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I think about this when I go to the grocery store. I see prices rising and some food containers with less food in them than before. I wonder how some people can survive on their meager income.
When I shop, I make a list and try to stick to it. It's not easy but if something screams out at me, I try to reason whether I need it or just want it. (Ice cream is one of them). And even with that my bill, for me and 2 dogs is never less than $35-45 a week. I don't eat out much, except when daughter takes me, and she usually pays unless it's my turn to treat. I do supplement at the Dollar store, but it's usually for paper items, like garbage bags or cleaning stuff. I would have a hard time living on $20 a week for food.
I'd sign up for meal on wheels or barter -- or do SOMETHING to try to supplement my budget … if that's all I had for food. That seems crazy…20 a week for food. There IS a company -- some non profit -- that matches poor people with RESTAURANT leftovers, that obviously are good, but can't be saved and reserved.
I could live on $20 a week for food and be better off for it. I buy everything at the grocery including paper goods, detergent, toothpaste, etc, and pet food. I don't really know what percentage is food for me only, but I eat whatever I want. I also spend $4 or $5 at the farmers' mkt when something I like is in season. One of the pets is expensive to feed.
If I want to buy something off the budget, I can cut the grocery spending way down. I wish I would make that a habit.
I'm an overeater anyway, just saying…..
But even at the dollar store -- 20 items -- for a week. I don't think the gentleman is eating a lot of food.
Let's not even say 3 meals a day…how about two meals and a some kind of snack…He gets all that out of $20 a week?
Does he have some other source of FREE food, LIKE -- a senior center?, food stamps?, Meals on wheels subsidy?
You're saying he eats ALL his food intake on 20.00 a week? I know a lot of older (elderly?) people don't eat much. But damn, I'd be all kinds of malnourished on that title bit of food…..or at least I'd be thinner that's for damn sure.
That's in the neighborhood of what my wife and I spend on groceries. Figure 3 meals and a snack each day, so call it 28 meals for $20. That's really not hard to do if you cook in batches and freeze what you don't eat. Something as simple as a large baked potato garnished with chives and butter costs less than 50 cents. The local market is having the annual spring frozen food sale, so a pound of frozen mixed vegetables costs 78 cents. Add a large can of tuna ($3.50), a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup (89 cents), and an 8 ounce package of pasta (77 cents), and half a small onion for a casserole (full 9x13 pan) and you have at least 6 nutritious meals for around $6. That's with a lot of really expensive tuna. You can boil up a chicken hindquarter for stock and meat and make a hearty chicken stew for half that per meal. We have a bread machine, so a 2 lb. loaf of bread costs us about a buck and will last the two of us a week. We make fancy bread, too, not that tasteless white balloon loaf that is the cheap stuff in the store. We don't buy cold cuts, we buy lean beef roast and thin slice it for sandwiches. Breakfast is usually oatmeal with a handful of frozen berries cooked into it. Once in a while we will even have a boneless New York steak. 6 oz. steaks cost a whopping $2 each. You can buy a whole 5 lb. chicken for $5, roast it like a turkey, get 4 generous meals off of it, then use the bones for bone broth and make chicken soup.
Our diet is actually more varied than that, but you get the idea. If it comes in a box, you are paying 2x as much for the food. If someone else prepares it, you are paying 6x as much. If you have a crock pot, a microwave and a bread machine, it doesn't even take much time to cook it yourself.
As it happens, I'm going grocery shopping today. My list is milk, cottage cheese, baking potatoes, frozen vegetables and oatmeal. I made bread yesterday.
I can get by easily ofn $20/week for groceries IF I don't buy coffee or Diet Cola. Other than Microwave popcorn I never buy snacks or fast food. I learned how to cook as a kid and I have been told I am a fantastic cook. I ain't so hot on doing dishes though.
A retired lady I knew had an extremely small SS check (even after working all her life) and a tiny pension.
From one pound of hamburger, she would make six patties for six dinners for the week. Her daughters took her out to eat on Sunday.
I am frugal with food, but I can't do $20 a week for food or 6 patties out of a pound of hamburger and not be starving
Meatloaf. Eating straight hamburger is not good for you. Add steel cut oats, an onion and a small can of tomato sauce plus seasoning and a pound of hamburger will last one person all week. Dieticians recommend no more than 4 ounces of red meat a day, and that's maximum. Two ounces is just fine. That can be shocking to Americans living in their Big Mac world.
My first cookbook was The Impoverished Student's Book of Cookery, Drinkery, and Housekeepery, subtitled "How to eat on a $5 a week and live to tell about it."
I budget about $75/wk at the grocery store.... I would say $50 of that is on groceries, and the rest is for toiletries and paper products. A lot of times, I don't spend that much, either. But, this is for my husband and I, so.... 2 people.
We eat a normal amount of food per meal. I have to eat low- carb, so meals frequently have meat and other proteins in them. My husband is a runner, so his meals have to be sufficient nutritionally, as well. I have always been frugal, and I am a hell of a cook. I come from a restaurant background, so I am very conscious of pricing and what veggies/meats will give me the biggest bang for my buck. I do my grocery shopping on Tuesdays, when the prices are lowest on meats and dairy at my Kroger. Frequently, the meat dept has prepared bulk packages of chicken or pork they are trying to get rid of that still usually have a couple of days left on them. Sometimes, they've even got a marinade or other seasoning already on them. I break the packages up and freeze individual portions. In my area, I have been able to get pork dirt cheap lately. Block cheese is always cheaper. I buy that instead of the smaller shredded bags and I just shred it at home. We stick to fruits like apples and bananas that are routinely inexpensive. We usually eat at least two large salads a week. While I don't do canning yet (I don't have the prep space), I do raise my most frequently used veggies in containers. I have cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, basil, and sweet peppers getting ready to be harvested all summer long. I try to buy organic as much as possible. We do not eat packaged food like chips.
Every meal I cook, I cook like it is feeding 4 people. My husband and I eat leftovers for lunches. I do not let any food go to waste, and I don't buy stuff that has a tendency to spoil that can't be frozen.
We do occasionally eat out for special events or maybe a date night, but these are the exception and not the norm.
I don't typically use coupons, but I do have a rewards/Plus card at the store. I also pay for the groceries with a credit card that gives me cash back on grocery and gas purchases (which I pay off the very next day).
The one thing we spend money on that I feel like we could probably save on is paper towels. We go through them like crazy because we don't use cloth napkins. I'm sort of a germaphobe, and I prefer not to use dishtowels to wipe down our counters multiple times. I'd rather throw some money at the situation in lieu of possibly getting salmonella or something equally nasty.
My husband and I are in our mid 30's. I feel very fortunate to have already had these habits, as it will only make it easier for us whenever we do retire.
I can absolutely see how this gentleman is able to spend $20/wk on just groceries for himself. I'd love to see his weekly 'menu.'
From what I've seen as a visiting nurse, a lot of the tiny very elderly people eat about like a 4 yr old child. Lunch or dinner can be 1/2 c soup, 1 slice soft bread, 3 grapes, and jello or pudding. Breakfast might be 1 poached egg & 2 saltines OR 1/2 c cooked cereal with 5 raisins and 1/4 c canned or powdered milk. Many either can't chew or just don't want to.
You know, being Asian helps...When I go to the local 99 Ranch Market and buy food, it's a lot cheaper than the regular markets. Recently they had several vegetables for stir fry for 39 cents a pound. Garlic and ginger are dirt cheap.
If I had to, I probably could live on $20 a week by cooking my own food. Bulk rice, vegetables, chicken? Yes. Only problem might be vegetables stay fresh only a few days.
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