As far as my memory allows, I can identify about four separate food phases I went through while working. This doesn't even touch on the extraordinary food experiences I had during prior years.
When I started full-time work I didn't care too much about my grocery budget. At least in relative terms. I wasn't spending much money on anything else and food was my main entertainment. I don't remember what my breakfasts were, but I imagine I had cereal. I brought my lunch to work and would on a rare occasion eat at a restaurant if co-workers were going. Lunches were generally instant noodles, which I suppose was largely due to laziness, since I knew very well how to cook. Dinners were made at home. So this was my opulent food lifestyle for a while.
Enter the second phase. I now prepare actual meals for lunch and restaurant visits are even rarer. Otherwise, things are pretty much the same as the first phase. I don't remember when it developed or if I had it from the beginning, but I did -at least eventually- have a food budget. The problem was it wasn't strict. If what I wanted pushed me over the limit then that was acceptable. The food I bought was somewhat healthy, but generally processed.
Phase three swept over me like a warm blanket. After a trip to Southeast Asia, I came back reinvigorated and with some new thoughts in my head. I adjusted my diet and decreased processed foods. I did more cooking from scratch. I did more batch cooking. I would make a whole week's worth of lunches, if possible, on Sunday. I would get a few days worth at least. For about a year my breakfast was rice porridge. I can tell you that eating rice compared to processed cereals can bring some good savings. I ate it cold in the mornings. Dinner was cooked each night and I could give it more attention, since I was batch cooking my lunches on the weekend. I was now saving a lot of time and some money. I decreased my budget allowance, but still would allow myself go over budget often.
Phase four was dramatic. This came after I had The Epiphany and I closely examined my entire food-eating process. First, whatever rare restaurant eating I did was right out... mostly. I went out once a month with a friend of mine to a restaurant, but that was it. One time I forgot to bring my lunch to work and instead of treating it as an excuse to eat out, I used it as a lesson to not forget my lunch (through the power of hunger). I switched my breakfasts from cold rice porridge to raw whole oats with fruit. My lunches and dinners followed the same process as in phase three, but with different ingredients. Processed foods were no longer affordable or in fact desirable. This had the awesome side benefit of also reducing the packaging I brought in. I slashed my food budget again and strictly adhered to it. By the end my final grocery budget was $12.50 per week, with the possibility of tapping into $5 more (if it was available and necessary) which was shared with soap and stuff like that.
Your taste buds change after a while of only buying foods with only one or two words in the ingredient list. Mine did at least. Eating processed foods really starts to become distasteful after that. I practiced as many types of cooking as I could and were practical. To not be wasteful, I would eat whatever I made, no matter what it tasted like. Although I would do whatever I could to improve a struggling meal. The stakes are much higher to learn to cook well when a poor attempt means five awful meals instead of one.
Rice was a main staple, but I also had a lot of pastas. Different types of beans, tofu, and eggs provided protein. Whatever green vegetable was cheapest at the ethnic markets were what I chose. Bananas are hard to beat on a price per pound count. And I added other miscellaneous stuff to fill out the budget and my stomach. But basically I could just look for what was cheapest, fresh, and filled out my food pyramid. I learned to buy foods in bulk which had the highest nutrient level per dollar. A useful budgeting technique I discovered was to not buy anything that cost more than $1 per pound. I would go grocery shopping each week and carry what I bought in my backpack. Since I knew exactly what my budget was and what my target price per weight was, I knew how much my backpack might weigh at the end of the trip. If it weighed more than usual, I knew I had a good shopping run.
It's also worth noting that I would do my shopping on route to home after work on Friday. I didn't make a special trip just for the groceries. I took the bus like always and I could get off in the middle and get back on with my groceries and not lose any money for it, since transfers were free. On top of that I also lived within walking distance of several grocery stores. They were generally more expensive than the ethnic stores I liked to visit, but were still there as an option. It's important to calculate the cost of transportation when price comparing.
The most vivid realization that came from my new habit was psychological. It gets a bit more difficult to put into words now. I came to this super-awareness that I had been shopping for my wants, instead of my needs. I saw that before I would buy something because it ran out, not because I needed it for some reason. And when I thought I needed ketchup for my potatoes I would reflect that vinegar and salt were just as good. I was reminded of how simple it is to live. To be happy with what you have.
