Now We Eat the Lentils

Reducing Expenses for One of the "Big Three"

Have you ever heard of the Big Three in personal finance?

The Big Three are most people’s most costly expense categories: housing, transportation, and food. (If you have small kids, let’s call it the Big Four and add childcare to that list.)

Reducing these expenses will get you far more budget mileage than canceling Netflix. However, these expenses are also the most difficult to adjust — especially when you are a Grown Ass Adult who bought a house in 2018. I’m not gonna find cheaper housing for my family of four than the house I already have.

And changing transportation? How are my kids gonna get to daycare without my car, and how am I gonna get to my job that pays for daycare and the house and the car? It’s possible that my family could become a one-car family, but that would be more of a nuclear option — not something I’d try out to write about on Substack.

So that leaves the final category: food.

If you already do the obvious “Spend Less On Food” tricks, you might wonder how to further decrease your spending in this category as prices or on the rise. Here’s what I’m doing lately to keep my own household’s food expenses manageable:

• Shopping at Aldi. Starting my grocery trips at a lower-priced store saved my family around $200 in February. You might not have an Aldi near you, but see what grocer or big-box store has the lowest prices on basics and head there first. (Admittedly it’s a hassle to go to two grocery stores. But it’s a hassle I’m willing to deal with at the moment.)

• Cooking the food I already have in my freaking house. I have this open five-pound bag of rice in my cabinet. I’ve used a cup or two… But more often than not, I’ve been making those 90-second rice packets because they take 90 seconds to make… Not half an hour. I’m not giving up the 90-second rice packets, but this weekend I was proud of myself for cooking rice from The Rice Bag.

• Cooking with less meat. This was my main strategy in college (a long time ago) when my food budget was around $30 per week. I’m not saying to go meatless, or even do Meatless Mondays. However, swapping half the meat in a recipe for beans and veggies will cut the cost of the dish while keeping you satisfied. Buy a value pack of something versatile like ground beef or chicken thighs, divide it into half-pound portions, and freeze. Then bulk up the rest of your recipes with canned beans, corn, lentils, squash, chopped mushrooms, or other veggies. Gone are the days when a plucky 22-year-old could make it through college on Pell grants and cannellini beans, but reducing the meat in your main dishes can still cut your grocery bill.

---

So as I promised on social media, here’s a Less-Meat recipe!

Jessie’s College Daze Lentil Stew

Sorry, frugal folks — unless we’re about to become a one-car family, you are not gonna catch me cooking with dried beans. Ain’t nobody got time for that. But lentils are the exception! They are dried legumes, but you don’t have to presoak them before cooking. This fits in a lot better with my freewheeling 90-second rice packet lifestyle…

Anyhow, Jessie’s College Daze Lentil Stew won’t win any beauty contests but it’s hearty, filling, and inexpensive. I made this recipe as simply as possible with ingredients that were on hand; you can make substitutions or additions (celery or a bay leaf wouldn’t kill anyone) but don’t skip the fresh parsley. It really brightens up the dish!

Servings: 4 as a main dish or 6 as a side piece, er, dish

Cost per main dish serving: $1.37 (based on Aldi and Big Y prices in March 2025)

Time: 30 minutes total, 10 minutes active

Ingredients:

• olive oil to cover bottom of pan

• 1/2 cup frozen chopped onions

• 5 baby carrots, chopped

• half of a 1 lb. kielbasa, cut lengthwise into quarters and then cut across to make small rounds

• 4 cups chicken broth

• 1/2 cup dry rice

• 1/2 cup green lentils

• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning

• 1/2 tsp. black pepper

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• scant 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions: Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large sauce pan over medium heat. Add carrots and frozen chopped onions; cook until onions are defrosted, then add chopped kielbasa. Once kielbasa has browned slightly, add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add lentils, rice, Italian seasoning, pepper, and salt. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes or until lentils are tender. Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Yum!

---

We may not solve all the world’s systemic problems or defeat The Red Hat by eating lentil stew. Still, I hope the idea of eating less meat reduces your bottom line so you have more money for paying off credit cards, putting gas in your car, or #godforbid maybe doing something fun. You could even lose a little weight or reduce your carbon footprint along the way!

Shout-out to We Bravely Go and Women’s Personal Finance for getting me thinking about lentils! What is YOUR favorite meatless or less-meat meal? Let me know.

Take care,

Jessie

To learn more about budgeting, band finances, and other personal finance topics, order Money Hacks for Metalheads and Old Millennials: The Revised and Expanded Second Edition in paperback and ebook formats: https://amzn.to/3AjB1j6