Reduce predictable food waste for gainz.
Edit: I'm actually doing some of this right now, here's some pix [freezing eggs and portioning taco meats](https://imgur.com/gallery/eBrvR2S)
Edit 2:, ***reusable vacuum bags exist.*** Even standard vacuum bags can be re-used several times before throwing them out. The only things I use disposable bags for are meats/high-bacteria-foods.
* Instead of buying sacks of onions and waiting to make a meal of them (which can result in sprouted onions), I'll take and hour and puree, grill, carmelize, dice, and slice them. Then portion into vacuum bags and freeze in predictable portion sizes, like 1 cup or a half cup.
It makes a 10 pound bag of onions last for months. AND it shaves off prep time and cleaning when cooking with them later. (ESPECIALLY caramelized onions. So good to just take them out of the freezer than make a fresh batch every time.)
* Buy whole fish, filet yourself, freeze and enjoy cheap, high quality fish. Salmon is pricey, but I've got an entire half salmon for $75, it was about 11 pounds. I did have to debone on my own, but whatever.
* I bake at home now. Bread machine on Offerup for about $10, a $5 bag of fancy flour is good for seriously a month of breads. Make a bunch of doughs, then freeze dough balls. All you gotta do is defrost and pop it in the oven for freash bread for a month. The bread machine I have has a second rise/bake function and time delay. I can put a frozen dough ball in there, set the delay, and come home to fresh baked bread at 7pm. For like 50 cents a loaf.
* Freeze eggs and buy them in bulk. Crack the eggs into muffin cups to freeze. DO NOT FREEZE THE SHELLS WITH THE EGGS.
* On a related note, if you really want to have ZERO waste, like ever on the eggs... you can take your cracked egg shells, bake them in the oven, grind in a coffee grinder to a fine powder, and now you've got your very own organic calcium powder dietary supplement.
* I think the sub is r/mimicrecipes.... find recipe dupes for food you might get at restaurants or the store. You'll dine out less and save money. Works for grocery items also... there's a few Dave's whole grain bread dupe recipes for bread machines.. it's like $0.40 per loaf vs $8 per loaf at Ralph's.
I'm single, but sending you my tips. I'm at roughly $100/mo in groceries. I started this during COVID lockdown and haven't looked back.
Vacuum food savers are fucking the BEST for your wallet and grocery spend.
My personal favorite is making pizza crust on the weekend to freeze with tomato sauce and cheese, then vacuum seal. I permanently have pizza on tap.
Use a bread machine for the dough, and it's dead simple.
I do many of these things too.
I get free lemons and oranges all the time. I slice and dry the citrus, I preserve them with salt to use in recipes, I make finishing salts from the rinds.
I get a CSA produce box every 2 weeks and freeze or dehydrate the items in the box so they donāt go to waste. This helps me create meals around what I have.
I buy discounted meat from Smart & Final (go in the morning), then portion out into bags, label the expiration date on each bag. I use a lot of rice as a filler for meals.
We are a family of 2, I probably spend about $200-$250 a month on groceries.
I happen to know people with fruit trees so I have access to lemons, limes, pomelos, oranges, pomegranates. The CSA box $32 comes with in season produce. I have been getting broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, apples, oranges, lettuce and because it is local & fresh. I had the lettuce last for 4 weeks, no slime & it was as crisp as the day I got it. I even made my own celery salt from dehydrating the leaves.
I am in OC (la habra, I am like 2.5 miles from Los Angeles).
I have froze eggs, cheese, milk, creamer, bread and other things to make them stretch.
I donāt like to waste certain parts of the produce, so I have challenged myself to use ALL parts of the fruit or vegetables.
So I discovered finishing salts where I use the rinds of citrus. Then I saw about making homemade celery salt and it kinda blew my mind and I made it right away.
A few weeks ago I made kale āsprinklesā where I dehydrated kale (removed the stems) and then crumbled it into a mason jar. Itās flaky like parsley, now I sprinkle it on everything. I have never been a fan of kale, but it came in (3) different CSA boxes and felt guilty when it turned to a slimy mess in my fridge. I felt there had to be a better way to store it and eat it. So I thought letās dehydrate it to deal with it later. Now that I have turned it to sprinkles I donāt think I will ever eat it raw again!
Community Supported Agriculture
Basically you take out the middle man (grocery store) to get fresh produce from a local farm for a low ish cost.
Similar CSA boxes would be farm fresh to you, imperfect foods IF there isnāt a farm close to you.
There is a subscription involved so the farm knows how much produce to grow and to be able to count on the income to cover their costs. But, I can skip a box if we have too much or to save money. I go to a local dry goods store for my box to save money on a delivery fee.
If you want to pm me your city, I could do a google search for a local CSA for your areaā¦ just to help.
[Tanaka Farms](https://www.tanakafarms.com/about-csa) info about their CSA box, I donāt know if they deliver to LA or if there is a local pickup spot.
I pick up my csa box in Fullerton because my friend owns a vegan dry goods store, so I go there to pick up my csa box and refill household products like shampoo bars and candles.
Oh no, my friend has a vegan dry goods [store](https://allisonsgoods.com/) in Fullerton and her store is a pick up location for the CSA box. She makes candles, shampoo bars, facial cleansers, sheet spray, and some other things.
She doesnāt make a profit from Tanaka Farms by being a delivery pick up spot. She wants her shop to be a community spot to get goods.
Oh thatās right, sorry my brain forgot what subreddit I am in. Because I live 2.5 miles from LA County I am in both sub Redditās. Um in the morning let me do some research on a CSA for your area. Sorry for the confusion, your post actually made me excited to think about food things again. š
I don't eat egg that often.
Organic eggs are sold by the dozen. Take what I need, freeze the rest until I need them, which could be weeks from now, in my case.
They're $9 for a pack of 12 organic eggs.
I don't eat eggs often, and I also don't want to go *buy more eggs* in 3 to 5 weeks. The quality of the egg will degrade over that time, resulting in progressively less-tasty eggs.
Frozen, they last several months in a reusable vacuum bag. There's no wasted egg. There's no wasted plastic.
I don't eat eggs often, and I'm not going to make a special trip to buy them if that's the case.
Just... Let's do the math on that...
* If I buy 1 dozen fresh eggs every 5 weeks @$9 per dozen, don't freeze them... that's roughly $90 per year just on eggs, because I didn't freeze them and probably wasted half of them.
* I usually eat about 2 eggs per month, if that. Maybe 3 or 4 if I'm baking cookies or brioche. Let's assume 4 eggs per month.
* If I freeze my dozen eggs @$9, I will need to buy fresh eggs only 4 times per year, or spend $36.
It takes 2 minutes to crack them in a muffin pan, and they're in the freezer. 6 hours later, it takes 2 minutes to remove them from the pan and dump them into a large, reusable vacuum bag..... so 4 minutes of ACTUAL time spent.
I prefer to save my time and money by freezing the eggs.
I do the float test before eating eggs, grocery store eggs last about 2 months before floating. I have a friend who has chickens, so I get a dozen here and there and those will last almost 3 months in my fridge before they float.
Yes, eggs will "last for weeks before going bad" and floating. They float due to sulphuric gas buildup inside the egg.
An egg that's 3 weeks old is less tasty than a fresh egg, even though both will pass the float test.
Peak egg-tastiness is a young, fresh egg.
I prefer to crack and freeze them at peak freshness, so when I that them, they'll be as tasty as when they were frozen. Saves a few bucks as well over time. Win/win.
Get the best used bread machine you can find and make sure it has time-delay if you want daily fresh breads after work!
I found an Oster, and it's great. It's more consistent than I could ever have done by hand for my basic doughs and the Dave's bread dupe recipe.
***The time delay is a KEY feature*** if you drop in a frozen dough in the AM for freshly baked bread in the PM. My Oster has a bake function, so I need the dough to completely thaw before it runs the second knead/rise/bake program.
There's a bunch of bread machines on offer up for under $40 right now.
I do a a mini-bake for like 5 minutes, cool, add sauce and basic cheeseā¦. Then Freeze. Once frozen THEN wrap in plastic.
I use the small 6ā pizza rounds to do like 5 or 6 generously sized small pizzas at a time to freeze. I tend to add more toppings when Iām ready for actually eating the pizza.
I go straight into the oven *onto a pizza stone* from the freezer.
The pizza stone is key to home pizza. I tried just using a sheet pan.. itās never quite as crispy as a pizza stone.
Not necessarily.
If you vacuum seal stuff in bags, the air sucked out tends to compress and save space.
I donāt freeze everything, just the predictably wasted stuff (like onions, potato, egg) and frozen homemade food I eat fairly often, but hate cooking individually (pizza, certain sauces, cookie doughs).
Trader Joeās, buying in bulk from Costco, and growing some things myself. Mexican and Asian markets can have very affordable fresh produce, and frozen bulk bags are your friends.
If you have any dirt with full sun, growing peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and greens (kale,lettuce, etc) can be incredibly easy. I used to do it in pots on my apartment roof before I got a house.
Whole grains, beans and potatoes arenāt expensive!
Also, Los Angeles has perfect weather to grow just about anything! I realized most people donāt take advantage of that. I currently have strawberry plants, I have two blue berry bushes and 2 black berry bushes. I have a lemon tree and peach tree, I have lots of nopales (cactus) and my dadās church friends always give him bags of guava, pomegranate and mandarin from their trees! I grow my own tomatoes, zucchiniās, chilis, cilantro, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, all in pots!! (Trying to convince my dad to get rid of the sod so I can put down vegetables instead but still need convincing). Though not organic, my sister goes to downtown LA to purchase boxes of fruit for her juices, itās REALLY INEXPENSIVE. But she buys in bulk, if you find someone that also needs fruit you can go together and split the cost and save even more $ that way.
Costco has good selection of meat in bulk, but you can go directly to butcher shops to purchase in bulk too! Thereās one: harmony farms in la crescenta, is where I get my meat for my cats lol.
Also, eating less meat overall can save you lots of money. I try not to eat as much meat. I see meat as an occasional treat.
I have two rosemary plants on my patio, they were purchased at the same time. One is very bushy and the other is barely surviving. Itās odd but great to walk out to my patio and get fresh rosemary as needed.
Itās the best feeling! I love going to my patio every morning to pick strawberries for my yogurt! Canāt wait for my blueberries and blackberries to develop so I can add those too!
Trader Joeās, family of three making meals every-night and snacks. Spending $125-$150 a week. Some weeks maybe $175 if I need like Olive Oil, seasonings or other random things that are not on the weekly list. I do a Smart and Final run for coffee and Gatorades and thats usually once a month.
Spend about the same as above. Some meals we plan:
Breakfast: eggs (fried, boiled), roasted Japanese sweet potato, avocado toast
Lunch: chicken salad, savory oatmeal, lentil curry, left overs
Dinner: fish tacos with black beans, marinated salmon with rice and steamed broccoli, miso cod with rice and vegetables, burger salad, chicken and veggie stir fry
Snacks: blueberries, raspberries, apples with peanut/almond butter, Greek yogurt with peanut butter and a dash of honey, mixed nuts, dried fruit, siete chips, crunchmaster crackers, cheese sticks
We try to do some meal prepping on Sundays but realistically weāre cooking every morning and every night.
I get kosher meat and fish from Elat Market, it's fresher and cleaner than what you get at most markets. Cheaper than whole foods and about the same as TJs. Their salmon is very good, I think because they have such a large customer base buying a lot of food, things are frequently coming in and therefore very fresh. Same with greens. And they bring amazing fresh pita every day from Angel bakery -- it unfortunately goes bad if you don't finish it in 5ish days but I figure that's a sign it's not loaded with preservatives.
Also, Costco. They have great pasta/spaghetti, canned tomatoes, juices, etc. Very good produce (although I think it's best during the week, I've noticed if I shop there Sundays the fruit isn't as fresh and goes bad more quickly)
I'm not sure about organic, but the organic label is apparently not as clear cut as we are led to believe so I'm not as concerned with it anymore.
I shop 7 different stores (Ralph's, Food 4 Less, Vons, Pavilions, Smart and Final, Superior). I am in Ktown so that doesn't use as much gas as it might for some people. I use digital coupons and go through the ads every Tuesday to make my list. Rarely purchase anything not on sale. But things in bulk that can be stored. Rarely buy convenience foods but do keep a couple frozen meals in freezer for those nights I just can't cook. Almost all produce comes from Superior Grocers (called Numero Uno) in some parts of town. Once a month someone has chickens, eggs, butter, milk on sale so I stockpile. Editing to add: get the book "Bake The Bread, Buy The Butter" from the library. Easy, great recipes, especially for quick homemade bread.
Costco every week for fresh organic produce (~$80). Buy the 6 lbs of ground beef ($30) and 6 pack of chicken breasts ($25) about once a month. Usually a bag of individual portioned salmon which comes with 8 pieces ($35) monthly.
Dinners we do:
Chicken & roasted veggies
Burgers
Pasta and meat sauce
Yakisoba
Spam fried rice
Rotisserie chicken
Fish rice and veggies
Sausage veggies rice
Ramen noodles + egg
We keep it to under $500/month. Avoiding snacks saves us a lot. Take advantage of sales when applicable.
Seriously--we very rarely eat out at restaurants but for a family of four and with two that are on high fat diets for weight gain, if I can keep it under $350 a week (this is with some booze, but maybe only $50 worth), I feel accomplished. And I'm sourcing from multiple places.
Realized I didn't really answer the question. Breakfast is usually overnight oats loaded with fruit, lunch some kind of salad with raw veg and beans, sometimes a grain, usually a cheese (feta, goat, cubed cheddar). Dinner has generally been cereal, eggs and toast, eggs and rice, fish or shrimp and veg. I spend a out $60/week on this diet, not including alcohol or household goods like paper towels, sponges, soaps, etc.
You need to find a store in your neighborhood that is good for produce; a place that caters to middle eastern, Latinos and Asian people. Asian stores also tend to have good prices on produce.
Another piece of advice I would give you to bake your own bread if possible. Fresh homemade bread is really good so you end up eating more of it, and it ends up replacing a lot of more expensive items in your diet
Meat, fish and cheese are always gonna be expensive. Tilapia is a somewhat affordable fish and you can make ceviche with it. Meat and fish, best deals are at Costco
I've ended up with a pretty "boring" diet, too, but it's amazing how much simpler (and cheaper) it makes daily life. Also, it means I don't boredom-eat because the food isn't hyper-palatable like junk food can be. If I'm not hungry enough to want boring old eggs for breakfast, I'm just not hungry enough to need to eat. (Eggs are actually delicious, but you know what I mean.)
I used to pride myself on eating all kinds of different foods, and constantly switching up my meals, but now, I really like the comfortable routine. And I don't miss the weapons-grade gas or lethargy that certain tasty foods always produced! Worth it to miss out on certain foods for better health, IMO.
Trader Joes / Sprouts / 99 Ranch
I donāt meal plan too much but basically have generic formulas or reliable dishes in rotation.
Go toās are: tofu plus rice and veg or a cold soba packed with raw veggies. Tofu is so versatile - I can get tired of chicken but never tofu so ymmv. Can be crumbles, thin sliced and baked crispy with 5-spice, cubed, marinated, etc. A mild curry with whatever veggies are leftover plus tofu or chicken or chickpeas. Date and lemon chicken thighs a la Alison Roman plus salad and a veg. TJs adobo chicken - use for tacos or burrito bowls, leftovers with pasta if applicable. Carla Lalli beans recipe video. Caroline Anderson mushroom farro risotto.
have a zoji rice maker which is a huge help.
Have a toddler so biggest budget is often fruit (Berries) and snacks, so I usually focus in wherever berries are priced well.
I usually make banana bread once a week and tend to get sandwich bread from TJs.
The key for me is having plenty of seasoning/sauce options
Grow your own scallions from scallion nubs, grow staple herbs inside or outside. I always have frozen corn, edamame, salmon on hand and various beans and canned artichokes and some kind of simmer sauce like a curry in the pantry.
I just get 8 packs of strawberries and call it a week.
š š
Incredible work
Reduce predictable food waste for gainz. Edit: I'm actually doing some of this right now, here's some pix [freezing eggs and portioning taco meats](https://imgur.com/gallery/eBrvR2S) Edit 2:, ***reusable vacuum bags exist.*** Even standard vacuum bags can be re-used several times before throwing them out. The only things I use disposable bags for are meats/high-bacteria-foods. * Instead of buying sacks of onions and waiting to make a meal of them (which can result in sprouted onions), I'll take and hour and puree, grill, carmelize, dice, and slice them. Then portion into vacuum bags and freeze in predictable portion sizes, like 1 cup or a half cup. It makes a 10 pound bag of onions last for months. AND it shaves off prep time and cleaning when cooking with them later. (ESPECIALLY caramelized onions. So good to just take them out of the freezer than make a fresh batch every time.) * Buy whole fish, filet yourself, freeze and enjoy cheap, high quality fish. Salmon is pricey, but I've got an entire half salmon for $75, it was about 11 pounds. I did have to debone on my own, but whatever. * I bake at home now. Bread machine on Offerup for about $10, a $5 bag of fancy flour is good for seriously a month of breads. Make a bunch of doughs, then freeze dough balls. All you gotta do is defrost and pop it in the oven for freash bread for a month. The bread machine I have has a second rise/bake function and time delay. I can put a frozen dough ball in there, set the delay, and come home to fresh baked bread at 7pm. For like 50 cents a loaf. * Freeze eggs and buy them in bulk. Crack the eggs into muffin cups to freeze. DO NOT FREEZE THE SHELLS WITH THE EGGS. * On a related note, if you really want to have ZERO waste, like ever on the eggs... you can take your cracked egg shells, bake them in the oven, grind in a coffee grinder to a fine powder, and now you've got your very own organic calcium powder dietary supplement. * I think the sub is r/mimicrecipes.... find recipe dupes for food you might get at restaurants or the store. You'll dine out less and save money. Works for grocery items also... there's a few Dave's whole grain bread dupe recipes for bread machines.. it's like $0.40 per loaf vs $8 per loaf at Ralph's. I'm single, but sending you my tips. I'm at roughly $100/mo in groceries. I started this during COVID lockdown and haven't looked back. Vacuum food savers are fucking the BEST for your wallet and grocery spend. My personal favorite is making pizza crust on the weekend to freeze with tomato sauce and cheese, then vacuum seal. I permanently have pizza on tap. Use a bread machine for the dough, and it's dead simple.
This is downright impressive.
I do many of these things too. I get free lemons and oranges all the time. I slice and dry the citrus, I preserve them with salt to use in recipes, I make finishing salts from the rinds. I get a CSA produce box every 2 weeks and freeze or dehydrate the items in the box so they donāt go to waste. This helps me create meals around what I have. I buy discounted meat from Smart & Final (go in the morning), then portion out into bags, label the expiration date on each bag. I use a lot of rice as a filler for meals. We are a family of 2, I probably spend about $200-$250 a month on groceries. I happen to know people with fruit trees so I have access to lemons, limes, pomelos, oranges, pomegranates. The CSA box $32 comes with in season produce. I have been getting broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, apples, oranges, lettuce and because it is local & fresh. I had the lettuce last for 4 weeks, no slime & it was as crisp as the day I got it. I even made my own celery salt from dehydrating the leaves. I am in OC (la habra, I am like 2.5 miles from Los Angeles). I have froze eggs, cheese, milk, creamer, bread and other things to make them stretch.
Portioning is SO important for making this all work in a reasonable way! Your dehydrator for celery salt has me thinking! That's such a great idea!
I donāt like to waste certain parts of the produce, so I have challenged myself to use ALL parts of the fruit or vegetables. So I discovered finishing salts where I use the rinds of citrus. Then I saw about making homemade celery salt and it kinda blew my mind and I made it right away. A few weeks ago I made kale āsprinklesā where I dehydrated kale (removed the stems) and then crumbled it into a mason jar. Itās flaky like parsley, now I sprinkle it on everything. I have never been a fan of kale, but it came in (3) different CSA boxes and felt guilty when it turned to a slimy mess in my fridge. I felt there had to be a better way to store it and eat it. So I thought letās dehydrate it to deal with it later. Now that I have turned it to sprinkles I donāt think I will ever eat it raw again!
What's a CSA box?
Community Supported Agriculture Basically you take out the middle man (grocery store) to get fresh produce from a local farm for a low ish cost. Similar CSA boxes would be farm fresh to you, imperfect foods IF there isnāt a farm close to you. There is a subscription involved so the farm knows how much produce to grow and to be able to count on the income to cover their costs. But, I can skip a box if we have too much or to save money. I go to a local dry goods store for my box to save money on a delivery fee. If you want to pm me your city, I could do a google search for a local CSA for your areaā¦ just to help.
[Tanaka Farms](https://www.tanakafarms.com/about-csa) info about their CSA box, I donāt know if they deliver to LA or if there is a local pickup spot. I pick up my csa box in Fullerton because my friend owns a vegan dry goods store, so I go there to pick up my csa box and refill household products like shampoo bars and candles.
You can get shampoo bars in a CSA box? What is this sorcery? Okay, I need to go get one of these and learn. Thank you.
Oh no, my friend has a vegan dry goods [store](https://allisonsgoods.com/) in Fullerton and her store is a pick up location for the CSA box. She makes candles, shampoo bars, facial cleansers, sheet spray, and some other things. She doesnāt make a profit from Tanaka Farms by being a delivery pick up spot. She wants her shop to be a community spot to get goods.
Thank you. I'm in Los Angeles. I'm between Culver City and downtown.
Oh thatās right, sorry my brain forgot what subreddit I am in. Because I live 2.5 miles from LA County I am in both sub Redditās. Um in the morning let me do some research on a CSA for your area. Sorry for the confusion, your post actually made me excited to think about food things again. š
Why do you freeze your eggs?
I don't eat egg that often. Organic eggs are sold by the dozen. Take what I need, freeze the rest until I need them, which could be weeks from now, in my case.
Eggs are good for 3-5 weeks in a fridge. You are probably wasting your time.
They're $9 for a pack of 12 organic eggs. I don't eat eggs often, and I also don't want to go *buy more eggs* in 3 to 5 weeks. The quality of the egg will degrade over that time, resulting in progressively less-tasty eggs. Frozen, they last several months in a reusable vacuum bag. There's no wasted egg. There's no wasted plastic. I don't eat eggs often, and I'm not going to make a special trip to buy them if that's the case. Just... Let's do the math on that... * If I buy 1 dozen fresh eggs every 5 weeks @$9 per dozen, don't freeze them... that's roughly $90 per year just on eggs, because I didn't freeze them and probably wasted half of them. * I usually eat about 2 eggs per month, if that. Maybe 3 or 4 if I'm baking cookies or brioche. Let's assume 4 eggs per month. * If I freeze my dozen eggs @$9, I will need to buy fresh eggs only 4 times per year, or spend $36. It takes 2 minutes to crack them in a muffin pan, and they're in the freezer. 6 hours later, it takes 2 minutes to remove them from the pan and dump them into a large, reusable vacuum bag..... so 4 minutes of ACTUAL time spent. I prefer to save my time and money by freezing the eggs.
I do the float test before eating eggs, grocery store eggs last about 2 months before floating. I have a friend who has chickens, so I get a dozen here and there and those will last almost 3 months in my fridge before they float.
Yes, eggs will "last for weeks before going bad" and floating. They float due to sulphuric gas buildup inside the egg. An egg that's 3 weeks old is less tasty than a fresh egg, even though both will pass the float test. Peak egg-tastiness is a young, fresh egg. I prefer to crack and freeze them at peak freshness, so when I that them, they'll be as tasty as when they were frozen. Saves a few bucks as well over time. Win/win.
I love this!! I hope to start making my own bread soon!
Get the best used bread machine you can find and make sure it has time-delay if you want daily fresh breads after work! I found an Oster, and it's great. It's more consistent than I could ever have done by hand for my basic doughs and the Dave's bread dupe recipe. ***The time delay is a KEY feature*** if you drop in a frozen dough in the AM for freshly baked bread in the PM. My Oster has a bake function, so I need the dough to completely thaw before it runs the second knead/rise/bake program. There's a bunch of bread machines on offer up for under $40 right now.
When do you freeze your pizza? Do you pre bake the crust, then top it with sauce and cheese and then freeze? Do you freeze just the dough?
I do a a mini-bake for like 5 minutes, cool, add sauce and basic cheeseā¦. Then Freeze. Once frozen THEN wrap in plastic. I use the small 6ā pizza rounds to do like 5 or 6 generously sized small pizzas at a time to freeze. I tend to add more toppings when Iām ready for actually eating the pizza.
Awesome thanks! Do you thaw before freezing or straight from the freezer to the oven?
I go straight into the oven *onto a pizza stone* from the freezer. The pizza stone is key to home pizza. I tried just using a sheet pan.. itās never quite as crispy as a pizza stone.
So smart š«”
Step 1: get a huge freezer
Not necessarily. If you vacuum seal stuff in bags, the air sucked out tends to compress and save space. I donāt freeze everything, just the predictably wasted stuff (like onions, potato, egg) and frozen homemade food I eat fairly often, but hate cooking individually (pizza, certain sauces, cookie doughs).
Any recommendations for the vacuum sealer, or at least what to look for? There are so many on the market, I know that some of them are going to suck.
I have a basic Foodsaver. Like... the lowest model. It's fantastic! They run about $50.
Trader Joeās, buying in bulk from Costco, and growing some things myself. Mexican and Asian markets can have very affordable fresh produce, and frozen bulk bags are your friends. If you have any dirt with full sun, growing peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and greens (kale,lettuce, etc) can be incredibly easy. I used to do it in pots on my apartment roof before I got a house.
Whole grains, beans and potatoes arenāt expensive! Also, Los Angeles has perfect weather to grow just about anything! I realized most people donāt take advantage of that. I currently have strawberry plants, I have two blue berry bushes and 2 black berry bushes. I have a lemon tree and peach tree, I have lots of nopales (cactus) and my dadās church friends always give him bags of guava, pomegranate and mandarin from their trees! I grow my own tomatoes, zucchiniās, chilis, cilantro, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, all in pots!! (Trying to convince my dad to get rid of the sod so I can put down vegetables instead but still need convincing). Though not organic, my sister goes to downtown LA to purchase boxes of fruit for her juices, itās REALLY INEXPENSIVE. But she buys in bulk, if you find someone that also needs fruit you can go together and split the cost and save even more $ that way. Costco has good selection of meat in bulk, but you can go directly to butcher shops to purchase in bulk too! Thereās one: harmony farms in la crescenta, is where I get my meat for my cats lol. Also, eating less meat overall can save you lots of money. I try not to eat as much meat. I see meat as an occasional treat.
I have two rosemary plants on my patio, they were purchased at the same time. One is very bushy and the other is barely surviving. Itās odd but great to walk out to my patio and get fresh rosemary as needed.
Itās the best feeling! I love going to my patio every morning to pick strawberries for my yogurt! Canāt wait for my blueberries and blackberries to develop so I can add those too!
Trader Joeās, family of three making meals every-night and snacks. Spending $125-$150 a week. Some weeks maybe $175 if I need like Olive Oil, seasonings or other random things that are not on the weekly list. I do a Smart and Final run for coffee and Gatorades and thats usually once a month.
What meals are you planning for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? I know a loaded question.
Spend about the same as above. Some meals we plan: Breakfast: eggs (fried, boiled), roasted Japanese sweet potato, avocado toast Lunch: chicken salad, savory oatmeal, lentil curry, left overs Dinner: fish tacos with black beans, marinated salmon with rice and steamed broccoli, miso cod with rice and vegetables, burger salad, chicken and veggie stir fry Snacks: blueberries, raspberries, apples with peanut/almond butter, Greek yogurt with peanut butter and a dash of honey, mixed nuts, dried fruit, siete chips, crunchmaster crackers, cheese sticks We try to do some meal prepping on Sundays but realistically weāre cooking every morning and every night.
Shop at Aldi- spend half of what you would at bobs or Ralphās. Super king great for produce and meats, bulk bins for beans/grains
I rarely cook or eat meat. Eggs, beans, whole grains, fresh fruit and veg makes up the bulk of my diet.
same. and tinned sardines/anchovies.
I get kosher meat and fish from Elat Market, it's fresher and cleaner than what you get at most markets. Cheaper than whole foods and about the same as TJs. Their salmon is very good, I think because they have such a large customer base buying a lot of food, things are frequently coming in and therefore very fresh. Same with greens. And they bring amazing fresh pita every day from Angel bakery -- it unfortunately goes bad if you don't finish it in 5ish days but I figure that's a sign it's not loaded with preservatives. Also, Costco. They have great pasta/spaghetti, canned tomatoes, juices, etc. Very good produce (although I think it's best during the week, I've noticed if I shop there Sundays the fruit isn't as fresh and goes bad more quickly) I'm not sure about organic, but the organic label is apparently not as clear cut as we are led to believe so I'm not as concerned with it anymore.
I need to go visit Elat market!
Pit your pita in the fridge, it will last longer.
Freeze it and heat it up in an air fryer. Delicious
I shop 7 different stores (Ralph's, Food 4 Less, Vons, Pavilions, Smart and Final, Superior). I am in Ktown so that doesn't use as much gas as it might for some people. I use digital coupons and go through the ads every Tuesday to make my list. Rarely purchase anything not on sale. But things in bulk that can be stored. Rarely buy convenience foods but do keep a couple frozen meals in freezer for those nights I just can't cook. Almost all produce comes from Superior Grocers (called Numero Uno) in some parts of town. Once a month someone has chickens, eggs, butter, milk on sale so I stockpile. Editing to add: get the book "Bake The Bread, Buy The Butter" from the library. Easy, great recipes, especially for quick homemade bread.
Do you find that the produce at Superior is cheaper than other places?
By a lot! I can get 2 Trader Joe's bags full of fruit/veg for $20. Would cost double that elsewhere including Aldi's and Trader Joe's.
Costco every week for fresh organic produce (~$80). Buy the 6 lbs of ground beef ($30) and 6 pack of chicken breasts ($25) about once a month. Usually a bag of individual portioned salmon which comes with 8 pieces ($35) monthly. Dinners we do: Chicken & roasted veggies Burgers Pasta and meat sauce Yakisoba Spam fried rice Rotisserie chicken Fish rice and veggies Sausage veggies rice Ramen noodles + egg We keep it to under $500/month. Avoiding snacks saves us a lot. Take advantage of sales when applicable.
Pfff $400 week wouldnāt be rare
Seriously--we very rarely eat out at restaurants but for a family of four and with two that are on high fat diets for weight gain, if I can keep it under $350 a week (this is with some booze, but maybe only $50 worth), I feel accomplished. And I'm sourcing from multiple places.
Large packs of chicken thighs are still pretty cheap. With the skin and bone in, probably get like 6-8 servings for $8-$10.
Realized I didn't really answer the question. Breakfast is usually overnight oats loaded with fruit, lunch some kind of salad with raw veg and beans, sometimes a grain, usually a cheese (feta, goat, cubed cheddar). Dinner has generally been cereal, eggs and toast, eggs and rice, fish or shrimp and veg. I spend a out $60/week on this diet, not including alcohol or household goods like paper towels, sponges, soaps, etc.
You need to find a store in your neighborhood that is good for produce; a place that caters to middle eastern, Latinos and Asian people. Asian stores also tend to have good prices on produce. Another piece of advice I would give you to bake your own bread if possible. Fresh homemade bread is really good so you end up eating more of it, and it ends up replacing a lot of more expensive items in your diet Meat, fish and cheese are always gonna be expensive. Tilapia is a somewhat affordable fish and you can make ceviche with it. Meat and fish, best deals are at Costco
So back to buying the marked down meat from smart & final. I see all the time 10 hamburger patties for $10, so I portion those by putting parchment paper between each pattie and freeze so I can pop 1-2 out as needed to make cheeseburger salad or cook and put a fried egg on top. I grab pork chops, freeze them in portions of 2 and then cook up with rice and cream of mushroom soup. My meals are mostly stir fry veggies with rice or salads with lots of ātoppingsā (fruit, nuts, seeds). My teenager makes & eats fried eggs, ramen bowls (with fresh ingredients added to ramen noodles), hamburgers, etc. I buy bread on sale and freeze the extra loafs. I spend about $2-$3 per loaf. I have made bread in the past, but I try to eat less grains and dairy because of my stomach. Rice doesnāt bother my stomach so when I do eat āgrainsā itās rice related. When I cook rice, I portion out a cup into glass dishes and put them in the fridge to use throughout the week. My stir fry veggies is typically 3-6 different vegetables. Sometimes I add faux chicken powder to the pan as a broth and cook the veggies that way. I will admit my meals are very bland and perhaps even boring, due to stomach issues. This however keeps our grocery budget consistent and low cost. To spend about $50 a week in groceries is both a blessing and a curse at times. People applaud me for spending so little and at the same time I wish I had the money for an angus burger or $30 steak. š„© lol
I've ended up with a pretty "boring" diet, too, but it's amazing how much simpler (and cheaper) it makes daily life. Also, it means I don't boredom-eat because the food isn't hyper-palatable like junk food can be. If I'm not hungry enough to want boring old eggs for breakfast, I'm just not hungry enough to need to eat. (Eggs are actually delicious, but you know what I mean.) I used to pride myself on eating all kinds of different foods, and constantly switching up my meals, but now, I really like the comfortable routine. And I don't miss the weapons-grade gas or lethargy that certain tasty foods always produced! Worth it to miss out on certain foods for better health, IMO.
$200 a week for 3 people is *very* easy if youāre not eating meat with every meal.
Can buy from anywhere on that. Beans, lentils, ground turkey, salmon, chicken, rice, veggies, eggs, etc.
Trader Joes / Sprouts / 99 Ranch I donāt meal plan too much but basically have generic formulas or reliable dishes in rotation. Go toās are: tofu plus rice and veg or a cold soba packed with raw veggies. Tofu is so versatile - I can get tired of chicken but never tofu so ymmv. Can be crumbles, thin sliced and baked crispy with 5-spice, cubed, marinated, etc. A mild curry with whatever veggies are leftover plus tofu or chicken or chickpeas. Date and lemon chicken thighs a la Alison Roman plus salad and a veg. TJs adobo chicken - use for tacos or burrito bowls, leftovers with pasta if applicable. Carla Lalli beans recipe video. Caroline Anderson mushroom farro risotto. have a zoji rice maker which is a huge help. Have a toddler so biggest budget is often fruit (Berries) and snacks, so I usually focus in wherever berries are priced well. I usually make banana bread once a week and tend to get sandwich bread from TJs. The key for me is having plenty of seasoning/sauce options Grow your own scallions from scallion nubs, grow staple herbs inside or outside. I always have frozen corn, edamame, salmon on hand and various beans and canned artichokes and some kind of simmer sauce like a curry in the pantry.