When You've Got No Money...

Shop sales... and alot of times you can get fruits/veggies super cheap at the farmers market. I only buy fruits/veggies in very small quantities (so I have to go to the store twice/week) to make sure they don't go bad before I use them.

It's the time of year for berries to be on sale... freeze them if you can't use them quickly enough. Oranges are typically only 50 cent each. Also, you can usually pick up a bag of mixed apples/oranges for between 2.50-5.00

Thought of growing your own veggies? Tomato plants are pretty easy to grow inpots on a balcony if you live in an apt or something.

Also, you can get a big tub of yogurt for usually 2-3.00 which is cheaper than the individual ones.

Beans, which you have, and rice. I wouldn't waste a ton of your money on fresh produce, it's not going to be as filling as beans, rice, lentils. Make a lentil, bean, and canned tomato stew or something (some sort of cheap veggie chili like soup), that will last a while.

The big tubs of yogurts are typically cheaper than the individual ones, and blocks of cheese are cheaper than bags of shredded cheese.

Carrots, celery, and cucumbers are relatively cheap and good snack food. Sometimes I add granola to my yogurt to make it more filling. I also try to see if they have any manager's special meat (at its sell by date) and freeze it for future use.

I'd say buy in bulk rather than pre-cut options. EX: Buy a brick of cheese and shred it yourself. Buy a big tub of yogurt vs. mini ones. Buy an entire head of lettuce rather than pre-shredded, you get my drift.

My staples are chicken breast, onion, lettuce, black beans, refried beans, seasonings, cheese and garlic. I usually have pastas at home as well. Sometimes we have a tight budget and I try to keep my staples on hand or at least have money for them. You should always keep canned goods on hand if you can so that you have stuff to work with on a tight week.

You can make burritos, chicken tacos, tuna salad, a simple dinner of chicken/veggies/salad and or potato, pasta etc. The good thing about this community is that I learned I dont always have to eat like a freak and I can still have anything I want within moderation. So if all you have is spaghetti, ramen and hot dogs, by all means eat it

I will reiterate a few things that other people said, and hopefully add a little bit. During a particularly tough time, I got our grocery bill down to about $35/week for my husband and I. I was couponing though, which can take up a lot of time if you get really into it. Here are some things that still work even if you aren't a big clipper.

- Meal planning - Where possible, you might consider allocating a certain portion of your budget to things that you will need in the near term and freezables. That way you can take better advantage of sales and good prices that you find.
- Shopping sales... if you go to Southersavers.com there is a blog post they did on what 'good' prices to look for based on different products. I know where I live, you can very often find boneless chicken breasts at $1.50 - $2/lb on sale. Whole chicken can go on sale for $0.69/lb as well. When this is the case (for boneless), I break up into the proper portions in plastic wrap and freeze it. It makes meal prep easier as well as portion control. Same goes for ground beef or any other meat that I have a chance to buy.
- Shredded cheese generally is more expensive, but you have to look at the per oz price if it is on sale. Sometimes i can be the same price when on sale.
- Fruits and veggies that are in season. Freeze where you can.
- Some foods that seem 'bad' are more about portioning to accomodate a small indulgence. So investment in small bags to portion things, like chips or cookies, is a good way to buy some of the cheaper stuff but not take you to fall off the wagon status. (create your own 100 calorie packs in a way)
- Coupon matching websites - Even if you don't buy the paper, a lot of sites that match the coupons to the sales by store will also have links to online coupons you can print and will highlight when something is a 'good deal'.
- Yogurt - Two prong approach... one is to try different store brands since the regular price is generally cheaper than what you'll find in name brands, but you have to find one you like. The other is that the name brands that have coupons, coupled with a sales and printable coupons can often get you to a pretty low piece price. Since it's perishable, you can only do so much of this though.
- Cereal - Similar to yogurt as far as testing store brands and good sales mixed with coupons (that are usually available to print online).

While I do shop weekly, I hardly ever buy anything that is not on sale at a store. I still use coupons, but not to the extent I did before.

First of all... Shredded cheese costs about 5x the price of regular cheese.

Shred it yourself and save some dough!

In reference to cheese shredded....they recently reduced from 8 oz to 7 oz and upped the price. It's not worth your money. Maybe some nonfat cottage cheese would go longer.

The other poster is right that you should learn to coupon for a stockpile, even eating healthy you can get a stockpile of free rice, pasta, PB and tuna and some other things. At this very moment in the past 2 weeks I was able to get free Chobani close to free chobani bites and free Yopa and free Liberte brand yogurts by PRINTING coupons for appx .30/1 that doubled or tripled at my stores. OR by matching a Target printable coupon with manufacturer printable coupons. More recently I was also able to get a tub of plain greek yogurt for .50 and Diamond Nut Chips for .75. Find a couponing blog from someone local to you for advise.

I don't know where you live but our health food store Sprouts has bulk bin items so if you want just a little quinoa for one night you don't have to spead 3-$6 on a box.

Some farmers markets or Hispanic food markets tend to have incredibly cheaper produce. I'm talking 80% less. Also look for a market on the move event on Satu/Sundays which is a charity that gives gobs of produce for $10, the hitch is is close to it's end and usually needs to be used in 1-3 days.

If you buy the beans it's cheaper to buy bulk or dried and soak them yourself. Also that's less sodium for you.

Like the other poster, I still use coupons but not like I did before. My grocery budget for 3 was about $25-$45/week for 2007-2009. In 2010 I moved to AZ which has cheaper dairy and produce but less advantageous couponing so I think it went up to $120 a week. Later in 2010 I started an extreme lifestyle change and now our grocery budget is about $600/month but I buy tons of crap I don't have to because I like it...like Quorn, Quinoa Pasta, Nugo bars, protein shakes and endless fruits and vegetables and organic...

My point is I've seen both ends here and you CAN do this cheap and with coupons you can sometimes even get the good stuff free-cheap.

Oh and get some egg whites or eggs in there to up your protein.