Hit $50 for a week of dinners for two and it actually worked out

I started tracking what I spent on groceries last month and was shocked to see I was hitting around $90 a week just for dinner ingredients. So I challenged myself to keep it under $50 for a full week of dinners for me and my wife. We did lentil chili with cornbread from scratch, a big batch of roasted veggie tacos, and a chicken thigh and rice skillet that stretched three nights. Has anyone else tried a hard budget cap like that and found it surprisingly doable?

2 comments

2 Comments

jason3289d ago

My buddy tried this exact thing last year with his girlfriend. He bragged about doing lentil chili too actually, but his wife got sick of it by day three and they ended up ordering pizza anyway. The chicken and rice thing lasted okay but he said the real killer was snacks and lunches, not dinners. Once he factored in all the little stuff like oil and spices and the cost of cooking from scratch it was more like $65 in reality. I think if you're really disciplined with leftovers it can work but most people forget how fast the small stuff adds up.

the_kevin9d ago

yeah @jason328 nailed it - the snacks and lunches always bust the budget, not the dinners. i meal prep everything now including snacks like hardboiled eggs and yogurt, and it's the only way i've ever actually stayed under $50 for the week.