I’ve gotten a surprisingly large response to my “How to Adult” blog post, I may end up actually making it in the future but for the moment I can absolutely teach you how to stock a pantry.
Ok, so stocking a pantry when you’re on a tight budget is one of the smartest things you can do to save your ass in the long run. Say you have $30 a week to spend on food, what you need to do is act like you have $25 to spend on your normal weeks groceries and take the leftover $5 and spend that shit on shelf stable or frozen food that you can buy in bulk. Foods like rice, dried beans, polenta, oats, canned tuna, canned tomatoes, pasta, sugar, salt, onions, potatoes, frozen veggies, cooking oil, etc. You can buy a lot of these foods at the dollar store (along with perishables like bread and peanut butter). Just aim to get one or two of these kinds of items every week and keep an eye out for sales on these sorts of foods!
After a month or two of this you’ll have enough basic foods stockpiled to last you if something should happen and you can’t afford groceries AND having a stocked pantry gives you way more versatility in your weekly shopping. You want to make stir fry this week? Awesome, you’ve already got plenty of frozen veggies and rice all you need to buy is eggs and maybe some soy sauce for a totally healthy, very cheap meal. Want soup? You’ve got beans, canned tomatoes, onions and frozen veggies, throw it all in a pot with some water and salt and you’re good to go.
A few things to keep in mind:
- Most of the time store brand is cheaper and tastes exactly the same (not all the time though, so make sure you try the store brand before buying a lot of it)
- Meat is expensive. Chicken thighs and organ meat are generally cheapest but it’s a good idea to make meat more of an accompaniment to your meals than your main staple.
- Use “meat stretching” meals like casseroles, soups, and pastas.
- Don’t buy juice, soda, or other drinks. Water is cheap and healthy.
- Wait, maybe you didn’t hear me. PLAN YOUR MEALS.
- Seriously, planning your meals lets you cut your grocery trips down to once a week (or every other week) which eliminates impulse buying, cuts down on food waste and helps you stretch your food budget SO much further.
- If you find fresh foods that you love (meat, fruit, etc.) on a great sale, buy what you can and freeze whatever you’re not going to use that week.
- Don’t let food go to waste. If you make a big pot of soup and can only get through half of it before it starts to go bad, put half of it in the freezer right after you make it. In a few weeks/months when you’re sick or just don’t feel like cooking you’ll have food that you can just pull out and reheat. Same goes for chili, casseroles, etc.
- Don’t buy prepackaged foods. They’re expensive, processed and while they might seem like cheap calories, you’ll get a hell of a lot more bang for your buck out of a bag of rice that you can use for 20+ meals than you get from that frozen pizza.
- The same concept goes for foods like beans. Buy them dried, not canned, they take more time but they stretch your dollar WAY further.
- Always pre-soak dried beans, preferably overnight. Seriously, do not skip this step.
- Feel like all of this is a little bland for your refined palate? Grow herbs in your window, they’re cheap to grow, very easy to keep alive and add a lot to your culinary repertoire.
- Make your own bread at home. It’s cheap as hell, tastes better and can be kind of fun.
Ok so all of that is great, now what the hell do you actually cook?
(meat can be added or subtracted from all of these recipes depending on your tastes and how much wiggle room your budget has)
Potatoes and Onions (throw an egg on top and you’ve got a meal)
Spaghetti with Tuna and Lemon
Onion and Potato Frittata
There you have it, go feed yourselves and relish in the adult points you totally just earned.
stormborns
origamiaround
jbbartram-illu
2087
tangentwithtanner
theartofmadeline
dailybridgerton
andulkaphoto
