How to survive on 40-50 dollars per month on food.

mncodergal · June 2012

What a great thread. I'm getting a lot of good ideas!

josephinabonetto · June 2012

I get £100 to spend a month. I eat a lot of bulgar wheat and feta cheese. Brown pitta breads is my primary bread source.

I make a variant of tabbouleh without the olive oil, just the lemon juice, and with fresh chilli instead of onion and crumble feta cheese into it. i warm up a pitta bread and it makes a good filling vegetarian low cal lunch with fresh herbs, cucumber, tomato, black pepper or whatever else I have in the fridge/cupboard.

josephinabonetto · June 2012

i like giant wholewheat couscous too but it's higher calories and more expensive in the UK.

GeneveSparkles · June 2012

I went to the store today and my grand total was 47.67. This will last me longer than a month.

I bought egg noodles, beans, diced tomatoes in a can for chili, seasoning, 2 family size frozen veggies, 5 lb red potatoes, 5 lb red apples, cheese, 50 whole wheat tortillas, beef, chorizo, a dozen eggs, salsa, gallon of milk, 2 boxes of cereal, 2 loaves of whole wheat bread, peanut butter, ham, mustard, sour cream and 2 cream of chicken soup.

I probably could of made healthier choices, but I've been really wanting chorizo and eggs.

Soyrizo (soy chorizo) is awesome!! The kind they have at Trader Joes (IMO) is the best and it's only like 1.99. If I remember correctly it's only 170 cals per serving. Otherwise Wal Mart also carries it although it's a little more expensive. I usually stock up at Trader Joes and cut into serving sizes (5 per package) and individually wrap them and throw into the freezer. I use it in everything, nachos, stuffed peppers, southwest bean/rice skillet, breakfast burritos, tacos, mix it into mac and cheese, basically anything you would use ground beef. It's soooo good

californiansun · June 2012

I went to the store today and my grand total was 47.67. This will last me longer than a month.

I bought egg noodles, beans, diced tomatoes in a can for chili, seasoning, 2 family size frozen veggies, 5 lb red potatoes, 5 lb red apples, cheese, 50 whole wheat tortillas, beef, chorizo, a dozen eggs, salsa, gallon of milk, 2 boxes of cereal, 2 loaves of whole wheat bread, peanut butter, ham, mustard, sour cream and 2 cream of chicken soup.

I probably could of made healthier choices, but I've been really wanting chorizo and eggs.

Soyrizo (soy chorizo) is awesome!! The kind they have at Trader Joes (IMO) is the best and it's only like 1.99. If I remember correctly it's only 170 cals per serving. Otherwise Wal Mart also carries it although it's a little more expensive. I usually stock up at Trader Joes and cut into serving sizes (5 per package) and individually wrap them and throw into the freezer. I use it in everything, nachos, stuffed peppers, southwest bean/rice skillet, breakfast burritos, tacos, mix it into mac and cheese, basically anything you would use ground beef. It's soooo good

I've heard soyrizo is really good!!!

Ill buy that next time if I can stay under 50 with it!

I don't usually buy chorizo, thats a very, very rare treat for me. Soyrizo sounds a lot healthier!

Justacoffeenut · June 2012

Do you have an aldi in your area? My is located right by the other shops. So I can park at one and walk to all. I get my fruits and veg there (no farmers markets in my area). They have a good deal on fresh fruit and veg. Today fresh pineapple was 99 cents. Milk just went up from 1.99 to 2.29 a gal. I get there frozen veg and fruit is nothing fresh looks good. You have to relly watch some of the other stuff. But lets face it you have to read labels no matter where you shop.

Lots of great idea's here. Thanks everyone for sharing. Would love to see recipes for this stuff. Think I will start a topic on that.

californiansun · June 2012

Do you have an aldi in your area? My is located right by the other shops. So I can park at one and walk to all. I get my fruits and veg there (no farmers markets in my area). They have a good deal on fresh fruit and veg. Today fresh pineapple was 99 cents. Milk just went up from 1.99 to 2.29 a gal. I get there frozen veg and fruit is nothing fresh looks good. You have to relly watch some of the other stuff. But lets face it you have to read labels no matter where you shop.

Lots of great idea's here. Thanks everyone for sharing. Would love to see recipes for this stuff. Think I will start a topic on that.

We don't have an Aldis, I think that's a back east thing.

Cappa124 · June 2012

Bump

californiansun · June 2012

i like giant wholewheat couscous too but it's higher calories and more expensive in the UK.

I'm not even sure if I have seen whole wheat couscous in my area!!! I need to go look again, or I'm just not paying attention

Cgirlish · June 2012

The trader jokes I used to go to closed , soyrizo sounds yummy

led6777 · June 2012

check out your local community resources. in my town there's a fantastic food bank that is stocked with wonderful whole foods. i live in a sort of shi-shi area so people are generally really shy about going there but so many individuals living on their own (and families of course) can benefit. there should be no shame in utilizing community resources.

unsuspectingfish · June 2012

I went to the store today and my grand total was 47.67. This will last me longer than a month.

I bought egg noodles, beans, diced tomatoes in a can for chili, seasoning, 2 family size frozen veggies, 5 lb red potatoes, 5 lb red apples, cheese, 50 whole wheat tortillas, beef, chorizo, a dozen eggs, salsa, gallon of milk, 2 boxes of cereal, 2 loaves of whole wheat bread, peanut butter, ham, mustard, sour cream and 2 cream of chicken soup.

I probably could of made healthier choices, but I've been really wanting chorizo and eggs.

Soyrizo (soy chorizo) is awesome!! The kind they have at Trader Joes (IMO) is the best and it's only like 1.99. If I remember correctly it's only 170 cals per serving. Otherwise Wal Mart also carries it although it's a little more expensive. I usually stock up at Trader Joes and cut into serving sizes (5 per package) and individually wrap them and throw into the freezer. I use it in everything, nachos, stuffed peppers, southwest bean/rice skillet, breakfast burritos, tacos, mix it into mac and cheese, basically anything you would use ground beef. It's soooo good

I've heard soyrizo is really good!!! Ill buy that next time if I can stay under 50 with it! I don't usually buy chorizo, thats a very, very rare treat for me. Soyrizo sounds a lot healthier!

Soyrizo is AMAZING. It was one of the first fake meat products I tried when I went vegetarian because I love chorizo so much. My only complaint is the lack of heat in the spice, but it's easy to add your own.

Charmed285 · June 2012

I'm new to this and still trying to figure thins out, but what about Weight Watchers dinner boxes that is sold at Walmart (and possibly other places)? or smart...somthing and the others that I cannot remember the brand and too lazy to get up and check at the moment

. Aren't they healthy? and maybe you can stock on some of those.

xxcheetaraxx · June 2012

Bump

GeekyGirlLyn · June 2012

bump

husstlebusstle · June 2012

Hi! I commend you guys on your savings habits. I have a tight budget myself and tips always help.

I did want to bolster a few members' confidence. A lot of people seemed dismayed that they were spending $100, $150 or $200 a month on groceries. Those who are able to spend less and feed themselves-kudos, but a lot of these plans are not realistic for everybody. Take a gander at the link below from the USDA (forgive me if someone posted this already).

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2012/CostofFoodJan2012.pdf

This is a guide to what a person should be spending on food. There are four plans: thrifty, low cost, moderate cost and liberal cost. Thrifty is the basis for SNAP and food stamp programs. So look at the thrifty plan. For example, women 19-50 should be spending around $203 a month with all meals eaten at home. If you are spending less than that and eating enough then congratulations on your budgeting and couponing skills. Just don't feel crazy if you are spending $200 a month to feed yourself. You should pat yourself on the back for that too. : )

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings/plan/foodspendingplan/

Also check out this other link. A food cost calculator with tips on cheap eating. Their numbers vary from the chart but are pretty close.

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings/

Love the thread.

crudd123 · June 2012

Do you have an Aldi grocery store in your area? They have great prices on all kinds of food, produce, milk, eggs, meat, etc. They are cheap!

Funsoaps · June 2012

I coupon, I shop at discount grocery stores, I plan inexpensive meals but I find it hard to live on less than $600 per month for a family of four. I cook from scratch as well and we are gluten and dairy-free so that is more expensive. I need to eat a lot of protein, as well for my thyroid (animal protein).

My ideas would be what you said; eggs, beans and brown rice. I would get some cans of tomato chunks and you make a spanish rice of sorts (tomato chunks/tomato sauce with brown rice and beans) makes a great meal. I think oatmeal would be good to add, it's inexpensive and don't forget fruits and veggies. Really 50$ is a week's worth for a person around here, so good luck!

I live in the number one city in California that supplies most of the produce in the world, so produce/groceries are very cheap here.

I can get apples for 59 cents/pound, bananas for 13 cents/pound, etc. We have a lot of Farmers Markets in town that sell organic produce on the cheap and milk is from the company that is in my town, so milk is inexpensive. I buy a dozen eggs for about a 1 dollar to 1.23.

Wow, that seriously blows me away!!!!! Even the farmers markets here are not much off what you pay at the supermarket, sometimes they actually charge more!!! Bananas can range from 99c/kg in the high season right up to $22/kg (although this has only happened a couple of times in the past 10 years when cyclones wiped out the banana farms in QLD) the average price for bananas would be around $3/kg

And I know that a kg is 2.2 x a pound but there is such a big difference still! And my family are big meat eaters ... probably the cheapest half descent meat runs at about $18/kg a little cheaper when on special. I have tried buying the cheaper stuff but it isn't worth it, too fatty or tough, only really fit for the slow cooker!

Thanks for starting this thread, like I said, I will be watching it for some ideas ... I think if I can get our bill down below $500/mth for the whole family I would be really happy!

That's horrible!!! I thought I was paying too much... Thanks for putting things into perspective!

Funsoaps · June 2012

That sounds about right. I usually spend 250$ a month per person in my family and we do a lot of organic, from scratch, gluten-free and dairy-free as much as possible. But that's 1000$ a month in my family!

So I think that I have it down to more like $150-200 per month per person now. But that includes necessities; razors, toilet paper, toothpaste, deodorant, etc.

Hi! I commend you guys on your savings habits. I have a tight budget myself and tips always help.

I did want to bolster a few members' confidence. A lot of people seemed dismayed that they were spending $100, $150 or $200 a month on groceries. Those who are able to spend less and feed themselves-kudos, but a lot of these plans are not realistic for everybody. Take a gander at the link below from the USDA (forgive me if someone posted this already).

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2012/CostofFoodJan2012.pdf

This is a guide to what a person should be spending on food. There are four plans: thrifty, low cost, moderate cost and liberal cost. Thrifty is the basis for SNAP and food stamp programs. So look at the thrifty plan. For example, women 19-50 should be spending around $203 a month with all meals eaten at home. If you are spending less than that and eating enough then congratulations on your budgeting and couponing skills. Just don't feel crazy if you are spending $200 a month to feed yourself. You should pat yourself on the back for that too. : )

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings/plan/foodspendingplan/

Also check out this other link. A food cost calculator with tips on cheap eating. Their numbers vary from the chart but are pretty close.

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings/

Love the thread.

d_johnson · June 2012

Bump

magerum · June 2012

Man I spend that weekly on chicken breast alone... I'll need to read this later. Bump.

kayemme · June 2012

has this site already been mentioned? http://plantbasedonabudget.com/

californiansun · June 2012

Do you have an Aldi grocery store in your area? They have great prices on all kinds of food, produce, milk, eggs, meat, etc. They are cheap!

That's only a back east thing, I looked!

californiansun · June 2012

Hi! I commend you guys on your savings habits. I have a tight budget myself and tips always help.

I did want to bolster a few members' confidence. A lot of people seemed dismayed that they were spending $100, $150 or $200 a month on groceries. Those who are able to spend less and feed themselves-kudos, but a lot of these plans are not realistic for everybody. Take a gander at the link below from the USDA (forgive me if someone posted this already).

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2012/CostofFoodJan2012.pdf

This is a guide to what a person should be spending on food. There are four plans: thrifty, low cost, moderate cost and liberal cost. Thrifty is the basis for SNAP and food stamp programs. So look at the thrifty plan. For example, women 19-50 should be spending around $203 a month with all meals eaten at home. If you are spending less than that and eating enough then congratulations on your budgeting and couponing skills. Just don't feel crazy if you are spending $200 a month to feed yourself. You should pat yourself on the back for that too. : )

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings/plan/foodspendingplan/

Also check out this other link. A food cost calculator with tips on cheap eating. Their numbers vary from the chart but are pretty close.

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings/

Love the thread.

200 dollars is what I have left over to spend every month, I spend half of that on gas alone. I would NEVER buy 200 dollars worth of food, but I do understand people have different needs!