If You Had to Be VERY Careful Money-wise….

Hi there

I've found this blog useful from time to time.
It's written by a mum who used to feed herself and her son with £10 per week. The recipes are normally healthy as her focus was providing her growing son with nutritious food. (They're also very tasty!)
She sold almost everything she owned to make ends meet so there's no fancy equipment used either.

http://agirlcalledjack.com/category/recipes-food/

hope it helps

1 can of kidney beans, 1 small onion in cubes ,1 tomato in cubes, and sheered carrots I put this in a pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil until they are all cook I put 1 tablespoon of ketchup, cayenne, salt and garlic powder, I put this in a bowl and like toppings I added shredded lettuce, 1/2 avocado in cubes and 1 tablespoon of sour cream
Is absolutely delicious I assure you actually that's my favorite food, sometimes i make white rice and eat a little portion with this.
You can added grounded meat too but without meat is better.

You can also make Brochette chicken in cubes with onions in cubes, mushrooms, and yellow green or red bell peppers, very easy and very tasty.

If you live near an Aldi I'd go there and you will be fine. They have a lot of healthy options in their fit and active product line and they are way cheaper than any grocery store. I go there once a month and spend $50 and I'm eating really well for a few weeks on that.

Thanks for asking this question. We can all use these great ideas and resources.

If you have access to a freezer you can bulk cook and freeze - I still do it now because I'm tight also if you are prepared to or have any friends who hunt or fish they can be a great source of free protein. Look up foraging there is lots of free food out there

I know this sounds horrible, and most people don't like them, but Spaghetti O's! I'm basically a tall kid, so I love them. They're only about a dollar a can and most of the time can be split into two servings. They also have a lot of protein.

Invest in a protein shake.

Tons of great ideas here, so just a different idea to make a sort of game of it to make the next month less stressful. When ever we've moved we always set a stop date for grocery shopping so we don't have to move food, or have it go to waste. Totally opposite way of thinking for you, but the goal of the game is to empty the pantry. The fun comes in trying to be really creative about how to use the supplies you have on hand together somehow. If we don't have a move we still play the game for a month every couple of years just to make sure goods don't slip past their expiration date. When your goal is to empty the pantry and freezer those bare shelves are liberating. We've found it takes more meals than we imagined. Give everything a good scrub when you win membership into the clean pantry club, put down fresh shelf paper, and go forward with a renewed idea of how long you really could live on what's in your kitchen. It will change the way you shop!

Lentil soup is really good! You can use Giadda's Recipe and make it taste Italian (leave out the pasta for fewer calories AND you can spice it up Mexican style by adding cilantro, lime juice and some Tajin (I put that S&HT on everything!) The Only expensive thing in it is the low fat, low sodium chicken broth, but if you go to Costco, Smart and Final or Food max Im sure you can find it for much less! Its also a great source of Folic Acid! And settles the stomach when you are starving.

If I had to be very careful money-wise, I would cut out meat (more or less).

I would get my protein primarily from beans/lentils/chickpeas and do things like vegetable curries, casseroles, tagines, etc. with rice/pasta/couscous depending what went best with the flavours I was using.

I would eat meat if I found some at less than half price reduced to clear. I might also add cheap tinned tuna.

I would probably use some of the older recipes from this site: http://agirlcalledjack.com/ She had to feed herself and her son for £10 per week, mostly using supermarket budget ranges.