Today marks the start of a new series on here, how to survive on $20 a week for food. In this, I am going to attempt to survive solely on $20 a week for food. A few things before we get started though:
[list]
[*]I may go over the spending limit some weeks – this is because I, like everybody else, can be lazy and sometimes you just have to go out because of time or whatever. So, this is more of a general guide – I will try to not go out to eat whenever possible.
[*]Each week, I get $20 more to spend on food. Unused balance from the previous weeks roll over.
[*]The first week, I get $40.
[*]This $20 is solely for food – not for other supplies like soap, rent, etc.
[/list]

Anyway, on to the food!

I went to the store earlier today, and got the following items:
[table]
[tr][th]Item[/th][th]Price[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Bread(small loaf)[/td][td]$0.59[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Cheddar cheese(16 oz)[/td][td]$3.99[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Mozzarella cheese(16 oz)[/td][td]$3.99[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Butter[/td][td]$2.49[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Milk(1 gal)[/td][td]$1.89[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Peas(40 oz, frozen)[/td][td]$2.29[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Instant mashed potatoes(13.75 oz)[/td][td]$1.69[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Cheddar cheese(16 oz)[/td][td]$3.99[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Chicken nuggets(26.5 oz, frozen)[/td][td]$3.99[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Pears(in individual bowls, 16 total)[/td][td]$6.00[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Peanut butter[/td][td]$1.29[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Apple Juice(64 oz), 2[/td][td]$3.98[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Grapes[/td][td]$2.77[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Animal Crackers(3lb)[/td][td]$4.69[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Pizza dough[/td][td]$2.29[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]<b>Total:</b>[/td][td]$41.94[/td][/tr]
[/table]

…

Alright, so I went a little over. The good news though is that some of these are one-off purchases that won’t have to be made for a while. For example, the mashed potatoes I expect to last 4-5 months, which given that I’m only back at school for 3 could prove to be somewhat problematic. As well, the pear bowls that I got should last for about three weeks, as should the peas. The grapes I got because I felt like having some grapes. The cheese is for the pizza dough, I am going to make some tonight. I won’t be using up all of the cheese, but I plan to make tacos next week so I can use the cheese for that.

That’s a start. I’ll post more once I eat some more, and we’ll see where we are at!