Best money saving advice: hit up farmers markets in the 1/2 hour before they close. A lot of booths have $1 grab bags of stuff that is jussst about to be unsellable. At the end of the day you can ask them if they can do a better price and I have found they usually do. I take it home, clean it up and immediately freeze or pop the stuff in the dehydrator. Today I grabbed two big (like gallon sized) bags of basil, 1 bag oregano, 3 bags of portobellos, 2 zucchinis, and 8 roma tomatos for a grand total of $5.
I spiralized the zucchinis tossed with a pesto sauce made from the basil. Added some diced tomatos. Grilled a few mushrooms and one chicken breast. Chopped those up and added to the "pasta". Topped with a bit of mozzarella and popped under the broiler till the cheese got bubbley.
Enough to feed myself and my boyfriend. Plus I have enough herbs, tomatos and mushrooms in the dehydrator for several more meals depending what I decide to do with them.
I'm a fan of substitutions. Like I love Alfredo sauce, but instead of making it with all that heavy cream and butter. I run a clove of garlic, some parmesan cheese, and cottage cheese through the food processor. Tastes so good, a lot less calories and more protein. I use a lot of spiralized noodles instead of pasta, use collard greens in place of tortillas for tacos or wraps, and I make an out of this world yummy chocolate pudding using avocado.
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