@pavlosofsalem Yeah tbh like this is genuinely the best advice. I’m a 20yr old dude and I can’t stop eating food is so expensive.
I just alternate between home made beans and rice, jambalaya, chicken Alfredo, taco chili, soups, and pot pie. I add extra chicken to most dishes, sometimes I’ll use shrimp or have a steak.
Breakfast I’ll do egg/sausage/biscuit, or oatmeal (be extra with your oatmeal, my fav combo is with applesauce and apple pie spice)
I like to also have some apples and peanut butter, cheddar cheese and crackers, as well as chicken tenders on hand for snacks.
Those big batch dinners save so much money it’s stupid plus it’s better than eating out most anywhere as well as healthier.
A simple multi vitamin, caffeine and l theanine capsules to avoid energy drinks, bone broth protein for added collagen in the dinners, and kefir to supplement my gut.
Overall it isn’t too bad. Most of those dinner end up 3-5/large serving, (for example the pie including store bought crusts cost me 10$ to make. I ate it in thirds at around 65g protein/serving). I’ll eat around 2lbs of nuts per week which is ~12$, I splurge on dried fruits around 18$/week for me to eat 20oz of dried mangos. I spend probably 10$/week on dairy between cheese, milk, and a quart of kefir. 5-10$ for fresh fruits and another 15 on miscellaneous.
I try to stay almost exactly 100/week on food, this is also like a super dense diet calorically and nutritionally. Helps me bulk white well when lifting, if my portions weren’t so absurd and if I weren’t actively trying to gain weight I reckon I’d be closer to 70/week.
Overall my health seems perfect on all metrics so far, and it’s cheaper than any of my friends since I try to cook every single meal. Lidil and their app has also been a huge help, sometimes I order meat off of wildfork since they have a fantastic deal on cubed beef.
Op you don’t have to be famous and rich to not worry about debt, you must however be strategic. I definitely am lucky in many ways but getting my food/sleep/health down has been the best. Without those in order I’m a wreck entirely.