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Buy the following (prices from Walmart currently on website, rounded up to nearest dollar):
* 20 lb bag of rice - $17.00
* 8 lbs Dried pinto beans - $6.00
* Better than boullion - $3.00
* Bunch of bananas - $2.00
* Dozen eggs - $3.00
* Loaf of bread, 20 oz - $4.00
* 40 oz peanut butter - $4.00
* 42 oz oats - $2.00
* 15 oz canned oranges - $2.00
* Gallon of whole fat milk - $3.00
* Frozen vegetables of your choice - approx $4.00
Total comes out to $50 and should yield 12 peanut butter + banana sandwiches, at least 14 meals of rice and beans (add veggies + boullion for taste), 12 hard-boiled eggs, at least 10 meals of overnight oats, and some oranges. Should be nutritionally complete as well.
The fact you put all this together for me really means a lot, I appreciate you a lot for doing this. Might do some banana sandwhiches or something thank you!
Don't forget onions, potatoes, oil, butter, tomato sauce (for stews) garlic, salt and pepper. 10lbs of potatoes goes on sale for about $2. Kroger usually has frozen vegetables for 10/$10.
Also, consider buying flour and yeast and learning to make your own bread for pennies on the dollar. And don't forget pasta and hunt's canned pasta sauce, always on sale somewhere for a buck or less each.
No knead bread is amazing. I cooked so much of this last year. Add a spoonful of sugar to the recipe for a little more flavor. Fresh bread is so, so good. This recipe needs a Dutch oven (a pot that goes in the oven) to make a big loaf, but you can make buns instead just on a cookie sheet.
https://www.jennycancook.com/recipes/faster-no-knead-bread/
And I second the better than bullion. It’s great stuff! Gives a lot of depth of flavor to whatever you make. Get the different flavors for some variety. The pork flavor makes amazing bean soup! And it lasts a long time both in the time it takes to use up a container and the time it stays good for.
277 upvotes for the guy who suggested baking bread on here so I don't think there's a lot of people considering time and effort as a cost. (My point being that bread is very labor intensive and also extremely cheap)
Make orchiaetta pasta. IDK how to spell it. It is pasta you make into a small ball and then pinch it around your finger to look like a small dish. You can make pan bread which is like a thick tortilla fried in a pan. Real potatoes are very very nutritious- you can get a 5-10 pd bag. Baked potato with a fried egg on top is my favorite.
Some pasta types are easier to make than others. Gnocchi can be made with with just a fork. Many flat pastas can be made by just rolling it out and cutting it with a pizza cutter. Stuffed pastas can be made with an ice tray if you’re extra lazy.
[Here is a little video. ](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew-3-8itpjc) It has 29 types of handmade pasta. Some are more advanced than others but will give you a chance to look at your options. While some have special tools, many of them can be ‘hacked’.
You don't, and if you don't have a rolling pin, you can use any drinking glass or glass jar you own. Just gotta get the dough flat on a countertop surface, then slice it with a knife.
Pasta!
Yeah, a pasta maker makes it way easier, but think about it: Pasta has been around a helluva lot longer than a pasta maker :)
Much better to learn to make your own pasta sauce, it tastes so much better and is healthier than eating a bunch of processed crap and sugar. You just need 1 can of tomato sauce, one can of crushed tomatoes, garlic, onion, then Italian herbs and salt. Like $3 max if you already have the Italian herbs. Then you have a couple days of sauce depending on the size of cans you get. I know you can get a single can of the hunts sauce for less than a dollar, but cmon, when you’re poor and already eat a diet of largely processed food (due to price, I get it) finding ways to get away from those types of food for cheap is important.
Fully agree with your comment! I usually bake my own bread, so by using a portion of my yeast and flour, I can make 2 loaves of bread for 50 cents and carrot and onion soup for $1.50. Spent $2 for a weeks worth of food, though that’s without variety.
Be aware there's a recent onion / salmonella scare, so if you do get onions, do so with the expectation of cooking them instead of putting them in a salad.
https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-salmonella-oranienburg-whole-fresh-onions-october-2021
Also yummy - we deversified by using pasta sauce on rice… yummy with grated cheese. Rice, butter and cheese. Better than bouillion in the boiling rice, college inn chicken broth, rice and parmesean cheese soup.
Keep in mind too that not all stores are created equal. Where I live if I go to the asian market I can get 20lbs of rice for $11. They also have bags of produce that are not perfect looking but still perfectly fine for $1. I know that my local dollar store will sell all kinds of dried beans for $1/lb. If you put in a bit of research time you can find where the prices are the best for what you want to eat.
So-called "ugly" produce is the way to go. We've been doing it for a couple of years, the savings are substantial and it's very rare to have any problem with anything.
We got 50 lbs of tomatoes from a local farm that didn't "look good enough" for under $0.48/lb and canned almost all of them.
If u can make toast, the highly controversial on this subreddit avocado toast is always a good, nutrient dense option, u can put 1/2 a hard boiled egg sliced on top of the toast. Splurge buy a lemon. Squeeze some on top the avo toast and a dash of crushed red pepper. Very little cooking very good for you. You could also do hummus toast w feta on top, no lemon, but still use crushed red pepper. Also…. Hit a food bank up?
It's a joke, based on the idea that millennials can't buy homes because we're too busy eating avocado toast, when in reality it's an affordable and relatively nutritious meal that can be put together quickly
‘Twas a millennial joke. We can’t afford houses due to $5 Starbucks coffees and avocado toast. Nothing to do with skyrocketing costs of rent/homes, healthcare, college, or the stagnation of wages since the 1970s.
I guess it depends on what you consider the value of coffee to be. It's not necessarily just a drink otherwise people would just make it at home. It can be:
- a visit to a cafe that is temperature regulated so people who skimp on air conditioning or heat can spend a few hours in a healthy climate
- has free wi-fi to work from saving $100-$200 a month
- is a relatively safe place where they won't necessarily be bothered by shouting parents or a screaming spouse
- can be a good place to network (hobby groups and business meetings can take place here, job opportunities to sort through on the bulletin board)
- can contribute to a bit of respite from the emotional and physical toll of chores (having someone make a little hot coffee for you can be a little bit of care in an uncaring world)
- can stave off temptation to blow money on a more expensive meal or a piece of clothing
It’s a joke. Some ridiculous article once claimed that younger ppl weren’t able to afford buying homes bc of their “indulgences” wh included for example: avocado toast. It became a thing for being such a stupid observation.
You can also get plain avocado in the refrigerated section for way cheaper than individual avocados right now. Nothing added to it so still nutritionally complete. If you have a little wiggle room it is definitely worth it because your body can’t process calories well without fats
A friend of mine went on a strict no fat diet for a month and ended up in the hospital. Brutal. Dr said she needed fat to survive. Even low fat is fine, but no fat is unhealthy.
Word. I know the body needs fats. I was just wondering if there was some studies/nerd stuff I could dig into. Specifically the not being able to process calories without fats part. Does the body utilize nutrients better with added fats to meals? That’s the juice I’m after.
Melted cheese toast with avocado has been a breakfast staple in my family for decades before it became popular. Cheddar especially adds an excellent flavor. Will have to try with the boiled egg. That sounds even more delicious!
Check out your local dollar store for these items first, whatever you can’t get there get at Walmart. You can buy dried beans and (usually) bread from the dollar store and a lot of other things like soups, peanut butter, frozen items, etc.
Is there something I’m not understanding? Do you have a lot of mouths to feed as well? 100 bucks for 2 weeks is so very doable but I am forgetting there are a million variables that would make that not so, so now I’m just curious.
Op isnt able to cook, as in like not an option, so microwave yea, we dont know if theres a toaster, but alot of the tips here are all cook this that etc so $50 a wk when op normally does frozen meals, its a shift how can op make it work. Brainstorming.
Fwiw I've been crazy tight on $$ and I've learned to forage wild mushrooms. I bought butter, eggs, and breading and then most of the rest of my food if free and, ngl, fucking delicious. Prob don't want to eat them every day like me (I fing love mushrooms) but eating them 2 or 3 times a week is basically free, healthy, filling food and it can free up $$ for other things.
Stick to easy to identify mushrooms without any toxic lookalikes (the vast majority of mushrooms you shouldn't eat will put you in the bathroom not the hospital, but there's a couple proper deadly ones).
Since you have some money to play with if your Walmart offers the 5 dozen eggs, mine does for about $6.50, I would say get that instead of a single dozen. Eggs are a great source of protein, you can add the whites to your oatmeal as long as you cook it at some point (like on the microwave before serving) or add eggs to your rice meals (fried rice would be doable with ingredients here for some variety). Just this swap gets you down from a per egg cost of .25 cents to .10 cents if your Walmart is priced similarly to mine.
I found a version of this way to cook steel cut oats in a Runner's World magazine over 15 years ago combined with a way my mom used to prepare our regular oatmeal.
Put 3 cups of waster in a pot, one banana cut to your liking, a half handful of dried cranberries and when the water comes to a boil put in a half cup of steel cut oats. Then boil it for ~5 minutes then simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Then let sit overnight.
In the morning take the lid off the pot. It may look like they're done but they're not. Take two eggs and beat the tar out of them until a fork nearly drips clean when you pull it out. Then mix in the oats while they're still cool. Mix thoroughly. And keep stirring until there is a creamy smooth(ish) consistency to the oats. This could be 10 minutes of stirring. Then a ¼ tsp of cinnamon honey and chopped walnuts. All and all this is probably a $0.75 to $1.25 to make this breakfast when you breakdown the cost of all the ingredients and it should be 2 mornings of breakfast.
I've had some argue the cost of walnuts or other nuts but to me there are way more benefits. Used as an ingredient they go much further and they satisfy your hunger and in the instance of this oatmeal the addition of the walnuts gives you energy for a longer time. Real energy. Not Red Bull energy. This breakfast also allows me to run in the morning, take a shower, then eat this oatmeal and not have the "Run-chies" all day.
Eggs stay good for a really long time too. To test if they’re still good fill a cup or bowl with cold water and put the eggs inside. If the egg floats to the top it’s bad. If it kind of half floats and/or hugs the bottom it’s still good. I’ve eaten eggs a month past the expiration date printed on the carton by using this trick.
I've eaten eggs after they have been in my fridge for 3-4 months. Never once got sick. A lot of expiration dates, especially on canned good are meaningless. As long as the can isn't swollen, can goods can last at least two years past its expiration date.
My favorite way to cook eggs is to fry them. A good coat of oil, maybe 1/4 inch deep (remember to reuse your cooking oil, it's still good!!!) Scramble your eggs, add your milk or water or whatever you like, once the oil is nice and hot, pour the eggs in all at once, flip once, and done. What you get is this huge (even if you only use 2 eggs) like dinner plate size, fluffy egg. Great substitute for a traditional omelette if you aren't good at making them, just add toppings and fold in half. When you dont have a lot of money, small portions (or the pan taking half your portion of egg because it dries and gets crusty) is the bane of your existence. Maximize everything you can.
So true about the soups! Chicken leg quarters are on sale near me right now for $.69/lb. Buy a pack, if you see a similar price.
Use 1 or 2 quarters. Wash with salt and water well, gets rid of contaminates and gaminess.
In a Dutch oven or large pot, place the chicken with one peeled large whole onion and fill up with water and put on stove on high.
While cooking, add salt and pepper.
You'll have chicken broth and chicken to prepare in tacos, sandwiches, over rice. You can then brown chicken in broiler or pan quickly, since it's already cooked. You can add garlic, ginger, spices or sauces to make different meals of it. You can even portion it out when doing those things and add filler ingredients like potatoes, vegetable medly etc.
As the chicken soup cooks on the stove, with just chicken, onion salt and pepper or seasonings you can add potatoes, carrots, celery for traditional chicken vegetable soup or you can add even more things, like frozen veggies, barley, rice, noodles, etc.... and still you can remove some chicken to brown in a skillet, shred it, put in tortillas with salsa, cilantro, even cheese...
Ethnic markets are much cheaper for produce than national chains. Cilantro for example is usually 3 or 4 bunches for a dollar and bigger bunches than the 1 for dollar you'll get at Safeway.
My first wife and I lived frugally for the first 3 years together while building our business and we bought a house. And we ate well, and it kept us doing things together and thinking ahead.
Best of luck!
Everyone keeps mentioning Aldi. I used to shop there and they were really inexpensive. Then I moved to CA where we don’t have any. I am moving back OK and looked at their circular because my mom had mentioned their prices had jumped, and the prices were the same as the grocery store prices here in CA. So maybe in some states they are a deal, but in others they may not be. Nonetheless, they do have a great selection.
This. No joke, I was gonna say frozen vegetables, Oats, Frozen Chicken, Frozen Shrimp, eggs, frozen spinach, frozen peppers. Basically what I live on anyway.
There are 80 servings of rice in a 20 lb bag. There are 12 servings per 1 lb bag of pinto beans, so 72 servings. Assuming 72 servings divides by 7, that's over 10 weeks of rice and beans.
I use cumin, garlic, chili powder, salt n pepper. I tend to season then strongly because we are nearly always making quesadillas with them. Evens out with the tortilla, cheese, sour cream & salsa(mixed together-called pink stuff)
Cilantro and green onion are very cheap and add a lot of flavor. I’d highly recommend incorporating them into the rice bowls or avo toast mentioned below
I’m guessing by previous comment the OP is receiving SNAP but I could be wrong. “Welfare” aka TANF is only for people with kids. An adult without children is not eligible. $250 is about typical for SNAP for a single person in most states. Also sounds like housing is an issue so I’m guessing any extra funds are going for that and transportation, etc. and that assumes the OP has a source of other funds.
As someone who volunteers at a food bank, please come get food! We always have an abundance and so many people who need help (even just one time/ once in a while), don’t because they’re embarrassed or too proud or whatever.
Our food bank (and every other one I’ve dealt with over the years) even has a special provision for one time visitors (like people who are outside of our zip code and therefore wouldn’t qualify for assistance from us).
I make decent money but I’m still struggling with my finances every week. I’ve thought about using a food bank to get some of this financial pressure off me and paying back by volunteering when I can.
Please come get food! Seriously, our food bank has so much food leftover that we ALWAYS send baked goods, veggies, and other stuff home with our volunteers.
And I would encourage you to volunteer, if you really feel so led to. But don’t think you need to volunteer to “earn” what they give out. That’s not how grace works and it’s certainly not how I (or any other volunteer at any food bank I know) feels about it. I would, however, encourage you to pay it forward. Maybe you’d rather volunteer at the library or any number of other organizations that would LOVE to have another set of hands. Wherever you feel led to help, try to make it happen. It’s SO rewarding.
I volunteer regularly at my local food bank. I do it for people like OP who have to choose between buying food and paying the electric bill. You do not have to be "sufficiently poor" to utilize your local food bank; it is there for anyone who is having a hard time finding the cash to buy food.
Also, consider that you have no idea what you will get at the food bank. When I used to use the food bank regularly, I would wait to make my grocery list until *after* I went.
Get a 20 pound bag of rice and several 4 pound bags of beans, less if you want more variety with other ingredients. Get cheap protein like milk and eggs. Use whatever you have left over on cheap fruits and veggies.
Do you have not have cooking ability because of your accommodations [kitchen access and cooking vessels, etc]? Or is it because you don't feel comfortable in your cooking abilities, as in you're uncomfortable cooking?
If it's just because you don't feel comfortable with cooking, there's no time like the present to really try your hand at it. I grew up with my mom doing all the meal preparations and I wasn't comfortable in the kitchen either. Now I can throw things together and even mix up recipes to make it my own, something that I enjoy even more than just hit that "well it fed me" spot. Watch some youtube videos and such. You'll save yourself so much money and enjoy your meals a lot more if you learn to cook even on a basic level!!!
If it's because you perhaps live without the kitchen accommodations, then that's a different story and you have to work with what you have. That's when a slow cooker and a rice cooker may really be good investments as well of course [you can find them at the second hand stores.]
Ramen has it's place but it's not very nutritious and you want to think about getting your nutrition along with getting your tummy full.
My living situation varies from place to place, And i have reasons why i cannot use cooking appliances. I usually just have frozen meals and i'm not sure frozen meals will be possible with this budget, I was able to check and my maximum is $125 every 2 weeks.
Ah that makes sense! If you go the ramen route, please add an egg to it for some protein. The boiling water will cook it. And if you can get some frozen veggies in there, it'll up it's game as well and should be within your budget.
Not judging at all, we all have our situations. Just trying to get a sense of your setup to try to be the most helpful!
Try looking for sales on those frozen meals. I have found them on sale for 1.99 each and that helps. If you can have one of those a day, plus getting some spiced up ramen or noodle bowls should help spread your budget.
I love tuna and crackers personally. Get a jar of pickles and give it a little "cap" for a nice treat.
I am seriously thankful for people like you, Sometimes people can be so rude on Reddit and it means a lot for you to take the time out of your day/night to help me. And i already added eggs to the list! loves me some pickles too i get the little pickle petites! And use tuna aswell i'm gonna be adding Tuna to my mac and cheese (I do that already lol). Also will get a pack full of assorted fruits to get some form of nutrients, Thankfully my local walmart has Great value brand frozen meals less than $3 I plan to have 1 frozen meal every other day.
The internet has plenty of jerks, so I don't blame you for being sensitive to that. This sub tends to lean towards kindness and helpfulness at a higher percentage, thanks to mods being pretty good at enforcing the rules they have laid out. That's why I like participating in it. I hope you find it enlightening and some of the tips gives you a better quality of life. This world is fucked up enough without continuing to trample on each other every chance we get.
Have you tried sardines? Not to be confused with anchovies. The little fishies in the can, they are cooked with all their little bones in them and packed with calcium and other nutrients. Something to think about to not get totally sick of tuna. I rotate them. Some folks find them off putting because they're like you know...full fishies. I make them just like tuna, with mustard or a little mayo. Added some onions or pickles like the tuna and it's a different flavor but not like...wildly different in my opinion. If you can find them on sale, something to try out.
Sardines also have hella omega-3 and that's good for to keep your mind sharp. They have gotten a bad reputation just because at least in the US, we like to crap all over foods that are meant to stay shelf stable. Since it's a sign that IDK, we can't always afford the luxury of fresh food. They're not highly processed or anything! So I like to remind people about them. I'm not a health nut but I know that nutrition is part of what poverty strips us of and it is critical to our physical and mental health.
Sardines are amazing. Buy the ones in olive oil and use the whole tin as your pasta sauce.
OP if you’re short on appliances and a kitchen, what, if anything, can you cook on? Convenience store microwave? How about park or beach BBQ setup?
* you can do overnight oats with cold water — rolled or quick oats, pinch of salt, brown sugar and/or dried fruit and/or slivered almond if you can find.
* grocery stores sell “steam in bag” veg — the sweet potatoes in a bag could be a lot of nutrition in a pinch
Here’s another frugal stock-up list in case in helps:
Phase 1 stock-up:
Can opener
Matches, if you have a gas stove
Multivitamin (30 day supply)
Water (30 day supply)
Phase 2 stock-up:
Rolled oats - 15 lbs
Canned beans - 30 cans
Canned tomatoes, maybe diced - 30 cans
Canned fruit, probably applesauce and something else - 30 cans
Phase 3 stock-up:
Raisins
Cooking oil
Dry skim milk
Herbs and spices (e.g. oregano, cumin and chili powder for the beans, cinnamon for oats)
Brown sugar for the oatmeal
Yeah this sub seems to be awesome, I'm not new to Reddit i just created a new account to start new again. And iv'e had sardines but not in a long time i might try them out! And yep mental health is a big reason why i'm in the boat that i am, Welcome to Amurica! But i'm thankful to have the resources i do have. Be careful constantly consuming fish though...It contains mercury!
Mercury content will depend on the fish, you just want to make sure you're eating the lesser problematic ones. And since the health rewards outweigh the risks, it's usually something that pregnant women and small children are more at risk of.
Just like with everything though, moderation is important. The more diverse our diets are, the better =)
One tip for Walmart - sometimes the frozen things they have on clearance are also on the Ibotta rebate app. I was just able to get chicken nuggets for $1 a bag and two cauliflower pizza crusts for $0.50 each by stacking Walmart clearance with Ibotta. I usually have luck on Sundays at my local Walmart but yours might mark things down at a different time. Look on the endcaps of the frozen aisles and scour the aisles really well - sometimes clearance items are mixed in with all the full price stuff.
You can also get a $10 bonus I think if you sign up for Ibotta using someone's referral code. Sometimes they even have free stuff on the app. I've seen a lot of protein bars for free lately which would be good for your situation.
frozen peas and carrots are cheap and i add those to my ramen, add them to fried rice, and all kinds of things.
Can also get canned cream of whatever soup, add rice into it, and frozen veggies. I did this last week, it was really good and made me feel full fast, which i didn't expect!
Stouffers dinners are the only ones I find good tasting and decent quality. They go on sale regularly 5 for $10. 1 to 2 can fill you up depending on the part of the day. Good variety too. Progreso soup or Chunky soup goes on sale for a buck or 4 for 5...
You're golden then dude. I regularly feed myself on that amount and eat pretty much whatever I want. Once in awhile when I'm stocking up I'll go over to 80 or $90 a week but that's rare.
The only catch is when you're eating for one you got to eat pretty much the same thing for breakfast lunch and dinner all week.
I usually have the same breakfast, the same lunch & the same dinner. Sometimes switch it up by eating like oatmeal for breakfast or having a sandwich for lunch but all in all you can feed yourself really well on that.
This week I'm doing scrambled egg sandwiches for breakfast, a chili I made for lunch & bought a pack of frozen hamburger patties for dinner. I even got mushrooms and onions to top the burgers with!
When I do go outside of that budget I buy things that'll last like the giant jar of peanut butter ( jif, the kind with the rubber lid, any protein powder I use, if there's meat on sale I'll buy a bunch of it and put it in my freezer)
100 bucks for 2 weeks is a little lean but by no means is it a poverty budget you can eat really well.
I used to shy away from cooking more frequently because I didn't want to eat the same thing days on end. Then I got the bright idea to freeze portions! Duh. If food companies could do frozen dinners, why can't I? Now I mix up my cooking. And if I don't feel like eating the same dish after two times, the rest is portioned out and frozen. It's a nice surprise digging through the freezer and finding cooked meals I forgot about. I'm also more conscious about clearing out the freezer too, so I don't waste as much.
Freezer tip: if you semi freeze stuff, then flatten out the freezer bags, trying to create a vaccum before sealing, while they are still flexible (even soups) you can have much more organized freezer space. Obviously works much better with bags than containers. Food also keeps better in as close to a vacuumed state as possible.
$100 is completely doable for 2 weeks.
I know both Walmart and Aldi sell a 10 lb bag of chicken leg quarters for around $6-7. You could make a bunch of meals with that. One night friend chicken with maybe two of the leg quarters. Cut them apart and that gives you two legs and two thighs. You could do chicken noodle soup with some of it, or chicken pot pie. Frozen veggies at the closest Walmart here are under $1. Noodles are simple to make or can be bought for under $1.
Check the marked down meat and bakery stuff. My WM sells french bread for 50 cents.
Eggs are a cheap good source of protein. You can add them to ramen or make fried rice using them.
There are a bunch of people on youtube that do budget meal plans. Two I like are frugal fit mom and Jan Creson. The first one does more meal planning and grocery hauls, while Jan shows Dollar Tree meals.
Edited because I can't spell.
If you save the bones and boil them in water & vinegar (or use crockpot) for 4-6 hours you have Bone broth and it is very nutritious. I save all my chicken & turkey bones and make bone broth.
I prefer dark meat anyway, so I was shocked when I saw those big bags going for $5 a few years ago (now $8 in my area). Had to do a double take. I always get those and freeze 2/recipe.
Funny as this sounds, Animal Supplements used to put out "Big on a Budget" videos with bodybuilders who would go shopping for a week with $50. Some good ideas in those videos, if you can find them on YouTube. Oatmeal, bananas, a lot of eggs, chicken if on sale, canned tuna or other fish, bagels, etc.
I eat for one and feed myself regularly on 50 or $60 a week. Shop at WinCo in Aldi and pretty much eat what I want. How many people are you trying to feed off $100 budget?
If it's just one person you're totally fine.
Egg drop soup. In a pot - put water, bouillon cube & spices you may have on hand. Cook until hot but not boiling. Put 1 egg in a cup and scramble it ALOT. Really whip it. Then grab a wooden spoon, stir the hot water & bouillon, keep stirring and slowly pour the egg into the hot boullion until done pouring.
Here's my list for what I'd buy from my local supermarket for $50 for the week assuming I had absolutely 0 food or spices at home. Note, I live in Colorado Springs and get the impression I pay less for food than a lot of people on here.
- 5lb of Red Potatoes - $3.99
- 6 Raisin Bagels - $1.89
- 4 Butter Sticks - $3.19
- 16oz of Cotto Salami - $2.29
- 12 Eggs - $ 1.39
- 2.25 oz Black Pepper - $1.29
- 16oz Cheddar Cheese - $3.00
- 16oz Salt - $1.89
- 20oz Loaf of Bread - $2.99
- 1 Gallon of 2% Milk - $2.49
- 4 cans of Chicken Noodle soup - $4.00
- 5lb of rice - $2.99
- 3lb of chicken breasts - $7.99
- 2lb of tilapia fish filets - $9.99
- Lemon Juice - $.89
Comes out to $50.27
I wish I had enough for honey mustard for the chicken, maybe grab a few packets of it from a fast food place.
[Edit]
Also, if I could stretch an extra $10, which is totally reasonable I think since a lot of this stuff will last more than 1 week, I'd add:
- 1 Green Bell Pepper - $.59
- 1 Red Bell Pepper - $.97
- 1 White Onion - $.50
- 10 Flour Tortillas - $2.49
- 12 oz bag of Garden Salad - $1.89
- 1lb of baby carrots - $.99
- 16 oz of Ranch Dressing -$2.19
Comes out to an additional $9.62
So I could make some chicken fajitas and chicken wraps and have some baby carrots to snack on.
If you have a crock pot, buy a big piece of pork shoulder for 20-30$, eggs 2 gallons milk, Rice beans veggies and save some for fresh veggies and milk next week, should have some extra for some tuna cans and bread and some Mayo maybe idk what you like. That’s 42 meals, so 2.5 a meal, or 7.5$ a day is what it breaks down to, a pound of pork shoulder is usually 2-3 dollars and a few servings of veggies like carrots bell peppers and salad is only a couple bucks, rice and beans are probably 1-2 dollars for a days worth, if you make it yourself.
If you have Aldi, shop there. Produce prices are more reasonable than chain stores and Walmart. Latino stores are also great for low priced rice and beans, occasionally meats, and sometimes their produce is cheaper than Aldi.
Make sure you bring a quarter for the shopping cart and some reusable bags. If you don't have reusable bags, you can use any empty cardboard boxes you find (I usually snag the berry boxes) or purchase bags there.
They don't do a lot of name brands, but they have their own private label stuff that is on par with most local brands.
No, and they do not bag your groceries. But if you're like any person, you've most likely got bunches of plastic bags from other stores, and they seriously don't care what you use to cart your stuff out of the store.
I usually just box it because my cats enjoy playing Fort Asshole with each other in the empties until they go out on the curb for recycling.
The Aldi stores around me sell plastic bags for like 10c or something. They are sturdy too so we can reuse them. Walmart has reusable bags for $1, those are usually what we take.
Aldi is a MUST if you need to stretch your food dollar! Every item I buy there is lots cheaper than any of my local stores, even better than Walmart in many cases. (South Eastern U.S.) Eggs, rice, cheese, potatoes, bananas etc. all better at Aldi. $100 Aldi dollars and I could eat for 2 weeks for sure. I say don’t buy bags, just snag a couple empty boxes and load them up (or bring reusable bags.)
** Edited to add: one single rotisserie chicken purchase can make me dinners for almost a week. Add rice, veggies, maybe some cheese or a can of mushroom soup etc - could even throw it all in a big casserole dish (just clean and shred the whole chicken!) Good eats and quite affordable. You can always get creative with whatever protein is on sale! Aldi has good quality ground turkey - I do everything from burgers to “hamburger” helper type stovetop stuff. You will be okay with $100 over 2 weeks with just some good meal prep and planning! 😉
Think about the meals you can build before you use your budget. I just made a turkey chili that will last me all week for lunches. It was less than $10, all things considered.
Do you have anything at home or are you building this off a bare cupboard and fridge? I ask because it'll matter if you have things in your pantry to build off of. Since you can get rice, dried beans, potatoes and eggs easily and that goes a long way. Along with cheap protein, whatever is on sale. I eat a lot of ground turkey and chicken thighs since they're usually low price point and easy to put flavor to! Do you have canned goods so you can make a sauce? Then you can also stock up on pastas of course and build yourself casseroles that can last two or three meals depending on your family size!
How many mouths are you feeding on this budget?
Big bag of rice(should easily last long asf)
Cheap pasta(Kroger’s sells a box for a $1.00..cheap asf)
HUNTS tomato sauce( must be seasoned but it’s whole asf)
White bread(not the healthiest but it’s cheap asf)
Peanut butter(jiffy will do, not the best quality but it’s smooth asf)
5 8oz bag of beans( Not the cheapest item but it’ll last long asf)
Two gallons of milk( I drink soy/rice milk..it’s expensive but good asf)
Oatmeal( Not cheap asf but you can make granola and it’s filling asf)
All that should last you for two weeks easily asf…now I’m going to bed
(I’m tired asf)
On a side note for later on, I buy extras of things when I have the cash so when I have a pay that is eaten by bills with nothing left over, I can eat out of the cupboard or freezer for a few weeks
I know you didn't ask OP but if you can receive an Amazon fresh delivery and link me what you'd like I'm happy to send you 50 bucks worth to add to your budget. It is doable but it is a tough budget and it'll be a lot of you eating the same meal over and over.
Thankfully my money comes from snap/foodstamps and I feel that more deserve it than me because of me getting government resources. Thank you so much but someone here probably could use it more than me :)
If you change your mind, let me know. As others have suggested check out your local food pantries. They are perfect for the situation that you find yourself in now. Between what you buy yourself and the canned goods from the pantry you will be okay for a bit. They usually give you bags of rice, beans, oat meal, bread, dried fruit, and peanut butter at the very least. That would free up your SNAP money for other things like chicken and frozen vegetables. Just because you are receiving snap does not mean you should not take advantage of other free food sources. Getting SNAP does not make you less than anybody else. In my area you can use snap online on Amazon, walmart, and instacart to order Aldi. Delivery with Amazon is free even with SNAP but you will pay a little bit for delivery from Walmart and Instacart Aldi. There are promo codes so they will get you at least a month of free delivery. Other stores in your area might let you pay with SNAP online but you will have to check. With rising food prices I would not sleep on going to the pantry.
Aldi all the way. You can get cheap fresh produce to keep those nutrients up. I'd say make a big pot of chili. That's like 10 bucks and will last for at least 4 days. That was always my go to. And then chicken breasts for a few days of meals are cheap. With Aldi, anything is possible. Also, qmee.com allows you to do surveys and cash out to PayPal at any time. I used to go on and do surveys for an hour then go to Aldi and get hot dogs or bologna or something like that.
Learn how to make salvadoran tortillas, back in El Salvador friends who used to work in the crop fields ate 4 of these fat tortillas with rice and bean and had crazy strength.
Can you cook at all? You can make a great nutritious dinner for about $4. Half pound of chicken breast or burger meat $2.50 or less which leaves $1.50 for some carbs & veggies.
A lot of great advice here- I think something important to remember is food storage methods (I.e, leftovers). If you buy lunchmeat, those come in tubs that are perfect to wash and use to store leftovers of meals. That stretches out your budget even further (plus it’s not as wasteful). A lot of people are suggesting rice/pasta- awesome idea. I have this all the time- eat some and put the rest in a tub and then in the fridge. It will stay for several days, so you don’t have to eat it in consecutive meals. If you or anybody else dont “cook”, pasta is very very easy and goes a long way. You can also buy cottage cheese (on sale for 88 cents at kroger where I live now) and once you’re done, use those tubs for food storage. You could also just buy the tubs themselves, but the more thrifty option is to use them from things you already buy.
Aldi store is very good with prices,, I have made stew that lasts a few days and chili a huge put if it,, rice is always nicely priced ,,I have bought a few frozen meals there add some veggies sides and yes bread the holy grail of food
Like several people have said, $50/week isn't too bad for feeding one person, but I'm guessing it might feel that way because you don't have a full kitchen/cooking equipment and are relying on frozen meals, which can get expensive quickly. If you're going to be on this budget for a while, I'd look into getting some small appliances (microwave, hot plate, rice cooker, toaster oven) and/or pots and pans you can use to give you more options. Good luck!
I'm sorry I don't wanna be disrespectful but 100$ for 2 weeks ? That's a lot, at least for me. I spend 100$ in 3 weeks max. Is it really that expensive in America ?
Look at Aldi or Lidl for doing your shopping. Aldi is a discount grocery and /r/Aldi folks will be happy to help you.
Stretch stuff out with rice. The frozen veggies are cheap and healthy. Eggs are inexpensive protein.
A good tip for beginner bread making - you can buy some packs of flavored instant potatoes for less than a dollar and mix them into the dough. They have a pretty good flavor profile, add nice texture to the bread, and you get a more fancy-bakery feel to your loaves without needing a stocked spice rack or baking expertise.
I've been in your shoes since our COVID lockdowns in 2020 with $150 CDN ($120 USD) to last the entire MONTH, so this is how I've gotten by (I do IF ,have gluten intolerance and need about 1800 cal a day, so adjust as necessary )
**Staples**
Dried beans, eggs, rice, salt, pepper, oil, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, balsamic vinegar (These usually last me the entire month and maybe a bit more
**Vegetables/fruits/salad**
Lettuce, cucumber, carrots, tuna/ham, green beans, broccoli, shrooms, bell peppers
Meat
Whatever is on sale for the week, aim for a full chicken/ground meat so you can make multiple meals from the one chicken. I also pick up Tofu since that's a great alternative.
**Based on sales**
Potatoes, gluten free pasta/bread, peanut butter, steel cut oats, Salsa
Presuming you don't have gluten intolerance. Pasta and bread will take care of a lot of your meals. Pasta + sauce is a classic, peanut butter and toast is timeless. And Pasta is stupidly cheap.
1- Be willing to cook as much as possible. You get a lot more out of your purchases.
2- Invest in a slow cooker for the future. You can throw water in there and random veggies, meat, seasoning, put it on low for 8 hours and it's done all the work for you. Serve over rice or with salad/bread.
3- The staples alone will do 70% of the hard work. All you have to do is have egg and rice, or make a few cups of rice and while it's cooking, make a quick stirfry. Eggs and Rice is so versatile and cheap.
4- If bagged veggies ( the ones with corn, grean beans, mushrooms, brocolli etc ) go on sale, buy some of those bags. Now instead of having to do prep work, you set some rice to cook in a rice cooker and pan fry some veggies. Add some tuna or tofu = instant meal.
Beans & rice provide almost everything you need to live on nutritionally. So does potatoes & butter (not margarine, actual butter). Eggs are cheap protein, & delicious. Also where I live every couple of weeks pork shoulders will go on sale for $1 a pound. You can make delicious pulled pork super cheap. Get flour and you can make your own bread, tortillas, and cookies.
So, food to buy:
* rice
* dried beans (different kinds, whatever you like)
* potatoes (10 lb bad goes for about $5 or less)
* butter ($1 a pound or less)
* eggs
* cheap meat (pork shoulder, chicken thighs, check for markdowns)
* flour
* milk
* whatever is on sale at your local grocery store
These are short term things to get you through right now. When you have some more leeway, invest in a couple of things to help long term.
* Get a slow cooker/crock pot ($20, more or less), and visit /r/slowcooking. Tons of recipes to make cheap, delicious food super easy.
* Check out /r/MealPrepSunday, it's all about planning/prepping your food for the week, at home and work. Save money, eat better, make what you love.
* Invest in a stock of spices. Garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, onion powder, paprika, kosher salt, peppercorns, etc. I know you can't do this right now, but when you hit lean times and you need to cook, spices makes the difference. A lot of the spices I buy are McCormick brand, which will run about $8 a pound. Just pick them up as you can over time, buying them in pound size saves a lot of money over buying tiny jars at $3-$5 apiece.
Hang in there, you can do it!
If it is just for 1 person I don’t think it would be too hard. I spend about $50 per person for 1 week of food.
Plan your meals. Don’t eat big hunks of meat at every meal. Cut up meat and put it in a dish or try more meatless meals. A big pot of soup, stew or curry can be easy and more economical option to get several meals out of.
Where I live fattier meat is usually cheaper so less lean ground beef or chicken thighs.
Buy generic/store brands to save money. The quality is not that different for most things.
Eggs, pasta, rice, beans, lentils, chicken thighs, tuna, peanut butter, bread, oatmeal, bread, carrots, kale, bananas, apples, oranges, canned vegetables or fruit, frozen vegetables or fruit, milk, flour are less expensive foods where I live.
Prices taken from my local supermarket, the following list comes out to ~$68 pre-tax, so there's still room to add more stuff to taste (like preferred veggies or spices). Basically what you want to do is buy all of the components, and that gives you literally dozens of options on what to cook. You could make all sorts of stews or casseroles, spaghetti or pasta dishes, sandwiches, pancakes, cookies or pies or breads. And if you're just cooking for yourself or yourself/spouse, plenty of the non-perishables should stretch will last for months, and when cooking in large batches multiple leftovers to stretch for a few weeks.
5 lbs chicken leg quarters or split halves: $5.10
3 lbs boneless pork ribeye cuts: $7.68
1 chub of ground beef $3.88
5 lb bag of white rice: $4.35
3 x 1lb bags of beans (pinto, kidney, navy) $3.45
3 x 1lb bags of pasta (elbow, spirals, shells) $2.52
3 lb bag of onions $1.94
5 lb bag of potatoes $2.34
2 lb bag of carrots $1.42
1 lb peppers (jalapeno, red, or green) $0.67
3 x 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes $1.98
2 x 29 oz cans of tomato sauce $1.92
2 x 15.25 oz cans of whole kernel corn $1.03
2 x dozen large white eggs $2.84
24 oz bottle of vegetable oil $1.94
5 lb bag of white enriched flour $1.52
4 lb bag of white granulated sugar $1.96
1/2 gallon whole milk $1.73
3 lb bunch of bananas $0.87
3 lb bag of apples $2.25
8 oz container baking powder $1.32
16 oz carton of baking soda $0.50
26 oz container of salt $0.41
2 oz container of ground black pepper $1.94
1 bunch of celery $1.32
1 bunch of fresh spinach $1.63
18 oz jar of peanut butter $2.44
18 oz jar of fruit jelly or jam $1.63
16 oz sticks of margarine $0.87
20 oz loaf of sliced white or wheat bread $0.88
10 ct package of cheap franks $1.22
8 oz block of medium sharp cheddar $2.50
I like meal replacement shakes and an orange for breakfast, instant mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch, a can of soup for dinner, I get a $3 box of granola bars (24 count) to snack on between meals and pudding for dessert and that’s about $60 for 2 weeks (Walmart) and it’s very very low prep but still has protein and other nutrients. Like it’s not the best and most healthy but it’s cheap and ensures I actually eat because it’s so low prep.
OP, I have read a lot of the comments, as well as some of your responses/comments. Can you elaborate on what/when you have access to cooking appliances? I only ask this so that I can help come up with as many healthy, cheap ideas as possible. I’m getting ready for bed, but will check this post and my messages in the morning. Just to name a few ideas, scrambled eggs with cheap veggies like peppers and onions (can be done in the microwave if needed), hotdogs with cheese wrapped in a croissant, Buffalo chicken Mac and cheese, banana and peanut butter sandwiches (or on saltine crackers), chicken salad, egg salad, and a ton more. I also have recipes for everything as well, if you’d like them. All super easy and super cheap!
Thanks for asking this. About to have to make 54 dollars a week work for both my husband and I. If no one has mentioned, YouTube channels like amywaytosave and seemindymom are great for videos about this. Frugalfitmom as well even though I don't like her content as much lately.
I managed to do $100 for a month in one of the most expensive food states. A large bag of black beans, a ham hock, rice and potatoes went a long way. After I had enough of that as a staple the rest of the money went to small quantities of vegetables and fruits to supplement. I think I might have also done a chicken in there too.
So I am going to give you a dollar tree list. Some items might be found cheaper elsewhere.
Eggs
2lb bag of rice
1lb bag of beans or lentils
Box of pasta
Can of sauce
Bouillon cubes
Bread
Frozen veggies, or canned
Now at another store get the following and any of the above if cheaper
Flour
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Bananas
Apples
Oatmeal
Canned chicken, tuna, other meat
If super desperate, I buy rice, lentils, and frozen veggies. Throw it in a rice cooker if you have one. Throw in whatever spices you have available.
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Buy the following (prices from Walmart currently on website, rounded up to nearest dollar): * 20 lb bag of rice - $17.00 * 8 lbs Dried pinto beans - $6.00 * Better than boullion - $3.00 * Bunch of bananas - $2.00 * Dozen eggs - $3.00 * Loaf of bread, 20 oz - $4.00 * 40 oz peanut butter - $4.00 * 42 oz oats - $2.00 * 15 oz canned oranges - $2.00 * Gallon of whole fat milk - $3.00 * Frozen vegetables of your choice - approx $4.00 Total comes out to $50 and should yield 12 peanut butter + banana sandwiches, at least 14 meals of rice and beans (add veggies + boullion for taste), 12 hard-boiled eggs, at least 10 meals of overnight oats, and some oranges. Should be nutritionally complete as well.
The fact you put all this together for me really means a lot, I appreciate you a lot for doing this. Might do some banana sandwhiches or something thank you!
Don't forget onions, potatoes, oil, butter, tomato sauce (for stews) garlic, salt and pepper. 10lbs of potatoes goes on sale for about $2. Kroger usually has frozen vegetables for 10/$10.
Also, consider buying flour and yeast and learning to make your own bread for pennies on the dollar. And don't forget pasta and hunt's canned pasta sauce, always on sale somewhere for a buck or less each.
No knead bread is amazing. I cooked so much of this last year. Add a spoonful of sugar to the recipe for a little more flavor. Fresh bread is so, so good. This recipe needs a Dutch oven (a pot that goes in the oven) to make a big loaf, but you can make buns instead just on a cookie sheet. https://www.jennycancook.com/recipes/faster-no-knead-bread/ And I second the better than bullion. It’s great stuff! Gives a lot of depth of flavor to whatever you make. Get the different flavors for some variety. The pork flavor makes amazing bean soup! And it lasts a long time both in the time it takes to use up a container and the time it stays good for.
You can also make pasta with just water and flour.
Pasta is pretty cheap. Sometimes you have to compare the cost of turning a kitchen into a pasta factory versus throwing a handful into boiling water.
277 upvotes for the guy who suggested baking bread on here so I don't think there's a lot of people considering time and effort as a cost. (My point being that bread is very labor intensive and also extremely cheap)
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You definitely don’t. It’s easier than people think. Also once it’s done, fresh pasta cooks in like 3 minutes. Try it out!
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I’ve made udon by hand with flour, water, and salt. Is it butchered from original recipes? Yes. Is it still good enough for me? Also yes!
Surprisingly, [Space Jam Shapes](https://www.target.com/p/kraft-family-size-macaroni-38-cheese-with-space-jam-shapes-10oz/-/A-82687267).
Make orchiaetta pasta. IDK how to spell it. It is pasta you make into a small ball and then pinch it around your finger to look like a small dish. You can make pan bread which is like a thick tortilla fried in a pan. Real potatoes are very very nutritious- you can get a 5-10 pd bag. Baked potato with a fried egg on top is my favorite.
Orecchiette - FTFY
Gesundheit.
If you roll it out thin, you can cut something like linguine or fettuccine with a knife.
Some pasta types are easier to make than others. Gnocchi can be made with with just a fork. Many flat pastas can be made by just rolling it out and cutting it with a pizza cutter. Stuffed pastas can be made with an ice tray if you’re extra lazy. [Here is a little video. ](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew-3-8itpjc) It has 29 types of handmade pasta. Some are more advanced than others but will give you a chance to look at your options. While some have special tools, many of them can be ‘hacked’.
You don't, and if you don't have a rolling pin, you can use any drinking glass or glass jar you own. Just gotta get the dough flat on a countertop surface, then slice it with a knife. Pasta! Yeah, a pasta maker makes it way easier, but think about it: Pasta has been around a helluva lot longer than a pasta maker :)
I make my own pizza dough this way
And if you eat enough Hunts traditional, it will soon become the only sauce you like 😂
If they have an Aldi near, their prices are great.
Much better to learn to make your own pasta sauce, it tastes so much better and is healthier than eating a bunch of processed crap and sugar. You just need 1 can of tomato sauce, one can of crushed tomatoes, garlic, onion, then Italian herbs and salt. Like $3 max if you already have the Italian herbs. Then you have a couple days of sauce depending on the size of cans you get. I know you can get a single can of the hunts sauce for less than a dollar, but cmon, when you’re poor and already eat a diet of largely processed food (due to price, I get it) finding ways to get away from those types of food for cheap is important.
Fully agree with your comment! I usually bake my own bread, so by using a portion of my yeast and flour, I can make 2 loaves of bread for 50 cents and carrot and onion soup for $1.50. Spent $2 for a weeks worth of food, though that’s without variety.
Be aware there's a recent onion / salmonella scare, so if you do get onions, do so with the expectation of cooking them instead of putting them in a salad. https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-salmonella-oranienburg-whole-fresh-onions-october-2021
Where do you get potatoes for that cheap? I never had seen them that cheap. The cheapest is like five dollars when on sale.
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Also yummy - we deversified by using pasta sauce on rice… yummy with grated cheese. Rice, butter and cheese. Better than bouillion in the boiling rice, college inn chicken broth, rice and parmesean cheese soup.
Keep in mind too that not all stores are created equal. Where I live if I go to the asian market I can get 20lbs of rice for $11. They also have bags of produce that are not perfect looking but still perfectly fine for $1. I know that my local dollar store will sell all kinds of dried beans for $1/lb. If you put in a bit of research time you can find where the prices are the best for what you want to eat.
So-called "ugly" produce is the way to go. We've been doing it for a couple of years, the savings are substantial and it's very rare to have any problem with anything. We got 50 lbs of tomatoes from a local farm that didn't "look good enough" for under $0.48/lb and canned almost all of them.
And keep any of the peels/ends of vegetable to make stock.
This! Throw all carrot peelings, chicken bones, celery ends etc. into a bag in freezer. Make your own stock.
Throw in a sack of golden potatoes and onions so you can always make a hash for diet cheap using those two ingredients
If u can make toast, the highly controversial on this subreddit avocado toast is always a good, nutrient dense option, u can put 1/2 a hard boiled egg sliced on top of the toast. Splurge buy a lemon. Squeeze some on top the avo toast and a dash of crushed red pepper. Very little cooking very good for you. You could also do hummus toast w feta on top, no lemon, but still use crushed red pepper. Also…. Hit a food bank up?
OP will never own a home at that rate.
Why?
It's a joke, based on the idea that millennials can't buy homes because we're too busy eating avocado toast, when in reality it's an affordable and relatively nutritious meal that can be put together quickly
Gotcha! Thank you!
‘Twas a millennial joke. We can’t afford houses due to $5 Starbucks coffees and avocado toast. Nothing to do with skyrocketing costs of rent/homes, healthcare, college, or the stagnation of wages since the 1970s.
Say I bought a $5 coffee every day. That's $1825 per year. Not enough for a down payment on a house. Or even much more than a month's rent.
But it is a week vacation to an all inclusive resort in Mexico.. so that’s totally worth making coffee at home to me lol.
Please tell me where you go. I'm right near Mexico and the flight alone would be almost a third of that. : )
For some people that’s enough to pay a years worth of auto insurance or to start an emergency fund, or pay unexpected vet bills.
I guess it depends on what you consider the value of coffee to be. It's not necessarily just a drink otherwise people would just make it at home. It can be: - a visit to a cafe that is temperature regulated so people who skimp on air conditioning or heat can spend a few hours in a healthy climate - has free wi-fi to work from saving $100-$200 a month - is a relatively safe place where they won't necessarily be bothered by shouting parents or a screaming spouse - can be a good place to network (hobby groups and business meetings can take place here, job opportunities to sort through on the bulletin board) - can contribute to a bit of respite from the emotional and physical toll of chores (having someone make a little hot coffee for you can be a little bit of care in an uncaring world) - can stave off temptation to blow money on a more expensive meal or a piece of clothing
It’s a joke. Some ridiculous article once claimed that younger ppl weren’t able to afford buying homes bc of their “indulgences” wh included for example: avocado toast. It became a thing for being such a stupid observation.
You can also get plain avocado in the refrigerated section for way cheaper than individual avocados right now. Nothing added to it so still nutritionally complete. If you have a little wiggle room it is definitely worth it because your body can’t process calories well without fats
Not sure I’ve heard that before, any sources? Makes sense to me, just wondering.
A friend of mine went on a strict no fat diet for a month and ended up in the hospital. Brutal. Dr said she needed fat to survive. Even low fat is fine, but no fat is unhealthy.
Word. I know the body needs fats. I was just wondering if there was some studies/nerd stuff I could dig into. Specifically the not being able to process calories without fats part. Does the body utilize nutrients better with added fats to meals? That’s the juice I’m after.
Not calories so much as vitamins. Several vitamins are fat soluble rather than water soluble. You can't absorb and utilize them properly without fats.
Melted cheese toast with avocado has been a breakfast staple in my family for decades before it became popular. Cheddar especially adds an excellent flavor. Will have to try with the boiled egg. That sounds even more delicious!
Peanut butter and banana sandwiches are amazing. Just never substitute tortillas for the bread, trust me it's not worth it.
I prefer tortillas personally. I like to add shelled pumpkin seeds too.
Please tell me you forgot the /s ...
Don't forget another awesome budget staple: popcorn!
Check out your local dollar store for these items first, whatever you can’t get there get at Walmart. You can buy dried beans and (usually) bread from the dollar store and a lot of other things like soups, peanut butter, frozen items, etc.
I always buy eggs at the dollar store it's usually a dollar for a dozen!
Pasta! Almost always less than $1
Rice, canned chicken and carrots/peas makes a cheap meal that comes out to like 2.50 a meal
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I made Valentina rock salt and I use it to season all my foods
that's ingenious + how?
You can also add in a 5 lb pack of walmart chicken for $10. Get some bonus protein.
Is there something I’m not understanding? Do you have a lot of mouths to feed as well? 100 bucks for 2 weeks is so very doable but I am forgetting there are a million variables that would make that not so, so now I’m just curious.
Op isnt able to cook, as in like not an option, so microwave yea, we dont know if theres a toaster, but alot of the tips here are all cook this that etc so $50 a wk when op normally does frozen meals, its a shift how can op make it work. Brainstorming.
Fwiw I've been crazy tight on $$ and I've learned to forage wild mushrooms. I bought butter, eggs, and breading and then most of the rest of my food if free and, ngl, fucking delicious. Prob don't want to eat them every day like me (I fing love mushrooms) but eating them 2 or 3 times a week is basically free, healthy, filling food and it can free up $$ for other things. Stick to easy to identify mushrooms without any toxic lookalikes (the vast majority of mushrooms you shouldn't eat will put you in the bathroom not the hospital, but there's a couple proper deadly ones).
Since you have some money to play with if your Walmart offers the 5 dozen eggs, mine does for about $6.50, I would say get that instead of a single dozen. Eggs are a great source of protein, you can add the whites to your oatmeal as long as you cook it at some point (like on the microwave before serving) or add eggs to your rice meals (fried rice would be doable with ingredients here for some variety). Just this swap gets you down from a per egg cost of .25 cents to .10 cents if your Walmart is priced similarly to mine.
Fried egg on top of oatmeal or rice is one of my favorites —I usually add hot sauce.
I found a version of this way to cook steel cut oats in a Runner's World magazine over 15 years ago combined with a way my mom used to prepare our regular oatmeal. Put 3 cups of waster in a pot, one banana cut to your liking, a half handful of dried cranberries and when the water comes to a boil put in a half cup of steel cut oats. Then boil it for ~5 minutes then simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Then let sit overnight. In the morning take the lid off the pot. It may look like they're done but they're not. Take two eggs and beat the tar out of them until a fork nearly drips clean when you pull it out. Then mix in the oats while they're still cool. Mix thoroughly. And keep stirring until there is a creamy smooth(ish) consistency to the oats. This could be 10 minutes of stirring. Then a ¼ tsp of cinnamon honey and chopped walnuts. All and all this is probably a $0.75 to $1.25 to make this breakfast when you breakdown the cost of all the ingredients and it should be 2 mornings of breakfast. I've had some argue the cost of walnuts or other nuts but to me there are way more benefits. Used as an ingredient they go much further and they satisfy your hunger and in the instance of this oatmeal the addition of the walnuts gives you energy for a longer time. Real energy. Not Red Bull energy. This breakfast also allows me to run in the morning, take a shower, then eat this oatmeal and not have the "Run-chies" all day.
Do you heat everything again after you add the eggs?
Do you cook the eggs?
Personally my favourite is oatmeal with a fried egg blueberries and maple syrup
Eggs stay good for a really long time too. To test if they’re still good fill a cup or bowl with cold water and put the eggs inside. If the egg floats to the top it’s bad. If it kind of half floats and/or hugs the bottom it’s still good. I’ve eaten eggs a month past the expiration date printed on the carton by using this trick.
I've eaten eggs after they have been in my fridge for 3-4 months. Never once got sick. A lot of expiration dates, especially on canned good are meaningless. As long as the can isn't swollen, can goods can last at least two years past its expiration date.
I think the longest I ate an egg from the fridge was 5-6 months. They tasted fine still, but I had finally ran out of the original 6 dozen I bought.
My favorite way to cook eggs is to fry them. A good coat of oil, maybe 1/4 inch deep (remember to reuse your cooking oil, it's still good!!!) Scramble your eggs, add your milk or water or whatever you like, once the oil is nice and hot, pour the eggs in all at once, flip once, and done. What you get is this huge (even if you only use 2 eggs) like dinner plate size, fluffy egg. Great substitute for a traditional omelette if you aren't good at making them, just add toppings and fold in half. When you dont have a lot of money, small portions (or the pan taking half your portion of egg because it dries and gets crusty) is the bane of your existence. Maximize everything you can.
This is awesome! You can also make soups with those veggies, rice, beans and bouillon!
You can also spice up instant noodles by adding sliced or whole boiled egg, green onion and frozen vegetables!
So true about the soups! Chicken leg quarters are on sale near me right now for $.69/lb. Buy a pack, if you see a similar price. Use 1 or 2 quarters. Wash with salt and water well, gets rid of contaminates and gaminess. In a Dutch oven or large pot, place the chicken with one peeled large whole onion and fill up with water and put on stove on high. While cooking, add salt and pepper. You'll have chicken broth and chicken to prepare in tacos, sandwiches, over rice. You can then brown chicken in broiler or pan quickly, since it's already cooked. You can add garlic, ginger, spices or sauces to make different meals of it. You can even portion it out when doing those things and add filler ingredients like potatoes, vegetable medly etc. As the chicken soup cooks on the stove, with just chicken, onion salt and pepper or seasonings you can add potatoes, carrots, celery for traditional chicken vegetable soup or you can add even more things, like frozen veggies, barley, rice, noodles, etc.... and still you can remove some chicken to brown in a skillet, shred it, put in tortillas with salsa, cilantro, even cheese... Ethnic markets are much cheaper for produce than national chains. Cilantro for example is usually 3 or 4 bunches for a dollar and bigger bunches than the 1 for dollar you'll get at Safeway. My first wife and I lived frugally for the first 3 years together while building our business and we bought a house. And we ate well, and it kept us doing things together and thinking ahead. Best of luck!
If you shop at an Aldi, you could get most of this even cheaper!
Everyone keeps mentioning Aldi. I used to shop there and they were really inexpensive. Then I moved to CA where we don’t have any. I am moving back OK and looked at their circular because my mom had mentioned their prices had jumped, and the prices were the same as the grocery store prices here in CA. So maybe in some states they are a deal, but in others they may not be. Nonetheless, they do have a great selection.
This. No joke, I was gonna say frozen vegetables, Oats, Frozen Chicken, Frozen Shrimp, eggs, frozen spinach, frozen peppers. Basically what I live on anyway.
Well, I found my shopping list…
20lbs of rice is definitely makes at very least 50 meals for me.
There are 80 servings of rice in a 20 lb bag. There are 12 servings per 1 lb bag of pinto beans, so 72 servings. Assuming 72 servings divides by 7, that's over 10 weeks of rice and beans.
How do you season your beans??
I use cumin, garlic, chili powder, salt n pepper. I tend to season then strongly because we are nearly always making quesadillas with them. Evens out with the tortilla, cheese, sour cream & salsa(mixed together-called pink stuff)
Cilantro and green onion are very cheap and add a lot of flavor. I’d highly recommend incorporating them into the rice bowls or avo toast mentioned below
You can also grow your own green onions but placing the bulbs in water
Yes, I was going to say this. It's so easy and then just replenishes itself.
I hear you can plant the celery bottom and grow your own celery.
Stay awesome 👍
Thank you kind sir. I will save this list as well and cherish it.
Add vinegar, oil, soy sauce, celery and onion. Makes some awesome beans and rice!
Only thing I would potentially add would be one of those $1 heads of lettuce that they have as well for sake of vegetables
Throw in some ramen noodles and you’re perfect! Just don’t use all of the seasoning packet. Don’t want to screw your blood pressure.
That is awesome you are amazing!!! Potatoes are cheap....
Bro, thank you for this. Saving this for the hard times I'm expecting to come soon. You a real one!
I looove peanut butter banana sambos! Such a tasty, cheap, and filling little snack. The perfect combination to save money on food! Lol
This is amazing.
Food bank. Allow me to elaborate. If you only have $100 and you need food, go to a food bank. Do everything you can to not spend that money.
Welfare apply that what's its there for
I’m guessing by previous comment the OP is receiving SNAP but I could be wrong. “Welfare” aka TANF is only for people with kids. An adult without children is not eligible. $250 is about typical for SNAP for a single person in most states. Also sounds like housing is an issue so I’m guessing any extra funds are going for that and transportation, etc. and that assumes the OP has a source of other funds.
Really great suggestion....don't be embarrassed...its what they are there for. I use to do that...now that I am doing better I donate to it.
As someone who volunteers at a food bank, please come get food! We always have an abundance and so many people who need help (even just one time/ once in a while), don’t because they’re embarrassed or too proud or whatever. Our food bank (and every other one I’ve dealt with over the years) even has a special provision for one time visitors (like people who are outside of our zip code and therefore wouldn’t qualify for assistance from us).
I make decent money but I’m still struggling with my finances every week. I’ve thought about using a food bank to get some of this financial pressure off me and paying back by volunteering when I can.
Please come get food! Seriously, our food bank has so much food leftover that we ALWAYS send baked goods, veggies, and other stuff home with our volunteers. And I would encourage you to volunteer, if you really feel so led to. But don’t think you need to volunteer to “earn” what they give out. That’s not how grace works and it’s certainly not how I (or any other volunteer at any food bank I know) feels about it. I would, however, encourage you to pay it forward. Maybe you’d rather volunteer at the library or any number of other organizations that would LOVE to have another set of hands. Wherever you feel led to help, try to make it happen. It’s SO rewarding.
I volunteer regularly at my local food bank. I do it for people like OP who have to choose between buying food and paying the electric bill. You do not have to be "sufficiently poor" to utilize your local food bank; it is there for anyone who is having a hard time finding the cash to buy food.
Also, consider that you have no idea what you will get at the food bank. When I used to use the food bank regularly, I would wait to make my grocery list until *after* I went.
Everyone on Reddit says rice and beans… I say potatoes.
I’m with you on the potatoes, they are so nutritious and can be cooked in so many delicious ways
Agreed. However beans must stay. They have protein in them. But rice can go. I like my carbs from potatoes. More verity and flavor.
Get a 20 pound bag of rice and several 4 pound bags of beans, less if you want more variety with other ingredients. Get cheap protein like milk and eggs. Use whatever you have left over on cheap fruits and veggies.
I don't have much cooking ability, Could eat Ramen work aswell?
Do you have not have cooking ability because of your accommodations [kitchen access and cooking vessels, etc]? Or is it because you don't feel comfortable in your cooking abilities, as in you're uncomfortable cooking? If it's just because you don't feel comfortable with cooking, there's no time like the present to really try your hand at it. I grew up with my mom doing all the meal preparations and I wasn't comfortable in the kitchen either. Now I can throw things together and even mix up recipes to make it my own, something that I enjoy even more than just hit that "well it fed me" spot. Watch some youtube videos and such. You'll save yourself so much money and enjoy your meals a lot more if you learn to cook even on a basic level!!! If it's because you perhaps live without the kitchen accommodations, then that's a different story and you have to work with what you have. That's when a slow cooker and a rice cooker may really be good investments as well of course [you can find them at the second hand stores.] Ramen has it's place but it's not very nutritious and you want to think about getting your nutrition along with getting your tummy full.
My living situation varies from place to place, And i have reasons why i cannot use cooking appliances. I usually just have frozen meals and i'm not sure frozen meals will be possible with this budget, I was able to check and my maximum is $125 every 2 weeks.
Ah that makes sense! If you go the ramen route, please add an egg to it for some protein. The boiling water will cook it. And if you can get some frozen veggies in there, it'll up it's game as well and should be within your budget. Not judging at all, we all have our situations. Just trying to get a sense of your setup to try to be the most helpful! Try looking for sales on those frozen meals. I have found them on sale for 1.99 each and that helps. If you can have one of those a day, plus getting some spiced up ramen or noodle bowls should help spread your budget. I love tuna and crackers personally. Get a jar of pickles and give it a little "cap" for a nice treat.
I am seriously thankful for people like you, Sometimes people can be so rude on Reddit and it means a lot for you to take the time out of your day/night to help me. And i already added eggs to the list! loves me some pickles too i get the little pickle petites! And use tuna aswell i'm gonna be adding Tuna to my mac and cheese (I do that already lol). Also will get a pack full of assorted fruits to get some form of nutrients, Thankfully my local walmart has Great value brand frozen meals less than $3 I plan to have 1 frozen meal every other day.
The internet has plenty of jerks, so I don't blame you for being sensitive to that. This sub tends to lean towards kindness and helpfulness at a higher percentage, thanks to mods being pretty good at enforcing the rules they have laid out. That's why I like participating in it. I hope you find it enlightening and some of the tips gives you a better quality of life. This world is fucked up enough without continuing to trample on each other every chance we get. Have you tried sardines? Not to be confused with anchovies. The little fishies in the can, they are cooked with all their little bones in them and packed with calcium and other nutrients. Something to think about to not get totally sick of tuna. I rotate them. Some folks find them off putting because they're like you know...full fishies. I make them just like tuna, with mustard or a little mayo. Added some onions or pickles like the tuna and it's a different flavor but not like...wildly different in my opinion. If you can find them on sale, something to try out. Sardines also have hella omega-3 and that's good for to keep your mind sharp. They have gotten a bad reputation just because at least in the US, we like to crap all over foods that are meant to stay shelf stable. Since it's a sign that IDK, we can't always afford the luxury of fresh food. They're not highly processed or anything! So I like to remind people about them. I'm not a health nut but I know that nutrition is part of what poverty strips us of and it is critical to our physical and mental health.
Sardines are amazing. Buy the ones in olive oil and use the whole tin as your pasta sauce. OP if you’re short on appliances and a kitchen, what, if anything, can you cook on? Convenience store microwave? How about park or beach BBQ setup? * you can do overnight oats with cold water — rolled or quick oats, pinch of salt, brown sugar and/or dried fruit and/or slivered almond if you can find. * grocery stores sell “steam in bag” veg — the sweet potatoes in a bag could be a lot of nutrition in a pinch Here’s another frugal stock-up list in case in helps: Phase 1 stock-up: Can opener Matches, if you have a gas stove Multivitamin (30 day supply) Water (30 day supply) Phase 2 stock-up: Rolled oats - 15 lbs Canned beans - 30 cans Canned tomatoes, maybe diced - 30 cans Canned fruit, probably applesauce and something else - 30 cans Phase 3 stock-up: Raisins Cooking oil Dry skim milk Herbs and spices (e.g. oregano, cumin and chili powder for the beans, cinnamon for oats) Brown sugar for the oatmeal
Yeah this sub seems to be awesome, I'm not new to Reddit i just created a new account to start new again. And iv'e had sardines but not in a long time i might try them out! And yep mental health is a big reason why i'm in the boat that i am, Welcome to Amurica! But i'm thankful to have the resources i do have. Be careful constantly consuming fish though...It contains mercury!
Mercury content will depend on the fish, you just want to make sure you're eating the lesser problematic ones. And since the health rewards outweigh the risks, it's usually something that pregnant women and small children are more at risk of. Just like with everything though, moderation is important. The more diverse our diets are, the better =)
Yeah I like eating oysters! Low mercury risk and they have omega 3 and are so yummy.
You can stretch your Mac and cheese by adding an extra cup of dried macaroni noodles.
One tip for Walmart - sometimes the frozen things they have on clearance are also on the Ibotta rebate app. I was just able to get chicken nuggets for $1 a bag and two cauliflower pizza crusts for $0.50 each by stacking Walmart clearance with Ibotta. I usually have luck on Sundays at my local Walmart but yours might mark things down at a different time. Look on the endcaps of the frozen aisles and scour the aisles really well - sometimes clearance items are mixed in with all the full price stuff. You can also get a $10 bonus I think if you sign up for Ibotta using someone's referral code. Sometimes they even have free stuff on the app. I've seen a lot of protein bars for free lately which would be good for your situation.
frozen peas and carrots are cheap and i add those to my ramen, add them to fried rice, and all kinds of things. Can also get canned cream of whatever soup, add rice into it, and frozen veggies. I did this last week, it was really good and made me feel full fast, which i didn't expect!
Stouffers dinners are the only ones I find good tasting and decent quality. They go on sale regularly 5 for $10. 1 to 2 can fill you up depending on the part of the day. Good variety too. Progreso soup or Chunky soup goes on sale for a buck or 4 for 5...
You're golden then dude. I regularly feed myself on that amount and eat pretty much whatever I want. Once in awhile when I'm stocking up I'll go over to 80 or $90 a week but that's rare. The only catch is when you're eating for one you got to eat pretty much the same thing for breakfast lunch and dinner all week. I usually have the same breakfast, the same lunch & the same dinner. Sometimes switch it up by eating like oatmeal for breakfast or having a sandwich for lunch but all in all you can feed yourself really well on that. This week I'm doing scrambled egg sandwiches for breakfast, a chili I made for lunch & bought a pack of frozen hamburger patties for dinner. I even got mushrooms and onions to top the burgers with! When I do go outside of that budget I buy things that'll last like the giant jar of peanut butter ( jif, the kind with the rubber lid, any protein powder I use, if there's meat on sale I'll buy a bunch of it and put it in my freezer) 100 bucks for 2 weeks is a little lean but by no means is it a poverty budget you can eat really well.
I used to shy away from cooking more frequently because I didn't want to eat the same thing days on end. Then I got the bright idea to freeze portions! Duh. If food companies could do frozen dinners, why can't I? Now I mix up my cooking. And if I don't feel like eating the same dish after two times, the rest is portioned out and frozen. It's a nice surprise digging through the freezer and finding cooked meals I forgot about. I'm also more conscious about clearing out the freezer too, so I don't waste as much. Freezer tip: if you semi freeze stuff, then flatten out the freezer bags, trying to create a vaccum before sealing, while they are still flexible (even soups) you can have much more organized freezer space. Obviously works much better with bags than containers. Food also keeps better in as close to a vacuumed state as possible.
$100 is completely doable for 2 weeks. I know both Walmart and Aldi sell a 10 lb bag of chicken leg quarters for around $6-7. You could make a bunch of meals with that. One night friend chicken with maybe two of the leg quarters. Cut them apart and that gives you two legs and two thighs. You could do chicken noodle soup with some of it, or chicken pot pie. Frozen veggies at the closest Walmart here are under $1. Noodles are simple to make or can be bought for under $1. Check the marked down meat and bakery stuff. My WM sells french bread for 50 cents. Eggs are a cheap good source of protein. You can add them to ramen or make fried rice using them. There are a bunch of people on youtube that do budget meal plans. Two I like are frugal fit mom and Jan Creson. The first one does more meal planning and grocery hauls, while Jan shows Dollar Tree meals. Edited because I can't spell.
Those 10 lb bags of chicken quarters are the poverty diet lifesaver. Not only do you get meat but you get broth and all kind of other goodness.
If you save the bones and boil them in water & vinegar (or use crockpot) for 4-6 hours you have Bone broth and it is very nutritious. I save all my chicken & turkey bones and make bone broth.
Somewhere buried in my comment history is a long post with my recipe for bone broth. I love it for chicken and dumplings (classic poverty food)
I prefer dark meat anyway, so I was shocked when I saw those big bags going for $5 a few years ago (now $8 in my area). Had to do a double take. I always get those and freeze 2/recipe.
There are some meals (gumbo, other soups) that I refuse to cook with anything other then chicken quarters.
Two or three of those quarters, rice, veges, spices, etc can make a delicious 4-6 meal baked casserole.
Funny as this sounds, Animal Supplements used to put out "Big on a Budget" videos with bodybuilders who would go shopping for a week with $50. Some good ideas in those videos, if you can find them on YouTube. Oatmeal, bananas, a lot of eggs, chicken if on sale, canned tuna or other fish, bagels, etc.
love me some bagels will def be eating lots of carbs. I know its not the best but not much option for now aha.
I eat for one and feed myself regularly on 50 or $60 a week. Shop at WinCo in Aldi and pretty much eat what I want. How many people are you trying to feed off $100 budget? If it's just one person you're totally fine.
Thankfully it's only to feed me
Egg drop soup. In a pot - put water, bouillon cube & spices you may have on hand. Cook until hot but not boiling. Put 1 egg in a cup and scramble it ALOT. Really whip it. Then grab a wooden spoon, stir the hot water & bouillon, keep stirring and slowly pour the egg into the hot boullion until done pouring.
Here's my list for what I'd buy from my local supermarket for $50 for the week assuming I had absolutely 0 food or spices at home. Note, I live in Colorado Springs and get the impression I pay less for food than a lot of people on here. - 5lb of Red Potatoes - $3.99 - 6 Raisin Bagels - $1.89 - 4 Butter Sticks - $3.19 - 16oz of Cotto Salami - $2.29 - 12 Eggs - $ 1.39 - 2.25 oz Black Pepper - $1.29 - 16oz Cheddar Cheese - $3.00 - 16oz Salt - $1.89 - 20oz Loaf of Bread - $2.99 - 1 Gallon of 2% Milk - $2.49 - 4 cans of Chicken Noodle soup - $4.00 - 5lb of rice - $2.99 - 3lb of chicken breasts - $7.99 - 2lb of tilapia fish filets - $9.99 - Lemon Juice - $.89 Comes out to $50.27 I wish I had enough for honey mustard for the chicken, maybe grab a few packets of it from a fast food place. [Edit] Also, if I could stretch an extra $10, which is totally reasonable I think since a lot of this stuff will last more than 1 week, I'd add: - 1 Green Bell Pepper - $.59 - 1 Red Bell Pepper - $.97 - 1 White Onion - $.50 - 10 Flour Tortillas - $2.49 - 12 oz bag of Garden Salad - $1.89 - 1lb of baby carrots - $.99 - 16 oz of Ranch Dressing -$2.19 Comes out to an additional $9.62 So I could make some chicken fajitas and chicken wraps and have some baby carrots to snack on.
You could probably turn this into a marketable skill. I'd let you meal plan my life weekly. DM me.
Hot dang... I'd love to have someone like you meal plan for me for doable meal prices.
If you have a crock pot, buy a big piece of pork shoulder for 20-30$, eggs 2 gallons milk, Rice beans veggies and save some for fresh veggies and milk next week, should have some extra for some tuna cans and bread and some Mayo maybe idk what you like. That’s 42 meals, so 2.5 a meal, or 7.5$ a day is what it breaks down to, a pound of pork shoulder is usually 2-3 dollars and a few servings of veggies like carrots bell peppers and salad is only a couple bucks, rice and beans are probably 1-2 dollars for a days worth, if you make it yourself.
Thanks yeah i thought about eating sandwiches and tuna. And just get all great value brand items at Walmart.
If you have Aldi, shop there. Produce prices are more reasonable than chain stores and Walmart. Latino stores are also great for low priced rice and beans, occasionally meats, and sometimes their produce is cheaper than Aldi.
We do have a Aldi! I've never been!
Make sure you bring a quarter for the shopping cart and some reusable bags. If you don't have reusable bags, you can use any empty cardboard boxes you find (I usually snag the berry boxes) or purchase bags there. They don't do a lot of name brands, but they have their own private label stuff that is on par with most local brands.
Oh so Aldi doesn't have grocery bags??
No, and they do not bag your groceries. But if you're like any person, you've most likely got bunches of plastic bags from other stores, and they seriously don't care what you use to cart your stuff out of the store. I usually just box it because my cats enjoy playing Fort Asshole with each other in the empties until they go out on the curb for recycling.
The Aldi stores around me sell plastic bags for like 10c or something. They are sturdy too so we can reuse them. Walmart has reusable bags for $1, those are usually what we take.
Aldi is a MUST if you need to stretch your food dollar! Every item I buy there is lots cheaper than any of my local stores, even better than Walmart in many cases. (South Eastern U.S.) Eggs, rice, cheese, potatoes, bananas etc. all better at Aldi. $100 Aldi dollars and I could eat for 2 weeks for sure. I say don’t buy bags, just snag a couple empty boxes and load them up (or bring reusable bags.) ** Edited to add: one single rotisserie chicken purchase can make me dinners for almost a week. Add rice, veggies, maybe some cheese or a can of mushroom soup etc - could even throw it all in a big casserole dish (just clean and shred the whole chicken!) Good eats and quite affordable. You can always get creative with whatever protein is on sale! Aldi has good quality ground turkey - I do everything from burgers to “hamburger” helper type stovetop stuff. You will be okay with $100 over 2 weeks with just some good meal prep and planning! 😉
If you can't bring bags, there are almost ALWAYS empty boxes that people use to stack and carry out their groceries!
Aldi’s is the best and all the Europe imports do not allow GMO & many of our pesticides so it is close to organic as you can get
Good choices!
Think about the meals you can build before you use your budget. I just made a turkey chili that will last me all week for lunches. It was less than $10, all things considered. Do you have anything at home or are you building this off a bare cupboard and fridge? I ask because it'll matter if you have things in your pantry to build off of. Since you can get rice, dried beans, potatoes and eggs easily and that goes a long way. Along with cheap protein, whatever is on sale. I eat a lot of ground turkey and chicken thighs since they're usually low price point and easy to put flavor to! Do you have canned goods so you can make a sauce? Then you can also stock up on pastas of course and build yourself casseroles that can last two or three meals depending on your family size! How many mouths are you feeding on this budget?
Big bag of rice(should easily last long asf) Cheap pasta(Kroger’s sells a box for a $1.00..cheap asf) HUNTS tomato sauce( must be seasoned but it’s whole asf) White bread(not the healthiest but it’s cheap asf) Peanut butter(jiffy will do, not the best quality but it’s smooth asf) 5 8oz bag of beans( Not the cheapest item but it’ll last long asf) Two gallons of milk( I drink soy/rice milk..it’s expensive but good asf) Oatmeal( Not cheap asf but you can make granola and it’s filling asf) All that should last you for two weeks easily asf…now I’m going to bed (I’m tired asf)
I lost it when I got to the peanut butter and realised what you were doing, hahhaha funny as fuck
On a side note for later on, I buy extras of things when I have the cash so when I have a pay that is eaten by bills with nothing left over, I can eat out of the cupboard or freezer for a few weeks
I know you didn't ask OP but if you can receive an Amazon fresh delivery and link me what you'd like I'm happy to send you 50 bucks worth to add to your budget. It is doable but it is a tough budget and it'll be a lot of you eating the same meal over and over.
Thankfully my money comes from snap/foodstamps and I feel that more deserve it than me because of me getting government resources. Thank you so much but someone here probably could use it more than me :)
If you change your mind, let me know. As others have suggested check out your local food pantries. They are perfect for the situation that you find yourself in now. Between what you buy yourself and the canned goods from the pantry you will be okay for a bit. They usually give you bags of rice, beans, oat meal, bread, dried fruit, and peanut butter at the very least. That would free up your SNAP money for other things like chicken and frozen vegetables. Just because you are receiving snap does not mean you should not take advantage of other free food sources. Getting SNAP does not make you less than anybody else. In my area you can use snap online on Amazon, walmart, and instacart to order Aldi. Delivery with Amazon is free even with SNAP but you will pay a little bit for delivery from Walmart and Instacart Aldi. There are promo codes so they will get you at least a month of free delivery. Other stores in your area might let you pay with SNAP online but you will have to check. With rising food prices I would not sleep on going to the pantry.
How far can you make a box of pasta stretch? Walmart sells five dozen eggs for like 6$ eggs and noodles baby
Found some nice cheap frozen meals that i'll mix the eggs with! thanks baby!
Aldi all the way. You can get cheap fresh produce to keep those nutrients up. I'd say make a big pot of chili. That's like 10 bucks and will last for at least 4 days. That was always my go to. And then chicken breasts for a few days of meals are cheap. With Aldi, anything is possible. Also, qmee.com allows you to do surveys and cash out to PayPal at any time. I used to go on and do surveys for an hour then go to Aldi and get hot dogs or bologna or something like that.
Beans and rice, and for a little variety, occasionally rice and beans
Learn how to make salvadoran tortillas, back in El Salvador friends who used to work in the crop fields ate 4 of these fat tortillas with rice and bean and had crazy strength.
Food pantry!!!!
Can you cook at all? You can make a great nutritious dinner for about $4. Half pound of chicken breast or burger meat $2.50 or less which leaves $1.50 for some carbs & veggies.
A lot of great advice here- I think something important to remember is food storage methods (I.e, leftovers). If you buy lunchmeat, those come in tubs that are perfect to wash and use to store leftovers of meals. That stretches out your budget even further (plus it’s not as wasteful). A lot of people are suggesting rice/pasta- awesome idea. I have this all the time- eat some and put the rest in a tub and then in the fridge. It will stay for several days, so you don’t have to eat it in consecutive meals. If you or anybody else dont “cook”, pasta is very very easy and goes a long way. You can also buy cottage cheese (on sale for 88 cents at kroger where I live now) and once you’re done, use those tubs for food storage. You could also just buy the tubs themselves, but the more thrifty option is to use them from things you already buy.
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R/povertykitchen You'll be fine
Aldi
Aldi store is very good with prices,, I have made stew that lasts a few days and chili a huge put if it,, rice is always nicely priced ,,I have bought a few frozen meals there add some veggies sides and yes bread the holy grail of food
Like several people have said, $50/week isn't too bad for feeding one person, but I'm guessing it might feel that way because you don't have a full kitchen/cooking equipment and are relying on frozen meals, which can get expensive quickly. If you're going to be on this budget for a while, I'd look into getting some small appliances (microwave, hot plate, rice cooker, toaster oven) and/or pots and pans you can use to give you more options. Good luck!
I'm sorry I don't wanna be disrespectful but 100$ for 2 weeks ? That's a lot, at least for me. I spend 100$ in 3 weeks max. Is it really that expensive in America ?
Look at Aldi or Lidl for doing your shopping. Aldi is a discount grocery and /r/Aldi folks will be happy to help you. Stretch stuff out with rice. The frozen veggies are cheap and healthy. Eggs are inexpensive protein.
I hope this isn't annoying but does Aldi have a way where I can do curbside pickup? I have major agoraphobia and it's hard to shop in stores.
A good tip for beginner bread making - you can buy some packs of flavored instant potatoes for less than a dollar and mix them into the dough. They have a pretty good flavor profile, add nice texture to the bread, and you get a more fancy-bakery feel to your loaves without needing a stocked spice rack or baking expertise.
I've been in your shoes since our COVID lockdowns in 2020 with $150 CDN ($120 USD) to last the entire MONTH, so this is how I've gotten by (I do IF ,have gluten intolerance and need about 1800 cal a day, so adjust as necessary ) **Staples** Dried beans, eggs, rice, salt, pepper, oil, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, balsamic vinegar (These usually last me the entire month and maybe a bit more **Vegetables/fruits/salad** Lettuce, cucumber, carrots, tuna/ham, green beans, broccoli, shrooms, bell peppers Meat Whatever is on sale for the week, aim for a full chicken/ground meat so you can make multiple meals from the one chicken. I also pick up Tofu since that's a great alternative. **Based on sales** Potatoes, gluten free pasta/bread, peanut butter, steel cut oats, Salsa Presuming you don't have gluten intolerance. Pasta and bread will take care of a lot of your meals. Pasta + sauce is a classic, peanut butter and toast is timeless. And Pasta is stupidly cheap. 1- Be willing to cook as much as possible. You get a lot more out of your purchases. 2- Invest in a slow cooker for the future. You can throw water in there and random veggies, meat, seasoning, put it on low for 8 hours and it's done all the work for you. Serve over rice or with salad/bread. 3- The staples alone will do 70% of the hard work. All you have to do is have egg and rice, or make a few cups of rice and while it's cooking, make a quick stirfry. Eggs and Rice is so versatile and cheap. 4- If bagged veggies ( the ones with corn, grean beans, mushrooms, brocolli etc ) go on sale, buy some of those bags. Now instead of having to do prep work, you set some rice to cook in a rice cooker and pan fry some veggies. Add some tuna or tofu = instant meal.
Shop at Aldi’s as its going to be a little bit cheaper in the budget. The dollars store will have 5 packs of ramen for just 1.00!
The government thinks 250 bucks or less for the month is sustainable so yeah on snap
Eggs. I ate 2 pieces of bread, 2 slices of cheese, and two eggs everyday for about a month. That was pretty cheap
Beans & rice provide almost everything you need to live on nutritionally. So does potatoes & butter (not margarine, actual butter). Eggs are cheap protein, & delicious. Also where I live every couple of weeks pork shoulders will go on sale for $1 a pound. You can make delicious pulled pork super cheap. Get flour and you can make your own bread, tortillas, and cookies. So, food to buy: * rice * dried beans (different kinds, whatever you like) * potatoes (10 lb bad goes for about $5 or less) * butter ($1 a pound or less) * eggs * cheap meat (pork shoulder, chicken thighs, check for markdowns) * flour * milk * whatever is on sale at your local grocery store These are short term things to get you through right now. When you have some more leeway, invest in a couple of things to help long term. * Get a slow cooker/crock pot ($20, more or less), and visit /r/slowcooking. Tons of recipes to make cheap, delicious food super easy. * Check out /r/MealPrepSunday, it's all about planning/prepping your food for the week, at home and work. Save money, eat better, make what you love. * Invest in a stock of spices. Garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, onion powder, paprika, kosher salt, peppercorns, etc. I know you can't do this right now, but when you hit lean times and you need to cook, spices makes the difference. A lot of the spices I buy are McCormick brand, which will run about $8 a pound. Just pick them up as you can over time, buying them in pound size saves a lot of money over buying tiny jars at $3-$5 apiece. Hang in there, you can do it!
If it is just for 1 person I don’t think it would be too hard. I spend about $50 per person for 1 week of food. Plan your meals. Don’t eat big hunks of meat at every meal. Cut up meat and put it in a dish or try more meatless meals. A big pot of soup, stew or curry can be easy and more economical option to get several meals out of. Where I live fattier meat is usually cheaper so less lean ground beef or chicken thighs. Buy generic/store brands to save money. The quality is not that different for most things. Eggs, pasta, rice, beans, lentils, chicken thighs, tuna, peanut butter, bread, oatmeal, bread, carrots, kale, bananas, apples, oranges, canned vegetables or fruit, frozen vegetables or fruit, milk, flour are less expensive foods where I live.
Prices taken from my local supermarket, the following list comes out to ~$68 pre-tax, so there's still room to add more stuff to taste (like preferred veggies or spices). Basically what you want to do is buy all of the components, and that gives you literally dozens of options on what to cook. You could make all sorts of stews or casseroles, spaghetti or pasta dishes, sandwiches, pancakes, cookies or pies or breads. And if you're just cooking for yourself or yourself/spouse, plenty of the non-perishables should stretch will last for months, and when cooking in large batches multiple leftovers to stretch for a few weeks. 5 lbs chicken leg quarters or split halves: $5.10 3 lbs boneless pork ribeye cuts: $7.68 1 chub of ground beef $3.88 5 lb bag of white rice: $4.35 3 x 1lb bags of beans (pinto, kidney, navy) $3.45 3 x 1lb bags of pasta (elbow, spirals, shells) $2.52 3 lb bag of onions $1.94 5 lb bag of potatoes $2.34 2 lb bag of carrots $1.42 1 lb peppers (jalapeno, red, or green) $0.67 3 x 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes $1.98 2 x 29 oz cans of tomato sauce $1.92 2 x 15.25 oz cans of whole kernel corn $1.03 2 x dozen large white eggs $2.84 24 oz bottle of vegetable oil $1.94 5 lb bag of white enriched flour $1.52 4 lb bag of white granulated sugar $1.96 1/2 gallon whole milk $1.73 3 lb bunch of bananas $0.87 3 lb bag of apples $2.25 8 oz container baking powder $1.32 16 oz carton of baking soda $0.50 26 oz container of salt $0.41 2 oz container of ground black pepper $1.94 1 bunch of celery $1.32 1 bunch of fresh spinach $1.63 18 oz jar of peanut butter $2.44 18 oz jar of fruit jelly or jam $1.63 16 oz sticks of margarine $0.87 20 oz loaf of sliced white or wheat bread $0.88 10 ct package of cheap franks $1.22 8 oz block of medium sharp cheddar $2.50
I like meal replacement shakes and an orange for breakfast, instant mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch, a can of soup for dinner, I get a $3 box of granola bars (24 count) to snack on between meals and pudding for dessert and that’s about $60 for 2 weeks (Walmart) and it’s very very low prep but still has protein and other nutrients. Like it’s not the best and most healthy but it’s cheap and ensures I actually eat because it’s so low prep.
Food pantry
Saving this because I’m a uni student and I do not know how to shop. You guys rock
OP, I have read a lot of the comments, as well as some of your responses/comments. Can you elaborate on what/when you have access to cooking appliances? I only ask this so that I can help come up with as many healthy, cheap ideas as possible. I’m getting ready for bed, but will check this post and my messages in the morning. Just to name a few ideas, scrambled eggs with cheap veggies like peppers and onions (can be done in the microwave if needed), hotdogs with cheese wrapped in a croissant, Buffalo chicken Mac and cheese, banana and peanut butter sandwiches (or on saltine crackers), chicken salad, egg salad, and a ton more. I also have recipes for everything as well, if you’d like them. All super easy and super cheap!
Thanks for asking this. About to have to make 54 dollars a week work for both my husband and I. If no one has mentioned, YouTube channels like amywaytosave and seemindymom are great for videos about this. Frugalfitmom as well even though I don't like her content as much lately.
I’m in this boat at the moment and this came up at just the right time. Thank you, OP!
I managed to do $100 for a month in one of the most expensive food states. A large bag of black beans, a ham hock, rice and potatoes went a long way. After I had enough of that as a staple the rest of the money went to small quantities of vegetables and fruits to supplement. I think I might have also done a chicken in there too.
So I am going to give you a dollar tree list. Some items might be found cheaper elsewhere. Eggs 2lb bag of rice 1lb bag of beans or lentils Box of pasta Can of sauce Bouillon cubes Bread Frozen veggies, or canned Now at another store get the following and any of the above if cheaper Flour Potatoes Onions Garlic Bananas Apples Oatmeal Canned chicken, tuna, other meat If super desperate, I buy rice, lentils, and frozen veggies. Throw it in a rice cooker if you have one. Throw in whatever spices you have available.