two, max three times in a week and after that I'm like UGH I need some new flavours! So even though it is not as efficient, I cooked smaller batches but more types of food, because I know that about myself. The whole "eat chili the whole week" thing just does not work for me, and I end up wasting more money if I fought my own tendencies here, cos if I did make a big pot of chili, I'd end up throwing out half of it AND ordering food anyway.
I like to snack. A handful of nuts is fine, in theory, but I just accepted now that I just don't consider nuts enough. I don't care what the science says about the fats making you feel full or whatever because I've waited an hour or two for my stomach to feel full after a trail mix snack, and it just never hit. And I was miserable and hungry for two hours. So again - I stopped buying trail mix. Frozen dumplings and packaged ramen noodles are my "snacks" now. Is it higher calories and less healthy than trail mix? Yes and yes. But does it actually stop me from ordering a burger on Uber Eats? ALSO YES, and that's the more important part, budget-wise.
So: figure out the WHY, and plan to have easy access to food you like during the time you are usually tempted to eat out.
posted by tinydancer at 12:44 PM on October 4, 2024 [11 favorites]
Is it lack of time in the morning?
Is the Starbucks barista cute and friendly and you like this quick interaction before your workday starts?
Are you bored of the food you have at home?
Is the work cafeteria ALSO a way to network and to catch up on work gossip?
Do you intentionally not buy any snacks (If it's not there, then I won't eat it!) but the late night cravings hit and when you're hungry it all goes out the window so you end up ordering anyway?
There are so many emotional reasons why we eat out, and I think you need to get to the bottom of that so your plans stick.
So for me, eating leftovers is a big problem. I can eat the same meal two, max three times in a week and after that I'm like UGH I need some new flavours! So even though it is not as efficient, I cooked smaller batches but more types of food, because I know that about myself. The whole "eat chili the whole week" thing just does not work for me, and I end up wasting more money if I fought my own tendencies here, cos if I did make a big pot of chili, I'd end up throwing out half of it AND ordering food anyway.
I like to snack. A handful of nuts is fine, in theory, but I just accepted now that I just don't consider nuts enough. I don't care what the science says about the fats making you feel full or whatever because I've waited an hour or two for my stomach to feel full after a trail mix snack, and it just never hit. And I was miserable and hungry for two hours. So again - I stopped buying trail mix. Frozen dumplings and packaged ramen noodles are my "snacks" now. Is it higher calories and less healthy than trail mix? Yes and yes. But does it actually stop me from ordering a burger on Uber Eats? ALSO YES, and that's the more important part, budget-wise.
So: figure out the WHY, and plan to have easy access to food you like during the time you are usually tempted to eat out.
posted by tinydancer at 12:44 PM on October 4, 2024 [11 favorites]
Have you considered Intermittent Fasting? Since you are looking to both cut down on food expenses and lose weight, this might be a good dual solution. The book Fast. Feast. Repeat. by Gin Stephens is a good introduction. Essentially, you're cutting down on how frequently you eat throughout the day, which means fewer meals, so less $$. I have lost 25 lbs and cut my food bill down by quite a bit by only eating during my personal eating window (2-7 pm). It takes some adjustment at the beginning, but after the first few weeks, it becomes second nature!
posted by platinum at 12:46 PM on October 4, 2024
posted by platinum at 12:46 PM on October 4, 2024
Something that really helped me curb my takeout dependency was keeping a decent "decision snack" at home. What thing can I reliably eat that will give me the energy to actually decide on dinner? For me, that's often a handful of mixed nuts or a granola bar.
I don't mind eating the same thing all the time, but my wife doesn't like it, and I cook for both of us. One thing I'm convinced will fix me is having a decent way to freeze leftovers in lunch sized portions, like these Souper Cubes. Maybe it's just another waste of money after watching other people on TikTok who have their act together...
posted by advicepig at 1:34 PM on October 4, 2024
I don't mind eating the same thing all the time, but my wife doesn't like it, and I cook for both of us. One thing I'm convinced will fix me is having a decent way to freeze leftovers in lunch sized portions, like these Souper Cubes. Maybe it's just another waste of money after watching other people on TikTok who have their act together...
posted by advicepig at 1:34 PM on October 4, 2024
for what it's worth we have a couple dozen of these PRUTA containers from IKEA. Not only do they store food compactly in the freezer and fridge in two-three portion sizes, they're also more than adequate as re-heating & serving dishes for combining pre-cooked ingredients as above. I mean, it's definitely hermit chic, but extremely convenient to scoop half of the rice out of one of these into another one that's got a chicken leg or two in it and dump some curry sauce, chopped green onion, and a little chopped red pepper on it, a bit of salt and pepper, into the microwave for a minute, shake gently, let sit a minute, then another 30 seconds and just dig in. That's like literally half the hot meals I eat, something like that. They don't last forever, but they don't break when I drop them, and they're cheap.
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:46 PM on October 4, 2024
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:46 PM on October 4, 2024
The hard thing here is what works really well for one person doesn’t work at all for the next.
For me the best way not to eat out is to making eating/drinking at home the easier option. I keep frozen foods on hand for nights I really don’t want to cook. It always feels faster to go “I’ll throw samosas in the oven! I’ll steam some shrimp baos! I’ll pan fry potstickers!” then to order and wait for food. It’s definitely not the healthiest or cheapest but it’s healthier and cheaper than eating out. Small improvements are still improvements. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good!
posted by lepus at 3:29 PM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
For me the best way not to eat out is to making eating/drinking at home the easier option. I keep frozen foods on hand for nights I really don’t want to cook. It always feels faster to go “I’ll throw samosas in the oven! I’ll steam some shrimp baos! I’ll pan fry potstickers!” then to order and wait for food. It’s definitely not the healthiest or cheapest but it’s healthier and cheaper than eating out. Small improvements are still improvements. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good!
posted by lepus at 3:29 PM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
Overnight oats are cheap(!) and then you can add some really nice, expensive fruit because it takes very little fruit to make it delightful. I do mine with milk as well, but maybe you'd prefer oat, almond or soy milk. Again those cost more, but you are using very little for each breakfast.
posted by Toddles at 5:33 PM on October 4, 2024
posted by Toddles at 5:33 PM on October 4, 2024
Recommending frozen veg and fruit over fresh because you'll get most of the health benefits without the high prices. Also you'll spend far less time on prep.
Do not skimp on protein. Tofu at Asian groceries, for example, is my MVP when it comes to protein / dollar, by far. Tofu at Western stores is far pricier and I doubt it's any "safer." The calcium sulfate tofu seems to be higher in protein, per Cronometer.
Get in the habit of weighing your food on a gram scale and tracking what you eat in Cronometer or similar app. Helps to ensure you're getting enough macro and micronutrients and will act as a wakeup call on those empty (and pricey) snack calories too.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 10:40 PM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
Do not skimp on protein. Tofu at Asian groceries, for example, is my MVP when it comes to protein / dollar, by far. Tofu at Western stores is far pricier and I doubt it's any "safer." The calcium sulfate tofu seems to be higher in protein, per Cronometer.
Get in the habit of weighing your food on a gram scale and tracking what you eat in Cronometer or similar app. Helps to ensure you're getting enough macro and micronutrients and will act as a wakeup call on those empty (and pricey) snack calories too.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 10:40 PM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
It helps to acknowledge that cooking for one person sucks, especially if you like variety. The puzzle box approach - cooking ingredients that can be put together - helps with that. So does a wide variety of condiments because my brain is more likely to accept the same grain bowl three days in a row if it clearly had hummus yesterday and now has chili crisp and mayo. And frankly to start with, try to shift from "I eat out" to "I eat pre-prepared food at home/work" - yes, a lot of ready meals are desperately unhealthy, but if you dig around you'll find the ones that are less so, and it's better to start with a curve (current -> less eating out -> eating healthier) than try to change everything in one go. Treat the extreme routines posted by some people above as an ideal target state in a year or two.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 10:41 PM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by I claim sanctuary at 10:41 PM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
Make dishes on weekends that you really love and can’t wait to eat. Don’t aim for healthy. It will likely be healthier anyway than eating out.
posted by redlines at 4:50 AM on October 5, 2024
posted by redlines at 4:50 AM on October 5, 2024
Any time you do need to get fast food, order through their app. There's usually a section for app-exclusive coupons/deals/combos/rewards/etc. that take off a significant percentage, with the added bonus of being ready to pick up as soon as you get there. I've downloaded the apps for all my local places and put them in a Folder of Food Shame for easy access.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:08 PM on October 5, 2024
posted by Rhaomi at 12:08 PM on October 5, 2024
Best answer: I grew up thinking that every meal had to be a balanced plate, but it turns out the police don't come for you if you just eat your nutrients as several snacks over the course of a day. Here are bunch of cheap, quick, easy, mostly only assembly required mealsnacks to add to your roster:
- scrambled eggs (with or without anything mixed in)
- a baked sweet potato (with or without black beans dumped on it)
- a baked russet potato (with or without cheese, butter, sour cream)
- a few hardboiled or softboiled eggs and toast
- cheese and crackers
- a big apple and peanut butter
- a cucumber or baby carrots with a protein-y dip like hummus
- a quesadilla with some salsa or avocado
- a bunch of greens and a jar of marinated artichoke hearts
- cottage cheese and a handful of nuts
- a glass of milk and a banana
- deli sliced lunch meat and some fruit
- yogurt and granola, nuts, or fruit
- smoked salmon and crackers/toast (cream cheese optional)
- a can of soup and a piece of bread
- a can of tuna and some seedy crackers
- saute a chopped zucchini with cherry tomatoes and corn
- a salad that is just chickpeas, tomatoes, and cucumber with olive oil and vinegar
- tortilla chips dipped in refried beans, salsa, and cabbage salad
posted by luzdeluna at 7:44 PM on October 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
- scrambled eggs (with or without anything mixed in)
- a baked sweet potato (with or without black beans dumped on it)
- a baked russet potato (with or without cheese, butter, sour cream)
- a few hardboiled or softboiled eggs and toast
- cheese and crackers
- a big apple and peanut butter
- a cucumber or baby carrots with a protein-y dip like hummus
- a quesadilla with some salsa or avocado
- a bunch of greens and a jar of marinated artichoke hearts
- cottage cheese and a handful of nuts
- a glass of milk and a banana
- deli sliced lunch meat and some fruit
- yogurt and granola, nuts, or fruit
- smoked salmon and crackers/toast (cream cheese optional)
- a can of soup and a piece of bread
- a can of tuna and some seedy crackers
- saute a chopped zucchini with cherry tomatoes and corn
- a salad that is just chickpeas, tomatoes, and cucumber with olive oil and vinegar
- tortilla chips dipped in refried beans, salsa, and cabbage salad
posted by luzdeluna at 7:44 PM on October 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
two things to add
1. If you have a Costco membership, the 5 pound bag of mixed vegetables (we prefer the stir-fry version) can be split into several freezer bags with appropriate proportions for you, and frozen. You can cook them straight from the freezer. 5 pounds lasts a long time (5 or 6 quart bags for two people so more servings for just one).
2. Learn how to use an entire turkey - turkey is generally not too expensive when not just before Thanksgiving, and is pretty healthy. An entire turkey will provide a lot of meat, plus lesser pieces can be used to make soup. Probably some of the sites mentioned by others will have examples.
posted by TimHare at 10:52 PM on October 6, 2024
1. If you have a Costco membership, the 5 pound bag of mixed vegetables (we prefer the stir-fry version) can be split into several freezer bags with appropriate proportions for you, and frozen. You can cook them straight from the freezer. 5 pounds lasts a long time (5 or 6 quart bags for two people so more servings for just one).
2. Learn how to use an entire turkey - turkey is generally not too expensive when not just before Thanksgiving, and is pretty healthy. An entire turkey will provide a lot of meat, plus lesser pieces can be used to make soup. Probably some of the sites mentioned by others will have examples.
posted by TimHare at 10:52 PM on October 6, 2024
Coming back in to springboard off another comment:
One thing I'm convinced will fix me is having a decent way to freeze leftovers in lunch sized portions, like these Souper Cubes.
I'm a recent Souper Cube convert; I've been using them to freeze leftovers in portions that I can reheat easily. I make a lot of soups and stews this time of year, and whatever I don't eat on the first night gets doled into the tupperware for the fridge; anything above and beyond that gets Souper cubed. And I don't even leave it in the SC tray - I freeze it, pop it out, and then wrap it in tinfoil where it lives like that. I have about a weeks' worth of meals in my freezer right now and they're going to just chill out until I'm ready to eat one.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:25 PM on October 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
One thing I'm convinced will fix me is having a decent way to freeze leftovers in lunch sized portions, like these Souper Cubes.
I'm a recent Souper Cube convert; I've been using them to freeze leftovers in portions that I can reheat easily. I make a lot of soups and stews this time of year, and whatever I don't eat on the first night gets doled into the tupperware for the fridge; anything above and beyond that gets Souper cubed. And I don't even leave it in the SC tray - I freeze it, pop it out, and then wrap it in tinfoil where it lives like that. I have about a weeks' worth of meals in my freezer right now and they're going to just chill out until I'm ready to eat one.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:25 PM on October 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
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posted by *s at 8:31 AM on October 4, 2024 [8 favorites]