1. Sweet potatoes are much more nutritional that white ones. Fresh carrots last and they aren't expensive.
2. If you look, there are cheap ways to get canned tomatoes. Canned vegetables are cheaper than canned soups. Some stews etc have good nutrition for the price. Make your own soup.
3. Eggs, sardines (the cheapest, look for sales) are terrific protein. Chicken or turkey legs on sale are good protein sources... use them in that homemade soup.
4. Tea bags can be used for two or three cups of tea
5. Discount stores such as Job Lots and Dollar General often have quality, practical foods at excellent prices
6. Buy fruit juices and mix them 50% water instead of buying juice drinks. Applesauce is inexpensive.
7. Nothing is wasted. If you have any food at all that can go bad, make meals of it before buying any more food.
$30 a week was not difficult by following these rules.
Good points; also, time is money. When you prepare a meal, it’s no extra work to make a really big meal then divide it into normal proportions in sealable Tupperware containers and frozen to be simply thawed and heated later. Many foods like soups, beans, chili, and etc. even taste better the second time around. I have found very few dishes that this method of saving preparation time doesn’t work well with.