Hot take: Our office chat is now full of cheap dinner ideas

Mark West · 2026-02-26T10:50:36.578666+00:00

Since most of us started working from home, the talk shifted from where to eat out to what we're cooking. People post pics of meals like lentil stew or rice bowls that feed a family for under ten bucks. It's cool to see how everyone is trying to save money and still eat well. We even swap tips on where to buy cheap veggies in bulk.

the_avery8mo ago

Remember when our office chat was debating which happy hour had the best wings? Now it's a contest to see who can stretch a bag of rice the furthest. I mean, we went from foodie reviews to bulk carrot hauls real quick. Idk, maybe it's just me but my cooking skills have not improved with the budget cuts. At least we're all in the same boat trying to not live on instant noodles.

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seanc738mo ago

So @the_avery, shows what we value when money's tight?

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matthewc978mo ago

Honestly, my big win was a huge pot of lentil soup. Saute an onion, dump in a bag of lentils and some broth, let it simmer. Makes like eight meals easy, freezes fine. Felt like a genius for a week.

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brown.angela7mo ago

My genuine life hack was learning to stop the lentil pot from boiling over. Felt like a Nobel prize in home economics. We've all become scientists in the lab of "will this be a meal".

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