How to Buy Food on a Shoestring Budget

A lot of people, myself included, have lived for long, or for short, periods of time with an extremely small food/grocery budget.
I did it without living on Top Ramen, and you can too. Here are some bare-bones food budget ideas for anyone that needs to survive and thrive on very little money.

Instructions

1. 

   Make a plan. Preparation and planning is extremely important when you have a super-small food budget. There's no way to avoid this step. Once you're clear on what you'll be buying for groceries this month, make your own plan and your own grocery list, and follow them to the letter.

2. 

   Decide on the absolute highest amount you can afford to spend on food this month. I have lived on as little as $20.00 a month, though those same foods would probably cost me $50.00 or more a month at today's prices. Whatever amount you decide on, know that it is possible to live on it.

3. 

   Take inventory of what you already have in your kitchen so that you can use what's there in the best way, with what you are going to buy this month.

   Since each person and each family is unique, each person will have a totally unique variety and amount of food already in their kitchen.
   If you're lucky you already have things like cooking oil and herbs and spices, and some canned foods, as well as some pasta, and maybe some frozen meats or vegetables too.
   Whatever is already there in your kitchen, you want to make good use of it.

4. 

   Change your eating habits. This is the hard part because if you are on a super low grocery budget you are going to have to change your eating habits. There is no getting around it.

   To eat on a tiny food budget, you can't eat out, you can't buy many convenience foods, and you're going to have to give up most of the "luxury" items, like potato chips and soda.

5. 

   Cut way down on buying meat. Meat will become either a tiny part of your diet, or you could even go vegetarian for a bit if need be. Meat is a very high cost item, and on a super-tight budget, you'll probably need to cut way down on meat.
   Instead of eating meat and pasta, for example, you'll be eating a pasta dish with maybe a little meat in a sauce.

6. 

   Buy from a list, and stick to that list. Here is a sample one month list for me, from when I was super broke and had a tiny grocery budget.
   I won't list prices because I can't remember the prices from the past, (except they were cheap!) and the prices now vary depending on where you shop, and what you are going to buy in the way of food.

   My One Month Tiny Food Budget Shopping List:

   2 lbs rice
   beans and other legumes, 1 to 2 lbs
   1 lb of pasta, spaghetti, macaroni, etc.
   2 cans tomato sauce, or chopped tomatoes (bought on sale).
   1 dozen eggs
   2 loaves of bread, and 1 package of tortillas
   no milk (I'm lactose intolerant) but you might buy powdered milk
   1 lb. margarine
   3 packages very cheap meat, whatever is cheapest that month. Then repackage this meat into even smaller packages for one meal at home.
   1 lb cheese (cheapest)
   assorted fresh vegetables, cheapest, and in season
   assorted fresh fruits, cheapest and in season
   5 lb bag of potatoes (cheapest)
   onions and garlic 2 or 3 onions, and 1 bunch garlic
   cooking oil (cheapest, and on sale only)
   up to 10 cans of vegetables and/or fruits, assorted and the cheapest
   tea, cheapest brand
   coffee, cheapest brand
   oatmeal, cheapest kind
   sugar 1/2 lb

   That would usually be it. Of course I already had some seasonings, soy sauce, parmesan cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, and things like flour, vanilla, spices, and herbs in my cupboards, and a few other things too.
   Whatever you have left of these foods, at the end of the month, you will use in the next month, and so on. Even when I was spending the tiniest amount of money on food per month, there was always something left over at the end of the month, even if it was only beans and rice.

7. 

   Eat as healthy as you can while eating on a budget. I make no claims that this is a healthy food plan, but it is do-able and I never went hungry. Besides if you're eating things like potato chips, drinking soda pop and other empty food and drinks right now, your diet is probably not as healthy as this one.

Tips & Warnings

• Eat three meals a day. No need to go hungry, ever. Oatmeal makes a good, filling, cheap, and stick to your ribs breakfast.

• Try not to feel sorry for yourself, you're probably still eating better than millions of people around the planet.

• Expect to get tired of not eating out, or of not having treats all the time. But then, you get bored with your current meals too.

Resources

• Free Food When You Have No Money
• Some Real Good, Real Cheap, Meals