$50 For A Week of Food?

If you landed here because you’re curious about my $50 weekly meal plan, you’re in the right place, and I’ll be updating this page as I work through this challenge.

Here’s the question I’ll be trying to answer: Can we actually eat for a week on $50, using real food from a grocery store?

Here’s what I’ve bought for my challenge!

My grocery store ingredient list is just 19 items long, but I plan to make a lot of different meals from these — breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. I even budgeted enough for coffee and homemade creamer.

My Shopping List

I shopped at my local Meijer and Aldi grocery stores here in Ann Arbor, Michigan — I went to both to get the best prices so I could make room in my budget for coffee! (Haha, got to have coffee.) I thought about going to Costco, but I know not everyone has a membership there and I was trying to keep this list realistic for everyday people.

🫘 Pantry Staples

• Pinto beans (dry, 2 lb bag)
• Long grain white rice (80 oz. bag)
• All-purpose flour (5 lb)
• Old Fashioned Oats (42 oz.)

🍗 Protein

• Rotisserie chicken (1 whole 3 lb. cooked chicken) – these are cheaper than a whole raw fryer chicken. (Stores use them as loss leaders to get us in the door, and they work! If you have access to Costco, their rotisserie chickens are only $4.99 and at least 3 lbs.)
• Eggs (2 dozen large)
• Creamy peanut butter (16 oz) – I opted for the natural variety since I’m trying to avoid processed foods

🥛 Dairy

• Milk (½ gallon)
• Butter (1 lb.)
• Cheese (8 oz block of Colby Jack)
• Evaporated milk (1 12.8 oz can) – this is mostly to make homemade creamer for my morning coffee

🥔 Vegetables

• Russet potatoes (5 lb bag)
• Onions (3 lb bag)
• Carrots (8 small or 4 large)
• Garlic (1 large bulb)
• Petite Diced Tomatoes (28 oz. can)

🍌 Fruit

• Bananas (6 total)

🍅 Pantry Extras

• Ketchup (14 oz bottle)
• Coffee (8.8 oz)

🧂 Already On Hand (not purchased)

• Salt/pepper/spices/seasonings
• Oil
• Maple syrup/brown sugar

I allowing myself to use the oil, spices, seasonings, and sweeteners I already have on hand, since those are not things we have to buy a weekly basis.

Nutrients

If I were to completely use everything in my shopping list (without adding any items I already had on hand), it works out to 36,700 calories and 1337 grams of protein. Split between two people, that is 2619 calories per person per day (which is way more than sufficient). It also gives us about 95 grams of protein per day, which is also sufficient. The biggest thing are ingredients are missing is vitamin C, calcium, and fresh greens.

This is why I’ve decided it’s also fair to use foraged/preserved items, just as folks did during the Great Depression, when I have it or can get it. For example, I’ll also be trying to use:

• Our ​maple syrup​ (foraged from our maple trees on the farm this year)
• Walnuts (foraged from our walnuts last year)
• Preserved strawberries (made from last year’s strawberries)
• Preserved pickles (made from last year’s cucumbers)
• Dandelions and their greens (growing and foraging now!) – adds vitamins A , C, K, Calcium, and Iron
• Wild onions (growing and foraging now!) – adds vitamins A + C
• Mushrooms (growing and foraging now) – I don’t really like mushrooms, but I am going to at least look for them while I’m out and about

All this sounds good on paper, but how does it hold up in real life? That’s the test.

Meal Ideas (Partial)

And here are some of meals I plan to make this week:

• ​Old-Fashioned Brown Beans​
• ​Two loaves of homemade bread​ — I also have a video for this one!
• ​Maple Oat Bread​
• ​Chicken and Rice​
• ​Pancakes​
• Chicken soup with dumplings
• Potato hash with eggs
• Coffee soup (ever heard of this???)
• Milk toast
• Baked beans
• Peanut butter banana cookies
• “Pan” jam
• Dandelion greens with walnuts
• Coffee with homemade creamer

Do you think I can make GOOD FOOD for two people for $50 a week? We shall see!

The Meals

I’m going to keep track of everything here. While I am taking photos and videos as I go along, this is going to be easier for me to leave notes as I go along.

Day 1 – Sunday Supper

I went shopping Sunday afternoon and as soon as I got home, I began our $50 weekly meal plan challenge. We started with abundance by putting that rotisserie chicken right on the dinner table to enjoy, plus roasted potatoes, maple-glazed carrots, and fresh-baked bread — all from our challenge ingredients. Made by me (Jennifer). Rating: Wonderful start to the week!

After dinner, I immediately did the following:

• Removed the meat from the chicken and put it into the refrigerator, because we will be using this for several more meals.
• Put the chicken bones and skin into the slow cooker and began cooking homemade chicken stock overnight.
• Shaped a new loaf of bread dough and put it in the refrigerator to bake mid-week.
• Put the pinto beans in a big pot on the stove and covered them with water, then cooked them until soft.
• I made my homemade creamer so it would be ready in the morning when I was sleepy and bleary-eyed.

Day 2 – First Full Day

Breakfast – Leftover potatoes from last night’s dinner, French toast made with homemade bread from last night (used two slices, three eggs, splash of milk, and one banana), and coffee with homemade creamer. Also use a little ketchup on the potatoes and maple syrup on the French toast. Breakfast made by Greg. Rating: VERY GOOD.

Lunch – Chicken sandwich with chicken from last night, sourdough bread, and a little Colby cheese. Chicken tastes great cold. Really need more fruits or veggies though.

Dinner – Soft tacos with homemade tortillas and taco-seasoned chicken meat and refried beans, all made using my homemade chicken broth. Super proud of this one! This was my first time making tortillas, and it was so much easier than I realized it could be.

More to come!

Have questions or comments? Leave them here!