I LOVE this kind of stuff! When I had three adults and three TEEN BOYS to feed, it was my job, no, my CHALLENGE, to bring us in under budget on the groceries each week.
I also learned a LOT from my MIL who had a family of 14 to feed on ONE income.
Here is a list of groceries that can be purchased for approximately $10.
Granted, things are a little more pricy in some areas, but just find the CHEAPEST grocery store around, or shop in an ethnic store. Buy STORE BRANDS, nothing Name Brand.
$10 Grocery List:
1. Baking Powder (MYO!)
2. Eggs
3. Flour
4. Fruits (on sale)
5. Hamburger
6. Rice or Ramen Noodles
7. Margarine
8. Milk
9. Potatoes
10. Salt
11. Vegetables (on sale)
12. Tuna (1 or 2 cans)
What’s For Breakfast?
* Scrambled eggs in a Biscuit
* Fruit Smoothie, Hash Browns
* Muffins, many kinds...
* Pancakes, Fruit
* Potato Pancakes
* Tortilla with scrambled or fried eggs inside
* Donut Muffins
* Rice Pudding
What’s For Lunch/Dinner?
* Tortilla with anything you have on hand in it.
* Tomatoes/onions/hamburg etc.
* Shepherds Pie (Hamburger/gravy over mashed potatoes/corn)
* Veggies in gravy over rice
* Baked Potato and Vegetables
* Scalloped Potatoes and Vegetables
* Oven Baked French Fries & Salad
* Vegetable Soup w/ or w/o Rice
* Tuna/ Pea Wiggle (serve over toast or biscuits or saltine crackers)
* Scalloped Potato/Tuna Casserole
* Popovers fill with: tuna pea wiggle recipe or gravy/veggie mix
* Chicken Pot Pie
* Pizza Pasta
Although the above menu is very limited, this grocery list is for extremely tough times and is meant to help you get through the week, not to base your diet on for any length of time!
https://www.budget101.com/content.php/14-dirt-cheap-groceries
I fed my family on very little with lots of beans and cornbread, potatoes in various forms and homemade biscuits, pies and cakes and such in the 80’s,90’s and early 2000’s. Inexpensive meats such as chicken and cubed steak can be caught on sale and yummy soup can be made out of the leftovers. We still ate very well on a construction worker’s (who was out of work quite often) pay. People are so spoiled and just ignorant of how to cope with hard times nowadays.