How to Feed Your Family for $50 AND Stock Up, Too

With grocery prices soaring and the supply chain falling, families are struggling to keep food on the table and stock their pantries at the same time.

Many, in fact, believe that the must choose between hearty, full meals each week and having a full pantry.

This is not true.

I’ll show you how I purchased just $10 of basic supplies, added $22 of additional ingredients, and fed my family for an entire week.

In addition to this, I even added twenty cans of vegetables to my long-term emergency food pantry and still stayed within a total weekly food budget of $50.

The aim of this month’s challenge is to use left over from my food budget to purchase on-sale canned goods to fill gaps in my long-term emergency pantry.

To prove that it’s still possible to feed a family for an entire week for as little at $50, during the month of February I am presenting this February Grocery Challenge.

In week 1 of this challenge, I focused on how how to maximize your savings with markdowns and sale items. In week 2 of the challenge, I showed readers how to use two or three main ingredients that you purchased at a really low price to feed to stretch your weekly menu plan. Trust me, your family won’t feel bored or like they are eating the same thing every single night of the week.

To see this grocery haul and hear more strategies on how to stretch these ingredients to feed your family on a budget, watch the video, above.

This Week’s Grocery Haul

My first stop was Kroger, where I primarily bought items which were on sale. Although there were virtually no markdowns to be found in the store, I did find a quart of high-quality chocolate oat milk, which I plan to use to make plant-based ice cream this week.

The total bill was, $9.28.

Heading across town to HyVee, I grabbed canned vegetables which were on sale for 50¢ each. My bill was $10.10.

The big, beautiful butternut squash was a gift from my friend, Marie, who grows them. Getting produce at zero cost is incredibly helpful when your goal is to feed your family on a tight budget.

Using my grocery haul as the backbone of my weekly menu plan, I fed my family breakfast, lunch, and dinner for seven days for less than $50.

This Week’s Menu Plan

Breakfast

Breakfast is simple in our home. Generally, we offer a choice of oatmeal or cream of wheat, both of which we purchase in large bulk bags.

If you want a change, spicy vegan breakfast sausage is super easy and incredibly inexpensive to make. It freezes beautifully. I had four patties in the freezer. We used them for supper, but they make an equally delicious and welcome, grab-and-go meal for breakfast.

Main Dishes

• Barbecue Lentil Sandwich Filling
• Roasted Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry
• Veggie Potpie
• Vegan Hummus Quesadillas

Side Dishes and Salads

The nice thing about sides and salads is that you can often combine the leftovers and create and entire smorgasbord meal once or even twice a week.

This method cuts way down on food waste, and allows each family member to sample the dishes that they like most.

• 5 Ingredient Refried Beans
• Crispy Roasted Chickpeas
• Caesar Pasta Salad (Vegan)
• Hummus
• Caesar Dressing
• Homemade Tortillas

Soup

During cold weather, there is nothing that makes you remember what it feels like to sit in your mother’s kitchen after a day in the snow, like a bowl of warm soup.

These soups are creamy, filling, and taste amazing.

• Asparagus Ends Soup
• Smoky White Bean Soup
• Butternut Squash Soup

Dessert

It was Valentine’s Day on Monday. Although I didn’t get this dessert made on the exact day, I did create a special dessert later in the week which had homemade chocolate oat milk ice cream layered over a base of vanilla cookies (which we bought from our favorite ethnic food store in week 1 of this challenge for just 33¢ per package).

Oat milk Ice Cream

Total Cost of This Menu

What’s on your menu?

I’d love for you to share your weekly, money-saving menu plans in the comments section.