From bob on Mon, July 28, 2008

My wife and I are both grad students so this is an important issue for us.  Since we get about 50% of our food through a CSA, food price increases haven’t impacted us terribly.  But we do a few things to save money that most of our friends think is pretty weird:
1. Make our own tomato sauce from canned or fresh tomatoes (in abundance now)

2. Make friends with gardeners, then freeze fresh produce. I just got through cutting up about 60 peaches from the in-law’s tree we got for free. Also have bags of frozen blueberries and blackberries. You can also try whole ears of corn.

3.  Buy large containers of plain yogurt, and add (self-frozen) fruit yourself.  This has saved us a ton!
We also make our own pasta from pastured eggs, but I seriously doubt that saves us any money.  The taste can’t be beat - I feel bad for all the ramen-eaters.

From MomsKitchen on Mon, July 28, 2008

While in college, I lived on baked potatoes when I ran short of cash.  They are cheap and filling.

From Mean Mister Mustard on Tue, July 29, 2008

I have done well with very minimal food budgets (

From jillipoo on Tue, July 29, 2008

Two things:  soups and omelets. Both are cheap and easy!  (We had Ribolitta this evening, for instance.  Two nights of dinner for two people — at a cost of about $12) And omelets!  Well, it doesn’t get any easier or cheaper (or yummier) than that.  Throw in a little cheese, some spinach and/or mushrooms, and you’ve got a meal.

From Meche on Tue, July 29, 2008

I existed on ramen and mac&cheese in college.  Money was tight in the early 90s too.  This report doesn’t surprise me, especially when tuition goes up and up.
If I had access to a food co-op like http://www.bountifulbaskets.org back then, I could have eaten substantially, more healthfully and not have put on those extra college pounds.
Since our family’s food dollar is now worth less every month due to the economy, we are so grateful to be members of this co-op.  A laundry-sized basket of fruits and veggies for fifteen bucks every two weeks goes a long way, and I am determined to use every bit of it.  Waste reduces our buying power.  We also volunteer to help at the co-op distribution site, which is exploding right now as people in our area hear about it and want to save money in every way they can.

From Betsy on Thu, July 31, 2008

We get about half of our food from a CSA and we have a small garden plot in our neighbors’ yard.  We also buy beans and grains in bulk (25-50 pound bags) since our local grocery store gives a 10% discount off the regular bulk price if you buy a whole bag. We also managed to get 75 pounds of wheat berries right before the price doubled (we noticed flour had gone up so we stocked up on the wheat berries ASAP) which was wonderful!
We don’t buy processed foods for the most part either. Once we started looking at how much packaging is used and how little nutrition is involved, it just made more sense to buy whole foods and prepare them ourselves. We try to prepare our whole foods based on the suggestions in the book “Nourishing Traditions” though we eat a lot less meat than Sally Fallon recommends which helps with cost.
When we do get meat, we usually get locally raised meat directly from the farmer and we stretch the meat as far as possible by making bone broth out of the bones. After the bones have simmered in water (with veggie ends too) for about 24 hours, they are nice and soft and make a nice treat for our dog without any splintering http://www.slowfoodblog.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif
Another very important thing I do to save money is to NOT use recipes. I read recipes mainly for ideas and to find out what seasonings go well with which vegetables/grains/meats, and how long to cook something new, water to food ratio, etc. By weaning myself off recipes I am better able to use what I have already in my kitchen and avoid those little trips to the store for a couple of ingredients I don’t have on hand.
I wish I had known how to cook without recipes or processed foods when I was in college. I think it would have saved me a lot of money and helped with my overall health as well. Since we stopped buying processed foods, we’ve found that though we pay “more” for the food, we eat less because we’re more satisfied and the food is more filling.
~B.

From buttonwillowsix on Fri, August 01, 2008

I had a goal during college to live on $25 dollars per week. I at a lot of three-bean salad, which is very filling (and can be made with 3 cans of pretty cheap beans, oil and vinegar), ramen, grilled cheese sandwiches (although I always splurged on more decent bread) and also a lot of soup. Baked potatoes (already mentioned) were another great way to eat. I think I could get a 5 lb back of Idaho potatoes for around $1.50 back then.

From tandemchef on Mon, August 04, 2008

I’ve been able to stretch food dollars and still eat great fresh food by sharing my dinner duties with my neighbors.  In our dinner co-op I cook and deliver one meal a week for 4 families and then I receive 3 dinners a week from the other folks.  What we’ve found is it’s one trip to the store for your night to cook, and a lot less food gets wasted. From the meals my neighbors make for me I almost always have leftovers for lunch the next day.

I good site for getting more information on how to do dinner coops is: [url=http://www.dinnerco-ops.com]http://www.dinnerco-ops.com.[/url]

From Tena Lustig on Sun, December 07, 2008

Beans and rice are cheap and filling.