Rice cooker

Bought a nice one (zojirushi brand that has the little elephant), but I’ve read most rice cookers work well. I use it so often for different meals and it’s been a game changer and money saver. Making rice is so simple now, and an easy cheap way to supplement a meal.

Rice eggs is a staple for us now: Make some rice, and when there’s about 5 minutes left on time, throw in some scrambled eggs for a tasty protein.

1. Buy a rice cooker. Not only does it make rice so much more convenient, you can make meals directly in it.

2. Get a deep freezer, its useful for the points below. Honorable mentions go to a label printer and a vacuum bag machine.

3. Buy in bulk, but repack your bulk goods as soon as you buy them. I use cleaned, cylindrical PET bottles but you can use vaccum bags, glass jars (purchased or repurposed) or food storage buckets. The reason you repack them right away is because bulk goods aren’t as clean, sterile and impervious to atmosphere as you might think. There can be microscopic insect eggs in them, mould spores which will activate with the slightest moisture, and the packaging is often damaged in microscopic ways. I like to use PET bottles, washed, dried, and then pack an oxygen absorber into each one. Then I fill it with rice, small pasta, dried beans, chick peas, grains, lentils, etc. All these dry goods are way cheaper to buy in large qty. Once packed, I seal them, freeze them for 48 hrs, thaw them for 72 hrs to allow any dormant eggs to hatch, then freeze again for another 48 hrs. The oxygen absorber will collapse the PET bottle around the dried goods so you get a satisfied hiss when you open it. This way, when you get some rice, you’re only opening a single 1 liter bottle which might take a month or so to use up rather than a 25kg bag of rice which will take a year or more to use up while it gathers insects, dust, rodents, mould, moisture, etc. Stored in PET bottles, these dried goods will last for 20 years or more. I also store sugar and salt this way, but I don’t use an oxygen absorbers because these things don’t really expire at all.

4. You can buy bulk fresh vegetables (and even meat) and process it yourself. For meat, buy in bulk and portion it out into vacuum bags or ziploc bags. For fresh vegetables, buy them when they are inexpensive (usually when they are approaching the end of their shelf life, or from farmers market. I get a ton of very cheap veg from asian grocers near me) One of my favorite things to buy is butternut pumpkin for very cheap. I roast a couple of them, cut in halves, for a few hours. Then scoop out the flesh with a spoon, put it in ziploc bags, and freeze it into flat plates. When frozen, I break it up into chunks and keep them in a big tupperware in the freezer. I use them to thicken stews, pasta sauces, and make really quick soups. You can do something similar with any vegetable, whether you’re blanching them and freezing broccoli florets, or making apple sauce, or diced carrots. This also makes meal prep much easier.

5. Make more soup. Soup is really easy to make, but is infinitely variable. I have about 10-12 that I rotate through, but even if you’re just trying to use up leftovers or deal with wilty veg, you can make a soup

6. Learn how to make a bread that you like. I’m not suggesting you make loaves of whitebread, but you should try making a few different kinds of bread and find one that you like making and like eating. My go-to is foccaica, because its simple, easy, no-knead, and its not boring, it has salt and olive oil in it which makes any sandwich tasty. I make one a week, it takes about 30 minutes of actual work, and lasts me a long time. Sometimes I make mini loaves and use them for sandwiches and hamburgers. If you make your own bread with plain flour, which is the cheapest kind, it will cost you way less than storebought bread.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the label printer is for labelling all your repacked food, meal prepped food, and vacuum bags with the date of purchase, date of packing, and expiry date. Super helpful.

I don’t buy stupid shit like Starbucks. You can get better “coffee” much cheaper. I buy half a cow from a farmer every year. It’s roughly $3.00/lb, but that includes 50lbs of ground beef, a couple dozen steaks, roasts, ect. All in I spend about $500 and it lasts 4 of us a year and it’s about $2,000+ in meat were in buy it at a store.

1. Don’t eat out.
2. Buy staples and spices and learn to make tasty dishes from them. Pretty much every culture on this planet has figured out super tasty and nutritious dishes from the staples that are available to them. Learn from them. (This will take time, as in it’s a long term goal, but it’s so worth it.)
3. Don’t buy processed products of any kind. Pre-processing terribly bad ingredients for convenience is how the food industry takes your money. Buy real food.
4. If you can, don’t buy meat. If you can’t, buy as little as possible. It will be better for you, for your wallet, for the animals, and for the planet. But also don’t buy any preprocessed meat replacement products (see point 3).

Dry goods. Bulk bags of dry rice, beans, lentils, corn grits. That stuff will last forever, and are healthy!

If you and some friends/family can pool your money together and afford it, buy a whole entire cow. Parcel out the meat, and freeze it. My family has been doing this for a long time now, and a whole cow, split between 3 households, lasts a little over a year.

Get into canning, pickling, etc. Don’t let the fresh produce you buy at the store, or grow in a garden, just flounder in your fridge, preserve it!

I can a lot of salsa over the summer. Its easy, and it’s easy to make in big batches that last awhile.

I eat out less, I order in less, I’m not going to events as much. I see the increases and it sucks but I’m fortunate enough that I can handle it. For now.

The restaurant prices are the real shockers to me. I’m trying to find some places to grab a burger for two in Toronto; not just a burger joint but a proper restaurant. I’m looking at something like $30 per person average before tax and tip, without fries. Lol. Like excuse the fuck out of me but… dining in it is.

Investing, assuming you have some spare room for storage.

I own 2x50 lb bags of rice, 25lbs of dry black beans, 40 lbs of pizza flour, 50lbs of masa flour, 100lbs of AP flour. Bulk pasta.

At those bag sizes, the cost per serving is tiny.

Rebag all the flours, freeze the individual bags, then store them in Beren’s cans. I fit most of that in 2 cans.

Buy and freeze protein when it’s on sale.

Learn how to make pancake/waffle mix, pizza crust. bread, chicken breading.

Shop for perishables at Aldi or Lidl, Walmart if need be.

You save so much on non-perisable bulk that you can start out with one or two things and slowly grow you pantry to the point there you can afford to bulk buy easily, but you must save for it and reinvest.

For dinners and lunches, buy grains like rice, bulgar, farro in bulk. International grocery stores sell big bags on the cheap. Buy protein in bulk at a store like Aldi. Simple meals are 2 parts grain, one part protein, one part vegetable. Sautee or roast and sauce.

Breakfast, buy oats. Lots of ways to do oatmeal/hot cereal.

Cooking for yourself is the cheapest way to eat. My wife and I spend around $120 per week for all the meals for a family of 4 because we can cook.

I feel pretty lucky in this regard, in that I’ve got family members who work at a grocery store, and they let me bum off their employee discount. It’s only good for store-brand items though, and it only works while they’re off the clock, so it takes some coordination for me to use it. Stacks with coupons though, which also helps.

Buying in bulk can absolutely be helpful, if you can shop at wholesalers or warehouse clubs, and take advantage of coupons and sales. Wouldn’t recommend doing this for perishables though, if you’re only buying for yourself. Might also be annoying trying to find space for everything at home.

Dumpster diving.

You’ll be distressed to find out how much shit your local supermarket throws out.

When I had no money and no time, I relied heavily on a rotation of the following meals, with current 2026 costs in my expensive city:

• Chili Mac: 1 lb dried pasta ($1.25 for 1600 calories, 54g protein) boiled in salty water (let’s call salt and water basically free), a can of chili ($2.50 for 540 calories, 32g protein), 2 oz of shredded cheese ($1 for 220 calories, 12g protein), 0.25 oz of hot sauce ($0.25 for flavor but negligible calories/protein). Total: $5, 2360 calories, 98g protein.
• Stir fried chicken and broccoli on rice: 1 lb chicken thigh ($4.50, 600 calories, 87g protein), 1 lb broccoli ($1.50, 150 calories, 9g protein), 1 lb rice ($1.50 for 1600 calories, 32g protein), $0.50 of condiments/seasoning. Total: $8, 2350 calories, 128g protein.
• Ramen with enough stuff to make it not suck: 1 package of Shin Ramyun ($2 for 500 calories, 10 g protein), 2 eggs ($0.30, 150 calories, 12g protein), 4 oz frozen edamame ($2, 90 calories, 9g protein), 2 oz scallions ($0.20, let’s round down to 0 calories and 0g protein). Total: $4.50, 740 calories, 31g protein.

pushing my bank account to its limit lol

Bean beans n more beans

While pretty much everyone here is taking a moment to talk about beans, peas are higher in a lot of nutrients and a lot easier to digest (I think they are tastier to). You can often get them frozen in bulk if you don’t want to deal with dried and they can disappear into a lot of recipes.

Consider backing up your rice dishes with peas if you aren’t a bean fan.

Aldi and Lidl.