Over the past few days, I tried eating with only $5 to spend on groceries each day. This is what I learned.
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It’s extremely easy to make breakfast- the most inexpensive meal of the day. You can have an extremely filling breakfast for well under a dollar. My favorites were over easy eggs with whole wheat toast and oatmeal with bananas and peanut butter. I made the mistake one day of making a smoothie, which is something I would normally have for breakfast, but soon realized that all of the fruit I put in my smoothies would put a large dent into my daily budget. As aesthetically pleasing as smoothies are, sticking with eggs and toast or oatmeal is definitely the way to go when preparing meals on a budget.
For lunch, most days I made a simple ham and provolone sandwich with whole wheat bread. It was filling enough and cost about $2 to make. To switch things up another day, I made a kale and quinoa salad, which I seasoned with olive oil and lemon. While I thought kale and quinoa would end up resulting in a pricier lunch, it ended up being about $2.50. As long as I was careful with budgeting my breakfast and dinner, I was okay!
For dinner, on days when I had some room in my budget, I would make a kale and quinoa salad like the one I made for lunch. To keep things more inexpensive, some days I had penne pasta with olive oil, parmesan cheese, and some edamame and salt on the side. Another easy inexpensive meal was roasted russet potatoes, steamed corn, and quinoa. Both of these meals totaled to under a dollar, making them perfect for this experiment in budgeting.
I had a lot of fun trying to be creative in finding recipes that would work within this budget and it helped me learn what I should and should not be purchasing to help keep my grocery bill low. For starters, frozen vegetables such as edamame and corn are extremely inexpensive and easy to make. Fresh fruit hikes up the bill, but is definitely worth it if you can afford it.
Throughout this experience, I found myself hungry only on the first day when I was thinking about it a lot. After that, I was busy with schoolwork so I was distracted and found it a lot easier not to think about my upcoming meals. I want to continue using what I learned from budget dieting to help me save money and be more conscious of what I am spending on a regular basis!
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