to the OP:
But hey, if you say it’s cheaper, knock yourself out. However, when you feel like complaining about being broke remember who is at fault. 
I totally agree. For example, today I made a burrito dinner for 3 adults and 2 children. To save trouble, I used pre-sliced chicken and beef, a jar of pre-made salsa, and pre-made burrito size wraps. The whole dinner cost about $20. Ordering an equivalent meal from the local Mexican place would have cost about $50.
You don’t have to eat the same thing again and again, day after day. Whole chickens were on sale at my grocery this week for $0.69 a pound. I bought a little 4 pounder. It went from fridge to table in under two hours and most of that time it was roasting and resting so I wasn’t fussing with it. Tonight I had chicken (and vegetables I roasted while the chicken was resting). Tomorrow I am going to pull all the meat off and make stock. The rest of the meat is going to be chicken salad (2 to 3 servings), chicken casserole (3 to 4 servings), and a small chicken stew (2 maybe 3 servings). The stock will be the base for the stew and the base for a chicken soup (either chicken noodle or chicken veg - haven’t decided yet). All of those will freeze wonderfully, will take almost no prep time since the chicken is already cooked, and I am getting at least a week’s worth of meals from a $3 chicken.
Of course, I will not eat all that day after day, I will eat it over the course of a few weeks. I happen to have a lot of other things in the house to eat. But, it’s nice to know that if I had to, I could.
You really do save time in the long run as well. For a few hours time investment tomorrow I will spend only as long as it takes to reheat in the microwave (or oven if you prefer) for lunches and dinners the rest of the week. Even fast food isn’t that fast.
Plus there are the health reasons. I am in control of the salt, the calories, the portion sizes, and the quality of the ingredients. Which is important to me. I just did a rough estimate of what the ingredients cost me to make everything I mentioned above and it was about $20 for probably 10 meals. So, you probably could do it cheaper getting 10 Swansons or Lean Cuisines on sale - but the salt and fat and preservatives are the trade off.
And just so you know, I am not some super chef. Just trying to cut the breast off for dinner tonight that poor little chicken looks like it was mutilated in a car wreck. So anyone can do this with this littlest bit of effort.
$50 for burritos for 5? Holy shit, I’m in the wrong business.
I’m printing out this post and taping it to my fridge. There’s a big pot o’ wisdom there.
I’m not always crazy about coming home tired at 5:30-6:00 p.m. at night and cooking, but I do care about what I eat, and cooking it myself is one way of controlling that. I think I tend to eat less of homemade foods where I can control the portions, than automatically eating all of what a fast food or insta-food serving is. For some reason, I get some satisfaction of turning the leftovers into a new and different meal, and having leftovers means a much more yummy lunch at work the next day.
Thanks, I’m glad that at least some small portion of my postings are useful. 
My new years resolution was to stop eating out so much and cook to save money. So far, I estimate I’ll save about $200 a month on the food bill. My secret is this slow cooker book. So far I’ve been averaging about $1.50 a meal, but that can only go down as I still have leftover ingredients to go through for the rest of the month. I recommend the OP look into it.
OK, I understand the “I don’t want to cook as a hobby, I just want to eat” thing. Let me approach this from the prospect of a busy person.
First of all, buying “smallest package” is not the way to save money. There are times when “smallest” is appropriate (for lunches at work I would, for example, take very small cans of vegetables so I wouldn’t waste half of a large one) but assuming you have a means of storing what you don’t eat immediately (i.e. refrigerator or freezer) you are far better off buying a larger package which provides enough for several meals. THAT is one of the ways in which buying your own can save money. If you aren’t willing to buy at least somewhat in bulk no, you’re not going to save money.
$6 usually buys me 2-4 pounds of meat (depending on type) which, the way I cook, can be 2-6 meals depending on what I’m making. That means the cost of meat per meal is $1-3, not $6. I don’t buy whole chickens (I’m willing to play “amateur butcher”, but my husband is very squeamish about such things and I prefer not to cause him distress) I buy bags of legs, thighs, breasts, or whatever which are already separated, trimmed, etc and commercially frozen which eliminates a lot of the labor you seem reluctant to do (which is fine - you’re probably a busy guy and your time is valuable). I shop for these things at Aldi, which has good quality meats in the freezer area and is low price for my area.
It’s January in Chicago. Tomatoes are expensive in January in Chicago. I’m sorry, but that is the bitter truth. However, if good quality fresh tomatoes are important to you regardless of time of year you might feel this is worth it.
A “taco kit” is not groceries - it’s fast food available at the grocery store. Go to the “Mexican” or “International” or “Ethnic” food aisle where you can buy a package of tortillas in a plastic pouch rather than a box from El Paso. You will also find a pouch or jar of seasoning dirt cheap which has enough for several meals and a jar of salsa which, again, can be used for several meals as well as for a chip dip at some later date. The difference is that you will not be paying for extra processing or packaging.
Yes, cheese is expensive. Like others, I’m wondering if you ate that whole block or had substantial left over.
Again, buying small isn’t always the way to go. If you eat sour cream frequently then a larger size might buy you a better per unit cost. Of course, sour cream has a limited shelf life, so if you use it infrequently you won’t want to throw half of it out after it goes bad as that will eliminate cost savings.
My pantry is not as thoroughly stocked as Queen Bruin suggests, yet I cook most of our meals. This only works if you have some idea what you’ll be eating and you’re willing to, say, buy the components of a meal rather buying a “kit”.
One of the reason the local restaurants are beating you in price is volume - they aren’t buying the meat for each taco order individually, they’re buying massive amounts meat. Likewise, your money will go farther if you buy a quantity of meat and divide it over several meals rather than buying just enough for one.
No, they didn’t have amazing ginsu knives in 1612.
Seriously, though, it doesn’t take hours to cut up a chicken. Maybe 15 minutes.
But if you don’t want to cut up a chicken you can buy bulk chicken parts - a 3lb bag of breasts, or whatever part you want. Take out what you want for a meal, store the rest in the freezer for a later meal. Chicken breasts aren’t my favorite, but a lot of people like them and they are easy - many recipes require whole ones, so just take a few out of the bag. For something like a stir fry or shredding for tacos put the frozen breast in the microwave for a minute or so to thaw it slightly, then cut while still partly frozen. There ya go.
I buy the chicken parts at Aldi and I find very little need to trim them. The amount of fat is minimal.
The chicken parts I buy frozen at Aldi have an individual glaze of ice. This isn’t “sticking it to the customers”, when done properly it prevents freezer burn and prolongs the storage life of the meat. You also find it on pre-cut fish filets. Yes, you are paying for it, but if you are storing it for any significant length of time this is worth it because when you use it two months down the line the quality will not have diminished. If you’re planning to use it all in within a week this is not so important.
Oh, man, I used to shop at the Jarvis and Clark store all the time when I lived in Rogers Park. There are vegetables I probably still don’t know the English names for - is it still reasonably priced? I miss having stores like that where I live now.
Yes, and there’s also Edgewater Produce, whhere I do a lot of my grocery shopping (it’s closer for me, if not so fabulous as Oakton Market). All the basic veggies, dairy, eggs, speices and chilis, beans, rice, and a fair amount of Latin specialty groceries are covered, along with half a dozen different types of freshly made tortillas, still steaming in their packages. Bonus: it’s a small place, so I can be in and out of there in a few minutes, rather than spending God knows how long in line at Jewel. Plus the produce is overall twice as good, for half the price - I don’t know why anyone buys produce at Jewel across the street.
(I haven’t had good experiences with the meat there, though - that I buy at Marketplace on Oakton or Costco, or sometimes elsewhere, like yesterday when I happened to be at a halal butcher in Albany Park and got some fabulous lamb shanks for $2.29/lb. Chicken legs and thighs were $0.69/lb. there.)
There are some foods that do indeed taste better two or three days later. Stews, chilis, and jambalaya – my personal favorite – are among these.
Fried rice: making it on the super-easy, it takes maybe $2.00 of frozen vegetables, call it $3.00 worth of chicken if you make a pound of chicken breasts special for the meal, at most $1.00 worth of rice and a few leftover soy sauce packets from Chinese takeout. 
Add another two dollars worth of everything else (some people like egg, some people actually BUY their soy sauce) and you’ve got four meals for $8, or $2/meal. Not gourmet, but easy and tasty.
I can feed myself very well, including one or two steak dinners per month, for approximately $35-$40/week. That generally includes buying the occasional new sponges or shampoo, and that’s not economical buying. That’s a single woman who splurges.
Well since i didn’t read all 150 posts i don’t know if this was brought up. But…it also depends on your lifestyle.
For instance I shot 4 deer and 2 small hogs this, year, i own my own meat grinder so after one saturday of playing butcher, I produced around 389 pounds of meat and meat products. At a cost of $1.69 per pound, (cost includes, gas, ammunition, land lease, provisions while camping, and things needed for sausage preparation.)
So for $1.69 per pound I got close to a years worth of
Sausage (Link and breakfast)
Ground meat (had to purchase beef tallow for about $0.50/lbs)
Roast
Steak
Pork Chops
Pork Loin
Pork Ribs (Country Style and baby back)
etc.
Anyway when you factor in that now I only have to purchase meat when I want too my average cost per meal has gone down tremendously. As far as poultry goes, I’ve shot several geese this year and many ducks. And when spring gets here I’ll catch all the fish we want to eat.
My point is if your general lifestyle leads you to frequently bring home meat poultry, and fish, than your average cost per meal drops sharply as now thats something you don’t have to pay for in the store.
Yes, it is reasonably priced, except for the small Gringo Aisle (my name, not theirs). Limes 20 for a buck, cilantro about a dollar a wheelbarrow load, iceburg lettuce for $.50, those sorts of things. They have a fresh batch of chicken fajita mix with their own marinade for generally $2.50 a pound or so. I buy a pound of that, a red bell pepper (cheaper at Oakton, but not bad at Jarvis) and a big red onion; their fajita mix is chicken heavy, so I can stretch it to fill us up with the extra veggies. A little fresh made guac on the side (avocados, alas, are getting expensive even there due to the weather this year) and a pack of tortillas and we’re happy fat Americans.
My grandfather, now deceased, worked at that Jarvis Fruit Market when he was in high school. He had great stories about working there during the depression, when the manager would have him unload a crate of oranges - half went into the bin on the Clark Street window of the store where the rich people drove by, and that bin was priced at 5 cents an orange. The other half of the crate went in the Jarvis window where the poorer people lived, and that was 3 cents an orange! I told the current owner that, and he laughed and laughed, and promised he’d never do anything like that!
It was really weird seeing that store in person for the first time. My grandfather had been dead for 6 years by then, and I moved in practically right on top of it - it was like a storybook come to life! It was the funny shape of the building that was the clue, and then I verified it with Grandma. I think of his stories every time I shop there.
Marketplace on Oakton had fresh butchered (felt never frozen) boneless skinless breasts on sale for $1.69 this week.Great price for around here. Each package was one whole (so two “halves”) breast, and each packaged weighed in at just under 2 pounds. I bought 4 packages, which will make 4 planned meals (2 doubled recipes, one batch to eat and one to freeze) plus the leftovers for our family of 4 big-eaters.
Here’s the latest from Nott’s kitchen. Marsh had whole vacpacked New York Strips on sale for $3.99 US a pound. Nottwife had the butcher cut one into 1¼ inch steaks. We have 14 big NY Strips for $3.86 each, in the freezer.
Actually, we’re cutting back on red meat this year, so I cut them all in half. 28 fine steaks for the grill, at $1.93 each. Just because we’re cutting back, doesn’t mean we have to give up eating well. Thick steaks make for great grilling, and we can have perfectly grilled 3 or 4 ounce steaks (grilled at 6 or 8, and cut in half for two people.) Scary, isn’t it, tiny perfect steaks?
If it was 1612, you wouldn’t be getting an oven-ready chilled fresh chicken and jointing it, either. You’d be getting a fresh chicken on the hoof and killing it yourself, plucking and drawing it yourself, and only then doing your own butchering, unless you were in the privileged 0.1% who could afford to keep someone to do it for you. Under the circumstances, complaining about actually having to handle clean-skinned gut-free chicken carcases seems ill-founded.
And they were glad to get a chicken at all, right? Okay, okay, I’ll get off your lawn.
Actually, you’re right. Before the growth of big industrial chicken ranches, chicken was a luxury food. “A chicken in every pot” meant that everyone would be well to do. So they were glad to get chicken.
Where do you shoot wild hogs? Deer I know about.
My little garden produced all the vegetables I needed for the summer, plus plenty I froze, all for a couple of bucks for seeds and seedlings (I don’t have a good place to incubate), a bit of labor, and a bunch of compost which reduced the amount of trash we produce. For those who care to, moving back in the food production chain does save money.