Funny what you said about womwn and carbs. As I was reading my first thought was macaroni a very high carb. Another thought-high carb again- were dried beans to make soup. I could live on soup.

Don't forget powdered milk....it is nutritious and if mixed properly and served very cold, tastes good too.

Thank goodness the woman isn't a celiac and can eat gluten. A gluten free diet can add $$$$ a month to your grocery bill! You can't buy just any thing because if it has had flour or gluten of any type used in its processing it will make you so sick for days you can hardly get out of bed. So the cheap foods so many of you are mentioning are off limits. On the other hand you can add corn tortillas instead of bread and tacos instead of sandwiches. Try hotdogs between corn tortillas. Yum. NOT! But you usually have to make everything from scratch to be sure it's gluten free and that's cheaper - so chili can be added to the soup list. I guess we can eat a long time on beans and rice and maybe an occasional salad.

With $20, peanut butter would not be on my list, no kidding. DO you know what a jar of peanut butter goes for? I LOVE peanut butter, and since it is such a nice protein, feel free to eat it in place of other things I really don't care for. But it keeps going up, up, up, and now they are saying there was a bad peanut crop, and it will be scarcer and higher.

I would buy rice, because it is filling, and can be used as the base of many things. The tiniest bit of meat, some veggies, and a lot of rice makes a good meal. One you would pay $$$ for at your local Chinese restaurant. And although in some places it is expensive, I just bought a 20 lb bag for $7.99 on sale at the most expensive grocery in town.

People throw away too much food when they cook. The tops of celery, potato peels (where the vitamins are), onions because they dried out a little in the fridge (and yet, we buy dehydrated onions, duh). If nothing else, make soup.

Alright- as I was making dinner I kept thinking about this. A meal for 5 under 7.00 at our house- 1 lb spagehti noodles- .77 from Walmart, Large can of Tomaoto sauce from Sams club 3.50-(only use 1/2 1.75), chunked up chicken cut from a whole chicken at 88 cents a pound- 88 cents, 1 yellow onion and several cloves of garlic for the sauce- 5o cents. 2 pack of bread from Sams at 2.50 only use one loaf 1.25, butter, .25, milk 1.00 GRAND TOTAL 6.40
II'm guessing alot of you have simular meals in a great price range. I am thankful for what we have. At one point my father as a pastor recieved a call from a chicken farmer who said he had more chickens then he needed and if my Dad was willing to come and kil them imself he could have as many as he wanted. Being that my mother was teaching at the time and I was only 3 he took me with. I still remeber watching him chop the heads off and the body run around. Also remeber the smell and mess as my mother plucked singed pin feathers and preped them for freezing.

have you priced powdered milk lately...way too spendy...

Jacquie, it's still a lot cheaper than it's going to be in the future.....near future at that. And I call it Food Insurance.

Hi Everyone!
My son and I live on £4 a day for all our shopping, not just food. We go to the supermarket at 3pm (Asda) or 5pm(Tesco) as that's when they mark down the prices more heavily - unless you leave it until just before closing or Midnight! It makes me think I've got one over on them when I buy food cheaply! It used to get me down, living like this, but there are so many ways around to live more cheaply. We have chickens too, 3 or them which cost less than £1 a week and we get around 15 eggs a week. They are delicious! Sometimes I will swap some eggs for treats with friends. They are so like pets as well, come to you when you call their names, follow you everywhere in the garden and sit next to you if you are sitting outside.
Also, do all your supermarket shopping from the lowest shelf. All the own brands and cheaper versions of whatever you're looking at are there. I can't but in bulk as we don't have a car any more. I am worried what I might do if any appliances break, but I suppose then I will save on electricity! It wouldn't be the first time I've washed clothes by walking up and down on them in the bath!!
I think there is always another way of doing everything, you just have to have the energy to think of it!
Best wishes to everyone
Penny

Just one final note - my son says when he is rich and famous (!) he will never eat soup again!
Penny

Oh gee, and I have a recipe for Tortilla Soup that men just love.