How I Survived Two Weeks on Just $20 for Food

If you’re having trouble keeping up with the high cost of groceries, you’re definitely not alone. In February, food prices were up 1.9% on an annual basis, according to the Consumer Price Index. But that’s coming off a years-long period of elevated supermarket prices.

In this Reddit post, we have someone who has just $20 to buy food for two weeks and wants to know how they can manage. And to be honest, my first reaction upon seeing the post was “that’s not going to happen.”

Even for just one person, $20 is not going to go very far based on food prices today. So I hope this poster seeks help, whether by applying for government food benefits or seeing if there’s a local food pantry that can tide them over until their grocery budget opens up.

With help, it’s possible to make a $20 grocery budget last for two weeks, especially if that money is spent carefully. But without help, it’s a really tough ask.

This post got me thinking about ways to save money on groceries in general at a time when they’re so high. A lot of people are struggling, and you may need some tips even if you’ve got a more robust budget than $20 for two weeks to work with. Here’s some advice you may find useful.

Shop at budget grocers

When money is tight and there’s a not a lot of wiggle room in your budget, it’s not the time to be picky about labels. I’ve found that shopping at stores like Aldi results in much lower prices because you’re buying unknown brands.

If you don’t have a discount grocer nearby, go to your regular supermarket but see if you can load up on the store brand. It will likely be cheaper than the national brands you see advertised everywhere.

Plan your meals

As someone who has a hard time being organized in the kitchen, I recognize that meal planning isn’t easy, and it’s not for everyone. But if you’re able to plan your meals in advance, it could help you shop more efficiently.

What I specifically like to do on the weeks when I’m able to meal plan is first look at what’s on sale, and then decide what I’m cooking based on that. So if you see that ground beef is on sale, you could decide that you’ll make beef stew to last a couple of nights and meatballs to last the rest of the week.

Buy in bulk

When you buy groceries in large quantities, you can save money on a per-ounce or per-unit basis. And you don’t necessarily need a membership to a warehouse club to be able to take advantage of bulk pricing.

Many supermarkets offer select items in bulk, as do big-box stores. But buy your bulk items carefully.

Stick to items you know and use regularly, and be very careful with bulk perishables. You may want to limit your bulk purchases to things like cereal, where you get a decent chunk of time to use them up before they go bad.

Buying things like meat or dairy products in bulk leaves you with a much shorter shelf life. And if you’re not careful, you risk throwing your money away by having your food go to waste.

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