But I think our costs have come down. I still have to count when we eat out, and I sorta track my work lunches separately (for tax purposes).

We shop mainly at Costco and then the “ethnic” market. That’s about it. Costco is 5 minutes away so I’d be willing to take the walking challenge too

- How I can have so much olive oil? It’s the sauce on my rice dinners. Plus I’m a tall guy who eats a lot of just about everything
- yeah, this seems to be an expensive city for groceries (fruits/veggies on sale: $1/lb)
- Excluding ethnic grocers (which I may look into), I’m sure I’m shopping at the least expensive grocery chain (all stores seem to be priced equally), buying rice in bulk in the ethnic section.
- I may drop the milk (and keep the fish)

For starches, I can get 5lbs of potatoes for $1. Sometimes 10lbs.

Or maybe you just live in an expensive area … or more likely, maybe you haven’t found the cheapest outlet in your area. Have you visited EVERY grocery in the city to compare prices?

starches, 1.4lb flour-equivalents, $1.2
fruits/veggies, 1.8lb, $1.8
milk, 16oz, $.55
fish/meat, 3.5oz, $.8
olive oil, 1.7fl.oz, $.4
some peanut butter, $.1

This is a pretty Spartan diet, yet it’s not much below what Jacob calls a “huge food bill”. And no I don’t eat out or buy preprocessed stuff, and yes to bulk & on sale. How could I further cut costs, in theory? Getting certain savings from an ethnic grocer ($? savings), cutting out all milk and meat ($40 if I ate no replacement) and baking my own bread ($12). In that case I’d be around $100/month (still not the $50 that makes you a ‘real’ ERE).

I just wanted to chime in that you can substitute a Japanese or Chinese rice cooker for the crock pot and you’ll be just fine, as long as it has a timer-set function. It cheers me up considerably to know that I will never be in a household without a good rice cooker in it again.

besides eating better, and feeling better, I used the difference in the food budget to buy some gym equipment and fund the Rainy Day fund.

Plus I get to keep the difference from the old food budget, so I’m home more but I’m making a nice side profit,

(dear BF will have a riot when he reads this)

Here are the three most important things I ever learned about cooking.

(1) cook meat until brown.
(2) boil chicken before baking or grilling
(3) plants can almost always be eaten cooked or uncooked.

Following those guidelines I just through stuff together based on what I have and how I feel. Sometimes its delicious. Sometimes its okay. Sometimes its bland. And sometimes I have to choke down the food.

As for comment above on time–it is quicker to cook and eat at home than it is to go out and wait for the meal. That includes clean up.

But there’s hope. Watch someone, preferably someone whose cooking you know you like, like a relative. (If your relative with the best cooking is no longer available, think who that person might have taught, and ask them.)

If you have a roommate, that’s ideal. Or ask your friends what they most like cooking and ask if you can watch/help them cook that. Most people have a specialty or at least one thing they can cook and most would love to share their knowledge.

Yes, you can learn from cooking shows, but it’s very difficult to learn frugal cooking from a cooking show. I have never used a food processor for example, and I know I can cook without measuring everything into its own tiny bowl first. I can even do without a cheese grater if necessary. Perhaps a combination of cooking shows and beginner cookbooks from the library, and maybe there are good YouTube resources by now, would be good for someone shy or whose friends don’t cook.

I would also like to mention that there is a stage between cooking with and without a recipe that’s handy for frugality, and that’s cooking with a recipe but making substitutions. This is also handy if you’re picky or have allergies or other health issues.

And now that you can look up recipes online based on what ingredients you have on hand, you probably don’t even have to know how to substitute.

Another point I’d like to make is that some kinds of cooking are easier to do without a recipe than others. Stir fry, casseroles, meatloaf, and even quick bread are very forgiving. Cake and other baked goods, certain kinds of candy, cream of tomato soup (at least for me–stupid curdling): not so much.

The key to saving money is getting closer to original ingredients than where you are now. If you eat out, frozen meals will be cheaper. Mixes are cheaper than frozen meals. Making things mostly from scratch is cheaper still. Making everything from scratch (like pasta and bread and tomato sauce) is cheaper still. And in some cases, growing your own food (at least the kinds of food that are easy to grow in your part of the world) can be cheaper than buying it in the store.

There are some exceptions, such as when mixes go on sale, but that’s a good general rule.

But, dining out can make you money in certain situations. For example, the time saved by eating out can allow one to spend more time working and earning more money. Of course, this depends on having a specialized job. And if this is the case, one is a workaholic and not early retired.