CHEAP MEALS

Graze snacks! You get four snacks in each box to eat like seeds, dried fruit, pretzel sticks, etc. They have over 90 options to choose from and they ship it to your house or work. They also have a calorie counter box if you're picky and that box has 50-150 calories in it per snack. Its only $6 a box and that includes shipping.

Graze snacks! You get four snacks in each box to eat like seeds, dried fruit, pretzel sticks, etc. They have over 90 options to choose from and they ship it to your house or work. They also have a calorie counter box if you're picky and that box has 50-150 calories in it per snack. Its only $6 a box and that includes shipping.

Buying fancy boxes of expensified foods when asking for cheap meals? As far as I can tell, those are tiny servings of snacks, only some of the dried fruit ones are big enough to even be counted as a whole serving of fruit. Pretty sure OP can get 4 servings of fruit for a lot less than $6.49

Graze snacks! You get four snacks in each box to eat like seeds, dried fruit, pretzel sticks, etc. They have over 90 options to choose from and they ship it to your house or work. They also have a calorie counter box if you're picky and that box has 50-150 calories in it per snack. Its only $6 a box and that includes shipping.

That code looks eerily like your username. I have a feeling you financially benefit from people using that code to buy a box. Especially when going to that link:
"isn't Maitreyee great?
their code means you start with your first and fifth boxes free"

Advertising is not allowed on the forums. Especially when you are financially benefitting from it.

I feel like I tell everyone about budgetbytes, but I'm going to share again because that site is amazing! She is really good at creating recipes that cost not lots.

Plain brown rice, hard legumes that you have to cook -chickpeas, lentils etc you get more and they're less than buying one can full (you can even get creative and make yummy sprouted hummus) find the spices you like (I prefer basil, garlic and ginger) Learn to love water so you can avoid buying anything to add to it or flavored waters/juices etc. Oats. For fruits and veg consider frozen. Also convenience food like already chopped mushrooms/lettuce etc. buy a whole mushroom and chop it up, buy a bag of carrots instead of baby carrots and chop them up, buy a whole head of lettuce instead of the ones in a bag etc.

Learn how to read price labels at stores on food. http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings/page/compare-unit-prices-best-buy

For food you may use a lot of consider a bulk shopping/freezing when there are sales or check out different papers you get for sales prices. Also consider using coupons.

Snacks - Air popped popcorn with 2T of shakey cheese. Grapes/Celery/carrots/oranges with inexpensive nuts.

Fattier cuts of chicken (leg quarters are cheapest), beans, and whatever vegetables are 99c/lb or less. In this area it's usually peas, broccoli, carrots, and corn, sometimes spinach and celery.

The cool thing about leg quarters is that then you can boil up the bones to make the broth to cook your beans in to make them tasty.

Pasta, rice, lentils, eggs, sale items and bulk meat; that's how the rest of the world has been getting by.

Honestly, the quickest way to cut your grocery budget in half is to eat leftovers and not be too worried about repetition. I probably eat the same breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks at least 3-5 times a week. The trick is to find meals you love.

Also, learn about cuts of meat; for example, chicken breasts are almost always twice as expensive as thighs.

Dried beans, chickpeas, and lentils are staples around here. As are rice and oats. I get most of them in bulk and put them in airtight 5 gallon buckets. We make things like chili, lentil and veggie stew, and hummus.

We typically only buy chicken breasts, but 2 breasts feed my family of 4 without a problem. I put 2 chicken breasts into the crockpot with a jar of salsa, a bag of frozen corn, and some pre-cooked black beans (from the dried beans we have). It cooks about 6 hours on low. When it's done I remove the chicken and shred it then put it back and mix it up. it goes good on rice or in a tortilla. We always have leftovers for DH to take to work, and the kids to take to school.

DH likes to take good salads with him, and we get a big container of mixed greens at Costco for under $4. Toss in carrots, cucumber, green onions, a handful of nuts (pistachio is a favorite), some sliced strawberries and a little crumbled feta... It's yummy.

When DH left his decent paying job so he could go back to school we took a solid 50% pay cut so watching sales, buying clearance meat for the deep freeze, and slowly stocking up on dried goods has been key in keeping our grocery bill in check.

Saving money on food is not my strong point but I've noticed I save plenty when I meal plan. Right now I'm having porridge for breakfast whereas before I would just graze and complain about being hungry then buy something at uni... (Don't do this). I'm slowly getting used to planning other parts of my meals.

Stocking up and shopping around is excellent advice too. Currently I go between two grocery stores - the local big chain and Aldi on different weeks depending on items. I know that paper goods like toilet paper and paper towel are cheaper at Aldi and I can buy meat in bulk there but fruits and vegetables are MUCH nicer at the local big chain.

The most important thing IMHO is to track your spending. Right off the batt sticking to a grocery budget probably isn't going to be a success every time especially if you're experimenting with foods like beans or soups that you might not normally eat and if you're not used to having one. Get yourself a spending tracker app (I like Wally) and a spreadsheet and track all your outgoings. I like Wally because it lets you view the totals for categories so I can see how much money my online clothes shopping and stationery habits cost me :-)

I'm a single mom and I'm all about the cheap but good for me.

I always check out coupon.com but don't print any coupons unless you would be buying that item anyway. They usually have great coupons on yogurt.

I shop our weekly ads. When split chicken breast go on sale for 99/lb I'll buy 4 or 5 packages (usually 2 in package for $2.50) and freeze them. And I meal plan around sale items. There is always meat, veggie, fruit on sale that I can work into my calorie plan. I live in a small community so it depends on where you live how many options you'll have to choose from. I have very few choices...2 small grocery stores and a Wal-Mart.

I like simple recipes that are only 3-4 items. But, never underestimate a good seasoning. One of my favorites is McCormick BBQ.

Also find out how to properly store and keep items to last the longest. I find my bigger expense is waste if I don't take care of my fruits and veggies properly. I thinking over buying is a huge factor to sticking to budget thinking I'll eat it (or my daughter will) before it goes bad. And, it sometimes works out better for me to instead plan 2 or 3 trips a week to scatter out the fruit/veggies for the week.

And, figure out how many servings you can get from what you are buying. Turkey slices from the deli might be 4.99/lb or 5.99/lb, but if I get 1/2 pound and use 2 ounces in a tortilla I can still get my 4 snacks out of it.

Many people do it and you can to.

quaker 1 minute oats boiled in milk (i use nonfat, lactose free with calcium) with cinnamon, sweetened with stevia or whatever sweetener you use. it's super yummy, healthy and way cheap.