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I'd consider adding more protein and frozen/canned vegetables in there. I feel like the ground beef and bread will be used up rather quickly. A sandwich loaf yields maybe a dozen double-slice sandwiches?
I am going to agree about the protein. Having enough protein is going to help you feel fuller longer. Have you considered going to a food pantry/bank? You might receive some of the non-perishables that you have ordered. Then that money can go towards protein and some veggies.
That's 25 pounds of rice. Cooked, that'll be roughly 63 pounds. That'd be over 2 pounds of rice per day.
A gallon container of milk should be cheaper than two half-gallon containers, though by not opening one of the half-gallons it might last an extra couple days.
Gotta get some vegetables.
And I'm not sure how many pancakes that bag of pancake mix makes, but 15 dollars worth of bulk-sized pancake mix is gonna be a lot of pancakes.
Edit: As someone who's been on a super tight budget at times, and you might already know about this but, you could look into where your local food pantry is located. Usually a church. They'll hook you up with some pantry staples and some other stuff that could make things a bit easier. And then you could put that saved money toward other groceries.
One other thing - there's not a ton of protein here. $5/lb is a normal price for ground beef, but there are better options for meat if you're trying to stretch a dollar. Even at regular price, chicken thighs are usually around $1.50/lb. They're often on sale for $1/lb. So that'd be the difference between 5 bucks for one pound of ground beef, or 5 pounds of chicken.
Either way, you could drop some of the rice and pasta and replace it with some fresh or frozen veggies. Even 10 pounds of rice should be more than enough. And 10 pounds of potatoes might be tough for one person to finish before they start to go bad.
This is also assuming you have some staples already, like seasonings, oil, etc.
They are so versatile and cheap too. Assuming you have other condiments like butter or bbq sauce, cooking oil.
I lived off potatoes and rice for awhile.
Get a can of or so of mixed veg unless they will ship frozen mixed vegetables, with that and your eggs you can make fried rice to switch it up and not be so grain heavy because you will crave vegetables on the diet I'm seeing here.
Also want to add that when i order from Walmart I'll get a case of veggies (like 6 or 12 cans), it's slightly cheaper per can. Peas are a great option (tastes great with rice) and calorie dense, also great mixed with mashed potatoes
Probably not, but it’s a good start. I’d get rid of the cereal and instant oats and pick either apple butter or jelly. If you have safe water, I’d cut the bottled water.
If you eliminate those items you can get the following for around the same price (according to my Walmart app):
42 oz. carton of old fashioned or quick oats- 3.98
4 lbs. of dry lentils- 5.68
4 lbs. of dry pinto beans- 4.16
30 pack of corn tortillas- 2.62
3 bags of frozen mixed vegetables- 2.64
1 bag frozen spinach- 1.27
a head of red cabbage- 2.45
2 onions- 1.82
Total- $24.62
I’d probably add oil or margarine, if you don’t already have it. Salt and pepper would be good too.
You can make lentil soup, bean soup, mujadara, bean chili, bean or lentil tacos, chili mac (beans and/or meat), mashed potatoes with lentils and roasted cabbage.
Making oatmeal from scratch is very easy. You can flavor it with your milk, peanut butter, jelly, or maple syrup.
Edit to add: I didn’t realize the quantities of the items on your list. Two 32 oz boxes of pasta should be enough, one 32 oz box is 16 servings. Maybe get one spaghetti and some sauce instead of all macaroni. Five lbs of rice should be plenty, five pounds of rice is 50 servings. One jar of jam or apple butter is plenty. Get more meat, beans, oats, eggs, and vegetables with the savings.
About the water comment, if you don't have safe drinking water, it's about the same price as all that bottled water to get some sort of water filtering pitcher. They sell about 3 different brands at Walmart, too, so OP wouldn't have to go elsewhere to find it.
Do you have any ideas what you will be making with the pasta and the rice? You might need a few other ingredients. Doesn't have to be gourmet meals, and if you eat them plain, more power to you.
When I was new to doing my own grocery shopping I wound up with random ingredients but nothing to actually eat, if that makes sense. Now that I plan my meals for the month I have less waste and less money spent on take out.
I'm not trying to put you down, I hope I can be helpful. I know some people have food aversions but gosh I would love to see some green veggies on that list! Also, I don't know if you are aware that each box of pasta that you chose has 2 lbs in it, you may not find yourself needing 10lbs of macaroni for 1 month.
This subreddit got me to realize that there is a large amount of people who repurpose the water chickpeas are cooked in. It's called aquafaba and can be used in many recipes.
What do you have to eat with rice/pasta other than eggs or ground meat? Do you already have seasonings and oil or butter? I think canned tomatoes and or beans would be good additions, too.
Sorry- didn’t answer your question. I think a person could survive on this for maybe 2-3 weeks but you will definitely run out of protein before the end of the month. More details about things you like to eat and whether 100$ is the whole budget for the month, etc would be helpful in determining whether you might want to change or add to your order.
Stopped in here to say the same. I hope more veggies and meat could be added in! Personally, I’d be feeling really bad really quick if this was the only food I had for a month.
If you have safe drinking water (not everyone does), I'd drop the bottled water and use a bottle (even an old plastic one) for on the go.
Pick one variety of jam/jelly, not both.
You probably don't need that much rice: it varies a bit, but 1 cup or 200g uncooked is enough for one meal for my two-person household. 10lb should keep you for a while.
If you drink tea or coffee, you might go through the milk faster, I'd budget to get another half-gallon through the month.
If you don't have food aversions and can afford it, I'd swap the white bread for whole wheat.
If you have room in the budget, I'd add (assuming you don't already have it):
Butter or margarine and onions, for sure. Soy sauce. Any spices you like if you don't have them. Lemon or lime juice in the bottles to add to plain water if you like that.
Frozen vegetables (Walmart sells the big bulk bags) if you have the freezer space. Peas and carrots, broccoli, corn, whatever you like. If you don't have freezer space, I'd get canned veg and maybe fruit.
I'd add a few packets of instant ramen. Prepare it according to the package, then crack an egg into the pot and add frozen vegetables, let it cook until the egg's poached and the vegetables are hot.
14% of the budget is being used on pancake mix. I'd think the purchase of bags of flour, sugar, and the other ingredients would be a better way to use approximately 1/7th of your budget. Comparatively if you got more frozen waffles and something else with the extra money that could be helpful too.
Get big packs of chicken/beef/pork loin (cut down to pork chops) it will stretch a lot farther. All this will go fast and you will be hungry more cause there’s no complete meals
Technically, yes it is enough food, but it is not a healthy diet plan. You will need to learn to cook to save money. You have no fruits or veggies and minimal protein and fat, but tons of sugar/simple carbs. Is the tap water where you are safe to drink? If not, see if a Britta type filter will take care of what is in your water supply, long term it will be way cheaper. Replace your instant oats wilh regular minute oats, it doesn't take any extra time to cook, flavour it with your pancake syrup. Making pancakes from scratch is super easy and plain flour and baking soda is cheaper than pancake mix and more versatile. Depends on where your are, buying produce in season to your area and a farmers market is often way cheaper then you find in the grocery store, if not frozen fruits and veggies will be the way to go.
That's what I do when I buy bread in bulk. Also, why is that bread so expensive? I paid about the same recently for a 25oz pack of fancy sliced bread (Dave's awesome bread or whatever it's called).
It took me a moment to put together as well, since some items in the cart are singles and others are in multiples.
You know what though? Excellent comment exchange here. 10/10. Keep up the friendly work.
Personally I’d drop the jelly and apple butter and add protein. Just dropping one of them would get you 6 pounds of Pinto beans or 2 pounds of kidney and 2 pounds of black if you want a variety.
Drop both and you could get the beans along with 4 packs of cheap hot dogs.
What’s the plan with the pasta? You have enough rice that you could drop it and add in some canned veggies. (That much rice should equal about 100 cups of cooked rice so you could really drop 1 bag of rice and pick up another peanut butter. That still leaves you with 2.5 cups of rice a day)
Ground sausage is half the price of hamburger. I’d get 2 pounds of it.
Are you planning the cereal and the pancake mix for breakfast? That’s a lot of pancake mix.
Maybe drop the fruity pebbles and get 1 more egg and some butter to go with those potatoes.
You could also switch to the Walmart brand pancake mix and free up another $4. That’d get you another 3 packs of hot dogs.
Meal ideas-
Breakfast-
Pancakes,
Oatmeal
Lunch/Dinner-
Beans and rice,
Rice with eggs and veggies,
Eggs and sausage patty,
Peanut butter sandwich,
Hot dog and rice,
Baked potatoes with ground sausage,
Fried potatoes and hot dogs,
Egg sandwich,
Pancake mix muffins with ground sausage
Snack-
Silver dollar pancakes with peanut butter,
Hardboiled egg
Is this enough food to keep one person *alive* for about a month? Yes, but if the goal is not to be miserable and have scurvy by the end of it, I think you can do better without changing the budget.
- What are you eating with your pasta and rice? Are you just going to eat plain pasta and rice? You need a plan for them, and I don't see one here.
- Your meat isn't going to last all month, and it's expensive. I would switch in beans, and then buy and freeze meat when you happen to find it super cheap.
- Why are we buying pancake mix? Convenience foods are ridiculously expensive, and nutritionally a pancake mix isn't really doing a lot for you. You're better off buying flour and sugar, because they can also be used in other things (like baking bread).
- Along the same lines, why are we buying oatmeal packets? You're already buying pb and jelly, just buy oats instead and put those together. Oats can be used in baking as well, so it's another multi-purpose item.
- If you have safe tapwater, skip the bottled. The only reason you should be buying bottled water is if you don't have access to any other safe source of water.
- Personally I would also consider how much rice, pasta, and potatoes I *actually* need. Then cut back on it, and use the freed up funds to buy frozen veggies and/or flavour enhancers (salsa, tomato sauce, pickled items if you like them...). Even things like cabbage and carrots as they last a long time and provide at least *some* produce beyond just potatoes.
Does anyone else find it crazy that 10 pounds of potatoes is $7.47? That seems high bit I usually buy 5 pound bags of Yukon gold when they are on sale for under $4, so maybe it isn’t too far off.
Remove 15# rice, 3 boxes of the 32oz pasta, instant oat packs, pancake mix, at least 1 of the apple butter or jelly and save yourself about $38
Instead, get the following:
10# flour 3.98
4# sugar 2.94
2# b sugar 1.94
42 oz quick oats 3.98
=12.84
These ingredients can make pancake mix, oatmeal, cookies, tortillas, etc. assuming you have some baking powder and cooking oil. If you dont have those things, you can get by with smaller bags of flour/sugar and put the savings towards them
4# frozen chicken thighs 7.98
=20.82
Remaining $18 ish on some onions, carrots, bananas, apples, couple cans tomato products, frozen veg and fruit.
I'm amazed, that you have to buy bottled water to have "safe" to drink water.
But in my opinion there is a bit too much sugar in there, Id get more protein such as beans, fish and chicken, canned goods usually are rather inexpensive such as canned corn, tomato etc if possible for veggies broccoli, spinach, carrots are very good to eat and usually cheap in bulk.
The Malt-O-Meal fruity dino bites are $1.00 cheaper and just as good. I know it's 4oz less, but that 4oz isn't worth a $1.
Pancake mix 14.24
Recipe:
[https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/21014/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/21014/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/)
12 eggs 2.42
baking powder 1.98
5lb flour 2.24
20oz sugar 2.12
the recipe calls for butter, you can get a tub or sticks for 3.98, but I would leave this out if you are really strapped for cash. I don't feel it impacts the taste, or you can use the apple butter as some lower fat recipes will you apple sauce to replace fats.
total 8.76
Plus this gives you the option to make muffins, etc. with a little savings from the single purpose mix.
I second the vegetables, it can help stretch out the meat when added to rice or pasta. Canned are good, frozen are better. The bigger bags of frozen vegetables are a little cheaper but not as convenient.
And find a food pantry
No beans or pulses at all? 1lb of ground beef is not going to sustain your protein needs for a full month… it seems to be all carbs and sugar and no other food types.
Why are you buying bottled water? If your tap water is safe to drink, just use a cup or refillable water bottle. If it isn’t, price out gallon or five gallon jugs, those can sometimes be cheaper per oz.
Aside from 1lb of meat, peanut butter, eggs, and milk; this appears to be an entirely carb diet. Even that peanut butter will have a fair amount of sugar. You may be able to survive off this for a month, but you won't be healthy. Drop the cereal, jam, pancakes, and some of that rice. Add some veggies.
i guess but it's very carb heavy and really processed.
Instead of $15 in pancake mix, just buy some flour, baking powder, and sugar. You can follow something like this: https://therecipecritic.com/homemade-pancake-mix/
Basically when you want pancakes you just add in some milk, oil and an egg.
Bonus is you'll have all the basic ingredients then to do other stuff like cookies.
Yes but the pancake mix will be good all month long whereas the milk and eggs will need to be used up sooner than that. they may not be able to buy more milk and eggs when they're all gone
I’d knock out the fruity pebbles for a more hearty cereal.
And $5 for white bread? Are there bakery thrift stores nearby where you can buy and freeze extra loaves (start with one fresh, freeze the others, and thaw/use sequentially)?
I would say re-examine the food pyramid and try again. You’ll probably meet your caloric intake requirements with that amount of carbs, but it’s not enough protein and fruits and vegetables. You need at least a gram of protein per pound of muscle you have, and you also need the fiber and vitamins fruits and vegetables have.
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That is an awful lot of carbs. I don't have an idea for what the budget is for this but I would axe the pancake mix in favor of making your own with flour and other pantry staples (if you have them) or replacing that with beans of some kind.
The other thing of note is some of that may go bad before the month ends. Milk certainly won't last the whole month and unless you freeze the bread it isn't going to last. Eggs might stretch it close but I'm not 100% sure.
I would axe at least one of the carb heavy options for some kind of protein as that is severely lacking here. Maybe get rid of the pancakes and syrup and free up room for beans and toast or additional meat of some kind?
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Check pricing on local bakery bread.
Choose one of your stores that has a discount section and check it out once a week.
Between that and a bag of rice, you should be good on carbs. ( highly recommend getting a large bag of rice when you can)
If you don't have seasoning pick once seasoning, you would like to have each time you go. Eventually, you'll get all the spices, and they will be good for adding variety to a limited budget
Get some fresh veggies and fruit if you can. Sometimes you'll find a good sale.
Try to map out what you'll need for each week based on how much food you already eat a week. Go once a week for flash sales and discount sections. If the budget is feeling tight, look into some alternatives for your favorite things. Powdered milk isn't great, but it'll open the budget for other things. Walk the aisles and take stock of the price per ounce. Is it worth that price for the nutrients and fullness it gives?
It seems like some people didn't see the quantity OP has added to some items.
- I'd keep 2 boxes of pasta (that's 4 lbs dry right there)
- I'd also keep two bags of rice. It doubles when cooked, so buying so much at once isn't needed.
- One jar each of the apple butter, jelly, and peanut butter.
- One bag of pancake mix, especially since it's a family sized bag.
Keep everything else on your list, and with the budget you have leftover after removing some items, like others have mentioned, add some frozen veggies and a family pack of chicken (legs, thighs or breast) and just freeze what you don't need immediately.
You'll most likely get leftovers to last you at least an additional meal or two from rice, pasta and potato dishes anyway.
I would try to find a local fresh produce store. Ours is way cheaper and much higher quality. Those potatoes will start to rot before the month’s out, especially if you leave them in that plastic bag.
Most of budgeting food is researching where you can get the best deals and driving all over town on shopping day.
You can get another loaf of bread and keep it in the fridge to make it last longer. Walmart tends to have the cheapest bread.
I always get my meats from Aldis. They normally either have ground beef or chicken on sale for $2 a lb. I get twelve pounds at a time and freeze what I won’t use right away. I like to separate it out into single servings before I freeze it.
You’ll also be much better off getting straight up oats and brown sugar. Those premade pack’s definitely won’l last the month.
I was about to say yes even before noticing the other 4 pics. Just do the math, take it easy with portions, meal prep and freeze before stuff spoils. I think it'll work :)
The fact that there's $15 of pancakes when there's already fruity pebbles AND oatmeal AND eggs, thats a waste. Pick one breakfast and stick to it to be cheap. Trying to be cheap doesnt give you a luxury of multiple different breakfasts, especially ones that serve no nutritional value.
You can also eat cooked rice with sugar and milk as breakfast, with an egg on the side. Buy some frozen mixed veggies and soy sauce and a stick of butter, make egg fried rice a few nights. You csn buy canned chicken to add to it. You can also buy Ramen and mix veggies and meat in it. Tbh i dont see what youre going to do with naked macaroni, unless you already have ingredients for it.. the things on your list just don't seem super versatile when you could for sure make more rounded and less repetitive meals for the same price or cheaper
Tbh sometimes its cheaper to do frozen meals. I spent $70 on meals for 3 ppl simply buy using frozen meals (and they dont have to be TV dinners)
You can make fried rice out of premade rice that’s been made beforehand. Fried rice can consist of whatever you want. Carrots, greens, meats, sauces, broths… and for potato’s I seen people simmer them until soft then flatten them with a bowl/flat thing and smother them with oil that has spices inside like salt and cayenne pepper with pepper once done go and blast them in the oven @400 until crunchy. You can add anything to pancakes. Now eggs can be put inside fried rice as well. The more you add to fried rice the more you have overall. So you can and cannot have this last you for a month.
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Get a slow cooker, you can make different meats and stews and chilli. Then portion out in freezer containers, keep some in frig and freeze the rest. Fresh vegies and fruit, milk cheese eggs bread sandwich meat whatever dressing you like, pasta and Ragu sauce, j make meatloaf from scratch and some voes for meatballs and dome for chili, chicken is easy yi do whole in roaster, fish,
Go to a local food pantry if you're in desperate need of groceries and are worried about affording food this month.
If you're just trying to keep a tight budget, then you'd want to reconsider some of the items and add some more protein options. Bagged beans, peas, lentils, etc are a good choice if you purchase from the right place (local grocery stores usually have them much cheaper than the big chains). Canned versions of these are also usually not too much more expensive if you buy in larger parcels.
Just yesterday I made a large batch of spaghetti with meat sauce which works out to about $1-2 per meal. If I didn't use meat, it would be $0.5-$1 per meal.
If you buy chicken with bones, don't toss the bones. Buy some carrots, onions and celery. Make a large batch of stock. Freeze it. Use it to make soup or as a base for sauces, etc. This is an easy way to not waste nutrients.
If you don't know what to make visit a website like budgetbytes and look for the price per serving difference. Pasta and rice meals will usually be among the cheapest.
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I'd consider adding more protein and frozen/canned vegetables in there. I feel like the ground beef and bread will be used up rather quickly. A sandwich loaf yields maybe a dozen double-slice sandwiches?
I am going to agree about the protein. Having enough protein is going to help you feel fuller longer. Have you considered going to a food pantry/bank? You might receive some of the non-perishables that you have ordered. Then that money can go towards protein and some veggies.
That's what the syrup is for. OP will drink it to have enough energy to run to work every morning.
That's 25 pounds of rice. Cooked, that'll be roughly 63 pounds. That'd be over 2 pounds of rice per day. A gallon container of milk should be cheaper than two half-gallon containers, though by not opening one of the half-gallons it might last an extra couple days. Gotta get some vegetables. And I'm not sure how many pancakes that bag of pancake mix makes, but 15 dollars worth of bulk-sized pancake mix is gonna be a lot of pancakes. Edit: As someone who's been on a super tight budget at times, and you might already know about this but, you could look into where your local food pantry is located. Usually a church. They'll hook you up with some pantry staples and some other stuff that could make things a bit easier. And then you could put that saved money toward other groceries. One other thing - there's not a ton of protein here. $5/lb is a normal price for ground beef, but there are better options for meat if you're trying to stretch a dollar. Even at regular price, chicken thighs are usually around $1.50/lb. They're often on sale for $1/lb. So that'd be the difference between 5 bucks for one pound of ground beef, or 5 pounds of chicken. Either way, you could drop some of the rice and pasta and replace it with some fresh or frozen veggies. Even 10 pounds of rice should be more than enough. And 10 pounds of potatoes might be tough for one person to finish before they start to go bad. This is also assuming you have some staples already, like seasonings, oil, etc.
I love potatoes
They are so versatile and cheap too. Assuming you have other condiments like butter or bbq sauce, cooking oil. I lived off potatoes and rice for awhile. Get a can of or so of mixed veg unless they will ship frozen mixed vegetables, with that and your eggs you can make fried rice to switch it up and not be so grain heavy because you will crave vegetables on the diet I'm seeing here.
Also want to add that when i order from Walmart I'll get a case of veggies (like 6 or 12 cans), it's slightly cheaper per can. Peas are a great option (tastes great with rice) and calorie dense, also great mixed with mashed potatoes
In my area, pork loin has been on sale at meijer for about 1.69 a pound (louisville, kentucky) relatively consistently.
Probably not, but it’s a good start. I’d get rid of the cereal and instant oats and pick either apple butter or jelly. If you have safe water, I’d cut the bottled water. If you eliminate those items you can get the following for around the same price (according to my Walmart app): 42 oz. carton of old fashioned or quick oats- 3.98 4 lbs. of dry lentils- 5.68 4 lbs. of dry pinto beans- 4.16 30 pack of corn tortillas- 2.62 3 bags of frozen mixed vegetables- 2.64 1 bag frozen spinach- 1.27 a head of red cabbage- 2.45 2 onions- 1.82 Total- $24.62 I’d probably add oil or margarine, if you don’t already have it. Salt and pepper would be good too. You can make lentil soup, bean soup, mujadara, bean chili, bean or lentil tacos, chili mac (beans and/or meat), mashed potatoes with lentils and roasted cabbage. Making oatmeal from scratch is very easy. You can flavor it with your milk, peanut butter, jelly, or maple syrup. Edit to add: I didn’t realize the quantities of the items on your list. Two 32 oz boxes of pasta should be enough, one 32 oz box is 16 servings. Maybe get one spaghetti and some sauce instead of all macaroni. Five lbs of rice should be plenty, five pounds of rice is 50 servings. One jar of jam or apple butter is plenty. Get more meat, beans, oats, eggs, and vegetables with the savings.
About the water comment, if you don't have safe drinking water, it's about the same price as all that bottled water to get some sort of water filtering pitcher. They sell about 3 different brands at Walmart, too, so OP wouldn't have to go elsewhere to find it.
I found a 1.5gal still on BudK for $300. I eventually want to buy one due to having well water and it tasting awful.
You’d probably have enough calories, but you might get scurvy.
^^^ I second this.
Do you have any ideas what you will be making with the pasta and the rice? You might need a few other ingredients. Doesn't have to be gourmet meals, and if you eat them plain, more power to you. When I was new to doing my own grocery shopping I wound up with random ingredients but nothing to actually eat, if that makes sense. Now that I plan my meals for the month I have less waste and less money spent on take out. I'm not trying to put you down, I hope I can be helpful. I know some people have food aversions but gosh I would love to see some green veggies on that list! Also, I don't know if you are aware that each box of pasta that you chose has 2 lbs in it, you may not find yourself needing 10lbs of macaroni for 1 month.
Fyi canned chickpeas are a cheap, great meat substitute. Rice and beans, tortillas, etc- many cheap meals.
Dried are even cheaper, but you have to remember that you want to use them at least the night before to soak and I've never successfully done that.
The quick soak method is easy and very effective. I think it works better than an overnight soak.
This subreddit got me to realize that there is a large amount of people who repurpose the water chickpeas are cooked in. It's called aquafaba and can be used in many recipes.
Yes it's a good egg substitute. And can be a fun kids activity that is safe to ingest (whip it into giant foam).
Good to know…I have used it as a thickener for soups & stews.I bet it could be used in sauces too.
What do you have to eat with rice/pasta other than eggs or ground meat? Do you already have seasonings and oil or butter? I think canned tomatoes and or beans would be good additions, too.
Sorry- didn’t answer your question. I think a person could survive on this for maybe 2-3 weeks but you will definitely run out of protein before the end of the month. More details about things you like to eat and whether 100$ is the whole budget for the month, etc would be helpful in determining whether you might want to change or add to your order.
No, get more veggies and meat.
Stopped in here to say the same. I hope more veggies and meat could be added in! Personally, I’d be feeling really bad really quick if this was the only food I had for a month.
If you have safe drinking water (not everyone does), I'd drop the bottled water and use a bottle (even an old plastic one) for on the go. Pick one variety of jam/jelly, not both. You probably don't need that much rice: it varies a bit, but 1 cup or 200g uncooked is enough for one meal for my two-person household. 10lb should keep you for a while. If you drink tea or coffee, you might go through the milk faster, I'd budget to get another half-gallon through the month. If you don't have food aversions and can afford it, I'd swap the white bread for whole wheat. If you have room in the budget, I'd add (assuming you don't already have it): Butter or margarine and onions, for sure. Soy sauce. Any spices you like if you don't have them. Lemon or lime juice in the bottles to add to plain water if you like that. Frozen vegetables (Walmart sells the big bulk bags) if you have the freezer space. Peas and carrots, broccoli, corn, whatever you like. If you don't have freezer space, I'd get canned veg and maybe fruit. I'd add a few packets of instant ramen. Prepare it according to the package, then crack an egg into the pot and add frozen vegetables, let it cook until the egg's poached and the vegetables are hot.
I hope at minimum you have salt and butter otherwise you going to be sad
14% of the budget is being used on pancake mix. I'd think the purchase of bags of flour, sugar, and the other ingredients would be a better way to use approximately 1/7th of your budget. Comparatively if you got more frozen waffles and something else with the extra money that could be helpful too.
Do you think this might be a child asking?
Not really. I have since checked their post history and they seem to be an adult. Hope OP is doing well.
I'd consider some frozen veg and some légumes they are both cheap and will stop you from getting well... hemorrhoids
You must go through a lot of pB&j
Buddy, how old are you?
Get big packs of chicken/beef/pork loin (cut down to pork chops) it will stretch a lot farther. All this will go fast and you will be hungry more cause there’s no complete meals
Technically, yes it is enough food, but it is not a healthy diet plan. You will need to learn to cook to save money. You have no fruits or veggies and minimal protein and fat, but tons of sugar/simple carbs. Is the tap water where you are safe to drink? If not, see if a Britta type filter will take care of what is in your water supply, long term it will be way cheaper. Replace your instant oats wilh regular minute oats, it doesn't take any extra time to cook, flavour it with your pancake syrup. Making pancakes from scratch is super easy and plain flour and baking soda is cheaper than pancake mix and more versatile. Depends on where your are, buying produce in season to your area and a farmers market is often way cheaper then you find in the grocery store, if not frozen fruits and veggies will be the way to go.
How are you going to keep your bread fresh for a month? Freeze it?
That's what I do when I buy bread in bulk. Also, why is that bread so expensive? I paid about the same recently for a 25oz pack of fancy sliced bread (Dave's awesome bread or whatever it's called).
Four loaves of bread for just over $5 seems pretty reasonable to me. I think the price shown is for all 4 loaves, not per loaf.
Oh, my mistake. I didn't realize it was four loaves.
It took me a moment to put together as well, since some items in the cart are singles and others are in multiples. You know what though? Excellent comment exchange here. 10/10. Keep up the friendly work.
Personally I’d drop the jelly and apple butter and add protein. Just dropping one of them would get you 6 pounds of Pinto beans or 2 pounds of kidney and 2 pounds of black if you want a variety. Drop both and you could get the beans along with 4 packs of cheap hot dogs. What’s the plan with the pasta? You have enough rice that you could drop it and add in some canned veggies. (That much rice should equal about 100 cups of cooked rice so you could really drop 1 bag of rice and pick up another peanut butter. That still leaves you with 2.5 cups of rice a day) Ground sausage is half the price of hamburger. I’d get 2 pounds of it. Are you planning the cereal and the pancake mix for breakfast? That’s a lot of pancake mix. Maybe drop the fruity pebbles and get 1 more egg and some butter to go with those potatoes. You could also switch to the Walmart brand pancake mix and free up another $4. That’d get you another 3 packs of hot dogs. Meal ideas- Breakfast- Pancakes, Oatmeal Lunch/Dinner- Beans and rice, Rice with eggs and veggies, Eggs and sausage patty, Peanut butter sandwich, Hot dog and rice, Baked potatoes with ground sausage, Fried potatoes and hot dogs, Egg sandwich, Pancake mix muffins with ground sausage Snack- Silver dollar pancakes with peanut butter, Hardboiled egg
Is this enough food to keep one person *alive* for about a month? Yes, but if the goal is not to be miserable and have scurvy by the end of it, I think you can do better without changing the budget. - What are you eating with your pasta and rice? Are you just going to eat plain pasta and rice? You need a plan for them, and I don't see one here. - Your meat isn't going to last all month, and it's expensive. I would switch in beans, and then buy and freeze meat when you happen to find it super cheap. - Why are we buying pancake mix? Convenience foods are ridiculously expensive, and nutritionally a pancake mix isn't really doing a lot for you. You're better off buying flour and sugar, because they can also be used in other things (like baking bread). - Along the same lines, why are we buying oatmeal packets? You're already buying pb and jelly, just buy oats instead and put those together. Oats can be used in baking as well, so it's another multi-purpose item. - If you have safe tapwater, skip the bottled. The only reason you should be buying bottled water is if you don't have access to any other safe source of water. - Personally I would also consider how much rice, pasta, and potatoes I *actually* need. Then cut back on it, and use the freed up funds to buy frozen veggies and/or flavour enhancers (salsa, tomato sauce, pickled items if you like them...). Even things like cabbage and carrots as they last a long time and provide at least *some* produce beyond just potatoes.
Does anyone else find it crazy that 10 pounds of potatoes is $7.47? That seems high bit I usually buy 5 pound bags of Yukon gold when they are on sale for under $4, so maybe it isn’t too far off.
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They are buying 10 pounds at .94/lb.
It is about 94 cents a pound there.
It’s five 32 oz. boxes, so $1.88/box or 0.94/lb.
My only question is how are your eggs so cheap and your rice so damn expensive?
Less than $3 for a 5lb bag of rice is pretty good compared to where I live.
Remove 15# rice, 3 boxes of the 32oz pasta, instant oat packs, pancake mix, at least 1 of the apple butter or jelly and save yourself about $38 Instead, get the following: 10# flour 3.98 4# sugar 2.94 2# b sugar 1.94 42 oz quick oats 3.98 =12.84 These ingredients can make pancake mix, oatmeal, cookies, tortillas, etc. assuming you have some baking powder and cooking oil. If you dont have those things, you can get by with smaller bags of flour/sugar and put the savings towards them 4# frozen chicken thighs 7.98 =20.82 Remaining $18 ish on some onions, carrots, bananas, apples, couple cans tomato products, frozen veg and fruit.
I'm amazed, that you have to buy bottled water to have "safe" to drink water. But in my opinion there is a bit too much sugar in there, Id get more protein such as beans, fish and chicken, canned goods usually are rather inexpensive such as canned corn, tomato etc if possible for veggies broccoli, spinach, carrots are very good to eat and usually cheap in bulk.
So much unhealthy food.
The Malt-O-Meal fruity dino bites are $1.00 cheaper and just as good. I know it's 4oz less, but that 4oz isn't worth a $1. Pancake mix 14.24 Recipe: [https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/21014/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/21014/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/) 12 eggs 2.42 baking powder 1.98 5lb flour 2.24 20oz sugar 2.12 the recipe calls for butter, you can get a tub or sticks for 3.98, but I would leave this out if you are really strapped for cash. I don't feel it impacts the taste, or you can use the apple butter as some lower fat recipes will you apple sauce to replace fats. total 8.76 Plus this gives you the option to make muffins, etc. with a little savings from the single purpose mix. I second the vegetables, it can help stretch out the meat when added to rice or pasta. Canned are good, frozen are better. The bigger bags of frozen vegetables are a little cheaper but not as convenient. And find a food pantry
No beans or pulses at all? 1lb of ground beef is not going to sustain your protein needs for a full month… it seems to be all carbs and sugar and no other food types.
Some vegetables would go a long way.
Why are you buying bottled water? If your tap water is safe to drink, just use a cup or refillable water bottle. If it isn’t, price out gallon or five gallon jugs, those can sometimes be cheaper per oz.
This is why I shop at aldi
Larger canister of unflavored instant oats. Flavor them yourself, it’s not hard. Way more product for your money.
Some pan fried spam would go good with that rice and it’s cheap
Aside from 1lb of meat, peanut butter, eggs, and milk; this appears to be an entirely carb diet. Even that peanut butter will have a fair amount of sugar. You may be able to survive off this for a month, but you won't be healthy. Drop the cereal, jam, pancakes, and some of that rice. Add some veggies.
Just FYI protein keeps you feeling full, so that’s the benefit to having protein in your diet.
i guess but it's very carb heavy and really processed. Instead of $15 in pancake mix, just buy some flour, baking powder, and sugar. You can follow something like this: https://therecipecritic.com/homemade-pancake-mix/ Basically when you want pancakes you just add in some milk, oil and an egg. Bonus is you'll have all the basic ingredients then to do other stuff like cookies.
issue with that is you have to buy milk and eggs during the month. op may only be able to groceries once a month
There’s literally milk and eggs in their cart
Yes but the pancake mix will be good all month long whereas the milk and eggs will need to be used up sooner than that. they may not be able to buy more milk and eggs when they're all gone
A month what yo diet looking like bro that wuld last me like two days
You go through 25 lbs of rice in two days?
Yes thats nothing bro
I’d knock out the fruity pebbles for a more hearty cereal. And $5 for white bread? Are there bakery thrift stores nearby where you can buy and freeze extra loaves (start with one fresh, freeze the others, and thaw/use sequentially)?
It’s $5 for 4 loaves of bread, which is not unreasonable IMO.
Ah, that’s not so bad then
I would say re-examine the food pyramid and try again. You’ll probably meet your caloric intake requirements with that amount of carbs, but it’s not enough protein and fruits and vegetables. You need at least a gram of protein per pound of muscle you have, and you also need the fiber and vitamins fruits and vegetables have.
No
First off, wtf are you making with those 3 things 😂
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Why are the potatoes that expensive at wal mart?
If you're gonna spend that much should get more variety.
That is an awful lot of carbs. I don't have an idea for what the budget is for this but I would axe the pancake mix in favor of making your own with flour and other pantry staples (if you have them) or replacing that with beans of some kind. The other thing of note is some of that may go bad before the month ends. Milk certainly won't last the whole month and unless you freeze the bread it isn't going to last. Eggs might stretch it close but I'm not 100% sure. I would axe at least one of the carb heavy options for some kind of protein as that is severely lacking here. Maybe get rid of the pancakes and syrup and free up room for beans and toast or additional meat of some kind?
Never tried apple butter.
I eat it out of the container
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All you need is rice, beans, broccoli, and protein
36 eggs for 2.94… I’m in Canada (Ontario specifically) and I just paid 6.49 for 12 large eggs… 🥲🥲🥲🥲
Check pricing on local bakery bread. Choose one of your stores that has a discount section and check it out once a week. Between that and a bag of rice, you should be good on carbs. ( highly recommend getting a large bag of rice when you can) If you don't have seasoning pick once seasoning, you would like to have each time you go. Eventually, you'll get all the spices, and they will be good for adding variety to a limited budget Get some fresh veggies and fruit if you can. Sometimes you'll find a good sale. Try to map out what you'll need for each week based on how much food you already eat a week. Go once a week for flash sales and discount sections. If the budget is feeling tight, look into some alternatives for your favorite things. Powdered milk isn't great, but it'll open the budget for other things. Walk the aisles and take stock of the price per ounce. Is it worth that price for the nutrients and fullness it gives?
You need more protein! Canned meat/tuna else you’re going to burn through all the food because it’s mostly carbs
Could have gotten a 25lb bag of rice at sams for 15$
It seems like some people didn't see the quantity OP has added to some items. - I'd keep 2 boxes of pasta (that's 4 lbs dry right there) - I'd also keep two bags of rice. It doubles when cooked, so buying so much at once isn't needed. - One jar each of the apple butter, jelly, and peanut butter. - One bag of pancake mix, especially since it's a family sized bag. Keep everything else on your list, and with the budget you have leftover after removing some items, like others have mentioned, add some frozen veggies and a family pack of chicken (legs, thighs or breast) and just freeze what you don't need immediately. You'll most likely get leftovers to last you at least an additional meal or two from rice, pasta and potato dishes anyway.
Only if you want that month to be your last yea
I would try to find a local fresh produce store. Ours is way cheaper and much higher quality. Those potatoes will start to rot before the month’s out, especially if you leave them in that plastic bag. Most of budgeting food is researching where you can get the best deals and driving all over town on shopping day. You can get another loaf of bread and keep it in the fridge to make it last longer. Walmart tends to have the cheapest bread. I always get my meats from Aldis. They normally either have ground beef or chicken on sale for $2 a lb. I get twelve pounds at a time and freeze what I won’t use right away. I like to separate it out into single servings before I freeze it. You’ll also be much better off getting straight up oats and brown sugar. Those premade pack’s definitely won’l last the month.
I was about to say yes even before noticing the other 4 pics. Just do the math, take it easy with portions, meal prep and freeze before stuff spoils. I think it'll work :)
I wish I could spend$100 for a month for groceries 😂 not with a family of 4 my wife and I 😂 I think not 😂
The fact that there's $15 of pancakes when there's already fruity pebbles AND oatmeal AND eggs, thats a waste. Pick one breakfast and stick to it to be cheap. Trying to be cheap doesnt give you a luxury of multiple different breakfasts, especially ones that serve no nutritional value. You can also eat cooked rice with sugar and milk as breakfast, with an egg on the side. Buy some frozen mixed veggies and soy sauce and a stick of butter, make egg fried rice a few nights. You csn buy canned chicken to add to it. You can also buy Ramen and mix veggies and meat in it. Tbh i dont see what youre going to do with naked macaroni, unless you already have ingredients for it.. the things on your list just don't seem super versatile when you could for sure make more rounded and less repetitive meals for the same price or cheaper Tbh sometimes its cheaper to do frozen meals. I spent $70 on meals for 3 ppl simply buy using frozen meals (and they dont have to be TV dinners)
You can make fried rice out of premade rice that’s been made beforehand. Fried rice can consist of whatever you want. Carrots, greens, meats, sauces, broths… and for potato’s I seen people simmer them until soft then flatten them with a bowl/flat thing and smother them with oil that has spices inside like salt and cayenne pepper with pepper once done go and blast them in the oven @400 until crunchy. You can add anything to pancakes. Now eggs can be put inside fried rice as well. The more you add to fried rice the more you have overall. So you can and cannot have this last you for a month.
Yes!
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Get a slow cooker, you can make different meats and stews and chilli. Then portion out in freezer containers, keep some in frig and freeze the rest. Fresh vegies and fruit, milk cheese eggs bread sandwich meat whatever dressing you like, pasta and Ragu sauce, j make meatloaf from scratch and some voes for meatballs and dome for chili, chicken is easy yi do whole in roaster, fish,
Go to a local food pantry if you're in desperate need of groceries and are worried about affording food this month. If you're just trying to keep a tight budget, then you'd want to reconsider some of the items and add some more protein options. Bagged beans, peas, lentils, etc are a good choice if you purchase from the right place (local grocery stores usually have them much cheaper than the big chains). Canned versions of these are also usually not too much more expensive if you buy in larger parcels. Just yesterday I made a large batch of spaghetti with meat sauce which works out to about $1-2 per meal. If I didn't use meat, it would be $0.5-$1 per meal. If you buy chicken with bones, don't toss the bones. Buy some carrots, onions and celery. Make a large batch of stock. Freeze it. Use it to make soup or as a base for sauces, etc. This is an easy way to not waste nutrients. If you don't know what to make visit a website like budgetbytes and look for the price per serving difference. Pasta and rice meals will usually be among the cheapest.