Low-income help

sounds like my finances. im on ssi, myself.
I get hardly any food stamps 39 bucks is all i get. the rest comes out of my pocket.
but anyways. search out a bargain market, like i live in the northwest (spokane,WA) and we have Winco Foods. Me and my boyfriend have done tons of research and found that Winco in our area has the best prices and hurts our wallet the least.
we even went to the extent of having me at winco, and having my bf at Walmart or another store, to compare prices. the prices will always change, but you can get an idea of the cheaper store. make a list of the stuff you would normally buy, and add up everything and see what stores price adds up to be less.

on top of that, i found that coupons are a waste of time. and those couponing shows are fake.

look for your local deals, it may cost gas, but browse the local stores for good deals, or if you have internet, and the store has a website, look for their specials.

you can always hit the food bank, i have had horrible experience with the food bank. people are rude, and just don't care, they cut in line, and people start to fight. so i just don't go anymore.

i recommended shopping at only ONE store. because we shop one a week for our food. and last month we found our self's shopping at 3 different stores, and spent a lot of money, and where starving at the end of the month.

ILoveCockatiels77 wrote: »

sounds like my finances. im on ssi, myself.
I get hardly any food stamps 39 bucks is all i get. the rest comes out of my pocket.
but anyways. search out a bargain market, like i live in the northwest (spokane,WA) and we have Winco Foods. Me and my boyfriend have done tons of research and found that Winco in our area has the best prices and hurts our wallet the least.
we even went to the extent of having me at winco, and having my bf at Walmart or another store, to compare prices. the prices will always change, but you can get an idea of the cheaper store. make a list of the stuff you would normally buy, and add up everything and see what stores price adds up to be less.

on top of that, i found that coupons are a waste of time. and those couponing shows are fake.

look for your local deals, it may cost gas, but browse the local stores for good deals, or if you have internet, and the store has a website, look for their specials.

you can always hit the food bank, i have had horrible experience with the food bank. people are rude, and just don't care, they cut in line, and people start to fight. so i just don't go anymore.

i recommended shopping at only ONE store. because we shop one a week for our food. and last month we found our self's shopping at 3 different stores, and spent a lot of money, and where starving at the end of the month.

coupons are not a waste of time.
sometimes you can even get money back when done to the extreme. seen it and related to people who do it
I try to save as much as possible with double coupon days, MFR coupons, store specials.
it takes a lot of work, but if money is tight, it can be worth it-at least in the US

the lds run good food banks. the old ladies were always kind and slipping me an extra container of chocolate milk or insisting we took more veggies.

You can get cheap frozen meals ($1, small Michaelina's or no name sometimes). It's cheapest to find those cooked deli chickens vs fresh/frozen in the stores. They are not big but you can get the most use out of them.

Poster above had it bang out. $5 will get you pretty much one item..lol. Bread has even gone up a lot so we make a lot of our own when we can.

ILoveCockatiels77 wrote: »

sounds like my finances. im on ssi, myself.
I get hardly any food stamps 39 bucks is all i get. the rest comes out of my pocket.
but anyways. search out a bargain market, like i live in the northwest (spokane,WA) and we have Winco Foods. Me and my boyfriend have done tons of research and found that Winco in our area has the best prices and hurts our wallet the least.
we even went to the extent of having me at winco, and having my bf at Walmart or another store, to compare prices. the prices will always change, but you can get an idea of the cheaper store. make a list of the stuff you would normally buy, and add up everything and see what stores price adds up to be less.

on top of that, i found that coupons are a waste of time. and those couponing shows are fake.

look for your local deals, it may cost gas, but browse the local stores for good deals, or if you have internet, and the store has a website, look for their specials.

you can always hit the food bank, i have had horrible experience with the food bank. people are rude, and just don't care, they cut in line, and people start to fight. so i just don't go anymore.

i recommended shopping at only ONE store. because we shop one a week for our food. and last month we found our self's shopping at 3 different stores, and spent a lot of money, and where starving at the end of the month.

Walmart has a savings catcher app for smartphones and I believe you can also use the saving catcher on a computer. You Scan The QR or Barcode on the cash register receipt (or type a code into a form on their website) and it compares what you paid at Walmart to local competitors and determines who had the lower price. You get walmart store credit for the difference when the competition is cheaper. We typically get about 5% credit each trip. It works with most things in the store with a few restrictions. Vast majority of food is covered

Saves running all over town

I know you don't like beans, so I won't suggest them, but things like microwave "baked" sweet or white potatoes topped with frozen veggies, quesadillas with just chicken (use bone in thighs or legs) and some frozen veg, ground turkey made into meatballs, sautéed cabbage as a base for a lot of meals, rice, frozen vegetables, lettuce, pasta, canned fish, and I don't know if you guys have a $1 store or something like we have in the U.S, but we can buy canned tomatoes (use as sauce) and many dried herb/seasonings. Soups are your best friend and you can make any flavor combinations you like and freeze them in individual portions for future meals.
I was extremely poor at one point - $8 to grocery shop for a week for a family of 2. We did eat a lot of rice and beans, pasta, and eggs.

I am not necessarily low-income (although it definitely seems that way sometimes), but while cutting calories, I have saved a lot of money. As others said, buy foods when they go on sale because they are close to their expiration date and freeze them. Also, most grocery stores throw away the bread at the end of the day that they baked fresh in the morning. Get to know your local grocer and ask if they will give some to you. Canned tuna is cheap and you can do all sorts of stuff with it - make a sandwich, spread it on crackers, put it in with some lettuce for a salad. Costco always sells its Dannon Greek yogurt (18 to a box) for $9.99 about three weeks before they expire, so if you don't have a Costco, I'm sure there are other places which do the same. Hope some of this helps.

Packerjohn wrote: »

Kexessa wrote: »

Childfree1991 wrote: »

I rarely grocery shop. I can't afford it at the moment (I refuse to go on food stamps though because it's too much of a hassle) and they understand. I go to 10 different food banks in my area.

I sincerely hope when you graduate college, get a job and become self sufficient you remember what these food banks did for you. Designed as a band aid to help those without food make it through a day or a week and preventing true starvation you are using as your sole source of food. I hope you take a % of every single paycheck you ever earn in your life and financially support all 10 for decades in thanks for them allowing you to suck up their resources because you find applying for SNAP to be too much of a hassle.

This.

It IS a hassle. Too much government, too much application, potential denial, probably going to the welfare office to get a bunch of crap done. The good thing is, food banks come from people and companies who willingly donate. Food stamps...not so much. I'd rather take donations, not a % of someone's paycheck. I don't want to be in that category of people.

I know you mentioned the dislike of legumes, but if you have a blender there are good homemade black bean brownies or white bean blondies that are really inexpensive & high in protein.

If you're doing the white rice, as mentioned by earlier posters, ground turkey is a great option with some veggies chopped up. Aldis is a great place to find some inexpensive veggies.

If possible another way to stretch the budget is homemade pancakes, you can add in some of the higher fiber flours too.

Plain Yogurt with frozen fruit (defrosted in microwave or overnight in fridge) is another good one for breakfast. Frozen berries tend to be a little less expensive & last longer. Frozen veggies are also often less expensive & last longer than fresh.

Eggs used to be a great inexpensive protein source, but they are rising right now in the us. Skillet veggie omelets or quiche.

I worked years with low income families, not to mention growing up in an extremely low income household, I found a flexible list - that I could adapt based on sales at the local store & bringing a calculator shopping helped a lot. Down here in the US on top of food banks, a lot of our local churches do weekly meals & at these they would send home extra fresh fruits, apples or bananas with the people who come.
Somewhere I have a huge binder with a bunch of $1 meal plans, but I thinka bunch have beans.

Childfree1991 wrote: »

Packerjohn wrote: »

Kexessa wrote: »

Childfree1991 wrote: »

I rarely grocery shop. I can't afford it at the moment (I refuse to go on food stamps though because it's too much of a hassle) and they understand. I go to 10 different food banks in my area.

I sincerely hope when you graduate college, get a job and become self sufficient you remember what these food banks did for you. Designed as a band aid to help those without food make it through a day or a week and preventing true starvation you are using as your sole source of food. I hope you take a % of every single paycheck you ever earn in your life and financially support all 10 for decades in thanks for them allowing you to suck up their resources because you find applying for SNAP to be too much of a hassle.

This.

It IS a hassle. Too much government, too much application, potential denial, probably going to the welfare office to get a bunch of crap done. The good thing is, food banks come from people and companies who willingly donate. Food stamps...not so much. I'd rather take donations, not a % of someone's paycheck. I don't want to be in that category of people.

Childfree1991 wrote: »

Packerjohn wrote: »

Kexessa wrote: »

Childfree1991 wrote: »

I rarely grocery shop. I can't afford it at the moment (I refuse to go on food stamps though because it's too much of a hassle) and they understand. I go to 10 different food banks in my area.

I sincerely hope when you graduate college, get a job and become self sufficient you remember what these food banks did for you. Designed as a band aid to help those without food make it through a day or a week and preventing true starvation you are using as your sole source of food. I hope you take a % of every single paycheck you ever earn in your life and financially support all 10 for decades in thanks for them allowing you to suck up their resources because you find applying for SNAP to be too much of a hassle.

This.

It IS a hassle. Too much government, too much application, potential denial, probably going to the welfare office to get a bunch of crap done. The good thing is, food banks come from people and companies who willingly donate. Food stamps...not so much. I'd rather take donations, not a % of someone's paycheck. I don't want to be in that category of people.

What is "that category of people"?

From what you have posted, you are going to several food banks because you over extended yourself on a apartment close to a campus so you don't have to ride a bus and you don't want a roommate to share expenses. Also since one of reasons you don't want to go to the welfare office is potential denial you probably have too much to be taking from food banks.

I hate to tell you, people aren't making donations to a food bank to help people in your apparent situation. It appears there is plenty you can do on your own to pay for food.