What is your easy to prep “take to work” lunch? I started a job where I work 8 hour shifts and will be having 30 minute breaks. I don’t want to eat at the places around me all the time because it is expensive.

I have access to a microwave and fridge only.

I’d love some suggestions/recipes.

Looking to stretch out my budget for the rest of the month. I got the basics like bread, beans and rice. What meats are best to include a little more protein in my diet.

This is my first successful meal prep! I did meatloaf, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and honey cornbread muffins! I think it turned out pretty well! What do you think? ☺️☺️☺️

Long story, but: my county’s only homeless shelter is closing, tomorrow. It’s being replaced with a county-operated shelter open only 7p-7a. The county has basically said they expect the various non profits to serve as unofficial warming stations without any type of support, much less funding.

Yes, it’s an absolute disgusting disaster. (To be clear, the county’s treating our homeless population like an intrusive herd of deer is the disgusting part, not the homeless folks).

My org already serves most of the homeless population, with some folks already stopping by every day. We are a doc office and offer hot coffee, cold and hot water, and will put out food if we have it.

I’ve been trying to think of food items that are soft, cheap, have a decent shelf-life, and don’t require cooking appliances.

So far what comes to mind are foods that can be made in a cup with hot water (oatmeal packets, ramen, maybe something like the Kodiak power cups except not a billion dollars) or things that can be made with minimal materials (could have stuff for pb&j but need to refrigerate jelly, might not be the most hygienic to have a community jar of PB)…

And of course, not super nutritious. I don’t know, ideas are welcome. I am pretty broke but if I can swing food for these folks, I will. I’ve known many of them for years and they’ve been generous and have taught me a lot- and regardless, they’re human beings who deserve something to eat.

Hi there, I'm invited to a board game party on Saturday evening, I have to bring dessert. Do you have an idea for something simple to make, not too expensive but that will make a splash? Maybe arround 10 euros / dollars ?

First off, I'm sorry if this is not the correct sub for this. I'm looking for ideas for recipies and ingredients and this seemed like the correct sub but if there is a better one please tell me.

I just found out a friend of mine hasn't eaten in a week because an emergancy hit and now she can't afford to feed both herself and her kids. She normally makes enough to get by, its just a string of bad luck.

I am going to drop $500 on food for her. I'm trying to figure out what the best combination of shelf stable foods will give the best combination of nutrition and diverse meal options for her.

My current tenative list is canned chicken, canned tuna, pasta, brown rice, beans, a few gallons of olive oil, a few bags of onions, and some freeze dried crushed garlic. The problem is I'm not sure what exactly you can make with that, I feel like I need to add a few more things to the list that will allow everything to be used together instead of just a bunch of random unrelated ingredients.

Can anyone recommend both any staples to add to the list and recipies that can best utilize the cheap foods with minimal extra expenses? I'll also be giving her a crock pot I was given a few years ago to make cooking easier.

I'm hoping to snag a cheap chest freezer, if I can get her that is there anything I should add to the list? I'll probably be buying everything from Costco as I'm really limited with time.

Can I substitute powered milk for regular milk in a casserole? We don’t drink milk very often and I hate to see it go to waste when I just need half a cup.

we’re on a ~$100 budget per week. my gma cant cook very well anymore and i have to take over her cooking days with my mom but neither of us are particularly good cooks. i’d like to avoid blueberries, had an allergic reaction last time i had blueberries but i was also on a new medication, it could have been either but i dont want to risk it! theres four people in the house, i only need dinner or maybe breakfast (for one) meals, i cook half the week, my mom cooks the other half. ty 💞

• 7-11’s Garlic Stir Fried Pork on Rice Price : 39 THB (Around 1.16 USD)

• EGGs (Boiled from home) Price : 5.6 THB/egg (0.17 USD)

*Got the cheapest eggs I could find from a local supermarket

I did not grow up with fish sticks.

I tried them recently at Costco and had to have a ginormous bag. I know tartar sauce is sort of standard…

But I’m wondering what y’all dip your fish sticks into to taste amazing.

1. What is your food budget? For who and where does it apply? (Example; family of 4, Asia, active, or: Male 40 yo in the UK, aiming to lose weight, light exercise)

2. Why are you on a budget?

3. Do you meal prep? If so, how often do you prep and/or cook?

4. What influences/inspires you for your weekly meal plan? I mean, what decides what you are going to eat. Or do you have a rolling permanent food list?

5. What do you do when you feel like indulging, during a holiday or celebration for instance? If you do pick more expensive food, do you raise your food budget for that month or do you try keep it the same?

6. Do you have any standard groceries that you get every week. If so - what are they and why? What does it cost where you live? (Availability, price, taste, tradition.?)

I suspect that people can do this very differently and I am curious to how you reason when you plan your food and food budgets. TY in advance!

Hi! So, it's a bit of a challenge for you guys.I am allergic to these things

• wheat
• dairy
• red meat
• tomatoes
• eggs
• peanuts
• tree nuts

I also can not have spicy food as well and dont eat fish so maybe vegetarian meals are best?

I have a budget of about 100-200$ per week and im in a family of 3.

Are there any apps you'd recommend that allow you to enter all the food you have in your kitchen and it suggests possible recipes and menus? Seems like it would save money. If not, is there some other way to do this?

Flashfood updated its app a couple weeks ago and now it's very slow and unresponsive IMO. I always have to switch to a different store because the one that is technically closest to me is actually more out of the way. Now it takes forever for the app to recognize that I'm tapping on that store's dot. Then it takes a dozen or more taps to actually open the item list for that store. Am I missing something?

On top of Flashfood tacking on a 5% service fee on every transaction, which I can at least sort of understand, this makes it seem like they want people to stop using the app.

What are some inexpensive meal ideas for weight training?

My budget is 75-100 per week. Thank you!!!

As a single male in TX Austin, I need 2600 cals a day to maintain my weight and i'm not allergic to anything. How mich SHOULD i be spending?

Hi friends,

First time poster and I’m only posting because I am trying to put together a budget for my allergy ridden family. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Here’s the parameters:

• Gluten free
• Eggs free
• Dairy free

Bonus points if there are suggestions for low carb options (I currently have gestational diabetes, this shouldn’t be an issue once April rolls around but it would be nice to have some options over the next 24 weeks.) if they are low carb, if you could label it as such I’ll be forever grateful.

A good budget for us would be $150 - $200 a week

Thanks in advance ❤️

I work at Amazon, distance to and from us pretty far and I'm tired of doing McDonald. So outside if premade frozen burritos you can buy in big package, are there other food to consider as microwave-able options? I would pick corn dog but it's expensive it seem in Spokane

I'm 22, I have super bad spending / dietary habits, but I want to spend money. Yada yada yes I know buying cheaper things won't cure my habits or my diet. Anyway, please recommend me a realistic food budget for 2 people (breakfast, lunch, dinner, work lunches)? I don't really know what one would be to be honest. We usually spend a ton of money on fast food like pizza and Taco Bell and I really don't want to do that any more. $20,000 last year on fast food. It really adds up.

Anyway! Please recommend me budgets and ideal foods / groceries to look out for? Thank you!

Please no judgment—when I posted in another sub, people were criticizing me and even threatening me. So, for this week and next, we have a $150 food budget, and I’ll be shopping at Aldi tomorrow. Can anyone suggest budget-friendly recipes and meal ideas to keep us within budget? I’m already thinking pasta could be a good option since it’s affordable, but I’m open to other ideas. We had some unexpected home repairs and medical leaving us with just $150 for food and $50 for gas. That $50 is essential for gas since we live off post and need to drive to base daily. Any advice is appreciated ❤️

(Family of 5)

Edit: Thank you so much for all the support; it truly means a lot ❤️. Just to add some context, as I’ve been receiving negative messages—I’m dual military and recently lost both my parents, which left me responsible for my siblings. This has been a huge shift, and we’re still adjusting financially and trying to sort everything out. I’m also unexpectedly pregnant, which I only found out about two months into my deployment. I came home excited to start my family, but life changed so fast.

**To those sending hateful comments and messages (which I’m blocking, so don’t waste your time): mind your own business. I’m here for recipe and budget advice, not for unsolicited opinions you’re only willing to give from behind a screen.

I just moved to a new city and my budget is limited as I look for a new job. I applied for SNAP and I’m waiting to hear back from them so in the meantime all I have is $30-45 a week to spend on food. What’s the easiest filling low-budget meals I can make to not starve lol

A few things about my diet:

• I’m a pescatarian but I don’t eat shrimp (other shellfish is perfectly fine)
• I have a severe nut allergy
• I’m looking to gain weight and pack on as much macros as I can (though I know this is something that takes time)

To reiterate (bc the mods claim I don’t have a budget even though it’s right there above), my budget is $30-45 a week.

france, 9,95€

I just got food stamps and they only allotted me $130. I'm not complaining about that, I have enough to cover my bills, just not food as well. I live decently well, I'm not asking for anybody's pity. I am pretty good about knowing how to budget my money for bills and all that, but I'm trying to find budget friendly meals that will last me a month on $130. I've been mainly surviving off of bread & potatoes cuz that's filling for a long period of time. It's causing me to gain a lot of weight and frankly I can't have that because of my job. I want to eat healthier-ish, it doesn't have to be anything crazy, but I don't know how to on only $130/mo. Any suggestions? Recipes? I'm okay eating the same thing a few days in a row.

Edit: Holy crap there are a lot of you. Thank you guys so much for all of the help you've provided. I will be using all of the recipes on here.

Most of these I’ve used for about a year some only 6 months. I was attempting to make budget meals and get back into couponing again this last January, but most of the coupon site I used weren’t as good. So I found out about these receipt scanning apps. I tried out a lot of them (and like walking apps for cash too) But I was looking for free food or the equivalent of cash back for my purchases. Any little bit helped at the time so I was downloading all of them but now that time has passed I have weeded out the bad ones and the good ones are what is left. Do what you want with this info I just wanted to help save money on groceries

Receipt Scanning/ E-reciepts / Cashback Apps - Favorites Last to First

Rakuten - 8/27/24 () $ 10.80 This one is a cash back app alot like Honey (which gives you cashback and finds you Coupons and promo codes) I just got it last month and got 12% back For a $100 Oil change. The cash out is every 3 months and they just drop the full amount it in your account on 2/15, 5/15, 8/15, 11/15.

Honey - This app I've had since 2015. Originally It was just on my PC but I use it to find promo codes for everything. It also has cash back for quite a few places. I couldn't tell you how much I've made honestly Since January of this year I've made $38.40 Cashback and countless promo codes lol

Frisbee - 1/13/24 $32.17 I do like receipt scanning apps some are a little slow to pay out, most of them give you more payouts the longer you use. This ones the slowest but still simple with no ads and the cashout works.

Ibotta - 6/14/24 $9.75( pqcbrsy ) This one is a cashback app. Look up the item on the app, select the cashback for the items available. Then just scan your receipts Or sometimes the item. I had this one in my extreme couponing era. It's pretty good.

Receipt Hog - 1/12/24 $26.55 ( gak28203 ) Its acute app Easy to use  It's not the biggest payout but if Im snapping pics For other receipt apps might as well for this legit one too well worth it. The payouts work

Receipt Jar - 1/12/24 $37.18 ( HOPEPJ128 )This one gives you more the longer you're a member but for a lot of the Ereceipts you need to refresh the Connection once a week or so. Just do it when you snap pics of your paper receipts though and it downloads them with the correct points.

Coinout - 6/14/24 $ 20.75 Very Quick money took me less than a month to reach their "Diamond level” which just means a higher payout for each receipt and bigger rewards. I haven't had it as long as the others but it's up there in my Favorites. It's also got as low as $3 payouts

NCP - 8/30/24 $ 25.35 I had applied to be on this one at sometime this year and got on a waitlist. I heard about the National Consumer Panel in my couponing days but never applied. I do like this one. It's not scanning receipts though. It's scanning barcodes and entering amounts. I will say it does take a little longer for Big shopping trip but it's kinda fun to me. So to each their own

Fetch - 4/13/24 $109.70 ( TP41AA ) Wow love this app. Just try it for real. They give big bonuses for a lot of stuff! They have cash back for items. It has a Fun interface. This one I wish I had found sooner! Love this App 5 stars. They even added some more cash back and rebates for delivery items. Use my promo Code for a fat welcome bonus too! So so good ❤️ 👍