Feed 1 Person for ~$110 (plus taxes)

[michael77]

Kroger 1

Kroger 2

Kroger 3

Walmart 1

Walmart 2

Walmart 3

Walmart 4

Walmart 5

Walmart 6

Walmart 7

So I was inspired by the post @porven made a few months back regarding how to feed 1 person for $50/month here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/povertyfinance/comments/17jzi93

.

I played around with it some, doubled the budget for more variety, and compared prices between Walmart and Kroger. (I'm in East TN, for context.) I don't drink milk, am a whore for ketchup (I have it on almost everything, including meat, except BBQ "wings" which I like ranch with), and don't like cinnamon toast or anything, so I took those out. I do like broccoli, but I enjoy sweet peas and corn more and didn't need three different veggies. 60ct eggs were out at the cheaper option (Kroger), and it was cheaper to get 72 eggs (4 18ct cartons) versus the 60ct carton of eggs at Walmart. This budget also includes basic spices and optional sauces like BBQ and ranch. If you already have these items or don't like/want the optional dipping sauces (and when the cheaper 60ct eggs are in stock), this will be even cheaper. The only thing this doesn't cover is any sort of drinks and assumes a water-only drink diet.

With the sample meal plan below, there's approximately 1 egg, 1 slice of bread, 2oz of shredded cheese, 2 chicken drumsticks, and 0.5oz of nuts left per week. The egg can be added to make 1 breakfast bigger and the slice of bread can be used to either make a sandwich of the breakfast eggs or use the garlic powder and butter to make a slice of garlic bread for one of the spaghetti meals. The extra shredded cheese can be added to a breakfast of eggs, or it can be melted over one of the french fry meals for cheese fries. The 2 extra drumsticks can be added to up to two of the dinners for a bigger meal if so desired, and the extra 0.5oz of nuts can be added to one of the snack portions to make it bigger.

SHOPPING LIST:

8 flour tortillas (2/week)

Approx. 88 slices of bread (~22 slices/week)

Approx. 20 potatoes (~5 potatoes/week)

32oz corn (8oz/week)

32oz sweet peas (8oz/week)

16oz refried beans (4oz/week)

30oz grape jelly (7.5oz/week)

4lbs spaghetti (1lb/week)

40oz creamy peanut butter (10oz/week)

16oz pineapple salsa (4oz/week)

50oz BBQ potato chips (12.5oz a week)

32oz yellow popping corn (8oz/week)

48oz pasta sauce (12oz week)

13oz tortilla chips (~3oz/week)

34.5oz Honey and dry roasted peanuts (~8.5oz/week)

24oz sour cream (6oz/week)

32oz shredded Mexican-style cheese (8oz/week)

4.5lbs of chicken drumsticks (~3.5 drumsticks/week)

60 large eggs (15 eggs/week)

96oz bottles of ketchup (24oz/week)

18oz Honey BBQ (4.5oz/week)

16oz Ranch (4oz/week)

3oz ground black pepper

3.5oz garlic powder

0.95oz Italian seasoning

26oz salt

SAMPLE MENU:

BREAKFAST:

7x:

2 Eggs, Any Style

1 Slice of Toast (1 slice of bread) w/ butter

2.4oz ketchup (for eggs)

LUNCH:

5x:

PBJ Sandwich (2 slices bread, 2oz peanut butter, 1.5oz grape jelly)

2.5oz BBQ chips

2x:

1 Burrito (1 flour tortilla, 2oz refried beans, 2oz shredded cheese, 2oz sour cream),

~1.5oz tortilla chips

2oz pineapple salsa

DINNERS:

2x:

1 Chicken Drumstick

French Fries (2 Potatoes, salt, and butter for pan grease)

2.4oz of ketchup (for chicken and/or fries)

OPTIONAL: 2oz ranch/2.5oz BBQ to make BBQ "wings" with ranch dipping*

1x:

1 Chicken Drumstick

1 Baked Potato (1 Potato, butter, 2oz of melted shredded cheese, 2oz of sour cream),

2.4oz of ketchup (for chicken)**

OPTIONAL: 2oz ranch/2.5oz BBQ to make BBQ "wings" with ranch dipping*

2x:

¼ lb spaghetti noodles

3oz pasta sauce (w/ garlic power/black pepper/Italian seasoning)

4oz side of corn w/ butter

2x:

¼ lb spaghetti noodles

3oz pasta sauce (w/ garlic power/black pepper/Italian seasoning)

4oz side of sweet peas w/ butter

\ Can Do Up to 2x A week*

\* Not Needed for BBQ "wings"*

SNACKS:

4x:

2oz popcorn*

4x:

2oz Honey Roasted/Dry Nuts*

\1 Day Can Have Both Snacks*

 

[hicksc70]

@michael77 Those eggs, cheese, potatoes, and bag of chips are insane prices. Not sure where you live but at our WinCo I can get 5 dozen eggs for $7, family size chips are never over $5, our potatoes are probably that price for a 10lbs bag. Like wth? Sorry your going through that. I do really like this list. Lots of people will bitch about the snacky stuff but c'mon people. Just because I'm poor doesn't mean I can't have a few VERY SMALL enjoyments.

 

[michael77]

@hicksc70 The BBQ chips are $3.18 each (I have 4 in there for the month). The 5lb potatoes are $3.47 each (I have 2 5lb bags listed). The price showing for the eggs is 72 altogether (4 18-ct cartons) because the 60ct eggs for $9.89 was out of stock at the time of the screenshots. Not sure if you saw the quantities. It might be cheaper to get the 10lb bag of potatoes, but I was thinking getting 2 5lb bags will yield more potatoes on the medium side versus less potatoes on the larger side in the 10lb bag. The cheese IS expensive for $7.99, but I believe when I added that, it was on sale for $5.99. I would double-check before actually buying because 32oz shredded cheese can usually be found for less on sale at one or the other.

As far as the snacky stuff goes, it has less to do with feeling entitled to it and more to do with maximizing longevity with this sort of plan. My budget is higher than $50/month thankfully ($200/month at the high end), but if what I wanted went over it, it wouldn't be helpful to justify the overspend with a false sense of entitlement. I'm not entitled to it per se, I'm simply trying to preemptively stop myself from giving up on it.

 

[hicksc70]

@michael77 I see that now! Ok much more food than I thought

 

[hicksc70]

@michael77 I'm motivated to make one of these now.

 

[michael77]

@hicksc70 Me too! I know I just made this, but it's my plan for when I move out of my current situation (I'm in a motel until at least July, so no full kitchen). I'm going to try to make another one with just using an air fryer, toaster, microwave, and crockpot for $200 or less.

 

[nicholas55]

@michael77 Where I am you’d be paying at least double the price for most of that stuff.