Baked potato in my future now! Really admire how you’re nurturing and taking good care of yourself during this time 
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Has anyone else binge watched all of the struggle meal episodes on Hulu? It started out as a snap chat format so it’s a bit strange but I loved them.
If you don’t like the first episode, jump to season 2, I liked it better.
The videos are kind of like budget bytes but they are videos on how to cook stuff. He tries to keep the recipes to under $2/plate and I just enjoy videos teaching how to cook in general.
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Thanks for reminding me of this! I actually did watch this a bit a year ago. I loved how they used ketchup packets and stuff 
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I’m a real soup head (just pretend it’s a thing) but even so I think the latest soup I made is like, really outstanding. I make soup almost every week for lunch unless it’s super hot out but this is one of the most filling soups I’ve ever made. Usually husband requires an uncouth amount of oyster crackers to fill out soup lunches but he couldn’t even finish a big bowl of this. Yeah. I win.
It’s filled with loads of sweet potatoes, a few white potatoes (I think 3?), chicken, 1 can black beans, 1 can kidney beans, a few cans of crushed tomatoes, chicken stock, 2 cans of creamed corn (which were an oopsie, didn’t mean to buy them in the first place), and amaranth which if you don’t cook with now I highly recommend. It’s one of my absolute favorite grains, especially for thick stews. I was looking to clear out my pantry, which I did, but omg this turned out so much better than I thought!
Some other food lately!
These sweet potato fries look super ominous bc of the lighting, lol, right? THEY’RE COMING FOR YOU!!!
This has home cooked “refried” beans from my freezer, raw slaw, corn, cilantro, green peppers, salsa verde, cheddar, tomato…I think that’s all? Hot sauce. Always hot sauce. These were a big hit!
Easy naan pizza!
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I did this last year. I decided that I wanted to spend $8 a lb or less. Eventually, I found ways to do that. On thing I tried was buying a whole pork loin, which was not in that price range. I got over 15 portions from it, at a cost of <$2 for each portion. My conclusion was that it was possible to buy expensive meat and eat it economically if you had little or no waste and were careful to use all the leftover bits.
But these days, I buy organic or natural chicken “bones for soup” $1.99 a pound, leg quarters or thighs at a local market for $2.00 a pound, when they have it. I just bought 4 lbs of ground beef for $7 a pound? Can’t find the receipt and I broke them down before we went to the dump yesterday, so no packaging.
I stopped buying most big hunks of meat. I get bulk pack thighs and ground beef from a coop we belong to. Walk in store, no mail order. The pork loin hasn’t been repeated.
My coop is the best overall deal. A neighbor bought 1/2 a pig. She sold me a roast for what she paid $10/lb, so I didn’t sign up with that farm.
The little market with$2/lb chicken thighs which were huge was a surprise.
Overall, I’m finding that bulk bins and not chain stores are where I’m consistently finding the best deals. Knowing what my top price is helps a lot. If you haven’t done that, I’d recommend it.
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Thank you! This is all very helpful. I’m starting with butcher box (mail order subscription) since it’s so accessible. The range of products is a bit narrow for my admittedly chaotic tastes so I’m still hunting for a good source for lamb and goat and things like ham hocks (which I currently buy from a regular Korean grocery store).
As a side note- I also like the idea of planning ahead in a more measured way for dry goods. I’ve had a pantry since forever, like even as a 19 year old student with tons of roommates I kept a few boxes of food in my room. BUT, I’ve always done it all intuitively and never with a written plan because I guess I’m a true type B personality from my curly little head to my sweaty little feet. I rarely throw out anything and have great rotation, so it’s fundamentally working ok, but it could be more finessed. The thing is I have absolutely no concept of weight volume- like, how many beans in dried bean weight do we eat in a year…uh ??? I can picture visually* how much I think it would be but that’s not very helpful for planning.
Do you think the best way to figure this out is to just start tracking now and then work backwards? I don’t even know how much meat we eat in a month, like…I have no idea at all. I ordered 11 pounds from butcher box and it visually does not look like enough to me-- my guess is we eat 1.5 times that amount based on look so maybe I can start with that and see if I’m right.
*Ok, I just had an idea! Maybe I will make guesses on amounts based on the standard package I buy (so I can easily visualize it) and then look up the volume of the package and multiply so it translates to bulk amounts. Then I’ll at least have an estimate to work with!
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I’m glad you said something about the potato fries–legit my first thought was AHHHH IT’S A HUMAN SKELETON HAND
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Now that I think about it, pretty bold to post your murder/cannibalism, but at least you put it under a cut!!
NBFR I want to copy that refried bean tostada situation immediately.
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I frequently joke about eating my husband one day. When he gets weirded out I like to reassure him that I will do a really really nice dry rub, and a full braise, as if the issue he has with it is gastronomic in nature. He’s def not tired of this bit, haha.
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We constantly take photos of our girl cat in front of plates of meaty food (she likes to sit at the dinner table and watch us eat lol) and pretend she is finally eating our boy cat 
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Honesty check-in! We ended up driving to the burbs instead of taking the train, and totally mooched off of my parents’ food the entire weekend since we came out Friday after dinner. So some moderate savings there–we didn’t need to get gas. Don’t worry–while we did eat all of their food, my parents extracted a lot of moving labor from us lol. Calling it even.
Glad I thought to check this because I still haven’t ordered Mother’s Day flowers, so I’m doing that now. We also skipped the White Sox game, but what we didn’t spend there, we spent on pizza/salad take out.
We aren’t getting full on groceries this week since we fly to Greece on Wednesday! I will be swinging by the co-op to make sure we’re covered for breakfast items when we get home, and for some energy bars for the flight and just in case I can’t easily access quick snacks when I need them on the trip.
Spending was closer to $100 than $155.
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we stopped by the nicer grocery store on the way to our regular discount store for bread and picked up a day-of sale chicken. Still 5.50/kg, but it feels like we haven’t seen below 8.80 for a while. Ended up with 6 cups of the white chili, so I’m thinking we’ll eat it tomorrow, and then freeze one or two containers for future us. I’ve put another bowl of white beans to soak overnight.
Monday: roast chicken pieces & brussel sprouts
Tuesday: white bean & chicken chili
Wednesday: spring roll inna bowl with shredded beef, carrot, cabbage
Thursday: kimchi pancakes
lunches
Tuesday: breaded cauliflower, feta, bacon, pasta shells
Wednesday: green beans, egg, glass noodles, chili crisp
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Also if you buy too much you can adjust the menu to accommodate. I know you love to cook recipes using what you have on hand. Buy too many garbanzo beans? Find a new way to cook them! Buy too much pasta? Try a new pasta dish! Etc.
My point is, don’t worry too much about getting it right. I think looking at the weight of food you already buy would be a great starting point. Especially if you get a really good deal on the item.
We bought 75lbs of dried beans (25 each of pinto, garbanzo, and black) and OMG that is enough beans for probably 2-3 years in our house. But all together the beans were only $45 and we have the space and storage containers to hold them so I’m not worried!
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Corn, tomato, basil soup! For about 12 servings this was $7.50. We used the corn husks and cobs to make a broth that we then cooked the other ingredients in.
I did use a struggle meals recipe lol. I was watching it last night and couldn’t resist. Cooking is my way of relaxing.
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I love corn soup!
Meal planning based off of what’s on hand
Tuesday- takeout, maybe make beyond curry. Spice cake with vanilla icing; strawberries and custard (keto)
Wednesday- beyond curry, salmon, rice and salad
Thursday- baked pasta and garlic bread, peas (ew). Suzanne Somer style thin crepe egg noodles with pasta sauce
Friday - prep for Saturday brunch; eat grilled cheeses and salad and leftovers (par boil potatoes, chop veggies, make gravy)
Saturday brunch
Tofu cooked like hazargi omlet (like a shashuka)
Veg and cheese egg frittata
Loaded home fries w veggies
Baked beans
Fruit tray
Store bought cake or cupcakes
Keto cheesecake
Vegan strawberry custard
Thermos of black tea
Thermos of coffee
Pink lemonade
Sodastream
Keto breakfast and lunches- eggs, chicken and salad, berries, toast
Vegan breakfast and lunches- smoothies, oatmeal, leftovers, toast, cake
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One of the most beautiful phrases I’ve ever read:
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I just started paying attention. I came up with a price I wanted to pay for protein per meal and then tried to get there. My first idea was too small, so was my 2nd. I stopped trying to do it from what I wanted and started looking at what i had been paying — could I do better? That worked.
I do not meal plan. I have a pattern I use:
Double meal vegetarian Monday, leftovers from the fridge Tuesday, 2nd meal from Monday on Wednesday. Thursday is egg something. Friday is another double meal, meat this time. Saturday is sandwiches. Sunday is the second meat meal.
It became this because: Mon. I’m ambitious and veggie meals usually need lots of prep, chopping,etc. Tuesday, our midweek dump day is Weds., so I wanted to go thru the fridge every week before I’d Just chuck it all on dump day. On some Wednesdays, I’d go to the dump 3 times. It was always really busy and I didn’t want to think about dinner. Thursday’s egg something was because eggs are usually cheap protein and fast. Friday, with the weekend looming, I wanted a meal I could cook to give me more time over the weekend. Sandwich Saturday is fast and easy. Sunday’s left over meat or refurbished meal was because I’ve usually been in the garden, or doing home improvements, or selling at flea markets etc. on Saturday and I’m not feeling energetic.
I don’t sit and plan this out at the beginning of the week… I just do what works. We had stir fry Monday. I made enough rice & lentils for a 2nd meal, but not other veg. The rice and lentils are unseasoned. So, curry? Maybe. Casserole? Sure, why not. Or…
The only part of cooking I really like is the creative wtf are we going to eat question I get to answer every day.
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Reweight vs volume for beans see here Using Dried Beans: Conversions and Measurements
For grains I found a lot of hits, but nothing that specifically talked about the volume. Eventually I found this
Which seems like it might work.
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Thank you! I started my list last night and it’s actually working pretty well if I just work backwards from what I picture us eating in a month to the weight of the items.
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Btw, our food budget is $1,000 a year for bulk (includes the csa) and I’m trying to get to $100 a week otherwise. I’m usually under $150. That’s 2 people.
The thrifty plan for us is about $450/ month. Because I’m unsure what we’ll have when DH retires, I’ve been cooking using the SNAPed recipes as a starting point when I do something new. There’s a page of links for most of the states’ recipes, here
We may have enough retirement that we won’t end up on snap, or we may need every dime we’ve got to pay the mortgage and utilities, which is my fear. So, I’m planning for the worst and have been for a while.
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