All of us are struggling. No matter your income or social status, denying life has become expensive is difficult.
Soaring rents, rising gas prices, and high grocery costs affect everyone. With no end in sight, many wonder how they will make it until payday.
The good news, at least when it comes to food, is that you can make a little go a long way with some planning.
Bills are piling up, the rent is due, and your car is out of gas. You have 20 bucks to feed yourself for a week. Can you do it?
Being broke does not mean you have to starve. In fact, there are many ways to stretch your cash and create filling, healthy meals.
Stay Stocked Up On The Staples
First things, first. There are a few items that should always be found in a kitchen. For example, pasta, rice, and beans can be stored in large quantities and purchased in bulk when they are on sale.
Related: How to Dry Can Beans and Rice for 20+ Years Shelf Life
Luckily these products last a long time and are effortlessly kept for extended periods. However, even without a stockpile, you can get by on as little as $20 a week if you carefully plan your meals.
Let’s look at a $20 meal plan to generate some ideas…
Day 1
Breakfast: 2 slices of toast with peanut butter
Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwiches
Dinner: Spaghetti. While this will not be fancy restaurant-worthy spaghetti, it will fill your belly and curb hunger.
Both pasta and sauce can be purchased for less than a dollar each and can be stretched to make more than one meal. Create the spaghetti using half a package of pasta and half the sauce, storing the rest for later in the week.
Related: Canning Pasta Sauce for Long Term Preservation
Day 2
Breakfast: Eggs and toast with some milk
Lunch: Leftover spaghetti
Dinner: A hamburger on toast with tomato and lettuce. If you purchase 1lb of hamburger, you can use ¼ of it to create a pretty good burger and have plenty left over for later in the week.
Add some instant potatoes to the side if you need more than the burger. Instant potatoes are cheap and filling.
Day 3
Breakfast: Toast with cheese and a glass of milk. Milk is healthy and helps to fill you up, giving you the fuel you need for the day.
Lunch: A sandwich with ham and cheese
Dinner: Shepherd’s pie. It is important to note that Shepherd’s pie is an underrated meal that will leave you feeling full and happy.
To make this meal, use instant potatoes, brown some beef with onion and any seasoning you have on hand, and pack it into a muffin tin. Pile the potatoes on top, add some cheese, and bake for 10-20 minutes or until brown and crispy on top. This meal goes a long way, and you will likely have leftovers.
Day 4
Breakfast: An omelet. You can add cheese to your omelet, a bit of ham, and some tomato. Remember to drink a glass of milk too.
Lunch: Peanut butter sandwich
Dinner: Chicken, rice, and salad
You can find chicken drumsticks or thighs for cheap and use them to prepare yourself a healthy, satisfying meal. Coat your chicken in bbq sauce, a very inexpensive product, or any sauce or spices you have on hand.
Bake the chicken until cooked and cook a cup of rice. Create a small salad with your leftover veggies, and use any dressing you have at home. Alternatively, add cheese or one of the remaining eggs to the salad to make it more appealing.
Day 5
Breakfast: Cook yourself an egg any way you like, and eat it with some peanut butter toast and a glass of milk.
Lunch: Some leftover Sheppard’s Pie
Dinner: More chicken, rice, and salad. Cook the chicken any way you wish and serve it with rice and a small salad.
⇒ Learn How To Keep Eggs Fresh For At Least A Decade
Day 6
Breakfast: Toast and milk
Lunch: Leftovers, or rice and beans
Dinner: Spaghetti. Remember that sauce and those noodles you stored away? Time to pull them out and have them for dinner again. Since it has been a few days, it won’t seem as redundant.
Day 7
Breakfast: Eggs and toast, with milk. Don’t forget to use your peanut butter to get added fat and protein.
Lunch: Leftover lover’s lunch. See what you have left from earlier in the week and whip yourself up a meal.
Dinner: Poor Man’s Supper. Taking whatever potatoes, meat, beans, and veggies you can find, cook up a poor man’s supper for yourself and finish off the week with a full belly.
You Made It.
Okay, so the meal plan above is not the most exciting and does not win any culinary awards. Still, your belly will be full, and your bank account will stay out of the negative. To show you the savings, I will share the shopping list.
The Strapped For Cash Shopping List
Cheese slices (16-slice pack) – $1
1lb ground beef – $3
A loaf of bread – $1
1lb Chicken – $2
Noodles – $1
A dozen eggs – $2
Rice $1
Dried beans – $1
Milk $2
Deli ham – $2
Peanut butter – $1
Instant Potatoes -$1
Veggies – $2
Total: $20
While prices vary depending on location, you can find deals, especially if you shop sales and discount stores. The examples in this meal plan are simple, and a little creativity and stockpiling will go a long way.
Still, assuming you have little to nothing stored away, it is always good to know that you can still eat three meals a day and be relatively healthy for only 20 bucks.
There are also many alternatives to this plan. You can easily shop your local sales shelves and use what you find to create filling, healthy meals for a week on very little cash. It is even better if you already have items stored at home that you can use to spruce up your meal plan.
These are only a few of the things that you should consider when you are building your stockpile or looking to save some money on meals. There are countless ways to approach preparedness, and each person will have their own methods. Find the best one for you and your family.
We would love to hear how you save money on groceries. Do you create meal plans? Do you think you could get by on $20 a week? Share your thoughts and tips in the comments. Stay Safe.
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Converting to Aussie $ (choosing the generic cheap average)
Cheese slices (16-slice pack) – $6
1lb ground beef – $7 (for the cheap version)
A loaf of bread – $2.70
1lb Chicken – $7 (thigh meat)
Noodles – $4
A dozen eggs – $6
Rice $1.40
Dried beans – $4
Milk $4
Deli ham – $5
Peanut butter – $3
Instant Potatoes -$2.10
Veggies – $3.80
Total: $56
At least this looks reasonably balanced between protein, fats and carbs… a lot more veg would be good though! We tend to put butter on toast/sandwiches and eat fruit… both of which are missing here too.
These are also Oregon prices. That $20 list must have been from ten years ago.
That was before Biden destroyed the economy, no drilling oil and letting in freeloaders into America. Future gun confiscation by EO’s.
Food prices up because of transportation high fuel costs and $15 wages.
It’s all a joke for the elites who live off American taxpayer’s. In gated communities where no homeless roam begging for food. LO!
@ Tony: At least 10 years ago! Chicken can’t be bought for under about $10 for whole chicken (the cheapest way to buy), eggs run anywhere from $6-10 a dozen. Yeah, these prices are WAAAAAAYYY off!
I suppose these can be bought on sale, but really, real food is rarely on sale, and these items won’t be found at the same time…
There are many factors that have led up to these food and gas prices we see now.
“We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Prices are up, bank accounts are down.
Our lifestyles have something to do with affordable food and living standards.
A lot of people have been brought up on OPM – using other people’s money on borrowed credit. The belief that government can solve all our problems is bunk!
It also depends which part of the USA country we live that prices maybe higher.
There must be some program going after retired seniors. There are reports of seniors being priced out of their homes. While illegals are getting a free ride, free food.
It is amazing we see in certain parts of the country were military families are coming to food handout events, something is wrong.
Back in the day most military personnel that were married were the officer corp. The majority of the enlisted was single. Now decades latter we have enlisted military families swelling the ranks.
Now military families on a single provider do get paid well than past single enlisted had. The military use to teach writing check class and finance classes. When they found many personnel were broke before the first week of payday.
Am sure this is the same thing civilian side. The home economics classes in high school helped many out.
It maybe those have poor economic choices, buying the latest vehicle for example. Buying a house they can’t afford. Civilians think buying a house sets them up. Think it was the 1980’s the DC Swamp got banks to give out home loans to families who couldn’t afford the mortgages. The Savings and Loan banks went bust of it.
Even in the civilian world people are living the high life on a beer budget income.
We do things to sabotage our own lifestyle in this post Covid reset world.
In the USA it started with the UNIONIZED crybabies. The starting wage was to get us with work experience to the next paycheck level. Many low wage workers wanted a living wage on a basic wage to feed their families.
Well the Unions pushed the $15 USD/hr wage to satisfy the crybabies.
Then Trump told the sheeple what would happen with Biden crime family in power. So the sheeple voted the wrong guy into office. EO’s to stop domestic oil production and open up the Southern Border.
Well what do we expect when all those thousand points of light converge on us?
No matter what we can’t fix stupid, we all have to start over the right way this time.
I find te prices i his list to be more realistic than in the article.
It is just hubby and I , I tend to fill the crock pot and that lasts us 3 days it never costs over 7-10 bucks to keep us well fed, I make several different dishes wit pork loin, veggies, potatoes, beef Stroganoff , using hamburger, mac/cheese with veggies , and German sausage or tuna, pulled pork BBQ green chili burritos with hamburger, onion, potatoes and a big can of green chili, Almost every dish gets lots of garlic.My favorite spice is lemon pepper, and to spice a dish differently I used crushed red pepper and with hot summer I tend to use potato flakes or dehydrated hash browns, I only shop once a month and if the potatoes are not fresh, they may shrivel before I use them all. It probably sounds boring to most to eat the same thing for 3 days in a row, but it works for us. I have very low energy a disabled hubby and 52 animals to care for, and with a 17 day stint of temps of 100-108 degrees it is really hard to keep my goat pasture yard from burning up, I water almost all day long
When you have growing children (teens) this list of foods (priced with 1999 prices) is not at all doable!! I am a grandmother and often have my 8 grandkids with me (not all of them at the same time, tho) and they range in age from 6 to 20. The twenty year old has mental issues and cannot work and only weighs 78 pounds so I need to have food that will hopefully fatten her up. Also I have a 200 lb 16 year old grandson and 100 pound 13 year grandson that are still growing and need plenty of protein and carbs. That diet would only work in a dire situation for them. BUT I am going to try this meal plan to see how expensive it is in today’s economy and how well it fits me. My husband is vegan I won’t be able to try it out on him unless we have a situation calling for it. My 2 cents!
Well these prices aren’t from where I live. the cheapest hamberger is 6.99 a lb. bread day old is 3.00 a loaf, ect. Also there is no vegetables or fruit so very unhealthy. If you have diabetes or other related diseases this is mostly carbohydrates ie sugar so you will be in hospital with high blood sugar or loose your kidneys, sight and maybe legs. So apparently if you eat healthy you must go in dept.
This has been a bone of contention with my wife and I for as long as we have been married. (49 years in Aug.) These talking heads say we need to eat more fresh vegetables and fresh fruits and not as much pasta and meat to combat the “crisis of obesity”. Well, it is obvious that they have no idea of what goes on in the real world.because most cannot afford to feed a family with that much fresh food unless you grow it yourself, and that is difficult in a household where parents are both working at least one job apiece and a lot of times more.
Both parents working and bringing in an income? How many are you feeding? Ground beef is 3 to 3.50 a pound here, pork 1.70 to 2.50, chix leg qtrs 85 / pound. Cabbage is 82 cents/pound, onions about the same, broccoli, zucchini, squash are under 2 bucks a pound. I’m on disability and feeding 3 kids 11, 14,15 with appetites to match. Ofc I’m doing staples-rice, taters, pasta, but no shortage of fresh veggies. Fruits are more expensive, granted but bananas are 57cents/lb, apples and oranges around 2 bucks a pound. I cut the bananas in half for each kid, ditto oranges and apples or mash up bananas in the oatmeal along with apples or raisins…I mean, its doable, very much so. One onion, 1/2 cabbage, stalk or two of celery, or half a zucchini diced and sauteed, put in Stir frys, crock pot; put on rice or potatoes or pasta as toppings goes a really long way. Good luck.
we have refridgerator clean out once a week which to me is a smorgacbord and best meal of the week. we have 2 grandkids we have custody of and they are picky eaters so we have alot of chicken strips on hand. my wife makes them homemade and are cheaper than store bought. we have amish stores and bent can stores around here and they are good as long as you check expired date on cans.
Love this!
Just a little thing to keep in mind when buying dented cans:The expiration dates are not the main factor. Dented cans can result in breached food which can make you very sick. The best way to tell if it still good is the “thumb method”. You place your thumb on the top of the can and push down. If the lid bends or moves in any way stay away from it. You might want to keep an eye on the foods in your pantry too. You can get some great bargains but make sure they are still safe to eat.
I appreciate this article. I will use this as a decent guideline and adjust it a bit to accommodate dietary restrictions. Thank you!
If one combines type 2 diabetes with gluten intolerance (which came very close to killing me during the 1990’s when very few physicians had paid much attention to the coeliac disease they most likely heard about in medical school), this diet is a true disaster. But going “cheap” for food is generally a troubling suggestion.
Better financial choices would be going towards public transportation, bicycles, or even walking. A world-class marathoner I knew forty years ago RAN the ten (primarily flat) miles from his house to job every morning, and back every afternoon. My dad formed a carpool SEVENTY YEARS ago in Texas when gasoline was 8.9 cents a gallon (allowing my family to manage with one car because he only drove on Wednesdays).
To repeat, transportation is a TERRIBLE thing to spend scarce money upon!
As seen on California TV news online. Glad I don’t live there. Mass transit a joke.
The people in Cali have been battling socialism for decades with a one party system there. Military has know for years running is not good for the body long term. Walking and road marches much better. That is why young people are better suited for that.
Who was that famous runner who broke the 3 or 4 minute mile? Jim Fixx died of heart failure while jogging.
The California people are paying for high priced stupid high speed train transportation. Too high taxes to pay for a pipe dream those liberals have wanted. They look at the Japan high speed train and think it will work in Cali. Cali is not setup like Japan for that.
Carpools, mass public transportation is not what people want just the minority greenies do.
They got the bike mafia in Cali trying make people have bike lanes on both sides of the road in congested city areas. The bikers think they can have a fit Chinese bike to work society. There are a lot of older people who can’t ride a bike to work, doctor appointments up hill or several miles away. The bike mafia is about control, nothing more.
The old used car salesman’s joke was; A little old lady from Pasadena, only drove her car on Sunday to church.
Most months I leave the house 2x per month (retired) from May-May ending 2022 1120 miles on our old 1999 pickup M-M 2024 940 miles. So these days the only vehicle we have sits at home more than it goes to town. You can’t haul a round bale of hay or 1 months groceries on a bicycle or taxi. I was trying to find out how much something I bought a few years back, so I included all dates from 1/1/2001 to present, divided out total income by 22,5 and found our average income for that time was a whooping 20k per year and in retirement we live on a lot less now
Good article, and a reminder that a dollar saved on food expenditures is a dollar that can be put toward other necessary preps.
The $USD$ now a days is spent on China cheap crap food and items. To support the Chinese military every dollar spent on China products is a nail in America’s coffin.
A few years ago there was a push to buy American.
People are always looking for a bargain even cheap China crap. American products are great quality but overpriced too. You see they have to support the over high priced UNION workers. So to be competitive is no more. China wins again.
Way back decades ago when America still make electronic products, Americans had good paying jobs. The failure of the TV industry in the USA was from Asia, mostly Japan.
It was either the 1950’s or 1960’s lower priced TV’s and radio’s were dumped on the American economy. Well most people voted for lower priced stuff. So eventually those American electronics companies went to Asia. Now owned by the CCP military industrial complex manufactured by slave labor.
We don’t remember our history, we are doomed to repeat it. Could American be the next slaves under China’s CCP?
The USA politicians and multinational corps have sold out America. Look at least to the American Farmlands owned by China and American liberals like Gates. Possibly by G. Soros and company.
You must discern how your America will go in the future.
Good plan for those with no dietary restrictions (celiac, diabetes, UC, vegan, etc.) but please, PLEASE update these prices and add some reasonably-priced unusual foodstuffs. On Long Island, even at the most reasonable of grocery stores, a loaf of bread is at least $3 (the Entenmann’s clearance center shut-down a few years back, which was like a punch in the gut for a lot of us). Switch out some other protein sources even if folks say YUK!, like tofu, seitan, etc. You can use tofu to make a reasonable facsimile of scrambled eggs by adding a little turmeric, salt and pepper. Add salsa, chees, wrap in a tortilla, and presto! A vegan southwest burrito.
Tofu, soy products lower testosterone in the American male. Maybe that is why we see more feminized guys wanting to be a female. So they can compete against tougher females than their male counterparts who would leave them in the dust.
Beer has a lot of estrogen to lower testosterone in males. Women have to be strong while Men have to be weak in the progressive’s plan.
So a good balance diet is key to to both sexes for a healthy life. Nothing wrong with tofu but not to excess. The UN push to eat vegan and insects is plain stupid. While the elites still eat their steak and potatoes, driving their gas hogs, but we can’t.
We should be able to live free in America on our own freedoms of GOD not under government of their god.
This is the type of diet that endangers your LIVER … Big Time! And your liver is the organ that creates detox and good blood for your heart. One could hasten their death on this diet …. not to mention the prices are laughable. I spent $30 this week on food and it was mostly fruits and vegetables which don’t appear anywhere in this diet. Be sure to include at least an apple a day!!
We should question who is pushing this on us, who’s behind it all?
Too many people people are really confused what is the best diet to be on.
Vegan, bug eating works for a small portion of the country. The many different diets are based on personal preferences that work only for you. Some diets are not healthy for everyone. Depending on your health status and medical history. Your genetics, yes culture too.
Some people who eat vegan in other parts of the world are not by choice. Religions play a part in people’s diets.
Somewhere a country believes cow’s are sacred so they don’t eat them. With all the poor people eating poorly could be helped by eating the cow for example.
We should question authority always!
What do you do when the entire supply chain collapses and the apple is unavailable…. along with all the other veggies… Are you growing your own? Good for you, now, instead of shooting holes in the article, tell us all how you are going to provide YOUR diet to your family… we are here to learn.
What is your solutions?
My wife and I live in south central Oregon primarily on S.S. and a very small retirement and we do fairly well on minimal expenditures for our weekly groceries. My wife is a genius at creating meals from little to nothing from the pantry and we certainly don’t lack any for nutrition. Obviously, depending on where you shop, the prices for the basic food needs will vary. It is also true that if you have special dietary needs due to health or existing conditions, $20 would not be within the realm of feeding you for a week. If you shop the major food chain stores you will pay a higher price than if you shop at the less popular outlets. It’s not difficult to find lean ground beef for $3.99 a pound. Let’s face it, the goal here is to try and create a menu to feed yourself for a week on $20. If you shop places like General Dollar or Dollar Tree you can create a menu that will feed you for a week by making soups and casseroles with egg noodles or a choice of the many pastas, rice and beans.
For example, the following items are available at Dollar Tree for $1.25 each or less.
Canned Tuna, Canned Chicken, Kippers, Sardines, Mackerel, Egg Noodles, Red Beans, Black Beans, Pinto Beans, Rice, Instant Potatoes, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Breakfast Cereal, Milk, Canned Veggies, Soups, Cornbread, Cheese and Bread. I know your thinking, those are not all very healthy choices, but remember your trying to live on $20 worth of food for a week. With a little creative effort and some meal planning, you can easily eat for a week on that $20. For individuals that are more vegetarian, hit the Saturday farmers markets for fresh veggies to supplement your dietary needs. Combine your resources for the groceries you need for the week. You may not consume everything on a weekly basis, and eventually you will have built a small pantry stocked with your daily and weekly needs. If you’re trying to feed a family of three or four the reality is, you can’t do it on $20 unless you make a lot of soups.
It is so funny the young stage in life we go to the liberal extremes. Then we get older and see life differently more conservative outlook. As we see the old nest egg does not go further like it did when we worked and had money.
Are organics really healthy? Some studies have reported organic farms are sometimes close by corporate farms that use pesticide sprays. Organic fields get chemical over wind drift spray by air and ground water too.
So who is healthier, the normal food shopper or the Organic sore food shopper? Are vegans 100% sure their is unadulterated even at health food stores?
I’ve mentioned before to organic worshippers that it’s more than likely not as organic as you’d like it to be.
I live on a small SS income. I get food once or twice a month from a community pantry. Depends on what gas is in my truck. I also garden and can. High mountain desert here so it’s just now planting time and frost will be back by late September and snow in October. I live carefully. Today I cooked breakfast for thee. 5 eggs from my one hen, 2 tablespoons of dried diced onion, 2/3 teaspoon of salt, a generous cup of canned diced tomatoes with green chili including the liquid, 1 1/2 med cold boiled potatoes, shredded. 1 slice crumbled bacon. 1 1/3 cup grated mozzarella cheese. Stir everything together, top with cheese and bake till set. Then toasted 3 slices of lightly buttered bread in a skillet on the stove. 3 cups of black coffee. I sliced 2 small oranges and divided them on 3 plates. Two hard working men plus me. I’m working planting a very rocky garden spot. Well eat again around 4 or 5 pm. A mixture of wild greens to cook, a can of corn, 1/2 lb hamburger, dried onions, a cup of diced tomatoes with green chili, 1/2 cold bolied potato shredded, wrap all in warmed flour tortillas with a simple leaf lettuce and tomato salad and that’s dinner. 1 burrito for me and 2 for each of the men. Black coffee to drink. We’ll share a 3 cup jar of canned peaches and 3 slices of toast later as a light snack.
I’ll have 1 1/2 lb hamburger, 1 cup more of the tomatoes and green chili for tomorrow. I have flour, rice, dried beans, home canned fruits and vegetables always on hand. 2 cans of baked beans and plenty of apples, mac n cheese, and 2 more oranges and 2 small bags of carrots and celery from the pantry. There is a part of a box of potato flakes, dried milk and lots of seasonings. We’ll not go hungry. Tomorrow will be hamburger stew and biscuits for the main meal. Maybe pancakes and fried apples for breakfast. I still have some canned butter on the shelf.
Yup a good old hot cup of coffee hits the spot!
Terrible advice and the prices are NOT what prices are currently. Who ever wrote this needs to look at more health conscious meal planning as those presented above are a direct path to diabetes and milk does NOT do a body good. It steals calcium from your bones instead of adding. Please have better research on staying healthy when the SHTF because that is when you will need your nutrition and health THE MOST. If this is the advice we are getting maybe I need to unsubscribe from this mailing.
Wont matter , starving people eat anything
and that is coming as listed
you cannot store up health , you must eat anything for the day and plan for the next
during hardship only 2 kinds of people exist
hungry or well fed
no in between
you will own nothing , and you will be happy ( the lastest moran , thief, conman , puppet )
Quoted from the agenda from the Who, WEF, Cfr, and those will lie, cheet , steel to stay in charge, on top, in the command position to control the world
Yeah the TROLLS don’t help this website, liberals just can’t leave stuff alone. They puke up on their State in politics. Can’t stand their mess. They move to other parts and bring their stupid with them.
They probably never played physical sports or Dodge Ball to feel reality, LOL!
Great article
But it is very hard to estimate the value when every area will be different
Commodidys have value base on demand, need, supply , availability
and most of all what one has and has not ,
There is and will be no comparison for the next depression as the last was limited to only certain areas and countries
When we as people anywhere put our dependance on Gov. People from other lands with no skin in the game , Just Greed , Need to Control and Get all they can on thier way down with the sinking ship , they the oligarky have no restraint or limit as to what they will charge for the essentials
Moral Attitude and is a key factor ( looking back at Evil dictorships and Evil leaderships in history , the heart of mankind has not changed
Need for Lust , pleasure , satifaction , has not changed
What ever you have will be a commodidy and those who have no restraint fear of judgement by a true , living God will do what ever thier pleasure is .
Pray that you will not be left behind for the judgement when it is time
The Door is open , and We are Close to the final day
God is holding back the evil of mankind
Free will , will not last , Then You will be forced to comply or suffer or die for your faith
this is written and will be , will happen , will come to pass
Speak up, Stand Up , Tell All , and keep your supplies current
When this happens it will be Peace , Safety, , Then like a surprise Thief , Judgement will come and the Rapture of the True believers will happen
Rev. 13 , Rev 6 , 1 pet , 2 pet , 1 thess , 2 tim all listed and their will be no excuse
YOU were warned and given a Choice FREE WILL choice
Bible thumper TROLLS;
Bet a lot of these pseudo, fakers, Bible thumpers don’t know during WWII by a famous president. Japan was nuked and in that certain city a Christian church and those Christian Japanese were vaporized. There are amazing suppressed Christian history facts swept under the carpet. To protect mistakes govt makes since mankind began.
Juneteenth is just another fed holiday off. To make up for the liberal Demoncrats that had plantation slaves. Heck the African kings and Queens sold their own people into slavery. It was not just skin color slaves there were also White people slaves.
It still continues today in the DC Pedo Swamp, open Southern Border slave/sex trade in the USA.
The Middle East is also full of modern day slavery and European countries in the sex trade too.
So quoting the Bible verses, going to church will not guarantee your going to a better afterlife. The road to H*ll is paved with good intentions of a liberal mindset.
Recheck your fake Christianity at the door.
As most of comments said those prices must be old. Plus breakfast are a littel scarce. Most healthy diets call for a heavier breakfast smaller lunch and even smaller dinner. And even better ones call for small meals up to 6 times a day balancing out the intake of all nutrients .
Yeah regular normal thinking people need to ignore. The Can’t Understand Normal Thinking people, who more or less are Marxist indoctrinated.
These food Nazi’s can’t leave their vegan religious eating to themselves. What makes them so special kool-aid drinkers, forcing their craziness on us?
They should from People Eating Tasty Animals philosophy; live and let live.
I don’t know what store you shop at but, I haven’t seen those prices in years. I normally enjoy reading your articles, but this one was 1 out of 10.
Even the 0.99 cent stores are now $2.50 plus stores anymore, Ha, Ha!
The prices are with the faded Ben Franklin Stores. Is Dollar General really a dollar store anymore?
We let the Union crybabies, the Greenies and environmentalist rule the USA.
Are normal folk willing to change all this soon. Like maybe the 2024 election coming soon? Will the agents turn the election over to liberals again?
And the food prices go sky high, creating plandemic food crisis.
I can’t take it no more, I admit I’m a lost soul. Try to be self righteous in quoting the Bible versus that don’t mean much in today’s world. I am confused.
What a poor sap, wake up a smell the coffee, Joe!
Taxi!!!
this article is a good place to start. The prices may not be current but take this info and adjust accordingly to your own situation. everyone’s circumstances are different. whether it is finances, health, location, small children, teens, babies, combination of ages, single parent, no children, single. it does not matter use this article to start thinking about what to store, how to use it, how to make what you have go further. if you don’t like the list here, adjust to your tastes and needs. a major part of survival is to learning to use your head for more than just a hat rack. learn to THINK!
My husband and I lived in a small “white trash” county back in the late 1990s. Wages were very low, but so was cost of living. I marveled at the prices of food and gas and rent.
As for this article, I do believe the prices are from wayyyy back when we lived in that dumpy little town. I’m being serious — I did the shopping and I often did a cutoff price of one dollar. “If it costs more than $1, I won’t buy it”, and this article’s prices are at least 20 years expired.
I’d also say, FAR less meat and WAY more veggies is the healthier way from your mind, body, and budget.
Many items on that list are not allowed on my restricted diet. The prices are so far off, even with only 8 items still on that list I’d easily spend over $30-$35 and would still need to make up for the nutrients that are missing.
I was part of a discussion group long ago where we took part in the $20 challenge, as we called it. This was in the last century, and the contestants in the group were from all over in the US. A Canadian cheered us on, saying prices in her region excluded her. I found that prices varied widely in the US as we compared our prices with what we bought and used. I was in a more expensive part of the country, based on prices we found for staples
Still, even if we didn’t succeed in the 20 dollar limbo game, those of us who participated learned to stretch what we have.
As one participant said, “By the end of the challenge, we were eating weird meals, but did not go hungry.” And that, my friends, is key. At least in my book.
We were in an extremely lean financial season. We were both working full-time jobs and at times second and third jobs to make ends meet. I kept a garden, learned to can, dehydrate, or freeze excess produce to have for later. For part of that season, I worked in an office where many affluent women worked. They worked because they were bored at home. I worked to eat. Big motivational differences there.
My standard work lunch at that time was a baked potato topped with cheese and vegs. I could switch up the cheese and vegs to keep it a little different. One of the women asked me how I could eat the same thing every day; she never could, it would be too boring. I told her I liked it and often would eat the same lunch everyday ever since I started school (which was true). What I neglected to tell her was that in order for me to eat lunch every work day, this is all I could afford. I carefully measured one ounce of cheese, a serving of veggies, and picked a potato. The cheese was the most expensive part of the meal. The two pounds of cheese I needed for a month’s worth of work lunches cost ~$6. The potatoes, and here I used a bit less than 10 lbs a month, ran about $2, if I hit the 5 lb for a dollar sales that happened every two months or so. The vegs were either frozen bags of veggies, which at the time were under a dollar, or fresh from my garden or foraging. I figured on $4 a month for those. So, $12 a .month for work lunches. I used the microwave at work to cook it. Lots of takeout packets of salt and pepper or hot sauce lying around from others who bought their lunches, which I was happy to use.
Prices have risen for sure, if I caught sales here, that month’s worth of work lunches would now be at least $24.
However, the principle remains the same. I went for the most nutrient dense food I could afford that I’d actually eat. Nothing was wasted. I ate seasonally.
Breakfast was often skipped (especially if I was assigned the early lunch for one job I had) or was oatmeal. Dinner was usually the biggest meal of the day and included typically meat or another protein, starch, non-starchy vegs, and perhaps a piece of fruit. I could make bread more cheaply than I could buy it. Stirfrys, hashes, and casseroles stretched the meat. The fat or drippings from cooking the meat was used for gravy or poured off and saved for another meal.
Growing herbs allowed me to add flavor without hitting my pocketbook so severely. A rosemary plant cost the same price as a spice bottle full of the herb. They were too tender to remain outside as perennials where I lived, but the one plant that lasted indoors which dear friends gave me, lived 10 years.
Last year’s foraging where I thought I’d found some pearly everlasting, proved me wrong, but I did find some oregano happily growing. I dug some out, brought it home, and planted it outside, hoping for the best. It came back this year, and is twice the size of the plant I dug up last year. The field where I found it was mowed the day after I dug it out, so I was glad I went when I did.
This field was on my usual route when running errands, so it didn’t take a lot of extra time to stop there.
It takes a bit of thought to figure out what to eat, and it helps if you like to cook or know what flavors you and your household likes or is willing to try. I found focussing on nutritional density helped us to feel satisfied, even if we weren’t eating high on the hog.
Also, looking at the “meals” seems to be for only 1 person… So if you are, unlike me, you will need to double, triple quadruple this…which is already way too far off in pricing already.
I just went shopping, so I can’t give a real price list here today, but I’ll try to come back next week and do so. Rural Oregon, only go into small town (1500) 1x week, bigger city (180K) about every 2-3 weeks.
I thought that, too, Carol as I read the article. I have more than one person in my household, and everyone who lives here likes to eat every day.
Boy are you WAY off on pricing food these days. Even dollar stores can’t sell items as cheap as you list them…especially with today’s inflation. Well anyway, the title will draw interest even if the content is very much wrong!
You have to go with the authors concept of trying to keep the weeks grocery bill down. She gives us some ideas for a starting point. Yes, some people are going to put more emphasis on it being more healthy, some have restrictions, some can suplement with home grown, but we can all take away something and apply it to our own situation. I noticed right away the issue of pricing not being current, thenI told myself it just shows how close our situation is to Venezuela. By the time an article gets printed inflation has made it look silly and outdated. A few quick checks of this weeks ads shows the numbers are off by about 25 to 30 percent. Book mark this page and check back in 6 months for a real eye opener.
Cheese slices (16-slice pack) – $1 ACTUAL:
1lb ground beef – $3 $5.99
A loaf of bread – $1 $3.99
1lb Chicken – $2 $5.49
Noodles – $1 $1.79
A dozen eggs – $2 $3.29
Rice $1 $5.99
Dried beans – $1 $4.99
Milk $2 $3.19
Deli ham – $2 $5.99
Peanut butter – $1 $2.99
Instant Potatoes -$1 $2.29
Veggies – $2 $2.28
Total: $20 TOTAL: $48.27
While not all items were given an amount, I tried to use the most normal package. I shopped at an ‘outlet’ store which has different brands from different stores, un-bought stock, overstock, seconds, etc. so these are rock bottom prices in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. As you can clearly see, the amount given in this post is clearly from years ago, not today’s prices, which is over twice the amount given.
OK, the comment printed differently than I copied… cheese slices $2.99
the other prices are next to the prices listed here…
I buy 26 pound bags of large flake organic oatmeal. Breakfast costs $2.50/week using a heaping 1/2 cup every morning with 1.25 to 1.5 cups of water. These are Canadian prices so probably less expensive in the USA.