“Respect the rotisserie chicken.” A reader wrote to me last week with that gem of a sentence, and I want to put it on hats and tote bags.
I’d asked you all for your cost-saving strategies in these dizzyingly expensive times. You replied en masse, with fascinating emails that detailed your grocery-shopping and cooking habits and shared a glimpse into your lives, whether you’re in Alaska or Australia (both represented) or, most likely, somewhere in between.
My colleagues Allison Jiang and Sharon Attia pulled your tips into this article, which is full of excellent advice. Take a look, leave comments, tell us more.
How Our Readers Are Saving Money on Groceries →
Some of you are buying in bulk and going to the store less often. But — counterintuitively! I like it! — some of you are doing the exact opposite, shopping more often and buying less in each go. That way, you buy only what you need in that moment and avoid food waste from ignored groceries — the most expensive choice of all.
You also said you’re shopping your pantries, committing to cleaning out whatever is in the fridge at least one night a week; choosing ground meat over larger cuts or eating less meat altogether; and eating beans and freezing ingredients and leftovers like mad (there was lots of love for vacuum sealers; Wirecutter recommends this one). And, of course, you’re respecting the rotisserie chicken, famously a loss leader for markets like Costco, which makes it a good deal and one of the best dinner shortcuts out there.
The best cost-saving advice of all: Eat out less, and cook more. We’re here to help you do that every day (you are signed up for our Dinner Tonight newsletter, yes?). The five recipes below are meant to give you budget-friendly options that are every bit as interesting and delicious as all our work here at New York Times Cooking.
Reach out to me anytime with ideas, recipe requests, whatever you need: [email protected].
1. White Chicken Chili
This recipe from Lidey Heuck is a supernova, an excellent dinner that’s budget-friendly and easy to put together. It leans on rotisserie chicken (or a roast chicken), white beans, canned diced green chiles and spices you might have in your cabinet right now. The beans help stretch the dish, so the meat goes further.
2. Gochujang Buttered Noodles
This instant-classic recipe from Eric Kim “is regularly on the rota here,” wrote one reader, who said she’s been making a point of cooking from her pantry regularly in order to save money on new groceries. Does the commitment to shopping your pantry sound dull? It isn’t, especially if you’ve stocked your pantry with ingredients like gochujang, honey and sherry vinegar.
3. Smashed Beef Kebab With Cucumber Yogurt
Ground meat beats steak when you’re trying to keep your grocery bills down. Not that you’re denying yourself anything if you make this recipe from Zaynab Issa. Drawing inspiration from Persian cooking, she matches well-spiced browned beef with yogurt, cucumber and fresh mint. (Don’t let that mint rot in the fridge afterward; use what’s left in this utterly simple spinach salad with lemon and mint from Nigella Lawson.)
4. Garlicky Chicken Thighs With Scallion and Lime
A bartender named Wally wrote in with an eloquent argument for dark meat chicken, a cut that dramatically overdelivers on flavor relative to its cost. This excellent recipe from Alison Roman, which has a short list of ingredients, underscores his point and should be on your dinner table this week. (Wally also mentioned drumsticks, which are even more affordable; we have a basic recipe for drumsticks that you’ll make over and over again, especially if you serve them with ranch dressing for dipping.)
5. Crispy Potato Quesadillas
Ooh, starch on starch, one of my favorite recipe genres (if you haven’t had potato pizza, you haven’t lived). Kristina Felix presses potatoes and cheese between flour tortillas, then tops them with an easy cabbage slaw that delivers fresh zing and crunch. These are inexpensive ingredients that add up to something amazing.
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Emily Weinstein is the editor in chief of New York Times Cooking and Food. She also writes the popular NYT Cooking newsletter Five Weeknight Dishes.
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