@skeletonymous said: What do you typically buy that your grocery bill is so low?
The real key is not buying any processed foods. Those are almost always terrible value for money. Except chocolate, which I buy on occasion despite trying repeatedly to quit.
Flour. We have 20kg sacks of wholemeal and white
Butter. We go through 500g of butter (at an eye-watering $6 presently) per week
Eggs, about a dozen eggs per week (free range $5/doz at the local market--way cheaper than the grocer)
We don’t eat a lot of meat--maybe 50kg/year for both of us, about 5% of the average American, aussie or kiwi. What I do eat is what I can find cheaply and ethically. The only chicken I’ve cooked in the past five years is chicken that I have butchered. I butcher 1-2 birds per year, depending on my circumstances. I don’t currently live somewhere that permits keeping chickens, so I am lucky to have a coworker with geese that he occasionally needs butchered, so that has been my primary source of poultry this past year. I also got a free-range pig (small, 55kg) and split it between my coworkers. I have also eaten a whole assortment of types of meat (including insects) as and when it became available. Again, not much, but enough to get my protein & B12.
There is a local green grocer who sells a box of damaged produce for $2, which I get on occasion. I look for the lowest price on produce and buy a whole bunch and then structure meals around that--$3.50 for a cabbage, <$2/kg for carrots, <$2.50/ea for pumpkins, etc. When tomatoes get down to less than $2/kg, I preserve diced tomatoes--this is about the same price as buying from the store, but avoids BPA and tastes better (all numbers New Zealand prices, ymmv).
The above paints a rather bleak picture, but we eat very, very well because my partner and I have taken the time to really expand our cooking knowledge over the past decade. Simple ingredients, with a bit of time and know-how, can be made into delicious dishes. We make sourdough bread, bagels, soft pretzels, crackers, tamales, tacos (with from-scratch tortillas), lasagna (with from-scratch noodles and a peanut-based mock-riccota), bisque, pesto from all sorts of greens, gnocchi, bowtie pasta, pizza, ravioli, steamed pork buns, pan-fried dumplings, stir-fry, crepes, curries, stews, roasts, basically anything except just plain meat & veg type dishes. We know how to make phyllo dough from scratch, and celebrate special occasions by using it to make apple strudel or baklava. We also make a delightful, rich chocolate cake which is very delicious because it uses 250g of butter.
We don’t drink and only go out to eat on special occasions (once every other month(ish)), which helps the pocketbook quite a bit. I actually don’t like going out to eat much, as I can usually prepare the dishes being served without burning through 1-2 weeks of grocery money.
Hopefully that helps! Feel free to ask any clarifying questions!
