Eating for $2 a Day: Cheap and Healthy Meal Ideas You Need to Try

It can totally be done. You have a banana and oatmeal for breakfast. You make a big pot of rice and beans. You make soup from lentils, cabbage, onions, carrots, potatoes. Pasta, etc. It's very doable.

I lived with Mexicans over 20 years. Our staple meals were rice, beans, potatoes, tortillas, and eggs. We actually put buillion, onion, jalapeño, and diced potatoes to cook in with the beans (of course, salt and pepper to taste, and a bit of sazon). Those would be a full on meal. A bowl of beans and tortillas (fresh cut onions to garnish). I will take that over a cheeseburger any day!!

I used to do this forcefully. Before my divorce, I was only left with $ 6.00 for a week, several ,several times for meals. I binge watch you daily and I love your IDEAS. I EVEN HAVE OTHERS WATCHING YOU AND TAKING TIPS. KEEP IT. UP , A FAN FOR LIFE !

When I was really broke, I would make a big pot of vegetable soup with a half pound hamburger, canned tomatoes, beef bouillon, potatoes and carrots. I could eat soup for many days. Very good with corn bread. Add other vegetables if you have them.

Good morning - I want to add something in after reading the comments. I do a lot in the volunteer sector, in the food insecurity and hygiene insecurity sector. I am seeing a lot of comments about gas and time and effects on health from this type of diet, all with a level of validity. However, please indulge my soap box moment. This budget is becoming more realistic by the day for people. It is important that people look to develop basic cooking and sales finding skills. Which should be the takeaway from this video in my opinion. If some one was able to take this list of items and pair it with a food pantry box for example they could add in any vegetables or fresh items they might receive, but they would have a base and a base understanding of how to stretch that food. Please be mindful that many are walking this path right now.

Ham is something that I always stock up on around the holidays. A whole ham on sale at Christmas time can last me 6-9 months. I cut it up into 1/2" cubes, 1" cubes, slices, etc, package them up and freeze them. I pull out the slices for a hardy breakfast meat and I use the cubes in a lot of different recipes. I also make ham & bean soup or pea soup with the ham bone. You can freeze the bone, too, if you're all ham'ed out around the holidays.

When I see multivitamins in the clearance section, I always grab a bottle even if I'm already stocked. It really helps on the Living Off Potatoes kinds of weeks.

I know ramen is over-recommended when it comes to cheap meals, but I was craving some tonight and made myself a double helping for supper. I find it's a great way to use up random leftover veggies because just about anything works in a pot of ramen (and soup is very forgiving for veggies that are going limp). Tonight I added some leftover canned spinach and tiny bell peppers (which were starting to go a bit soft) to my usual onions and celery. It's just a great way to clear out that veggie crisper and keep from wasting.

OMG! I have NEVER thought about weighing the "pre weighed" bags of veggies!!! LOVEEEE this tip!

Corporate greed is disgusting. Corporate profits are at all time highs.

For Thanksgiving, my local Safeway/Albertsons stores had a 5 pound bag of russet potatoes for $.69 each, a Cook's brand spiral ham for $.99 per pound, and whole chickens for $.66 each. I am bedridden and I have to rely on grocery delivery services, but I have found that closely scrutinizing the sale ads and combining them strategically with digital coupons usually saves me quite a lot of money every month.

Absolutely amazing for what you have done for $2 a day. If you have $3 more for your week, I recommend a 16 oz bag of Walmart rice because rice and beans make a complete protein and a $1 dollar bag of frozen broccoli and a $1 bag of frozen spinach that you could incorporate into almost any of the recipies for some green vegetables.

The only things I'm missing in these meals are greens: frozen broccoli or spinach is not very expensive (store brand) and could be mixed into those potato and ham casseroles, a little in the tacos, etc. I tend to gravitate more toward spinach because it's more versatile.

Hey mom, I’ve been watching you since 13-14 and I’m turning 19 soon. I wanted to tell you I really appreciate your videos, by 17 honestly I felt so prepared because of you. 🥲 I wasn’t prepared for the increase in price, but just wanted to say thank you for doing what you’re doing. I grew up in a Filipino household, a lot of our foods already are cheap and filling, meant to last days since they’re such big batches. Turns out, Florida is much more expensive than Tennessee, and even the meals that got me and my family through rough financial situations, aren’t really cutting it and are turning out to be more of a “mid” priced meal that I can’t really afford like that. Being that that’s the food I grew up with, where we really only rotated through 6-10 dishes in our household, it’s hard for me to explore other cost effective meals that are filling enough for me. Also mom, turns out, this adult life is way too costly and you should adopt me or something. 🥲 I love you and your videos, I’m always hoping you and your family is doing good, have a great day ma.

What I love about your videos is the inspiration it gives me. I can watch a couple videos and shop my pantry, fridge and freezer…then cook a few simple meals with what I have on hand. Our typical weekly budget for a family of 3 is $150-200 including household items. You have helped me stretch every single dollar, and cut back.

I shop at ALDIs, grocery outlet, Walmart, and Winco, Dollar Tree , and Dollar General plus the $.99 store. I’m on a fixed income, so every dollar counts.You Go Girl.!!!!!

At my Aldi yesterday, 10 pounds of potatoes were $.99, and you could get 2 more bags free. They were definitely moldy. I went through my bag and threw away 3 potatoes. Still a good deal!! Our eggs were $1.16. Yes, I love Aldi!!!!

Love the budget content as our corporate overlords have increased prices and decreased package sizes. So many people struggling.

Your chowder recipe blew my mind. I tried your cream cheese technique yesterday to make a seafood chowder using a combination of canned fish (sub vegetable stock). It turned out amazing. I might not serve it at a dinner party, but it'll be a few hearty meals for me. Will definitely do it again.

I made the Meat/Potato Casserole. Since I had frozen hash browns that needed to be used up, I added the equivalent of three medium baked potatoes. I used frozen ham (leftovers) and Canadian bacon as the protein. I added 1/2 c. frozen diced onions and used milk as my thinner/expander. This came out of the oven tasting just like scalloped potatoes. I served it with broccoli and cauliflower and we loved it.