What foods do you buy that are less expensive, but taste good and are filling?

[sage2021]

What kinds of things do you eat during these trying times? When I go to make my list, I just can't think of anything. Please give me some ideas. Thank you!

[Massageman]

1. I use ground pork a lot. I just got some at $1.99/pound in the family size pack. Some of it I add spices to make my own "sausage". I pre-fry this, spread on a cookie sheet, freeze it, then break it out into 6-8 ounce baggies. Some of it I leave raw and just put about 13 ounces in a baggie: I'll one of these when a Hamburger Helper-type of recipe calls for a pound of ground beef. The pork doesn't shrink down as much.
2. When I can find ground beef, I'll add about 10% reconstituted TVP. It helps slow the cooking, and adds protein.
3. We take our charge card points in Domino pizza cards. We get the "two pizza $5.99 special". The two pizzas will last us for four meals.
4. We have a lot of "soup and salad" meals. I'll make up a big batch of soup- about 10-12 servings- ground turkey/pork, beans, shredded carrots, onions, celery, some par-cooked pasta, seasonings. Salads- lettuce base salad; tomato base caprese salad; potato salad; green bean and tomato with EVOO and red vinegar; ham or chicken salad (made with leftovers) for me, tuna salad for my wife.
5. I volunteer at a food pantry each week. We get about 50 banana boxes full of foods, plus about 200-300 pieces (packages) of bread each week. Even after giving a box of food, plus a bag of meats, a bag of bread, a dairy choice and a dessert or two, there is still enough for the volunteers to take some and then there is STILL some MORE left which we donate to a local charity's horse farm for the handicapped (horses can't eat avocados, or any thing from the onion family - onions, shallots, leeks or garlic, though). So each week I typically get lettuce and other salad veggies, apples/oranges/potatoes/avocados, a package or two of cheese, maybe some fresh pizza dough, and maybe a bread. Makes a big difference when on Social Security.
6. I make many of our foods from scratch. Example - Biscuits- 2 cup flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/3 cup cooking oil, 2/3 c milk. Mush together until it pulls into a ball. Roll out to o1/2" thick on floured board. Bake at about 400ºF, about 10 minutes. I like to make sausage gravy for the biscuits- 1 T fat, 1 T flour, make a quick roux. Whisk in 1 cup milk and some of my cooked pork, pepper, seasonings, let thicken up on low heat- voila - gravy. You can take the same biscuit dough, drop into boiling water for ten minutes and get dumplings, too.
7. Since I'm Bohemian, we'll take a can of sauerkraut, put in a saucepan with sliced Polish Sausage (from the day old rack at our local dollar store for 50¢ a pack) and some caraway seedand heat it through. Fermented foods helps fight COVID, and this meal is less than 70¢ a serving. Add a piece of fruit- done!
8. I will cook up a batch of barley from time to time. Make barley and bean salad, add it to meat to stretch that, add as an ingredient in almost any soup.
9. Quick easy-peasy-cheapy dessert - 1 can of apple filling ($1 at dollar store). Spread in pie pan. Mix together: 1/2 c oatmeal, 1/2 c brown sugar and a few Tablespoons of gently melted butter or margarine. Spread oatmeal mixture evenly on top. Bake 375ºF about 30 minutes or so. (Put a cookie sheet under the pie pan, JIC it bubbles over.) Sometimes I'll use a can of cherries or blueberries, top with a few apple slices and then the oatmeal topping for a change of pace.
10. I always hit the clearance racks at any store I visit. I hit the dollar store on Tuesdays: that's when they restock from after the weekend. follow/pm for more

[sage2021]

@Massageman thank you so much for all of your contributions! WOW, that's a lot thanks agay!

[Massageman]

Thanks for the MHO. Maybe I'll turn this into a MyTake

[FunkyMonkee]

Ramen noodles (I cook to packs at a time and load up the soup bowl with crushed saltines to fill me up. I eat all the noodles first, then pour the broth into a bowl of crackers and eat just the crackers, then put more crackers and broth in and eat the rest of that.)
Chef Boy-Are-Di (sp?) has ravioli for a buck a can at the Dollar Tree or there's Spaghetti-o's.
Spam & Rice-a-roni: Get a can of Treet (same as Spam but not as greasy), slice it down in 1/8" slices (I can usually get 11 slices), fry them in a skillet with melted butter in it, cook each side for about 15:00. pull out each slice and blot off the excess butter onto a paper towel folded in half, stack the slices up on your plate to keep them warm with each other, make the rice in the same pot while you eat the meat.
My life long fave: Swiss cheese sandwiches! 4 sheets of bread and mayo at least 5 slices of Swiss on each sandwich with a layer of mayo between each one. Chow down!
If you have hamburger, make meatloaf or stuffed peppers.
Or, try fast food: McBarnyard's Golden Starches, Major Grease's Edible Pork Surrogate, Col. Bucket's Chicken Blasphame, Arie's Whole-Beef Halves, Capt. Kirk's Vulcan Chicken Fingers will see to it you live long and prosper or, you could swing by Ceidro Willie's Engraved Donuts stand!

[sage2021]

@FunkyMonkee thank you for sharing your recipes with us. All of it sounds great! 🙂

[FunkyMonkee]

I can post more but they aren't exactly stuff you can buy cheap, under today's prices.

[Lliam]

Spaghetti. I heard that there is a shortage of duram wheat coming up. So grab what you can. You can store it forever, cook as much or little as you need for a meal, and use it to make all kinds of dishes.

My wife just whipped up a dish tonight made of a variety of chopped greens (some of which she grows), and grilled them up in garlic and butter, and tossed them into spaghetti.

Another thing that's really good is pasta with clam sauce, which is basically garlic, butter and canned clams over spaghetti.

So, I'd also recommend stocking up on canned clams.

Canned tuna and salmon are good to stock up on because they'll store forever.

Yams and potatoes store really well in a cool, dry and dark area

Beans (there are some delicious varieties) are an excellent thing to store in bulk, and so is rice.

[sage2021]

@Lliam thank you for so many great ideas 🙂

[Lliam]

De nada. :-)

[douride2]

I haven't changed my buying habits much these days. I still purchase what I like. Well as long as it's available.

[exitseven]

I have been buying a lot of store brands. Also I don't buy as much beef and eat more chicken.

[888theGreat]

Ramon Noodles with cheese , but they claim they are hard on you.

[TsAubreyKate]

Walmart has this cereal
Fruit and Yogurt Awake it’s cheap but it’s so good

[Iron_Man]

Burger King tombstone pizza on sale Etc. etc.

[WhatTheHeckkkk]

Pastas, potatoes.

[ItsMeElliana]

Instant noodles ima say. also with egg and cheese