How to Buy the Most Groceries for $50, According to Reddit
Products can be expensive even if you don’t buy anything out of the ordinary. So when a Reddit user asked how to make $50 groceries last week , the community came up with a plethora of cheap (and often healthy!) food ideas.
Before we get into the specifics of grocery stores, an important note: if you’re having trouble getting food, that’s what food banks and food pantries are for . Many people who are entitled to use it don’t realize it. You do not need to be unemployed or receive SNAP benefits; you just need to meet the requirements for your local pantry, which are often perfectly acceptable. If you don’t know how to get through the week with the food budget you have, food pantries are for you.
Here are a few food options that will provide the most nutrition for the least amount of money.
rice and beans)
Cereals are an affordable food item, and rice is one of the cheapest and easiest to prepare. (Compare it to, say, wheat, which is commonly used to make flour, bread, or pasta before it hits grocery store shelves.) Rice can be used to make a lot of the cheapest dishes:
- Rice and beans (with or without meat and vegetables; top with salsa or hot sauce)
- Fried rice (with eggs, vegetables or other toppings)
- Rice with fried anything
- Rice bowl: Mix a scoop of cooked rice with any leftovers or salads you have in the fridge.
- Add rice (or grains of your choice) to turn a salad into something that can really fill you up for hours .
Beans, lentils and other legumes deserve special attention. They pair great with rice, but they can also pair with other grains or even replace them entirely. Legumes are high in fiber and relatively high in protein (at least for vegetables ). They also form a complete nutritious protein when combined with rice or other grains.
chicken thighs
Meat tends to be more expensive than grains and vegetables, but it’s also high in protein and filling. Some of the redditors in the thread recommended avoiding meat; others swear by them.
If you’re buying meat, chicken thighs are one of the most economical, especially if you enjoy eating the skin. Remember that although chicken breast is considered more “healthy”, this is because it is lower in calories . When you’re trying to stretch your grocery budget, eating cheap and high in calories is just a good use of money.
Other meats available include whole chickens (if you don’t mind chopping or roasting them whole), stews, and ground beef, especially the higher-fat options (remember, more fat is good).
Look at the price per pound of everything in the meat section and make your choice accordingly. Not sure what to do with your new piece of meat? Serve, of course, with rice.
Potato
Don’t miss the grocery section. Aside from cheap staples like onions and carrots and discounted items that are about to go bad (steal if you can get them at the right time), there’s a hidden gem: potatoes.
Potatoes are cheap and, according to some calculations, have some of the best nutritional value per dollar . Especially if you eat the peel, you get some vitamins and fiber while still having a good cheap source of starch. Refrigerated leftover potatoes also contain resistant starch, which can help you feel fuller .
Canned and frozen vegetables
Vegetables don’t have to be fresh to be healthy. Often, the foods found in the canning department or in the freezer are the cheapest because the farms and companies that produce them don’t have to consider that the vegetables go bad between the farm and the store.
These vegetables are also highly nutritious—they often contain more vitamins than their fresh counterparts . Take whatever is cheaper and season with whatever you have on hand (oil and garlic salt are great). And add some vegetables to everything you cook, like rice and beans.