Food is one of the biggest line items in many of our budgets. Whether you’re a small household of one or two or have a large family to feed, the challenge is real. Cooking on a budget and eating well may sound mutually exclusive, but they don’t have to be.
Here we’ve compiled some of our best advice for saving money at the store — and at home — without sacrificing the satisfaction of a delicious meal.
Have a favorite money-saving tip or meal? Share in the comments below.
1 Shop your pantry
The best way to save money is to not spend money. If your pantry is anything like mine, it’s full of potential meals waiting to be made. Look for canned or dried beans and dried pasta as starting points. Then begin building out recipes with other staples, including canned tomatoes (even jarred marinara!), coconut milk, curry paste, evaporated milk and, yes, even those canned mushrooms you’ve been giving side-eye for way too long.
We challenged our favorite chefs to cook out of the pantry — ours, not theirs
Swapping out different herbs and spices will lend variety in flavor and cuisine. Dig out the panko to create a golden breadcrumb topping that can turn an okay dish into an event. A flourish of chili crisp or a shower of toasted nuts or seeds can be pantry MVPs as well.
2
Stretch affordable ingredients over multiple meals
Big-batch cooking is a way of life for those of us with busy schedules and families, but it’s also ideal for keeping spending in check. Here are a few examples that take advantage of this mentality.
Beans. Serve in tacos. Turn into a cheesy dip. Mash into crispy cakes. Fold into a salad.
Tomato sauce (with canned tomatoes). Serve over pasta. Crack eggs into it and bake for shakshuka. Make quick enchiladas with leftover meat, vegetables or beans. Use as a dip for grilled cheese (or thin out to make soup).
Rice. Serve with curry. Make fried rice. Bake into a casserole. Add to frittata.
3
Take advantage of your freezer
A lot of money goes down the drain when food is wasted, which is why the freezer is so key. And that applies to the entire shopping and cooking process. If you stock up on a certain ingredient that you know you won’t use, freeze it right away. So those wallet-friendly packs of dark meat chicken can be split so you use some now and some later. Too many tortillas or half a loaf of bread? Into the freezer they go.
Likewise, leftovers are prime candidates for freezing. Or scale up your soup, stew, casserole and meatball recipes to have some available for the future. Extra base ingredients that freeze well include rice, beans, stocks and broths, cooked salsas, sauces (including tomato) and pie crust.
Plus, if you have ingredients and meals waiting for you in the freezer, you’re much less likely to give up and resort to takeout, which accounts for a lot of money spent on food.
4
Compare prices
I could write a whole piece on this alone. There are lots of levels to being an eagle-eyed shopper when it comes to prices. Look at the differences between stores, considering international markets as well. Within an individual store, compare name brands with store brands. Sign up for the loyalty program and clip coupons in the app before you go shopping. On your shopping list, be sure to note which items are on sale so you don’t grab a more expensive option. Buy in bulk where it makes sense. It may not always be the cheapest option, or it may be something you don’t have room to store or an appetite to eat again and again.
As convenient as it can be, delivery services such as Instacart may charge you more than in-store prices, as well as tack on a variety of other fees (and the tip is not where you should be skimping).
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5
Buy convenience foods with the most bang for your buck
In general, the more an ingredient is prepared, the more it’s going to cost you. Instead of buying that package of cubed pineapple, get a whole one you cut yourself. Shred your own cheese.
There are certain foods, though, where convenience can save you money. Primary among them is what you can find in the frozen foods aisle. Frozen vegetables can be cheaper than fresh. And like seafood, it’s frozen at peak quality. Plus, there’s no worry about having to toss spoiled food. If you make a lot of smoothies, frozen berries, especially those sold in family-size bags, can be a budget-friendly option.
While the price can vary depending on the store, a rotisserie chicken may be cheaper than a whole raw bird. It can also be stretched into multiple meals. For example, use some of the meat for one dinner (quesadillas, hand pies or curry, perhaps) and then more, plus the carcass, to build a soup that can incorporate other affordable ingredients, such as beans, rice, pasta, carrots, potatoes and frozen vegetables.