In the US, for example, food prices — which includes both food at home (groceries) and restaurant orders — increased 2.2% from February 2023 to February 2024, and the previous one-year period saw a spike of 9.5%. So when Reddit user WhatIsThisWhereAmI made a post on the platform’s forum ‘Cooking,’ asking people what’s their preferred budget meal, they immediately got plenty of answers. Here are some of the most upvoted ones.
Image credits: WhatIsThisWhereAmI
DoctorBartleby , Pixabay / Pexels Report
DACula , Adam Bartoszewicz / Unsplash Report
“As mentioned in my post, I had run across someone else’s post asking about people’s favorite childhood poverty meals, and I realized a ton of the things mentioned there are no longer cheap,” WhatIsThisWhereAmI explained to Bored Panda.
“I myself have been surprised in the last several years by some of these changes, and I was curious how the shopping habits of people with strict budgets may have changed in response.”
CommiePuddin Report
nicholt , “Chef” at Cookipedia.co.uk Report
“Beans & lentils were the most popular suggestion for getting your protein, and rice was by far the top suggestion for getting your carbs, followed by potatoes (which people correctly noted is an almost nutritionally complete item on its own). Buying whole chicken and spreading it across several meals seems to be a popular hack as well.”
According to WhatIsThisWhereAmIMany, most people mentioned eating less meat as a matter of budget rather than preference or health. “There was also a lot of talk about how you might as well eat fresh food since packaged foods are so much more expensive these days. And of course, shopping deals and markdowns, but also at foreign grocery stores which are often cheaper.”
wanderingstorm , JaBB / Flickr Report
Back_on_redd , On Shot / Pexels Report
“The real problem for most people seems to be time poverty. When you’re working long hours and are tired at the end of the day, convenience food, however expensive it might be, is hard for people to avoid,” they added.
Also, coming up with the ultimate poverty meal cookbook is quite difficult because grocery prices do not move uniformly. As one rises, the other one can drop, and then vice versa.
flythearc , Zi’s Food&NatureArt / Pexels Report
greatgreen11 Report
“Tired people just keep plugging away doing what they know, even if they can’t always afford to, and folks on tight budgets are much more likely to be suffering from this kind of fatigue. I think researching healthy recipes made with cheap ingredients and planning your shopping ahead of time are the best remedies to this. It’s just getting past that barrier.”
mndsm79 , Engin Akyurt / Pexels Report
Schnevets , katherine of chicago / Flickr Report
unicorntrees , IFPR / Flickr Report
Standard_Important Report
Ok_University6476 , Nelson Cardoso / Flickr Report
NewBabyWhoDis , Val D’Aquila / Flickr Report
bcoll85 Report
ejrhonda79 Report
wojwojwojwojwojwoj , Sabine / Pexels Report
badlilbadlandabad , Masahiro Ihara / Flickr Report
Decent_Echidna_246 Report
CatNamedNight , Geoff Peters / Flickr Report
randomburnerish Report
bluemooncommenter Report
CanadianHour4 Report
Informal_Accident418 Report
anglerfishtacos Report
arealcyclops Report
AwaysHngry Report
NJESQ04 , Davidjose365 Report
MaguroSushiPlease , Stu pendousmat Report
throwawayzies1234567 , cottonbro studio / Pexels Report
Fearless_Trouble_168 , Ashley Davidson / Flickr Report
RNAdrops Report
ChunkyStumpy , MART PRODUCTION / Pexels Report
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