$25 weekly food budget

I can only talk about the UK perspective here. £25 currently feeds me very well. First of all, meat and fish is fairly expensive, while rice, pasta, beans and lentils, and fruit and veggies are fairly cheap. Bread as well.

So I'm eating what is cheap, with small amounts of meat or fish, usually around 80-100gr. Fortunately, it's also the cheap things that keep me full. Aldi and Lids have a couple of seasonal veggies constantly on offer for about 30-60 pence, and I do buy those a lot.

My breakfast and lunch are usually slices of wholegrain bread with ham, cheese, salami or other things. Plus fruits and veggies to snack on.

Every Saturday I buy an artisan bread, with a real crust and tons of flavour, and I'll enjoy it over the weekend. I usually cook for two days, sometimes I make a stew or curry for 3-4 days. Not only saves energy but also on throwing away vegetable leftovers.

If you have a WinCo nearby or another store with a bulk section buy your dry staples there, after comparing the price per ounce with the cheapest store in town. For me WinCo is cheaper on beans, rice, many nuts, and oatmeal (I buy the 15 pound bag and bought a 5 gallon bucket to store it in, but they sell bulk oatmeal too not in 15# bags), and you only buy what you need right then.

i have a barley and sweet potato dish i make - it costs me approx $5 and feeds me all week (literally, barley, sweet potato and vegetable broth)

xmarye wrote: »

It can be enough money to feed an adult, depending on where you live. In Canada, the average is $200 per person per month. In the US, it seems to be $100 per month. Check out Freedom in a Budget. She posts budgeting videos and financial tips, but is also sharing her weight loss on a budget. She spends $25 per week (she lives in Florida, US) and does the weight watchers points too (you will notice that in her latest videos she spends closer to $50 per week, but that's because she just moved in with her husband and now shops for two). She shares delicious recipes too! I don't do the WW points, but I enjoy watching her videos still.

Here's a link to her weight loss playlist:

How to spend $100 a month on groceries videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEXqDrCw23Q and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMe5XShpWYk&t=907s

Good luck! ox

where did you get these numbers? while it is possible someone could eat for this amount (200/month in Canada, 100/month in the USA), I can't imagine these being averages?!

You may get some good tips from these folks - http://www.frugalwoods.com/category/food/

Also, you can get a free ecopy of the cookbook "Good and Cheap" here: https://www.leannebrown.com/ I've cooked a few recipes from it and they all hold up.

1. Shop farmer's markets/local if you can. Often times you can get good discounts.
2. Look for an Asian market. Produce is super cheap.
3. Dried legumes, rice, lentils, etc. Macros per dollar are amazing.
4. Shop sales at any of your stores. I mostly shop King Soopers with my member card, which also saves me a good bit. For instance, chicken thighs are on sale for $1/pound at my KS this week with my card.
5. Meal plan but be willing to adjust. If I wrote a meal plan with asparagus but brussels sprouts are on sale, I get the sale stuff.
6. Prepare as much as you can. Prepared foods are more expensive and not as good for you (in most cases).
7. Optimize dollars versus macros. Things like celery, iceberg lettuce, etc are not worth buying in the sense that you gain no real nutritional value for the money you're spending.

kimny72 wrote: »

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

xmarye wrote: »

It can be enough money to feed an adult, depending on where you live. In Canada, the average is $200 per person per month. In the US, it seems to be $100 per month. Check out Freedom in a Budget. She posts budgeting videos and financial tips, but is also sharing her weight loss on a budget. She spends $25 per week (she lives in Florida, US) and does the weight watchers points too (you will notice that in her latest videos she spends closer to $50 per week, but that's because she just moved in with her husband and now shops for two). She shares delicious recipes too! I don't do the WW points, but I enjoy watching her videos still.

Here's a link to her weight loss playlist:

How to spend $100 a month on groceries videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEXqDrCw23Q and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMe5XShpWYk&t=907s

Good luck! ox

where did you get these numbers? while it is possible someone could eat for this amount (200/month in Canada, 100/month in the USA), I can't imagine these being averages?!

I agree, they sound more like "with a little effort, technically it's possible to feed one person with this amount". I can eat for $25 a week if I'm careful and plan well, but no way is that the US average.

Agree. I live in Seattle. Not exactly a cheap place to live. For instance, eggs are $1.80 for a dozen...milk can be had for $2.39 a gallon, but you have to shop around for it and go to the stores using staples as loss leaders. I am pretty careful because I'm doing this, "How low can I go?" experiment - and I buy any treats and spices and condiments at the Dollar store or from the bulk area at my Kroger. I buy store-ground/grind-it-yourself peanut butter which is a great deal. $1.65 or so for a pound of organic as opposed to what, $4.50 for Adams? I use coupons. Kroger is great for savings if you pay attention - but it's work and I can't just go in and buy name brand items, I buy all store brand when possible.

I always want to say to the lady next to me, "But if you buy this store brand paper towels you get twice as much for the same price," or "This butter/milk/sausage is $1.75 less for the same thing."


I manage to keep my mouth shut, but the struggle is real!!

Food (and cooking experience) is highly individual so this might not apply but I could live pretty happily on $25 a week if I had to until my situation improved. Meat, eggs, beans and vegetables are all healthful and affordable where I live.

I'd buy 7lbs or spend up to $20 on meat (my preference would be for ground beef), get a dozen eggs, a bag of beans and spend the last little bit on cheap, versatile vegetables - cabbage, onions, canned tomatoes, a bag of frozen vegetables etc. If I didn't already have a full pantry and was starting from scratch I'd spend $10 on meat that first week (or two if need be) and buy more beans. I'd use the savings to get whatever pantry items I needed like salt, pepper, coffee, tea, vinegar etc.

Check out krazy coupon lady website. They tell you how to combine coupons for free or nearly free items in your area. In the last week I have gotten free del monte fruit cups, Hershey bars, cheese, fig bars, special k, muscle milk bars, pine cleaners, razors, makeup, laundry soap. I use these major discounts to expand my budget and pantry. I stock up when free or really cheap and use to have a good pantry full of stuff to cook from