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Start thinking ethnic. Not only shopping at ethnic markets which are often overpriced at certain items but using meat and fish as small parts of the meal. I make a lot of Chinese stir fried dishes. Vegetables, some meat, rice and sauce. YUM. Also start rethinking what you eat as breakfast, lunch and dinner in the typical American way. Eggs can be dinner easily -- poached on vegetables, fritattas, etc. ( I think this was suggested earlier). Cereal with added vegetables and perhaps a slice or two of meat can be breakfast or dinner. (Chinese congee). Buy large, cut small and freeze.

I just discovered this great idea tonight...I wanted good chinese food so I went down the street to my local chinese take out place, asked for a container of the sauce they put on sesame chicken. One cup only cost me $1! I steamed up rice, chicken and broccoli and added the sauce on top. Super cheap and tasted better than any sauce I could make!

Good luck, and try to enjoy having a "wife" at home to do the chores while you're working. I've been out of work since February, and my husband is trying to enjoy having me do all the chores. I used to say I needed a wife, now I am the housewife.

I second @Anneesha about letting food go to waste. Now, after go to the store I spend half an hour or so unpacking and washing everything and portioning all the groceries for the freezer. I spin dry and wash and pack the veggies and lettuces in tupperware with towels to keep them from rotting.

I inspect the veggies for brackish leaves and squishy spots and kinda sort everything by how long I think it'll last in the fridge. I find that often, the sale fruits/veg has a shorter shelf life.

I always wasted most of a celery head when I made soup since you only need one or two ribs and a carrot. Now, when celery is on sale (in Brooklyn last week it was half price (?!)), I buy a couple bundles and the giant bulk bin carrots, whirl it in the food processor til it's chopped fine. (You're welcome to do a fine dice on 2 heads of celery and 4 lbs of carrots, but I don't care about pretty) Then I'll sauté big pots of carrots and celery til soft and portion them into 1-2 cup portions for the freezer. When I want to make soup, stew, a roast, or beans, I add a chopped onion and voila, mirepoix was zero waste at a fraction of the cost and way less time. (I don't like frozen onions, and don't think it's worth the time saving.) Good luck and keep your chin up.

Hi - I'm in Minneapolis too, and luckily have a job (again) but the majority of my friends are out of work. I live alone but love to cook - and find that the biggest waste comes from letting things GO to waste. My favorite money-savers are buying the "ends & pieces" bacon that comes in big blocks, then separating into small portions and freezing and just using crumbled cooked bacon to flavor and enhance most everything. And shopping for bargains at Trader Joe's. In particular, their goat cheese logs are great priced and obviously wine.

But general just being inventive and using everything instead of throwing out something that's gone bad because you never got around to using it.

I make my own yogurt and kombucha. I make Caspian Sea yogurt and kefir as they ferment at room temperature, no special heat gadgets required. Same with kombucha and flavored with fresh ginger. Drink it instead of soda or pop.

Also have a vegetarian night or day once a week.

Mark

I buy whole pieces of tenderloin, whole cases of chicken breast, etc, and cut them up myself. I spend a little more at the start, but in the long run, I end up saving tremendously, because it lasts a long time.
For instance, when on sale, I can get whole, boneless pork tenderloins for as low as $1.49 (I've already gotten them for as low as 99 cents a pound in January). I cut them into 3/4 inch boneless chops and small roasts. If I cut the whole piece into chops, I can get as many as 36 chops per tenderloin. The trick is to poke the fat - if it's hard, it's thick, and vice versa. Of course, I always buy the soft one - less to trim.
I've already landed a deal on boneless, skinless chicken breast - $1.49 for the entire case. The same day, I got boneless, skinless thighs for 99 cents a pound, by the case. I also buy round roasts (as low as $1.29/lb) and cut them into steaks.

I wrap in foil, then I exclusively use Ziploc freezer bags, but not the ones with the zipper tabs, the ones that you have to press shut. Wrapping in foil first keeps the bag clean, so I can re-use them. They're thick and strong, and can be used several times before the zipper wears out.

Theresa

I have not worked for 10 months now but, because I have such a well stocked pantry I only buy the odd fresh veggies, fruits and eggs. I have my own veggie and herb garden. I pride myself on having a pantry well stocked enough that I don’t have to leave my house for 6 months - yes, I did say 6 months and I live by myself.
In addition because of health concerns I have to make pretty much everything from scratch, I love my own pasta and again I almost never drink soda. I’ve always made my own bread, why pay 2 dollars for a loaf of bread when you can make a loaf for about 70 cents. One of my rules is to use everything, I keep the skins to yellow onions and peels of veggies, with the backs of chickens I end up with chicken stock to die for. Another rule is that I have to use everything at lease twice anything that is plastic and can sorta be used as a bag get’s used as one, paper towel if I can gets washed out dried and used again. I do these things more for the environment then to be cheap. I suggest anyone that can should start Now in creating a pantry and a chest freezer is really your friend. BTW I make the best graham crackers and to be honest crackers in general are not all that hard to make and they last forever.
With a very few exceptions I buy everything on sale and I scour every single store within a five mile radius of my home. At this point I know which markets have what on sale or at the best price and also since I’ve been doing this all of my adult life I pretty much know the sale cycles of canned goods. My rule is that I should strive to spend no more the 3 dollars a day for food. As another responder pointed out only Americans eat meat (and a lot of it) for every meal. Try looking at how other cultures eat and adapt the recipies. I almost never eat fast food and rarely go out to eat. Yea, I’ll treat myself every now and again, but it’s pretty rare.

The one thing I haven't seen a suggestion for is making your a lot of your condiments from scratch - salad dressings, bbq sauce, pickles, jam, salsa, mayo etc Of course they taste better that way too.

Eat a plant based diet - really. In season vegetables are so cheap - you don't need to buy much of them for most recipes. I just buy whatever is in season/on sale and make a dish based on that. I recently made a zucchini gratin that fed us for 3 or 4 meals (2 people) with one single zucchini and about about 6 potatoes.

Oh and other than beans and rice - eat lentils! They are so so cheap :)

@CATERPILLARGIRL - we actually did away with a lot of the extraneous items when my second child was born. And we live debt free. So food is really the only place to cut back. I'm not willing to give up the great food, either. But clearly I need to make some adjustments.

@wasliche & @hereandthe - I love the bulk bins at my local market. I'm actually a huge lover of trail mix (which is an upcoming blog post of mine.) It does help cut down on bad snacking, and also so much cheaper than buying it pre-made. Also great for oats, cornmeal, etc.

@amiyrah18 - I have to do weekly meal planning for sure. I'm way to anal not to! I sort of take "inventory" of what I have every Sunday morning and then start my list based on that. I will check out your blog, thanks!

Well, those are all great suggestions! I run a blog about living frugal on one income, and recipes are my favorite part, so I've had to become an expert in making wonderful things on a very low budget.

The suggestion of cutting down your drinks is a good one, but we love our juice here, so here's what we do: I take a half gallon of 100% juice, pour it in a gallon container, and add 4 cups of hot, brewed tea to it. You can use black, green, or your favorite herbal tea. You may think that this just waters down the juice(which it does) but the heat really enhances the taste of the fruit AND you get the benefits of drinking tea in every cup you have. In order to make this last, everyone starts off with a glass of juice for dinner and after that glass, if you're thirsty, you have to have water. Cranberry and Apple are our favorite juices to do this to.

Also, I've learned that my weekly meal planning has saved us tons of money. It helps me keep tabs of what's in my fridge, freezer and cupboards(you have to look at them before you even sit down to think about your plan), but it's helped me use up those odds and ends that may be hiding in the corners. Please take advantage of this.

Also, shopping at warehouse clubs is not needed if you live in an area with many grocery stores. They will always have competitive pricing that will knock the socks off any warehouse club price. Unless you have a big family, it's unnecessary to waste your money on those memberships. Paying attention to sales cycles of your favorite items will yield better results.

If you need any other ideas, please feel free to check out my blog: www.4hatsandfrugal.blogspot.com

my husband has been out of a job for a year now, We knew that sometimes eating cheap meant eating things that were terrible for you (mac and cheese, hot dogs, white rice) so we made a decision to do away with anything that we deemed "wants" like cable tv, cell phones (now have prepaid), eating out, long trips, So we could eat better. I make alot of eggplant dishes, its cheap but really hearty and i use it in place of meat many times. We eat vegetarian chili with lots of veggies, buy in bulk chicken leg quarters. Most of our money goes to fresh veggies and fruit but we have never been healthier and happier and surprisingly stress free.

p.s. about the shredded vs block cheese. most of the time, yes block is less expensive, but watch the sales closely. check your ounces, and sometimes you might get lucky and find the shredded is cheaper than the block.

Re: dried beans. Use a slow cooker if you have one. You don't have to soak the beans. Six hours on high for pinto and two hours on high for black worked for me.