How to Eat on 28 Dollars Per Week
Living on a budget can be challenging sometimes. Especially when traveling. I am going to better than teach you how to live on $40 a day. I will show you how to live on $28 a week! So come along with me and let's explore creative ways to stretch your budget!
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Things You'll Need:
- Creative mind
$28.00
budget
patience
persistence
Step 1: Check out the fast food restaurants in the area you will be staying. Many of these restaurants have .99 cent and $1.00 menus. Some of these restaurants are; McDonalds, Hardees, Burger King, Wendys, and Sonic. If you don't want to deal with the high cholesterol content, you can go to a bagel shop, or coffee shop. Then if you have a real sweet tooth for breakfast; check out all the donut shops in the area. You can be guaranteed to find most of your meals for $1.00 or less.
Breakfast: 7 days x $1.00 = $7.00 plus tax, or less.
If you are staying in a hotel room. Most will now offer free continental or full breakfasts.
Breakfast: $0
Step 2: Eat at some of the choices you had at breakfast, for lunch and dinner. Like McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys. Also, you can add to that list, restaurants like Chick-fil-a, Taco Bell, and Krystal Hamburgers. If you get your breakfast free, add some french fries (.99 cents) or an apple pie (two for $1.00.)
Lunch: 7 days x $1.00 = $7.00 plus tax.
Dinner: 7 days x $1.00 = $7.00 plus tax.
Step 3: Make tuna fish sandwiches as an alternative by going to Walmart and pick up a loaf of bread ($2.00 or less,) jar of mayonnaise ($1.50 or less,) and two cans of tuna ($3.00 or less.)
Bread: $2.00, Mayonnaise : $1.50, Tuna: $3.00 = $6.00 plus tax. Yields approximately 4-6 sandwiches.
Step 4: Drink water during meals. It's free! If you are staying in a hotel room, most provide coffee pots and free coffee. Go to Walmart and buy a bottle of soda ($1.00 each.) This yields approximately eight, 8 ounce glasses of soda per bottle. Most places will give you ice free, if you carry your own cup.
Get a box of tea bags and use them in the hotel room for something different to drink. Grab a bag of sugar from home and bring it with you on your trip.
You can also get some packages of pre-sweetened cool-aid and bring a pitcher with you. (.30 to .50 cents a package)
Step 5: Look for coupons in the paper to bring the cost of your meals down.
Breakdown of expenses:
Breakfast: $7.00 plus tax or free.
Lunch: $7.00 plus tax or less.
Dinner $7.00 plus tax or less.
Beverage: Free
Lunch: $1.00 plus tax or free
Dinner: $1.00 plus tax or free
Total for week: $16.00 to $23.00 plus tax.
Tips & Warnings
- There are a variety of ways to live on $28.00 a week. Where you may save in one area, it can give you a little liberty in another. These are just suggested tips to help you get started. Remember; the key to success is patience and persistence.
==============================================================
Disclaimer: For those who are concern with the salt content and health benefits. Well... When it comes to benefits...there are none. However, if you are traveling or even going through some hard times...this will get you by until things get better. It beats starving to death!
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 46
If you are traveling, most hotels have some kind of way to keep food cool and some even have microwaves in the rooms. I often buy my own food and take it with me to my room. But, part of the fun of traveling is trying the local restaurants.
To throw in another idea to your post Jane, bananas at 29 cents a fruit are a great, budget way to get fruit into the day. These are the most economical fruit per pound, and comes with a pack of nutrients to boot.
If living on these budget constraints I'd still add in a bottle or two of wine for sipping a glass a nice at the hotel room during the week. A glass of wine is arguably both good for your heart (and at just one glass hasn't been linked to liver problems) as well as good for the fruit consumption quotient... ; ) That's $2.99 a bottle for the cheapest, though not the finest, wine at Trader Joe's or Grocery Outlet.
Sooo, that makes mine a $34 week.... ;
Thank you so much for submitting this to Frugal Eats. I'm running a similar budget theme this week, trying to work out home-cooked meals with a little more than $20 in purchases from Grocery Outlet. Feel free to check it out.
When traveling I try to get a room with a microwave, fridge and coffee maker. I bring microwave popcorn, small containers of juice, bottled water, fresh fruit, peanut butter and crackers. I also, try to get a place that serves a free breakfast and snacks in the afternoon. For dinner we'll usually order out for a pizza, save half and eat it the next day, just add a small salad to it. It sure saves us a lot of money!
Paying it forward!
Canned food has problems as well. A chemical in the plastic that was recently banned for children's bottles coats the insides of all packages and cans we eat from, and also makes up the plastic containers that are almost impossible to avoid these days. It is carcinogenic, and mimics hormones when it interacts inside your body.
I would recommend rice and spaghetti, as filler, and cooking one's own food, as fresh as possible and organic and simple. Fruit, vegetables, and seasoned with small portions of meat.
if you eat right and lean you can even lose weight and get more healthy as you lower your food spending.
I have to say though that you can get it much lower than that and healthier too. We feed our household on a $700.00 a month food budget. With our household size (9 people) that breaks down to approx. $2.60 per person, per day.
Only my mom would call the store keeper and have him ready and waiting for the old, worn out gum, but I did get the flavor at least. ;)
At any rate perhaps this will be a good thing for them. Everyone should have to live on little at least one year of their life. It makes you wake up to the realities of the world.
Have a good weekend!