I should have mentioned that this month was a lot cheaper because I happened to cook some very cheap meals (and used a lot less meat). Anyway I buy nutrient dense, inexpensive produce and supplement the protein.

TLDR: soup

I buy my produce at my local grocery market because often cheaper. The cheap staples I always buy or have on hand are onions (10lb for 8$), carrots, potatoes, rice (50lb bag only). Those are almost always under or around 1$ per lb. The other produce to buy are based on sales the store has when there’s excess. So I might buy a ton of jalapenos for $1.20 per lb during sales. Cabbage is another dense vegetable that’s very cheap and filling. I also start developing some recipes in my head as I look at the produce. Another note is that some stores have sales of malformed produce for cheap, another great way to save money. Additionally a lot of stores have a “shit shelf”. These contain heavily discounted ,still safe to consume, products that have been dented, scratched or otherwise unfit to display/sell at full price. I often grab a ton of canned goods this way.

I also avoid organic and non GMO, much more expensive and often is the same produce with a different label and price. I also avoid expensive or “humane” meats/eggs. As much as I would love for humane conditions for animals, most “humane” meat simply isn’t. Companies will always lie to sell at a higher price and regulation is simply too loose and vague.

Much of the meat can be supplemented with cheap protein like peas, lentils, beans and rich stock. When I do buy meat, I buy from the cheapest store, and the cheapest kind. For chicken and turkey I buy the whole bird, which is important. The whole bird isn’t much cheaper but its what you gain than save. Specifically the bones and carcass from the bird. It can be used to make extremely rich stock that can further bolster the protein and nutrients. It also saves you from buying storebought stock, which is basically water and provides a lot less.

On the topic of stock, it’s gold from lead. In my house, no food is thrown out until its been in the pot (to make stock). Especially veggie scraps, if its fleshy, not dry, it goes into the freezer’s stock bag. For meat trims, it all goes into the stock. Collagen in skin and trims add a lot of protein to stock (another plus of whole bird) and gives it a wonderful rich, thick, consistency. Even food scraps (sometimes), are saved and dropped in the stock bag. Also water used to boil any kind of food is gonna be the stock base. Stuff like bean water, or starchy water after boiling potatoes. Also after the stock is finished, let it cool and scrape the solidified fat off to use for frying and sauteing. This is where the “juice from the squeeze” comes from, a lot can be had from what we discard.

Also easy way to make stock is slowcooker. Dump everything in, add water and leave it on. It has multiple advantages, its braindead easy, extracts the most nutrients and due to the low heat extracts very few tannins (they are bitter).

Last and obvious point, buy in bulk. Even if you can’t use all of it, freeze the rest. I often do this with meat after butchery with whole birds. If you are running out of room, cook like crazy and freeze the finished meals instead of raw ingredients. A lot of water is removed in cooking, and the resulting food can be packed much more densely. Also freeze produce if you know it will go bad before being used, or roughly cut it and use for stock.

Also helps to have a family of very small people that eat very little haha.

In conclusion, abuse sales, buy in bulk, buy whole birds and bone in, skin on, and make tons of stocks and soups. Hopefully that’ll help cut down the food costs for you.