$40.00 a month (im serious)

Lifting_Knitter

Shop the sale items too. That will help your budget and try for coupons. Some grocery stores like food lion will have a buck off produce purchase of 10 or more and will have green peppers and avacados on sale for 2 for a dollar. They also have certain days when meat goes on 'clearance'. I would lask the butcher when those days are.

sdavis80

Start clipping coupons. My friend goes thru the recycle bin every week at the dump and gets free coupons. Find a store that doubles the coupons. USE THEM. You have to price compare to figure out which store has what you eat for the cheapest amount. We have 3 stores in a 1 mile radius. When I moved here I made a list of necessities and went to all three and wrote down the price at each. I scour the weekly ads at each store to find sales and match sales to coupons. I take my price journal with me so I can change the price if a store increases/decreases. I try to make a monthly trip to Walmart superstore to get cheaper meat. Hamburg at Wal-Mart for 75% is super cheap... just be sure to rinse it after you cook it to get the excess fat off!
Ask the meat department for the ends/scraps. They can't serve/sell them so they go in the garbage. Easy way to add meat to your meal for free. Ask the bakery about out of date bakery items. They usually mark them down then toss em. Look for a local food pantry. There are usually requirements to obtain free food so check before you go. Also check for soup kitchens or church suppers.

Frozen veggies
Dry beans
Frozen bread loaves- bake them yourself when you need them.


You can make a veggie soup that will last for a weeks worth of meals for $5. Elbow macarroni, tomato paste, ground hamburg, veggies- canned or frozen of your choice.

Most pasta meals are relatively cheap to make but crap on calories!

If you are seriously trying to spend this much per month you need to plant a garden and grow fresh veggies. You can grow tomatoes all summer and can them so you have them for sauces. We stockpile in the summer. Blueberries freeze very well and will last thru the winter. We do the same with corn on the cob. We get 13 ears for 3 bucks and cook it then cut it off the cob and freeze it. Make your own jelly/jam.

eliseofthejungle

My budget isn't quite that low ( $40/week for a family of 3 and it includes household pruducts.) I don't have much to add about specific foods to buy, but I can tell you the strategy I use. Every Sunday I go through all of the grocery ads and write down everything on sale that looks good to me. It has to be significantly on sale, too, not just 10 cents off or something. Then I go through that list and see what meals I can make from it, focusing on the foods that are the best bargains and keeping in mind foods I can use in multiple things, and I make a second list. Then I total it up and see if I'm on budget. If not I see what I can cut and when I get to the magic number I use that list. I also total my foods while I'm shopping to make sure I'm on target. It's a lot of work, but the work makes it possible.

CoachReddy

look at your budget, rearrange where you're spending your money, and allocate more of it for... ya know... the thing that will keep you alive. (food)

Can you survive on $40/month? Yeah probably. Will this site be at all useful to you? Probably not, since you'll be eating an awful lot of ramen noodles.

peckish_pomegranate

- beans
- rice
- coffee
- apples
- oranges
- curry spice
- chicken
- carrots
- canned veggies
- spaghetti noodles
- tomato sauce
- potatoes
- spinach

If you're not squeamish, look into dumpster diving. As soon as products go out of their sell by date, stores just chuck them behind the store. We can get more produce than we know what to do with. BUT be very cautious about what kinds of things you fish out of there- prepackaged foods that aren't temperature sensitive and produce are good, but leave the meat, dairy, and any precooked foods in there.

Where you shop is so important. The price of foods varies immensely if you shop at The Dollar Store versus Whole Foods. Shop somewhere where the prices are significantly discounted, even if the quality isn't what you'd ideally want. Also, clip coupons (which you can also find online and print.)

Be very, very aware of how fast you eat things and at what rate they go bad. It's a fine balance, and you can't afford to let anything spoil, but you also don't want to go without!

tialynn1

My budget isn't that bad. But, I am really trying to cut down on expenses. So, I am interested in these suggestions.

Sharonks

The only way you might come close to that without a free source of food would be to only buy staples. So bags of beans, rice, flour, potatoes and the like and make everything from scratch. Around here, pork has been the cheapest cut of meat. Throw a little meat in with the bean and make your own bread. Buy whatever produce you can at whatever the cheapest price is. Since you are in AZ you should be able to grow a garden now, even if you are in an apartment there are plans for Rubbermaid plastic bin gardens or see if someone will give you big nursery pots from trees. Growing your own greens is fast so you could be eating from them in about a 6 weeks.

If you seriously don't have money you should look into food banks and soup kitchens. The city near us has 3 soup kitchens and like 30k people. My daughter volunteered at one of them during high school and she said they had plenty of fairly nutritious food and usually sent people home with a brown bag lunch too. Between the 3 kitchens you could eat dinner almost every day. Our town of 900 has a church that has a clothes and food bank and so does our neighboring town of about 1000. One of the churches has free bread day and I've heard they get a lot of gourmet breads that are day old from several stores. If you don't like the idea of getting stuff for free then volunteer there. Even though we didn't need food, the nights my daughter worked she was also fed since she was there at dinner time.

If this is a long term problem not just a this week problem then you should apply for food stamps. In our state you have to be homeless, handicapped, have children, or work 24 hrs a week. I think receiving unemployment is also acceptable.

TheNewDodge

Get a better job

supergirljen

My budget isn't quite that low ( $40/week for a family of 3 and it includes household pruducts.) I don't have much to add about specific foods to buy, but I can tell you the strategy I use. Every Sunday I go through all of the grocery ads and write down everything on sale that looks good to me. It has to be significantly on sale, too, not just 10 cents off or something. Then I go through that list and see what meals I can make from it, focusing on the foods that are the best bargains and keeping in mind foods I can use in multiple things, and I make a second list. Then I total it up and see if I'm on budget. If not I see what I can cut and when I get to the magic number I use that list. I also total my foods while I'm shopping to make sure I'm on target. It's a lot of work, but the work makes it possible.

And Walmart will price match all those sales, so you don't have to go shopping around to get those prices. Do any of your stores double coupons face value? I got around 30 boxes of cereal for about 35 cents a piece last week at store that doubles coupons.

Edit: ask people to save coupons for you to get extra. Also if stores have a limit on coupon used, you can usually do muliple transactions in order to use more, or leave and go back in.

SprinkledWithEmotion

Your staples should include oats, eggs, beans, canned seafood, potatoes, and any vegetable and fruit in season. Limit meat as that is the biggest budget killer. Buy things on sale, even if they are not needed right away.

Breakfast, you could have oatmeal, eggs and toast, smoothies, etc.

Lunch, tuna or salmon sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly, baked potatoes, salads, etc.

Dinner, a portion of meat, rice or potato, and a vegetable.

It might be difficult but with a little planning it should be doable.

Bobtheangrytomato

Got this recipe from an MFP friend (and it's cheap)

Chicken thighs (I got them on sale, I think it was $2.50 for 1.7lbs)
Cola
Soy sauce
garlic
oil

Brown thighs in some oil with the garlic. Put in a pot and add cola and soy sauce. Simmer for 45 min, it should reduce to a syrupy sauce. Add water if it reduces too fast.

Also: You can buy dry milk powder and rehydrate it. I think it's cheaper than fresh

hifromjamers1984

Bumping for suggestions!

everysn0wflake

All I can think of is, are coupons. Hopefully, if you use them wisely. You can save/spend 40$ a month.
Good luck x

bookworm_847

We do a lot of grocery shopping at Walmart since they have pretty good prices usually. Also, if you have Safeway nearby, you can sign up for their Just for U program with the club card. We've saved a lot of money on groceries by using it. And I don't know if they're down there, but my sister does a lot of shopping at Grocery Outlet and Winco... they both have really cheap prices.

lunnay

I'm not sure how cheap these would be for you, but you can find whole bags for $3-$4 here, and they last forever. You only need a little each time, especially if you're cooking for one.


It's "textured vegetable protein" / "textured soy protein". It's 50% protein, and it tastes... well, it tastes like nothing, really. I cook them in tomato sauce (should also be fairly cheap) with plenty of garlic, and use that as a vegetarian bolognese topping for spaghetti.

twinketta

Personally, I would stop buying `jack in the box` processed food.

Get to you local market and buy some fresh veggies and you can buy meat, and learn to cook stuff.

In the UK I can buy some lean mince steak put in a pan with some peeled, diced potatoes veg of your choice, salt, pepper, tomato ketchup, stock cube boil for 45 mins cost around in dollars 5$ You can put some in a freezer and you can get around 6 meals from this.

Try looking into making your own stuff, it really will be cheaper.

Shelialouise66

My church has a food bank and we serve hot meals one day a week. You my dear, are part of our target population. We don't do it out of pity, we do it out of love. So, check out the churches in your area, don't let pride keep you away. You need to feed that belly in order to feed that brain. Best of luck kiddo.

hatethegame

That's tough to do! Some good suggestions here already! Bump for later

JessicaN1979

I only spend about $20 a week, but I also eat lunches at work for the most part. For home I buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts and I use onion, but you could use peppers and make fajita like chicken with tortillas or just use the chicken and buy a "seasoning package" for buffalo chicken which is yummy on some salad. Lettuce, potatoes and soups are pretty cheap. I buy cereal or granola bars for breakfast because I am not a big breakfast eater. Aldis is really a great place to shop for groceries if you have one close. I don't have one close so I use Hyvee, but I spent $60 yesterday and it will last me 2-3 weeks and had I used coupons it probably could have been less. I do not buy soda or juice, I just drink water for the most part. Good luck to you.

bettyann55

Be careful with organ meat if you have cholesterol problems as they are the worst meat for you in this case. We are not on a tight budget but I always go to the markets on days when I know they are reducing the prices on meats and vegetables. If it is ground beef and the price is reduced as a result of it expiring in a day I will bring it home, cook it, let it cool and bag/freeze it for future uses in stews, chili, pasta sauce, taco salad, etc.
The vegetables I use by making soups and freezing they for future meals.
Works great and this way I feel I am not being taken advantage of by the crazy high prices.