Bargains to be had.

And an entire box of it costs under $ 1.20

It will last quite a long time.

When this household lived on rice and beans, I discovered a health food store that sold spices and herbs for extremely cheap. Suddenly eating pea soup four nights a week was not so bad, because I added lots of curry to it.

Sometimes churches have meals on Sunday. We got "adopted" by a RW Christian lady and she literally saved our lives, even though we never embraced her religion.

...I shop mostly at discount chains like Aldi and Save A Lot. In my area a best price on mayo is usually $3 for 30 oz jar. Save A Lot has store brand mayo that's good and $2 a jar.

A $9 ham will feed 3 people 3 full meals and have several packages of ham chunks to freeze for soups and casseroles later. The bone flavors beans or stock very nicely.

I have tons of recipes that accommodate left over ham.

You don't have to be a Sr.

and I found that making my own meals is cheaper than canned soup. In fact, canned soup is really not cheat at all. I can make a giant pot of homemade soup with lots of veggies under $10. And although I end up eating the same thing for a week, it is at least good. If you have access to a butcher shop, you can get soup bones to use relatively cheap. Or make broth with chicken (the cheapest parts). I can find leg quarters, which have lots of meat on them for $.29 to $.49 a pound on sale. Just boil in the pot until the meat falls off the bones and pull the bones out. Add frozen veggies, which I get for $1 or less a package on sale. I add 2 packages of mixed veggies. I always try to have potatoes, carrots, and celery in the house, as well as canned stewed tomatoes. Add them all and cook until all is tender. This will last me a week or more.

Also, eggs are a cheap meal. Popcorn (the cheap bagged kind that you cook on the stove) is cheap and filling.

I am the one on food stamps, but must also feed my grown son. Here are some of the things I do. Beans and rice are a great go to, but many people don't realize that different beans taste differently. If you want to switch it up, get a bag of 13 bean (or what ever the mix is), I make my own now. Cook your beans, with salt (yes, salt). You may cook them with a slow cooker, or boil them straight out of the bag (just rinse them first) or bring to a boil, let sit and then boil them, your choice. The cheapest way to go is to get garlic powder and onion powder from the dollar store, add some of that to the beans to taste. If you can get bacon ends, great, if not thick bacon or what ever suits your taste ( it is for flavoring basically). Fry some up, save the grease and put some in the beans. Just before the beans are tender, add a couple of handfuls of rice. You can make this thick or thin, your preference.

Now, with the saved bacon grease, you can fry up a little more bacon and drain. Put to the side. Take a head of cabbage and thinly slice, fry in the bacon grease until tender, add onion and garlic powder to taste. Add in the bacon, and you can eat it this way or use it to make other dishes. If you splurge to get Hoisin sauce, you can put it on tortillas, add the cabbage mixture and you have cheap Moo Shu. If you have Chinese mustard, you can make a cheap version of egg rolls. If you put vinegar on the cabbage mixture you have a cheap sauerkraut. You get the idea.

I also make chili or a chili like soup. I always have TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) on hand. It comes dry and will pick up the flavor of anything you want. To make chili, I cook dry kidney beans with salt, onion and garlic powder. I have some taco seasoning (at the dollar store you may be able to pick up something) and beef bouillon that I soak the TVP in (it will expand, so be careful). I add that to the cooked kidney beans. If I have veggies, I will add them, either cooking with the beans or cooked separately and added later. I've sometimes taken cooked potatoes and added chili over them, you can add raw onions or shredded cheese or plain yogurt, or whatever suits your fancy as a garnish.

The beauty of the above is that they can be frozen after cooking, so dividing them up and reheating makes sure you are not eating the same thing every night.

With the TVP you and be very creative. My son drains tuna fish in a bowl, adds some TVP so it soaks up the tuna water and after a few minutes, adds the tuna into the bowl and mixes it all up, it gives him about another 1/2 can of 'tuna fish'. He can now make his tuna sandwiches. Or you could make a tuna casserole. Or you could make a macaroni and tuna salad.

If you have chicken bouillon, you can make chicken TVP, and make chicken noodle soup. Boil any type of noodle, don't use a lot of water because you can throw in any type of veggie you have along with the chicken TVP and make soup. Depending on price and preference, you could use a can of mixed veggies or a box of frozen mixed veggies.

If you don't shred your own cheese, make sure you get the finest grate you can in the bagged variety. The fine shreds will actually last longer because you will use less. A pinch of the fine stuff will satisfy your eye as well as your mouth, and it will actually be less than the larger shred.

If you use butter or margarine for toast or veggies the spray on butter is actually the cheaper alternative. One or two sprays will do the trick, tastes good and it will also help with your waistline.

Oatmeal is the absolutely cheapest breakfast. Quick cooking oats will easily last you two weeks. We use a leftover scoop (from a drink mix, I think (less than 1/4 cup)) 2 scoops of oatmeal with 4 scoops of water, cook for 2 minutes in the micro. We add things to it, like dried fruit, nuts, jams, my son has even done peanut butter and chocolate, for a dessert. Again, be creative, you can even go savory rather than sweet, kind of like grits.

I hope this is helpful. If I knew what you get from the food pantry, I could be more helpful.

Z

some canned goods, fresh veggies when they have them, some meat when available, bread and so on.

I've thought about just making a big pot of stew of some sort to last for a week or so with the stuff I get, plus what I can afford to fill out two weeks.

I cut back on portions so what would be five meals for joe blow, would give me 8 or 9 meals.

A two egg omelet with a bit of cheese and salsa is a delicious meal. Poached eggs on whole wheat toast is delicious, too. A very big package of tortillas is under $2. You can wrap anything up in a tortilla and it will be good.

Potatoes and egg tortilla wrap. Yum.

Dice celery, green bell pepper, green onion. Break 2-3 eggs into a bowl, add the diced stuff, a dash of soy sauce, and some bean sprouts. (You can even sprout your own). Stir it up, and then fry in patties with a little oil. Great with some rice. Protein, veggies, rice. You CAN add something else, too, such as canned shrimp or diced chicken. But that would be just extra.

They're great by themselves or can be augmented to suit your taste or budget.

Most food banks have tuna.

....from the 70s, probably. Diced celery and bell pepper and onion, a can of mushroom soup, couple of cans of tuna, drained, and some soy sauce. Top with some chinese noodles and bake in the oven til bubbly. If you have some nuts, throw them in. Almonds are good.

and there are several variations that accommodate food bank offerings.

Canned peas instead of bell pepper. Macaroni instead of chinese noodles.

I've got one that uses shoestring potato sticks and asparagus. Can't get those at food banks.

I got a job that pays more than two of my part time jobs so quit those. I now have a few extra bucks per payday to put toward the loan my brother gave me to bail me out of a collection situation and a few extra bucks to get some better food.

I'm not out of the woods, but the prognosis is good.

Thanks for asking and sorry for the time to get back to you.

I hope the situations holds as long as you need it to.

Keep on keeping on.

A loaf of bread. Peanut butter, maybe some jam or jelly. American cheese. Two pounds of ground beef, divided into eight patties, then frozen. Butter. A couple of cans of tuna. Mayonnaise. A dozen eggs. A pound of bacon. You now have the makings of a week's worth of meals.

If you want salad, do NOT buy the packaged salad greens, but buy lettuce (red, butter, romaine) and whatever veggies you also like (celery, carrot, cucumber, zucchini, tomato) and combine those. Only put dressing on an individual portion. The undressed lettuce and veggies will last at least a week in the fridge.

Soups and stews are amazing budget stretchers, especially if you can freeze up individual portions.

Here's one recipe I call chicken of muchness:

2 chicken leg quarters
3 or 4 carrots
2 cans of diced or crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion
1 small green pepper
3 or 4 cups of chicken broth
3 bay leaves
3 cinnammon sticks
½ to ¾ tsp each of celery salt, marjoram, thyme, basil, and tarragon
olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour

Bring the chicken to a boil with just enough water to cover. Turn heat down to simmer and skim off scum and fat that comes to the surface. This will take ten to fifteen minutes.

Once skimming is done, put the bay leaves, peeled carrots, and cinnamon sticks in pot with chicken, cover and let simmer for an hour.

Remove carrots and chicken. Let them cool while you sauté the sliced onion and green pepper in a little olive oil. You want them to get a little brown. Put in soup pot. Add the tomatoes.

Make a roux with the butter and flour in that same pan, then add a cup or two of broth. Stir and let it thicken over the heat until it seems thick enough. Pour into pot.

Cut up the carrots, strip the chicken from the bones and return to soup pot. Now add the other seasonings. You will probably need to add more chicken broth to have the right amount of liquid.

Cover and simmer for an hour or so.

Make rice, which takes about 20 minutes, when you’re ready to eat. Put rice in a bowl, then add the chicken of muchness. Ground pepper and some salt and enjoy!

If you are desperately poor, it may feel as if purchasing the ingredients is beyond you. Persevere. It's not. This works out to perhaps two dollars per meal, which is an amazing bargain.

And if you want more recipes, PM me.

I appreciate the welcome.

i always scan all the bins for the red labels

also learned that the local pick n save tends to discount its discontinued stock on mondays....they discount the stuff 50 percent. found out by asking the guy who stocks the shelf