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Step 1
Eat a staple grain with every meal. At lunch, eat a sandwich on hearty wheat bread. At dinner, cook with white or brown rice or pasta. These complex carbohydrates will fill you up and keep you energized, but are also incredibly cheap.
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Step 2
Eat eggs. Eggs are a great source of protein and vitamins, and are also incredibly cheap (much cheaper than meats). Scrambled eggs are a healthy breakfast or snack, and an omelet with some veggies thrown in can give you a full dinner or lunch. A fried egg on a sandwich or with rice is also a nice way to add some protein without having to buy or cook meat.
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Step 3
Buy generic brands. Generic brands can cut the cost by anywhere from 10-to-50%. If you're skeptical, check the ingredients and nutrition information. You will see for yourself that it's basically the same stuff inside.
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Step 4
Act like a vegetarian. Even if you do like to eat meat, it's much cheaper to prepare vegetarian meals for yourself and only eat meat once in a while. Fresh produce can get expensive, but baked potatoes, eggplant parmesan, and a big salad made with romaine lettuce are all filling and affordable.
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Step 5
Buy some frozen and canned vegetables too. Fresh produce is nice, but have some frozen and canned veggies on hand. They keep longer and are easy to prepare when you're just throwing something together.
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Step 6
Plan for what you are going to eat. Don't go to the grocery store hungry, and plan what food you will eat every day so that you don't give in to the temptation of ordering carry-out.
Comments
theexplorer said
on 9/23/2009 Great and useful tips. Let me add something else, I am passing a battle situation now without job in a new town. And I do everything that you said and more. Look, people can buy the most cheap package of soap for the body like Dial or Ivory, I am buying the big container of Palmolive for the dishes and I mix with water and I get tree more container. The 99 cents or Dollar Tree Stores and Walmart are my favorites for toilets papers and paper towers. When the market have the 20 points rice in special I both 4 and 3 Big Giant container of oil with 2.5 galons, I buy 6 or more Ionized Salt, 5 points sugar, flour and potatoes, big package of chicken, $1.00 box of eggs and I have food for a little while. I use to buy 2 packages of potatoes, and I bake, mash, steam, french fry and slide. Also, when I do not have time to cook dinner I buy a 9.99 Pizza in Walmart with different topping, I d...
DiscountTickets said
on 9/23/2009 Such great information to eating cheaper at home.
ceholmes said
on 9/23/2009 great stuff, especially step 1!
fairygirlcards said
on 9/23/2009 Great tips on eating cheaper!
knowhowtosave said
on 12/20/2008 if you are on the run, every fast food place has value menu with dollar items. these hamburgers are smaller but just as good as $5 ones. buy 2 and save $3. tacos same way. lots of variety and the chains are having to reduce menu and add to value menu to survive. if you have to eat on the run during the day or night, keep you money in your pocket. only order the small fry for a buck as all the fast food places now try to upsize you and take your cash!
the advice to add pasta and rice to menu is great but be sure to get long grain brown rice as it has more nutrients than white rice and will have more dietary benefits for your health plus is taste better.
purchase your dry items such as flour, rice, beans, sugar and even butter in bulk to save $$. toilet paper also as you save even more.
use dish towels instead of paper towels to save a tree!
easy to wash and much more