Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks

Okay, everyone, lift your hands up if you think eating healthy is expensive? Just look at those bio protein bars that cost an arm or a leg or take a cleansing smoothie that’s basically a farewell to your weekly rent. With takeaway meals priced as low as $1, no wonder we think of legumes and stuff as somewhat of a modern world’s luxury.

But one pro chef who goes by the Reddit handle u/Aichliss has done everyone a public service and listed all the ways to hack the grocery store. Point by point, the chef listed game-changing things we should all know before and while shopping in order to eat cheap, healthy and well. As you suspect, there's no ready-made frozen chicken curry in there.

So get your notebooks, everyone, we are about to do groceries, but the smart way. Like proper adults.

Image credits: aichliss

This post may include affiliate links.

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks Frozen fruit and veg is great, mostly. Maybe dodge the chopped carrots and corn a lot of us ate growing up or find in bad takeout Chinese food, but hey - grab that bag of frozen berries or peas and throw ‘em in anything that warrants it. Technology for frozen produce has improved dramatically in the last few decades, and we should capitalize on that.

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

118points

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Bill Evs 3 years ago

Couldn't agree more with this. There's absolutely nothing wrong with frozen fruit and veg. In fact a lot of the time the frozen varieties in supermarkets have a much higher nutritional value than the fresh stuff (as the "fresh" stuff is usually anything but), last longer and are much cheaper.

43points

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Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks I say this because in modern western culture eating meat every day is seen as normal. This is an oddity when we examine all of human history, and this notion should be abandoned if we’re trying to live more affordably. Meat is grossly overrepresented in most diets, and you should always ask if you could cut your portion of meat down in exchange for more vegetables and grains.

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

112points

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Bill Evs 3 years ago

I've never understood some peoples obsession with having meat for every meal. I'm not a vegetarian but my diet is "meat light" in that I'll have it a few times a week. I think it's a throw back to past generations who had to make do without it so meat became sort of a luxury item (especially in the post war years) and that ingrained belief has been passed down through each generation.

38points

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Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks Not because they’re bad for you - just because of their jacked prices. Not to mention oftentimes the industries surrounding them are ethical nightmares. Don’t get me started on avocado cartels and the impact of quinoa farming on low-income South American communities. In reality, most grains and cereals have a lot of nutrients and minerals, and they’re often overlooked. Learn the nutrition facts, and make decisions accordingly. Google and online databases are your friends, here.

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

109points

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John Baker 3 years ago

There's no such thing as a "superfood." It's all a bunch of hype designed to get you to spend your money.

56points

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Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks Buy these dried as often as possible. Keep a stock of beans, lentils, and dried chickpeas around if you can. They’re cheap, almost always available, and virtually imperishable. As such, assuming you don’t throw them out and keep them properly stored, buying these is a 100% return on your investment.

Legumes are one of the most versatile options in your kitchen. As long as you soak them and put them in the fridge before you go to bed they’ll be available the next day to cook quickly. These are the best thing to have if you’re looking to stretch a meal because of their nutrient density and the fact that they’re just damn delicious on their own.

Look into middle-eastern and African cuisine for creative ways to use these ingredients. Some really common examples are lentil curry, hummus, falafels, and putting chickpeas in a shakshuka. This isn’t a recipe post, so look up how to make them yourself - some grandma has a better (and probably even cheaper) recipe than I do.

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

101points

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Lyone Fein 3 years ago

Lentils rule!

41points

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Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks I know it’s cheap. I KNOW you like how easy it is. I don’t give one flying f**k. It’s awful for you, it isn’t cheaper than a bowl of rice with soy sauce, a fried egg, and some frozen peas, and it’ll kill you slowly. Just don’t, and ignore anyone’s advice about how it got them through college. Hell, if anyone’s advice involves doing what they did in college, take it with a grain of salt. There’s good advice sometimes, and a LOT of bad.

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

90points

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F. H. 3 years ago

Tell that to the students without kitchens.

70points

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Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks Good fresh and better canned. Use fresh tomatoes raw for whatever you want and use canned tomatoes for sauces. Buy canned tomatoes with as little added salt and sugar as possible.

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

88points

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Earl Grey 3 years ago (edited)

Grow your own if you can, even if all you have is a patio or balcony. There are hundreds of varieties to suit any circumstance or microclimate.

18points

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Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. There’s always a bin of some forgotten veggie no-one eats for some reason. In the west, at least, it seems to often be rutabagas/turnips. I’ve also seen apples in the fall, corn, and cabbages fall into this category. This is because of a good harvest, or because of a lack of consumer interest - any time this happens, capitalize on it. Everything is delicious if you cook it properly. Buy seasonally, and learn how to use the things you buy. You’ll eat like a king and pay like a pauper.

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

77points

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Martha Meyer 3 years ago

I discovered turnips last year and wondered why I never knew them before. Delicious!

20points

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Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks BARLEY, also, is amazing, but for other reasons. It’s high in protein and iron, and can help dramatically improve your nutrient intake for very little cost. In soups, roasted in tea (thanks Korea), and used in tandem with rice, it can go a very, very long way in making your diet a more sustainable one in times of austerity and plenty, alike.

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

75points

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Martha Meyer 3 years ago

I'll add millet and buckwheat here. Good relatively unknown grains.

32points

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Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks A chicken isn’t just 8 portions of meat - it’s also bones and carcass for a stock or soup, fat to be rendered out and used as a cooking oil (thanks, jewish folks!), and skin to be cooked down into delicious little chips. This same list can be used for pork, beef, and any other mammal you eat.

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

71points

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Robert T 3 years ago

By 8 portions, he means 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs, 2 wings and 2 breasts. See: https://youtu.be/_UyyLRqah3E

9points

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#10

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks All of this information is fundamentally more useful if you know how to cook. Not knowing how to cook is a luxury afforded to those with the means to afford living in ignorance of this most basic human skill. You are living outside your means if you live in a well-off country, don’t make a least $60k a year, and can’t cook.

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

71points

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Caro Caro 3 years ago

It should be taught at school, just the basics.

44points

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#11

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks Buy them fresh and store them in dry, enclosed spaces, and buy tomatoes canned and without salt added. Use onions in almost everything, they’re delicious, cheap, and nutritious.

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

68points

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JuJu 3 years ago

Onion soup, onion gratin, stuffed onions, onion relish, onion sauce...hmmmmm

19points

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#12

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks I know Starbucks is delicious. Guess what? You can find a recipe for every drink they make online, and then make it better. Some restaurants literally survive because they can sell coffee at a nearly 2000% markup. Truck stop diners and high-end coffee shops do this. I recommend making cold brew the night before, since you literally just have to strain it in the morning rather than brewing a pot.

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

68points

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Martha Meyer 3 years ago

Starbucks is "delicious"...? Erm...

53points

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#13

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks If you want a drink, I recommend doing it less often and drinking the good stuff. If you like the cheap stuff that’s fine, “good stuff” is all relative anyway. Just drink less and focus on quality over quantity, whatever your preferences are.

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

67points

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Kay blue 3 years ago

Yeah the 3 litre bottle of white lightning cider will get you drunk but it won't be a pleasant experience.

16points

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#14

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks Generally when you buy produce you should go, in order, to the discount rack, then the sales, and then everything else. Someone out there has a recipe for literally everything, and some of them are even good. A pepper with a blemish or tiny spot of mold is still fine, assuming you cut away the blemish or tiny spot of mold.

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

57points

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Leo Domitrix 3 years ago

Unless you really hate the vegetable or fruit in question, in which case, don't force yourself to eat it b/c it's cheap. You won't like it any better. (Kohlrabi, looking at *you*.)

42points

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#15

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks If you’re gonna buy it I recommend buying less of it less often, and buying the good stuff when you do. Kraft block cheese only costs as little as it does because it’s the by-product of the real money-maker: whey protein production. If you’re gonna buy cheese, please support a real cheesemaker. The cheese lover in you will be happier for it.

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

56points

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Laugh or not 3 years ago

Cheese is a luxury? I am sorry, but you are what you eat, and at this stage I am pretty sure I am 40% cheese. And as a French person, I assure you it is real, good cheese.

123points

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#16

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks RICE is amazing, as most know already, but seriously - it’s one of the most important crops in the world. It’s kept civilizations alive on its back for all of recorded history, and it’ll keep you alive, too. There is no better “fill me up” food I can think of. Wait for those huge sacks of rice to go on sale (it happens pretty frequently), then buy 2. They last forever. Ideally grab long-grain rice if you’re just looking for a side-dish or fried rice base, but in a pinch short grain’ll do; it’s just less forgiving and the starches don’t retrograde as fully so when you cool it it doesn’t keep as nicely.

KEEP IN MIND that rice is pure carbs. It’s a good base, but you need other stuff to go with it or else you’ll be deficient in nutrients and feel awful all the time. Trust me from experience - college me went through a raw-egg-on-rice phase, and it wasn’t pretty.

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

55points

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Who - me? 3 years ago (edited)

One word - bugs. I have on more than one occasion bought a 1 or 2 pound bag of rice at a regular chain grocery (not a discount outlet or dollar store) and opened it when I got home to find small "worms" inside. Followed by a trip to return it to the store. If you do buy rice in bulk, keep it in an airtight container.

27points

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#17

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks Like, as an industry. Not many people know their fish, and fish processing companies know that and capitalize on it. I always tell people who like fish to buy fresh and whole, and to learn how to pick good fish. Buying cheap processed fish products is akin to asking to be ripped off, to harm the environment, and to accumulate toxins in your body, all at the same time. To not get completely F-ed over by what is maybe the worst food industry in the world you need to know your fish, know the company you’re buying from, and know who’s doing the fishing. Good luck, and please try not to contribute to the death of our water ecosystems. (A good trick is that if you can afford fish when you’re poor and you don’t live beside a large body of water, you almost certainly DON’T WANT IT.)

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

50points

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Robert T 3 years ago

If is smells, it isn't fresh. And buying it ready filleted at the supermarket is not a problem. However fresh fish is not cheap.

32points

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#18

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks IF YOU EAT MEAT, buy the least processed cuts you can. Whole chickens, meat on the bone, and ground meats are your best friends. Go to butcher shops, if you can. Freezing meat is fine, but try to avoid buying pre-made frozen protein options. Get raw product and do the work yourself to save a LOT of cash and get better food out of it.

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

46points

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Robert T 3 years ago

My gf has taken this to the extreme and actually plucked chickens after someone else has dispatched them. I prefer it is mine is ready portioned.

11points

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#19

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks Chips, sugar cereals, premade salad dressings, sweet juice/pop, and processed foods like KD or tv dinners are not the way to go if you’re looking to get the most out of your dollar at the grocery store. They’re bad for you, they’re expensive relative to the cost of production, and they put a burden on your body that you’ll pay for down the line. Exceptions to this are staple sauces like a good soy sauce and fish sauce, grains and legumes, and canned veggies.

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

45points

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Caro Caro 3 years ago

When making a tomato sauce make plenty and freeze in portions. Use for a quick meal. Same with lasagne and other meals, make more and pop it in the freezer. It saves time and money.

11points

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#20

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks FLOUR is an essential staple, unless you’re celiac or gluten free - a topic on which I won’t speak because I’m confident anyone who has to deal with those issues knows more than I do. I recommend grabbing all-purpose flour due to its gluten content being a middle ground between low-gluten pastry flour and high-gluten bread flour. You can still use it to make bread, and it has a myriad other uses as a binder or thickener for sauces.

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

43points

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Martha Meyer 3 years ago

Modern day commercial refined wheat flour is a nutritional nightmare actually. It's worth looking into whole grain flours, other grains than wheat and generally less refined flours if you can get your hands on those. They cost more but it's not expensive.

19points

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#21

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks Go for it, these things are nutrient bombs and they’re delicious. Buy them seasonally for the best value and if you have a day to do so, preserve them if you ever see a huge sale. I’m still enjoying lacto-fermented blueberries from last year’s insane blueberry harvest where I could buy a pint for a dollar.

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

39points

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Auntriarch 3 years ago

Fermented blueberries? Hmmm.

10points

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#22

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks I generally have a personal aversion to all canned veggies and fruits except tomatoes, but that’s just my privilege speaking. If you want to buy them or if fresh produce is hard to come by, avoid getting anything with added salt or sugar. Cross-reference the nutrient info on the can with info from a fresh counterpart to avoid buying filler garbage, and try to find somewhere to live with better food accessibility. Alternatively, save up and make a killing by opening a fruit and vegetable market to remove the need to read this very ling post any further. (This is a joke and I recognize the struggle of those in impoverished communities with awful food accessibility.)

aichliss , unsplash Report

Final score:

37points

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Earl Grey 3 years ago

Except for tomatoes, I’ve never had a canned vegetable that wasn’t mouth-searingly salty.

10points

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#23

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks Treat these as a starch option similar to grains or cereals. Buy them unprocessed, in a sack. Store them in dry, enclosed spaces.

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

32points

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JuJu 3 years ago

NO! Potatoes are totally different from the other popular starch options. They are healthy as f*uck! And there are endless options for potato based meals. Potatoes are your friend.

72points

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#24

Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks All the rules for proteins apply. Fish bones and crustacean shells for stock, fat deposits on the occasional salmonid for whatever you want, and fish skin, if it’s your cup of tea, for a lovely snack. Hell, fish organs and salt make up the base for a fermented fish sauce, if you really want to go the extra mile. Rome survived off of fish sauce and bread for longer than our society has been around. The one big difference between fish and meat is that frozen fish tends to suck relative to fresh in a much bigger way - both in terms of quality and retained nutrients. Put frozen fish in soups or curries, to avoid nutrient drain from the water that inevitably will leak out of your fish.

aichliss , pexels Report

Final score:

17points

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Marianne Saiso 3 years ago

What? no. Fish comes frozen off the trawler, so you buy it frozen and defrost slowly. Same goes for fish sticks. They're mostly made on the damn boat. Freshest you can get. Unless you can get locally fished fish, frozen is fine.

28points

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What do you think ?

Zedrapazia 3 years ago

Not bad tips, but the tone this person is handing out their tips with sounds so aggressive and upset that i simply don't want to read any of this, neither change my eating habits. It sounds like this person would just blame everyone for the way they eat just because they can.

Shane S 3 years ago

I also found it a bit preachy but it’s also coming from an expert. The average home chef looking after a family doesn’t always have this level of time and energy to devote to shopping, prepping, cooking, and after-prep. I can tear down a chicken or chop and cook up a bunch of veggies for dinner but I don’t have 4 hours after dinner to make the bones and scraps into stock.

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Sue Grigg 3 years ago

This is written by someone with no worries about the grocery bill.

26points

Becky Samuel 3 years ago

Most of these lists forget one vital thing - the power bills. It's great telling people to cook more, but if you're watching the electricity on your meter go down by the minute, that's not a lot of help.

Don't Look 3 years ago

This started okay and then by a third of the way through it was repetitive, judge mental and had lost its point.

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Pro Chef Gives 24 Grocery Shopping Tips And Tricks

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