$75-$100 Budget for 2 weeks of meals! D:

Assuming you have flour, this soup (the mild version) could be made for virtually pennies and it's delicious. If you don't have the Asian pantry items on hand you could easily americanize it by just using some chicken broth or bouillon.

http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sujebi

If I had to work under that budget it'd be with a lot of dried beans, lentils, split peas, etc. along with rice and homemade pastas and breads. Also frozen veggies (can't abide canned) and anything crazy on sale at the meat counter.

Good luck!

I just shop for myself and I rarely go over $50 a week so that should be fine for two people. My staples are:

Perdue chicken
Yogurt
Frozen Spinach (like $2 a bag for Shop Rite brand and there's a lot of servings in there)
Lettuce
Celery
Carrots
Hummus
Oatmeal
Fruits
Granola bars
Bread
Turkey

And whatever else I feel like that week

Bump

I agree with everyone who said look at the loss leaders in your grocery store to meal plan. After that, you need to step out of the comfort zone (at least for me). When I am on a tight budget, anything with a label marked LIGHT, SHREDDED, INSTANT, COMPLETE, PREWASHED, INDIVIDUAL, SLICED, READY TO EAT etc means you are paying for convenience and you don't have the budget for that. However, without convenience that is so built into our society, you will find lower prices on food. Skip the baby carrots, buy a giant bag of carrots. I can't claim it's exciting but here is what I would look for:

Beverages- Water, Water and water, make that tap water.

Breakfast: Oatmeal (not instant and certainly not in little envelopes). I eat steal cut oats made in the crockpot. Leftovers last 3 days at least when heated with a splash of milk. I think you could spend $3 and both of you could eat for a week. Toss in some brown sugar. Eat whatever fruit is on sale.

Lunch- Grab your boxes of rice and a bag of dried black beans ($1), tortillas (I can get 36 for $4 at BJs), a block of cheddar cheese ($4?), and a big jar of Salsa ($4?). Cook those beans, shred that cheese. Mix all of it together and throw it in your burrito and heat. You can add anything to it.. corn, chicken, peppers if you have the $. (these also freeze REALLY well for on the go lunches). Let's say this makes 24 burritos, that's 50 cents each. Eat with a banana (8 bananas or so at BJs cost $1.25 in New England).

PBJ sandwiches

Snacks- Popcorn. Buy kernels and cook on the stovetop. Yogurt (big containers divided up). Celery w/ PB, Carrot sticks, 1/2 sandwiches.

Dinner- I'd probably go with some pasta (maybe with meat sauce if there is $), breakfast egg casseroles, breakfast for dinner, quiche, sandwiches, tuna casserole, baked potatoes or chicken stir fry. Use up any extra rice. Eat with whatever vegetable is on sale.

Try to shop for things not on a great sale in a place that has low prices.. aldi, walmart, target etc

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

Check out 100 Days of Real Food. She provides meal plans and recipes for $125 /wk for 4 people. You should be able to cut that in half for 2!

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/category/100-days-of-real-food-on-a-budget/

when we don't have much to spend on foods, i clip coupons like mad and shop on sale. our list normally looks like this:

beans
rice
lentils
yogurt
nuts
cheese
eggs
tortillas
peanut butter
frozen veg

I can only spend about $50-$100 per MONTH for my boyfriend and myself. Luckily he usually eats lunch or supper elsewhere.

Check for coupons and sales. If something you eat a lot of it on sale for a really good price buy and freeze...I always buy extra bread and freeze it. Always keep spices on hand...it's a bit pricey to build up a nice selection of prices but it will help a LOT when cooking. Buy the whole animal aka buy the whole chicken...makes chicken broth as well as eating the meat. Make lots of soups and stews.

Umm, not sure what else. This is mostly advice I've always heard that I'm just passing on.

I'll be back myself to read everything already posted.

So I've finally read through all the posts and damn...I'm jealous of prices. lol I live in a small town with only ONE grocery store and lets just say the prices are at least double of what most people are listing here for things. I do try to do grocery shopping when I visit my mom because there's more grocery stores and the one I usually shop at is a lot cheaper (a trip there was $50, would've been $75-$100 in my town)

I have 5 children so we have to stretch out our money like that as well. Two things that I do that we can eat on for several days are big pots of homemade Vegetarian Chili and Chicken Vegetable soup. They both are cheap and last for days!!! I suggest stocking up on dried beans, like pinto beans, lentils, etc. Those when mixed with rice are the perfect protein when you don't eat or can't afford meat. Also, I would stock up on Chicken broth (the low sodium one) for soups, veggies that you like to eat (ones that will go a long way, since the packages are pretty big, such as carrots, celery, etc), canned tuna (in water not oil). salmon, or chicken to put on salads or eat on there own. Cereal of course (whole grain options) will also go a long way.

Here are my recipes for Vegetarian Chili and Chicken Vegetable soup.

Vegetarian Chili:

Dry Pinto beans (soaked overnight, then cooked for 2 hours)
canned corn (optional)
can of diced or stewed tomatoes
can of tomato sauce
diced 1/2 cup onion (lightly sautee before adding to chili)
chili powder
Salt & Pepper (optional)

You can also add these (which will make it a non-vegetarian recipe of course, but a great meat taste replacement)
Low Sodium Beef Bouillon
Low Sodium Beef Broth (1/2 cup) This is also optional. I sometimes add it to make it a little more soupy and it tastes great with it since I am not adding meat to it.

Chicken and Vegetable Soup
Canned chicken (however many you want to add)
Low Sodium Chicken Broth
Low Sodium chicken bouillon
Whatever veggies you like (I usually use carrot, celery, onion)
You can also add rice if you want it to be a little more filling...and it is a healthier option than adding noodles.

Gonna use this thread for when I go shopping! thanx!

When I make my rice I realy like it with a grated carrot, bit of onion, little celery, and if you want a little bullion. If I have any cooked meat I throw that in too. It works real good if the rice is the 20 min rice cause it cooks the vegis while the rice cooks.

I spend about $30 a week on food (excluding subway....) It's not too hard. Brown rice is VERY cheap and easy to mix into any meal to help you feel full. Chicken breasts are cheap, just get some spices. Noodles... Dieting is MUCH easier on a tight budget because you can't afford to make fancy meals, therefore eat a boring diet to keep you from splurging.

I spend between $40 and $60 every two weeks for just me.

My list gets made as soon as the flyers come out.

Bags of dried beans, rice and lentils last forever. I watch for big items on sale like a case of canned vegetable soup or the big tins of coffee. I buy big bags of apples, a big bag of a citrus fruit (depends what's on sale between mandarins, oranges, grapefruit). Instead of buying a box of cereal every week, I buy a big bag of hot cereal that lasts the whole month (Sunny Boy, Red River).

I don't shop based on recipes, I pick recipes based on what I have.

I shop at a mall where I can buy groceries at three different stores to get the best deals (always makes a difference, especially with tuna, yogurt, bread).

You mentioned rice. My husband is from India so he really likes to eat rice. Some different healthy varieties I have found are:

1. Marinate chicken or beef with soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, sesame oil, and garlic for a few hours. Fry up the chicken then add in some vegetables -whatever you prefer- I've used carrots with this recipe mostly. Once it's all cooked up you put that over your white rice. You just have to be careful w/ the sodium in this one, but it tastes amazing.
2. A cheaper variety is to get a bag of mixed vegetables- I buy from Wal Mart an 'asian medley'- cook that with or without meat, add in some soy sauce or if you don't want soy sauce you can do garlic, salt, onion, and to kick it up add in some crushed red pepper (which you can get at dollar stores).
3. Chicken curry is also great over rice. Very simply it's onions, chicken, couple tbsp of curry powder, nonfat/light sour cream, and milk.
4. When we're really tight, we do a tomato rice or egg rice. The tomato rice is crushed tomato, curry powder, coriander, and you mix that in with rice and cook it. With the egg rice I add in some chicken flavoring into the white rice, put in frying pan, and mix the egg and scramble it in.
With all of these recipes you can add in red pepper or cayenne pepper to spice it up. My husband also loves hot sauce and spiracha (a Thai pepper sauce) on everything.
I use Jasmine rice because it's cheaper than Basmatti but taste better and is healthier than plain enriched white rice. I use my rice cooker all the time. The downside of rice is all the carbohydrates in it but if you make sure you measure it out you'll find that a cup is actually a pretty good serving.
Hope this helps!