How to survive on 40-50 dollars per month on food.

I'm struggling with budget too.. I wish i could figure out how to grow a garden but i live in an apartment, with no balcony or patio..

Indoor? Put those little window planters right out your window?

If anyone has anymore ideas, please let me know!!!

One thing that helps me is not wasting foods, if you have extra, use it the next day for lunch, etc. That way I don't waste food and money. I hate throwing away food that I don't use in time.

You can also make like chicken soup and freeze it! A big pot of chicken soup might cost me 15 dollars (get the cut up whole chicken, or a small roaster or those tiny chickens, lots of veggies!) but you could also freeze it in single serve containers.

I hear you sister!! With our electricity prices going mad and our lovely carbon tax - I really don't know what to cut back on next!! Roll on the next election i say!!

Wow, I spend at least $300/month on food for me and my boyfriend - at least. Of course that includes stuff that he eats that I don't so yea.

I eat a lot of beans though - they're cheap. I wish fresh stuff was cheaper here, It's not but I still buy it!

Bump

Bump for later !

LOL great thread... I'm literally broke at the moment and having to pay for visas and immigration stuff - so I'm leaving life REAL cheap.

Today I got:

2 bananas, 1 mango, 3 avocados, 1kg fresh roma tomatoes, 4 medium white potatoes, and 2 huuuuge leeks for $11 NZD.

Meat and dairy is very expensive in NZ - around $3 for 1ltr milk (I use that as my yardstick!) and cheese is around $10/kg.

I'm eating a vegan diet so luckily I can avoid these expensive things!! Beans and pulses are fab to fill you up and you can flavour them so many ways... think if you have beans you could mix with rice and chilli etc for a Mexican style meal... or if you do pasta with beans that's a classic Italian dish called pasta fagioli (pasta and bean soup). Indian there are any number of vegetarian based lentil and vegetable dishes - think daal etc.

If you like eggs, even if they're more expensive you can make them stretch further by scrambling them with rice and veggies to do your own home-made egg fried rice (plus it's healthier too).

I find seasonal produce is much cheaper.. and it makes sense to eat in season and to reduce our ever growing carbon footprints. If only people bought more local and grew more of their own stuff we'd have a much more sustainable future..!

Happy eating

WTH, I spend at least 300/mo. Perhaps I need to revise my ways *LOL*

I eat $40.00 in Chicken a month alone. I wish I could be that frugal.

Grocery bill pushes $500 some months no doubt.

I understand...I had to forgo going to the grocery store for about a month and a half to two months...I had actually cleared out my frige no food except condiments on the sides. I had plenty cans and beans and grains that was it but guess what better then nothing!
I say what saves also is if you buy tofu or any veggies and make a soup make plenty and eat off for a week!

Fat free evaporated milk can be good for cooking.. that way you only use fresh milk for drinking/cereal.

In college I used to buy a 5 pack of Lender's wheat bagels, peanut butter (jar would last 3 weeks), bananas, about 3 cans of tuna (I kept pickle relish and light mayo... lasted more than a month), a block of sharp cheddar cheese, and either a bag of apples or canned fruit.
I could make breakfast and lunch from that for a week. 1/2 bagel with peanut butter and a banana for breakfast, 1/2 bagel with melted cheese, topped with tuna salad (about 1/2 can worth of tuna) for lunch with an apple or canned fruit.

At the time, I worked in a restaurant so I often ate there for dinner, or I made cheap dinners.... big pots of homemade chili (heavy on the beans, light on the beef!), chicken cacciatore (chicken thighs, cooked with "Italian Seasoning," onion, garlic and green peppers -- bought at farmer's markets in the summer, bought frozen in winter), whole wheat pasta, jar of marinara, topped with some of the cheese mentioned above -- I could eat that for days. If I had money to spare I'd have a green salad, if not, a side of frozen broccoli.

When I got tired of those meals, I would vary it with oatmeal for breakfast, or egg salad topped bagel halves, or leftovers/soup for lunch. Sometimes I would buy a loaf of bread, and use the cheddar cheese to make grilled cheese to go with tomato soup, then have peanut butter toast for breakfast, or scrambled eggs and toast...

Maybe not PERFECTLY healthy, but I wasn't hungry, I wasn't eating pizza every day and I was in college! (P.S., this particular time in my life was when I was probably the most fit -- I have been thinner, but not in a healthy way. I worked in the fitness center at school, and worked out several times a week). I ate dinner at home 3-4 days a week, and I remember spending 20 dollars and making it roughly a week eating this way.

50 to 60 a month would be a challenge even to me.... and I CAN get pretty frugal!

My mom used to make what we called "kitchen sink soup" as in "everything but the kitchen sink." She kept a big ziploc bag or tupperware container in the freezer... if we ate dinner and there were just a couple of spoonfulls of corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, ect., left in a bowl, she would put it in the container in the freezer. When it got full, she would try to round it out -- add some carrots or potatoes if necessary, usually add a can of tomato sauce, cook up some for of meat (or, take what was left of a whole chicken, or from a roast, or brown some ground beef... and cook that down)," put it in a big pot...... it makes delicious soup, I SWEAR. It's practically free, just a collection of leftovers. May sound crazy, but it was the BEST soup I ever had... and a little different each time.

My husband LOVES cabbage and sausage, it's super cheap. Buy a turkey keilbasa sausage and a huge head of cabbage, chop the cabbage, put it in a crock pot with some water, top with turkey keilbasa, cook until cabbage is tender. Season. I usually serve it with baked potatoes. If you eat sparingly of the sausage, 2 adults can have HEAPING plates of dinner for 2 days. There is usually leftover cabbage even after that.... so it could stretch more.

$50 dollars a month!? How is that possible? I pay that much at least a week and I am single.
$35 - $40 dollars a month just on chicken $12-$15 dollars a month on bananas, chinese cabbage $16 a month, baby spinach $30 a month, other leafy greens and salad stuff $35 a month various condiments extras $25 -$ 35 a month Brown rice $3 a month potatoes $5 tomatoes $15 a month. Almond milk $ 20 -$28

So thats over 200 dollars a month just at the top of my head and I am sure there are things I buy that are not included. Like apples oranges blueberries figs etc.