Sometimes you only have $10 for groceries for the week

So you only have $10 for groceries this week and you have nothing in your house? This will keep you fed, though you will have to eat the same meals a few times!

$2.67 for 3 pound whole chicken ($.89 a pound)

$1.50 for a bag of white rice

$1.50 for a bag of carrots

$0.99 for a bag of onions (or as many as it will buy)

$1.25 for a carton of eggs

$1.00 for a bag of dry beans

$1.00 for a bag of apples (or whatever fruit is in season and cheap)

Total $9.91

First you want to bake the chicken. Once you have baked it, take all the chicken off the bones. Place fat in another container. Use the bones to make a broth. First put the broth in the fridge overnight and the next morning scoop the fat off and use for cooking with the fat you took off the chicken. Then place the broth in ice cube trays and freeze them so that you can thaw only as much as you need.

Breakfasts

One egg omelet with chopped onion and an apple

Fried Rice with egg, onion, and carrot (use some of that chicken fat, this is also a great time to find any of those loose soy sauce packets in the fridge drawer from the last time you had money and got Chinese)

Lunches

Chicken and rice soup – Chicken broth, water, shredded chicken, rice, chopped up carrots and onions. Make a huge pot and eat on it for lunch all week.

Dinners (use broth if needed for flavoring)

Chicken and Rice

Beans and Rice

Snacks

Apple or carrot sticks

Personally, I think this is best for only two people. You could stretch it farther and perhaps feed four people (2 adults and 2 children) by adding more water to the soup and using it for a few dinners as well but I wouldn’t recommend it. Either way, you will have to practice portion control to make sure you don’t run out of food by the end of the week.

For breakfast, you get 12 eggs in a carton. Two people could have a one egg and onion omelet a day for five days and fried rice made with one egg, carrots, and onions on the sixth and seventh day or four people could have fried rice made with one or two eggs, carrots, and onions each day.

The chicken and rice soup should make enough for two easily but you can add more water to thin it if you need it to feed more people.

With the dinners, I would alternate beans and rice one night and chicken and rice the next to try and keep it from getting any more monotonous than it already is, though you will probably run out of chicken before the week is up. Try to throw in the carrots and onions as much as possible, if nothing else eat a few carrot sticks with the rice and beans.

You may try a soup replacing the chicken with beans.

If you notice, the rice I put down was white rice. Normally, this isn’t what I would buy, and if there are only two of you and you can swing the brown rice, go for it, as its a much healthier choice. If you can’t swing it and there are more than two of you to feed then go for the white rice as you can get more for less.  Make sure that you don’t buy the quick-cooking rice, it costs more.

The beans are dried beans and you will have to soak them so make sure that you plan the soaking time into your cooking prep time. While easier to work with, canned beans are much more expensive than dry and you won’t get near as much.

If you can scrape up a bit extra (check the couch cushions and under the seats in your car!) I would look at what’s on sale and see if I could get some extra fruits or vegetables.

This isn’t the healthiest way to spend a week but it won’t hurt you to do once in awhile. If this looks like it will be your weekly budget for awhile, I would try to buy as much on sale as I can with my ten dollars. For instance, if your beans last more than a week then take that dollar the next week and try to get ahead. You could get flour one week and shortening the next to make tortillas or flour then baking powder and oil for some homemade bread. You could also look into some peanut butter, oatmeal, dried milk, or lentils if you have any extra.

If you don’t eat meat or would like to buy more food for your ten dollars, you can. Instead of buying the chicken you could purchase extra vegetables and make a vegetable soup instead of the chicken soup. I would buy whatever is in season and on sale that week, at least some cabbage to bulk up the soup. Instead of the eggs buy some oatmeal, add a box of raisins if you can. You can also add some cut up apple to the oatmeal!

Beverages, you ask? Water, of course!

Do you have any ideas on how to eat off a grocery budget of $10 a week?