OMG MFP...

https://www.angelfoodministries.com/

This site may help you. I know a young couple that was struggling, and was told about this site. It helped them out a lot.

If you have to eat what your family has (which at least you won't starve to death), try eating only one of their meals and do the suggestions other people had for the rest. And limit your portions during those meals. If they eat pasta, and they mix it with the spaghetti sauce, ask to have them separate and get your portion out first so you know how much you are eating.

Take the breading off that corndog, and eat only one.

Lasagna? Can you suggest trying a new recipe, and make eggplant lasagna? Offer to cook if they supply the food, tell them you'd love to try some new recipes out on them. Sneaky, I know.

Casserole type stuff is usually cheaper and can go pretty far, 2 cans of beans (.79), a pound of ground turkey (1.99), chicken broth (.89), some celery and lettuce (under $1 for the meal's worth) and that would last one person quite a bit and isn't bad for you. You can also serve it over rice. You can put different types of soup in there to make different things. My chili recipe is something I came up with this week- ground turkey, a couple of cans of different types of beans (chili beans, garbanzo, pinto) dumped in the crockpot along with a couple cans of diced or stewed tomatoes, a cup of water, some chili spice and some cayenne pepper and my family thinks it's great. It was a desparation meal.

Rice is very cheap, and much better for you. You can plan for future "low $ times" after you get thru this by buying in bulk, like a 10# bag of whole grain rice, which I can find at Costco for around $10-17. Or at a bulk foods store where they sell in bulk but you don't have to buy a year's worth of stuff (we have Cub Foods now Winco here). I know that doesn't help you much now, but it's good to plan for future times.

Buy extra meat when it's on sale, package it in individual portions for future use and stick it in the freezer (if you live by yourself or have a way to keep others from taking it). I do that and it's literally the only reason our family is eating meat this week, because we screwed up and I have $9 for groceries, and 3 kids 6 and under. But I have bought stuff on sale just in case, so I have plenty of minute rice and pasta (more for them than me) and chicken breasts. I'm using the $9 for milk to get them thru the next week and a half till payday, and no, they won't get the good organic milk I usually buy for them, but the cheapest I can find, hormones and all. A week of that shouldn't hurt them.

You can also try people in the neighborhood who might have gardens and have too much stuff right now, my neighbors have a little garden and gave me several zucchini and cucumbers, which isn't my favorite but at least it's fresh! and free!

You can also offer to do things for people and get paid back in food - for example, babysit their kids for 2 hours in exchange for a couple large cans of spaghetti sauce and a large thing of pasta - people that can't afford to pay you but have food they can give you will do that, I know we would! If you live in an area where people have visible gardens and you can see it's brimming with stuff, offer to weed it or harvest it in exchange for some of the goods. People have gardens even in the city, all they need is a few pots!

I know it may be to hot for soup, however healthy soup can go a long way. ALL you need Chickenor Beef celery, potatoes (red preferably) seasoning your choice(watch the sodium) Chicken broth,low sodium, string beans (canned with low sodium. It could may last for a week. Peanut butter/Celery are healthy snacks as well. But if you must eat what is availble Just watch the portion sizes of the food. Good Luck