Food How To Eat on $5 For 2 Weeks | Emergency Extreme Budget

[SouthernBreeze]

Shopping with a list is critical! Also, if there is more than one person in the household, the person who is best at sticking to the list (and who is willing to take time to compare prices, read labels, etc.) should be the one who does the shopping. Avoid taking children to the store -- they tend to beg for stuff, and it's usually nothing healthy. (My daughter loves Whoppers, LOL!)

I didn't have toilet paper, dish detergent, shampoo, or any other toiletries on my list -- those would obviously be an additional cost. Someone with very short hair could probably just wash their hair with soap, and it is possible to brush your teeth with baking soda or salt. Doesn't taste as nice, but it can be done. And a basic homemade laundry detergent works pretty well and is quite a bit less expensive than store-bought. The more stuff you add to it, the more expensive it's going to be.

Shopping with a list keeps me from impulse shopping. I've disciplined myself to only buy what is on my list. Sometimes, I run into some good sales, and I substitute something on my list for the sale items, but I don't get both.

I restock my pantry every two weeks. During those two weeks, I keep a list on my kitchen counter. As I use an item out of the pantry, I write that item down. That keeps me on track, and organized. No unnecessary spending. I have enough variety in the pantry to just keep buying the same items over and over. If Cary and I want a change from time to time, we go out to eat. I still save money in the long run.

 

[Freeholder]

We are going longer and longer between trips to town, assuming daughter doesn't have a doctor appointment (and she seems to be stable right now, so is having appointments about every six months). Lately it's been three or four weeks between trips, usually. And we had been eating out once every week or two at the Chinese buffet, but that stopped when COVID started. I don't think I've been spending less on food overall, but some of it's going to prep items for future use.

I have a standard list I use, making additions or subtractions to it as needed (I keep it on the computer, and print off a copy for each trip to town).

Kathleen

 

[summerthyme]

A good way to measure true inflation is to watch the products that Dollar Tree is going to stock going forward. If they are going to remain a Dollar Tree, they will have to do something to adjust for inflation.

Oh, its been happening for years! The Dollar Tree in the nearest small city from our farm used to carry about half an aisle of DECENT hand tools. Not Craftsman quality, but good enough to stand up to basic household tasks for years. They had nice glass canisters and jars (with either screw tops or the clasps like they used on old fashioned jars), decent quality kitchenware,, and stuff like elbow macaroni in 3# bags.

Now? Ha! I swear 3/4 of the store is frou frou wrapping paper, ribbons, really crappy toys, and smaller and smaller bottles of stuff like rubbing alcohol and peroxide!

We'll really see that inflation is here when they cannot longer stock the store... its going to be like the old "five and dime" stores... when they started, everything in the store was five or ten cents.

Vidlers in East Aurora N.Y (Google it... they've got a website and its still in business) was a "five and ten" when they started. When I was growing up, it was "5 and 10 cents, $1 and up"

Summerthyme

 

[packyderms_wife]

If you have a sunny window, you don't even need the hydroponic thing -- a large container in the window will grow a lot of lettuce and herbs. I did that in a south-facing window while we were still in Oregon and it worked very well. Here, we don't have a good south-facing window to use, so I'm planning to put up a lean-to greenhouse on the south side of the house.

Kathleen

I really don’t have a decent window for this type of thing.

 

[packyderms_wife]

got a link?

I’ll try to remember to post one in the garden forum tomorrow, feel free to nag me if I forget.

It’s the six pod aero garden from amazon.

 

[nomifyle]

One thing I noticed awhile back is the size of the can of luncheon meat, it looks to be less than half the size it was last year. A year or so ago a cashier said they might try raising the prices on some things and that was before the cyna flu.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[Grounded Idealist]

Shopping with a list is critical! Also, if there is more than one person in the household, the person who is best at sticking to the list (and who is willing to take time to compare prices, read labels, etc.) should be the one who does the shopping. Avoid taking children to the store -- they tend to beg for stuff, and it's usually nothing healthy. (My daughter loves Whoppers, LOL!)

I didn't have toilet paper, dish detergent, shampoo, or any other toiletries on my list -- those would obviously be an additional cost. Someone with very short hair could probably just wash their hair with soap, and it is possible to brush your teeth with baking soda or salt. Doesn't taste as nice, but it can be done. And a basic homemade laundry detergent works pretty well and is quite a bit less expensive than store-bought. The more stuff you add to it, the more expensive it's going to be.

Many personal care items and home cleaners can be made from a bottle of Castile soap, a box of baking soda and a jug of white vinegar.

For example, I haven’t used store bought shampoo in years. I mix 1 Tbsp of baking soda into a cup of water and put it in a plastic bottle with a spout top. I use this on my hair in the shower being sure to scrub my scalp. I rinse with clear water and use a vinegar and water mixture as a leave-in conditioner (2 Tbsp vinegar in a cup of water [I use ACV because I’m a brunette, however, white vinegar works for blond or silver hair. Lemon juice works too]).

You can clean pretty much anything in your home including the bathroom, kitchen and laundry with diluted Castile soap. Hydrogen peroxide would be a luxury bonus.