How to survive on 40-50 dollars per month on food.
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Omg I pay 150$CA a week for groceries and we are two.... I would love to pay 50$ for a month.0
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When I was in grad school, one of my diet staples was a bean & cheese (refried beans smeared on a whole wheat tortilla with salsa and cheese -- & zapped in the microwave to melt the cheese). Fast, cheap, & delish. Also vegetarian (which I'm not).
Also, my grad school friends & I formed a Costco co-op -- one person bought the membership and we shopped together splitting up the produce, cheese, meat, cereal, eggs, milk, etc. I mean those $5 bags of baby carrots (I think there are 5 lbs of them in the bag) -- they would probably spoil if one person bought them. But split 5 ways, it worked! You have to be a bit organized when shopping with your friends (impulse purchases were no-nos), but it was a big $$$ saver for us.
Also, one of my best buys was a bread machine at a garage sale (they seem to be a favorite wedding shower gift that people are always getting rid of at garage/yard sales). I bought one for $5 and would make fresh bread for all my friends (again, flour, yeast, milk, butter/oil are super cheap when bought in bulk at stores like Costco). I still have that bread machine and use it. Obviously, you can make your own bread without the machine, but in grad school (for me, at least) time was as precious as $$.
Anyway, great thread! And I'm super impressed with your $50/month budget!
That's a great idea! All of my friends live with their parents besides one, and she gets food stamps! I wouldn't have anyone to do that with. But, if/when I do, I would bring that up for sure!0 -
I live in the number one city in California that supplies most of the produce in the world, so produce/groceries are very cheap here.
I can get apples for 59 cents/pound, bananas for 13 cents/pound, etc. We have a lot of Farmers Markets in town that sell organic produce on the cheap and milk is from the company that is in my town, so milk is inexpensive. I buy a dozen eggs for about a 1 dollar to 1.23.
Wow, that seriously blows me away!!!!! Even the farmers markets here are not much off what you pay at the supermarket, sometimes they actually charge more!!! Bananas can range from 99c/kg in the high season right up to $22/kg (although this has only happened a couple of times in the past 10 years when cyclones wiped out the banana farms in QLD) the average price for bananas would be around $3/kg
And I know that a kg is 2.2 x a pound but there is such a big difference still! And my family are big meat eaters ... probably the cheapest half descent meat runs at about $18/kg a little cheaper when on special. I have tried buying the cheaper stuff but it isn't worth it, too fatty or tough, only really fit for the slow cooker!
Thanks for starting this thread, like I said, I will be watching it for some ideas ... I think if I can get our bill down below $500/mth for the whole family I would be really happy!0 -
Totally need these tips! Thanks guys!0
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Maybe some oatmeal with fruit in it0
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I live in the number one city in California that supplies most of the produce in the world, so produce/groceries are very cheap here.
I can get apples for 59 cents/pound, bananas for 13 cents/pound, etc. We have a lot of Farmers Markets in town that sell organic produce on the cheap and milk is from the company that is in my town, so milk is inexpensive. I buy a dozen eggs for about a 1 dollar to 1.23.
Wow, that seriously blows me away!!!!! Even the farmers markets here are not much off what you pay at the supermarket, sometimes they actually charge more!!! Bananas can range from 99c/kg in the high season right up to $22/kg (although this has only happened a couple of times in the past 10 years when cyclones wiped out the banana farms in QLD) the average price for bananas would be around $3/kg
And I know that a kg is 2.2 x a pound but there is such a big difference still! And my family are big meat eaters ... probably the cheapest half descent meat runs at about $18/kg a little cheaper when on special. I have tried buying the cheaper stuff but it isn't worth it, too fatty or tough, only really fit for the slow cooker!
Thanks for starting this thread, like I said, I will be watching it for some ideas ... I think if I can get our bill down below $500/mth for the whole family I would be really happy!
That's one reason why I love living where I live!0 -
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bumpity.0
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bump!0
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OMG GOOD LUCK! If u can do that with 50 cuz I always spend around 200 a month and half way thru the month all the food is gone.. since I started eating more to lose weight healthy food = EXPENSIVE!!!! But im still tryin0
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beans are filling and cheap as well!!0
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I love this web site. She always has great ideas for healthy meals on a budget.
http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/0 -
$50 a month.. that's crazy! My boyfriend and I spend at least 350-500 a month.
Holy cow, wish I had that much money to spend a month! Jeeeez0 -
I haven't had a chance to read all of the comments in this post so forgive me if this is redundant. The best book ever on frugality (imho) is "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyczyn. Some of the information is slightly dated now. However, her positive attitude, humor and mindset is priceless (get it - priceless? haha) Ahem....Anyway, she talks about feeding her very large family in a healthy way for a small dollar amount. Best of luck. You can do this!0
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This site has many frugal recipes, and a sample menu for how to feed a family on $50/month.
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/recipeindex.htm
Great website!! Love it!!0 -
OMG GOOD LUCK! If u can do that with 50 cuz I always spend around 200 a month and half way thru the month all the food is gone.. since I started eating more to lose weight healthy food = EXPENSIVE!!!! But im still tryin
I've been doing it, you just have to be organized.
Like I've said, I spent less than 45 dollars a month and a half ago.0 -
I am on unemployment so I probably have about that to spend. I tend to make a lot of things that can stretch, like Lasagna made with low fat cheeses and zucchini instead of noodles. That lasted me over a week. I made a skillet meal with turkey kielbasa, potatoes and spinach, broke that up into 4 servings. This is how I stretch my dollars.0
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I am on unemployment so I probably have about that to spend. I tend to make a lot of things that can stretch, like Lasagna made with low fat cheeses and zucchini instead of noodles. That lasted me over a week. I made a skillet meal with turkey kielbasa, potatoes and spinach, broke that up into 4 servings. This is how I stretch my dollars.
Wow that sounds amazing!!! Thanks!0 -
If you have an asian market near you, they have really good prices on produce in my experience. I just went to mine yesterday and got a bag of 8 baby bok choys for 69cents, a pound and a half of shiitake mushrooms for $2. They had a lot of "normal" veggies as well as really neat things you don't see at a normal grocery.0
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