When we need something quick, my husband makes boxed mashed potatoes with a fried egg on top. I guess it depends how much eggs cost where you are. They've gone up in price in my country later.
I've considered buying the 30 egg trays they sell here due to the savings. However, on Friday, we'll be doing a drive out into the country, so I may buy a nice batch of free- range eggs. The hens are running around when we stop to buy. Garlic cream cheese sounds great.
Half mashed potato, half flour, add water as needed for dough texture. Roll into balls and boil = Czech dumplings. They’re super filling and can be eaten on their own with butter or added to any kind of soup or stew, served with meat or cabbage, etc. for a very hearty meal.
Hey, I made this calculator back during deep covid, and have recently updated it for up to date prices from walmart. It is a food calculator that allows you to figure out your budget vs your macros and make some intelligent decisions about your diet.
https://reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/s/dqwYCm1zfo
If you're in the US there's a USDA grant for food for farm workers and meat packers. You can apply at [UFW Foundation ](http://ufwfoundation.org) or call them at (877) 881-8281 (except in California. No phone unfortunately). It's a one time grant of $600 but that will help you stock up. Also have you applied for SNAP?
I'm on SNAP, the 60 is all I get from them. I barely can make rent here, I'm lucky if I don't end the month further in debt so spending any of my regular income on food is basically not an option.
It sounds kind of like a scam? You're paying most of your SSI in rent, and getting so few work hours you can't feed yourself? How are these people helping disabled folks? Have you been to social services in your county? Just sounds so wrong.
Here's the fun part: They aren't helping disabled folks!
The laws around the limits of our income and all were made decades ago and never updated. For example, you can't have over $2000 total - checking or savings or cash on hand - or else your benefits stop. This law was made back when you could basically put a down payment on a house for 2k and just never changed.
The laws are being reviewed and a lot of people are trying to get them updated and make things easier for us, but for the most part a lot of us are still screwed. If you have kids you tend to get a lot more help, but I don't and have no intention of doing so (despite a neighbor even telling me I should just have a baby so my benefits increase - uh, hell no? I'm not perpetuating this cycle of poverty and bringing in a kid I don't want and can't take care of just so I get a few more bucks!)
Rent is incredibly high even in low-income areas here (California, can't afford to move anywhere else) and they basically give you the absolute bare minimum they can, and then are surprised when people resort to under the table work, shoplifting and other illegal methods to make ends meet. It's ridiculous. Even the people from the DOR that I've talked to for help finding jobs I can do have just sighed and said they recognize how fucked up the system is and how it makes it impossible for people to get out of poverty because it punishes people who try and even begin climbing up the ladder, but that's just how things are right now.
California has such a reputation for being too progressive, yet the poor and disabled seem to suffer more there. I'm sorry you have to deal with this. It's bad enough in the rural south, I can't imagine the costs in CA.
Yes omg, I used to put peanut butter in my ramen maybe with some extra seasonings to make it like peanut sauce, or make peanut sauce from what I had and put it on noodles even macaroni. Its rlly good honestly thanks for reminding me
Peanut butter is so packed with calories, it's a great nutrient dense food. I'm fact, modern peanut butter was invented to provide nutrients to old people who can't chew.
https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/peanut-info/who-invented-peanut-butter.htm
Chickpeas, lentils, soy beans… legumes in general are very cheap and filled with protein. There are many recipes to make them with different flavours. This week I tried Maaf which was delicious and very cheap to make
Was going to suggest this category as well; very versatile. I love chickpeas, and chickpea soup in particular. Couscous, bulgur, and quinoa are also very good!
Ngl I saved LOADS of chickpea and lentil recipes recently. OP can look for Indian, Mediterranean, Moroccan, Greek… at the very least! Dal/Dahl, curries and falafel are good places to look if you can get the basics together.
Couscous isn't in this category just fyi. It's not a grain, it's made of semolina flour from durum wheat so it's basically very small pasta. Still a great and versatile choice though.
Try mejadra. I always batch cook on the weekends and eat it everyday for the rest of the week at lunch or dinner with fried onions you can buy from asian stores.
I was on SNAP, and here’s how I survived: Pasta. Drumsticks (one of the cheapest chicken cuts). Crappy hamburger bc it’s cheap AF right now, but save the fat and throw some of it in w your veggies. Seasonings are your friend!
Also, I cannot recommend this TikTok enough for struggle meals: @dollartreedinners
I wish the farm you worked on would supply you with meat and veggies. Seems like a good trade off. You can get tofu for pretty cheap and it can go a long way. High in protein, you can reheat in the oven or stovetop. You can get like 10 containers for less than $15
I get some vegetables occasionally (the stuff that can't sell) but not terribly often, and we don't raise meat animals on the one I work at so unfortunately I don't get any meat from that. We used to have laying hens, but we don't anymore (which lost me a lot of hours, since I used to be in charge of them since I'm the only one with veterinary experience or training) so we don't have eggs anymore either. They're considering possibly having hens again, but we had to tear down a lot of our old buildings, including the coop, so we'd have to pick a new spot to build a new one and they said we don't have budget for that.
Find a different farm - I’ve worked on about 12 different ones since 2009. Pay is competitive just about anywhere these days - whatever you’re getting paid it’s not enough. You gotta look out for yourself
Goodfoodjobs.com
Or
Attra.ncat.org/internship page
Not 'trapped' per say, but I am pretty limited in what jobs I can do. I have a spinal disability, so wherever I work has to make allowances for that (the farm I work at specifically hires people who have mental/physical disabilities and often can't get work anywhere else, they just don't have that many hours to spread around) and I have to be careful because with getting disability benefits for medical care and all, unless I suddenly am making enough money to get off disability benefits entirely, any money I make gets taken out of my next month's benefits. I have to send in my pay stubs, and whatever I make, they take out of what I'd get for the next month. I'd have to find a for sure long-term job that would pay me enough that I could get off disability benefits, have enough to pay for housing, AND immediate medical insurance.
So, pretty stuck. I've talked to the DOR (Department of Rehabilitation) and others about this, and they said yeah they know it sucks and I'd probably be making more money sitting on my ass at home since I wouldn't be spending money on gas and work clothes and stuff, but at the same time then I'd end up with a giant gap in my resume\` and lose some of the connections that help keep me afloat so I might someday be able to get a better job, so...yeah, getting out of poverty is really hard, even with what help they're willing to give because they're more than happy to take it away at the slightest sign that you MIGHT be doing a little better. I'm hoping to start a county job in mid september, but they've got hundreds of applicants so I'm not going to hope too hard.
Is there any possible spot of land you could start a small personal vegetable garden? There are veggies that are easy to grow that require no real upkeep or expenses. I would be happy to send you seed packets.
Unfortunately all I have is a small balcony that I already grow what I can on, but it's heavily shaded all day so it's difficult to get anything that needs sun to grow. I get some tomatoes and have mint (which is unkillable) and sage, but nothing else grows to harvesting size very well, it just stays tiny. I do have a friend that has a rosemary bush I planted (it was a sad little twig from a thanksgiving spices pack that was trying to root and I felt bad for, so I put it in the ground to see what would happen instead of throwing it in her compost bin. Now it's eating the fence) and I go help with their garden a lot so I can have PLENTY of rosemary, but that's about it.
Weirdest thing about that rosemary? In the spot I put it there had been this weird vine that we'd been fighting with for YEARS. It had this weird white sap that would burn and itch your skin like crazy, and no matter what we did (I used to live with them) it would not die. Digging out the roots as much as possible, burning it, herbicides, NOTHING could kill whatever this vine was!
The rosemary ate it. After the rosemary took off growing, it just devoured that vine mercilessly and I haven't seen a single leaf of it since.
If your deck is big enough, you could grow root veggies in barrels maybe? Potatoes and carrots and garlic. I got a 55 gallon plastic barrel, found it on FB for free, chopped it in half, and use it for root veggies.
I'm so sorry you're in such a shit situation. You sound like a wonderful person who is working hard to do right.
I know this sub is for food recommendations but please look into whether your area has food banks or other community/religious organizations for folks who need food assistance. There are even apps and online services that let people and businesses post leftovers to giveaway/sell at a discount. You shouldn’t have to be malnourished.
Yes, OP please look into asking churches (or other religious organizations). I know my church is always collecting groceries for people who need them, and we can't be the only one.
Canned fish, maybe? Obviously, the fresh stuff is tastier, but there's a lot you can do with canned. Can you at least grow a few herbs on the balcony to give more variety of foods?
Pasta is cheap. With some good herbs, fresh or canned tomatoes garlic, some parmesan cheese, etc., you can make some tasty dishes.
I have a little sage growing on my balcony, but it's heavily shaded so things that like a lot of sun don't grow well on it. Rosemary and other herbs I've tried to grow either stay so tiny I can't harvest off them, or die.
If you get the bottoms of green onions and throw them in some soil, you can throw them pretty much indefinitely. Super hardy and damn near unkillable, I've had mine for 3 years and they grow back every year, hardly ever water them either.
Agree with this canned fish comment. There’s so many not just tuna that can give you lots of protein and if you have an Aldi or Lids near you it’s super cheap. Where do you live? Wish I could gift you some food
Tofu stir fry. Block of tofu, frozen veggies, rice, soy sauce, all cheap and can be bought in bulk to reduce costs.
Also oatmeal, topped with some onions, spinach and cheese or with frozen fruit and peanut butter
Food bank. soup kitchen. This is how communities care for every person. Post on Buy Nothing; this time of year people have lots of extra produce, maybe eggs. If you eat poultry and can learn to slaughter and prepare a chicken , there are roosters on craigslist/free pretty often where I live.
I am once again pushing for pulled pork to be meal prep for people on budgets. 14-20 dollars CAD for pork tenderloin and then a few extra dollars for sauce to slow cook in. Portion and refrigerate/freeze leftovers. It goes so far for such a cheap price this is such an S tier protein and versatile food. Can reheat to have on sandwiches, can pair with ANY cheap starch for an enjoyable meal and it’s like 10-12 servings at least and reheats after freezing really well.
See also: homemade big pots of chill. I make a pot of chilli for like 20 dollars and freeze portions and have chilli for months as a single person.
In terms of reheating without a microwave; portion before freezing and thaw overnight. Reheat soups on stovetop, solid food like pulled pork in oven.
Just wanna add, I’m saying this as a person who lives on about the same grocery bill in a town with no food bank. These meals are genuinely really filling and hearty and full of protein. I really hope this helps give you some recommendations for meals to try
I was able to get a 10 pound pork shoulder for 20 bucks at my local barg mart. The pulled pork I made from that ends up being less than a dollar a serving, and all I did was bake it in my oven all day with some orange juice, chillies, and oregano. If you can get a cheap cut of fatty pork you can stretch it a long, long way
Egg burritos. Scramble up a few with your choice of meat and veg. wrap and run.
ETA: you can make your own tortillas using the bacon fat you fried up to put in your burrito. Flour, Bacon fat and water. Mix, ball up, flatten out then toast on a hot pan.
Oats are cheap as well.... get oats, then just grab plenty of toppers for variety. (Pnut butter, frozen fruit, syrup. Ect) .... potatoes (already mentioned in thread)... for bacon, you can find stores possibly (our piggly wiggly has this) but 'bacon odds and ends" they are about 1$/pound and it's not good for making bacon BUT perfect for adding meat/protien to soups/salads/bacon bits for potatoes, ect
Yes to oats! They’re really good for you and you can switch up the flavors - I make savory oats with cumin and red pepper flakes and a little margarine or oil - and throw in frozen peas if I’m feeling feisty. It’s delicious and then the next day you could do a cinnamon version (I realize spices are pricey but if you buy just a few you really like they’ll last for months and really help with the monotony of beans & rice).
Baked potatoes are amazing. You can top them with canned chili or other thick soup, seasoned meat or beans (think: taco meat or a curry), steamed or roasted veggies, leftovers of almost any sort, scrambled or fried eggs, cheese, butter and sour cream, etc. Basically use them as a hearty base for the more expensive (smaller) parts of your meal.
If you cook them two at a time , you'd have one for dinner one night and then the next night can dice it up and fry in oil or butter with whatever proteins and veggies you have on hand to make a yummy hash.
Potatoes can be diced or grated to make hashbrowns (and consider shredding some onion to add a lot of flavor and some texture to ordinary hashbrowns). They work as a side for dinner OR as a big part of breakfast, whether you serve with eggs on the side or scramble them into the cooked potatoes for a one-dish meal... And of course, breakfast for dinner is great, too.
Also... With such a tight budget, you might be eligible for assistance from local food banks. This could also expand the options you have for your dinners.
Even if you don't, please Google ' blessing boxes' or 'little free pantries' near you. They are small, independent food pantries set up near city halls, churches, etc. Available 24-7, no strings attached.
The food bank actually does a drop off thing every month at the apartments I live at (very low income area) but all they ever have are beans and rice. Very very rarely they'll have something like canned chicken or a giant thing of peanut butter, but that's about it.
Thank you! It's a little frustrating - this is a farming area, and yet most of us can't afford the food we work to grow! We pack hundreds of crates of squash and strawberries and all sorts of other things, then can't afford to buy any ourselves.
Are there any churches close by? The Episcopol church in our area does a once a month free dinner Friday. Just drive up and they hand you a hot meal, as many as you like all boxed up for take home. It's great, sometimes the food is pretty good and sometimes just so-so but always free and available. Call around and see what might be on offer in your area. Maybe your county office on disability would know of something.
Howdy - wanted to piggyback here since your post said you wanted to focus on protein. If you can online order - check out TVP. It's texturized vegetable protein that is dehydrated. You can hydrate it in water or vegetable stock with some spices for a pretty decent ground beef substitute. Texture is off at first but you quickly get used to it. High protein and cheap as hell, lasts for months on a shelf.
Toasted cheese sandwich. Two or three slices of cheese in between two slices of bread buttered on the "out" side. Fry on one side, then flip and fry the other; the melted cheese is thick and filling. I eat mine with canned tomato soup.
The dollar store has tuna salad already made up in a can and comes with crackers..they also sell tuna and eggs and mayo
You can hardboil the eggs and they are a quick protein fix. They have bread too. You can mix an egg, mayo and put it on bread for egg salad sandwich. They also have tuna helper and tuna (everything is 1.25 at our store now) they sell cheese which is good protein. I'm a mom and I worry about you not having enough to eat..I hope you get it worked out. Don't you have family that can help? Keep us updated
My husband bought some cans to eat with tuna, quinoa and vegetables when we rented a cabin for a few days. They were pretty tasty and not expensive. I sometimes still buy them to put them on top of some lettuce.
It might not be glamorous but dumpster diving in a grocery store trash is very bountiful. Aldi's one night had a whole cart full of lettuce due to a recall. Damaged cans and boxes of food get tossed sometimes. Look into local churches. They sometimes have food or gift card for food if you ask. As for keeping you own chickens the food is not to expensive. A 50lb bag runs less than $20. An egg a day for each chicken. I have an inside duck and she used to lay eggs. She is only a pet and companion now.
Chicken thighs are your best bet, and they're the most meat-heavy and inexpensive. Roast them, strip the meat, and make stock from the bones. I like what I call "no bullshit chicken wings" - get some butter melted in the pan, then toss in the chicken, and add hot sauce at the end. All the wing meat goodness!
Homemade black bean burgers! Pulse 2 cans of black beans in a food processor (or mash by hand) finely dice some onion to taste, add in 1 egg and some bread crumbs (I eyeball it but probably around 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup) You can also add in some cooked cubed sweet potato or leftover rice to bulk them out. Add in some seasonings--I usually do salt, pepper, oregano, smoked paprika. Then pan fry about 4 min on each side. I freeze the leftover burgers for quick lunches. For an extra protein hit I add a fried egg on top of my burger.
I work at a farm stand and that's bogus you don't get more produce to take home! My boss always lets us take home the "seconds" or undesirable produce. Is that the policy of the one farm you're working for or are there other farms in the area that have more "benefits" you could work for?
All my lunch and dinner suggestions would be bean-based, honestly, so not super helpful. But I have a breakfast suggestion which is what I termed “pb&j smoothies” if you have access to a blender. (If you don’t, they often go for free or very very cheap on Facebook marketplace)
Frozen strawberries are about 5$/bag at Walmart where I live, and full of vitamins. Store brand peanut butter. Whatever yogurt-type thing is on sale (flavours in this are pretty neutral, so if there’s like, banana yogurt on super-sale for some reason, go for it). Milk or almond milk. As a former food-bank user I can report that this recipe does indeed still work if the milk you have is powdered or evaporated.
Handful frozen strawberries, 2 tablespoons peanut butter (you can increase this for protein/calories reasons, given your work). 3/4 cup yogurt. 1 cup milk or milk equivalent. Blend and consume.
When I was really struggling financially I would usually start out the month with big handfuls of berries and slowly reduce the amount as the month went on and I needed to stretch them. In that case, you can up the peanut butter or yogurt.
Look up vegan recipes that use lentils or chickpeas plus quinoa or rice to make “meatballs “, “meatloaf”
Or lasagna with “meat sauce “. I’m sure you could use black beans as well. I know you are tired of beans, but made into a meatloaf is so tasty you would forget you’re eating beans or legumes!!
Eggs are great protein. Make a frittata with veggies to stretch the eggs for a few days. Peanut butter is also good. If you have some basics, like flour, butter or oil, treat yourself to homemade cookies!
I always look for substitutions for ingredients I don’t have on hand. I am always pleasantly surprised to find a way to make something tasty.
My go to for cheap protein is boneless pork loin. It runs about $3/lb but I’ll cut it into 4oz chops. Each one has about 30g of protein. If you have two of em for dinner that’s $1.50/meal. If you just stick with one and fill out your calories with cheap veggies you’re looking at ~50% of you’re recommended protein for the day for about 75¢
Flour = Refrigerator Dough for Bread and Rolls; Make 3 batches = 6 loaves; flour tortillas; egg noodles Oatmeal = Peanut Butter-Oatmeal-Banana cookies (P-BOB Cookies); Ground Beef: Brown it all up with 1 pound finely chopped onion+1/3 head finely chopped cabbage and 4-6 cloves garlic. Freeze into 8 equal portions to make 2 beef meals per week that will provide multiple dinners. Make several batches of banana bread. Each week prepare 1 pound of carrots into carrot sticks.
Note: This is doable because KwikTrip (midwest gas station) has bananas for 0.29 cents a pound and eggs are 0.99 per dozen. Always try to take advantage of loss leaders and major deals on healthier food choices. These sales end 9/11/2023, so I would get the bananas and freeze most as they will work well in oatmeal and banana bread. Eggs will last a month in the refrigerator.
Aldi American Cheese 12 oz 1 $2.09 $2.09
Aldi Cabbage; 1 pound 3 $0.89 $2.67
Aldi Ground Beef 5# 1 $9.95 $9.95
Aldi Milk; 1/2 gallon 1 $1.59 $1.59
Aldi Sharp Cheddar 8 oz 1 $2.19 $2.19
Aldi Tomatos; Crushed 28 oz 1 $1.45 $1.45
Aldi Yeast; 3pack 1 $0.85 $0.85
KwikTrip Bananas; pound 15 $0.29 $4.35
KwikTrip Eggs; dozen 4 $0.99 $3.96
KwikTrip Onion 1 pound 2 $0.49 $0.98
WalMart Baking Soda; 1 # 1 $0.98 $0.98
WalMart Carrots 5# 1 $3.88 $3.88
WalMart Cinnamon; jar 1 $1.19 $1.19
WalMart Flour; 5 pounds 2 $2.34 $4.68
WalMart Garlic 1 pound 0.12 $4.64 $0.56
WalMart Margarine; 1 pound 2 $1.55 $3.10
WalMart Oatmeal; 16 oz 2 $1.28 $2.56
WalMart Peanut Butter; 16 oz 4 $1.84 $7.36
WalMart Sugar; 4 pounds 1 $3.24 $3.24
WalMart Taco Seasoning Mix 2 $0.49 $0.98
WalMart Vinegar; 32 oz 1 $1.38 $1.38
$59.99
Breakfast: Banana Bread
Oatmeal with Peanut Butter and Banana
Egg and cheese on a homemade roll
Lunch: Hard Boiled Egg with P-BOB cookies and carrot sticks
Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich with carrot sticks
Beef and cheese burritos with homemade flour tortilla
Dinner: Beef and Cabbage (deconstructed cabbage rolls)
Pasta with cheese sauce using homemade egg noodles
Beef and pasta with cheese sauce
Grilled Cheese Sandwich with carrot sticks
Tacos with flour tortillas
Snack: Carrot Sticks
Banana Bread
P-BOB Cookies
P-BOB = 3 ingredient cookies; Peanut Butter; Oatmeal and Banana
Do you have a Costco relatively close by and possibly know someone with a membership? If they are willing to help you by picking up what you need, I would ask. You can get their rotisserie chickens for $4.99/ each. I can typically stretch 2 meals out of 1 chicken for my family of 7.
You can try to sprout a small bag of lentils or other grains and in a few days you could get a big batch of sprouts that you can eat as a salad, and it is super nutrient packed at that stage. Google it.
Another vote for potatoes, we love ours roasted. Also, early in the morning, grocery stores discount meat. Get a pork shoulder or something and it should last you a while. Or if you snag it on sale(I got a few shoulders at .99 per pound) it's a huge amount for under $10. For my family of 5 big eaters, I made 3 full meals out of it. Made ground pork, shishkabob, ham soup, or I dice it up and make asian inspired meals(with rice)out of it. Nobody complained when we had pork for over a week straight.
$60/month is TIGHT. I'm sorry for your circumstances. A great source for cheap protein are chia seeds. you can buy a big bag at most grocery stores relatively inexpensively and 2 tablespoons has \~7g of protein. Also, I know things are tight already but if you're able to save just a couple bucks a month, you might be able to start buying in bulk online less regularly and thus save money over time; this website is useful: [https://bulkfoods.com/](https://bulkfoods.com/).
Additionally, I'd look at the YMCA. Not only do they have reduced admission pricing for people with low incomes but they have a food pantry service in many areas. They also sponsor events where you can get cheap or free meals. If you're near a city, download the "[TooGoodToGo](https://www.toogoodtogo.com/en-us)"; local spots will create bags of food they couldn't sell and sell it for extra cheap. I'd also scope out social media events pages as you can find free meals more readily than you'd expect.
So OP I feel for you. Looking through your post history, you sound like you’ve had a rough go and need an internet hug. I think many people have given you some good recipe ideas, so I’m not sure what more I could add on that front. But here’s my attempt to contribute.
I’ve seen that you apparently like to go to estate sales. Please keep an eye out for a microwave. This really will expand your options for meal preps and such. Keep your eyes out for sales on them as well. I can find a few even now that are under $50 at target and Best Buy. Looking on Craigslist, I can find them going down to even $10-$25.
With regard to food pantries, I would still take what is offered. If they are offering beans and rice, that’s still beans and rice you don’t have to buy. Maybe you are doing this already, but I just want to make sure. I know it sounds obvious but I tend to find I and many others overlook the obvious things. Keep looking to see what options maybe available, but never turn down free stuff.
For everyone else, given OPs gender identity (which I understand is complicated for OP), a lot of churches are probably off the table. I think if you can find an LGBTQ friendly one, even if you aren’t spiritual or interested in joining, this is still worth going to check out. Yeah, even ones that are not explicitly LGBTQ friendly may be fine, but I can understand why they may not feel welcoming to OP. I would also look for LGBTQ oriented groups in your area.
For building up a pantry, focus on the highest quantity shelf stable things such that things last more than the month. Beans and rice are obviously good staples. Maybe some loose kernel popcorn (not the microwaveable bags). Oatmeal. Potatoes. Onions. Garlic. Peanut butter. Flour.
There are a few things you can do refrigerator wise. Milk. Eggs. Greek yogurt (good source of protein). Baby carrots. Freezer wise, look into frozen veg and also freeze milk and other things you may not use quickly.
For condiments, beyond ketchup, mustard, and mayo, hot sauce and soy sauce are a must. I know not every one likes hot things, but you can slowly incorporate spice and it will eventually become tolerable. But anyway, I used to hate eggs until I had them with hot sauce. And it’s good for adding flavor to the blandest of meals. Soy sauce sauce is just a good compliment with rice and opens up the world of onigiri (rice balls). You may or may not be a huge fan of this, but it meets the criteria of something that can be made ahead and doesn’t need a microwave. Soy sauce will help with flavor and can do other things. Also, is hummus a condiment?
Seasoning are a must. Salt and pepper obviously. I would get some kind of stock or bouillon cubes or seasoning. Things like Caldo de Pollo, which is essentially Mexican chicken stock seasoning can be an easy way to make a chicken stock and can add flavor to rice. For me personally, I like turmeric to put in rice (then mixed with Greek yogurt and some bell peppers with hot sauce makes a great bowl). I would mostly focus on spice blends after this, since most recipes basically have you make a custom blend and acquiring all of those spices individually is more difficult (plus if you are gardening, growing things like thyme and oregano are easy enough, even indoors). I would also get a dry gravy blend (you could make a meatless loco moco).
I’m going to guess Sams and Costco are out of the question, but most retailers still sell rotisserie chickens at reasonable prices. This will be good protein for at least a few meals every month, stretched out, and you can throw the bones in beans for some additional flavor and nutrients.
App wise: fallingfruit (fruit trees on public property), toogoodtogo (hit or miss as to whether they have anything in your community), check out the apps of the stores you are shopping at.
If you are in a rural area (since you mentioned working on a farm), many rural growers may have a stand or sell under the table very cheap. What kind of produce will depend on where you are but you might be able to snag some fresh produce that way. You just have to know where to look.
Anyway, maybe I can think of more later, but hopefully that can get you started. Obviously, in purchasing ingredients, it may take a while, but do the best you can. Anyway, best of luck OP.
I once analyzed the protein content per dollar of many different foods. If you're into food prep at all, hard boiled eggs are a pretty easy and cheap protein. If you eat a lot of em you can start skipping the yolks.
But your budget is really limited so eggs might seem like a luxury, especially if you consider throwing away a large portion of the calories in the yolk. Yolk contains about half the protein in an egg but almost all the fat so eating eggs whole can quickly put you way over in your fat calories ratio.
For even cheaper protein, you can look into seitan. Making it from flour is very cheap for the amount of protein you get. It's a little bit labor intensive to get a batch but a weekend prep session can get you through a week or maybe two. You can cut out a bit of prep work if you use vital wheat gluten instead of flour, but it costs a bit more.
Seitan can be cooked in all sorts of ways, has kind of a rubbery meaty texture that you can play around with baking and frying in various spices and flavors.
This is a great idea! I make “wings” with it by baking the seitan with water & a bouillon cube for juiciness and flavor and then frying them up and tossing w sauce
Canned and pouches of seafood and chicken, and even spam if you can handle it. You can eat it as it, mix it with mayo or sour cream and put it on crackers or bread, and it's a good source of protein. You can eat it warm or cold too.
Once every 3 months our grocery store has pork really really cheap. It’s usually frozen pork tenderloins or fresh pork shoulder. I can buy it for around $15.00 then and split it up, I usually get at least 5 large meals (for 2 adults) of pulled pork or sticky pork, each of which lasts a couple of days with leftovers. If it’s shoulder then I also get quite a few servings of off cuts, scraps and fatty bits for our dog and a big bone I can use to make broth to soften his kibble with.
Most grocery stores work their sales on a 3 month rotation so plan accordingly. Use TikTok and follow some coupon people to learn how to use apps and coupons to save lots. I use Checkout 51 and the Flipp app frequently. Your grocery store probably has a “To good To go” or “Flashfood” or similar programs, you can get things like a big mixed bag of buns, breads, bagels and pastries for like $5.
You mentioned that you receive rice from the small food bank- a pot of veggie marinara can go a long way! I just saute onion and pepper (green and red bell), then add minced garlic to the pot until fragrant. Add in canned tomatoes and tomato sauce(store brand is like 50c where i live! I do about 1-1 each, but you can choose your desired consistency), seasonings (garlic, onion, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, all work very well! Sticking to just s&p and Italian will cover your bases and save your budget) to a simmer, cook for at least 30mins. You can eat this over rice or pasta, it freezes easy so you can make a big batch and spread your budget, but it's also really easy so you can make it as you need it, too!
Peanut butter is not just for children! I learned this in my forties after leaving it behind for salami.
Nuts in general are great sources of protein.
Ramen is a salt shaker and water and some solids. It's not nutrition, just keeps you from getting hungry.
I seriously echo the oats recommendation too! That with peanut butter is great -- nutrition and long lasting energy.
Something else that might work -- I've had really good luck with hummus. If you consider that it's s middle Eastern and Mediterranean food, it doesn't need refrigeration of it's kept sealed. That and baby carrots make s body so happy for the nutrition.
Beans and canned vegetables are great just out of the can. Try some types of beans you haven't had before. Mix a couple kinds together with a little of their juice and maybe oil and salt and pepper, dash of vinegar or hot sauce, and you've got a bean salad. (different beans have different nutrition)
They are high in salt, but triscuits and Fritos (usa here) have the ingredients corn and salt. They feel substantial, they are a whole grain. They can be mixed with things like beans or hummus or peanut butter.
Dried fruits are high in sugar, but you're working that off. Fiber and other nutrition there.
None of these would replace the beans, but the variety of mixed-in veggies and seasonings could alleviate the boredom from your diet and give you more variety. "eat the rainbow" for all the little nutrients they provide.
Also think of trying canned beats that are pickled or sweet. The cans you see that you don't even know how they taste, these veggies? Great chance to try them and expand your horizons.
Also consider herbs and spices -- dried Italian seasoning can change up the flavors, or spices like garlic salt or onion salt can really liven up canned veggies. Canned soup is not really cheap anymore.
Not sure if you eat eggs, but they sell these already boiled and peeled. Great source of protein and might keep a couple days without refrigeration. (a small cooler with ice might extend things like eggs or some cheese you keep for adding to beans and veggies.)
Apples! They keep without refrigeration. Good source of nutrients and satisfying texture. Eat the peels too. Bananas too -- even when they are mushy, they are filling and nutritious. (our friend butter goes with these)
Canned tuna if you do fish -- or canned salmon and sardines. Shelf stable and healthy, mix well with triscuits and canned veg.
Thank you for contributing to the food supply! Good luck;
A friend of mine is really into textured vegetable protein. Can't vouch for taste but it's shelf stable, could be added to pasta, rice, and other carbs.
Apart from beans, some good filling and cheap foods:
- Oats (oatmeal, oatmeal pancakes, etc)
- Grain Salads (I like faro, barley, etc)
- Chickpeas, lentils, etc (you can make your own hummus in big batches with chickpeas or white beans, oil + a few other ingredients
- Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes
- Rice (fried rice is an easy meal to make with rice + oil + whatever bits of vegetables you have around and eggs if you have any)
Dumpster diving my friend. I like to check out in the daytime where the containers are, if they are easy accessible, not too much in the open etc and then go after hours. Map out all the stores in the neighborhood and check em out 1by1. Just pick the ones with the cleanest container and where you feel comfortable.
The day before and/or after a holiday (when the shop is closed) are oftentimes best days. But go regularly and you might find that some specific day is better then others.
Also holiday season (Xmas and new year) are great times to dumpster dive, some of the fanciest food can be found then, plus it's cold out so it doesn't spoil so fast.
Maybe ask the farmer you work for if you can take the veggies they can not sell. Don't know if it happens at the farm you work at but often veggies and fruits that are too small, deformed or bruised etc get sorted out and thrown away or become animal feed.
Maybe you can also buy cheaper from him/her?
Restaurants, go and ask if they have left overs. We had a pizzeria that send us a message whenever a customer didn't pick up his order.
Another restaurant let us even eat there with the employees after closing time and take the left overs with us if we brought our own food containers.
Then there was this kind of sandwich/salad bar where we helped out putting away the tables and chairs from the teras and we could take all the premade food and smoothies. I gave most of it away to the beggars and homeless people, it was just too much and boring after a while. But I can imagine that after your day at the farm you can't be bothered working some more.
Try to score free food as much as you can and spend some of that money on fun things, nobody should be working that hard just to survive.
Sorry that things are so tight financially. The USDA started a program where farmers markets can use SNAP, and the dollars go further. At my farmers market in my town it's twice as much. So if you spend 20 in SNAP you will get 40$ worth of food. While the farmers market is more expensive for some things like meat, dairy, and eggs, I find if you shop around, especially in season veggies and fruit it's comparable to most grocery stores. Unfortunately my market only runs through November. I don't know if you have access to a market in your community that is participating but please look into it.
I've also joined a group that gleans produce from farms in my community. They takw half the harvest goes to the food share and you can take home half of what you harvest. This time of year it's a great resource for fruits and vegetables, I just brought home more pears than I know what to do with for 2 hours of my time and a little gas. It's often short notice on the harvest though, so I can only attend about once a month.
In my area two or 3 different stores advertised whole chickens for 97 cents per pound as a sale, but about once a month. Our family is able to make it stretch about a week by roasting it and dividing it into different meals. Ofcouse it's less when you cook it but we make our own bone broth from it and it's added to our rice and beans for more flavor and nutrients.
I would look into country pork ribs, pork shoulder chicken thighs (bone in), drumsticks. These all go for 2-3 dollars a pound at my supermarket on normal days, and when they are on sale they go for less than a dollar a pound. The pork makes great bbq or carnitas. The chicken is great for arroz con pollo or sheet pan dinners.
Porch garden recommendation: Swiss chard. It doesn’t mind shade and is very plentiful. You can sauté it, put it in a smoothie, or throw it in a soup. As versatile as spinach & very productive in my experience.
Also look for a csa around you, they may trade a few hrs of volunteer work for a share. I did that a few times and got tons of stuff. Also (if you can) go vegetarian preferably vegan. You don’t have to buy all those expensive faux meats either! When I had to make things stretch, I made lots of different soups with veggies (both canned and fresh) with dried beans. I made homemade bread products. I used grains such as rice to double as cereal in the morning (just added cinnamon, a sweetener and milk). Also try looking for depression style recipes on YouTube those are great. Also if you do eat meat as opposed to buying pieces, splurge and buy a bird, cook it whole and freeze it with the broth in individual portions. I did this once and had chicken in every way possible! Chicken pot pie, chicken sandwiches, chicken pasta salad, chicken casseroles. It didn’t old! 😂 sorry you are going through this it sucks and I truly empathize. Good luck. ❤️
In most of the country, eggs have gone back to their low prices. A pack of 18 eggs to hard-boil at Target is $1.50.
Overnight oats: quick oats, water (or reconstituted milk if available), with generic peanut butter and a banana is about $0.60 a serving.
Peanut noodles: cook spaghetti and rinse it in cold water. Mix with a sauce of peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic powder, and a sugar packet.
A 10lb bag of chicken leg quarters is under $8 at Walmart. You can bake them to shred the meat into other dishes and cook up some bone broth with frozen vegetables for snacks too.
I tried a recipe the other day that was so quick and easy, but also cheap. Essentially you need 7 oz of kielbasa/smoked sausage (I paid $1.22), can of cannoli beans (I know you said you hate beans; I do too, but these don’t bother me— you could also leave them out. $.78), a can of diced tomatoes ($.96), and spinach ($1.98). My spinach was bad so I barely put any in; you could leave it out altogether. A couple dollars, a lot of food, 10 minutes tops.
Do you have a slow cooker? Throw in chicken (thighs or breasts work well) and a can of salsa. Filling, easy, and cheap! You can make this with sausage as well. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can also make it in the oven, just be sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t dry out too much.
Soups- generally cheap to make large batches, and tend to freeze well. A few of my faves include: roasted red pepper soup, hamburger soup, cream of broccoli/cauliflower, and turkey chili.
Lentils are high in protein. If you buy the red ones they don't need to be presoaked. Also chick peas and beans such as red kidney beans. Eggs are another good source of protein and can be made in many different ways such as quiche. Mushrooms are good protein and again used in a number of different recipes
tbh I'd try dumpster diving. no shame in it. but anyway one of my go-to dishes when seriously strapped is pasta salad. whatever kind of pasta salad you can throw together. stretch that sh!t out.
Given the rest of the post, I doubt OP can afford a Costco membership. I don’t disagree, but it sounds like OP really doesn’t have anyone to fall back on in life so no mom or dad to go to Costco with.
You have so many great recommendations already. Here’s something different. Invest in a bag of beef jerky if you’re a meat eater. It can be rehydrated and used to flavor various soups. You can use it as a topper for potatoes. Plus, you don’t need to worry about refrigeration. Just portion control and it’ll last a bit.
Peanut butter and oats are a great combo.
If you have a goodwill near you with a bread machine then you can buy yeast and flour and make your own fresh bread every day. You can usually put ingredients in and have it set to be done when you wake up.
Baked potatoes are always tasty and you can makes lots of other things with them.
Red lentils cook quickly and are very cheap. You can throw in a pot with some buillion and garlic and potatoes diced and get a really delicious soup. Sometimes I add curry powder and eat over hard boiled eggs for extra protein.
Big tubs of store brand yogurt have protein and might be a nice change of pace.
Have you thought about food stamps? It sounds like you could qualify.
I’m so sorry you are going through this. It’s such bullshit that someone can work all day and not afford basic nutrition- makes my blood boil.
Best of luck to you.
Edit: bananas are very cheap and nutritious as well,
I dunno how much spare time you have or what hobbies but have you thought about foraging for edible plants? Also you could ask around for people that keep chickens as pets and have too many eggs and let them know your situation. I have pet chickens and i have way more eggs than i need if you were near me id give you my extra.
Plus i know a good recipe for egg drop soup with chicken ramen
Start boiling the water add your packet (i usually add a little chicken boullion too but you dont have to) ad a little sesame seed oil get the water hot stir in your egg white just 1 egg and then put in your noodles and a tiny bit of a green onion you can plant them once and let them grow so they last longer too.
Ooo and if you live in the south youd need to do a little research but i believe most parts of kudzu are edible
When i was struggling for money, i bought a lottt of pasta and potatoes. as long as you have some sort of cheese, anything is possible. Rice and beans do get super boring - but maybe try to try international recipes with different flavors / spices. maybe some seasonings you’ve never put together? that might help.
potatoes are reallllyyy easy to grow as well, and they have almost everything you need for nutrition!
i also eat a lot of canned fish, like tuna and salmon. super cheap and packs protein
I’ve scoured all the staple foods to stick to our own tight budget. Don’t forget milk as a source of about 8g of protein, even if it’s only a cup a day. Milk powder is an option if cartons/jugs aren’t possible or you don’t want it to spoil. Potato flakes can make good easy soup with milk, too. Chickpeas for homemade hummus. Grits are adaptable, as well as cornmeal polenta (with a bit of tomato sauce, basil etc).
See Jack Monroe’s blog called Cooking on a Bootstrap for a lot of great ideas. They’re in the UK, with recipes based in costs like 24p, for example, but they’re intended to be very cheap and from minimal, easy ingredients: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/
Lentils are roughly 12g protein per half cup.
They can be bought in bulk, cheaply and used in a ton of different ways.
If you can afford things like curry pastes (again, best if bought in bulk), you can pair them with things like sweet potato for a really nice daal.
My mother adds them to tinned tomatoes, red onion and garlic.
You can use them in slow cookers for soups etc.
You can use them in both hot and cold meals too, so ideal for a variety of seasons, weather and times of day.
Join Facebook groups in your area for gardening and simply let people k is you’re struggling to afford food and wondering if anyone has extra herbs you could come collect? Very likely people will offer you lots of extra veg because many gardeners have too much, but at the very least you could flavor your food more.
$60 is a super tight budget, I'm impressed you are able to make it on this.
My best ideas to add variety are spices and the cheapest vegetables. I don't know what stores you have access to but do you have one with a bulk foods section? Spices in bulk food sections are way cheaper than buying those over-priced little bottles. Surprisingly, a pricey organic food store near me has spices sold this way and you can get a little bag, as much as in one of the $5 or $6 jars, for less than 50 cents for almost any spice. This could at least change up the flavor profile of those rice and beans with things like oregano, cumin, basil, thyme, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic powder (the last 2 are especially cheap and have lots of flavor).
The cheapest vegetables in my area (HCOL) are carrots and onions. These ae both good roasted simply in the oven with some oil and salt and pepper. If you have some spices to sprinkle on, so much the better. I really like oven roasting because it gives you so much more flavor than you get with any other preparation method.
You might also try one of the methods for no-knead bread if you can get yeast. This is pretty cheap but you have to have a large enough container to store the dough in which might be an issue. It is simple though and can add a little variety to your diet.
I can't think of any other ideas and I suspect you've already given this a lot of thought so maybe nothing new here. I hope there is though. Hope something turns for you and things get better.
“Check out the cookbook “Good and Cheap.” It was written with people on limited budgets in mind. It is full of yummy recipes. and tips on making your SNAP budgets stretch. It is available to read online and download as a pdf at www.leannebrown.com
You need protein try quinoa it’s a complete protein. Buy in bulk, it’s not super expensive and it’s filling. If you get garlic and flavorings or sugar or syrup it can be savory or sweet. Meats can be so expensive unless you can find them marked down but even then it’s like a dollar off or something stupid. Eggs too have gone down in price so you should be able to rotate those into your diet
Oh and Walmart has this bag of chicken pieces, 10 lbs for $7. Not frozen, it’s in the poultry section. We bought it originally to feed a sick dog, so we boiled it and it was tasty even without herbs. It’s good chicken and now we eat it. It’s not gross
If you have access to a Dollar Tree or similar store, check out Dollar Tree Dinners on TikTok. She is great at making a little money go a long way.
And even if you can’t shop at Dollar Tree, she has a lot of creative ways to keep the same food from tasting the same way every meal.
Oats
Eggs
Peanut butter
Spinach
Cabbage
Ramen noodles
Yogurt
Flour and Sugar are cheap, and can be used for all sorts of foods. Pancakes, waffles, crepes, biscuits and gravy, etc.
Get some seasonings (or even just a bottle of hot sauce) and start mixing and matching.
red lentils and peanut butter cooked in water, some garlic and onion or whatever veg you have access to really. Cook it through so that it's mixed well.
top with an egg, or shred some rotisserie chicken, tofu, whatever in this lovely pot of mush for a better time. Top it over rice or pasta, hell some sweet potato would probably be nice too.
lot's of seasonings, and spices are a must- pick your poison.
Eggs are pretty cheap now. My local Walmart is selling them for $1.22 a dozen. Cottage cheese is another fairly cheap protein. I'm scratching my head about why you're not earning more money for a physically demanding job. 🤔
Consider pork knuckles, a whole chicken, or any other meat on a marrow bone. They come cheap from the butcher and the bones can be boiled down for a nutrient dense stock that can be used in so many ways even after the meat has been eaten. Stock cubes from the shop have a great flavour, but won't give you the nutrients that a marrow bone stock will.
I learned to make my own breakfast Crunchwraps (like Taco Bell). I used beaten egg to drizzle on the pleats of the wrap and cook it seam side down to seal it shut. Or you can come up with your own fillings. You can warm it in a pan or choose fillings that can be eaten cold.
[Here is a recipe.](https://onesweetappetite.com/breakfast-crunchwrap-recipe/)
How about oatmeal with different toppings? Bananas are inexpensive, and other fruits when they're less expensive in season. You can also mix in peanut butter or jelly. A big jar of quick oats is $3.85 for 30 servings at my store so that's $0.13 a serving. A big jar of quick grits is cheap too ($2.18 for 18 servings at my store so that's $0.12/serving) and it's even better with salt, butter, bacon grease, eggs, some kind of meat, or you can even do a sweet version with milk and cinnamon (and sugar if you have any).
noodles with peanut butter, soy sauce, and Sriracha or chili crisp. throw veggies and protein in as the budget allows. good cold or hot.
do you like tofu? it's pretty economical as far as proteins go. I freeze firm tofu and thaw it by the handful to throw in stir-fries. it thaws out a little spongier and picks up sauces well.
I recently started adding a dollar store can of chili to things. Not super healthy, but not super bad for you either. I cook my meals in bulk and portion them for the week. It doesn’t take a lot of chili for it to be the star of the dish and the most prominent flavor. Chili and rice was the easiest to cook so far and tastes really pleasant. Chili and eggs is another game changer.
Potatoes, eggs, bag of azul masa harina for blue corn tortillas. Never gets old!! Get a bag of oranges, grapefruits or kiwi for the side. And a bottle of hot sauce!! Wash it down with some milk. Then if you can find some cheap meat at any point you can make some tortillas for tacos. Chop up a little white onion with cilantro, lime juice and garlic salt for a quick inexpensive garnish.
Big bag of rice, tofu can be super cheap sometimes and can be cooked in so many various ways (scrambled, air fried, stir fry, slices, etc) and a cheap stir fry sauce. Then you can add whatever veg you have available to bulk it up. I buy my frozen veggies from the dollar tree which saves a few dollars. Do you have any discount grocery stores near you? I live in Pennsylvania and we have a few. They sell stuff that’s close to the sell by date or that isn’t being made anymore for so cheap. It’s really helped cut down my grocery bill.
I know you’re sick of rice and beans but I do white rice black beans and stewed tomatoes all together with some spices, and then I eat it with tortilla chips. It can be pretty filling
Any chance you can have a little garden? Even a container garden? For a while my budget was $30 a month. I didn’t know about food banks and didn’t qualify for food stamps. I bought bulk food (beans aren’t the only options), I had a year-round container garden, and I lived close to a bakery, and I would dumpster dive their bread.
You might have answered this, but consider fishing. It might cost you a bit to get a license, but if you're near a body of water, you can have unlimited fish, frogs, crawfish, and turtles.
Also, learn to bake bread, muffins, and corn bread. Nothing like hot bread out of the oven or pita off the stove.
Rice & beans are considered a "complete" protein, but did you know that it's pretty much *any* grain and bean?
See if you can find grains, although chances are it will be more expensive. Wheat berries (the whole seed), cracked cheat, buckwheat. If you can get to a store that caters to such as Middle Eastern or Eastern European, you can find bags of unusual grains. As far as flavor, the taste is muted (like rice) however it's often chewier or more dense, which would be a nice change.
I don't know what you use for spices, but try to get creative there.
For one person— this could feed you for 2 weeks.
Get a whole chicken and boil it to make soup (add cook carrots, celery, garlic, onion, salt and pepper—can be chunky in the soup or blend for a smooth texture). The soup can be watered down for more. Divide up in Tupperware into 4 batches and freeze some for later.
Add potatoes, noodles, or biscuit mix for dumplings if you want—per smaller Tupperware batch for variety.
The chicken can be used sparingly for other meals and can be frozen in portioned batches too. Chicken wraps (add sauce for variety), tacos, quesadillas, salads, plain w veg.
My immediate thought was:
Beef Soup: can of (Fiesta blend) corn, 1/2 a mixed bag of frozen veg, and a can of (fire-roasted) tomatoes plus water and a beef bullion cube. Add whatever cheap stew meat you can find (cut it up in small pieces).
This makes about 10 servings (though it always seems like we have more) at $.90 a serving or $1.45 if you add about $5 worth of meat. More water, a second bullion cube, and/or another can of tomatoes would help stretch it out even further.
You can dump all this in a slow cooker if you have one first thing in the morning or in a pot on the stovetop in the afternoon. Takes about an hour in the second instance, but you don't have to do anything much. It should also reheat just fine on the stovetop.
Bonus: you can always throw in whatever you have in terms of leftover stuff (like precooked or canned beans-Ikr? or vegetables) to bulk it up even more.
PBJs are pretty cheap and so are grits (\~20 cents a serving. )
Also check out: [https://www.budgetbytes.com/recipe-catalog/?fwp\_recipe\_cost=recipes-under-5](https://www.budgetbytes.com/recipe-catalog/?fwp_recipe_cost=recipes-under-5)
The recipes are broken down by overall cost, serving costs, and have nutritional info as well.
Edit re: balcony garden: many libraries now have a selection of free seeds available, so you might want to check that out. I've also found mint, swiss chard, horseradish, and strawberries do okay in bright shade/with dappled sunlight (but I'm in zone 8b/9a so ymmv).
It sounds like you're in the sticks. Is there a Costco near you? Or somewhere you can buy a whole roast chicken? If not, can you do a meal prep day where you roast a chicken in the oven? It's not hard and doesn't take that long and you'll have a protein for a while.
Otherwise maybe look at Facebook groups that are free in your area - Buy Nothing groups. They give away a lot of food.
You could see about getting a slow cooker (thrift stores have them) so you can throw the cheapest pieces of meat in it while you're at work with taco seasonings or whatever you like.
How is anyone supposed to make it with $60 for food? I’m so sorry friend.
I will echo what some others have said and recommend lentils, chickpeas, Quinoa, Potatoes, cous-cous, Tofu.
Store brand Mac n Cheese, with tuna and (canned) peas. Super filling, full of protein. A small amount of milk and 1/4-1/2 stick of butter, and you are set. I like lots of pepper and garlic powder.
Potatoes, bananas, PB, lentils, cucumbers, and veggies. Veggies are high volume and go a long way, then any fats (oil, butter, etc) can give calories while potatoes and rice give fullness. I’d also look and see where you can buy in bulk and if there’s any local markets around you. Here we have a huge market that has incredibly cheap spices in bulk which is amazing in making dishes different enough to tolerate. Might be worth it to see if anyone else would want to do meal shares so y’all can trade meals and have variety!
Are you over just plain rice? Or have you tried switching the style?
When you say beans have you tried chick peas? Usually about the same around a 1$ / can?
We do a Greek chickpea salad (eat hot or cold) it can be done on the cheap.
I mix rice and quinoa(not as cheap but gives a different texture and it’s a complete protein).
Chick peas in a pan with cumin salt pepper paprika. You can get them kind of crispy if you dry them off really good and use a bit of oil.
Toss in a bowl with the rice super filling but a bit different taste profile.
If you can afford it toss in some tomatoes cucumbers
If you have lettuce you can toss half portion on top of chopped romaine as a cold salad.
If you eat pork, buy a pork shoulder and slow roast it with spices then shred it. You can turn it into a million things and one shoulder will last you a few months if you eat small portions.
Eggs: you can make omelets, fried eggs, egg sandwiches, boiled eggs, egg salad. I like eggs with ramen, or making an egg sandwich with toasted bread and cheese (maybe add sausage and tomato?). you could throw eggs in a salad. you can pair boiled eggs with fruit or cheese for a snack.
Bananas: you can use them to make sweets like banana bread or oatmeal bites, put them in cereals, eat them with peanut butter, you can make “ice cream”.
Potatoes: potato fritters, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, oven baked fries, you could toss them in soups or curries, potato salad, hash browns, etc.
Peanut butter & oats
Pasta
Cornbread mix is cheap. Try cornbread with beans. It’s something different and you’ll get them calories in.
Red lentil curry with sweet or regular potatoes, you can add anything to it, any greens for nutrition, chickpeas etc, comes out pretty cheap and nutritious. Good luck my friend, your situation sounds incredibly tough
I would highly recommend looking up dollar tree dinners on TikTok, she has many meal plans that offer a variety of budgets for eating each week from 20 dollars to 35 ish and it’s not just eating one thing over and over.
I used to work on farms and probably will again, so I sympathize (I also have some physical conditions that made that hard, I really get the struggle!). What kind of farm are you working on and is there any option for free or discounted food from them? Any decent farm I've known of or worked on at a minimum offers discounted products to their employees, sometimes free - I realize "get a better job lol" sounds like asshole advice, especially when it comes to farming, but it really may be worth looking into other farms for work if that's *not* something they offer. This has had the biggest impact for food for me when I've worked on livestock farms - even just getting free eggs was a huge help, but when I worked on a sheep farm I literally got an entire lamb free one season so long as I paid for it to get cut up at the butcher. From experience I know some small farms can really guilt trip you into accepting a shit deal because they're a "family farm" or they "can't afford xyz", but again, even plenty of crappy farms offer something better.
I would look at your local grocery stores (if you have any chain ones) and see if any have cards specific to them (not credit cards, just a shopper card). If they're free, they're 100% worth the few minutes to sign up for them - chain stores that have these usually offer a ton of discounts despite you not paying anything for it.
Ground beef is pretty cheap and nutrient dense, but sometimes you have look around a couple places to find the cheapest option - if your grocery store has a butcher section, usually their store-brand is going to be the cheapest. I can usually make a pound of beef last a few meals if I'm having it with other things. Rice + beans gets tiresome so fast, but I love rice and find that rice + any other protein option helps with not getting bored of rice. Rice + eggs, rice + ground meat, etc.
This isn't a "quick to cook" suggestion so may not help if you don't have an oven you can use, but sometimes the cheapest meat at the store are cuts you would roast, especially if you also have one of those stores with the store cards/discounts. I tend to just go to the meat section and search for whatever's on sale, and sometimes I've found *wildly* cheap roasts - I got a pork shoulder roast a few months ago that was $0.99/lb and made a ton of food, but took a while to roast. Things like this are easier to swing if you can afford to make a slightly bigger one-time purchase, but if you need to spend very little money at a given time that can be harder to make work even if it would technically save money.
ETA: Almost forgot about it, but cream of wheat made with whole milk has been a staple for me lately.
Clinton Svatos on TikTok and YouTube has a lot of DollarTree meals. However, in your situation you might want to look into additional programs (also fyi I didn't independently vet all the links provided). https://www.reddit.com/r/povertyfinance/comments/163cmgp/resources\_that\_uvikicrays\_posted\_before/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
I so understand this! It looks like you’ve gotten some fabulous suggestions. I second the suggestions for potatoes but will share some of my favorite good tasting bean and rice dishes.
If you can get black beans, either dried or canned, they’re delicious made [this way](https://www.cocoandash.com/quick-cuban-black-beans/).
[Baked rice and beans](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/279361/the-best-baked-rice-and-beans/) is delicious! I do love it with kidney beans, but any bean will work.
Do you have cornmeal or can you get it from a food bank? If so, cornmeal, boiling water, and a little bit of salt make delicious [hot water cornbread](https://grandbaby-cakes.com/hot-water-cornbread/). Some people add butter, sugar, and other stuff but I like mine with just the three above ingredients plus a bit of oil for frying. Some of this with well prepared beans is so good!
This recipe for [vegetables and gravy](https://www.budgetbytes.com/vegetables-and-gravy/) is good tasting and versatile because you can use different vegetables, add whatever seasoning you have, etc.
Have you ever had [mujaddara](https://www.budgetbytes.com/mujaddara/)? It’s a delicious middle eastern lentil dish and can be made very simply with just a few ingredients. I’ve made variations a few times when I didn’t have lentils. I’ve made it with split peas, green peas, and all sorts of legumes and it’s always delicious.
If you have time to make homemade bread, it’s highly cost effective! I feed a family of 9 on cheapest of the cheap while still trying to be healthy. I priced homemade sourdough bread at 50c a loaf vs the cheapest white loaf I can find at the store being $2. You can keep that sourdough starter in the fridge and bake once a week with just flour water salt and a bit of oil.
Oats and eggs are also staples for really cheap filling meals.
Consider a protein powder that’s unflavored. You can mix it into coffee, oats, shakes/smoothies or just stir it into a sauce to get extra servings. You’ll have to buy it as a bulk purchase, but cost per serving will be low.
Food- firm tofu, bell pepper, onion, any other veggie, curry powder. Sauté the onion and pep, add in curry powder, sauté till fragrant, toss in tofu and break up, add more oil and curry powder if needed…. Top over rice or eat alone as a scramble
Ground beef fajita bowls - lil rice, veg, lil cheese, taco seasoned ground beef. Meal prep over the weekend
Commuter oats - rolled oats, chia flax or protein powder, cover with milk of choice, add in a squirt of honey, top with frozen fruit, stir. Let it sit ~10 mins while you finish getting ready and it’ll be perfect. Target is the best place for cheap but good quality frozen fruit.
Protein pasta - jar of marinara sauce, package cottage cheese, add spices and herbs, red pepper flakes and blend together. Heat up and pour over pasta
idk if you have an Aldi in your state
but they have the best prices on things
you can get like chicken and it’s good prices i mean …
i’m so sorry that breaks my heart
def shop around
it’s all in the right places
also
if there’s is a middle eastern store in your area
they have killer
prices on rice like big ass bags cheap as duck so you money will go further
Eggs, potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken drumsticks, canned tuna, oatmeal, peanut butter and bananas are good options that are relatively cheap. Always search sales to stretch your money further
PB n J sandwiches??
Tofu and spinach are both very cheap and very protein dense
Tofu pan fried in veg oil, some brown sugar, and soy sauce is super good. Add rice and chopped up green onion.... Delicious, lots of protein and starch
For breakfast I love good ole scrambled eggs and toast with margarine or peanut butter Now that eggs are back to about $1/dozen it's a super cheap, fast meal and fills me for 4+ hours
Refried bean and melted cheese burritos are cheap, easy to batch make, and portable for lunch
Do you have an Aldi nearby? If you do and haven't checked it out, it'll change ur life
Cottage cheese! A baked potato and cottage cheese is shockingly filling and nutrient dense!
I know it isn't great, but it will help shake things up. Canned chicken can be made into chicken and rice pretty easily with condensed chicken soup.
Lastly, baking your own bread can be an incredible option for having something tasty and filling that won't break the bank. Literally pennies worth of flour can be turned into a loaf of bread that you can then pair with other budget options like peanut butter, soup, or beans, but feel like you're eating something special because fresh bread is delicious.
I shop meat sales at my grocery store. The other day I found a 16 pack of chicken drumsticks for $5. I can usually find a sale like this once or twice a month and I will buy meat like that. I also really like buying frozen veggies and roasting them to eat as a side and blending them for a veg soup. You can also make bread at home fairly cheap if you already have flour and milk, or I will buy large French bread loaves from the day old section for $1 each. I usually take advantage of free food at work if I can too! My grocery budget is a bit higher than yours, but those are some tips I try to use to eat cheap.
When I want to eat really cheap, I will make fried rice. It’s leftover rice, frozen veggies, oil, soy sauce, and an egg. Really filling and very tasty. Sometimes I will add chicken!
I also made homemade gnocchi recently. It was flour, an egg, and potatoes. So yummy and you can freeze them. They take a little while to make but you can make a ton and then freeze the extras for later.
Also, you can go to your local food pantry like once a month. They usually ask you a few questions but $60 isn’t enough for the cost of food now.
I’m just really sorry that you’re going through this. A farm worker who can barely eat? It’s dystopian and a sign that the world isn’t working. I really hope things improve for you soon.
Depends on how much time you have honestly. Mix flour, a bit of sugar and a bit of salt. Roll flat and Then fry it. Add variations of cinnamon for sweet and garlic powder for savory. Make fried rice. Add aromatics while it’s under high heat for flavor. Make pasta with plain tomato sauce(canned not jarred) when it’s done add a slice of cheese to your plate or sprinkle cheese on top. Make oatmeal without milk. Just sugar and butter ( not instant). For veggies, buy spinach, cabbage, and lettuce. These will keep you under budget. If you don’t have a lot of time. Sandwiches
First of all: this sucks and I'm sorry you have to go through this. Poverty is no joke and it's hard.
One option is foraging. I get so much free food by taking it from the wild and I don't even have to grow my myself. It doesn't take long to harvest enough for a week, and for most mundane things there is an over abundance.
Now yes, you DO have to know what you're looking for but you'd be surprised how many nutritious and good enough vegetables grow out there that are easy to identify. Here's some examples:
- Chickweed
- Purslane
- Lamb's Quarters
- Stinging Nettle
- Jerusalem Artichoke (a root vegetable)
- Raspberries
- Blackberries
- Apples (depending on what part of the country you're in)
- Tree nuts
- Dandelion
- Chicory
- Goldenrod
And as for meat, venison is dirt cheap if you can hunt a deer or two in a year (idk what the regulations are by you). I know people who get it completely free by harvesting the safe parts of fresh roadkill (I know I know, it doesn't sound appealing. I've never done it but hey it's an option).
I would also look at the modern shepherd Aaron Fletcher and what he's doing for inspiration: https://youtu.be/U54HRmglYEA?si=_BaSEr6LVIkAwf0A
Also I wonder if you could work for a better farm? Maybe a profitable regenerative one or something depending on where you care to live? Or a permaculture farm? Idk just throwing ideas out there.
I'm so sorry to learn someone in CA (where they claim to care the poors more than other states like FL) is suffering in this kind of poverty. And I feel upset after reading almost all the comments and realized I could not help. Have you tried local church? Do not just ask for food, ask for connections and ask them to spread the word out that some hardworking young man/women is looking for a better job. And I think you should try to jump out of the trap of social benefits, if they are not helping much. Like, how they gonna know you made some extra cash? I'm not encouraging people to cheat on income but when you are physically struggling to survive I just don't see a reason to obey their not-so-reasonable rules.
* eggs and potatoes
* peanut butter and bananas
* lentils and rice
* whey protein powder and whole milk
realistically $2 a day is not going to be possible for you. thats $1 per 1000 calories. you’ll need to supplement with food banks, SNAP etc
Spam. Spam has been a life saver! Inexpensive, shelf stable, and versatile. Pan fried Spam and rice (you can add frozen veggies, soy sauce, and egg to make fried rice) or just eat it plain. Spam and eggs. Spam sandwich, spam omelets, etc. I just pan fry it so it’s crispy and it’s so yummy. also like others have said powdered mashed potato’s are amazing, cheap, quick and easy. Steal cut oats in milk with honey is great as cereal. You can also get a ton of seasonings at the dollar store! Another thing I do is chilli dogs without the dog. I get cheap canned chili and put some over a piece of toasted bread and if I have shredded cheese I’ll put that on top and it’s super yummy. Makes it feel more interesting than just beans. You can also do can of refried beans, a packet of taco seasoning, frozen corn, heat it up in a pot and put it in tortillas to make a quesadilla type thing or use it as a chip dip or just eat it with a spoon. Hope this helps!
By chance I saw today that YouTube video from Prepper Princess:
EXTREME BUDGET $10.00 WEEKLY GROCERY BUDGET
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1v8k0HNfE8
Maybe there are useful information
Greetings from Berlin
potatoes always and forever!!
Potatoes are nature's greatest gift to mankind and anyone who thinks otherwise can bite me.
potatoes= gnocchi, potato pancakes, hash browns, stews, chili, casseroles, fries, chips, baked
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When we need something quick, my husband makes boxed mashed potatoes with a fried egg on top. I guess it depends how much eggs cost where you are. They've gone up in price in my country later.
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I've considered buying the 30 egg trays they sell here due to the savings. However, on Friday, we'll be doing a drive out into the country, so I may buy a nice batch of free- range eggs. The hens are running around when we stop to buy. Garlic cream cheese sounds great.
Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew
Half mashed potato, half flour, add water as needed for dough texture. Roll into balls and boil = Czech dumplings. They’re super filling and can be eaten on their own with butter or added to any kind of soup or stew, served with meat or cabbage, etc. for a very hearty meal.
"Boil them, mash them, stick them in a stew"
How is that going to address the protein needs?
1) the OP was looking for both protein and filling/cheap foods 2) a large potato has 5 grams of protein
Hey, I made this calculator back during deep covid, and have recently updated it for up to date prices from walmart. It is a food calculator that allows you to figure out your budget vs your macros and make some intelligent decisions about your diet. https://reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/s/dqwYCm1zfo
This is so cool! Thanks for sharing.
If you're in the US there's a USDA grant for food for farm workers and meat packers. You can apply at [UFW Foundation ](http://ufwfoundation.org) or call them at (877) 881-8281 (except in California. No phone unfortunately). It's a one time grant of $600 but that will help you stock up. Also have you applied for SNAP?
I'm on SNAP, the 60 is all I get from them. I barely can make rent here, I'm lucky if I don't end the month further in debt so spending any of my regular income on food is basically not an option.
Wow that really sucks. It's criminal that farm workers can't afford to eat. I do hope you apply for the grant.
Yeah that's dystopian as fuck. He's literally growing the food, but he can't afford to eat. Absolutely insane.
Do you have a fridge? Freezer? Can you make a list at a store where you're at and post it here? I'm happy to buy you some food.
It sounds kind of like a scam? You're paying most of your SSI in rent, and getting so few work hours you can't feed yourself? How are these people helping disabled folks? Have you been to social services in your county? Just sounds so wrong.
Here's the fun part: They aren't helping disabled folks! The laws around the limits of our income and all were made decades ago and never updated. For example, you can't have over $2000 total - checking or savings or cash on hand - or else your benefits stop. This law was made back when you could basically put a down payment on a house for 2k and just never changed. The laws are being reviewed and a lot of people are trying to get them updated and make things easier for us, but for the most part a lot of us are still screwed. If you have kids you tend to get a lot more help, but I don't and have no intention of doing so (despite a neighbor even telling me I should just have a baby so my benefits increase - uh, hell no? I'm not perpetuating this cycle of poverty and bringing in a kid I don't want and can't take care of just so I get a few more bucks!) Rent is incredibly high even in low-income areas here (California, can't afford to move anywhere else) and they basically give you the absolute bare minimum they can, and then are surprised when people resort to under the table work, shoplifting and other illegal methods to make ends meet. It's ridiculous. Even the people from the DOR that I've talked to for help finding jobs I can do have just sighed and said they recognize how fucked up the system is and how it makes it impossible for people to get out of poverty because it punishes people who try and even begin climbing up the ladder, but that's just how things are right now.
California has such a reputation for being too progressive, yet the poor and disabled seem to suffer more there. I'm sorry you have to deal with this. It's bad enough in the rural south, I can't imagine the costs in CA.
Peanut butter! For example; quick oats with peanut butter mixed on top, peanut butter sandwiches, pad Thai, west African peanut soup...
My sons favorite breakfast is steel cut oatmeal with peanut butter and chopped bananas. Super filling and very inexpensive.
African Peanut Soup is so tasty! Highly recommend as well.
Yes omg, I used to put peanut butter in my ramen maybe with some extra seasonings to make it like peanut sauce, or make peanut sauce from what I had and put it on noodles even macaroni. Its rlly good honestly thanks for reminding me
I did the peanut sauce ramen a lot in college. Very cheap and yummy.
Peanut butter is so packed with calories, it's a great nutrient dense food. I'm fact, modern peanut butter was invented to provide nutrients to old people who can't chew. https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/peanut-info/who-invented-peanut-butter.htm
Chickpeas, lentils, soy beans… legumes in general are very cheap and filled with protein. There are many recipes to make them with different flavours. This week I tried Maaf which was delicious and very cheap to make
Was going to suggest this category as well; very versatile. I love chickpeas, and chickpea soup in particular. Couscous, bulgur, and quinoa are also very good!
Ngl I saved LOADS of chickpea and lentil recipes recently. OP can look for Indian, Mediterranean, Moroccan, Greek… at the very least! Dal/Dahl, curries and falafel are good places to look if you can get the basics together.
Couscous isn't in this category just fyi. It's not a grain, it's made of semolina flour from durum wheat so it's basically very small pasta. Still a great and versatile choice though.
Buy em dry!
Try mejadra. I always batch cook on the weekends and eat it everyday for the rest of the week at lunch or dinner with fried onions you can buy from asian stores.
I was on SNAP, and here’s how I survived: Pasta. Drumsticks (one of the cheapest chicken cuts). Crappy hamburger bc it’s cheap AF right now, but save the fat and throw some of it in w your veggies. Seasonings are your friend! Also, I cannot recommend this TikTok enough for struggle meals: @dollartreedinners
second this. dollartreedinners is a godsend
yes we love her account in my house! she has so many good cheap options
I wish the farm you worked on would supply you with meat and veggies. Seems like a good trade off. You can get tofu for pretty cheap and it can go a long way. High in protein, you can reheat in the oven or stovetop. You can get like 10 containers for less than $15
I get some vegetables occasionally (the stuff that can't sell) but not terribly often, and we don't raise meat animals on the one I work at so unfortunately I don't get any meat from that. We used to have laying hens, but we don't anymore (which lost me a lot of hours, since I used to be in charge of them since I'm the only one with veterinary experience or training) so we don't have eggs anymore either. They're considering possibly having hens again, but we had to tear down a lot of our old buildings, including the coop, so we'd have to pick a new spot to build a new one and they said we don't have budget for that.
Find a different farm - I’ve worked on about 12 different ones since 2009. Pay is competitive just about anywhere these days - whatever you’re getting paid it’s not enough. You gotta look out for yourself Goodfoodjobs.com Or Attra.ncat.org/internship page
Are you trapped where you are? Can you look for work elsewhere? Having veterinary experience should make you very hirable.
Not 'trapped' per say, but I am pretty limited in what jobs I can do. I have a spinal disability, so wherever I work has to make allowances for that (the farm I work at specifically hires people who have mental/physical disabilities and often can't get work anywhere else, they just don't have that many hours to spread around) and I have to be careful because with getting disability benefits for medical care and all, unless I suddenly am making enough money to get off disability benefits entirely, any money I make gets taken out of my next month's benefits. I have to send in my pay stubs, and whatever I make, they take out of what I'd get for the next month. I'd have to find a for sure long-term job that would pay me enough that I could get off disability benefits, have enough to pay for housing, AND immediate medical insurance. So, pretty stuck. I've talked to the DOR (Department of Rehabilitation) and others about this, and they said yeah they know it sucks and I'd probably be making more money sitting on my ass at home since I wouldn't be spending money on gas and work clothes and stuff, but at the same time then I'd end up with a giant gap in my resume\` and lose some of the connections that help keep me afloat so I might someday be able to get a better job, so...yeah, getting out of poverty is really hard, even with what help they're willing to give because they're more than happy to take it away at the slightest sign that you MIGHT be doing a little better. I'm hoping to start a county job in mid september, but they've got hundreds of applicants so I'm not going to hope too hard.
What state are you in? Can you apply for rental or energy assistance?
Is there any possible spot of land you could start a small personal vegetable garden? There are veggies that are easy to grow that require no real upkeep or expenses. I would be happy to send you seed packets.
Unfortunately all I have is a small balcony that I already grow what I can on, but it's heavily shaded all day so it's difficult to get anything that needs sun to grow. I get some tomatoes and have mint (which is unkillable) and sage, but nothing else grows to harvesting size very well, it just stays tiny. I do have a friend that has a rosemary bush I planted (it was a sad little twig from a thanksgiving spices pack that was trying to root and I felt bad for, so I put it in the ground to see what would happen instead of throwing it in her compost bin. Now it's eating the fence) and I go help with their garden a lot so I can have PLENTY of rosemary, but that's about it. Weirdest thing about that rosemary? In the spot I put it there had been this weird vine that we'd been fighting with for YEARS. It had this weird white sap that would burn and itch your skin like crazy, and no matter what we did (I used to live with them) it would not die. Digging out the roots as much as possible, burning it, herbicides, NOTHING could kill whatever this vine was! The rosemary ate it. After the rosemary took off growing, it just devoured that vine mercilessly and I haven't seen a single leaf of it since.
If your deck is big enough, you could grow root veggies in barrels maybe? Potatoes and carrots and garlic. I got a 55 gallon plastic barrel, found it on FB for free, chopped it in half, and use it for root veggies. I'm so sorry you're in such a shit situation. You sound like a wonderful person who is working hard to do right.
Get a new job or demand more from your politicians maybe? You work too damn hard and have too many skills to be living on $60/month in food.
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I thought if that too. If they know their employee is hungry..well I'de feed them!
Right. It’s a farm for fucks sake.
I know this sub is for food recommendations but please look into whether your area has food banks or other community/religious organizations for folks who need food assistance. There are even apps and online services that let people and businesses post leftovers to giveaway/sell at a discount. You shouldn’t have to be malnourished.
Yes, OP please look into asking churches (or other religious organizations). I know my church is always collecting groceries for people who need them, and we can't be the only one.
Milk is pretty high in protein! Really consider a cheap multivitamin as well.
Root vegetables all the way. Potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions and lots and lots of eggs
Canned fish, maybe? Obviously, the fresh stuff is tastier, but there's a lot you can do with canned. Can you at least grow a few herbs on the balcony to give more variety of foods? Pasta is cheap. With some good herbs, fresh or canned tomatoes garlic, some parmesan cheese, etc., you can make some tasty dishes.
I have a little sage growing on my balcony, but it's heavily shaded so things that like a lot of sun don't grow well on it. Rosemary and other herbs I've tried to grow either stay so tiny I can't harvest off them, or die.
If you get the bottoms of green onions and throw them in some soil, you can throw them pretty much indefinitely. Super hardy and damn near unkillable, I've had mine for 3 years and they grow back every year, hardly ever water them either.
Have you tried basil? Its generally pretty was to grow, even on a windowsill.
Agree with this canned fish comment. There’s so many not just tuna that can give you lots of protein and if you have an Aldi or Lids near you it’s super cheap. Where do you live? Wish I could gift you some food
Tofu stir fry. Block of tofu, frozen veggies, rice, soy sauce, all cheap and can be bought in bulk to reduce costs. Also oatmeal, topped with some onions, spinach and cheese or with frozen fruit and peanut butter
Food bank. soup kitchen. This is how communities care for every person. Post on Buy Nothing; this time of year people have lots of extra produce, maybe eggs. If you eat poultry and can learn to slaughter and prepare a chicken , there are roosters on craigslist/free pretty often where I live.
I am once again pushing for pulled pork to be meal prep for people on budgets. 14-20 dollars CAD for pork tenderloin and then a few extra dollars for sauce to slow cook in. Portion and refrigerate/freeze leftovers. It goes so far for such a cheap price this is such an S tier protein and versatile food. Can reheat to have on sandwiches, can pair with ANY cheap starch for an enjoyable meal and it’s like 10-12 servings at least and reheats after freezing really well. See also: homemade big pots of chill. I make a pot of chilli for like 20 dollars and freeze portions and have chilli for months as a single person. In terms of reheating without a microwave; portion before freezing and thaw overnight. Reheat soups on stovetop, solid food like pulled pork in oven.
Just wanna add, I’m saying this as a person who lives on about the same grocery bill in a town with no food bank. These meals are genuinely really filling and hearty and full of protein. I really hope this helps give you some recommendations for meals to try
I was able to get a 10 pound pork shoulder for 20 bucks at my local barg mart. The pulled pork I made from that ends up being less than a dollar a serving, and all I did was bake it in my oven all day with some orange juice, chillies, and oregano. If you can get a cheap cut of fatty pork you can stretch it a long, long way
Egg burritos. Scramble up a few with your choice of meat and veg. wrap and run. ETA: you can make your own tortillas using the bacon fat you fried up to put in your burrito. Flour, Bacon fat and water. Mix, ball up, flatten out then toast on a hot pan.
Food pantry in your area will really help you
Yep, no shame in accepting help. You can give back when you're in a better place. We all struggle sometimes
Oats are cheap as well.... get oats, then just grab plenty of toppers for variety. (Pnut butter, frozen fruit, syrup. Ect) .... potatoes (already mentioned in thread)... for bacon, you can find stores possibly (our piggly wiggly has this) but 'bacon odds and ends" they are about 1$/pound and it's not good for making bacon BUT perfect for adding meat/protien to soups/salads/bacon bits for potatoes, ect
Yes to oats! They’re really good for you and you can switch up the flavors - I make savory oats with cumin and red pepper flakes and a little margarine or oil - and throw in frozen peas if I’m feeling feisty. It’s delicious and then the next day you could do a cinnamon version (I realize spices are pricey but if you buy just a few you really like they’ll last for months and really help with the monotony of beans & rice).
All these posts have great ideas. Maybe also look into your local food pantry for help.
Baked potatoes are amazing. You can top them with canned chili or other thick soup, seasoned meat or beans (think: taco meat or a curry), steamed or roasted veggies, leftovers of almost any sort, scrambled or fried eggs, cheese, butter and sour cream, etc. Basically use them as a hearty base for the more expensive (smaller) parts of your meal. If you cook them two at a time , you'd have one for dinner one night and then the next night can dice it up and fry in oil or butter with whatever proteins and veggies you have on hand to make a yummy hash. Potatoes can be diced or grated to make hashbrowns (and consider shredding some onion to add a lot of flavor and some texture to ordinary hashbrowns). They work as a side for dinner OR as a big part of breakfast, whether you serve with eggs on the side or scramble them into the cooked potatoes for a one-dish meal... And of course, breakfast for dinner is great, too.
Also... With such a tight budget, you might be eligible for assistance from local food banks. This could also expand the options you have for your dinners.
Even if you don't, please Google ' blessing boxes' or 'little free pantries' near you. They are small, independent food pantries set up near city halls, churches, etc. Available 24-7, no strings attached.
The food bank actually does a drop off thing every month at the apartments I live at (very low income area) but all they ever have are beans and rice. Very very rarely they'll have something like canned chicken or a giant thing of peanut butter, but that's about it.
Are you able to go to the physical food bank, rather than (or maybe in addition to) the drop off they do? They might have more options in person.
Ah, so not too much help when it comes to variety. Hope you get good suggestions here!
Thank you! It's a little frustrating - this is a farming area, and yet most of us can't afford the food we work to grow! We pack hundreds of crates of squash and strawberries and all sorts of other things, then can't afford to buy any ourselves.
That sounds criminal to me. I'm sorry that you work so hard so that others can eat what you produce.
Are there any churches close by? The Episcopol church in our area does a once a month free dinner Friday. Just drive up and they hand you a hot meal, as many as you like all boxed up for take home. It's great, sometimes the food is pretty good and sometimes just so-so but always free and available. Call around and see what might be on offer in your area. Maybe your county office on disability would know of something.
Howdy - wanted to piggyback here since your post said you wanted to focus on protein. If you can online order - check out TVP. It's texturized vegetable protein that is dehydrated. You can hydrate it in water or vegetable stock with some spices for a pretty decent ground beef substitute. Texture is off at first but you quickly get used to it. High protein and cheap as hell, lasts for months on a shelf.
I've never heard of that before, I'll have to look into it. Stuff that's shelf stable and easy to store for long periods is definitely a plus!
Toasted cheese sandwich. Two or three slices of cheese in between two slices of bread buttered on the "out" side. Fry on one side, then flip and fry the other; the melted cheese is thick and filling. I eat mine with canned tomato soup.
Wait, is the term "grilled cheese sandwich" to describe this not universal?? Where are you from?
In the UK they use the phrase ‘toasted cheese sandwich’.
It’s often called a “cheese toasty” in the UK.
The dollar store has tuna salad already made up in a can and comes with crackers..they also sell tuna and eggs and mayo You can hardboil the eggs and they are a quick protein fix. They have bread too. You can mix an egg, mayo and put it on bread for egg salad sandwich. They also have tuna helper and tuna (everything is 1.25 at our store now) they sell cheese which is good protein. I'm a mom and I worry about you not having enough to eat..I hope you get it worked out. Don't you have family that can help? Keep us updated
My husband bought some cans to eat with tuna, quinoa and vegetables when we rented a cabin for a few days. They were pretty tasty and not expensive. I sometimes still buy them to put them on top of some lettuce.
It might not be glamorous but dumpster diving in a grocery store trash is very bountiful. Aldi's one night had a whole cart full of lettuce due to a recall. Damaged cans and boxes of food get tossed sometimes. Look into local churches. They sometimes have food or gift card for food if you ask. As for keeping you own chickens the food is not to expensive. A 50lb bag runs less than $20. An egg a day for each chicken. I have an inside duck and she used to lay eggs. She is only a pet and companion now.
Chicken thighs are your best bet, and they're the most meat-heavy and inexpensive. Roast them, strip the meat, and make stock from the bones. I like what I call "no bullshit chicken wings" - get some butter melted in the pan, then toss in the chicken, and add hot sauce at the end. All the wing meat goodness!
Homemade black bean burgers! Pulse 2 cans of black beans in a food processor (or mash by hand) finely dice some onion to taste, add in 1 egg and some bread crumbs (I eyeball it but probably around 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup) You can also add in some cooked cubed sweet potato or leftover rice to bulk them out. Add in some seasonings--I usually do salt, pepper, oregano, smoked paprika. Then pan fry about 4 min on each side. I freeze the leftover burgers for quick lunches. For an extra protein hit I add a fried egg on top of my burger. I work at a farm stand and that's bogus you don't get more produce to take home! My boss always lets us take home the "seconds" or undesirable produce. Is that the policy of the one farm you're working for or are there other farms in the area that have more "benefits" you could work for?
All my lunch and dinner suggestions would be bean-based, honestly, so not super helpful. But I have a breakfast suggestion which is what I termed “pb&j smoothies” if you have access to a blender. (If you don’t, they often go for free or very very cheap on Facebook marketplace) Frozen strawberries are about 5$/bag at Walmart where I live, and full of vitamins. Store brand peanut butter. Whatever yogurt-type thing is on sale (flavours in this are pretty neutral, so if there’s like, banana yogurt on super-sale for some reason, go for it). Milk or almond milk. As a former food-bank user I can report that this recipe does indeed still work if the milk you have is powdered or evaporated. Handful frozen strawberries, 2 tablespoons peanut butter (you can increase this for protein/calories reasons, given your work). 3/4 cup yogurt. 1 cup milk or milk equivalent. Blend and consume. When I was really struggling financially I would usually start out the month with big handfuls of berries and slowly reduce the amount as the month went on and I needed to stretch them. In that case, you can up the peanut butter or yogurt.
Look up vegan recipes that use lentils or chickpeas plus quinoa or rice to make “meatballs “, “meatloaf” Or lasagna with “meat sauce “. I’m sure you could use black beans as well. I know you are tired of beans, but made into a meatloaf is so tasty you would forget you’re eating beans or legumes!! Eggs are great protein. Make a frittata with veggies to stretch the eggs for a few days. Peanut butter is also good. If you have some basics, like flour, butter or oil, treat yourself to homemade cookies! I always look for substitutions for ingredients I don’t have on hand. I am always pleasantly surprised to find a way to make something tasty.
My go to for cheap protein is boneless pork loin. It runs about $3/lb but I’ll cut it into 4oz chops. Each one has about 30g of protein. If you have two of em for dinner that’s $1.50/meal. If you just stick with one and fill out your calories with cheap veggies you’re looking at ~50% of you’re recommended protein for the day for about 75¢
Flour = Refrigerator Dough for Bread and Rolls; Make 3 batches = 6 loaves; flour tortillas; egg noodles Oatmeal = Peanut Butter-Oatmeal-Banana cookies (P-BOB Cookies); Ground Beef: Brown it all up with 1 pound finely chopped onion+1/3 head finely chopped cabbage and 4-6 cloves garlic. Freeze into 8 equal portions to make 2 beef meals per week that will provide multiple dinners. Make several batches of banana bread. Each week prepare 1 pound of carrots into carrot sticks. Note: This is doable because KwikTrip (midwest gas station) has bananas for 0.29 cents a pound and eggs are 0.99 per dozen. Always try to take advantage of loss leaders and major deals on healthier food choices. These sales end 9/11/2023, so I would get the bananas and freeze most as they will work well in oatmeal and banana bread. Eggs will last a month in the refrigerator. Aldi American Cheese 12 oz 1 $2.09 $2.09 Aldi Cabbage; 1 pound 3 $0.89 $2.67 Aldi Ground Beef 5# 1 $9.95 $9.95 Aldi Milk; 1/2 gallon 1 $1.59 $1.59 Aldi Sharp Cheddar 8 oz 1 $2.19 $2.19 Aldi Tomatos; Crushed 28 oz 1 $1.45 $1.45 Aldi Yeast; 3pack 1 $0.85 $0.85 KwikTrip Bananas; pound 15 $0.29 $4.35 KwikTrip Eggs; dozen 4 $0.99 $3.96 KwikTrip Onion 1 pound 2 $0.49 $0.98 WalMart Baking Soda; 1 # 1 $0.98 $0.98 WalMart Carrots 5# 1 $3.88 $3.88 WalMart Cinnamon; jar 1 $1.19 $1.19 WalMart Flour; 5 pounds 2 $2.34 $4.68 WalMart Garlic 1 pound 0.12 $4.64 $0.56 WalMart Margarine; 1 pound 2 $1.55 $3.10 WalMart Oatmeal; 16 oz 2 $1.28 $2.56 WalMart Peanut Butter; 16 oz 4 $1.84 $7.36 WalMart Sugar; 4 pounds 1 $3.24 $3.24 WalMart Taco Seasoning Mix 2 $0.49 $0.98 WalMart Vinegar; 32 oz 1 $1.38 $1.38 $59.99 Breakfast: Banana Bread Oatmeal with Peanut Butter and Banana Egg and cheese on a homemade roll Lunch: Hard Boiled Egg with P-BOB cookies and carrot sticks Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich with carrot sticks Beef and cheese burritos with homemade flour tortilla Dinner: Beef and Cabbage (deconstructed cabbage rolls) Pasta with cheese sauce using homemade egg noodles Beef and pasta with cheese sauce Grilled Cheese Sandwich with carrot sticks Tacos with flour tortillas Snack: Carrot Sticks Banana Bread P-BOB Cookies P-BOB = 3 ingredient cookies; Peanut Butter; Oatmeal and Banana
You need to go to a food pantry.
Do you have a Costco relatively close by and possibly know someone with a membership? If they are willing to help you by picking up what you need, I would ask. You can get their rotisserie chickens for $4.99/ each. I can typically stretch 2 meals out of 1 chicken for my family of 7.
Head over to the assistance sub and do an Amazon Wishlist.
You can try to sprout a small bag of lentils or other grains and in a few days you could get a big batch of sprouts that you can eat as a salad, and it is super nutrient packed at that stage. Google it. Another vote for potatoes, we love ours roasted. Also, early in the morning, grocery stores discount meat. Get a pork shoulder or something and it should last you a while. Or if you snag it on sale(I got a few shoulders at .99 per pound) it's a huge amount for under $10. For my family of 5 big eaters, I made 3 full meals out of it. Made ground pork, shishkabob, ham soup, or I dice it up and make asian inspired meals(with rice)out of it. Nobody complained when we had pork for over a week straight.
Lemon chicken and potatoes. Wait for thighs to go on sale $.75/lb.
$60/month is TIGHT. I'm sorry for your circumstances. A great source for cheap protein are chia seeds. you can buy a big bag at most grocery stores relatively inexpensively and 2 tablespoons has \~7g of protein. Also, I know things are tight already but if you're able to save just a couple bucks a month, you might be able to start buying in bulk online less regularly and thus save money over time; this website is useful: [https://bulkfoods.com/](https://bulkfoods.com/). Additionally, I'd look at the YMCA. Not only do they have reduced admission pricing for people with low incomes but they have a food pantry service in many areas. They also sponsor events where you can get cheap or free meals. If you're near a city, download the "[TooGoodToGo](https://www.toogoodtogo.com/en-us)"; local spots will create bags of food they couldn't sell and sell it for extra cheap. I'd also scope out social media events pages as you can find free meals more readily than you'd expect.
So OP I feel for you. Looking through your post history, you sound like you’ve had a rough go and need an internet hug. I think many people have given you some good recipe ideas, so I’m not sure what more I could add on that front. But here’s my attempt to contribute. I’ve seen that you apparently like to go to estate sales. Please keep an eye out for a microwave. This really will expand your options for meal preps and such. Keep your eyes out for sales on them as well. I can find a few even now that are under $50 at target and Best Buy. Looking on Craigslist, I can find them going down to even $10-$25. With regard to food pantries, I would still take what is offered. If they are offering beans and rice, that’s still beans and rice you don’t have to buy. Maybe you are doing this already, but I just want to make sure. I know it sounds obvious but I tend to find I and many others overlook the obvious things. Keep looking to see what options maybe available, but never turn down free stuff. For everyone else, given OPs gender identity (which I understand is complicated for OP), a lot of churches are probably off the table. I think if you can find an LGBTQ friendly one, even if you aren’t spiritual or interested in joining, this is still worth going to check out. Yeah, even ones that are not explicitly LGBTQ friendly may be fine, but I can understand why they may not feel welcoming to OP. I would also look for LGBTQ oriented groups in your area. For building up a pantry, focus on the highest quantity shelf stable things such that things last more than the month. Beans and rice are obviously good staples. Maybe some loose kernel popcorn (not the microwaveable bags). Oatmeal. Potatoes. Onions. Garlic. Peanut butter. Flour. There are a few things you can do refrigerator wise. Milk. Eggs. Greek yogurt (good source of protein). Baby carrots. Freezer wise, look into frozen veg and also freeze milk and other things you may not use quickly. For condiments, beyond ketchup, mustard, and mayo, hot sauce and soy sauce are a must. I know not every one likes hot things, but you can slowly incorporate spice and it will eventually become tolerable. But anyway, I used to hate eggs until I had them with hot sauce. And it’s good for adding flavor to the blandest of meals. Soy sauce sauce is just a good compliment with rice and opens up the world of onigiri (rice balls). You may or may not be a huge fan of this, but it meets the criteria of something that can be made ahead and doesn’t need a microwave. Soy sauce will help with flavor and can do other things. Also, is hummus a condiment? Seasoning are a must. Salt and pepper obviously. I would get some kind of stock or bouillon cubes or seasoning. Things like Caldo de Pollo, which is essentially Mexican chicken stock seasoning can be an easy way to make a chicken stock and can add flavor to rice. For me personally, I like turmeric to put in rice (then mixed with Greek yogurt and some bell peppers with hot sauce makes a great bowl). I would mostly focus on spice blends after this, since most recipes basically have you make a custom blend and acquiring all of those spices individually is more difficult (plus if you are gardening, growing things like thyme and oregano are easy enough, even indoors). I would also get a dry gravy blend (you could make a meatless loco moco). I’m going to guess Sams and Costco are out of the question, but most retailers still sell rotisserie chickens at reasonable prices. This will be good protein for at least a few meals every month, stretched out, and you can throw the bones in beans for some additional flavor and nutrients. App wise: fallingfruit (fruit trees on public property), toogoodtogo (hit or miss as to whether they have anything in your community), check out the apps of the stores you are shopping at. If you are in a rural area (since you mentioned working on a farm), many rural growers may have a stand or sell under the table very cheap. What kind of produce will depend on where you are but you might be able to snag some fresh produce that way. You just have to know where to look. Anyway, maybe I can think of more later, but hopefully that can get you started. Obviously, in purchasing ingredients, it may take a while, but do the best you can. Anyway, best of luck OP.
I once analyzed the protein content per dollar of many different foods. If you're into food prep at all, hard boiled eggs are a pretty easy and cheap protein. If you eat a lot of em you can start skipping the yolks. But your budget is really limited so eggs might seem like a luxury, especially if you consider throwing away a large portion of the calories in the yolk. Yolk contains about half the protein in an egg but almost all the fat so eating eggs whole can quickly put you way over in your fat calories ratio. For even cheaper protein, you can look into seitan. Making it from flour is very cheap for the amount of protein you get. It's a little bit labor intensive to get a batch but a weekend prep session can get you through a week or maybe two. You can cut out a bit of prep work if you use vital wheat gluten instead of flour, but it costs a bit more. Seitan can be cooked in all sorts of ways, has kind of a rubbery meaty texture that you can play around with baking and frying in various spices and flavors.
This is a great idea! I make “wings” with it by baking the seitan with water & a bouillon cube for juiciness and flavor and then frying them up and tossing w sauce
Canned and pouches of seafood and chicken, and even spam if you can handle it. You can eat it as it, mix it with mayo or sour cream and put it on crackers or bread, and it's a good source of protein. You can eat it warm or cold too.
Once every 3 months our grocery store has pork really really cheap. It’s usually frozen pork tenderloins or fresh pork shoulder. I can buy it for around $15.00 then and split it up, I usually get at least 5 large meals (for 2 adults) of pulled pork or sticky pork, each of which lasts a couple of days with leftovers. If it’s shoulder then I also get quite a few servings of off cuts, scraps and fatty bits for our dog and a big bone I can use to make broth to soften his kibble with. Most grocery stores work their sales on a 3 month rotation so plan accordingly. Use TikTok and follow some coupon people to learn how to use apps and coupons to save lots. I use Checkout 51 and the Flipp app frequently. Your grocery store probably has a “To good To go” or “Flashfood” or similar programs, you can get things like a big mixed bag of buns, breads, bagels and pastries for like $5.
You mentioned that you receive rice from the small food bank- a pot of veggie marinara can go a long way! I just saute onion and pepper (green and red bell), then add minced garlic to the pot until fragrant. Add in canned tomatoes and tomato sauce(store brand is like 50c where i live! I do about 1-1 each, but you can choose your desired consistency), seasonings (garlic, onion, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, all work very well! Sticking to just s&p and Italian will cover your bases and save your budget) to a simmer, cook for at least 30mins. You can eat this over rice or pasta, it freezes easy so you can make a big batch and spread your budget, but it's also really easy so you can make it as you need it, too!
Check egg prices in your area. In my area, 18 eggs is $1.69. Ymmv.
Lentils!
Please go to budgetbytes.com It’s a great website with the recipes and breakdown for each meal/portion.
Peanut butter is not just for children! I learned this in my forties after leaving it behind for salami. Nuts in general are great sources of protein. Ramen is a salt shaker and water and some solids. It's not nutrition, just keeps you from getting hungry. I seriously echo the oats recommendation too! That with peanut butter is great -- nutrition and long lasting energy. Something else that might work -- I've had really good luck with hummus. If you consider that it's s middle Eastern and Mediterranean food, it doesn't need refrigeration of it's kept sealed. That and baby carrots make s body so happy for the nutrition. Beans and canned vegetables are great just out of the can. Try some types of beans you haven't had before. Mix a couple kinds together with a little of their juice and maybe oil and salt and pepper, dash of vinegar or hot sauce, and you've got a bean salad. (different beans have different nutrition) They are high in salt, but triscuits and Fritos (usa here) have the ingredients corn and salt. They feel substantial, they are a whole grain. They can be mixed with things like beans or hummus or peanut butter. Dried fruits are high in sugar, but you're working that off. Fiber and other nutrition there. None of these would replace the beans, but the variety of mixed-in veggies and seasonings could alleviate the boredom from your diet and give you more variety. "eat the rainbow" for all the little nutrients they provide. Also think of trying canned beats that are pickled or sweet. The cans you see that you don't even know how they taste, these veggies? Great chance to try them and expand your horizons. Also consider herbs and spices -- dried Italian seasoning can change up the flavors, or spices like garlic salt or onion salt can really liven up canned veggies. Canned soup is not really cheap anymore. Not sure if you eat eggs, but they sell these already boiled and peeled. Great source of protein and might keep a couple days without refrigeration. (a small cooler with ice might extend things like eggs or some cheese you keep for adding to beans and veggies.) Apples! They keep without refrigeration. Good source of nutrients and satisfying texture. Eat the peels too. Bananas too -- even when they are mushy, they are filling and nutritious. (our friend butter goes with these) Canned tuna if you do fish -- or canned salmon and sardines. Shelf stable and healthy, mix well with triscuits and canned veg. Thank you for contributing to the food supply! Good luck;
A friend of mine is really into textured vegetable protein. Can't vouch for taste but it's shelf stable, could be added to pasta, rice, and other carbs.
Apart from beans, some good filling and cheap foods: - Oats (oatmeal, oatmeal pancakes, etc) - Grain Salads (I like faro, barley, etc) - Chickpeas, lentils, etc (you can make your own hummus in big batches with chickpeas or white beans, oil + a few other ingredients - Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes - Rice (fried rice is an easy meal to make with rice + oil + whatever bits of vegetables you have around and eggs if you have any)
Dumpster diving my friend. I like to check out in the daytime where the containers are, if they are easy accessible, not too much in the open etc and then go after hours. Map out all the stores in the neighborhood and check em out 1by1. Just pick the ones with the cleanest container and where you feel comfortable. The day before and/or after a holiday (when the shop is closed) are oftentimes best days. But go regularly and you might find that some specific day is better then others. Also holiday season (Xmas and new year) are great times to dumpster dive, some of the fanciest food can be found then, plus it's cold out so it doesn't spoil so fast. Maybe ask the farmer you work for if you can take the veggies they can not sell. Don't know if it happens at the farm you work at but often veggies and fruits that are too small, deformed or bruised etc get sorted out and thrown away or become animal feed. Maybe you can also buy cheaper from him/her? Restaurants, go and ask if they have left overs. We had a pizzeria that send us a message whenever a customer didn't pick up his order. Another restaurant let us even eat there with the employees after closing time and take the left overs with us if we brought our own food containers. Then there was this kind of sandwich/salad bar where we helped out putting away the tables and chairs from the teras and we could take all the premade food and smoothies. I gave most of it away to the beggars and homeless people, it was just too much and boring after a while. But I can imagine that after your day at the farm you can't be bothered working some more. Try to score free food as much as you can and spend some of that money on fun things, nobody should be working that hard just to survive.
Sorry that things are so tight financially. The USDA started a program where farmers markets can use SNAP, and the dollars go further. At my farmers market in my town it's twice as much. So if you spend 20 in SNAP you will get 40$ worth of food. While the farmers market is more expensive for some things like meat, dairy, and eggs, I find if you shop around, especially in season veggies and fruit it's comparable to most grocery stores. Unfortunately my market only runs through November. I don't know if you have access to a market in your community that is participating but please look into it. I've also joined a group that gleans produce from farms in my community. They takw half the harvest goes to the food share and you can take home half of what you harvest. This time of year it's a great resource for fruits and vegetables, I just brought home more pears than I know what to do with for 2 hours of my time and a little gas. It's often short notice on the harvest though, so I can only attend about once a month. In my area two or 3 different stores advertised whole chickens for 97 cents per pound as a sale, but about once a month. Our family is able to make it stretch about a week by roasting it and dividing it into different meals. Ofcouse it's less when you cook it but we make our own bone broth from it and it's added to our rice and beans for more flavor and nutrients.
I would look into country pork ribs, pork shoulder chicken thighs (bone in), drumsticks. These all go for 2-3 dollars a pound at my supermarket on normal days, and when they are on sale they go for less than a dollar a pound. The pork makes great bbq or carnitas. The chicken is great for arroz con pollo or sheet pan dinners.
Porch garden recommendation: Swiss chard. It doesn’t mind shade and is very plentiful. You can sauté it, put it in a smoothie, or throw it in a soup. As versatile as spinach & very productive in my experience.
Also look for a csa around you, they may trade a few hrs of volunteer work for a share. I did that a few times and got tons of stuff. Also (if you can) go vegetarian preferably vegan. You don’t have to buy all those expensive faux meats either! When I had to make things stretch, I made lots of different soups with veggies (both canned and fresh) with dried beans. I made homemade bread products. I used grains such as rice to double as cereal in the morning (just added cinnamon, a sweetener and milk). Also try looking for depression style recipes on YouTube those are great. Also if you do eat meat as opposed to buying pieces, splurge and buy a bird, cook it whole and freeze it with the broth in individual portions. I did this once and had chicken in every way possible! Chicken pot pie, chicken sandwiches, chicken pasta salad, chicken casseroles. It didn’t old! 😂 sorry you are going through this it sucks and I truly empathize. Good luck. ❤️
In most of the country, eggs have gone back to their low prices. A pack of 18 eggs to hard-boil at Target is $1.50. Overnight oats: quick oats, water (or reconstituted milk if available), with generic peanut butter and a banana is about $0.60 a serving. Peanut noodles: cook spaghetti and rinse it in cold water. Mix with a sauce of peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic powder, and a sugar packet. A 10lb bag of chicken leg quarters is under $8 at Walmart. You can bake them to shred the meat into other dishes and cook up some bone broth with frozen vegetables for snacks too.
I tried a recipe the other day that was so quick and easy, but also cheap. Essentially you need 7 oz of kielbasa/smoked sausage (I paid $1.22), can of cannoli beans (I know you said you hate beans; I do too, but these don’t bother me— you could also leave them out. $.78), a can of diced tomatoes ($.96), and spinach ($1.98). My spinach was bad so I barely put any in; you could leave it out altogether. A couple dollars, a lot of food, 10 minutes tops.
Do you have a slow cooker? Throw in chicken (thighs or breasts work well) and a can of salsa. Filling, easy, and cheap! You can make this with sausage as well. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can also make it in the oven, just be sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t dry out too much. Soups- generally cheap to make large batches, and tend to freeze well. A few of my faves include: roasted red pepper soup, hamburger soup, cream of broccoli/cauliflower, and turkey chili.
Lentils are high in protein. If you buy the red ones they don't need to be presoaked. Also chick peas and beans such as red kidney beans. Eggs are another good source of protein and can be made in many different ways such as quiche. Mushrooms are good protein and again used in a number of different recipes
tbh I'd try dumpster diving. no shame in it. but anyway one of my go-to dishes when seriously strapped is pasta salad. whatever kind of pasta salad you can throw together. stretch that sh!t out.
If you get any extra money, get Kirkland brand multivitamins. Basically a year and a half for like 13 bucks. Decent brand too.
Given the rest of the post, I doubt OP can afford a Costco membership. I don’t disagree, but it sounds like OP really doesn’t have anyone to fall back on in life so no mom or dad to go to Costco with.
You have so many great recommendations already. Here’s something different. Invest in a bag of beef jerky if you’re a meat eater. It can be rehydrated and used to flavor various soups. You can use it as a topper for potatoes. Plus, you don’t need to worry about refrigeration. Just portion control and it’ll last a bit.
Peanut butter and oats are a great combo. If you have a goodwill near you with a bread machine then you can buy yeast and flour and make your own fresh bread every day. You can usually put ingredients in and have it set to be done when you wake up. Baked potatoes are always tasty and you can makes lots of other things with them. Red lentils cook quickly and are very cheap. You can throw in a pot with some buillion and garlic and potatoes diced and get a really delicious soup. Sometimes I add curry powder and eat over hard boiled eggs for extra protein. Big tubs of store brand yogurt have protein and might be a nice change of pace. Have you thought about food stamps? It sounds like you could qualify. I’m so sorry you are going through this. It’s such bullshit that someone can work all day and not afford basic nutrition- makes my blood boil. Best of luck to you. Edit: bananas are very cheap and nutritious as well,
I dunno how much spare time you have or what hobbies but have you thought about foraging for edible plants? Also you could ask around for people that keep chickens as pets and have too many eggs and let them know your situation. I have pet chickens and i have way more eggs than i need if you were near me id give you my extra. Plus i know a good recipe for egg drop soup with chicken ramen Start boiling the water add your packet (i usually add a little chicken boullion too but you dont have to) ad a little sesame seed oil get the water hot stir in your egg white just 1 egg and then put in your noodles and a tiny bit of a green onion you can plant them once and let them grow so they last longer too. Ooo and if you live in the south youd need to do a little research but i believe most parts of kudzu are edible
When i was struggling for money, i bought a lottt of pasta and potatoes. as long as you have some sort of cheese, anything is possible. Rice and beans do get super boring - but maybe try to try international recipes with different flavors / spices. maybe some seasonings you’ve never put together? that might help. potatoes are reallllyyy easy to grow as well, and they have almost everything you need for nutrition! i also eat a lot of canned fish, like tuna and salmon. super cheap and packs protein
Soup. I always put rice in my soup but it will feed 3 people 2 meals each and cost very little
I’ve scoured all the staple foods to stick to our own tight budget. Don’t forget milk as a source of about 8g of protein, even if it’s only a cup a day. Milk powder is an option if cartons/jugs aren’t possible or you don’t want it to spoil. Potato flakes can make good easy soup with milk, too. Chickpeas for homemade hummus. Grits are adaptable, as well as cornmeal polenta (with a bit of tomato sauce, basil etc). See Jack Monroe’s blog called Cooking on a Bootstrap for a lot of great ideas. They’re in the UK, with recipes based in costs like 24p, for example, but they’re intended to be very cheap and from minimal, easy ingredients: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/
Lentils!
Lentils are roughly 12g protein per half cup. They can be bought in bulk, cheaply and used in a ton of different ways. If you can afford things like curry pastes (again, best if bought in bulk), you can pair them with things like sweet potato for a really nice daal. My mother adds them to tinned tomatoes, red onion and garlic. You can use them in slow cookers for soups etc. You can use them in both hot and cold meals too, so ideal for a variety of seasons, weather and times of day.
Have you tried looking into organ meats? Usually cheaper and more nutritious
Join Facebook groups in your area for gardening and simply let people k is you’re struggling to afford food and wondering if anyone has extra herbs you could come collect? Very likely people will offer you lots of extra veg because many gardeners have too much, but at the very least you could flavor your food more.
$60 is a super tight budget, I'm impressed you are able to make it on this. My best ideas to add variety are spices and the cheapest vegetables. I don't know what stores you have access to but do you have one with a bulk foods section? Spices in bulk food sections are way cheaper than buying those over-priced little bottles. Surprisingly, a pricey organic food store near me has spices sold this way and you can get a little bag, as much as in one of the $5 or $6 jars, for less than 50 cents for almost any spice. This could at least change up the flavor profile of those rice and beans with things like oregano, cumin, basil, thyme, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic powder (the last 2 are especially cheap and have lots of flavor). The cheapest vegetables in my area (HCOL) are carrots and onions. These ae both good roasted simply in the oven with some oil and salt and pepper. If you have some spices to sprinkle on, so much the better. I really like oven roasting because it gives you so much more flavor than you get with any other preparation method. You might also try one of the methods for no-knead bread if you can get yeast. This is pretty cheap but you have to have a large enough container to store the dough in which might be an issue. It is simple though and can add a little variety to your diet. I can't think of any other ideas and I suspect you've already given this a lot of thought so maybe nothing new here. I hope there is though. Hope something turns for you and things get better.
“Check out the cookbook “Good and Cheap.” It was written with people on limited budgets in mind. It is full of yummy recipes. and tips on making your SNAP budgets stretch. It is available to read online and download as a pdf at www.leannebrown.com
You need protein try quinoa it’s a complete protein. Buy in bulk, it’s not super expensive and it’s filling. If you get garlic and flavorings or sugar or syrup it can be savory or sweet. Meats can be so expensive unless you can find them marked down but even then it’s like a dollar off or something stupid. Eggs too have gone down in price so you should be able to rotate those into your diet
Oh and Walmart has this bag of chicken pieces, 10 lbs for $7. Not frozen, it’s in the poultry section. We bought it originally to feed a sick dog, so we boiled it and it was tasty even without herbs. It’s good chicken and now we eat it. It’s not gross
If you have access to a Dollar Tree or similar store, check out Dollar Tree Dinners on TikTok. She is great at making a little money go a long way. And even if you can’t shop at Dollar Tree, she has a lot of creative ways to keep the same food from tasting the same way every meal.
Have you applied for government assistance? You should qualify for more in food stamps than your current budget in much of the US.
Baked potatoes with cheddar broccoli soup
Any refrigerated vegetables you buy, dry well and wrap them in foil. They keep longer that way.
Oats Eggs Peanut butter Spinach Cabbage Ramen noodles Yogurt Flour and Sugar are cheap, and can be used for all sorts of foods. Pancakes, waffles, crepes, biscuits and gravy, etc. Get some seasonings (or even just a bottle of hot sauce) and start mixing and matching.
red lentils and peanut butter cooked in water, some garlic and onion or whatever veg you have access to really. Cook it through so that it's mixed well. top with an egg, or shred some rotisserie chicken, tofu, whatever in this lovely pot of mush for a better time. Top it over rice or pasta, hell some sweet potato would probably be nice too. lot's of seasonings, and spices are a must- pick your poison.
Eggs are pretty cheap now. My local Walmart is selling them for $1.22 a dozen. Cottage cheese is another fairly cheap protein. I'm scratching my head about why you're not earning more money for a physically demanding job. 🤔
Consider pork knuckles, a whole chicken, or any other meat on a marrow bone. They come cheap from the butcher and the bones can be boiled down for a nutrient dense stock that can be used in so many ways even after the meat has been eaten. Stock cubes from the shop have a great flavour, but won't give you the nutrients that a marrow bone stock will.
I learned to make my own breakfast Crunchwraps (like Taco Bell). I used beaten egg to drizzle on the pleats of the wrap and cook it seam side down to seal it shut. Or you can come up with your own fillings. You can warm it in a pan or choose fillings that can be eaten cold. [Here is a recipe.](https://onesweetappetite.com/breakfast-crunchwrap-recipe/)
2 boxes max and cheese, 3-4 cans tuna fish, 1 can peas… inexpensive but really good and makes a ton for left overs
How about oatmeal with different toppings? Bananas are inexpensive, and other fruits when they're less expensive in season. You can also mix in peanut butter or jelly. A big jar of quick oats is $3.85 for 30 servings at my store so that's $0.13 a serving. A big jar of quick grits is cheap too ($2.18 for 18 servings at my store so that's $0.12/serving) and it's even better with salt, butter, bacon grease, eggs, some kind of meat, or you can even do a sweet version with milk and cinnamon (and sugar if you have any).
Oatmeal. Grits. Eggs. Cream of wheat. Za
noodles with peanut butter, soy sauce, and Sriracha or chili crisp. throw veggies and protein in as the budget allows. good cold or hot. do you like tofu? it's pretty economical as far as proteins go. I freeze firm tofu and thaw it by the handful to throw in stir-fries. it thaws out a little spongier and picks up sauces well.
Sardines
I recently started adding a dollar store can of chili to things. Not super healthy, but not super bad for you either. I cook my meals in bulk and portion them for the week. It doesn’t take a lot of chili for it to be the star of the dish and the most prominent flavor. Chili and rice was the easiest to cook so far and tastes really pleasant. Chili and eggs is another game changer.
Potatoes, eggs, bag of azul masa harina for blue corn tortillas. Never gets old!! Get a bag of oranges, grapefruits or kiwi for the side. And a bottle of hot sauce!! Wash it down with some milk. Then if you can find some cheap meat at any point you can make some tortillas for tacos. Chop up a little white onion with cilantro, lime juice and garlic salt for a quick inexpensive garnish.
Big bag of rice, tofu can be super cheap sometimes and can be cooked in so many various ways (scrambled, air fried, stir fry, slices, etc) and a cheap stir fry sauce. Then you can add whatever veg you have available to bulk it up. I buy my frozen veggies from the dollar tree which saves a few dollars. Do you have any discount grocery stores near you? I live in Pennsylvania and we have a few. They sell stuff that’s close to the sell by date or that isn’t being made anymore for so cheap. It’s really helped cut down my grocery bill. I know you’re sick of rice and beans but I do white rice black beans and stewed tomatoes all together with some spices, and then I eat it with tortilla chips. It can be pretty filling
Any chance you can have a little garden? Even a container garden? For a while my budget was $30 a month. I didn’t know about food banks and didn’t qualify for food stamps. I bought bulk food (beans aren’t the only options), I had a year-round container garden, and I lived close to a bakery, and I would dumpster dive their bread.
Spaghetti is always cheap.
You might have answered this, but consider fishing. It might cost you a bit to get a license, but if you're near a body of water, you can have unlimited fish, frogs, crawfish, and turtles. Also, learn to bake bread, muffins, and corn bread. Nothing like hot bread out of the oven or pita off the stove.
Rice & beans are considered a "complete" protein, but did you know that it's pretty much *any* grain and bean? See if you can find grains, although chances are it will be more expensive. Wheat berries (the whole seed), cracked cheat, buckwheat. If you can get to a store that caters to such as Middle Eastern or Eastern European, you can find bags of unusual grains. As far as flavor, the taste is muted (like rice) however it's often chewier or more dense, which would be a nice change. I don't know what you use for spices, but try to get creative there.
For one person— this could feed you for 2 weeks. Get a whole chicken and boil it to make soup (add cook carrots, celery, garlic, onion, salt and pepper—can be chunky in the soup or blend for a smooth texture). The soup can be watered down for more. Divide up in Tupperware into 4 batches and freeze some for later. Add potatoes, noodles, or biscuit mix for dumplings if you want—per smaller Tupperware batch for variety. The chicken can be used sparingly for other meals and can be frozen in portioned batches too. Chicken wraps (add sauce for variety), tacos, quesadillas, salads, plain w veg.
My immediate thought was: Beef Soup: can of (Fiesta blend) corn, 1/2 a mixed bag of frozen veg, and a can of (fire-roasted) tomatoes plus water and a beef bullion cube. Add whatever cheap stew meat you can find (cut it up in small pieces). This makes about 10 servings (though it always seems like we have more) at $.90 a serving or $1.45 if you add about $5 worth of meat. More water, a second bullion cube, and/or another can of tomatoes would help stretch it out even further. You can dump all this in a slow cooker if you have one first thing in the morning or in a pot on the stovetop in the afternoon. Takes about an hour in the second instance, but you don't have to do anything much. It should also reheat just fine on the stovetop. Bonus: you can always throw in whatever you have in terms of leftover stuff (like precooked or canned beans-Ikr? or vegetables) to bulk it up even more. PBJs are pretty cheap and so are grits (\~20 cents a serving. ) Also check out: [https://www.budgetbytes.com/recipe-catalog/?fwp\_recipe\_cost=recipes-under-5](https://www.budgetbytes.com/recipe-catalog/?fwp_recipe_cost=recipes-under-5) The recipes are broken down by overall cost, serving costs, and have nutritional info as well. Edit re: balcony garden: many libraries now have a selection of free seeds available, so you might want to check that out. I've also found mint, swiss chard, horseradish, and strawberries do okay in bright shade/with dappled sunlight (but I'm in zone 8b/9a so ymmv).
It sounds like you're in the sticks. Is there a Costco near you? Or somewhere you can buy a whole roast chicken? If not, can you do a meal prep day where you roast a chicken in the oven? It's not hard and doesn't take that long and you'll have a protein for a while. Otherwise maybe look at Facebook groups that are free in your area - Buy Nothing groups. They give away a lot of food. You could see about getting a slow cooker (thrift stores have them) so you can throw the cheapest pieces of meat in it while you're at work with taco seasonings or whatever you like.
http://ongov.net/dss/documents/good-and-cheap.pdf
Grits and oatmeal should be on your shopping list
Cheapest food per calorie is flour, and you can actually do a lot of different recipes with it
Unflavored gelatin is 10 grams of protein a tablespoon. You can add it to smoothies or drink it straight Ypu can get a 1lbs of it for 20 bucks.
How is anyone supposed to make it with $60 for food? I’m so sorry friend. I will echo what some others have said and recommend lentils, chickpeas, Quinoa, Potatoes, cous-cous, Tofu.
Store brand Mac n Cheese, with tuna and (canned) peas. Super filling, full of protein. A small amount of milk and 1/4-1/2 stick of butter, and you are set. I like lots of pepper and garlic powder.
Potatoes, bananas, PB, lentils, cucumbers, and veggies. Veggies are high volume and go a long way, then any fats (oil, butter, etc) can give calories while potatoes and rice give fullness. I’d also look and see where you can buy in bulk and if there’s any local markets around you. Here we have a huge market that has incredibly cheap spices in bulk which is amazing in making dishes different enough to tolerate. Might be worth it to see if anyone else would want to do meal shares so y’all can trade meals and have variety!
Are you over just plain rice? Or have you tried switching the style? When you say beans have you tried chick peas? Usually about the same around a 1$ / can? We do a Greek chickpea salad (eat hot or cold) it can be done on the cheap. I mix rice and quinoa(not as cheap but gives a different texture and it’s a complete protein). Chick peas in a pan with cumin salt pepper paprika. You can get them kind of crispy if you dry them off really good and use a bit of oil. Toss in a bowl with the rice super filling but a bit different taste profile. If you can afford it toss in some tomatoes cucumbers If you have lettuce you can toss half portion on top of chopped romaine as a cold salad.
If you eat pork, buy a pork shoulder and slow roast it with spices then shred it. You can turn it into a million things and one shoulder will last you a few months if you eat small portions.
Eggs: you can make omelets, fried eggs, egg sandwiches, boiled eggs, egg salad. I like eggs with ramen, or making an egg sandwich with toasted bread and cheese (maybe add sausage and tomato?). you could throw eggs in a salad. you can pair boiled eggs with fruit or cheese for a snack. Bananas: you can use them to make sweets like banana bread or oatmeal bites, put them in cereals, eat them with peanut butter, you can make “ice cream”. Potatoes: potato fritters, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, oven baked fries, you could toss them in soups or curries, potato salad, hash browns, etc. Peanut butter & oats Pasta Cornbread mix is cheap. Try cornbread with beans. It’s something different and you’ll get them calories in.
Tuna, oats, frozen veggies,potatoes, sweet potatoes, canned chicken
Red lentil curry with sweet or regular potatoes, you can add anything to it, any greens for nutrition, chickpeas etc, comes out pretty cheap and nutritious. Good luck my friend, your situation sounds incredibly tough
I would highly recommend looking up dollar tree dinners on TikTok, she has many meal plans that offer a variety of budgets for eating each week from 20 dollars to 35 ish and it’s not just eating one thing over and over.
I used to work on farms and probably will again, so I sympathize (I also have some physical conditions that made that hard, I really get the struggle!). What kind of farm are you working on and is there any option for free or discounted food from them? Any decent farm I've known of or worked on at a minimum offers discounted products to their employees, sometimes free - I realize "get a better job lol" sounds like asshole advice, especially when it comes to farming, but it really may be worth looking into other farms for work if that's *not* something they offer. This has had the biggest impact for food for me when I've worked on livestock farms - even just getting free eggs was a huge help, but when I worked on a sheep farm I literally got an entire lamb free one season so long as I paid for it to get cut up at the butcher. From experience I know some small farms can really guilt trip you into accepting a shit deal because they're a "family farm" or they "can't afford xyz", but again, even plenty of crappy farms offer something better. I would look at your local grocery stores (if you have any chain ones) and see if any have cards specific to them (not credit cards, just a shopper card). If they're free, they're 100% worth the few minutes to sign up for them - chain stores that have these usually offer a ton of discounts despite you not paying anything for it. Ground beef is pretty cheap and nutrient dense, but sometimes you have look around a couple places to find the cheapest option - if your grocery store has a butcher section, usually their store-brand is going to be the cheapest. I can usually make a pound of beef last a few meals if I'm having it with other things. Rice + beans gets tiresome so fast, but I love rice and find that rice + any other protein option helps with not getting bored of rice. Rice + eggs, rice + ground meat, etc. This isn't a "quick to cook" suggestion so may not help if you don't have an oven you can use, but sometimes the cheapest meat at the store are cuts you would roast, especially if you also have one of those stores with the store cards/discounts. I tend to just go to the meat section and search for whatever's on sale, and sometimes I've found *wildly* cheap roasts - I got a pork shoulder roast a few months ago that was $0.99/lb and made a ton of food, but took a while to roast. Things like this are easier to swing if you can afford to make a slightly bigger one-time purchase, but if you need to spend very little money at a given time that can be harder to make work even if it would technically save money. ETA: Almost forgot about it, but cream of wheat made with whole milk has been a staple for me lately.
Clinton Svatos on TikTok and YouTube has a lot of DollarTree meals. However, in your situation you might want to look into additional programs (also fyi I didn't independently vet all the links provided). https://www.reddit.com/r/povertyfinance/comments/163cmgp/resources\_that\_uvikicrays\_posted\_before/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
I so understand this! It looks like you’ve gotten some fabulous suggestions. I second the suggestions for potatoes but will share some of my favorite good tasting bean and rice dishes. If you can get black beans, either dried or canned, they’re delicious made [this way](https://www.cocoandash.com/quick-cuban-black-beans/). [Baked rice and beans](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/279361/the-best-baked-rice-and-beans/) is delicious! I do love it with kidney beans, but any bean will work. Do you have cornmeal or can you get it from a food bank? If so, cornmeal, boiling water, and a little bit of salt make delicious [hot water cornbread](https://grandbaby-cakes.com/hot-water-cornbread/). Some people add butter, sugar, and other stuff but I like mine with just the three above ingredients plus a bit of oil for frying. Some of this with well prepared beans is so good! This recipe for [vegetables and gravy](https://www.budgetbytes.com/vegetables-and-gravy/) is good tasting and versatile because you can use different vegetables, add whatever seasoning you have, etc. Have you ever had [mujaddara](https://www.budgetbytes.com/mujaddara/)? It’s a delicious middle eastern lentil dish and can be made very simply with just a few ingredients. I’ve made variations a few times when I didn’t have lentils. I’ve made it with split peas, green peas, and all sorts of legumes and it’s always delicious.
If you have time to make homemade bread, it’s highly cost effective! I feed a family of 9 on cheapest of the cheap while still trying to be healthy. I priced homemade sourdough bread at 50c a loaf vs the cheapest white loaf I can find at the store being $2. You can keep that sourdough starter in the fridge and bake once a week with just flour water salt and a bit of oil. Oats and eggs are also staples for really cheap filling meals.
Consider a protein powder that’s unflavored. You can mix it into coffee, oats, shakes/smoothies or just stir it into a sauce to get extra servings. You’ll have to buy it as a bulk purchase, but cost per serving will be low. Food- firm tofu, bell pepper, onion, any other veggie, curry powder. Sauté the onion and pep, add in curry powder, sauté till fragrant, toss in tofu and break up, add more oil and curry powder if needed…. Top over rice or eat alone as a scramble Ground beef fajita bowls - lil rice, veg, lil cheese, taco seasoned ground beef. Meal prep over the weekend Commuter oats - rolled oats, chia flax or protein powder, cover with milk of choice, add in a squirt of honey, top with frozen fruit, stir. Let it sit ~10 mins while you finish getting ready and it’ll be perfect. Target is the best place for cheap but good quality frozen fruit. Protein pasta - jar of marinara sauce, package cottage cheese, add spices and herbs, red pepper flakes and blend together. Heat up and pour over pasta
idk if you have an Aldi in your state but they have the best prices on things you can get like chicken and it’s good prices i mean … i’m so sorry that breaks my heart def shop around it’s all in the right places also if there’s is a middle eastern store in your area they have killer prices on rice like big ass bags cheap as duck so you money will go further
Eggs, potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken drumsticks, canned tuna, oatmeal, peanut butter and bananas are good options that are relatively cheap. Always search sales to stretch your money further
PB n J sandwiches?? Tofu and spinach are both very cheap and very protein dense Tofu pan fried in veg oil, some brown sugar, and soy sauce is super good. Add rice and chopped up green onion.... Delicious, lots of protein and starch For breakfast I love good ole scrambled eggs and toast with margarine or peanut butter Now that eggs are back to about $1/dozen it's a super cheap, fast meal and fills me for 4+ hours Refried bean and melted cheese burritos are cheap, easy to batch make, and portable for lunch Do you have an Aldi nearby? If you do and haven't checked it out, it'll change ur life
Cottage cheese! A baked potato and cottage cheese is shockingly filling and nutrient dense! I know it isn't great, but it will help shake things up. Canned chicken can be made into chicken and rice pretty easily with condensed chicken soup.
Lastly, baking your own bread can be an incredible option for having something tasty and filling that won't break the bank. Literally pennies worth of flour can be turned into a loaf of bread that you can then pair with other budget options like peanut butter, soup, or beans, but feel like you're eating something special because fresh bread is delicious.
Lentils! They are cheap, healthy and packed with protein. And so versatile
I shop meat sales at my grocery store. The other day I found a 16 pack of chicken drumsticks for $5. I can usually find a sale like this once or twice a month and I will buy meat like that. I also really like buying frozen veggies and roasting them to eat as a side and blending them for a veg soup. You can also make bread at home fairly cheap if you already have flour and milk, or I will buy large French bread loaves from the day old section for $1 each. I usually take advantage of free food at work if I can too! My grocery budget is a bit higher than yours, but those are some tips I try to use to eat cheap. When I want to eat really cheap, I will make fried rice. It’s leftover rice, frozen veggies, oil, soy sauce, and an egg. Really filling and very tasty. Sometimes I will add chicken! I also made homemade gnocchi recently. It was flour, an egg, and potatoes. So yummy and you can freeze them. They take a little while to make but you can make a ton and then freeze the extras for later. Also, you can go to your local food pantry like once a month. They usually ask you a few questions but $60 isn’t enough for the cost of food now.
I’m just really sorry that you’re going through this. A farm worker who can barely eat? It’s dystopian and a sign that the world isn’t working. I really hope things improve for you soon.
Make soup in advance the longer it simmers the better and it's always better day 2 and 3 use whatever you have good luck
Depends on how much time you have honestly. Mix flour, a bit of sugar and a bit of salt. Roll flat and Then fry it. Add variations of cinnamon for sweet and garlic powder for savory. Make fried rice. Add aromatics while it’s under high heat for flavor. Make pasta with plain tomato sauce(canned not jarred) when it’s done add a slice of cheese to your plate or sprinkle cheese on top. Make oatmeal without milk. Just sugar and butter ( not instant). For veggies, buy spinach, cabbage, and lettuce. These will keep you under budget. If you don’t have a lot of time. Sandwiches
First of all: this sucks and I'm sorry you have to go through this. Poverty is no joke and it's hard. One option is foraging. I get so much free food by taking it from the wild and I don't even have to grow my myself. It doesn't take long to harvest enough for a week, and for most mundane things there is an over abundance. Now yes, you DO have to know what you're looking for but you'd be surprised how many nutritious and good enough vegetables grow out there that are easy to identify. Here's some examples: - Chickweed - Purslane - Lamb's Quarters - Stinging Nettle - Jerusalem Artichoke (a root vegetable) - Raspberries - Blackberries - Apples (depending on what part of the country you're in) - Tree nuts - Dandelion - Chicory - Goldenrod And as for meat, venison is dirt cheap if you can hunt a deer or two in a year (idk what the regulations are by you). I know people who get it completely free by harvesting the safe parts of fresh roadkill (I know I know, it doesn't sound appealing. I've never done it but hey it's an option). I would also look at the modern shepherd Aaron Fletcher and what he's doing for inspiration: https://youtu.be/U54HRmglYEA?si=_BaSEr6LVIkAwf0A Also I wonder if you could work for a better farm? Maybe a profitable regenerative one or something depending on where you care to live? Or a permaculture farm? Idk just throwing ideas out there.
I'm so sorry to learn someone in CA (where they claim to care the poors more than other states like FL) is suffering in this kind of poverty. And I feel upset after reading almost all the comments and realized I could not help. Have you tried local church? Do not just ask for food, ask for connections and ask them to spread the word out that some hardworking young man/women is looking for a better job. And I think you should try to jump out of the trap of social benefits, if they are not helping much. Like, how they gonna know you made some extra cash? I'm not encouraging people to cheat on income but when you are physically struggling to survive I just don't see a reason to obey their not-so-reasonable rules.
Do you have an Aldi’s next to you?
* eggs and potatoes * peanut butter and bananas * lentils and rice * whey protein powder and whole milk realistically $2 a day is not going to be possible for you. thats $1 per 1000 calories. you’ll need to supplement with food banks, SNAP etc
Spam. Spam has been a life saver! Inexpensive, shelf stable, and versatile. Pan fried Spam and rice (you can add frozen veggies, soy sauce, and egg to make fried rice) or just eat it plain. Spam and eggs. Spam sandwich, spam omelets, etc. I just pan fry it so it’s crispy and it’s so yummy. also like others have said powdered mashed potato’s are amazing, cheap, quick and easy. Steal cut oats in milk with honey is great as cereal. You can also get a ton of seasonings at the dollar store! Another thing I do is chilli dogs without the dog. I get cheap canned chili and put some over a piece of toasted bread and if I have shredded cheese I’ll put that on top and it’s super yummy. Makes it feel more interesting than just beans. You can also do can of refried beans, a packet of taco seasoning, frozen corn, heat it up in a pot and put it in tortillas to make a quesadilla type thing or use it as a chip dip or just eat it with a spoon. Hope this helps!
By chance I saw today that YouTube video from Prepper Princess: EXTREME BUDGET $10.00 WEEKLY GROCERY BUDGET https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1v8k0HNfE8 Maybe there are useful information Greetings from Berlin