Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Well, since I'm in college right now I already was shopping on a budget. My consumption hasn't changed, but I the cost has risen drastically in the last few months. I never specifically bought organic foods before, but I haven't been to the local farmer's market in months. So sad.

We are actually dining out less and putting that money towards our weekly food bill.

eating out for entertainment or because i'm too lazy to make myself dinner is no longer an option for me. i'm eating at home almost every night and packing my lunches, too.

i'm also comparison shopping a lot more. i try to get staples and toiletries at fairway whenever possible because their prices are so good -- sometimes less than half of what whole foods charges for the exact same item.

i do continue to buy organic whenever possible even if it costs more and i try to get as much of my produce at the greenmarket as possible. i stopped eating meat altogether, and it's been easier to keep my weight down, and cheaper, too. i figure if i spend my money on good nutrition, my medical costs will be lower and i'll save in the long run.

ed, if you don't like brown rice, there are so many other delicious whole grains you can try. how about polenta, farro, or barley?

and instead of stir frying your veggies, try roasting them. try cutting brussels sprouts in half and baking them on a cookie sheet in a bit of olive oil until they are almost black.

I've changed my "I don't bake" attitude. I've always been intimidated by the whole bread making process, but that no-knead bread recipe everyone and their 4 year old makes opened the oven doors for me, so to speak. Now, I've ventured into more conventional bread recipes.

I try to have a vegetarian meal once a day...perhaps, I shouldn't list this since it's not going so well for me.

Eating "peasant" food. You know, dishes that were created by struggling classes from around the world to feed families during hard times. I have found that these dishes are the most filling and comforting.

I make soups and stews, alot. Leftovers? Great! Portion, chill, then freeze.

Take lunch to work, don't eat out.

I buy in bulk whenever it makes sense to do so.

I've always bought certain produce items (scallions, sprouts, watercress, cilantro, limes, ginger, garlic, jalapenos, radishes, bok choy, choy sum, etc.) from Asian markets...soooo much cheaper.

If your vegetables aren't doing it for you, cook them differently. As someone mentioned, roasted vegetables are delicious. There are a million delicious vegetarian or nearly-meatless soups and stews in the world. Look for a few vegetable-centric cookbooks and get creative.

As for me, I've switched from canned beans to dried, and I'm using canola oil in place of olive oil in places where the difference won't be noticeable. I'm also trying to base more of my meals on what's in the pantry already rather than on whatever recipe catches my eye that day.

I think I've changed the way I shop rather than the way I cook/we eat. We also eat out less often - a lot less often, in fact. I do comparison shopping and read circulars, and I make good use of weekly specials.

I've always loved and cooked vegetables and grains - Ed, I swear they can make a very tasty supper, ask my Other Half any day! From brown rice risotto with onions, peppers, turkey sausage and smoked paprika, to butternut squash gnocchi to quinoa with dill and garlic or whole wheat couscous with all kinds of veg - grains and vegetables don't have to be dull and "not so tasty" at all!

A sample dinner (from last night) - grilled top round steak (yes, it's a cheaper cut, but was absolutely spectacular having been marinated, grilled to med-rare and very thinly sliced) with homemade chimichurri sauce, roasted brussels sprouts (like cybercita said, until they're almost black), spaghetti squash with lots of dill and garlic and two salads (mixed greens and tomato, pepper & avocado). It didn't taste like a "recession dinner" at all, but it did cost like one! In fact, according to my rough calculations, it cost about $8 for 2 people (this is my new thing - I try to figure out how much a dinner costs us, which I never did, but I'm always pleased with the results of my calculations).

We've been lucky - we discovered a local U-Pick farm and I've been enjoying unbelievable prices on freshly picked produce (with an added bonus of that produce being picked by me!). After the last trip, I actually calculated what it cost us vs. what it would cost us at a supermarket - it came down to $67 vs. $315!!! I've been doing an enormous amount of preserving, pickling, jamming and freezing (and still making a batch of grape jam/jelly and apple sauce today) - which is actually cutting some of my future food costs.

There was a great thread on The Kitchn last month on this same subject-- I highly recommend reading what others are doing to make it on $25 a week (per person). We've been doing this successfully for the last year, since my husband is a full-time student and I work for an arts nonprofit (yikes! what a combo!). I must say, we eat really, really well. There are some luxuries we must do without for now, but we are lucky to have a great farmer's market with very cheap prices, and we've made a point of planning our meals for the week around what's on sale or what we have coupons for. Between Walmart, Aldi, and Meijer (a better-quality Walmart), we spend more time shopping at different stores, but I enjoy shopping and cooking, so I don't mind. We do lots of homemade bread and pita, more vegetarian meals (we LOVE beans!), and a very strict $40 per month budget for dining out.

my SO and i spend about 70$a month for the two of us, obviously thats double when you include pet foods) we tend to eat alot of veggie meals but i think thats more from preference than have to, I've got a big pot of lentil soup on now and i'll be making some sourdough rolls for dinner too. when we do have meat we use it mostly for a flavor boost, its very rarely that eith of us want to eat a big hunk o' beast anymore. As far as eating out, we rarely do that anyway, to be honest where we are located in hee haw hell, its either mediocre bbq, fatty mexican, of equally fatty greasy home cookin'. we'd rather save our money and go out on special occasions and hit up good indian food.

I buy my Grafton cheddar as trim (weirdly shaped cheese ends) from my health food store. I participate in a year-round CSA and commit to cooking whatever show up as my primary source of nutrition (mostly root vegetables for the coming months). I buy certain things at Costco. I never eat out. I bake my own bread. I preserve my sanity by re-reading MFK Fisher's How to Cook a Wolf. I complain a lot while eating as well as I ever have (if not better!).

a lot of it for me is stopping cutting corners, ie being less lazy.

getting up 5 minutes earlier to make my own coffee -- saves me $3.55 a day!

bringing home a bag of carrots and peeling and cutting them into spears, then putting them in baggies, instead of buying the pre-packaged baby carrots. they are twice as expensive!

i've also been trying much harder to stick to a grocery list instead of buying things on a whim.

and i have completely cut out whole foods. i used to stop there if i needed a couple things for dinner since it's on my way home, but now i go farther out of the way to go to a regular market because it's significantly cheaper.

I've been brown bagging it more. Also, I like to take a cue from my father's (poor) family and cook a pork (or other roast) on a Sunday and stretch it out all week. Pork fried rice is my favorite roast-stretcher these days.

I stopped buying meat substitutes and buy less, overall. I also went dumpster diving for the first time, you wouldn't believe how much great stuff is thrown out and is still in good condition!

This summer we had our first garden, and following a heavy rainfall many of our tomatoes split. Determined not to lose so much organic produce, we borrowed a canner from friends and bought 12 glass canning jars on sale for about $8. After about three hours, we had 12 jars of organic spaghetti and tomato sauces to use all year. At $5-8 per jar retail, our savings were well worth the time invested. Since then, we have also preserved other items from the garden, including pickles, jams, and hot sauce.

Cook at home a lot. And beans are cheap and nutritional. They're so understated. And definitely give soy/tofu a try. I love it and you can flavor it anyway you like. But I'm still willing to pay more for Greek yogurt. Just so much better than the conventional ones. I don't see lagsana, but it freezes well as well as tomato sauce.

I am lucky enough to live near many year-round farmer's markets and do about 90% of my shopping there. Even in the face of this economy, I refuse to change my shopping habits. I shop at the farmer's market for a number of reasons (better quality, environmental impact, in an effort to eat seasonally, etc.), but one of those reasons is that I want to support local farmers. This economic crisis affects farmers and I worry what impact it will have if people stop shopping at farmer's markets. In my experience, the meat, eggs, and other animal products are a little more expensive than the grocery store, but produce is comparable.

So that I can continue shopping at the farmer's market, I only eat meat maybe once a week, bring leftovers from dinner for lunch, make a lot of simple meals like soup or vegetarian chili, rarely eat out, make my own coffee, don't purchase bottled water, and am very conscious about wasting food. Honestly, it's not much of a change from what I was doing before.

I did a massive amount of canning and freezing in season (and now I'm dealing with apples). I make use of carrots quite a bit as they are an inexpensive fresh vegetable. We had an excellent carrot loaf last week made from grated carrots, eggs, cheese, onion, crushed saltines and sage. It *almost* looked elegant.

We've always been thrifty, but we eat well. Thankfully I have a child that will eat just about any type of curry (fast, easy and cheap). I have the advantage of being at home, so I'm not trying to pull dinner together after being at work. It also doesn't leave me much excuse for not baking my own bread.

Otherwise, rice, beans, lentils, kasha, eggs, homemade pizza, and soup, We live on a farm in a rural area so dinners out are pretty rare anyway.

Also buying non-perishables in bulk at those club oriented super stores!

My husband lost his job last December 25th (yes, really...) and only started working a few weeks ago (Thank GOD!) so recession or not, our shopping and eating habits have had to change drastically over the past year. We used to love eating seafood and tons of specialty foods and drink wine with dinner and whatnot. SO much has changed...I can definitely say I have champagne tastes on a cheap beer budget.
We've had to completely cut out eating out except on very special occasions, like vacations or anniversaries. That includes ordering pizza! I buy a lot more store brands than I used to, and we eat much less meat and hardly any seafood (which is our favorite and probably what I miss the most). I can't buy fancy-schmancy olive oils or specialty foods...just the basics to keep a family of four fed in these hard economic times. It's been really tough for a foodie to live like this....I find such pleasure in cooking wonderful meals and using premium products. But it's just not fiscally feasible at the moment. I'll give you a perfect example....I've been wanting to have some baked brie with marjool (sp?) dates, almonds and honey for the longest time...it's one of my favorite snacky type foods. However, those dates cost about $6 at my grocery store, and brie is not cheap...and I cannot afford to spend over $12 on a splurge snack for myself...when I could use that $12 toward my over-all grocery bill and buy meat and fresh veggies for my kids. I have switched from the more expensive Doritos for my kid's lunches, to pretzels....I've switched from picking up my morning coffee at Dunkin's to making my own...I no longer get a sandwich at the deli, I bring lunch from home, either leftovers or a sandwich....I've cut and scrimped and tried to pare down my shopping as much as I can, but with rising costs and my growing kids, it seems I still cannot get out of the market without spending at least $250. It's very disheartening, frankly. I'm very glad to have enough to eat every day, but it's harder to put fresh veggies on the table as they are more expensive.
:o(

I find organic produce and organic meats and the like to be WAY more expensive. Yes, I wish I could feed my family these things, and would prefer cooking with them, but it's expensive.
I don't eat a lot of processed foods...I hate canned veggies, etc., but I find that the healthier you try to eat, the more expensive it is.
Example: Fattier ground meat is cheaper than ground sirloin. Fattier and lower cuts of pork are more expensive than leaner cuts. Fish is more expensive per pound by far than cheap chicken, like thighs and wings and drumsticks, which are fattier and less healthy for you than breasts...which are more per pound. Boneless, skinless breasts are more expensive than thighs. Face it...poorer people are pretty much forced to buy the lower end products. Look at how expensive asparagus is compared to a head of cabbage. Or how expensive grape tomatoes are compared to those horrible, pale pink excuses for bulk tomatoes are in the market? If you want a yummy, ripe tomato, you have to pay up to twice the price. Forget buying organic. That doubles my costs almost immediately.

today i was in the fairway and i splurged on three hachiya persimmons at two dollars each. the cashier asked me twice if i really wanted to buy them! the season is so short and they're so delicious, i couldn't resist. i told her i'd skip this month's pedicure to pay for them, and she laughed. little does she know that i no longer go to my local spa, and i haven't for well over a year -- i do all that stuff myself now. i used to spend at least a hundred bucks a month there.

I shop at Sam's and Walmart. Sam's has astoundingly good meat, cheap. They also have a good selection of excellent cheese. I made the Martha Stewart Mac and Cheese the other day with cheese that cost less than half what it would have from anywhere else. You can save 30% on a standard shopping trip to Walmart over a regular grocery run. I buy all vegetables unprepared and I still go to the farmers market for most of that. Cooking is my hobby so I do not mind prep work. I go to the specialty groceries for the items I absolutely cannot live without. The thing is, I have the leisure to shop around and I use the shopping at the big stores as part of my exercise program!

Being student has meant living cheaply anyway. But...it's amazing how expensive boxed and packaged stuff is, for the nutritional value. I buy steel-cut oats and wheat bran in bulk, and frozen vegetables. Beans, legumes, and yogurt are good protein sources, so I don't eat very much meat anymore. Tea by the pound (quality is actually better) and put it into a thermos on the morning so I can stop getting ripped off for coffee by the local (crappy) coffee joint. I won't give up mangos and good chocolate though....

Satisfying my budget and my tummy means more food with more fiber so I stay full longer which includes ingredients like lentils, quinoa, oatmeal, wheat berries, rice and roasted sweet potatoes. I keep how much I spend on groceries in my agenda so I can keep track of how much I actually spend on food. I am trying to buy organic and local meat right now and that is something I would slurge on despite that fact that it is a little bit expensive.

Cook your own foods using the least processed ingredients possible. It's time consuming at first, but you get the hand of it. (Millet is actually a fabulous breakfast cereal.)

Scanning through the posts above, I see so many of you are turning toward sources of food which are highly questionable for your overall health. If you can't afford organic, and don't have land to grow your own, I urge you to fuss with your budget so your dairy and meats/poultry are organic (or "natural"). The foods from Wal-Mart and Sam's are closer to poison than you might want to know but it really matters that you pay attention this, for yourselves and (particularly) for your kids. Organic veggies, brown rice, and beans can be made to taste delicious. Honest.