Frugal

I riff on basically the same thing all week.

1 meal is (at least mostly) a salad with whatever fresh is lying around + dressing + cheese

My other daily meal is brown rice (genmai), some kind of sauce (usually like sriracha), cheese, and whatever veg + protein is handy/cheap. I sometimes replace the rice with potato (baked but occasionally mashed) or corn tortillas. If your body is nice enough not to hate you, tons of wheat options there.

In the colder months, I might also throw in the odd batch of chili + cornbread (sub wheat flour for rice flour, but you probably don't need to do this) or some other soup/stew.

I think learning templates is much more important than recipes since you can just riff on them with whatever you have to hand that's within the budget. Recipes are good for the more fiddly things or treats.

Edit: I bulk buy and freeze chicken (sometimes whole but usually thighs), pork, seafood, fish, etc. and supplement with local seafood when seasonal and tofu. I also buy lots of frozen veggies in bulk which, in most places these days, are better in terms of flavor and nutrition than canned. I also grow what I can, but I realize that's not going to be possible for everyone at significant amounts (though growing some greens and herbs is probably doable by almost anyone; I've also grown chilis in PET soda bottles in windows).

Edit2: full disclosure: once a week we grab something take-out from the grocery, usually sushi since we love it and basically everything else runs afoul of my wheat issues.

1. Look at the grocery ad and pick one or two items on sale that you can use to cook a meal you'll enjoy.
2. Add all of the ingredients to your cart.
3. Write down all of the ingredients that won't be used entirely by your meal. For instance, maybe you need to buy milk but will only use 1C, or will buy an onion but only use half of it.
4. Create a different meal that includes those ingredients. Add any additional ingredients you'll need to your cart.
5. Repeat steps 3-4 until you have a week's worth of meals with zero waste.

Example: I want to make tacos, so I add:

• Ground turkey.
• Tortillas.
• Cheddar cheese.
• Romaine lettuce.
• Red onion.

I'll have plenty of everything left over except the ground turkey. Maybe my 2nd meal will be a salad to use the romaine, red onion, and cheddar. But I would have to buy chicken breast and garlic bread.

So I'll have tortillas, chicken breast, and garlic bread left. Maybe I can make spaghetti w/ garlic bread and chicken caesar wraps.

Rinse and repeat.

For frugality you might try shopping based on what is discounted at the store, rather than based on a pre-made menu. Go with what you can buy for cheap and creatively put together meals from what you can source for free (e.g. work with your local food not bombs or dumpster diving folks) or for cheap (what is discounted with coupons, clearance items, defective food, etc.).

Menus can still be a good idea, for example having a set list of items to buy helps me avoid over-buying or buying foods I don't need.

I keep an excel spreadsheet of recipes. Every sheet focuses on a single ingredient, either produce or protien. I see what's on sale each week and look for recipes that utilize those ingredients.

I buy a couple types of meat, usually chicken and ground beef, 2-3 starches, generally rice, pasta, and potatoes, plus salad ingredients and 2-3 locally-farmed fresh veggies. Then I rotate which ingredients I use each day, so we don't eat the same things two days in a row. I don't plan ahead how I'll cook ingredients or what seasonings I'll use, I just do what I feel like at the time.

Sorted food does a free trial. They have a bunch of meal packs. 3 dishes scaled to however many people you're cooking for that share ingredients. The app even has a grocery list. You could go through, grab the recipes and grocery lists that look good, then cancel. I believe one of their goals is to save you enough money that it's worth paying them.

I'm a food nerd, and use it weekly. Mostly for the grocery list. Pick a pack that sounds good, grab the grocery list, and know that I have 3 meals worth of food. The recipes I've tried have been solid, but mostly I just look at the ingredients that are sitting there and make something. It forces me into verity, instead of just grabbing the same shit at the store every time.

It can help to have designated meal types for each day. E.g. taco Tuesdays, pasta Wednesdays, etc.

Doesn’t have to be the same meal each week but narrows down the choices making decisions and planning easier.

Try cooking Indian and East Asian foods. Very affordable and healthy. Many don’t even require meat. If you get rice get easy Asian rice not south Asian, ie long grain. Personal opinion, it tastes much better.

Super easy meal is Japanese curry and rice. Get the premade curry packs that you put into your vegetable and water mix.

Fried rice is a good easy one.

Fun new snack I’ve done recently is seasoned then baked chickpeas.

Always have an easy breakfast and sandwich supplies. I just tomato or cucumber sandwiches.

I think the best thing is just to eat similar meals each week but can switch things up.