Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:50 for one person shouldn't be too hard

I agree- that's our budget for 2 weeks!

So what would you get for one week?

Anonymous wrote:50 for one person shouldn't be too hard

I agree- that's our budget for 2 weeks!

50 for one person shouldn't be too hard

Corn tortillas, cheese, chicken thighs or sausage, rice and beans, little can of tomato salsa. Frozen kale, eggs, coleslaw mix, cheapest fruit. Oatmeal or Cheerios and a few bananas. Coffee and a cheap bottle of wine.

$50 at safeway:
How about oatmeal for breakfast - purchasing bulk rolled oats?
Or eggs?

Lunch - yougurt / fruit

Dinner - purchase 1 can of onions, 1 can of black beans, a piece of garlic, diced tomatores - throw in some spices
shread some chedar cheese

Hotdogs - are cheap - get this and whatever vegetable is on sale

Anonymous wrote:Check out the Rice & Beans recipes thread - dried beans are cheap. Good luck

OP here. Thanks for the great suggestions. I definitely have some ideas here I can use. And I knew the rice and beans poster and the "Good luck" was coming. Rice and beans is the default suggestion for anyone on DCUM experiencing budget constraints. I'll get through this and certainly not starve. What's funny about it is I need to save for a fancy restaurant meal coming up for a good friend's birthday. That'll be at least $50 right there. I can't get out of it (and I don't really want to).

Chicken breasts or thighs are surprisingly cheap in bulk packs, espeically if you buy them skin on and trim yourself. Buy a pack of that for $10 and you have your protein for every dinner during the week.

Check out the Rice & Beans recipes thread - dried beans are cheap. Good luck

Roast a chicken, and you can get two or three meals out of it (chicken fried rice with vegetable, quesadillas)
Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomatoes, beans and rice, pasta with vegetables. Oatmeal is great for breakfast

Dozen eggs and a loaf of sliced bread, plus butter. You can do an egg with toast for breakfast in the morning, which is a good protein hit so you aren't hungry until lunch.

Bell pepper, an onion, a handful of mushrooms (if you can buy them loose; the prepacked pint will be too $$ and more than you can use), handful of bean sprouts if you can buy them loose, an ear of corn.

Package of frozen spinach, large can of tomatoes, package of dried pasta, 2 packs ramen noodles, can of black or other beans. Block of cheese.

Night 1, make a basic tomato sauce with the can of tomatoes. Saute 1/3 of the pepper, a bit of onion and 1/3 the mushrooms. Add 1/3 of the sauce, serve over pasta with cheese

Night 2, stir fry with 1/3 pepper, 1/3 of the mushrooms, bean sprouts, ramen noodles and an egg stirred in.

Night 3, 1/3 of the tomato sauce, remainder of the bell pepper, plus a can of beans and the corn; call this chili.

Night 4; mushroom, spinach & cheese omelette with toast.

Night 5, pasta tossed with spinach and butter. This would be improved (and have protein) if you could get to a store with bulk section and buy a handful of pumpkin seeds or other nut product.

Night 6, a salad of beans and any leftover veggies

Night 7, whatever you have left, which will probably be an egg salad sandwich.

Dinner leftovers for lunch the next day.

Agree with pps that you should check the sale flyer and work with whatever you might have in your pantry.

I would do:

Breakfasts: canister of generic oatmeal or sale box of cereal (and a half gallon of milk), or an egg on whole wheat +banana

Lunch and snack: peanut butter on wholewheat, buy a pound of carrots and cut them into carrot sticks, whatever fruit is cheapest on sale, quart of store brand or on sale yogurt-take some in a tupperware each day, maybe some pretzels (not the healthiest, but I always need a crunchy snack)

Dinners:
pasta +onion and whatever vegetables are on sale sauteed + chickpeas or black beans
breakfast for dinner, eggs and toast or pancakes (fruit or random veggie on the side)
chili-dried beans, store brand chili spice, onions and green peppers, a little ground beef
rice and beans, sauteed veggies on the side

Snacks
buy a bag of popcorn kernels and pop them in the micro (alton brown will tell you how)
I always have baking stuff, so I would make cookies, but if you don't and need a sweet, get a box of sale cookies

Coffee
cafe buselo

So you would need to buy
oatmeal/cereal
1/2 gallon of milk
dozen eggs
small jar of peanut butter
loaf of whole wheat
lb of whole carrots
bunch of bananas
quart of yougurt
bag of sale fruit
a few onions
other veg (cabbage, zuc, whatever's on sale)
box of pasta
a couple green peppers
bag of beans
chili spice
small bag of rice
cafe bustelo

If you have enough left over

pretzels
cookies/other sweet
ground beef/other meat
popcorn kernels

I think that would be doable with your budget

Cheerios and Bartlett pears are on sale. I'd get those along with bananas, eggs, yogurt, milk, maybe some broccoli, ground turkey (looks like its also on sale). Also check prices on chicken--can get some good deals on bone-in cuts.

Do you have any spices? Dietary restrictions?

If it were me and I had a reasonable supply of spices, I'd go with a rice and beans based menu, along with cheap greens.

1. red beans and rice : red beans, rice, sausage / salt pork
2. sauteed spinach: spinach (or whatever green was cheapest), butter, garlic
3. breakfast -- one box cereal, 1/2 gallon milk
4. fruit for snacks -- a small watermelon if they are on sale like they are at my grocery store for $.29
5. lunch: sandwiches -- one loaf of bread, 1 tomato, inexensive lunch meat, greens from above, mustard if you can buy a small container

This should be a bit under $50, and most of what you'd need depending on your appettite. That said, you should also look at the sale sheet before going and plan based on that. What are the loss leaders this week?

Go to Giant & Safeway- look for the half price deals of the week on decent cereals, fruits and veggies& lean meats. Both markets have weekly specials of 40-60% off some decent, healthy, fresh items.

Bananas are cheap-- usually you can get frozen vegetables and cereals like Cheerios for half price at one store or the other.

Also, beans and whole grain rices are cheap and healthy.

I'm on a tight budget and have allocated $50 for food for the coming week (Mon-Sat). It will be for three meals a day and a snack; everything made at home (lunch and snack carried to work). Fortunately it's just me and I'll be shopping at the Georgetown Safeway. Would love to incorporate stuff from WF and TJ's but it's not in the budget. Can't get to cheaper grocery stores in the suburbs b/c I don't have a car. No dietary restrictions, but want to eat healthily with as much fruit and veg as I can. Help me be creative!

TIA