As my husband and I came back from food shopping this afternoon, I explained to him that the $75 we had spent for most of the month’s supply of food was actually a surprisingly low amount, even given our usual budget. That got me thinking – what do people have to say about actually living on $1 per person, per meal, or less?
I looked up some opinions on the internet, and everything I found was pretty depressing. One blogger was outraged that some people are only allotted $1 per meal in food stamps. Other bloggers had tried to live on that budget for a week, in order to commiserate with the poor. A few sites made recommendations for meals that cheap. No one had posted to say “that is how I live, and I’m actually doing just fine.” So here I am: I live on less than $1 per person, per meal, and I eat well. I can hear you saying “yeah right”, and my husband just told me to prove it to you, so I’m going to try to document what we’re spending on food for the next week or so – as they say, an example is worth a thousand words. 
I understand that food costs are very regional. We live in a suburb of Philadelphia where the cost of living is pretty high, compared to, say, the midwest. And our food budget, for two, is about $100 per month – actually more like $.50 per person per meal. We love our meals, and we really enjoy cooking. Right now we’re quite poor, but we are also blessed in many ways. My parents gave me jars and jars of Indian sauces for my birthday, we go to a church that will give us bread if we need it, and we are surrounded by people who would not let us go hungry.
My first and most important rule of thriving on less: if you’re poor within a community, you’re really not as poor as you might seem.
Other than the generosity of those around us, you want to know how we do it. Well, in our busy suburb we have numerous food store options, and the most convenient and most expensive – the devil in sheep’s clothing – is the nearby Acme Market. It is only half a mile away and is open from 6 am until 1 am – just begging for late night emergency food runs. I am ashamed to say I have often fallen into the “just pick up a few things at Acme” routine. When I do that, we certainly can’t stick to our budget!
So, second rule of thriving on less: Say NO to late night food runs! Say NO to last minute dinner ideas that involve “just a little trip to the store”. More importantly, say YES to weekly or monthly food plans.
Third rule of thriving on less: Find the cheapest store in your area, and only shop there. For us, we tried out Wal-Mart and Save-a-lot, but in the end settled on Aldi. If I could afford it, I would love to shop at Trader Joe’s or other health food venues, but for now I’m content.
Fourth rule of thriving on less: cabbage, onions, beans and rice! Do you know how many permutations of delicious meals you can make with just these ingredients and some spices? Since we can afford it, we add some meat for flavor to almost every dinner. One of our absolute favorite dishes (and we would love this meal if we were millionaires) is fried/steamed kielbasa and cabbage with mashed potatoes. Another favorite is gallo y pinto, just spiced beans and rice that is a staple in Costa Rica, where my husband grew up.
Fifth rule of thriving on less: make breakfast and lunch as dirt cheap as possible, and then splurge a little on dinner. At least that’s our technique.
Some ideas that we have not fully explored, but will certainly post about in future: buying in bulk from stores such as BJs, and religiously clipping coupons and chasing sales. So that’s a little bit of how we do it – how do you manage? What are your ideas?
