$40.00 a month (im serious)
Replies
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I eat on about $20ish a week.
So far, the cheapest meat I've found was just plain chicken legs. At the discount grocery stores here, they're 69-89c per pound. They're fattier than breasts, but I'd say it's fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Chicken breasts on the bone aren't much more either (1.29iirc?), just less convenient than boneless skinless ones.
The main thing you should load up on at your prices is basically grains and legumes. Rice costs 39c a pound for white, dollar a pound for brown. I don't got figures, but 1 cup dried will be enough to make 3 cups of cooked rice. Don't buy instant rice, it's a scam. Beans still go for about $1 a pound. Potatoes are about 39c per pound, too.
For drinks, two cheap things. Buy a big bottle of lemon or lime juice, and just add a spoonful or so to water you drink. 0 calories and makes your water taste like something. Unsweetened (or sweetened doesn't cost more, but will add calories) is cheap if you make it yourself. Some whole leaf tea or teabags and a pot of boiling water.
Basically, when shopping for groceries, look at everything in the context of unit price. Whatever has the lowest unit price wins. A few caveats, looking at ingredients. IE, I bought parmesan cheese. I saw a bag of what was labeled and looked like parmesan cheese, half the price per unit of the more expensive bags I usually bought. Read the ingredients later at home "partially hydrogenated soybean oil." So it was fake cheese. So ingredients being the same, and quality being tolerable, just look at unit prices and compare.
Stores, always shop at Aldi, Price Rite, Save-A-Lot, some kind of discount or as is sometimes called "ghetto" grocery store. Best deals. For your other shopping, actually look at ethnic markets, like Asian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, or European markets. They can have good deals on things that are in the specialty aisle at the grocery store, and good deals on spices especially. My Indian market is pretty much the go to place for spices. Most of the ethnic markets I go to have superior quality veggies to the grocery stores, especially the cheaper ones (ala Adis, etc) for similar or even cheaper prices. Some things are just ridiculously cheaper, too. Green tea for example at my Asian market runs like $5 per KILOGRAM, not a deal likely to be found in a grocery store.
Basically, you gotta learn to cook well, and learn to spice your food well. What you're proposing is done by most of the world's population, and isn't impossible by any means, just harder, and at times inconvenient and unpleasant. But if you're able to plan things nicely and stuff like that, you can do it. But no processed food will cut the grocery bill really quick. For example, a loaf of homemade bread costs like 60c, for quality you'd pay a lot more for at the grocery store.
I mean, I could give you a bunch of recipes or whatever, but that should be more useful as far as the mindset you need. Good luck!0 -
Bump0
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my grocery bill is $20 a week, which is already really low. I'm not sure if it's possible unless you can find a butcher who will give you meat off cuts for nothing.
look for meat on sale, buy in bulk, put in freezer.
eat lots of veggies and avocados, cheap as hell for the volume of food
buy cheap cuts of meat and slow cook it so it doesn't matter how dry/stringy it was
bulk brown rice & beans!
drink only water
that's all I can think of that I do!0 -
Ummmm.... Here's 50 ramen recipes?
http://www.rasmussen.edu/student-life/blogs/college-life/ramen-noodle-recipes/
I've not attempted any of those and can't say they look much in the way of healthy, but on days when you're really stuck, maybe they'd be something to consider.
Alternatively, here's a recipe for "Spicy Thai Noodles" that led me to really learning to play with recipes and flavours.
http://asmallsnippet.com/2011/03/spicy-thai-noodles.html
Mostly though, consider checking out the vegetarian recipes of Sanjeev Kapoor. Rice and veggies can be acquired rather cheaply. He's a fantastic chef. http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/Vegetarian-Recipes.aspx
Finally, I hope you have a Chinese supermarket nearby. When I was in college, I saved a lot by eating things purchased from there.0 -
Have you considered becoming a freegan? (Its a serious suggestion).
Dont know what a freegan is?
Someone in their 20s who hasn't showered in weeks and has a trust fund.0 -
Have you tried the Hillbilly Housewife site? She focuses on frugal living, you may get some good or different ideas there.
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/0 -
Have you considered becoming a freegan? (Its a serious suggestion).
this.0 -
Food items:
Chicken/Beef Broth - very cheap and can be used to make soup with pretty much any ingredients or by itself. It is filling and if you get desperate, it can make a hungry day tolerable
Canned Tuna - Cheap, good proteins can be eaten alone, straight out of the can or mixed with other things for a bigger meal
Oatmeal - A large canister of oatmeal will last a long time.
Rice - cheap can be used in soups or as sides for meals
Beans - Can be eaten alone or put into soups for a heartier soup
Eggs - good protein, cheap, can be eaten alone in a variety of ways sunny side up with bread (if you have it), scrambled, hard boiled, etc... Can also be mixed with other things I like to mix a hard boiled egg with tuna
Fresh veggies - zucchini, broccoli (extremely cheap), any squash will be pretty filling and cheap, carrots
squash cooking tips (you can look online for more) bake, stir fry, cook in a pan by itself
I buy only enough veggies for a week at a time so that they don't go bad, Probably spend about 5 dollars/week on veggies (the rest of the stuff on my list is cheap enough that I can do veggies each day plus tuna or eggs etc...)
Veggies can be cooked in broth for a cheap soup. If you make soup in bulk, you can put aside a lot and it takes a long time to go bad.
Potatoes - I really like sweet potatoes though they are definitely more expensive than a bulk bag of other potatoes. You can bake them whole, cut them up and bake them like fries, cut them up, bake them and add them to other vegetables, put them in a soup or stew.
Meats - I only get meats when they are on sale and I'm picky about my meats. I like lean cuts of beef, chicken breasts, and pork loin. I check the "manager's sale" each time I go to the store and see what I can afford, sometimes I get a big package of meat that is going to expire soon so it is really cheap. I cook the entire package (usually just on the stove top with minimal seasoning) then put most of it in the fridge and use it for about a week to add to other meals it can be flavored as desired when I use it each meal. Also cuts of meat that aren't as ideal can be used in soups and stews.
Cheese - (I avoid cheeses when I'm super broke) When I can afford it, I get a block of cheese and then grate it as I use it. If it is grated, 1/16th of a cup can seem like 1/4th and the cheese can last a long time.
Fruit - If it is on a really good sale, I buy fresh fruit (or if I have extra money). Otherwise, frozen fruit can be good in oatmeal or cooked to taste like dessert.
Most of this stuff will last around a month (bags of rice, beans, bulk meats (especially if you freeze portions), larger packages of eggs) I shop for fresh veggies weekly (so that they don't go bad).
$40/ month is pretty low. I'm not sure how feasible it is without some kind of assistance. If you are in dire straights, you might want to look into food banks, etc... If you can scrounge up extra money somewhere, even $60 would be much easier.
Hope that helps some.0 -
Like i said b4 make sous and chilies and freze them in portions!
Or if your low income try your local foodbank! ( its free) deffinitly less than 40$0 -
Also, sign up for e mails from all you local pizza delivery places. Papa John's sends out an e mail every once in a while for free pizza. I got a large pizza for free, froze most of the slices and was able to have a few free meals.0
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Hey, dude. I'm on a pretty tight budget, too. Target these:
-Eggs
-Potatoes
-Bananas
-Rice
-Offal
These are dirt cheap and can be your main staples - a good mix of fats/carbs/protein in all of them. The remainder of your budget can be spent of other stuff, ie, veggies, fruit, chocolate, whatever.
Offal is organ meat, and tastes like steak and normal meat except is much, much cheaper. Hell, if you have a meat grinder, you can make nachos with offal - won't even know you're eating heart and liver. Put upon top of oven-baked potatoes and sprinkle on some cheese and bam, you're in business.
I'd add dry beans to this, cheap as hell
But I wouldn't eat raw hamburger, that is just asking for trouble. Always cook hamburger all the way through. A steak is sterile except on the outside, you cook that and it is fine to leave the center pink, hamburger is ground up and not sterile so it should be cooked all the way through0 -
Check out local food boxes. If you can only afford that much on food a month, you are definitely in need. I get them (starving college student here) and they help so much!! Just a thought... and also try to to shop at cheap stores for staple foods. We have a grocery outlet that sells their food items for up to 70% off. It helps ( i get my produce from better stores) but everything else i will buy from a store like that0
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Dumpster dive. Especially at grocery stores.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
You can usually stock up on dirt cheap produce and meat at Hispanic based supermarkets. I'm Hispanic and I buy my "healthier items" at stores like Sweetbay or Walmart but save most of the veggies and majority of meat for Bravo's (Hispanic market).
Farmers markets usually have good deals as well.
Staple items that could work:
Eggs
Bread (you can get a pk of sliced bread for like 89 cents sometimes.).
Dried beans that you make yourself
Rice
Ground beef
Pasta
Tuna
Any fruit or veggies on sale
Potatoes
You can go to a butcher or the Spanish store and buy a whole chicken cut in parts for like 3 bucks.
Base your meals around the meats.
For Example: One night make a big *kitten* pot of Spaghetti in meatsauce, you can prob eat that for dinner for the next few nights.
With the potatoes make a big Shepard's pie with the leftover beef and whatever veggies you happen to have..that can also be dinner or lunch the next day etc..
Beef flavored ramen noodles, a little beef, taco seasoning, chopped tomato, chopped onion (or omit the onion but if it's not grilled will you eat it?), and some cheese on top. Boom ghetto taco salad but sooo good AND cheap.
Pasta tuna salad is cheap to make and really filling plus yummy.
You can do so many things with rice, chicken, and beans.
Just be prepared to do some cooking. I don't think it's impossible to survive on 10 bucks a week if you just shop at the right places and look for coupons!
Good luck:flowerforyou:0 -
Top Ramen!0
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I wish Canadian coupons were better...you really only find them for non food items and processed, premade foods...never for anything decent like produce or meat. And milk NEVER goes on sale here. I pay $6 for a 4L of milk.0
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I'm not being particularly helpful but my biggest piece of advice is that you should aim to buy yourself at least one TREAT per week, even if it's some half decent dark chocolate or something, seriously, one decent item a week that you'll enjoy will make the rest of the week of eating things that you maybe won't want to much easier and will probably help you stick to your budget more in the long run 0
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I just realized that you said $40 a month vs week, but here is some of our foods that we get when out shopping
This was our list last week the best I can remember.
Greek yogurt - look for healthy labels, I buy 4 of the Fage with strawberry for snacks during the week
Near East Quinoa and Couscous boxes less then $2 a box
Skim milk gallon
Vitamin Water Zero ($1 each)
Orange Juice
Clementines
Banana's
Better Oats Oatmeal with Flaxseed- 1 box is only $1
Generic Rice Chex Cereal
1 bag Normandy brand veggies (Califlower, Squash,etc) bag is huge for $5 and lasts me a while
Frozen blueberry Eggo Nutri grain waffles with lowfat cool whip
I also get Protein bars from Fiber plus for snacks during the week.
Soup- Low Sodium Progressive brand - Garden Vegetable
We also go to our BJ's and get 2 Rotisserre chickens ($9.99 for both). Walmart also has chickens too in the deli. We shred them, weigh them out, then place each serving in a ziploc bag in the fridge. I then make couscous for my boyfriend and the Quinoa is for me and then we have our lunches for the week. He buys the small cans of green beans and sweet peppers to mix with the chicken and couscous and I make my lunch with 4.5 oz of the chicken, 1/2 C of the Quinoa and 2 cups of the Normandy mix for the veggies for Monday-Fridays.
Hope that gives you some ideas. For me, I just do the banana's, yogurt, clementines, and protein bars as snacks. They are kind of my staples, along with the oatmeal in the morning.
Also, there is a great website called E-mealz (http://emeals.com/) that helps with low budget meals for all kinds of situations, allergies, low cost and has grocery list and meals for the week for a small price. You could check into that too.0 -
On $40 it's going to be VERY hard to get much protein, but you can load up on fruits, veggies, and bulk rice/beans.0
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For any of your nutritional stuff, ie CLA pills to Muscle milk and other protein shakes, or even atkins/south beach diet products, i would look at vitacost.com, iherb.com, and lucky vitamin.com. For other groceries, dont buy cereal until on sale, that was my biggest mistake, also, on the weight watchers website they show a list of cheap groceries for dieting you could buy.0
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$40 - $50 / month??? Damn....thats my cost for about 5 days worth.0
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emeals dot com
check out that site.0 -
Hey, dude. I'm on a pretty tight budget, too. Target these:
-Eggs
-Potatoes
-Bananas
-Rice
-Offal
These are dirt cheap and can be your main staples - a good mix of fats/carbs/protein in all of them. The remainder of your budget can be spent of other stuff, ie, veggies, fruit, chocolate, whatever.
Offal is organ meat, and tastes like steak and normal meat except is much, much cheaper. Hell, if you have a meat grinder, you can make nachos with offal - won't even know you're eating heart and liver. Put upon top of oven-baked potatoes and sprinkle on some cheese and bam, you're in business.
This is a good base line, though I have no idea what Offal is.
Some other suggestions:
Oatmeal
A bag of frozen, skinless chicken breast (cook it in the crock pot, shred it, portion it, and freeze it) - $7 a bag and it could last you all month
Low-sodium canned tuna
Cabbage can be cheap (again cook it, portion it, freeze it)0 -
Here's a serious answer.
Turkey Dogs are a dollar for a pack of 10. They have a good amount of fat and protein. Eat 2 dogs 4x a day as small meals. You'd need about 240 dogs a month which would be $24.00
Buy 3 large tubs of oats ($9.00). This will be your breakfast and your source of carbs and fiber. This can also be a snack.
Spend the last $7.00 on bananas.0 -
I have no idea how anyone could stay fed for $40 a month unless there was a food bank involved, but if you google "How to eat for $10 a week" there are lots of websites so i guess it can be done.
Actually, a food bank is not a bad idea. You can use this to supplement your budget, and pay it forward when you are able. Don't be ashamed about it.0 -
too bad your not a woman order water say your not hungry and eat off everyones plate0
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I cook in bulk (I do have a significant other) but I prep all of my food for lunches once every three months and put them in the deep freeze. Usually each of my lunches turns out to be between $2.60-$3.00 a meal. You could do this for dinners as well. If you could make a bunch of meals let's say at $3 for lunch $3 for din din and $3-$4 for b-fasy (I've made bulk egg bakes and frozen them).
I LOVE to cook so cooking for just one or two is not my style. (My mom used to run a catering business when I was young) Cooking for a catering/bulk is WAY WAY Cheeper than doing it one meal at a time.
By the end of the three months I'm ready for a change. The other cool thing is with MFP you can enter all of your ingredients and make a recipe and divide that by the # of your containers.
I've done spaghetti with brown rice noodles or rice
High protein low carb meatloaf with carrots and parsnips
Sweet Potato Kale Egg Bake - YUMMY!
Chicken/Broc/Mushroom
You got this buddy you can do this and be healthy all at the same time. A tiny investment for approx. 100 Containers and you're good to go (you can find a pack of $10 for a $1 at a dollar store).
I have $11 a week for food a few years ago and I was able to get extremely creative as well as empowered that I could live and sustain myself on that. Have fun with it, you'll do just fine!0 -
I struggle with spending too. Growing your own works as well as community gardens if you have those available in your area. I also like tubs of oats and eggs. Anything in bulk is always a bonus.0
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I didn't price out this list, but I'm fairly sure you could get everything on it for about forty:
--Granola, 2-4 boxes (high in protein, small portion size so each box will last you at least a week)
--Rice, 5 lb. bag
--Canned tuna, 10 cans
--Baby carrots, 4 bags
--Eggs, 2 dozen
--Bananas, 1 large bunch
--Broccoli, 1 package / 2-3 large heads
--Cucumbers / Squashes / Zucchinis, 1-2 of each
--Fresh garlic, ginger, cilantro, green onion (1 bulb/ chunk/ bunch each)
--Mustard, 1 bottle
And sometimes, in summer, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries will be on sale for $1/pint or $2/quart. I look forward to those sales every year
Best of luck to you!0 -
Some of the things I buy regularly but, have reduced but, has reduced my grocery bill a lot!
dried beans (any variety) you can boil them and freeze them to use in dishes later especially if you are short on meat
Bag of rice
tilapia (bag of frozen is $3.20 each at Fred Meyer / Kroger grocery stores)
squash (acorn and spaghetti are my favvs and fllling), zuchini, brussel spouts, green onion (if you can stand them much mellower than regular onions) egg plant, spinach, broccoli, etc...eat what is in season if you can its cheaper
potato
Bag of frozen chicken (many times 6.99 on sale) or get a whole chicken on sale. Boil it with carrots and celery, strain and refrigerate the chincke broth to cook with later. shred the boiled chicken should last a few days.
Lemon or lime for your water
find a place you can get cheap fresh fruit (if you neighbor has a fruit tree?). When I lived in CA people would sell their backyard fruits cheap on the street corner
ground turkey or chicken (shop around) this would be a splurge item
18 pack of eggs
Things to accumulate:
Braggs amino acid (liquid) substitute for soy sauce-very yummy if you like asian dishes or just on your rice and veggies
Cumin, garlic powder, ginger(raw or powder) helps give your dishes some flavor
EVOO (if you can get a small bottle) you might have to just work on accumulating some of the spices etc. But it will really add flavor to your dishes.
If you have any asian/ethinic markets sometimes you can get great deals on seafood and veggies. Shop smart and you can really stretch those $$$..the beans are a real life saver and can bulk up your veggies.
I had to feed a family of 4 for several years on 120.00 a month for groceries it was tight but, we did it. Buy things that you can cook once and make multiple recipes from. If it is only you eating make up something big and freeze leftovers or eat it all week long. I like to freeze in the big freezer baggies (2.00/box) and then you have something quick later. Best of luck you can do this!0
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