If I had $45 for two weeks of groceries…

A reader wrote and asked if I could do a post on spending $45 for two weeks of groceries.

We exchanged a few emails on the topic, and amazingly, she is managing to stick to this budget; she just wanted some more ideas.

(She sent me this Reddit post as part of our discussion.)

I feel a bit unworthy of the task, though, because it has been a very long time since I’ve spent that little on groceries! So, I’m just gonna type some words on the topic and see what comes out. 

My current grocery priorities

Since I have some wiggle room in my budget, cost is not the tip-top thing I focus on when I’m grocery shopping. 

Instead of just focusing on cost, I try to:

• avoid eating out
• prioritize protein, whole grains, and fruits/veggies 
• minimize super-processed foods 

(And I recognize those last two are a privilege!)

I also choose to get a Hungry Harvest box every other week to support their food-waste-fighting efforts.

Basically, when I’m feeding myself, I’m thinking, “What can I make that meets my nutritional goals and is also easy/quick enough to keep me from eating out?” 

That’s how I land on most of my meals, and it’s enough to keep my spending at a reasonable level. 

How some of my meals stack up

If I didn’t care about nutrition at all and just wanted calories to survive, the obvious solution would be to just eat cheap, refined carbs: ramen, mac and cheese, and the like. 

However, I know I’d be wanting to make healthy choices as much as possible.

The $22.50 budget gives you right about $1/meal, and I was curious how far of from this budget my usual breakfasts are.

 

• $0.24 for a slice of whole grain bread (Aldi’s version of Dave’s Killer Bread)
• $0.45 for two eggs
• $0.37 for 6 tablespoons of egg whites
• $.10 of butter (that is a serious guess on my part!)
• $0.23 for coffee grounds
• $0.16 for half and half
• negligible amount for sugar in my coffee and salt and pepper in the eggs

Soo, I am already at $1.55, which is a decent price for a breakfast that has plenty of protein and fiber, and includes coffee.

Butttt, I often add in some fruit as well, which could easily add another $1 to the price. I’m way over budget! 

Oatmeal, another of my breakfast go-tos, is dirt cheap.

But oatmeal on its own has very little protein, which means it doesn’t keep me full during a shift. So, I’d add protein powder (or milk at the very least) and that would bump me up over $1 in a hurry.

And honestly, I’m almost always adding some kind of fruit to my oatmeal as well.

I thought about one of my go-to meals after work, which I consider to be quite cheap: a tuna melt.

But a single can of tuna (which I eat in a sitting) costs $0.87, so I know even that meal would be over budget once you add the bread ($0.24), a slice of cheese, a few veggies, and some mayo. 

One dollar per meal is HARD! 

What I’d need to change

I think I would need to either eat less protein than I do, or I’d need to get very creative about how to get protein cheaply (like using dried beans and TVP).

I’d need to stop buying berries, mangos, melons, and other slightly fancy produce, and instead eat super cheap produce like apples, carrots, and cabbage. I would not buy a Hungry Harvest box. 

I’d need to go back to baking all of my own bread.

I’d keep on making my yogurt (so freaking cheap!), and I’d make my granola, but I’d use vegetable oil instead of coconut oil, and I wouldn’t add nuts. 

I’d also probably try to garden more.

I’d be doing my best to snag any free food on my Buy Nothing group.

And honestly, if my budget was so tight that $22.50 a week was my limit, I’d also take advantage of things like the free Hungry Harvest produce that my college offers. 

I would definitely not be able to buy cookie butter (!!!), ice cream, shrimp, tilapia, lunch meat, or interesting little cheeses (Aldi has so many to try!) And eating out would be entirely out of the question. 

Honestly, these changes are not ones I’m willing to make, and that’s because I am in the happy place of being able to afford more than $1/meal. 

Could I feed myself on $22.50? Probably.

Will I? No. 

I’d be trying hard to earn just a little more money 

$22.50/week is such a low budget, even a tiny increase in earnings would make an enormous difference in the quality of food you could buy. 

While I know it’s not possible for everyone due to things like time constraints, I’d be wracking my brain to think of ways to bring in a little more cash.

Here are a few options off the top of my head that would work for me (and I am not suggesting they would work for everyone!)

I’d:

• pick up a few piano students
• consider doing DoorDash
• offer babysitting services or organizing services
• take up thrifting and reselling
• pick up free furniture, refinish it, and sell it
• sell homemade baked goods 
• work holidays and weekends at my job for the pay differential

If my household had a paycheck coming in via direct deposit, I’d be taking advantage of a few checking account-opening bonuses a year. If you earned even $600 a year from that, that would give you another $11.50/week, which is a 50% increase from the $22.50 budget. 

I’d be looking at other areas of my budget

Presumably, people who are maintaining a $22.50/week food budget have already done this.

But since I’m talking about me…before I’d be willing to slash my food budget that low, I’d be scrutinizing every other area of my budget. 

For instance, I’d be giving up any subscriptions, I’d cut out every last bit of unnecessary shopping, I’d learn how to cut my own hair, I’d cancel my gym membership and just work out at home, and I’d switch my phone to Mint Mobile (Oh wait, I already did that. Ha.)

Finding even another $20-$40/month for groceries would make a world of difference in the quality of food you could buy. 

I’d keep focusing on food waste prevention

Again, I’m operating on the assumption that people who maintain a $22.50 food budget are probably not wasting a bunch of food.

But I mention it because it is an oft-overlooked part of managing a grocery budget. Obtaining food inexpensively only does so much good if you end up throwing some of it away, and the typical American throws away a shocking amount of food.

(I did too, before I starting working on it back in 2008!)

Food is only a good deal if you actually eat it. 🙂 

Here are ten ways to reduce your food waste.

How about you? How far off from a $22.50 budget are you? What would you have to change to meet that budget?