/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.3985073]

Greetings /ck/

I live on minimum wage and support myself and I'm having troubles eating. With my current budget at the grocery store, I just can't seem to find meals that fill me up and food is a real problem right now.

For instance, hamburger helper, one pound of meat only does me good for one meal.

Are there any guides on cheap grocery shopping?

[Anonymous No.3985078]

potatoes and onions are your friends

[Anonymous No.3985079]

Yeah:
>Take out a second job
>Get on food stamps.
Shazam, problem solved.

[Anonymous No.3985086]

>>3985073
>hamburger helper
>one meal

How fat are you?

Also, if you are supporting yourself on minimum wage, get yourself on foodstamps asap, that's what they are for.

If you want cheaper food, look to asian cuisines, they use less meat (expensive) more rice and starches (super cheap) and are healthy and delicious. Packaged meals are more expensive and worse for you, and cereal is the almost the worst thing you can buy in the store as far as cost to nutrition/calories.

[Anonymous No.3985084]

potatoes, rice, wheat bread, bananas, eggs, bulk chicken, bulk pork chops, carrots, celery, wheat pasta, sauce, oatmeal, milk

i can eat fairly healthily on about $20 a week. You definitely have to take time to lower your portion sizes. a pound of hamburger helper for a meal sounds like overeating with low nutrition value and high cost per meal. cut cereal out of your diet, it's super expensive and you get nothing from it. make everything you eat. i know it sucks to get home and have to do work to prepare a meal, but it is cheaper and healthier that way

[Anonymous No.3985087]

>>3985079
I refuse to get food stamps, that is what is wrong with the country. Hand outs. And I'm trying my best to get a second job.

[Anonymous No.3985089]

>>3985086
I'm actually underweight

[Anonymous No.3985092]

I'm in the same situation.

I pretty much eat rice with every meal unless I make something with noodles.

Here's a short list of fairly cheap meals that can get me through the week:

Spaghetti
Beef stew
Chicken breast and rice
Black beans and rice
Turkey sandwiches
Pork shoulder
Tuna casserole

A lot of times I don't even cook though. I'll just have an apple and yogurt for the day, but only when I'm really busy.

I'm losing weight but not really trying, which is nice. I have about thirty pounds before I have to start eating substantial foods throughout the day.

[Anonymous No.3985093]

>>3985092
I'll have to try adding more rice to things
I'm actually underweight, trying to climb upwards. So the more carbs the better, really

[Anonymous No.3985095]

Buy bags of apples, oranges
Bags of potatoes, onions, bell peppers.
Rice, oatmeal, grits and dried beans
DO combine coupons with sales if it makes it virtually free, like cereal and buy one get ones. Never if you wouldn't eat it anyway.
Bouillon granules in the big giant jar, goes a long way to make a cup of soap before your dinner, plus assorted frozen veggies, frozen tortellini, beans, etc.

You should not be hungry from a pound of meat inside a half pound of pasta and sauce. Fill up on soup, some carrots/celery, salad greens, water, or what have you.

Storebought bread if it isn't on sale is pretty expensive and not filling.

Soak beans overnight and use inexpensive sofrito like ingredients, keilbasa, ham, sausages and whatever is on sale to fill you up.

When you're hungry snack on whole apples, maybe with some peanut butter.

[Anonymous No.3985096]

>>3985086

As a follow up to my own post...

By Asian I don't just mean chinese.

Southeast asian like vietnamese and thai do great things with cheap rice noodles. Indian cuisine has amazing way of using potatoes turnips lentils and other starchy veggies that are cheap and calorie dense. Korea has some great cheap dishes, BiBimBap was a favorite of mine in college. And if you ignore sushi, Japan has some great cheap meals like soba, udon and my favorite, Okonomiyaki - which uses eggs, a great cheap protein.

[Anonymous No.3985097]

>>3985096
that's convenient
i actually live near a korean grocery store. (i live in koreatown los angeles)

i'm not sure how expensive it is though

[Anonymous No.3985098]

>>3985087
Pride will kill you, dumbass. It's not a hand out, it's a leg up to help you through tough times. Don't let the plutes tell you otherwise.

[Anonymous No.3985099]

>>3985087
>I refuse to get food stamps, that is what is wrong with the country.

Ok, starve then, idiot, cause keeping people from starving and in good nutritional health is a program that is never going away. Seriously, even the hardcore conservatives never bitch about foodstamps.

[Anonymous No.3985102]

>>3985097
Asian grocery stores are generally much cheaper than mainstream chains. Mexican grocery stores are great also.

[Anonymous No.3985115]

>>3985099

What? One of the statistics that kept getting quoted was "more than 4 million people on food stamps".

[Anonymous No.3985127]

>>3985115
>Implying that fascist corporatists like Romney and Ryan actually stand for "conservative" values.

[Anonymous No.3985130]

>>3985073
you consume a whole pound of ground beef plus the contents of one box of hamburger helper in one sitting?

jesus christ, stop being such a fat fuck.

[Anonymous No.3985133]

Make the poor feel guilty for being poor.

People are so fucked.

[Anonymous No.3985136]

>>3985127

Point.

[Anonymous No.3985137]

>>3985115
>"more than 4 million people on food stamps"
lmgtfy : http://lmgtfy.com/?q=%22more+than+4+million+people+on+food+stamps%22

0 results other than this thread. Yep, sure gets quoted a lot, idiot. If you are OP, it's no wonder you are minimum wage, too tarded to get a real job, let alone realize you need foodstamps.

[Anonymous No.3985138]

>>3985137
Hey, if a sane, rational person like Ayn Rand says it, it must be true. Especially when the message is delivered in some of the most tedious prose ever committed to paper.

[Anonymous No.3985140]

>>3985087
>I refuse to take something from the government in a time of need.

As long as you aren't abusing it, it isn't a hand out, jesus christ.

Swallow your pride and use what is available for you.

[Anonymous No.3985143]

I can feed three adults on a hamburger helper, of course we also have a salad and some cooked vegetables with it.
Price what a bag of spinach would cost you, food is an investment in your future.

[Anonymous No.3985144]

>>3985130
I know, right? A box of Hamburger helper is meant to feed a family of FOUR.

[Anonymous No.3985153]

I get foodstamps. 200 a month. I buy enough groceries and meals that i still have a ton of stuff at the end of the month. I dont sell them and I dont buy junk like chips, cereal, candy, energy drinks. I buy koolaid and tea bags and maybe some cheap pop. only chips i buy are a bag of Doritos and thats for my taco salad i make. I dont abuse foodstamps but without them id be fucked ha. also i make sure to buy a case of ramen and 3 big bags of rice, add a can of cream of chicken, like 3-4 meals if you dont eat a shit ton

[Anonymous No.3985157]

>>3985153
How do food stamps work? Ignorant middle class guy here

[Anonymous No.3985158]

>>3985130
>>3985144
If he's so poor, he may not be eating a healthy breakfast, lunch, any snacks, etc. It is conceivable he may need two portions, but not four unless he fucking works at the dock for 12 hours a day.

Just take the damned foodstamps man. I applaud your courage, but you're not doing anything for anyone and injuring yourself.

[Anonymous No.3985161]

>>3985157
basically just money that only works for groceries. Used to be actual sheet of paper like dollars (the "stamps"), but now you get an ATM like card which helps reduce fraud. The card works with grocery store computers to automatically apply to only food stuffs, so you can't buy alcohol or cigarettes or something with it.

[Anonymous No.3985162]

If you absolutely won't take food stamps, then you can learn to coupon. Sites like printablecouponsanddeals.com list legitimate printable coupons as they come out - I check a couple times a day, because really good coupons can last just hours sometimes. Not too long ago there was a printable for $2 off 1 package of Johnsonville Italian Sausage - which runs like $3.50 at my local Walmart. I'm sure the coupon is gone now, but I'm just saying, you can really save some money. But coupons on meats are rare. But you'd be surprised what you can get for a couple bucks when you combine coupons with sales at grocery stores (Kroger, etc). southernsavers.com has pretty good grocery store ad-coupon matchups. If you stick to only buying meat and stuff you can get good deals on, you can EASILY cut your grocery bill by 35% and have tons of food around. I bit my pride and got food stamps. I have so much food, it's ridiculous.

[Anonymous No.3985164]

>>3985157
In this state, you get a card that has a balance added to it each month. You can't buy hot food, alcohol, cigarettes, energy drinks, and a few other things with it.

[Anonymous No.3985165]

>>3985087

Although I agree with you. Not knowing how to cook is also what's wrong with you. For gods sake your buying hamburger helper. Your problem not even buying the meet when its on sale and freezing it in portioned up bags. Beans, legumes, chicken, rice, potatoes. Plus what ever veggie you like. Those should be your stables. Cooking is rather easy and you can always cook most of your meals ahead of time and reheat.

[Anonymous No.3985170]

>>3985164
>>3985161
Oh okay, fair enough.

[Anonymous No.3985172]

>>3985157
Go to your local department of human services. I don't remember I don't remember what all proof you need, but bring your social security card, a bill or something to prove address, photo ID/license, and a bank statement to prove how much money you have right now. Also a paycheck stub if you work. You just fill out a form and have a short interview where they ask a couple questions, then they mail you a card, like a debit card, and you buy food with it. Easy peasy.

[Anonymous No.3985173]

>underweight
no, you're fat.
>trying to bulk up
yea that's not a luxury available for a poor loser like you, eat food to survive and try to improve your life.
eat less and healthier.

[Anonymous No.3985185]

If you just bought an onion, some beans, a can of tomatos, some macaroni and some chili powder you could make kind of the same thing which would stretch a lot farther.

Chili mac-
1 lb ground beef
1 bag plain macaroni
1 can tomatos (the large cans and the smaller, regular sized cans are almost the same price so just buy the big can and have some left over, or double the recipe and use the whole can)
1 onion (maybe 1/2 an onion to stretch the other half for another dish)
1 or 2 cans beans
couple cloves garlic
chili powder + salt to taste

Saute onion and garlic then add ground beef. When beef is cooked drain fat and add can of tomatos, chili powder, salt, beans, etc. When all that is cooked add the package of cooked and drained macaroni. Now you have chili mac which will make multiple servings. Top with a slice of processed american cheese and you're golden. You can also just buy packages of dried beans and cook them instead of canned to save more money.

[Anonymous No.3985190]

>>3985098
>>3985099
>>3985140
Parasites. Food stamps are for those who cannot afford to feed their families or are in dire straits, not people who could just use a little help or budget better themselves.


Good for you, OP. Get large bags of rice and beans. Buy veggies cheap and in bulk. As for meat, ground turkey is cheap as hell. You can also get tuna and whole chicken for fairly cheap (learn how to divvy up a chicken, it's a good skill to have and will help you on your way to eating cheap)

Of course, there are also things like going to a bakery around closing time and getting the free bread that they're about to throw away.

[Anonymous No.3985208]

You can't ask this question here without getting some sort of

>lentils, beans, and rice

elitists telling you how they spend $0.50 a week on food.

[Anonymous No.3985217]

>>3985208
Funnily enough you're the first one.

[Anonymous No.3985222]

two words op
bone broth
go to the butcher shop, they have beef or pork bones real cheap. throw that into a crockpot for 12-24 hrs the longer the better. portion it into 8 oz and freeze, have some every day. its cheap and highly dense in nutrition .
meant as a supplement to your hamburger helper

[Anonymous No.3985228]

I wish eating was just for enjoyment and not for living.

[Anonymous No.3985232]

One anon was saying how in college and low on funds, he would go to the butcher and give him whatever little money he had and asked for anything. He said he once got pounds of trimmings/meat stuffs after asking what he could get for 89 cents.

[Anonymous No.3985234]

>>3985096
>Okonomiyaki

oh my, I need to try this

[Anonymous No.3985317]

>>3985190
seconding, i'm broke as fuck by choice (drinks,drugs,girls etc.) but i still eat way better than anyone else i know in college. this month is the only month out of the year that bulk turkey is expensive. otherwise roast them whole and slice thin for sammiches. learn to love beans. most people's problems is they only learn one or two bean recipes and get sick of them. learn 10 recipes that have beans in them but are not all bean. (check out middle eastern food, chickpeas are the shit) and make them in a weekly cycle, since all will provide leftovers.

[Anonymous No.3985326]

Invest in a crockpot
Purchase tougher meats that usually go for less
Pot roast, BBQ pulled pork or beef is delicious.

[Anonymous No.3985381]

>>3985096 Indian cuisine has amazing way of using potatoes turnips lentils and other starchy veggies that are cheap and calorie dense.

Have fun spending $100 on spices (which admittedly will last years) and spending over 9000 hours cooking.

[Anonymous No.3985383]

>>3985190 Food stamps are for those who cannot afford to feed their families or are in dire straits,

I thought it was some kind of niglet breeding program?

Poorfag's guide to lentils:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a9WQoSOaOg

[Anonymous No.3985384]

Eat 4 times less and lose some weight you fat fuck

[Anonymous No.3985386]

conservativefag here to lay some goddamned truth on you.

-when used as intended, food stamps are not a fucking handout. They are a system that your tax dollars pay into with the express understanding that you may need yo collect on them at some point.

-you are employed. I don't think anyone but the most fucktarded ass would see it as system abuse; the system is there regardless of your opinion and like it or not, it was designed specifically for people in your position.
-use it as a motivation to improve your financial situation (which leads me to my most important, final point)
-its pretty damned difficult yo improve your financial situation if you are hungry and stressed about affording food. That's the point - provided you are willing to work, you are less useful economically as a hungry working class guy than as a decently fed working class guy.

tl;dr

food stamps are completely acceptable and justifiable from a working class, conservative standpoint when not abused and used to better yourself. You are paying into them regardless - would you rather they go to some lazy piece of shit welfare-baby-factory?

[Anonymous No.3985403]

>>3985073

From now on, your main source of energy will be grain/wheat products. But hey, think of the positive side, eating meat is overrated and production is horribly large scale. Become vegetarian or semi-vegetarian?


Anyway...

Bread
Cheese
Some meat on them breads

Noodles (use your imagination and take it to an other level with veggies)
Pasta
Soups
Porridge (again, use your imagination... apple and cinnamon for example)

Also add some coffee , you'll feel less hungry and therefore save money.

And as an addition to the above do what >>3985095 said, buy some cans and cheap ass vegetables that are on sale and use your imagination. Takes more effort but it's cheap.

[Anonymous No.3985411]

>>3985092
nigga you dying

[Anonymous No.3985416]

>>3985099
you're retarded and have never met a conservative

[Anonymous No.3985417]

>>3985087
if you work at all anywhere, do not feel ashamed for using them...if you work you are not part of the problem. If you don't shit out kids ever 3 years you are not part of the problem.

[Anonymous No.3985421]

>>3985386
PREACH ON MAH NIGGA

[Anonymous No.3985438]

>>3985222
>>3985222
>>3985222
>>3985222
bacon bones and ham hocks. Do it

[fllaw No.3985456]

shop the outside of the supermarket.
go to a meat market / produce shop to get things cheaper than big chains. I get chicken breast boneless skinless 99 cents a pound. Thighs 65 cents a pound.
rice pasta and potatoes are cheap ways to stretch meals and make them filling.

but as a side note, if you're eating a pound of ground beef for one meal, you're eating too much red meat. That's 16oz. My GF and I share a box of HH with 1lb of meat between the two of us, and we are fat fucks. So start there. You could add lots of veggies to HH and it would be more filling. Like peas and carrots.

Or make your own goddamn HH and stop paying for a box with a tiny bit of pasta and some dehydrated milk, garlic powder, and some other bullshit.

[fllaw No.3985463]

heres a simple low cost meal- no bitching about authenticity, this is poor man food.

fry some bacon. boil some pasta. crumble bacon. reserve a few tablespoons of bacon grease and half a cup of pasta water. sautee some garlic in grease. add the bacon crumbles back in. Add cooked spaghetti. Sautee for 1 min. Beat some eggs in a separate bowl and season with salt. Add cream if desired. Remove the pan from the heat and add the eggs, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble. Thin with pasta water if necessary. Add parmesean, parm-reggiano, whatever. Couple big grinds of pepper. bit of salt. Bam, Pasta Carbonara. Feel free to add veggies (peas work well).

[Anonymous No.3985464]

I always post this when I see a thread asking for cheap, easy food

[Anonymous No.3985469]

>>3985464
got any for cheap easy AND healthy?

[fllaw No.3985474]

>>3985469
uhhh if you mean "no carbs" and "no meat" then no. you're basically going to just eat vegetables, so have fun with that.

[Anonymous No.3985480]

>>3985190
Thanks for the objectivist view, now can we get back to reality

[Anonymous No.3985482]

>>3985386

[Anonymous No.3985509]

Question for the cereal haters in this thread. What about weet-bix? They're about $4 per 1.2kg if you grab them on special.
Obviously it doesn't apply to OP, but whatever. I'm living on a budget too and I'm curious.

My breakfast otherwise is 2 eggs and a slice of bread.

[Anonymous No.3985548]

>>3985073
try and make your meals more fancy. think about sides such as home made chips . use oil herbs and vegetables. dont just buy nice meat, beans and lentils and expect to have a filling meal its good that you are starting to cook . the way the food looks and smells will make up for what you feel is missing.i often make alot of simple soup or sauce to last me a few meals for pasta and lentils and when i have meat which i buy frozen and have once a weak i use fresh vegetables as a side.cheers

[Anonymous No.3985642]

>>3985097
Sup dude, I always visit around there when I go to California.

[Anonymous No.3985659]

>one pound of meat
>one meal

Jesus shit I'm fat as hell and even I don't eat that much.

[Anonymous No.3985681]

My grocery list consists of the following-

Fruit- cheapest apples, bananas, occasional melon or citrus, jam
Meat- $2/lb chicken breasts, eggs, low sodium chicken/beef broths
Nuts- Almonds, peanuts, peanut butter
Dairy- 4% milk, butter, plain greek yogurt, cheese if it's on sale
Vegetables-potatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots, frozen normandy blend veggies, frozen peas, artisan lettuce packs, mushrooms, green peppers
Pasta- Some linguini and sushi rice
Beans- I keep cooked chickpeas and homemade hummus in the fridge, and eat lentils a lot
Other- I have lots of spices and sauces

And I am full and spend under $100 a month. Stop eating shit 'cheap convenient food' because it's not as cheap as you think and can't be convenient if it wont last for more than one meal.

[Anonymous No.3985694]

>>3985509

Oatmeal is the most economical breakfast food, IMO. It goes such a long way and has good nutritional value.

[Anonymous No.3985745]

Do they have anything like food stamps in Canada?

[Anonymous No.3985752]

>>3985681
>>Meat- $2/lb chicken breasts, eggs, low sodium chicken/beef broths

You can improve upon this:

Buy whole chickens instead of breasts, they should cost $1/lb or maybe a few cents more. Eat the breasts and legs. Use the carcass to make your own chicken stock for free. Not only will it taste better than storebought, it won't cost you a dime.

[Anonymous No.3985765]

>one pound of meat only does me good for one meal.

>look up how much one pound is
>450 grams
>450 grams of meat
>in one meal
>not filling

I'm amazed OP can even get through doors.

[Anonymous No.3985768]

I bought two 50 lb. bags of rice and beans at Sam's. That's the cornerstone to everything.

Here's my bi-monthly grocery list:

>bag of onions, garlic, and potatoes
>pork chops, ham hocks, breakfast sausage, bacon, chicken wings, ground beef, catfish
>eggs and milk
>collard greens, frozen green peas
>hot sauce, apple cider vinegar, butter, bottle of bbq sauce
>vegetable oil
>various fresh vegetables that are on sale

Breakfast: home fries, breakfast sausage or bacon, and eggs
Lunch: leftovers from dinner the night before
Dinner: fried pork chops or catfish, buffalo or bbq chicken wings, or beef patties with collard greens, peas or raw sliced vegetables, rice, and beans (flavored with leftover bacon grease)

There's this store that lets you pick any five meats for $20. The rest of my groceries come in under $25. It will usually last about 2 weeks, so I have to do this twice a month.

[Anonymous No.3985777]

>>3985092
This is my nigga right here.

If you want tacos op, make your own tortillas, the bag of flour and thing of lard it takes to make them goes a long way, you can also use the flour to make dumplings.

I also always look to the meat sections and see what's the cheapest per pound, looking closely in the marked down section for shit that's gonna go bad soon.
Got a huge amount of pork for 75 cents a pound, portioned that shit out and froze it.

[Anonymous No.3985788]

As a poor-fag who eats a lot of beans/rice/lentils and a shit-ton of soup.
How can I get some texture variation in the mix?
Everything's soft and I find myself craving potato chips and snack food just because I miss the crunch.

[Anonymous No.3985808]

>>3985788
old bread fried in butter to make croutons

mite b cool

[Anonymous No.3985825]

When you shop, think about what meals youre buying for. dont just buy loaves of bread and cheese without reason. bananas, oatmeal, eggs, yogurt for breakfast. salad greens with baked chicken or pasta you can pre-prep to take with you for lunch. chicken, pork, beans, rice, veggies for dinner. this will help you cut out any snacking and put more of a purpose to everything you buy.

[Anonymous No.3985846]

>I live on minimum wage and ... I'm having troubles eating

wat?? I live on minimum wage and I have no problem whatsoever eating sufficiently (and healthily with plenty fruit and veg). In fact I could easily afford to be eating far more than I do if I wanted to

how expensive is food where you live OP?? are you working full-time or part-time?? are you paying out a shitload in debt every week/month??

there really isn't any advice I can give without going all Captain Obvious on it or just echoing a bunch of other's posts, so I won't bother

[Anonymous No.3985958]

jesus christ op. is that your only meal of the day? If not then you need to cut back a lot.
I eat a from .5-1 lb of meat but I only eat once a day.