This is a guide to a bachelors (or bachelorettes) for planning meals and cooking at home. I mostly intend for this to be a reference guide for myself so I can keep on track with not spending all my money on food while I live alone. If this is helpful for you, or you have other recipes to share, let me know in the comments below :))

The Bachelor's Guide to not Starving

1. Introduction
2. Durable Items
3. Semi-Durable Items
4. Fresh Items
5. Sauce will save your life
6. Coffee
7. The Freezer
8. Final Thoughts

Introduction

I was having a Portuguese lesson today with my tutor Leonardo today, and he was telling me about potential plans for moving to a new place to live by himself. We talked about the various costs of living, and agreed that besides rent, food can be one of the largest costs when you live alone. We then got into a discussion about how to afford food, and how not to go crazy eating the same things over and over. I gave him some ideas, as I live in an apartment with several roommates, and the food costs are something I think about a lot.

Plus, let's face it. After being quarantined, locked down, and generally stuck at home for the last year, we all have had too learn how to really cook and feed ourselves. Also, delivery is expensive, and not always better.

Article : Cooking at Home will become the new Normal

This post will be the summation of my ideas and strategies for eating affordably, healthily, and simply, with room for variety and flavor. Without further ado, let's begin!

--As an extra note, I'm writing this from the perspective of cheaper food in North America. Some things will be more/less expensive depending on your region/country/city etc. Feel free to substitute items in and out based on what's cheaper for you or based on your own tastes.--

Durable Items

Durable Items are items that, when stored properly, can last you about 2-3 months or up to a year depending on the quantity that you buy. These are big staple foods, and will help in creating other dishes. Hence why we purchase these in two month increments.

• Flour
• Rice
• Dried Beans
• Oatmeal
• Dry Pasta (any kind really)
• Canned Goods (veggies, beans, fruit, tuna, other conserved fish, concentrated soups)

If you live in a region where buckwheat is readily available and cheap, I truly envy you.

As for the beans, I have usually used canned beans, but I'm looking to learn more how to prepare dried beans. More just for the cost effectiveness, and less waste. Any bean afficionados can leave me some comments down below. :))

Semi-Durable Items

These are items that will usually last you between two-to-four weeks, but are fresher than the durable items. These still can be counted as staple foods.

• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Onions
• Garlic

Fresh Items

These are the items that will last you up to two weeks at the most, and so should be budgeted by the week for shopping.

• Bread
• Milk
• Eggs
• Vegetables
• Salad Greens (lettuce, spinach, etc)
• Fruit
• Meat (chicken, pork, beef etc.)

For the veggies and the salad greens, there are a multitude of options, but here's a list of cheaper options (where I live), that can be used in a variety of ways

Veggies

• Bell Peppers
• Zucchini (Courgettes)
• Eggplant (Aubergines)
• Tomatoes
• Squash
• Celery

Sauce to Save your Life

Everyone kind of laughs when they hear this one, but I will swear by the sauce! Seriously though, when you're eating a lot of the same ingredients day in and day out, different sauces will help add variety, and up your flavor game at the same time! Still don't believe me? Try thinking how your favorite pizza would be without it's tomato sauce. Pretty sad right? Then without further ado.

Base Sauce Ingredients and Condiments

• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Mustard
• Ketchup
• Mayonnaise
• Plain Greek Yogurt
• Vinegar
• A cayenne pepper based hot sauce (or other hot sauce)
• Lemon Juice

Some basic combinations of basic sauce ingredients could be

Burger Sauce

• 1 part Ketchup
• 1 part Mustard
• 1 part Mayonnaise
• 1 part minced pickles

Honey Mustard

• 1 part mayonnaise
• 1 part mustard
• 1 squeeze of honey

Spicy Chicken Marinade

• 1 part lemon juice
• 1 part cayenne pepper sauce
• salt
• pepper
• a plastic bag

There's a lot more sauce ideas that you can incorporate into cooking for spreading, searing, marinating, and grilling. I suggest you find a few sauces that you personally like, and stock your pantry accordingly.

Coffee

Life would not be complete without coffee! However, coffee can be a more expensive pleasure, especially if you're a daily drinker! Thankfully, there are ways to mitigate your coffee costs.

1. Figure out what you like for taste

2. Buy larger quantities of whole bean coffee

Preferably from a local roaster, depending on the size of bag they sell their wares in.

3. Grind your beans and prepare your coffee at home

I personally use either a six cup moka pot, or half of a French Press to get my daily coffee dose.

The Freezer

There are a few things that can be saved in the freezer to improve their longevity. Meats and frozen vegetables will do real well up there, and help cut back on the amount of fresh food you buy week after week. Another thing I'm thinking of exploring is half-baked bread. I've heard you can make a bunch of bread dough, portion the dough out, bake the dough halfway, let it cool down completely, and then wrap it and put it in the freezer. Then whenever you want a fresh loaf, you take a loaf out of the freezer and bake it the rest of the way. I definitely want to try this lol.

Final Thoughts

Once you learn to have some simple and cheap foods that you constantly keep and cook in your meal rotation, you open much more possibilities of cheaper, healthier, and even tastier food! This allows you to remain disciplined with your fitness goals, as well as having the extra benefit of leaving more dollars in your pocket at the end of the month!

If you have any other suggestions for cheap and easy food, or some other ingredients or a recipe I didn't mention, let me know in the comments!

Para a vida e para a aprendizagem,

Tom