Extremely low food budget plan ideas for a $20 a week?

[Ironbar]

If you had to eat on $20 a week what would you buy? Assume roughly 2500 calories a day for calorie requirement.

About $3.00 worth of Top Ramen.

 

[Flymph]

Per person or in total? Ramen, frozen veggies, chicken. Substitute rice or potatoes for ramen...

 

[The Heretic]

About $3.00 worth of Top Ramen.

I like the Nissin chow mien meals - I like the taste and the noodles are processed differently, so they taste better.

However, even as a young person, I don't think it would be a good idea to eat nothing but those noodles and they would get old real quick. I have plenty of the meals, but I only have a few per week.

 

[po18guy]

Rice, beans and corn masa. Millions of Central Americans subsist on this, and do well.

 

[OldTengu]

 

[trevi]

I'm not a fussy eater AT ALL.... I'll eat food meant to be served hot, cold... and vice-versa... don't care if I eat the same thing over and over, will even eat food raw (or still alive) that should be cooked (if no other choice).

We had a saying in my Army unit... "fussy boys go hungry."

One of the greatest meals I ever had was born in the military, "schit on a shingle"!!

 

[trevi]

Up until Covid, I traveled a lot. Depending on the city, would get $45-65/day meal stipend, tax free. Learned to keep my meals < $10/day. When I found a induction heater for $20, started taking that and a fry pan. Fried eggs, toast, kielbasa and sauerkraut, curry. Just had to make sure to cook in the bathroom to keep the smells from permeating the room. Colleagues would say, "how the F do you do it?" Easy.
Upshot - I have a safe full of guns, and >$5K in loading gear & components that never hit a line in the budget.

I call dibs on this guy! @P7M13, I will follow this mate in a bug out situation.

 

[JohnnyMac]

Go thru the dollar menu at the local fast food places. You get roughly 3 items/day.

In Alaska, everything on the dollar menu is $1.99...

Winco is great and you don't have to fuss with sale ads.

You just have to fuss with the weirdos. It's almost like the people of Walmart shop there too. They definitely have some good deals so we shop there, but it's always an adventure.


When things get a little tight in our house because I've spent more $$ on something than my sweet wife thinks necessary, she threatens weenie water soup. Boil up some weenies, and then pour the weenie water into a bowl with a little ketchup and you have soup. Keep doing that each day until there's no flavor left in the water then you get to eat the weenies. A pack of weenies, a jug of ketchup and a half rack of PBR < $20.

 

[RedRover]

For $20 I would buy a pizza and a book that taught me how to cut other non-essential expenses w/out affecting my food budget.

A few random ideas off the top of my head...

For example, I could live w/out the internet. I did it for quite a few years before it was invented.

Cable TV? I would love to stop giving money to Comcast or DirectTV or whatever extortionist spawn of Satan is providing service. Wife likes her 'shows' though.

An automobile? I walked, or rode a bike, or hitch-hiked or car-pooled to many a job in my youth. I could leave it parked in the driveway and get by if need be for a bit.

Air conditioning? Walk around the house in underwear, or screw it, go commando. What about the winter? Layer up. It's not a hard fix.

Simply a few thrown out there.

I couldn't live w/out a nice juicy Rib-Eye on occasion, or rather, would that be a chosen life worth living?

 

[PBinWA]

Up until Covid, I traveled a lot. Depending on the city, would get $45-65/day meal stipend, tax free. Learned to keep my meals < $10/day.

I had a job like that but I could also pick the hotels I stayed. Residence Inn's used to do free breakfast and a light "snack" happy hour thing in the evening. I would just take what ever was edible for lunch back from the breakfast and then eat dinner at the happy hour. ~0/Day.

Even when I travel now personally, I look for the free breakfast places and just stock up for lunch. Yogurt, milk, fruit all keeps well in the mini fridge or even an ice bucket.

 

[Buster1]

$5.00 hot and ready from Little Squeezers.........breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Dumpster dive behind your favorite grocery store for snacks. Take protection, you'll probably have competition.

 

[Buster1]

Call the Mormons, they have a good food assistance program and plenty of young people willing to come talk to you. I'm actually serious about this. It's not a handout or "welfare", as they expect some form of work/service in return.

 

[Tony617]

One of the greatest meals I ever had was born in the military, "schit on a shingle"!!

My mom would make that and it was quite tasty. I have not had this for years now.

Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast Recipe - Food.com

But my mom used thinly cut pastrami instead. I also like fried Baloney as well.

 

[albin25]

-Rice
-dried beans
-dried peppers
-hot sauce
-onions
-cabbage
-pork
-tomatoes
-lots and lots of tortillas/cornmeal
-whatever veg is the cheapest
-cheap tequila

In other words..... learn to cook and eat like a field worker, or
(with some substitutions) like your grand parents did.

 

[mrblond]

My mom would make that and it was quite tasty. I have not had this for years now.

Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast Recipe - Food.com

But my mom used thinly cut pastrami instead. I also like fried Baloney as well.

yep, my dad used tuna though.. its like a comfort food for me

 

[mrblond]

-Rice
-dried beans
-dried peppers
-hot sauce
-onions
-cabbage
-pork
-tomatoes
-lots and lots of tortillas/cornmeal
-whatever veg is the cheapest
-cheap tequila

In other words..... learn to cook and eat like a field worker, or
(with some substitutions) like your grand parents did.

Watch this.

Great Depression Cooking

98 year old cook, author and great grandmother, Clara, recounts her childhood during the Great Depression as she prepares meals from the era. Learn how to ma...

www.youtube.com

makes you appreciate what we have

 

[FourTeeFive]

Bananas are cheap fuel. As others have said, dried beans, rice, some flavoring, and you're good.

A big pot of chili goes a long way (and yes, with beans. All meat chili is expensive. My apologies to any Texans reading this). Can always stretch it with spaghetti or rice. And a chili-filled baked potato is a wonderful thing. Same with chili omelettes, etc. I would look at it more as a weekly expense and cook up some big pots of chow that are versatile.

 

[Hawaiian]

Beef, even hamburger is expensive. Chicken and pork when on sale is much cheaper. Save the drippings and make gravy. Everything is better with gravy! I like making my own styles of goulash, fried rice, pasta dishes. A little meat with some corn/peas/carrots mix up nicely. Onion and garlic, it makes all dishes taste better. Toss a little meat and peas/carrots in Ramen, it makes it much better.
Sandwiches. Egg salad, tuna, spam all make great sandwiches on the cheap. PBJ is also good.

 

[Certaindeaf]

A lot of people could probably stand to skip a sammy or two.. this fella went 382 days..

Angus Barbieri's fast - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Certaindeaf]

Beef, even hamburger is expensive. Chicken and pork when on sale is much cheaper. Save the drippings and make gravy. Everything is better with gravy! I like making my own styles of goulash, fried rice, pasta dishes. A little meat with some corn/peas/carrots mix up nicely. Onion and garlic, it makes all dishes taste better. Toss a little meat and peas/carrots in Ramen, it makes it much better.
Sandwiches. Egg salad, tuna, spam all make great sandwiches on the cheap. PBJ is also good.

I've been buying those huge chubs of hamburger from winco and cashncarry, $2/lb for 20 and 25% fat respectively.. hey ya only live once. And instead of going to Wendy's for a $10 burger, you'll still be like 20 monster burgers ahead with no money spent.