We've played that game for real. Both my husband and I are very frugal shoppers- Ican turn a double pack of chicken from Sam's club into 4- 6 meals for a family of 5. In the cooler months I make our own bread- A 25 pound bag of flour is around 8.00. Yeast in a bag not by packs is around 3.00.
Frozen or large cans of veg are less then little ones. Raman nooldes are under 2.00 for a 12 pack. Milk and juice are cheaper at Kwick trip by the 1/2 gallon bag. Buy a 50 lb bag of potatoes from a farmer for under 12.00. Rice large bag around 10.00. We have to watch the prices ad make ends meet. It's not a new stroy but one many have not heard or have no idea how to play the game because they didn't grow up with it. Many food pantries only want prepreped items because according to them people don't know what to do with raw ingrediants. I grew up the daughter of a pastor to a small church. His pay was partly what the farmers could not sell because of blemishes but still was good. We learned to eat everything even though we did not appreciate how hard my mother worked to turn squash into a meriod of dishes etc.
I don't buy for food pantries anything we can't afford for ourselves