I have a post discussing 11 affordable foods to buy on a tight budget. Mark and I went to Costco yesterday and nearly choked over the price of steaks. We went there for other items, but people grabbed those packaged ribeye steaks like no tomorrow.
Yes, they were probably going to barbecue them for the weekend—I get it—but the price for three steaks was $91.00. They were beautiful and marbled throughout, but I couldn’t believe they were over $21.00 per pound.
I could almost feel my cholesterol going up just looking at those beauties! There is nothing better than a juicy, tender barbecued steak.
Unless it costs $30.00 or less per package and I get to cook it myself, it won’t happen. So, today, let’s get real, my friends. Unless we have a cow, a pig, or some chickens in our yard, we may need to cut back on meat.
I applaud those of you who raise your meat. I would love to do that, but it’s not realistic in my current stage of life and location.
There are still options to properly feed our family, slash our grocery bill, and eat healthy at the same time. Of course, having a garden is a bonus. Then, we can supplement our grocery budget with fresh vegetables right out of our back door.
I love my Aerogarden and now have four of them. In case you missed this post, Growing Fresh Lettuce Indoors Year-Round, I still have lettuce growing in the unit, and we eat a salad almost every night with tomatoes from our garden or the local farmer’s market.
My Favorite Pans for These Items
11 Foods To Buy On A Cheap Budget
1. Rice
Do you love a bowl of sticky rice? Mark and I eat rice almost every night because we love it. It’s easy to make a big batch ahead of time and bag the leftovers into a few meals for the week. We make fried rice and rice bowls with vegetables, topping them off with teriyaki sauce. Open a can of mandarin oranges; that rice will be even better with those small oranges.
This week, we made a chicken and broccoli casserole and served it over rice. With the chicken breast meat, broccoli, and white rice, we had enough food for three dinners and a lunch. A meal full of protein, nutrition from the veggies, and rice to make you feel full. I call that a budget-friendly approach to planning meals for the week.
Note that I cook with white rice. Brown rice tastes great, but it doesn’t have the long shelf life of the white option.
You can make burritos with rice and beans for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. That’s why I always stock salsa, lots of it. Tacos are excellent, especially when paired with some rice added to the beans. It will stretch your budget, and your family will enjoy a different flavor.
2. Beans/Lentils
I love beans, whether they’re dry or in cans. My favorite beans are pinto beans, followed by black beans, and lentils taste great in soups and stews. We can make lentil tacos, bean tacos, or a combination of beans and lentils into tostadas. If you missed this post, Lentils: Everything You Need to Know.
Beans are one of my pantry staples. I buy more in bulk when they go on sale during case lot sales at my local grocery store. That seems to be held most often in the last summer or early fall. Other canned foods are also available during these sales, which helps save on food when you’re on a tight budget.
3. Oats
We can use oats for a bowl of hot oatmeal, add some of our dehydrated fruits, and our bellies will be full! I used to add oatmeal to my hamburgers to stretch the patties further. And who doesn’t love oatmeal muffins, right?
Most whole grain foods are fairly inexpensive, have a decent shelf life, are flexible for meal preparation, and are healthy for your family. Legumes are also a healthy and budget-friendly option.
4. Pasta
Pasta is another staple you’ll find in my pantry. When I had kids at home, we had spaghetti once a week, pasta salad another night, and casseroles with pasta. My homemade soup always had pasta in it. It would have been elbow macaroni, spaghetti noodles, or lasagna back then. Life was good with pasta, spaghetti sauce, and grated cheese.
When you think of all the varieties of pasta available on the shelves when grocery shopping, they are a great choice for meal planning and a cost-effective way to get many of the vitamins and minerals we all need.
5. Bananas
If there was ever a great deal on fruits, it’s bananas, right? Mark and I pile them high weekly when we pick up milk at the grocery store for his cold cereal. I’m sure people wonder why we buy so many, but I also like them in smoothies and on ice cream. Life is good with a bowl of ice cream and bananas. They’ve got to be one of the cheapest fruit options out there.
Costco, Walmart, and Smiths sell them for about $.49 per pound all year long. We love apples of all kinds, but most of those start at $1.59 and above, when in season. It seems like an apple costs about $1.00 each or more. Bananas are our go-to fruit, providing valuable fiber and its related health benefits. They make a great snack, especially compared to candy or calorie-laden crackers.
6. Spinach
The great thing about spinach is you can get a HUGE container of organic baby spinach for about $3.00 – $4.00, which goes far. We like it in soups, quiches, salads, and smoothies. Just think of all the nutrients in that spinach!
I understand that some people on blood thinners can’t have spinach, at least that’s my understanding. This is my very favorite spinach salad, The Best Spinach Salad
7. Eggs
Mark and I grew up eating bacon and eggs for breakfast. There wasn’t a lot of bacon, but we had more eggs, and our breakfasts were excellent. I’m unsure when it changed, but now it’s scrambled eggs or quiches with some leftover ham or bacon. Or it may be no meat—just homemade bread with butter that works with scrambled eggs.
We used to pay $12.00 for the five dozen package at Costco, that’s less than $.20 per egg to get all the health benefits of this great product. So many recipes call for eggs, so you can buy a very inexpensive recipe ingredient and know you’re stretching your food budget dollars in healthy ways.
Now, I buy eggs from my neighbor for $5.00 a dozen, and they are the freshest eggs on the planet. Or I trade my lettuce for her eggs; either way, we both win!
8. Peanut Butter
What’s better than a peanut butter and jam sandwich? Did you notice I didn’t say peanut butter and jelly? I like jams with chunks of fruit; that’s how I roll. We’ve started buying smaller jars of peanut butter and jam since our family has shrunk to two people, and we want the jams to stay fresh once the container is opened.
I remember raising our girls, and we bought #10 cans of peanut butter; I miss those days. I wonder if they still sell #10 cans of peanut butter these days.
9. Canned Meat
Do you love tuna or chicken salad sandwiches? We add mayo or Miracle Whip to the can of drained meat and mix it up. If you have bread and butter pickles, it’s the best meal ever. We usually add some of our favorite chips, too. Mark loves those with a BBQ flavor!
Canned meats have a decent shelf life and can be cost-effective when purchased as part of the case lot sales event. Tuna is great for us, and we avoid the more expensive canned seafood options like salmon. If you haven’t tried this tuna that Harry recommended, you need to. By signing up for their newsletter, you’ll get access to great sales and the best tuna I have ever tasted. Natural Catch Seafoods
10. Frozen Vegetables
It’s awesome when I see the mid-week ads in the mailbox show frozen vegetables for $1.00 a bag. You can keep them in the freezer or dehydrate them if you have a dehydrator.
They are great as side dishes or when the dehydrated veggies are added to a pot of soup or stew. One of my favorite frozen vegetables is chopped onions. When I want to make tacos, sloppy joes, or soup, the chopped onions are ready to go—no slicing, chopping, or watery eyes.
11. Flour
Today, I want to ask people to teach their kids and grandkids how to make bread, biscuits, tortillas, pancakes, and even sourdough bread or pizza. I promise that life is good when you can make your bread and related food items.
I prefer bread flour over all-purpose flour. I make bread most often, and it works in other recipes calling for flour. If you have wheat and a wheat grinder, you can also make your own flour and save money.
All of my recipes are no-fail. If you have fresh ingredients, YOU CAN MAKE bread! In case you missed this post, How To Make My No-Fail Homemade Bread
11 Foods To Buy On A Cheap Budget
Final Word
I hope you enjoyed today’s 11 foods to buy on a cheap budget. Let me know if you have any ideas, and I’ll add them to this post. It’s scary how much food prices have risen, and we need to help each other save money whenever possible.
Is it the weather? Is it because the farmers lack people to pick the produce? Is it a water shortage (drought) or the truckers who cannot deliver the goods? I’m still not sure why we are seeing prices spike right now.
It’s all about teamwork. If we have a broken link, the food chain and everything else become ineffective. Please keep stocking up and teaching your kids and grandkids to cook from scratch. It’s a much-needed skill. May God bless this world, Linda
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