Is this possible?

To spend $80 in groceries for 15-17 days; breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 2 people, plus $20 in baby formula and $20 in diapers?

You're talking about eating on $5.00 a day for 2 people including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Wow! I'm thinking rice, cooked wheat (porage in the Little Rascals), and tofu (from an oriental market).

So mabye the question should be:
What can I make for breakfast for two for under $5.00, that I can eat at lunch, and dinner too?

Eating the same thing everyday would be awful. But 16 different meals large enough for making 6 meals would be good. Maybe 5 would be well enough.

Here's mine:
Oriental Sausage and rice:

• 1 pound package of oriental sweet sausage
• 2 cups dry rice

In a large pot bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the rice and sausage. Cook about 20 minutes until the rice is done. Then remove the sausage from the rice pot. Cut the sausage into thin 1/4" slivers. Mix the slivers of oriental sausage into the rice. Serve with a vegetable and soy sauce.

You may be able to do it, have you heard of the grocery game? It helps you save $$ on food. BUT - if there are special dietary needs/restrictions you won't be able to do it, and you won't be able to eat much meat besides fatty beef and frozen ck breasts. But vegetarian and dair sources of protein will help you stretch your food $$.

if you sign up at the formula companies' websites, they'll send you coupons off formula (sometimes as much as $5 or $10 off); that might help you with your budget a bit.

Well I try and plan my meals out before I go grocery shopping doing this will help you save alot of money. I always use coupons also this will help you save alot of money and when I see a sale on a item that I use then I will buy in bulk, I bet that most people thinks that I am crazy when they see me buying in bulk or maybe they think that I am feeding a army.

My question is... how on earth are you only using 1-2 cans of formula in 2 weeks?? Are you sure you're mixing it right? And be sure to check out walmart for diapers -- they're about $6 for a big pack. Also, check out WIC. They require an AMAZING income in order to not qualify.

One of my favorite meals to cook was ramen noodles with a can of vegetable soup. And remember that roasts last for days. you can use the meat for tortillas, sandwiches, stew........

rt49andellis said:

My question is... how on earth are you only using 1-2 cans of formula in 2 weeks?? Are you sure you're mixing it right? And be sure to check out walmart for diapers -- they're about $6 for a big pack. Also, check out WIC. They require an AMAZING income in order to not qualify.

One of my favorite meals to cook was ramen noodles with a can of vegetable soup. And remember that roasts last for days. you can use the meat for tortillas, sandwiches, stew........

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Yes I'm sure I'm making it right. My daughter is 1 and she's making the transition from formula to regular milk and solids so therefore using less formula.

I think it's totally possible. Make the best use of coupons, special buys and store sales. I've found lately that if you email a company (or take a look around their website) you can request coupons from them. More than once I've gotten coupons for free items which just helps out even more with the grocery bill.

Also, think double duty meals. Like was said before, a good sized roast can be made into sandwiches, added to soups, etc. Any vegetables left over after a meal can be frozen and added to a stew later (no purchasing more veggies), the same can be done with rice.

Filler foods will become your best friend. Rice, potatoes, bread crumbs, etc. can stretch a meal further than one might think.

It is possible. I would really look into WIC like someone else suggested. If you are weaning your daughter off of formula they will give you milk, cereal, beans, juice and I want to say tuna but that might be for pregnant woman. As well they will give you peanut butter. As well clip coupons. I find that getting a roast will last as well as a ham or even getting a few turkeys at x-mas or thanksgiving and using them through out the year.

I have a suggestion; it won't help you now however. You may want to look into Angel Food Ministries. You get an amazing amount of food for $25/box.

From their website: "Angel Food's groceries are sold in a quantity that can fit into a medium-sized box at $25 per unit. Each month's menu is different than the previous month and consists of both fresh and frozen items with an average retail value of approximately $50. Comparison shopping has been done across the country in various communities using a wide range of retail grocery stores and has resulted in the same food items costing from between $42 and $78.

Generally, one unit of food assists in feeding a family of four for about one week or a single senior citizen for almost a month."

My family did it back in August, we got 2 regular boxes & 2 of the specials. They lasted us around 3 weeks, which saved us alot on our grocery bill for that month. We wanted to continue it because it would really help out but an emergency came up & the cash we had set aside for it had to be spent on something else that month. We haven't been able to get back on schedule since then. I intend to start this back up in January though.

Yes I get wic and it does help out a lot. The tuna is only for nursing moms. Nursing moms get tuna and carrots. I am also on a budget so this has helped me out so much. Thanks for all the tips.

OH! Good call with the Angel Food. i've done that a few times this year for a change of foods (we fall into a rut really easily). There's lots of different foods and quite a bit of meat even. It's VERY worth it! (and the chicken strips are the best around!)

I guess this could be possible. I still haven't figured out exactly how to do this. Groceries can be really expensive.

We get WIC too, and when we are short on money, I make sure we are using every little bit of WIC stuff. Eat cereal for breakfast every morning if you can. Eat grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, PB sandwiches for lunch. If you get pinto beans, you can make some of those, melt a little cheese on top and get one of the envelopes of corn bread mix.

fry a corn tortilla in hot oil for about 5 seconds each side, fill with beans and rice and shredded cheese and hot sauce if you have it.

Also, check and see if your town has a food pantry. I have had to go to ours a few times to make the food last until I had more money. Also, keep an eye out for potatoes; I've seen them for $2 for a 10-lb bag...then use them every chance you get. I've but chili in baked potatoes; we all liked it just fine.

Are you meaning 80 in total for groceries or are you taking out the 20 for diapers and 20 for formula leaving you 40 for a little over 2 weeks worth of gorceries?

WIC is great. You can get eggs, peanutbutter, milk, cheese and cereal. So that would cover some meals. Cereal for breakfast. Peanut butter or fried egg sandwiches. Also dried beans.

Bying bagged rice instead of the kind you just toss in and boil. Ramen noodles are really cheap.

Go to an outlet bread store for bread. There use to be a Wonder one where I use to live and where I live now there are Flowers ones. They do have soft bread and you can get hotdog and hamburger ones, regular loaf bread and rolls.

Look for coupons. Find out which stores double and triple them.

Sometimes family size packs seems expensize. Check out the price per pound to see if it is a better deal.

Chicken legs and wings, you can get a big pack at a good price.

You can get a whole chicken, can usually get one for about $3 or less, boil it and make a big pot of dumplings to go with it.