I probably don’t have to remind you that last week’s grocery bill was higher than it was in October 2024. Economists say it’s up by about 2.7 percent, but it hits harder because the cost of food eaten at home is a whopping 30 percent higher than it was in 2020.
While I prefer to avoid being the bearer of more bad news, I feel compelled to report that the USDA Economic Research Service predicts we’re looking at another 2.9 percent increase in 2026. Those predictions were made before President Trump’s trade and immigration policies kicked in, however, both of which are expected to have a large impact on the American food system. We don’t really know what a loaf of bread is going to cost next week, month or year.
What I can say with certainty, though, is that I am right there in the grocery line with you. So let me share with you the Top Cheaper Eats tips and tricks I have learned as a food writer who also cooks on a budget and has a flair for the waste-not-want-not dinnertime triumph.
PREP MATTERS
I took over the family grocery shopping before I could drive. My Mom would give me a snack (never shop for food when hungry), a list (developed with a meal plan that captures everything on sale), and $100 (which was enough to feed a family of seven in 1983). She’d give me an hour, then return to collect me and the groceries.
While $100 barely covers the cost of weekly lunches and dinners for two now, to this day, I eat a snack beforehand and I shop with a list. I have learned prep on the backend, too. When I get home from the farmers market or Hannaford, I wash all the lettuce, leafy greens and herbs I’ve purchased, and I blanch and shock in cold water any beans, mange tout, and broccoli crowns, rabe or broccolini. This half-prepped food gets wrapped in clean kitchen towels and stored in the crisper in the refrigerator, where they will last up to a week.
At this time of year, I also turn on my oven to prep for the week by roasting a pan of root vegetables, all cut to the same thickness for even cooking and tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper. Once cooled, they will also last a week in the fridge. With my vegetables already half-way to the table, the odds are I’ll use them before they waste away.
GRAINS AND BEANS
You could boil up a different pound of dried beans (adzuki, black, cannellini, garbanzo, great northern, Jacobs cattle, navy, pinto, red kidney, yellow-eyed) and varying types of whole grains (amaranth, barley, brown rice, farro, freekeh, einkorn, millet, rye berries, spelt and wheatberries) every week for two years with just the examples I’ve listed, and you’d never have to repeat a combination.
Beans and grains are cheap, nutritious, easy to cook and handy to have around. You can throw them into soups, salads, stews, side dishes or just a bowl with olive oil, hot sauce and herbs for lunch. Soak the beans and the grains overnight in separate pots, change the water in both in the morning, boil with a bit of salt for 45 minutes to an hour, and you’re good to go all week.
STOCK UP!
Whether you roast your own local chicken or fall prey to the enticing smell of rotisserie chicken in the grocery store, use the bones to help you add flavor to future meals. A chicken carcass simmered in a pot with vegetable bits and bobs (celery and fennel tops, carrot peels, onion skins) that you’ve been storing in the freezer for just this purpose is a cheaper, lower sodium and likely tastier alternative than a $2.99 quart of College Inn. But don’t stop at the bones, make straight vegetable broth, corn cob and lobster shell broth, or ― once you’ve used up the cheese and are left with the rinds — Parmesan broth.
Favorite broth recipe: Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken, Corn and Rivel Soup (see below)
DUMPLINGS FOR ALL
So many world cuisines offer their own takes on dumplings. There are gyoza (Japanese), pierogi (Polish), mandu (Korean), manti (Turkish), pelmeni (Russian), bao, jiaozi, potstickers and wonton (Chinese), empanada (Spanish), ravioli (Italian), samosa (Indian), momos (Tibetan and Nepali), and kreplach (Jewish). And that’s only a subset.
Dumplings can help you economize because the fillings can be made from whatever you have on hand (including leftovers) and the dough is typically just flour, water and maybe an egg. Making them can be a chore — or a party. Make the dough, invite a few people over with instructions to bring their favorite filling, spend a few hours doing a mostly mindless task (once you get the hang of it, of course) and have a lot of laughs; everyone goes home with a tray of dumplings.
KEEP CABBAGE AROUND
A head of cabbage doesn’t care if it’s the last vegetable on the bench, sitting all alone in the back of the refrigerator. It’s there for you, coach. If you’re feeling fancy, you can put cabbage in the game as the quarterback star (like Charlotte de Chou, a French potato, bacon and cabbage cake); or to pinch-hit as the main course for a vegetarian guest (maybe a thick wedge roasted with miso butter and topped with chili crisp); or to fill the holes in the defensive line (sauteed cabbage with the last of the kale and a fried egg on top). A storage vegetable by nature, and an inexpensive one to boot, a whole cabbage can hang out in your fridge for as long as six weeks.
MAKE YOUR OWN SALAD DRESSING
On this matter, I have one question. Why would you pay good money for a list of ingredients you can’t pronounce when you have all you need in the pantry to make a perfectly delicious salad dressing at home? Start with a jar: That one with a tiny bit of mustard in it will do just fine as the mustard will help the dressing emulsify. Add one-part vinegar to two-parts oil, a teaspoon of minced allium of your choice, a pinch each of salt and pepper, and a smidge of something sweet (maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, even a bit of jam) to cut the edge ever so slightly. Give it a shake and you’re good to go.
BEST BUY: GROUND MEAT AND SAUSAGES
If you are a meat eater, ground meat of any sort and sausages are the economical option because a) they are made with off-cuts of meat that can’t be sold for more select roasts, steaks and chops, and b) they can be highly flavored with herbs and spices so a little meat can go a long way in satisfying a carnivore’s palate. Two or 3 ounces of ground meat or sausage in a main dish that also includes vegetables and starches serves more as a condiment than a center-of-the-plate protein but is just as filling.
DON’T DISCARD THE JUICES!
Whether it’s the brine once you’ve finished the feta, the juice in the jar after the pickles are eaten, the oil from the anchovy can, or the syrup in the bottom of the maraschino cherry jar, all can find a second life in the week’s menu. The feta brine and some lemon juice turn ordinary roast potatoes into flavorful Greek roasted potatoes. Pickle juice makes a great brine for chicken thighs destined to become schnitzel. When mixed with a little pasta water, anchovy oil, minced garlic and red chili pepper flakes make a simple pasta sauce. And maraschino cherry juice over ice cream is pretty and tasty.
USE THE PEELS
It’s fall. Are you overrun with all the apples you picked? Make a pie, but save the peels to make my editor’s favorite fall recipe: Cinnamon-and-Spice Apple Peel Crisps.
ONE TYPE OF SUGAR WILL DO
If you have a 5-pound bag of granulated sugar in the cupboard, you don’t need to stock your pantry with specialty sugars, as well. One cup of granulated sugar whizzed for about 90 seconds in a food processor or blender with 1 teaspoon cornstarch will give you 1¾ cups confectioners’ sugar. One cup of light brown sugar can be made from 1 cup granulated sugar mixed well with 1 tablespoon molasses; bump it up to 2 tablespoons if you need dark brown sugar.
BUILD A CLEAN-OUT-THE-FRIDGE REPERTOIRE
Inevitably, the night before grocery-shopping day arrives. You’ve got a leftover drumstick, a single egg, a few blanched green beans and a wedge of cabbage to make a meal. With this combination, I’m running with clean-out-the-fridge fried rice. If the leftovers leaned Italian, then pizza would carry the day. If the mish-mash doesn’t seem to fit all that well thematically, say some leftover roasted potatoes, a bunch of broccoli florets, a handful of cherry tomatoes and a few cheese nubbins, I’ll simmer them in broth and whiz them up in the blender for a creamy soup.
If you don’t like these options, I highly recommend Tamar Adler’s latest book, “The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z.” With its alphabetical listings of every ingredient a modern American kitchen might have and 1,500 quick, mostly easy recipes for using them, it’s encyclopedic.
PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH CHICKEN, CORN AND RIVEL SOUP
Whether you roast your own or buy a grocery store rotisserie chicken, making broth with the bones is always a good start to this stretch-your-dollar soup. Letting a few spent corn cobs simmer in the chicken broth, while not absolutely required for success, does put a slightly sweet, milky spin on the soup, which has a lot of corn, enough chicken and a hearty amount of quick, easy dumplings known as “rivels.”
Serves 4
For the corn-boosted broth:
6 cups chicken broth
3 spent corn cobs
2 scallions, trimmed and cut in half lengthwise
3 sprigs thyme
For the soup:
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup diced carrot
Salt
Black pepper
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 cup shredded chicken
For the rivel:
1 egg
Salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
To make the corn-boosted broth, combine the chicken broth, corn cobs, scallions and thyme in a large pot. Place over low heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes until the broth turns slightly sweet. Use a slotted spoon to lift the vegetables out of the broth and compost. Set the broth aside.
In a second large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onions, carrots, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Stir and cook until the vegetables soften slightly, 4-5 minutes. Stir in the corn and broth. Increase the heat to medium-high.
To make the rivels, beat the egg with ¼ teaspoon salt in a bowl. Gradually add the flour. Work the flour into the eggs with your hands, making small chunks of dough.
By now, the soup base should be boiling. Slowly add the little chunks of dough to the broth, stirring frequently. The rivels float to the surface when they are cooked. Turn off the heat. Add the shredded chicken. Wait about 2 minutes for the chicken to warm and serve the soup hot.
