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So, before I begin, some context: I’m unemployed and relatively poor and spend a lot of time trying to optimize my grocery bill and finances. I also have some obsessive tendencies, so I’m sorry if that gets in the way - feel free to ignore details you don’t value.

That said, I prefer to be frugal more than “cheap”, meaning I don’t like to buy the cheapest option in all cases, only when it makes sense - and then I try to pay extra for what matters. For example, I buy the cheapest peanut butter and bananas I can find because the higher-cost options don’t make enough of a quality difference to justify the price. But I buy whole oats because freshly rolled oatmeal is so much tastier.

I have struggled to find whole oats in a store locally, and I found some online for $0.93 / 100 g. (Would love to hear what better oat prices I should look for, and where I could find them. I might re-engage my search for whole oats in store.)

I like to make a batch of what I call “fiber oatmeal” at the start of the week. Ingredients:

• 1 cup (250 mL) of freshly rolled oats
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) flax seeds
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) chia seeds
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) hemp seeds

I weigh out around 115 grams of whole oats and use a hand-cranked oat flaker / roller. If you haven’t had fresh oatmeal, it’s very creamy and in my experience is much tastier than oats I buy at the store. It’s a luxury for me. You can always substitute old-fashioned oats from the store, though - it just won’t be as fresh and creamy, but it’s totally fine.

I bring 2 cups (500 mL) of water, once it’s boiling, I add a pinch of salt and the rolled oats, and I cook on medium-low until it goes from a liquid-y substance to more of a thick paste - I turn the heat off while it’s still a little liquid-y because it thickens significantly as it cools (so don’t overcook the moisture out of it!).

Then I grind the flax, chia, and hemp seeds together (I used to just use a mortar and pestle, but I have become lazy and started to use an electric coffee & spice grinder), and I mix those ground seeds into the oatmeal once it’s at that slightly liquid / almost solid stage, and take it off the heat. The chia seeds will gel the oatmeal up even more, so remember it can handle more liquid than you think, as long as the oats are fully cooked.

Then I put the cooked oatmeal into two glass pyrex containers, and once cooled, into the fridge.

Here are my estimated macronutrients for this “fiber oatmeal”, per 100 g:

• 130 kcal
• 4.37 g fat
• 17.8 g carbs
• 5.59 g protein
• 4.21 g fiber

Then in the morning for breakfast, I take a quarter of the whole oatmeal (i.e. half of a container). I put the portion in a bowl and microwave it to warm it up.

Here are the ingredients:

• 115 g of cooked oatmeal (~$0.30)
• 16 - 25 g (a spoon-ful) of creamy peanutbutter (~$0.10)
• 100 - 130 g (1 x, peeled) banana (~$0.17)
• 50 - 80 g plant milk (my preferred: pea milk or soy milk) (~$0.25)
• 20 - 30 g high-protein granola (~$0.07)

For context, the “high protein granola” is the cheapest off-brand granola, and it is basically a normal granola with soy protein isolate added. You could easily make this yourself at home; I haven’t run the numbers on how much money you would save by doing that, but I fully intend to start making my own granola again, once my life settles down and I have time to spend that way.

Usually the cost for this breakfast is around $1 for a single bowl. I like to sprinkle the top with some cinnamon to cut the blandness, and I’ve been using the same batch of “true” ceylon cinnamon that I bought over a decade ago, so I haven’t included that in my cost estimate.

I don’t always add a banana - I only add it when there are bananas that need to be used up (my partner eats bananas, I would never buy them myself for ethical reasons; but when there are bananas to use-up, this is how I avoid waste and use them up).

I eat this oatmeal basically every morning during the week, and then during the weekend I change it up for variety and happiness reasons. I haven’t gotten sick of this despite eating it for months now.

Here are the macronutrients for a typical bowl of this oatmeal:

• ~500 kcal
• 20 g fat
• 68 g carbs
• 18 g protein
• 10 g fiber

I would like to see more like 20 g protein, but otherwise I think the nutrients are around perfect for being only $1 and for being one of my three meals per day.

For a future post: sometime I’ll share my default lunch (when I’m not eating leftovers), as it is also typically around $1 and also aims to be around 500 kcal and aims for 20 g protein. It focuses mostly on eating beans as the main carb and protein, and uses tahini as a way to add fats and protein.

I prefer to keep my daily food vegan for ethical, health, and financial reasons.

Otherwise, I’m open to suggestions and would love to hear about your frugal food habits!

I love that you roll your own oats! Now I want to try this. ☺️ One frugal thing I do often is to buy a bag of lemons which I zest and juice then freeze in small portions to use later! Though I think everyone does this.

Breakfast Banana Split is a life changer, guy. Don’t even be ashamed of this for a fucking second. It’s delicious.

I do mine with a banana base, yogurt in the split, and whatever fresh fruit I have around. Sprinkle with granola or oats, maybe a drizzle of Honey, and baby…you got a Split goin’.

For more protein and a bit of nutty flavor, try Kinako. Its japanese roasted soy flour and is pretty nice with these bowls.

I have a fridge full of lemons, and have never done this before … so, how do you go about this - you zest the lemons, and put the lemons in a container in the freezer? or do you dry the zest out?

Do you put the lemon juice in like an ice cube tray and freeze it?

I might have to try it out.

I simply throw the zest in a zip up bag in the freezer. Works great

I wonder what’d you think of my breakfast:

https://i.ibb.co/sJwsRw37/IMG-20250927-083002749.jpg

It has:

• 100 g homemade Greek yogurt.
• 15 g flax seeds, soaked and then blended into a paste (no chewing necessary!).
• 25 g of soy PVT and 30 g of old-fashioned oats. The weights are dry, but the PVT is cooked and the oats are soaked. I make a batch combining both ingredients that lasts six days.
• 3 portions of different kinds of fruit. I usually use half a banana, half an apple or peach, and half whatever fruit I have at the moment.

It’s different from yours but they share a similar spirit. I don’t know the macros of my breakfast but I think it’s around 20 g of protein too, mostly from the PVT, and packed with fiber.

I’ll say it so you don’t have to: yours looks yummier!

I think yogurt + peaches with oats is definitely something that sounds delicious; I bet cottage cheese would also work really well and would boost the protein (and is a relatively affordable form of protein).

I wouldn’t like the dairy part of this for ethical reasons, but it’s an easy way to boost the protein, as long as you can find an affordable source of it - which I think isn’t too unreasonable in the US (the US has major subsidies on dairy products, so they can be pretty cheap despite how expensive dairy farms are to operate).

I wonder if by “soy PVT” you maybe mean soy TVP - that is, textured vegetable protein? I’m not sure what soy PVT means otherwise.

I’m not sure how I would feel about TVP in my yogurt cereal breakfast - it is a cheap source of protein that I use in a lot of foods (yay for TVP!), but it’s so chewy and like meat, I think I might find it off-putting in breakfast cereal - but I haven’t tried it, so maybe it would be good (esp. a really small / fine TVP).

The oats, flax seeds, and fruit all provide good sources of fiber, too - looks really good!

If you wanted to make it more fancy, you could take the dry oatmeal and roast it, maybe make a granola in the oven with some honey and nuts, etc. - it might add a nice crunchy texture to the dish (instead of soaking and adding more of a “mush” or mash to the dish).

Do you know how much a bowl costs, and how many kcal and grams of protein there are? That’s something I would be curious about, esp. when comparing to the dishes I make now.