/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>12911337
>$50 a week
Then shop bi-weekly or monthly, dumbass. Buy that big-ass bag of rice for the month. Get the 4kg log of ground beef. Buy roasts, not steaks. Don't just buy a couple cans of corn, buy the whole flat of twelve. Buy the jumbo sack of potatoes. Compare per unit prices between self-serve bulk foods and pre-packaged. Oil, salt, etc. are basic things that might cost a lot at once, but last a lot longer than just a week. There's no need to cripple your budget because "this is the week we need to buy more salt".

The whole "boohoo, poor people can survive on X dollars a week" thing is a matter of poor mentality. Your best option is to look at it from a wider perspective. Yes, you're going to give up on expensive perishable foods for awhile. You might have to give up on setting money aside in your savings for awhile, just to focus more on paying down debts and supplementing your other needs.

Remember, the second your debt goes to collections, the company is now losing money on you, and your debt can actually be bought out at a much lower cost so they can cut their losses. Getting to the point where you can consolidate your debts usually trashes your credit score, though, but it can help you get out of the hole.

And don't stop budgeting and saving once you're out of the hole. Build that buffer and fill in the hole so you won't fall in it again.

Tl;dr, shop bigger. Buy more, shop less. Heartier portions help take away the initial shock of not being able to live beyond your means.

As far as cooking tips go, stock cubes are cheap. You can crumble part of one to help intensify the flavour while cooking, but make sure to cut back on the salt.