Live really well on very little.
Hi, I'm Katy. I furnish my life from thrift stores, cook dinners that cost less than a bus fare, and eat better than I ever did when I spent more. Come see how.
Fresh from the blog
All recipes →
White Bean & Greens Skillet with Garlic Crumbs
The dinner I make when the fridge looks hopeless. Ready in 25 minutes, tastes like a restaurant did it.
$1.62 a serving
12 Things I Always Buy at the Thrift Store
My never-skip list — the stuff that's better secondhand, from cast iron to picture frames.
How I Eat Well on $60 a Week in Florida
My actual grocery receipts, my actual meals, and the five rules that make it easy.
Start here
The St. Petersburg Thrift Store Guide
Every store worth your Saturday in St. Pete & Pinellas — ranked, mapped, and honestly reviewed.
Black Bean & Sweet Potato Chili
One pot, eight servings, freezes like a dream. My most-requested recipe.
$1.48 a serving
Who is Thrifty Katy?
The short version: I got tired of "cheap" meaning "sad." So I made it mean something else.
New: Cheap & Good Recipes
All 14 recipes →Every recipe on this site comes with an itemized cost table built from real St. Petersburg grocery receipts — sale prices honestly labeled, servings honestly counted, and almost everything under $2 a plate. Not sad-cheap: these are the dinners I make on purpose, photograph, and brag about. Three good doors into the collection:
Red Lentil Coconut Soup
Silky, gingery, golden — and one dollar and six cents a bowl. Not a typo.
$1.06 a serving
One $8 Chicken, Three Dinners
Roast night, taco night, soup night — ten servings from one bird, nothing wasted.
$1.38 a serving
One-Pot American Goulash
The church-supper classic your grandmother was right about. Better the next day.
$1.57 a serving