Hi all!

I notice that a lot of people trying to cook and eat frugally are split along a line, with people who live on white starches, cheap meats, and canned fruits and vegetables on one extreme, and people who eat mostly fresh fruits and vegetables, buy only whole grain bread and pasta when they buy it, and afford it by eating less meat, more beans, and doing dollar-for-dollar substitutions in favor of healthy treats, such as frozen blueberries instead of ice cream, because they cost about the same, and one adds to health while the other detracts.

Just wondering what everyone's frugality philosophy is when it comes to food, because although I come from a Southern mother and I can make scratch biscuits and gravy a supper any time I need to, I really can't eat like that because I am insulin resistant/prediabetic and controlling it with diet and exercise. So to be frugal, I can't go the "eat lots of starchy cheap foods and fewer more expensive healthy foods" route. Add kids with dairy and egg allergies, and it's both cheaper (I don't have to buy milk, and very few eggs, and use neither in cooking or baking) and more expensive (I have to buy expensive vegan margarine, not cheap regular margarine).

What's everyone doing to be frugal with food?

Well, I try to eat a lot of fresh food; the less it's processed, the better!  Yes, whole grain bread costs more than white bread - but it tastes better, it's better for me, and ultimately I eat less of it, because it fills me up better.  Also, when I was in college in the mid-80s, I moved into an apartment, and switched from eating in the dorm cafeteria to cooking.  When I was a kid, my mother used to make a lot of things like Hamburger Helper, so I did too... right up until I looked at the price per ounce, and realized that the Hamburger Helper cost more per pound than the hamburger.  Then I started experimenting with cooking from scratch instead of mixes (I learned to bake as a kid) - and discovered that it was cheaper, and tasted better to boot!  I also learned that I'd rather pay for quality ingredients - because the cheaper things didn't taste as good, and I would put off eating them because other things tasted better, and they'd go bad - so in the long run I wasted less, and ultimately spent less, if I bought better quality ingredients.  That doesn't mean I go out of my way to buy the best cuts of meat (I don't ) or out of season produce - but neither do I buy the lowest quality ingredients; I end up not using them.

hehe, my mother did Hamburger Helper too, and I also credit that, and her not knowing how to boil an egg when she got married, with why I learned to be a great scratch cook. And you're right about how it goes when we look at the ingredients of some "convenience" we are used to buying... I wish I had a nickel for every time I have looked at the sauces, salad dressings, seasoning packets, gravy mixes, etc and said, "Hey! Is that all that is? I have that at home! Why am I paying that much for just cornstarch, salt, garlic powder, etc?" and from then on, made my own. I mean, does anything we cook really suffer if we make it ourselves with everything BUT the cellulose gum, xanthan gum, and Red 40? :)

My philosophy is to eat as healthy as possible in a frugal way. For me, this doesn't mean paying to absolute lowest cost for something, but it does mean getting a good deal. For DH and I, this means including things like health and nutrition values, environmental impact, and economic impact. We weigh our food choices pretty carefully. We do often pay more for high-quality ingredients, but we end up using less of them and getting more nutritional benefit or less negative health consequences. We also go quite a bit out of our way to 1) find good ingredients at a reasonable price, and 2) make the most of all the ingredients we do purchase.

Example: We purchase mostly organic/natural/sustainable meats and produce, all of the leftovers from which also make stock. We rarely eat whole cuts of meat, instead opting to use meat in smaller proportions for soups, casseroles, stir-fry, etc. 

And, we do almost all of our cooking from scratch. This pretty immediately drops your grocery bill dramatically, which allows us to shop at local markets and farms more often. We make our own stocks, breads, pastas, etc., and we do it almost all from organic and "alternative" grains (spelt, whole wheat, flax, etc.). This means we're eating far healthier on a much lower budget. Also, we develop a repoir with the farmers, and end up getting things like their scratch-and-dent tomatoes to make our own sauces at a much reduced rate.

 In the summer, we move part of our entertainment budget to groceries, because going to markets and farms and putting up foods is fun for us (yeah, we're weird and hippy-ish like that). This allows us to buy more good food, which gets us through the winters without having to give up a lot of our morals about economics and health (and, frankly, our stuff tastes better than store bought).

I do realize that many times, some of what we do isn't viable for everyone; but, for us, we go out of our way to make sure that frugal is the same thing as healthy, not an enemy. I am professional Personal Chef with a specialty in nutrition and a focus on local and sustainable foods, so it's a bit easier for me to kepp those things in balance than it probably is for a lot of people. Also, we don't have children, which makes it easier.

I believe that being frugal doesn't necessarily mean choosing the cheapest option.  I think it means finding the best quality for the best price you can afford.  We prefer organic farm fresh veggies and fruits and have joined a CSA to get them at a great price.  I prefer organic and free range dairy and eggs so have recently made it to the top of the list with my CSA to add eggs and I only buy organic milk where I can buy it for the best price.  (If my CSA will only start doing milk . . .).  Otherwise, I try to make the best possible choices.  We don't eat prepackaged dinners much and I cook a lot from scratch.  If I really need to have a cheap meal for budget reasons, I never grab ramen or anything like that.  I cook pinto beans from scratch and eat with tortillas and cheese if we have it.  Or I do breakfast for dinner.  Or veggie soup with whatever's in the fridge.  Or some kind of basic pasta dish.  So yeah, I would say I absolutely choose health and use frugality to my advantage to afford things that might be more expensive.  I should say that we are vegetarian which helps as I do not buy meat which is very costly.

healthy and frugal is the way to go for us!  dh is allergic to eggs in large amounts, nuts and grains so white flour and white rice here.   good ingredients and keeping an eye on sales.  I do buy processed stuff like chicken nuggets, frozen fries, goodies, hotdogs. but I try to buy quality meat etc. lots of fruit.

I do lots of the stuff that other people have listed.  I don't make hamburger helper much and most stuff like pizza pops are for the guys who can't cook.  on sale.