Saving money doesn’t mean sacrificing flavor! Here’s a list of 10 budget-friendly foods that will keep you satisfied all week long without breaking the bank. 

Let’s dive into the ultimate grocery list for frugal foodies:

1. Rice – The Hero of All Pantries

Cost: Cheap. Versatility: Endless. Nutritional Value: Solid.
From stir-fries to soups to pudding, rice is the unsung hero of budget meals. Pro tip: Buy in bulk and become the rice-master chef you were born to be!

2. Eggs – Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner

Scramble ‘em, boil ‘em, fry ‘em. These little protein-packed gems are affordable and endlessly versatile. Plus, they make any leftover look fancy in a frittata.

3. Beans – The MVP of Cheap Eats

Canned or dried, beans are packed with fiber and protein. Toss them in a chili, mash them for a dip, or jazz up a taco night without stretching your budget.

4. Potatoes – Comfort on a Budget

Whether baked, mashed, roasted, or fried, potatoes are the chameleon of the food world. Bonus: Sweet potatoes add a healthy twist for pennies more.

5. Oats – Breakfast That Feels Like a Hug

Not just for oatmeal! Use oats for pancakes, smoothies, or even as a binder in meatballs. Cost-effective and filling, they’ll keep you going strong.

6. Bananas – Nature’s Fast Food

Bananas are perfect for snacks, breakfast, or a base for smoothies. Overripe? Make banana bread and pretend you’re a pro baker.

7. Pasta – Carb Lovers, Rejoice!

A box of pasta is a gateway to cheap and cheerful meals. Pair it with marinara, butter, or leftover veggies for endless variations.

8. Cabbage – The Underrated Superfood

Cabbage lasts forever and works in stir-fries, soups, or slaws. Plus, it’s super cheap and low-key nutritious. Who knew?

9. Frozen Veggies – Cheap, Easy, Nutritious

No chopping, no washing, and no wasting. Frozen veggies are your best friend for quick and healthy additions to any meal.

10. Peanut Butter – Spread the Love

Slather it on toast, toss it in a smoothie, or eat it straight out of the jar (no judgment). Peanut butter is affordable and deliciously satisfying.

Quick Tip:

Combine these ingredients creatively for a week’s worth of meals without getting bored. A little seasoning, a pinch of creativity, and voilà—a gourmet experience on a shoestring budget!

What’s your favorite economical food? Share your ideas below and let’s inspire each other to save while savoring!

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What’s one kitchen gadget you can’t live without? 

Sara’s current favorite is her mini chopper. “I tried cutting an onion by hand last week, and by the end, my eyes were so watery, I accidentally added sugar instead of salt to my dish.” Now, she’s keeping her prep simple with gadgets that don’t make her cry (literally). She’s also found that online stocking up on the basics—coffee, tea, snacks—makes life so much easier.  

Save on pantry staples, household essentials and more, plus enjoy FREE shipping on orders over $35!

Shop NOW with Kroger Ship (ad)

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NOTE: Prices are accurate at the time of posting. Prices can change at any time.

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Join us on Facebook for even more great deals, plus freebies, games, and frugal tips!

The holiday season means it's time for lots of holiday cooking!

Frequent trips to the grocery store are a must for big family dinners.

Having our loved ones together is great, but the excess gas and ingredients around this time does tend to pile up.

Fortunately, there are a few ways to save some time and money: growing your own food!

Of course, starting a garden now is cutting it close since we're so close to the different holidays.

An indoor herb garden, however, is one alternative which grows fast and adds value to your meals!

Herbs are great because they help add natural flavor to your meals without having to pile on too much salt or other flavorings.

This makes your meals a little healthier, and cuts down on other ingredients!

Herbs also grow fast and are easy to grow. You just need to remember to water them about once a week, and give them lots of light.

The best part about growing your own herbs at home is you can add them while they're at their freshest. Fresh herbs are much more flavorful than dried or refrigerated herbs.

ProFlowers created a guide to help you create your own garden for homegrown herbs.

This guide includes tips for the best herbs to grow indoors and styling ideas for your herb garden.

You can keep an herb garden along your windowsill for easy access to light or you can hang them along a kitchen wall to save space on your counter.

Take a look at their tips below to see how you can start your own indoor herb garden.

Photo and idea from: salad-in-a-jar.com

I have been eating a lot of salad lately on the LC/HC Ketogenic diet - I have lost 40 lbs!

So I find myself eating a lot of lettuce, but hate that it goes brown so quickly.

I wish I could try this tip, but I don't have a vacuum-pack machine.

Oh, but wait! She has links to articles on how to do this WITHOUT a vacuum-pack machine!

One article uses a Ziplock hand pump.

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Questions and thoughts from readers:

Daynielle Jessica posted: REALLY frugal tip, use a Ziploc and a straw to suck the air out and seal!

Ziploc Vacuum Starter Kit

The woman who wrote the original post said she tried that - the lettuce ended up completely squashed and bruised.

Barb Sullivan posted: The bags are probably special to use the pump?

This video shows how to use the Ziplock pump with a canning jar or even an old spaghetti jar - no special bags needed!

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More from our Facebook fan page:

Nicole Salmons posted: Great idea!

Kristal Wilder posted: I have a really old Foodsaver I paid $2.00 for at the vendor's mall. I wonder if the jar attachment would work on it?

Pam Maeker Payne posted: Have you tried using baby spinach instead of lettuce? Much more nutritious tastes better, and lasts much longer.

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Shopping Suggestions:
• Ziploc Vacuum Starter Kit
• FoodSaver Jar Sealer
• Embossed Square Mason Jar
• Ball Regular Mouth Jars

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NOTE - If any of the above links are not working or the freebies or coupons no longer available, please post a blog comment below and I'll edit it!

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All throughout April you can earn large bonuses when sign up as my referral on Swagbucks.

Swagbucks is a rewards site where you earn points (called SB) for things you're probably doing online already, like searching, watching videos, discovering deals, and taking surveys.

Then you take those points and exchange them for gift cards to places like Amazon, Starbucks, or PayPal cash.

When you sign up through me this month, you can earn a 300 SB bonus! Here's how:

1. Sign up using this link

2. Earn 300 SB total before May 1st, 2018. You'll get a 300 SB bonus for it!

3. That's it. It's super easy, and Swagbucks is for real. I use it myself, and I've earned 359,411 SB.

I just ordered a $50 and $25 gift card to shop on Amazon this month!

Now that Autumn has officially begun, Swagbucks is offering a bonus for you in the form of Autumn Harvest Collector's Bills!

Collector's Bills are special designs that you win randomly while searching the web with Swagbucks' Yahoo-powered search engine.

Collect all 6 and you get an additional SB Bonus!

Once you've collected enough SB, you can redeem them for gift cards to stores like Amazon, PayPal Cash, and many more!

Here's all the information for this week's Collector's Bills:

Search the web through the Swagbucks search starting Tuesday, September 5th through Monday, September 11th, and when you get a search win, you may get a special Collector's Bill valued at either:

   • 4 SB
   • 6 SB
   • 9 SB
   • 11SB
   • 18 SB
   • 26 SB

When you get a Collector's Bill you'll receive the value of the bill and the bill will be added to your Collector's Bills ledger.

Collect all 6 Collector's Bills and you'll instantly earn a 20 SB Bonus!

Keep searching til you find them all!

We all know disposable diapers are super expensive. They can cost parents thousands of dollars by the time there little bundle of joy reaches three. Here's a list of sites and companies where parents can get free diapers and coupons. When you have kids, every dollar counts!

Read more

February is a month of love, and getting a $5 bonus from Swagbucks is their way of showing it!  

Swagbucks is a rewards site where you earn points (called SB) for things you're probably doing online already, like searching, watching videos, discovering deals, and taking surveys.

Then you take those points and exchange them for gift cards to places like Amazon, Starbucks, Walmart, Target, or PayPal cash.

When you sign up through me this month, you can earn a $5 bonus! Here's how:

1. Sign up using this link

2. Earn 300 SB total before 3/1/17. You'll get a $3.00 (300 SB) bonus for it!

3. If you spend at least $25 through Swagbucks Shop* you'll get another $2.00 (200 SB) bonus on top of the cash back you'll get from shopping.
If you have some shopping to do online, just go to Swagbucks first and visit the store through them.
It doesn't cost you anything extra, but you'll get SB points for every dollar you spend (on top of the bonus)!

That's it. It's super easy, and Swagbucks is for real. I use it myself, and I've earned 308,196 SBs so far - and have 3,178 SBs right now to spend. I usually get Amazon gift cards, and do my shopping online - to earn even more SBs!

*You must receive your shopping SB before April 1st

Let's Get Started!

What do you think of this Hutzler 3-in-1 Berry Box?

Now you can wash your berries in advance and store them in the refrigerator so that they are ready to eat whenever you want.

And when serving, those berries at the bottom will be just as fresh as those on the top.

Resembles a farmer's market basket and stacks easily in the fridge.

Three-piece set includes:
1) Colander for washing and draining. Colander fits right inside the box, allowing excess water to continually drain.
2) Serving Bowl for the table.
3) Lid for the refrigerator stores fruits at an ideal constant vapor pressure, helping fruits last longer.

Ideal for strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, baby carrots.

BONUS QUESTION! Who has the best price? Usually it's the US Amazon site, sometimes it is the Canadian site!

Shop USA ~ Shop Canada

Check out what the fans on Facebook had to say!:

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NOTE - If any of the above links are not working or the freebies or coupons no longer available, please post a blog comment below and I'll edit it!

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◊ Enjoying all the freebies? Want to keep up with the latest free stuff, deals, coupons, and other ways to save money? Subscribe to Frugal Freebies' email updates or RSS Feed! - it's free!

◊ Check us out on Twitter, and join in the conversation of even more great freebies, deals and coupons on our Frugal Freebies fan page on Facebook and Google+. We are even on Pinterest!

More Frugal Blogs and Websites:
◊ Born to Love: All your cloth diapering needs, and much more - naturally! We are strong advocates of the personal, social and environmental benefits of natural parenting.

◊ Frugal Baby Tips: Money-saving tips on diapering, diaper washing, safety, slings and baby carriers, toys, clothing, nursing, menstrual needs, traveling with kids, more!

What do you think of these Reusable Travel Food Containers?

Bring your favorite snack on the go with these reusable snack bags.

Use it to carry nuts, granola, jerky, chips, popcorn, cereals or anything you can think of.

Make Popsicles, ice cream, yogurt - or even bake your favorite snack cake in the oven right inside the snack bag.

Take them on hikes, to school, travel, work or anywhere you like to bring your snacks.

Perfect for kids, adults or seniors for travel.

Shop USA

Check out what the fans on Facebook had to say!:

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NOTE - If any of the above links are not working or the freebies or coupons no longer available, please post a blog comment below and I'll edit it!

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◊ Enjoying all the freebies? Want to keep up with the latest free stuff, deals, coupons, and other ways to save money? Subscribe to Frugal Freebies' email updates or RSS Feed! - it's free!

◊ Check us out on Twitter, and join in the conversation of even more great freebies, deals and coupons on our Frugal Freebies fan page on Facebook and Google+. We are even on Pinterest!

More Frugal Blogs and Websites:
◊ Born to Love: All your cloth diapering needs, and much more - naturally! We are strong advocates of the personal, social and environmental benefits of natural parenting.

◊ Frugal Baby Tips: Money-saving tips on diapering, diaper washing, safety, slings and baby carriers, toys, clothing, nursing, menstrual needs, traveling with kids, more!