The price of groceries

[amastewa93]

I was standing in line behind someone at the grocery store yesterday who was paying in change. I felt for them because I've been there. We survived one week off what $14 in change got us at Aldi. But that got me thinking - that was about 7-8 years ago.... what could you really get with $14 in change today?

Would love to see some of your ideas for an extremely frugal grocery trip.

[bjl584]

Eggs, even though have increased in price, are still fairly cheap at $2.50 to $3.00 per dozen.
Bread is still around $2.00 a loaf.
Bulk rice, pasta, and beans are also still a few dollars.

[ua_guy]

Beans
Rice
Any bakery bread that's on sale because it's about to expire
Any meat on sale - probably the stuff they use for stew or stir fry. At least it's protein..

The reality is, a lot of people will go for $14 worth of $1 Totinos, if they can still be found for $1. Microwaved fake pizza has calories and is cheap.

[disneysteve]

I’d head to Aldi or Lidl and Produce Junction. Avoid the big name full price markets. Buy ingredients, not finished products. The less processed it is the cheaper it is and healthier too.

[ua_guy]

Story time. I was religious in another life and participated in a youth group mission put on by our local church. We spent all day handing out sack lunches in downtown Seattle and praying with any homeless people who would talk to us. Dinner time came around. Our leader said we weren't getting fed tonight, but gave each of us $1.50 and told us to find a way to eat using that money (early 2000's, btw, for timeframe). We were near Pike Place market, so many possibilities for food, but not on that budget.

Some of the kids...lol. How many pot stickers can I get for $1.50? I think he ended up getting..two. Not exactly a meal, they were small. Another kid found a vending machine and got a candy bar. I think one kid ended up with a soda (hey, kid, I don't wanna ruin adulthood, but you shouldn't drink your dinner! lol). At the end of it, there were a lot of hungry teenagers who were confused and frustrated. It was an exercise designed to introduce the youth to the challenge of finding food on the street using change, basically. It was a timed exercise, and some kids looked around for anything they could afford for $1.50 and accomplish purchasing a decent meal, and they ran out of time before they found anything meeting that description.

The adults, however...a little wiser. They bartered, pooled resources. They basically ended up with sandwiches and iced tea, not a horrible meal. Not a feast, either, but everyone got fed. There was no consolation prize or make-up meal. If you didn't eat that night, you waited until breakfast the next morning!

[AJ444]

Aldi has an 8 pack of hot dogs for 99 cents, not glamorous but that’ll get you by on $14 for the week.

[james.hendrickson]

Guys, I know this is off topic, but...

Prime Day is coming up, and I wanted to remind everyone that a lot of deals aren't really "deals". What some companies will do is jack up the price before they run the sale, and then "discount" the item back to what it was before they jacked up the price.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

$14 - big bag of rice, some beans, eggs, chicken and canned veggies. Also I would shop soon to expire meat and or dented cans.

[myrdale]

My sister has been on a protein bar, meal replacement kick for a few months ago. One or two meals a day she has been doing a Quest bar instead of fast food. Its worked very well for her. So I got to looking around.

A package of (4) Quest bars is $8, so $2 each. 150 calories, 21 g protein.

A package of (4) Cliff bars is $4, or $1 each and 300 calories, 10 g protein.

A package of (48) Snickers bars is $48, or $1 each and 280 calories, 4g protein.

I don't think I would suggest any of these are strictly "health foods" but honestly if a Snicker bar was your whole lunch, it ain't that bad of a deal.

[disneysteve]

A package of (4) Cliff bars is $4, or $1 each and 300 calories, 10 g protein.

A package of (48) Snickers bars is $48, or $1 each and 280 calories, 4g protein.

I don't think I would suggest any of these are strictly "health foods" but honestly if a Snicker bar was your whole lunch, it ain't that bad of a deal.

This is part of why obesity and related disease are far more prevalent among the poor. Empty calories are cheap in this country. Although in your example, the Cliff bar is the same price, nearly the same calories, and far more nutritious. Likely far lower in sugar and higher in various other nutrients.

[mumof2]

wow the cheapet eggs we have is around $4.20 per dozen....your food is so much cheaper than ours

[Fishindude77]

$14 Will buy a lot of garden seed. If you have space, time and a little ambition you can get months of high quality food from a small garden.
We are currently enjoying green beans, zucchini and tomatoes. Will have cucumbers any day.

[riverwed070707]

It's crazy - I don't even think you do mac and cheese on that budget because milk and butter alone would cost $9! Rice and beans has already been stated. Potatoes are cheap and filling and can be made a dozen different ways. Salads (iceberg isn't my go to lettuce choice but its definitely affordable) with some nuts for protein. And if all else fails, there's always ramen.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I just returned home from grocery shopping today and looked over my receipt and notice Yuban coffee $10.99. it used to be $6.99 if I recall correctly. It's my fault for not paying attention but lesson learned. I would have been okay with Folgers or Maxwell House but I like "dark roast."

[LivingAlmostLarge]

$14 Will buy a lot of garden seed. If you have space, time and a little ambition you can get months of high quality food from a small garden.
We are currently enjoying green beans, zucchini and tomatoes. Will have cucumbers any day.

Hard in apartment. But you can buy tomatos and other foods in bulk and make a lot of stuff from scratch. Or you can at least make from tomato sauce or canned tomatos for $1 spaghetti sauce and lots of cheap noodles or make your own from 20 lbs of flour. Lots of ways to really stretch it.