groceries on 25$ a week....HELP

VeganInTraining

Hello Everyone!

I recently had to relocate and now my rent is 175 more than it was previously. So, that $175 has to come out of somewhere! I am now have about 25-35 dollars to spend a week on groceries. How do you stretch a dime?

I like to buy fresh and luckily all the produce stands and farmers markets are opening up so that will help but how do I feed 2 people 3 meals a day of healthy (especially low sodium) food on less than $40 a week. I know someone out there has some good pointers.

HELP!

dayzeerock

Buy in bulk...bulk dry beans, rice, etc. It's super cheap and high in good nutrients.

wanitalilly

Where do you live? If you can find a Winco (non union) that would help. I save SO much shopping there.

BeautifulScarsWECHANGED

The Biggest Loser has a budget friendly healthy cook book. I bought it recently and it has a LOT of recipes with about 5 ingredients or less.

fbmandy55

I went shopping yesterday and spent $50 on two weeks of groceries using coupons and our store has a loyalty program as well! Coupons take some time to organize but somethimes I find them for fresh produce, yogurt, Fiber one bars and cereal, etc..

jr1985

Oh Wow... I'm sorry to hear about that... Good luck! Shopping at farmers markets will help out a lot for the summer... Also shopping at lower brand name supermarkets.. like if you have any aldi's or Kohl Cash and carry's etc. that are generally no frill... food is put on the shelves left in the in bulk packaging it came in, etc.... but I'm not sure if I couldl feed 2 people on $25 a week... especially if you are wanting to eat more than just Ramen noodles... you might need to look at taking another very part time job to help pay for groceries. Sorry... Good luck!

amybrauch

Buy dried beans (black, pinto, great white northern, etc) and use a crockpot for cooking. There are tons of crockpot recipes to be found online for cooking beans. These will go a very long way and can be used in many different dishes and they are cheap.

Ajaay

You can find out if your area has a food co-op. Dried beans and rice are cheap, healthy and easy to fix. You can also plant a small garden, even a couple tomato plants in pots will provide extra food for little cost. Also the More for Less cookbook has a lot of great options.

pa_jorg

Look for a local CSA farm. Most are family farms that need help, so I volunteer at mine in exchange for free veggies. Can't hurt to ask...
Great website to locate one: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

titletown

Do you have an ALDI grocery store near you. They are consistently about 30-40% cheaper than any other chain around me here.

$40 a week will be tough though, especially if you want to avoid the cheap, no nutrient foods.

tawojcik

Hey Em,

My wife belongs to a "co-op" with 11 other people. You mentioned the Farmer's Market. What they do is each take turns being responsiblie for the shopping and that person goes to the market on Saturday. Everyone has contributed $10. So, this person goes with $120 dollars and gets what ever the best deals are and then divides the food 12 ways. The others come over that afternoon and pick up thier baskets of food.

They really could shop every other week and still have enough produce to last 2 weeks. This past weekend was our weekend to shop. We got strawberries, peaches, plumbs, tomoatos, cucumbers, corn and maybe a couple of other things. We got enough for each of our families and only spent $10.

I have thought about setting a co-op for meat too.

Just an idea...

BeautifulScarsWECHANGED

....also, try this link:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections/cheap_eats

BethanyMasters

I can make 3 gallons of turkey spaghetti sauce with under 20 dollars. But unless you want to eat spaghetti every day I can't really offer much help.

It costs my boyfriend and I about 300 - 400 dollars a month to eat healthy.

kristilovescake

Also, check out using coupons (follow some blogs online so you don't have to do all the work yourself). There are tons of unhealthy cheap foods you can get with coupons, but there are also healthy options. I've gotten whole wheat pastas for FREE, cheap to free bags of salads, etc. It's tougher eating healthy by using coupons, but if you keep an eye out for the deals then you can make it work. You can also get very cheap to free toothpaste, deodorants, laundry detergent, etc. which will help you have more money for lean meats and produce. I'm not a couponing queen, but feel free to shoot me a message for a couple of blogs I follow that do almost all the work for me

BeautifulScarsWECHANGED

Hey Em,

My wife belongs to a "co-op" with 11 other people. You mentioned the Farmer's Market. What they do is each take turns being responsiblie for the shopping and that person goes to the market on Saturday. Everyone has contributed $10. So, this person goes with $120 dollars and gets what ever the best deals are and then divides the food 12 ways. The others come over that afternoon and pick up thier baskets of food.

They really could shop every other week and still have enough produce to last 2 weeks. This past weekend was our weekend to shop. We got strawberries, peaches, plumbs, tomoatos, cucumbers, corn and maybe a couple of other things. We got enough for each of our families and only spent $10.


Great idea!!! :bigsmile:

I have thought about setting a co-op for meat too.

Just an idea...

DowntimeDesigns

Coupons coupons coupons!! I save an average of $30-$40 a week on things I would be buying anyway just using coupons!

heathersmilez

I only spend $150 a month for 2 of us and about $30+ of that is Diet Pepsi on sale $3 per 12 pack - his vice not mine.

Stick with chicken breast and seasonal fruit and vegetables. At the moment I've been buying apples, strawberries, asparagus and broccoli, those are the cheapest. Brown minute rice is usually a favourite but if you really want to stretch your money get a 10lb bag of potatoes for less than $2 and make potato wedges for less than 150 cals.

freerange

You’re in the Coast Guard. Is there a PX close by? Soup, I make a simple great tasting soup every week, and that is my lunch every day, well almost every day. I take some sausage, cut it into rounds, brown it, and set aside, chop up some carrots, celery, onion, and cabbage, throw that in the pot, cook until onions are starting to turn translucent, throw in a bay leave, salt and pepper to taste, I put some red pepper flakes in mine, return the sausage, and fill pot with chicken stock/broth. Bring to boil, turn heat down and simmer covered for a couple hours.

VeganInTraining

I can make 3 gallons of turkey spaghetti sauce with under 20 dollars. But unless you want to eat spaghetti every day I can't really offer much help.

It costs my boyfriend and I about 300 - 400 dollars a month to eat healthy.

Hillarious you should say that because that's what I've eaten for the last week! I am all spaghettied out! haha

heathersmilez

Coupons coupons coupons!! I save an average of $30-$40 a week on things I would be buying anyway just using coupons!

Sigh, hopefully one day the Canadian couponing system will catch up so I too can be an extreme couponer.

Coupons are infrequent (there are maybe 1-2 per weekly newspaper), there is no such thing as doubling up deals, no in-store point cards, registers are unable to scan coupons so whenever I use a coupon I have to stand there patiently while the cashier reads all the fine print to make sure it's valid.

Since the average household income in Canada is 25% higher than the US and we are only 32 million people compared to 300 million I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon.



Ah well, I’m still a super Canadian Deal Fiinder, I just pay $150 a month for groceries rather than $8 for 3 years worth like some of those folks, ha ha

KanCrav

This is NOT impossible!~! ., as you can see by all the help you have gotten already. Just a few more tips I have to throw in there....

~~Dont rule out vegitarian meals for dinner, do what you need to do to use those veggies so NOTHING goes to waste!

~~If there is meat on sale (and its a GOOD sale) buy a few extra pounds, they can sit in the freezer for a while and in the long run you will end up saving.

~~Look for eggs at the farmers markets, they are usually cheaper there. Fritatas are a very inexpensive meal, and very versitle!~!

~~Look for coupons and supermarket membership cards.

yankeefamily05

This isn't impossible. Try to buy boneless, chicken breast in bulk. Where I live I can get it 1.99/lb for 10 lbs. I am sure 10 lbs of chicken would last you a long time. Another one of my favorite tips is buying frozen veggies in bulk. At walmart they have a HUGE bag of broccoli florets for around 6 dollars. Just steam it, and its delish! Than we have the rice and beans....If you are going to buy yogurt, most of the time it is cheaper to buy the bigger container than the individual sizes.

rgutie1

I am not sure where you are located, but if you are in an area with Mexican grocery stores they are a great place to find cheap, very fresh fruits and veggies. Even in Chicago which is a very expensive city I was able to buy 5 grocery bags of fruits and veggies for 20 dollars this week.

Also these stores a great place to get large cheap sacks of dried beans, rices, etc. and some have god inexpensive meat.

For the meals go heavy on the beand and/or rice, add fresh veggies for texture, spice, and aroma, and add a little bit of meet for flavor.

loriamcq

There is a program called Angel Food Ministries that you could check out www.angelfoodministries.com. You pay a set amount $22 to $46 and receive enough food to feed 4 people for a month. It's not brand names, but it's a lot of food. It got my family through a hard time. They are located throughout the US. There's no religious aspect, you just pay your money and pick up your food.

Also, try using coupons. I shop at Kroger which doubles coupons and I typically save 50-60% of my grocery bill each week.

Good Luck!

Seajolly

You can achieve this for sure! Like others have said, use coupons as much as possible. It'll take some research to get the best deals every week. Look at grocery store flyers for in-store deals.

If there's something you LOVE and know you'll eat a lot of, might be worth it to look for coupons on eBay believe it or not! A recent search for Greek yogurt coupons led me to a seller who is selling 20 Buy-2-Get-1-Free Greek yogurt coupons for less than $5. If you eat a lot of one food this could be very helpful.

rgutie1

Oh just remembered one of the very best ways to save money.

In most cases it costs much less to make a couple extra servings of a meal than to make 2 meals of less servings. A lot of us utilize this information in making large meals which we then eat over the course of two (or more days). But a great way to take advantage of this and cut down on your workload is to find a few friends who would like to take turns cooking for the group. This is a great way to see friends regularly and all save a little time and money on sharing the cooking duties.

You can also mimick traditional models with your firnds and family. Have each person choose something to grow in backyard or window garden; tomatoes, corn, peppers, whatever and then pool the resulting produce.

jabbogurl

Sometimes frozen foods are cheaper than fresh, just make sure to buy whole frozen foods, such as frozen veggies, no sauce. I agree with the Aldi's comment. I was so excited when they finally came to FL. I can buy the big bag of frozen chicken breasts for around $5. and they are HUGE! Usually, between my husband and I, I only cook 1 chicken breast for dinner and then the rest is sides and such. Also, for lunches I do salads and it comes out pretty cheap. I use the unchopped romaine lettuce, grab veggies on sales, like a bag of onions for $1, cucumbers, tomatoes....whatever it is to beef up the salad.

Don't buy the pre-made frozen dinners and everything, as you know. I also make a flat bread for dinner once a night. I purchase the dry Jiffy pizza crust mix, its in a little blue box, they also have it for corn bread. That's 50cents or so. Then throw a bunch of veggies on there, they can be the frozen ones. Use tomato sauce or even pesto or just some balsamic and garlic. It comes out really cheap and its loaded with veggies!

And, as you said, definitely check out the farmer's markets and shop around between the tents to see who will give you the best deal. Sometimes, if its close to closing, you can haggle a good bargain with them!

Micheller1210

Someone mentioned a mexican store is a good idea....also Asian stores too they cary lots of fresh veggies and exotics ones...I love too cook thai food and it so happens that where I live the Mexican Asian and european are all in the same mall strip....I buy my rice my beans there...look on ine for recepie on hand...keep a list as you rotate what you have you can save money...I find that Thai food and mexican foods are similar in the way of rice, chilies,cilantro, and limes. Hmmmm

amybrauch

You also need to see if you have some kind of bakery thrift store near you for bread products. There is a Flowers bakery thrift store near me & I get my 100 calorie sandwich rounds for $1.69 (much less than the grocery) and loaves of Nature's own bread, all types, for .99 to $1.39 a loaf. They are close to being out of date, but are still perfectly fine.

Just like others have mentioned, Aldi's is GREAT. If you don't have an Aldi, Sav-a-lot also has some good deals.

tmacs

The Biggest Loser has a budget friendly healthy cook book. I bought it recently and it has a LOT of recipes with about 5 ingredients or less.

I'm so looking for this!

tmacs

I am the WORST at spending a fortune when I go grocery shopping so I'm getting a lot out of these replies. I will say that frozen veggies are so cheap and last a lot longer than fresh! Stock up .

Another idea might be growing your own veggies or even just herbs in pots. Adding fresh herbs to anything makes it yummy.