Favorite food hacks?

[dawnball]

I'm trying to get our food budget down as far as possible without living on Ramen noodles and honestly, our menu needs a serious kick in the pants here (horrible morning sickness=waaaay too much processed crap that my kids don't really like to eat anyhow). Ideas and suggestions?

The best way we get/keep our food budget down is to never throw anything away.

Bananas are getting too ripe to eat? Cut them into pieces, put them in the freezer. One serving of soup no one has eaten? Into the freezer. Misc veggies/meats leftover? Fritatta, scrambled eggs with stuff, fried rice, etc.

I have several quick meals that can use up whatever meat/veg we have left. The most popular is "Korean stuff" - veggies, protein, soy sauce, sriracha, kimchee, drizzle of sesame oil. Okonomiyaki is popular too, that's meat and veggie pancakes.

I plan 1-2 meals a week. The rest is "scrounge". Take what we've got, and make it into something to eat. There's always a can of tuna, frozen hot dogs, eggs, etc hanging around.

 

[pampam]

I know it has been stated but i will repeat, cooking from scratch is the way to go. For health issues, I have to make pretty much everything from ketchup to lasagna. We eat no grain at all, pretty much use nut flour for everything, which is very expensive. I freeze or can or dehydrate all of our fruits and veggies for the whole year, since I hate paying winter prices for produce. So in March, I know the cassserole or stew I am making is costing me peanuts since I only paid $.17 a pound for most of the veggies.

Also, I like to cook and freeze large batches of casserole, chili, whatever, and when I'm pressed for time or don't feel like cooking, I simply get something out and pop it in the microwave or oven.

 

[Nztara]

I agree with everyone saying that cooking from scratch is the best option. Even when things are not on sale, it is always cheaper to cook at home from scratch. This week, I was craving chicken piccata. None of the ingredients I needed were on sale. I spent about $16 on ingredients for the entire meal (including fresh veggies and pasta for sides). It fed my family of three a full meal for two nights. $8/night or 2.67/meal/person is cheaper and healthier than a fast food dollar menu!

 

[msmama]

While I agree that making things from scratch, OP says she she also has morning sickness which I'm guessing could make it harder to cook from scratch. Personally, I couldn't stand the sight of raw things (like chicken) for 9 months which made it hard to cook.

I'd suggest that when you can cook, make extra and freeze in small batches. That way you can pull out what you're hungry for (or what you can eat).

I did the save bread ends for awhile but realized it wasn't really saving me money. A container of breadcrumbs lasts me forever and costs pennies per serving. I noticed my grocery store has them on sale often. Plus they were different enough that my son wouldn't eat them.

If you have a freezer, you can stock up and save, but I find you have to look at your grocery budget differently to do this. Some weeks I'm spending a couple hundred (way over budget) but others I only buy perishables (way under budget).