Get a list of the cheapest foods to buy when you’re broke. Along with a meal plan that will feed your family for $75 a week.
The light from the refrigerator is washing over your face again.
You know there’s still nothing in there…but you can’t help but hope that maybe some mysterious force left a piece of chocolate cake in the back when you weren’t looking.
No luck.
You’d love to go to the grocery store and get something to fill those shelves. But how?
If it isn’t the car breaking down, it’s a sick kid. And the paycheck is gone before you know it. (Again.)
The truth is, bad times like this happen to the best of us.
It can be so hard to get ahead, especially when you’re raising a family. Kids will surprise you…with their ability to do things, how much they remind you of your favorite uncle, and…
Oh, you know, a random broken bone followed by a double ear infection alongside a huge growth spurt (hello new wardrobe).
So when you finally manage to scrape together a stash of cash to buy some food, you want to get the most for your money.
If you’re wondering what the cheapest foods to buy are, read on.
You’ll also find a complete meal plan that would have cost you around $75 in 2019. So today, let’s just say it will be much cheaper than what you would otherwise be spending.
But first…lots of ideas.
What Food Should I Buy On A Tight Budget?
If I had to put together a bare bones grocery list of foods that would keep my large family from going hungry, here’s what I would do.
(Let me just add that feeding a family of 8 is no cheap thing, so we eat many of these things often. We are lucky enough right now to have the extra money to invest in fresh produce, which is tougher to do when you are broke.)
Here are some of the cheapest foods that can fill you up:
- oatmeal
- chicken (whole chicken or dark meat that cost under $1 per pound)
- pork (assuming it’s on sale for less than $2 per pound)
- peanut butter
- flour
- popcorn kernels
- potatoes $3 for 10 lbs
- box of elbow macaroni $1, sometimes on sale for 79 or 49 cents
- rice
- spaghetti
- spaghetti sauce
- plus the things listed below
What to do with those ingredients…
A container of quick oats is cheap, and can be cooked on the stove top like Mom used to make.
Try baked oatmeal using things you already have on hand.
It can also be used as a filler with meat to make a bigger burger or a meatloaf.
Whole chicken is super frugal. Roast it with your favorite spices or herbs. Eat it off the bone one night, then pull some for sandwiches or casseroles.
Save the bones for chicken stock!
You can get a “freebie” soup by putting your leftovers together. Say you had some leftover chicken…put it in a freezer bag and drop it in the freezer.
Have more leftover chicken next week? Add it to the bag!
Make another bag for all the leftover veggies you find after a meal.
Before too long, you’ll have those bags full enough to dump into that chicken stock to create a delicious soup. Add some noodles or rice to make it more filling (but still frugal).
You can buy a 5 pound bag of flour for the same price as one loaf of bread. Grab a 3 pack of active dry yeast and you can make 3 loaves of bread using this super easy artisan bread in 5 minutes a day recipe.
Top it with peanut butter for some protein.
Potatoes are versatile. Pasta and rice can also be perfect for casseroles, soups, or a filling side dish…OR use those potatoes as a main dish. You can bake them up and top them with just about anything.
If butter, cheese, or sour cream are on rock bottom price, top it with them. Salsa is a great choice, beans or chili, or get creative with whatever leftovers you find in the fridge.
Spaghetti is a filling meal that doesn’t cost much.
What Are the Cheapest Healthiest Foods?
It’s true that a lot of healthy foods cost more than traditional groceries. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to eat a healthy diet on the cheap.
For instance, you can follow the Mediterranean diet on the cheap by buying produce that’s in season. This diet is also pretty forgiving, because it doesn’t eliminate any foods. It just asks you to eat them in moderation.
Here’s some cheaper options:
- eggs (Sorry, post was written in 2019. I’ve noticed local people selling eggs for $3 a dozen still, so ask around!)
- apples
- cucumbers
- carrots
- herbs and spices at Aldi
- beans, dried or canned
- canned tuna
- canned salmon
How to use these ingredients…
Eggs. They got a bum rap for a while, but more and more healthy diets feature them as a great choice for protein.
Don’t limit them to breakfast. Keep some hard boiled for an easy lunch on the go.
You can make an omelet using just about anything as a mix in…leftover veggies, meats, or cheeses. Or just fry it up without anything else.
Around here we can find a bag of apples for $3 all the time. If they’re too soft to eat, bake them with a little cinnamon for a yummy treat.
Carrots, as in whole carrots in a 5 pound bag are crazy cheap. You’ll need a peeler, but you can cut up several at a time to keep in the fridge for a quick snack.
Seasonal produce. Look around your store to see what’s in season. Those foods sometimes fall below $1 per pound. And they’ll taste better in season, too.
Load up on your favorite herbs and spices. You can find them at Aldi for around a buck each, so grab one or two new ones whenever you go.
The right flavors can make your boring beans taste brand new.
Speaking of beans, what a cheap way to get some protein in your diet. A can of beans might be 50 to 80 cents, and dried beans are even cheaper.
A cup of dried beans will give you 3 cups of beans once cooked. And it’s not as hard as you think.
Just let them soak in water overnight, then cook them in your crock pot all day long. Then you don’t have to worry about sticking the beans (burning them).
Chickpeas can be marinated or baked with your favorite seasonings.
Canned tuna is good once a week.
Canned salmon is a new protein source we’ve been using. It’s super healthy for you, and not as gross as you’re imagining.
It does come with tiny bones and some skin. You can remove them if you want, but those things provide you with so many nutrients…you’re better off stirring them into the meat and making salmon patties.
I promise you won’t even notice them.
What Should You Eat When You’re Broke?
If you have a couple of grocery stores that are close to each other, you’ll get the most food for your money by shopping both of them.
Stores that are further apart will eat up your savings in the form of gas. (See if a friend can give you a ride the next time they go.)
Scour the weekly ad for those stores to see what they are selling the cheapest. Look especially for good protein sources and any produce you can fit in the budget.
$75 A Week Meal Plan
Here’s how I would use those foods to feed a family of 4-6 for a week on just $75.
The Meal Plan:
Click the picture to download your own copy!
The Shopping List:
I’ve created a shopping list to go along with this menu, but to be perfectly honest…it took me for.e.ver to pull all of this together, soooo it’s only available to subscribers. (Don’t worry, though…it’s free!) Sign up here:
The Plan:
Variety might be the spice of life, but there are some times when you just can’t afford it. That’s why you’ll see a lot of foods repeated on this meal plan.
Yeah, it’s cheaper to use the same foods over and over. But it doesn’t have to be totally boring.
For instance, with your oatmeal. Whip up a batch on the stove top or in the microwave. Or make overnight oats using a 1:1 ratio with water. (Or milk if you have it.)
Ideally you’ll have some spices on hand that will make it different each day. Cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg are great choices.
If you have any other ingredients on hand, stir them in. Things like:
- dried or fresh fruit
- syrup
- juice
- peanut butter
- jam or jelly
- vanilla extract
- get creative!
Grilled cheese: Make it using 1/4 c of the shredded cheddar cheese instead of a slice of cheese. Or buy your cheese in a chunk and cut it into slices, or shred it yourself (depending on what you’re making at the time).
See how thinking a little differently can save you money? Dual purpose ingredients are the best.
I gave you two boxes of spaghetti and two cans of sauce. You’ll probably have extra after that meal.
So if you don’t like eating leftovers, turn it into spaghetti pie and eat a new meal. Just toss the spaghetti and sauce together. Add 2 eggs. Put it into a pie plate. If you have some cheese (like a can of grated parmesan), sprinkle it over the top along with some salt and pepper. Got seasonings like Italian seasoning, basil, oregano? Sprinkle them on for extra flavor.
When buying a whole chicken, aim for a bigger bird. You have to pay for the bones, why not get as much meat for that cheaper price as possible? This plan accounts for a $7 bird (at $1.19 per pound, but you may find it cheaper). Go bigger if you can afford it.
Bake the chicken in the oven, crockpot, or instant pot for the first meal. Give people plenty of potatoes and carrots so they don’t eat all the meat from the bird the first night.
After dinner, pull all the meat from the chicken and divide it in two. You’ll use one batch of the meat for chili and the other for a casserole.
Put the bones in a big pot and cover it with water. Save the carrot peels from the meal and drop them in the pot. Add salt and pepper and any herbs you have on hand that will go well with chicken stock.
Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat. Let it simmer for an hour or two. (The longer it goes, the more flavor you’ll have.)
Save that broth in the fridge for the white chicken chili. (Recipe to come!)
3 Ingredient PB Cookies are a nice treat.
Here’s the recipe for a yummy Black Bean Soup.
Make a simple chicken casserole using the chicken you saved, rice, cream of chicken soup, water, and a bag of frozen veggies.
Try this delicious recipe for salmon patties. I was able to get 7 patties from it.
If you don’t like rice pudding, you can have more oatmeal. But the recipe is pretty simple, and it’s always a good treat. If you don’t have vanilla or cinnamon, you can skip them.
(Plus you still have leftover rice from the casserole, so why not use it?)
Bake up potatoes for everyone and let everyone decide how to top them. You can put leftover chili over them. A simple salt/pepper/butter topping. Salsa and so much more. (Get creative!)
Still Hungry?
With this shopping list, you should have plenty of carrots and potatoes on hand. Bake them up when you need more food.
Remember to drink tons of water. We usually think we’re hungry when we’re really thirsty.
And if you work your creative muscles, I bet you can come up with a couple of other ways to use the foods you have on hand.
The $75
Based on shopping in southern Ohio in 2019, I made sure to use regular prices at my local Kroger store.
You can find many of these things even cheaper at Aldi. And chances are good that at least some of these things will be on sale.
That said, I do realize that in many parts of the country, prices are higher than they are in my area. You may not be able to get all of these things for less than $75, but these are the foods you’re likely to find cheaper in your own stores.
The actual full price total of this grocery list came to $72.64. With your extra $2.36 you could buy butter instead of margarine (an extra $2). You could get some extra seasonings (you can find a jar for $1…sometimes at Kroger, often at Aldi, and even at your local Dollar Store.) Or get another bag of frozen veggies or fresh fruit that’s in season for $1 per pound.
Those are the cheapest foods to buy when you’re broke.
Don’t forget to sign up for your free shopping list. It’ll make this thing so easy.
What’s a cheap food you like to buy?
Boy oh boy did I spend hours on this very subject up until 4 years ago when 3 of my 4 moved to their own homes within a year. I’m not feeding a houseful of sons any longer, but some random things we ate when I was (and we had salmon patties this week ourselves – yum!):
*When we started getting tired of spaghetti, I’d change the pasta type, use the same sauce, then put it in a casserole dish and sprinkle mozzarella cheese over it with salad and home garlic bread. I’m not sure they ever caught on that all I did was add some cheese to the basic same ingredients
*Save any leftover hamburger and hot dog buns to make garlic bread
*We like what we call Fiesta, which is basically taco salad, using lettuce, tomato, avocado (occasionally), salsa, cheese, sour cream, Fritos, rice, drained can corn, black olives, taco meat. Be warned: it’s easy to get too much on your plate. It doesn’t take much of the various ingredients to make a plateful.
*Homemade pancakes and eggs with some fruit is a filling meal
*My favorite ‘rotisserie’ chicken: douse whole chicken liberally with seasoned salt then elevate on top of 3-4 balls of foil in a crockpot. Cook 3-4 hours until done.
*To add some interest to school lunches, I’d chop up any leftover chicken or roast, add some grated cheese and roll up in a tortilla, and I would stock up on individually-wrapped snacks when I found them for $.25 or less (my personal price point) or make cookies by the dozens
*A note about grilled cheese: one son talked endlessly about a certain friend’s mom’s grilled cheese. I finally learned her secret – she used sliced American cheese and sprinkled some mozzarella on it.
*I also used your same method to make vegetable soup, usually adding a small can of tomato sauce and a healthy sprinkle of garlic along with a beef bouillon cube
*Not the most frugal but it makes a big pot: brown a lb ground beef, then add 3 cans Progresso minestrone soup, 1 can Rotel tomatoes, and 1 can Ranch-style beans for a very hearty soup. I stock up on the minestrone in January when it’s $.99/can so we can have this 2-3 times a year. Aldi’s version of Rotel is half the price
*A favorite sandwich for 2 of the boys: pb on banana bread *Season ground beef and form into thin patties. Dredge in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, milk/egg mixture, then into a sleeve of finely crushed saltine crackers with a shake of seasoned salt to make chicken-fried ‘steaks’. This with mashed potatoes and a favorite vegetable (and gravy but I stink at making gravy!) was always looked forward to. I buy saltines when they’re $1.00/box and keep in the freezer to stay fresh.
*One more thing: garden, fish, and glean! We’re given bags of lemons and oranges each fall from neighbors that I juice then freeze in ice cubes. Bag up the cubes and use in recipes throughout the year. I still have frozen pecans from my mom’s tree 2 years ago, and I recently found a blueberry source near me😊
It was very interesting reading your menus Karen. It’s three of us in the house and I spend a ton of money on groceries. I will try some of your ideas. Thanks a lot. God Bless.
PS. My sons moved out but they still shop at home. Cheaper than “loaning” them the money.
(If my comment shows up twice – I apologize. Please delete.)
This is one of my favorite subjects 🙂 I also make vegetable soup like you by saving leftovers, then when there is enough I add a can of tomato sauce, a beef bouillon cube and several shakes of garlic powder. And like you we had salmon patties a couple nights ago – so good!
*When we would get tired of spaghetti I’d cook a different pasta shape, use the same sauce, mix altogether and put in a casserole dish, then top with mozzarella cheese. Add a salad and garlic bread made from leftover hamburger or hot dog buns. Basically the same thing but just in a different form.
*Still a favorite is what we call Fiesta (taco salad). Lettuce, tomato, cheese, sometimes avocado, salsa, drained can corn, sliced black olives (maybe), Fritos, rice, sour cream, taco meat, pinto beans. Fair warning: It doesn’t take much of each item to make a full plate. My grandkids always ask for this. I plan ahead by stocking up on non-perishables when items go on sale and can my own beans.
*My favorite rotisserie chicken: douse whole chicken fairly liberally with seasoning salt, elevate on 3-4 balls of foil (I sometimes save from baked potatoes) and place in crockpot on high 3-4 hours until done.
*Rather than serving individual baked potatoes I sometimes cook one or two less than I need (depending on the size of the potatoes), then grate and mix in salt, pepper, butter, etc., place in casserole dish and top with cheese for twice-baked potatoes. Or if I have leftover baked potatoes I grate them and fry for hash browns.
*Homemade pancakes, eggs and fruit makes a filling meal.
*This isn’t the most frugal, but if you plan ahead it can be because it makes a big pot of soup: brown 1 lb ground beef and drain, add 3 cans Progresso minestrone soup, 1 can Rotel tomatoes, 1 can Ranch-style beans. I stock up on the soup when it’s $.99/can in January, and Aldi’s version of Rotel is half price. Add cornbread and you’re good to go.
*A favorite sandwich for my kids was peanut butter on banana bread.
*One son would go on and on about a friend’s mom’s grilled cheese. I learned she sprinkled a bit of grated mozzarella on top of the American cheese.
*Season ground beef with salt and pepper and form into thin patties, dredge in flour, dip in milk/egg mixture, then coat in a sleeve of finely crushed saltines mixed with some seasoning salt for chicken-fried ‘steaks’. Add mashed potatoes and a favorite vegetable, plus gravy (which I stink at making!). I buy saltines when they’re $1.00/box and store in the freezer to keep fresh. Because the patties are thin you can stretch another patty from a pound of beef.
*I’d regularly pound boneless chicken breasts then cut in half or thirds before cooking to stretch the meal.
*Buy a ham or two after a holiday when it’s significantly marked down. After eating off it, cube the leftover meat and freeze. Thaw a handful or two and use the ham cubes in omelets, quiche, or for chef salads. Use the bone to season a pot of dried pinto beans.
*Garden, go fishing, and glean! I am given bags of lemons and oranges from a neighbor that I juice, freeze in ice cube trays, then bag the cubes and use throughout the year (and I share tomatoes with her). I still have pecans from my mom’s abundant tree 2 years ago, and I recently found a blueberry bush source near by.
* One way to enjoy a variety of foods is to invite friends to a potluck. Make a frugal dish or two for your contribution. The Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake is absolutely delicious and calls for ingredients you probably already have on hand.
*Before Christmas I happened upon a great sale for a half gallon of buttermilk. I never need that much but I learned it can be frozen. I froze 1 cup amounts in zip top sandwich bags then placed in a large freezer bag. If I find another sale I’ll put in 1/2 c amounts instead. I use this for biscuits, homemade bread (delicious as cinnamon toast!), and the cake mentioned above.
Wow! So many amazing ideas here. Thanks for taking the time to share all of these meals!
This is a good basic plan, and people can do more by getting creative or by talking with others about what they like to have that’s cheap and filling. It’s amazing to find out what we cook and take for granted everyone knows about the recipe, but we don’t.
For instance, my mom always made her own cheese spread — she grated block cheese, added mayo and pickle relish and done.
A popular side dish around here is rice and tomato gravy. Basically, it’s rice mixed with tomato sauce that seasoned to taste.
I grew up eating rice with milk and sugar as a hot breakfast cereal. Rice can be made in the microwave or on stove top, without a rice cooker, thank you.
It’s easy to make stock — just save your bones (I don’t even separate the different kinds), bits of skin, etc., in the freezer till you have a couple of pounds. You can add in the ends of onions, celery leaves and garlic if you have those saved, too. Cover with water in your crockpot, season with a little salt and pepper. Add a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar, to draw the minerals out of the bones. Cook on low for 24 to 36 hours. Cool some, strain, and freeze or refrigerate the stock. It will be rich and dark, and will have lots of good collagen in it.
My mom used to make us rice with milk and sugar as a treat sometimes. I always loved it! So many happy memories. I thought it was just us. 🙂
I really appreciate this! I am so stumped when it comes to this stuff. this is going to be our first meal plan and prep attempt!
Wonderful! I hope it goes well for you. I also have a bunch of meal plans here if you are interested in more ideas. 🙂 https://www.mediumsizedfamily.com/monthly-meal-planner/