new to shopping

[awesomeapril]

I am a student. I know how to cook, love to cook, but I have never really had to worry about grocery shopping all that much, especially the prices of food. If any one has some tips or recipes/ ideas of how to eat on a budget with a menu that doesn't consist of ramen noodles I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!:)

[Kitchen Ninja]

A few ideas:

Pasta is cheap, as are basic vegetables. Add some spice and you've got a pretty easy meal that's cheap.

Casseroles are great because you can get multiple meals out of them.

Many supermarkets will run daily specials on meats. Just this week, my local Safeway had top round roasts for less than $2/pound. I got a four-pound roast, cooked it for dinner, and I'm using the leftovers for sandwiches this weekend.

If you spot a crazy deal on food but can't cook it right away, you can always freeze it and prepare later.

Set a weekly budget for food and don't go over it. You'll be surprised how creative you can get when the fund is drying up.

[mcnerd]

The first thing is learn how to collect and use coupons. Even casually you can save 1/3 to 1/2 or more on your grocery bill. I spent $1 every Sunday just for the local paper and their coupons, plus there are coupons from the Internet (be careful of the counterfeits).

I started out with the usual "TV dinners" and then I just started embellishing them for variety and to get the confidence. Eventually you will want to try the packaged "just add meat" meals, etc. Eventually you will become very comfortable in the kitchen. Just don't rush it and think you have to be a made-from-scratch-chef overnight.

As mentioned, keep in the lookout for store specials. They have them every week and often they will have things that are in your league of cooking. Always try to keep some open freezer space for these. Many of us eventually buy a Chest Freezer for this purpose.

If you can afford it (or put it on your future list) buy a FoodSaver vacuum sealer. You will always make more food than you can eat in 1-2 days and being able to store the rest in the freezer for a future meal is important. The vacuum sealer helps prevent freezer burn.

[Big Daddy's House]

It certainly does!

But if an expensive FoodSaver is out of your reach for now, then try the inexpensive ZipLok Vacuum sealer which is available at your local supermarket along with the bags for it. That'll get you started.

Don't get that ill-fated Reynolds one! It's no good and it's more of a nuisense than a convenience! To put it bluntly, that one is a piece of junk!

[Semigourmet]

you might want to start watching or taping and watching later Quick fix meals with Robin miller she is good at using 1 ingredient (such as meat) for 2 to 3 meals and they all look good. it would be a great source of information for you.

also many meats are very versital.

Pork Tenderloin (at sams you get 2 packages of 2 for 13 dollars)
and you can make
stir fry, marinated grilled tenderloin (marinate in Yoshida's Gourmet sauce and marinade), leftovers from that can be made into a barbecue tortilla pizza, also it can be in a stir fry.

Whole roasting hens are fairly cheap again at sams club you can get a package of 2 for 8 dollars.
you can roast them leftovers can be made into barbecue tortilla pizzas, chicken noodle soup, enchiladas etc...

ground beef is very versital and usually pretty inexpensive
and can be made into
Hamburger gravy
spaghetti and it freezes well
pizza de spaghetti (thank you Giada)
sloppy joes
meatloaf
salisbury steaks etc...

boneless skinless chicken breasts are a bit expensive (sams club 13 dollars for 6 1/2 pounds) but are very versital

bone in skin on thicken thighs are very cheap (sams club a 6 pound package is 6 dollars, sorry I sound like an advertisement but I buy all my meats there)

they are great to make oven fried chicken with, braised chicken and button mushrooms sometimes you can get mushrooms on sale at the grocery store for 1.50 each. so makes the meal very affordable. I better quit I will post some of the recipes here for you if you would like any spacifically let me know. I would be glad to post them or email them directly to you just send me a message with your request and your email address. Good luck

[LeMagnifico]

pasta quick and easy
________
Burgman (http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Suzuki_Burgman)

[mcnerd]

Don't get that ill-fated Reynolds one! It's no good and it's more of a nuisense than a convenience! To put it bluntly, that one is a piece of junk!
Sorry you have such bad luck with life's appliances. I have two of the Reynolds "Handi-Vacs", one for the kitchen and one for the garage, and use them almost daily and love them, but like most appliances one must follow the directions on how to use them correctly.

I also have the Ziploc (manual) vacuum sealer -- free with coupon at the time -- and it also works great, but you need to switch hands every so often so your muscles develop equally on both sides. I now keep it in my Emergency backback since it requires no batteries. Can't find the units in the stores anymore so I don't know its status.

[Big Daddy's House]

Sorry you have such bad luck with life's appliances. I have two of the Reynolds "Handi-Vacs", one for the kitchen and one for the garage, and use them almost daily and love them, but like most appliances one must follow the directions on how to use them correctly.

I also have the Ziploc (manual) vacuum sealer -- free with coupon at the time -- and it also works great, but you need to switch hands every so often so your muscles develop equally on both sides. I now keep it in my Emergency backback since it requires no batteries. Can't find the units in the stores anymore so I don't know its status.



You must not have had to change the batteries in yours yet.

And when you do, THAT'S when the problems begin to mount up with it. I spent more money on the friggen batteries than I did for the unit itself.

Even to the point where I bought another unit, only to find out that that one never worked properly at all!! It just friggen wouldn't suck the air out of the bags! The friggen batteries had given up the ghost first, and the ill-fated unit just friggen wouldn't cooperate!

Tossed them both out! Now the Ziplok on the other hand, works great! Especially for short-term storage of the stuff that you keep in the fridge.

This helps keep me from having to always cut open the FoodSaver bags. That unit, I use to vacuum seal stuff for long-term storage of foods in the freezer.

[mcnerd]

I'm on my second set of batteries on my first one. Absolutely no problems. If you want cheap(er) "AA" batteries, try buying a 9v Lantern Battery and open it up.

Again, sorry you have such bad luck with life's appliances.

[Big Daddy's House]

When I first got it, it worked like a charm.

After the first set of batteries were replaced, that is when things began to go downhill.
Loved it at first, but I ended up HATING it with a pure passion something fierce!!