When I first heard about the idea of feeding two people for just $50 a week, I honestly wasn’t sure it could be done in a way that still felt like real meals. Not just scraping by, not just eating the same thing over and over, but actually making food you’d want to sit down and enjoy. So I decided to try it for myself. I went to the store with a strict budget, came home with just 19 ingredients, and started figuring out how far I could stretch them.
Click here to get my FREE 38-page printable guide with the full grocery list, pantry and kitchen tool list, all written recipes, and personal notes on making this work for you. I made this guide so you could download and keep the notes to use whenever and wherever you wanted.
The free guide above has all the information in a nice, tidy package, plus some helpful tips and background notes that are not on this page.
Want to just watch this unfold? Watch the video here:
If you prefer to read all the details and in-progress notes, this page is where I kept track of what actually happened, not just what looked good on paper or fun for a video, but what worked, what didn’t, and what we really ate throughout the week. Because it’s one thing to plan a $50 meal list… and another thing entirely to live on it.
Here’s the question I tried to answer: Can we actually eat well for a week on $50, using real food from a regular grocery store, without feeling deprived?
Why Did I Do This?
I care passionately about food security. I want to know I can eat, no matter what happens or what I can afford. I’ve had some very, very lean times in my past, when I could barely afford any food. So increasing my food knowledge and skills makes me feel more confident.
But I also care about others, about YOU, and I love to share what I learn and teach what I know. If sharing this challenge with you means you also feel more confident that you can do more with less, or even just gives you a new recipe to try, then that also makes me feel good.
And, I also love a good challenge, because means I get to be creative within constraints, and that is really the BEST way to create amazing things. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all.
My grocery store ingredient list is just 19 items long, but I planned to make a lot of different meals from these items — 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, regular people. Note that the food prices in Ann Arbor are about 10% above the national average. I’ve included my receipts below the list.
🫘 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)
What I Spent
Here are my receipts. Note that these total $46.85 with tax. I had already bought the carrots for $3, but I didn’t keep the receipt. So I spent a total of $49.85, with tax.
🧂 Items Already On Hand (not purchased)
- Salt/pepper/spices/seasonings
- Oils (olive, canola, sesame)/bacon grease
- 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.
Here’s what I actually used from my pantry this week: Salt, black pepper, paprika, rosemary, thyme, oregano, chili powder, parsley, cumin, cream of tartar, bay leaf, cinnamon, taco seasoning, canola oil, sesame oil, olive oil, bacon grease, soy sauce, brown sugar, and maple syrup.
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 our 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 (update: have not found any yet)
Note: I decided not to use our preserved strawberries or pickles because I figured that was unusual and seemed a bit like “cheating.”
All this sounds good on paper, but how does it hold up in real life? That’s the test.
The Food & Recipes
Do you think we can make GOOD FOOD for two people for $50 a week? Here are recipes for some of the meals we made this week:
- Egg and potato breakfast casserole ✅
- Coffee Chili ✅
- Chicken pot pie casserole ✅
- Two loaves of homemade bread ✅
- Maple Oat Bread ✅
- Chicken and Rice ✅
- Pancakes ✅
- Chicken fried rice ✅
- Chicken stock / broth
- French toast ✅
- Fried dandelion greens ✅
- Coffee with homemade creamer ✅
- Oatmeal peanut butter cookies ✅
- Oatmeal with milk
- Coffee soup (let me know if you want the recipe)
- Cowboy coffee (ditto)
- Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
- Sandwiches of various sorts (chicken, egg salad, peanut butter)
The Meal Plan
Here’s the full meal plan for $50 a week, compiled from the real-live experience.
Day 1:
- Daytime: Go shopping, do meal prep, bake bread
- Dinner: rotisserie chicken, glazed carrots, garlic potatoes, and fresh bread
- After dinner: immediately remove the chicken from the bones and store in refrigerator, and start the chicken broth to simmer overnight
Day 2:
- Breakfast: French toast + leftover potatoes + cowboy coffee
- Lunch: Chicken sandwiches on bread
- Dinner: Soft tacos with homemade tortillas, refried beans, and chicken
Day 3:
- Breakfast: Oatmeal with banana
- Lunch: Egg salad sandwiches
- Dinner: Chicken and Rice
Day 4:
- Breakfast: Egg & Potato Casserole
- Lunch: Leftover Chicken & Rice
- Dinner: Coffee Chili
Day 5:
- Breakfast: Leftover breakfast casserole
- Lunch: Leftover chili
- Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie casserole
Day 6:
- Breakfast: Leftover breakfast casserole
- Lunch: Leftover chicken pot pie casserole
- Dinner: Chicken Fried Rice
Day 7:
- Breakfast: Oatmeal
- Lunch: Various leftovers
- Dinner: Chicken Fried Rice leftovers + Fried dandelion greens
Day 8 (bonus day to get a full 7 days):
- Oatmeal, eggs, and coffee soup
- Egg salad sandwich
Snacks (whenever):
- Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
- Bananas
- Bread and butter
- Peanut butter sandwich
- Coffee and cream
- Milk
Note: There’s enough ingredients to make rice pudding, too! I never got around to it, but it would totally work if you start to feel peckish.
The Actual Meal Log
I kept track of everything here. While I also took photos and videos, I took notes as I went along here so I wouldn’t forget what I did.
Day 1 – Sunday Supper
I went shopping Sunday 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 broth overnight.
- Shaped a new loaf of bread dough and put it in the refrigerator to bake mid-week.
- Put the pinto brown 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.
Time spent: An hour for shopping, plus three more hours prepping and cooking for the week. Total: 4 hours.
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. Time spent: 20 minutes.
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. Time spent: 5 minutes.
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. Time spent: 1 hour.
Day 3
Breakfast – Oatmeal with milk, water, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and butter, plus some bananas. And cowboy coffee! Made by Greg in 10 minutes. Rating: AMAZING. A great start to a busy day.
Lunch – We were both too busy due to a tornado that went through Ann Arbor (!!!) and no lunch was had today. (Yes, we’re safe, no injuries, just damage. Power went out at our studio and there were fallen branches to take care of in our yard.)
Dinner – We had an early dinner of comfort food to make up for the lack of lunch … Chicken and Rice, plus a big piece of bread and butter. The chicken and rice was SO good with our homemade chicken broth. I’m only making it with homemade broth from now on. It truly made it so much better. Greg said it tasted like Stouffer’s Chicken & Vegetable Rice Bake, which is high praise considering how much he used to love to eat that. I made this meal, and it took just 20 minutes because the chicken was already cooked — easy and quick. Rating: Amazing.
Snack – After dinner I whipped up some easy 4-ingredient oatmeal peanut butter cookies, because I was in calorie deficit from the lack of lunch. Very satisfying. It took me 20 minutes. Rating: Great, just what I needed (I ate two!)
Day 4
Breakfast – Egg and potato casserole made in a cast iron skillet, plus coffee and homemade creamer! I made this breakfast, and it took about an hour. Rating: Excellent, one of my favorites of the challenge!
Lunch – The egg casserole was so good that I just had more of that for lunch! Greg packed his lunch for “work” today (he had to work away from the farm) and had leftover chicken and rice, a banana, and an oatmeal peanut butter cookie.
Dinner – A warm and comforting bowl of coffee chili, plus some fresh baked bread and butter on the side. Because we have no ground meat, which is what we’d normally put into our chili, I experimented to boost the flavor of the meatless chili … and it WORKED! I have a new recipe, coffee chili, and it’s super good. (Though I’m going on record by saying I think it would be even better with some ground turkey or beef). I made this, and it took about 45 minutes. Rating: Great comfort food!
Day 5
Breakfast – We re-heated breakfast casserole from yesterday because we have PLENTY of that. It was perfect. We each made our own when we were hungry, it took maybe 3 minutes. Rating: Perfect.
Lunch – Greg took chili with him to work, and I’ll re-heated chili too.
Dinner – I made an easy Chicken Pot Pie casserole. I also picked dandelion greens and sautéed them with onions and garlic. It took me about an hour to prepare this meal. Rating: Loved the casserole, but we’re not fans of the dandelion greens (too bad)!
Day 6
Breakfast – More breakfast casserole. Greg re-heated this for us. Rating: Hit the spot!
Lunch – Leftover chicken pot pie casserole, plus a banana and another oatmeal cookie. I re-heated this for us.
Dinner – I remembered I had squirreled away a little bit of the chicken meat into the freezer, as I was worried it would go bad too fast, and I used it to make a very good chicken fried rice. We’re now out of garlic cloves, so I used wild garlic growing out in the field, which worked fine. Made by me, only took about 30 minutes (and that includes cooking the rice in the rice cooker). Rating: Filling and yummy.
Day 7: The Final Full Day!
Breakfast – Oatmeal and the last banana, plus some maple oat bread. Made by Greg.
Lunch – Took a nap instead… it’s the weekend! Besides, that oatmeal and oat bread was very filling.
Dinner – Leftover chicken fried rice, plus a second attempt at fried dandelion greens, which turned out much better thanks to an extra prep step!
Note: We now only have oatmeal, flour, rice, coffee, and a few eggs left.
Day 8: Bonus Day
Since we began on Sunday night, that means we still need to have breakfast and lunch on this day to satisfy the “full week” of food for $50.
Breakfast – Eggs and oatmeal, and some coffee soup.
Lunch – Egg salad sandwich to use up the last of the eggs.
Notes & Results
Start of Week Notes
I’ve decided not to try a strict meal plan by rationing out everything. I’d never stick to it anyway. I’m going to prioritize what needs to be eaten first (the chicken) and then figure it out as I got along based on available time and our interests. But I’ll share exactly what I ate with you so you can copy my figured-out meal plan if you wish.
Mid-Week Notes
We still have SO much food still left to cook or eat. We have less than three days left and SO MANY ingredients are left, and lots of leftovers in the refrigerator to go through. Like, I’m shocked. It’s easier to say what is completely gone now, which is:
- Evaporated milk (in the creamer)
- Diced tomatoes (in the chili)
Everything else is still left to some degree. Here’s what I have a lot of still:
- Rice. Most all of it is still left. Why did I buy so much rice? (ha ha)
- Flour: There’s still like half the flour left (2.5 lbs)
- Beans: They are cooked and in the refrigerator, but I’d say we have nearly half of what we started with still left.
- Oats: At least half of what I bought, maybe more.
- Potatoes: Still six left
- Onions: Still five left
- Butter: More than half is still left
- Eggs
What I’m low on now:
- Peanut butter: I used 2/3 of it for the cookies
- Bananas
- Milk
- Cheese
- Chicken (and this is really the last day to use it)
- Garlic (only two cloves left)
I’m going to have to come up with a plan to use more of this and freeze it for later, I think.
End of Week Notes
We have LOTS of oatmeal, rice, flour, coffee, and ketchup left. Most everything else is gone. That means if I were to repeat this challenge immediately, I wouldn’t need to buy those items and I could get some more meat and vegetables with my $50.
Snacks we ate this week that I did not always record above: bread, cookies, bananas, leftovers if we were feeling peckish.
The best things were the rotisserie chicken, because that mean I had tasty meat for many of our meals (and we’re omnivores, so it matters to us), and the bag of flour, because we were never low on bread. Fresh homemade bread fills in all the corners and compliments everything. Bread really is the staff of life.
The biggest issue I had was feeling like I wasn’t getting enough fruits and vegetables. In retrospect, I would have gotten a smaller amount of rice and oatmeal, skipped the ketchup entirely (we didn’t use much), passed on the cheese (it was nice on the chili, but not a “have to have”), and used that money for canned or frozen veggies (which are less expensive than fresh, sadly).
The End Results
At the start of this week, I wasn’t entirely sure how it was going to go. Feeding two people for $50 sounds doable on paper… but living it is something else. We normally spend significantly more than that per week on groceries, so this was a true challenge for us.
There were moments where it felt a little repetitive (chicken, chicken, chicken, beans, beans, beans), and I had to think more intentionally about every meal than I normally would.
But what surprised me most is that we never felt deprived. We ate real food, we had satisfying meals, and we made it through the entire week without needing to run out for anything extra. In fact, I ended up getting more creative in the kitchen than I expected, turning simple ingredients into meals that actually tasted good … and even creating several new recipes along the way.
It wasn’t perfect (not enough greens), and there are things I’d adjust next time (less oatmeal, rice, ketchup, and cheese), but it showed me just how far a small, thoughtful grocery list can really go.
Oh, and one more thing really surprised me, but I didn’t realize until after I’d written this all up, so you’ll find it mentioned in the video.
Overall, I feel like this was a SUCCESS! And I learned a LOT.
Want to see a video of my challenge?
I recorded much of this experience, from shopping to cooking to several of the plated meals, so if you’re interested in WATCHING us go through this challenge, you can see the whole video here.
Please let me know if you’d like to see more of my recipes using regular, everyday ingredients made good like this. It’s not fancy cooking, but it is delicious and easy and very down to earth (sometimes literally!).
Have questions or comments? Leave them here!
The Challenge Recipes
Meet Jennifer
Jennifer cooks and experiments in the kitchen at Maker Farm, where she focuses on simple pantry cooking, homemade staples, and practical recipes that make everyday meals easier. Over the years she has tested many ways to make cooking simpler and more dependable, and shares the methods that work best in her own kitchen, occasionally showing them on her Heart to Home at Maker Farm vlog.
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