Everybody on here seems to be eating really well at the end of the month and it has me sad…I never have good food the last two weeks of each month…anybody else having a hard time?
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We usually have more month than money. I have a recipe called “end of the month bean soup.”
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It depends how well I’ve managed my money. Since I started making menus and grocery lists every week, I’m able to budget much more effectively and don’t run out of money anymore.
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Not proud of it, but I get $270 in food stamps. It’s enough for the whole family.
Staying rent free gives me an extra chunk of money that just ends up getting saved. I don’t struggle with food, when I was living alone and paying rent I ate a repetitive diet of strawberries, steak ums, chef boyardee ravioli, carrots, bacon and eggs. It was pretty cheap… you just had buy whatever bacon was on sale.
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I have a spreadsheet where I deduct all my expenses, and my food budget gets divided across however many weeks are left of the month.
5 Week months are a massive problem for me, as I only earn enough to cover four weeks properly.
You just have to make the money stretch with rice, pasta and other foods where you get a lot of volume for the money.
I do save money each month, but I am really strict with this and work out how much to take out at the beginning of each month and put it to one side. I have to do this as no one else will cover my bills when I fall sick again…
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I used to a lot. But much better now. What helps me are just a few things:
- I make a weekly menu and buy according to that menu. Plus a few snacks. Popcorn is dirt cheap.
- I always look for deals like meat.
- I rarely buy coffee from coffee shops. Home coffee is way cheaper.
- Making things like meatless chili is delicious and quick to take out of the freezer.
Everyone has their own ways to make ends meet. Probably better than me. Just hoping you find a way to budget. 
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Since the cigarette prices went through the roof a lot of smokers struggle here in oz. Wouldn’t surprise me when the increase in homelessness rised. I can comprehend a connection.
I got a powerblender and make myself healthy vegedrinks. As well its either pasta, rice or potatoes with sauce, sometimes eggs. I eat less meat as usual as it is expensive. Almost vegetarian.
Yeah well I have $30 left this month at this point. It’s the last day of the month. I may not get my check till Wednesday I’ll be fine I have plenty of food like frozen pizza I got for 86 cents each and cereal and pancakes and eggs and tons of pasta I can add cheese to. Sometimes I get spoiled by my parents or my friend tho like in that other thread it was my friend paying. Hes sza. But gets disability and works 20+ hours a week so he’s like loaded imo. That doesn’t mean I take advantage of him. I think his parents just cut back on how much ssdi he gets to control cuz he’s a mad spender, doesn’t know how to control his money. But anyways that’s why my meal looked tasty. Usually I have pancakes or pasta or chicken or cereal for dinner lol. Good luck with everything jukebox. 1 more day till July.
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That’s good , but I wonder how many of us would struggle to forward plan like that. I can certainly see that what you do is good, but putting it into practice for myself is a whole, different matter .
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I eat good. I have SSDI, my part-time job and I go to a food closet three times a month. I went to food closets when I was younger and while I shouldn’t complain, a lot of times the selection of food was not always great. I shouldn’t complain because in my twenties I was spending all my money on drugs including my food money and the food I got from a church sustained me for a long time even though the food was often bland and not that varied.
But now, I go to a great food bank with a large variety of food including real treats like chili, good cereal, desserts, instant mashed potatoes, meat, and staples. I have a cupboard in my kitchen with a bunch of bags of dried beans from them and rice, and pasta. I try to spread the dried food throughout the month, it saves money and I actually make a large pot of some easy but tasty dishes using the dried beans throughout the month which can give me from 4-6 servings.
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Not really good @jukebox I have a lot of bills and cant even turn my air conditioner.I don’t eat healthy.
Where I live Wal Mart has this deal where you can buy a huge bag of leg and thigh quarters for not that much money. I don’t buy them any more because I don’t have enough room in my freezer. I’m a fanatical shopper for bargains.
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Admittedly i do work. It is hard but ensures that i continue to have a good income. I feel very much for the people on here who struggle to get by. I’ve been in that situation myself in the past. It is horrible.
Usually I do. But I got some help that has lasted me a couple months. I keep rice and uncooked beans in the house for when we run out of food. Plus, we get paid the last week of the month instead of the beginning of the month.
have you tried church meals? Around here there is a church meal probably monday - thursday at least. at different churches. you would need a car though.
We struggle and never have money or easy to grab food end of the month. I have a lot to cook, though. No snacks except canned fruit. We get $300 in food stamps per month for 7 people. It’s tough, but we budget hard. I also use food pantries so I stock up on canned stuff. When I shop I don’t have to buy side dishes or vegetables unless I want to.
I struggle a bit usually last week of the month I end up going to a nearby food pantry or I just call my mom and she’ll bring me some groceries I really need to learn how to save money I lack self control
Plan ahead @jukebox. Shop wisely. Use your intelligence and buy healthy things that are on sale or cheap stables (as someone mentioned already) like dried beans, rice and pasta.
Buy large sizes of certain items because lots of times a smaller size costs more. So buy a large box of oatmeal (filling, cheap and has protein). Buy the slightly larger box of cold cereal or pasta.
You can freeze lots of different products very easily. It’s strawberry season here so they were selling them ridiculously inexpensively so I bought several containers of fresh strawberry’s and used some and froze the extras. Lots of stuff can be frozen when it’s at it’s cheapest. Milk can be frozen, so can nuts and many vegetables etc. So find them on sale and eat some and freeze the rest for later and so they won’t go bad in your refrigerator.
Surf the web for websites that give you ideas on what is cheap and healthy. Surf the web for idea’s on how to budget. But anyways, plan ahead and stretch your money by using coupons. Cook big pots of cheap stuff like soups, stew and beans and eat some and freeze the rest of those too so you can pull out a tasty meal at your leisure.
And as everyone knows by now, if you buy store brands, they are usually cheaper than more well known brands and the quality is usually just as good. With stuff like canned fruit, canned tuna, canned beans, cold cereals, pasta, etc don’t buy the name brands, you are just paying extra for the label while the store brand is just as good.
By the way, needless to say, never shop when you’re hungry. You’ll just walk out with stuff you usually don’t need and you’ll spend more money than you want too. It’s good to make a list and keep to it.
It took me a long, long time to realize a simple fact. If you’re in the store shopping you are going to see great sales on junk food and desserts, and chips, cookies, candy etc. You will think that they are so cheap that you can’t do without them. You think you will never see that cake or pie so cheap ever again so you buy one or two of them. But the fact is that there are sales all the time on sweets and snacks and there always will be. Pass those up, sugar and the fat they use in crackers and baked goods or chips etc are bad for you and you should not be eating them.
Eating them regularly or too often is a drain of your money and terrible for your health and weight The money you want to spend on junk food instead could be used to buy healthy foods instead like more vegetables, certain fruits, and grains or fiber (at our age, we all know how fiber is essential to a heathy digestive system). Just try to cut way down on sugar and limit you’re junk food intake to maybe once every two or three weeks. Anyways, this is all common sense, and it is not too hard to implement into your daily life. You don’t have to make any drastic changes to eat healthier and cheaper. It takes a little effort and time but we all got time.
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Well said. WELL SAID!
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