What Would You Buy If You Only Had $20 To Feed Family For A Week?

[Pixiedust34]

Here's an emergency menu and shopping list to feed your family for $45 in a week. You could probably get that to around $20, assuming that you already have some staples (salt, pepper, vegetable oil, etc.) on hand, as items such as this are listed in your shopping list. It also has a breakdown of calories per day with this menu.

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm

 

[ckoncurat]

I googled the study and found that it was $21 per person, not per family for the week. So a family of 4 would have $84 for the week which while it wouldn't leave room for fun, you could do it with a little planning.

They also assume that families that have small children would also be eligible for WIC and most areas have free/reduced breakfast and lunch offered year round even when school isn't in session for school aged children.

I know my area has lots of help for low income families when it comes to feeding their families. When we first bought our home, there were very few families in our school district on free/reduced lunch, and now I was told we are at over 70% on free/reduced lunch.

Just in my area in addition to food stamps, there are several no questions asked food pantries and our grade school offers free lunch all summer even though school isn't in session.

Like I said, it wouldn't be fun, but with some planning it could be done.

$21 a week per person is not that bad! For my family of eight we would get $168, which is more than we spend on groceries NOW, plus FREE LUNCH? We pay full price for lunch! I think I could live very comfortably on that plan.

 

[Starlady01]

O really 21 dollars per person I must be getting the wrong person for getting my food stamps. lol

My bills come to about 700.00 a month my food stamp alotment is let me see 32.00 I receive 708.00 a month in cash . My alot ment is less then $20.00 a week.
(This does not inclued the price of gas or soap shampoo ect.)

I normally get for one person myself. fozen meals and receive 10 meals a month free from local delivery.

I use to have to buy for two. Have bought for 3 at one point.

I know other who also receive foodstamps take my word for it isn't $20. per person. I think it use to be or close to it , but then we had reform and it change drasticly. PLease don't get me started on the Food Stamp Reform.

Since I grew up in Orlando Florida and have lived in Florida all my life for my trip to disney or univeral well, I know to many people who work there, Been many a times.
Disney employee's are alot for their famly free of charge every 3 months I think but they are givin tickets once a year to keep or give away. I have been fortunate to receive such tickets from family and or friends in the past. We take along a back pack for food and buy one drink a peice and then use the water fountians which we know where all are located.

I love disney when I was younger I remember Disney Donating presents for us when I was younger we were a family of 5 kids. They were great to our family when I was younger.
This was when Disney was first getting started they use to adopt family's for Christmas and we got adopted by them a few times.

 

[Starlady01]

P.S
Just to let you know in Florida atleast when you apply for food stamps they only alot you xx amount of money for electric bill if you go over it doesn't count has anyone seen the price of the electric bill lately.

I have breathing problems which means I have to have air plus I don't have tree's in my yard which makes my house extreamly hot without air. I turn off my hot water heater and air as much as possible and still go over the alotment. With out the air running during the winter I still go over.
Food stamps don't count it tho. They have their guidelines which doesn't keep up with the times. Or the price of Gas just to get to a local food bank cost money and some folks don't even have cars to go.

 

[Misty89]

I have had times in real life we had to do this, it's really not that bad. - we have 2 kids and Mom & dad. We are only home for breakfast and dinner eveeryday,and are not picky eaters.


Mac- Cheese
Hot dogs & Buns
3lb pack of ground beef ( 1 lb per meal)
pasta
canned veggies
Bread ( assume you have lunch meat and peanut butter at home for weekend lunch)
bag of small shrimp

out of the above i can get these meals with additions of what i have at home already. - i have many moe but this is the favorites from the family.

Spagetti & meatballs.
Hot dogs on buns.
Mac-n Cheese w/ hot dogs.
meatballs w/ gravy and mashed taters.
Tacos
Shrimp alfredo

we do not do soups very often DH does not like soup
we do not eat like this all the time(this would be rock bottom winter - DH is in construction and sometimes it's just not there).......but in am emergancy this is what can and has been done.

 

[Starlady01]

Yes spaghetti and spaghetti sauce
Hot dogs
Hamburger meat
and chicken dark meat
To make a meatloaf you can add crackers or bread to the meat to make it stretch. Add a little ketchup at the end and wala

are cheap meats

You can get chicken thighs and legs for 2 or 3 dollars a bag. Then break them down into a few meals. Same with the hamburger meat.

 

[hsmamato2]

wow,I've thought abut this in the past..... we don't have to eat on $20 a week, but I think we could, if we needed to-
LARGE bag of rice- like 5.00,maybe 15 pounds-
LARGE bags of DRY beans, very cheap- soak,and cook in a variety uses- soup- chili,etc-
spices,salt pepper,chili powder,etc-
*No mixes of any kind-too expensive*
pasta bought on sale, at like 5 pounds for $1-
cans of tomato puree,to make my sauce,with spices-
frozen veggies bought on sale- or farmers market fruit and veggies in season (very cheap)
we drink WATER-
a 10 pound bag of potatoes-2.50- mashed,fried, boiled,baked,etc-
cheese bought on sale to add to the rice and beans,or shred some on the pasta-
1 gallon milk for coffee,tea,or over oatmeal for breakfast
(never prepackaged,oatmeal is CHEAP when bought in bulk)
Bread bought at the thrift store-about .65 a loaf- p butter for sandwiches/breakfast-
watch for sales for some ground beef,to add some to a sauce sometimes,or for some chili,but I like beans better anyway-
extremely basic foods, nothing too exciting, but we'd get our protein, veggies,etc and fiber that we needed......some of this would be bought one week,and carried over into the next,where we'd buy another item on the list to keep our supplies as needed-
even a bag of spaghetti and a jar of sauce is like 2.00 and feeds 4 people-
it would be tight, but we could if we had to.......

 

[hsmamato2]

ok, now I'm reading the whole thread...20 per person per week? easy!
but you could eat on 20 for the family- it just would be difficult,and VERY basic- rice and beans,a basic version is cost effective-
pasta on super sale,and sauce made with canned tomatoes on sale is equally cost effective-
and portions would be very controlled- in other words,not much fun at all, but i think lots of people in this world don't have much choice-
I did spend a lot last week...with visiting family- at one store I had $20,and had to grab dinner items, it was a challenge......for one night-

 

[powellrj]

Not so long ago, we were very poor. I could only spend $100.00 every 6 weeks on groceries. At first I went to Salvation Army for a food box. 1 apple box of food. No meat. This was for 1 month.

2 boxes of Mac and Cheese
1 twist tie baggie half full of powder milk - no directions - I never used it. I would never buy a box that was cut open or leaking in the store either.
1 small bag of rice
1 box hamburger helper - no hamburger to put in it
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of corn
1 box jiffy corn bread mix
I live in the Northwest,beef and potatoe country and I had never ever heard of those before. {These got donated back to a food bank, at The Cans Film Festival,[you donate canned food to see a movie free.]}
1 can of black eyed peas
1 can yellow hominy
1 can of spinach - What? ewwwwww

This box of food was no help at all. There were missing ingredients, and nothing went with anything else to make a meal.

This post made me really sad because with a little help, this could have feed a family several meals. I know our county extension office use to offer cooking classes to show people how to feed their families using low cost foods. Other than eggs for the jiffy corn breads and ground meat for the hamburger helper, the other things would have made several meals just using those items if you knew how to use them. I assume they made the boxes out of donated food, so they were limited in what they had to offer.

I think that schools should offer home economics classes to all kids for a semester so they have a little survivor skills. I know 35 years later I still use some of the things I learned in jr. high home ec about budget cooking. Now my kids take home skills classes where they really don't learn any worthwhile skills on making do. They did a semester on cooking with chocolate. I would rather see them do a semester on cooking from scratch and cooking with dry beans and legumes and other budget streching foods.

 

[momof2disneybabies]

Oh wow, $21 a person per week? That would be $84 a week for our family of 4, and actually my grocery budget a week is $50 and we get no assistance whatsoever and we eat fine. My pantry/fridge is super stocked right now and we eat fruits and veggies every day.

With some menu planning, coupon clipping and deal hunting, it can be done. My bill yesterday came to $46.01 and we had a full grocery cart!

$50 a week includes all household items, paper products, personal items and baby items.

Jennifer

 

[IDoDis]

I agree with the milk question: Occasionally, Walgreens or CVS will have it for $2.89 or so, but Walmart, Publix, SweetBay and WinnDixie are all at least $3.35 per gallon, and that's the low side, generic.

This is absolutely fascinating to watch, though. It does make me so much more thankful that God has blessed us that I can buy produce every week and my youngun's can eat fruit and veggies and protein of some sort every day. We take so much for granted ...

Wal-Mart will price match any other store's prices, so even though the Wal-Mart milk may be around $3.29 a gallon (generic store brand), if another store has the milk at 2 gallons for $5.00, you can get that same price at Wal-Mart. I don't even have to tell the checkers anymore. They know the ad prices and automatically punch in the lowest advertised price. I don't mind buying the store brand of milk, either. We have dairy farms out here where I've taken my classes for field trips. They make the same milk for a few different labels, including store brands.

I price match all of my groceries that I buy at Wal-Mart. I just take the weekly grocery ads with me and let the cashier know the prices. The only thing that Wal-Mart won't do is match the B1G1 free ads because the other stores will have the first item at full retail where it's usually already cheaper at Wal-Mart.

 

[TENIA66]

i'd buy:

flour
rice
powered milk
peanut butter
dry beans
then cheapest fresh/frozen veggies i could find: cabbage probably, potatoes, onions
bag apples/oranges
eggs

then i'd pray alot..............

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Oh wow, $21 a person per week? That would be $84 a week for our family of 4, and actually my grocery budget a week is $50 and we get no assistance whatsoever and we eat fine. My pantry/fridge is super stocked right now and we eat fruits and veggies every day.

With some menu planning, coupon clipping and deal hunting, it can be done. My bill yesterday came to $46.01 and we had a full grocery cart!

$50 a week includes all household items, paper products, personal items and baby items.

Jennifer

If those two cuties in your picture are the kids you are feeding, I can understand how you can accomplish this.

In my house, however.... I have two 6'2" bottomless pits that $21 a day would not begin to fill.

I think a lot depends on where you live, as well. When you have competition between the stores in your town you can cherry pick and do quite well. If there is "one store in town" then it's a lot tougher because you either have to drive or pay the prices.

 

[Starlady01]

Dang 20 per person I would eat like a queen on that.


lol

My alot ment is $35.oo a month for one person. And to think I still eat pretty good considering.

I'm not starting on the reform not by our present President. But a wife of a President past.

This wife and her husband did a survey at the foodstamp office to see how many voted before they did the reform, I had mentioned it to my mom something up, and sure enough I was right.

I hope people remember this if she runs for president most are now voters.

 

[KKB]

I was shocked, too. I am sure it depends on the brand and flavor, though. My local grocery store (Hannaford's) has this program where everything in the store is labelled with a series of stars. Three stars is the best nutrition, no stars means no nutrition. Instant oatmeal has 2 stars where the regular soak-and-boil kind is only 1 star! I nearly fell over when I saw that!

Obviously, the store could be wrong...but the ads go on and on how they have all these nutritionists who consult on the star values all of the time.

So if this has been addressed, my apologies!!!
But I just HAD to research & comment on this on!

Pulled out the box of maple brown sugar instant oatmeal & the canister of quick oats. (both store brand)

Instant has a bit more vitamins & minerals...BUT the quick oats had NO sugar (comp. to 13g!!!!), more fiber and more protein. Any nutritionist would find the quick oats better nutritionally.

I wonder what the "star" program is based on. Sounds like sugar, fiber & protein were not considered...and frankly those trump "added vitamins & minerals", at least when considering the bread group! (that's where fruits & veggies come in!)

 

[LKHomemail]

the church i attend has a lot of land and has asked for volunteers to do gardening. they are growing lots of fresh produce to give people that are participating in the food pantry. many people enjoy gardening and this provides a service opportunity that they will benefit from . obviously the folks that will be getting the produce will be helped. i thought it's a really nice idea to share with the budget board. maybe other church groups

i used to have tomato gardens ... one plant is enough for one family for the entire summer. i had about 30 and kept the subdivision and all my coworkers happy i wish i had thought to try to hook up with a pantry for my surplus tomatoes. i had too many beautiful ones that spoiled because there were just too many.

there was another poster on here who suggested using part of her budget to by seeds. the pots could maybe be purchased at thrift stores ? you would only need one large one for tomatoes if a person lived in a an apt .

 

[DawnM]

She was asking about 20 dollars per week, not daily.

Dawn

Since it is only DH and I, we can eat for $20/day. That is $600/month and that is a little higher than what we spend. We do like tuna, but only the salt free on from Trader Joe's. We eat a wide variety of food. We both love veggies and lagumes. DH loves his meat. We only eat chicken breasts. When we can we get the free range chickes from the Amish family near us. Now we get to eat the Amish veggies and fruits from their stands. Outstanding!!! They white corn had been absolutely delightful.

 

[DawnM]

$20/wk.

Yes, I would get AngelFoodMinistries.com boxes if I need them. $25/box is supposed to feed a family of 4 for a week.

We would eat a LOT of rice, pasta and potatoes with toppings that didn't have meat or had very little meat.

We would drink water.

Dawn