Could you feed 4 for $400 a month?

[Anonymous 1]

I've just been going over my budget and I'm so far overbudget on groceries for the past few months! After moving some things around I'm left with just about $400 for this month. I usually spend about $650 and during the pandemic I've been spending closer to $900 for 2 adults and 2 children.
I'm going to try, but I'm not sure we can make it without going overbudget again. Could you do it? What would your meals look like? None of us are attending work or school outside of the home so almost all meals will be at home. This would be for this month only.

*disclaimer: I'm not fishing for a handout or any sort of financial help, we can move money from elsewhere if need be*

[Anonymous 2]

No. I spend $400-500 a week to feed 4 people.

[Anonymous 3]

I could if we were eating pasta, rice and beans, ramen, hot dogs etc. Since we wouldn’t want to eat that for the whole month I couldn’t. We live in a higher cost of living state and highly taxed so food is a little more expensive here.

[Nvl0707]

Nope, we do about $250 a week.

[Deleted User 670]

I could with a lot of rice, potatoes, pasta and casseroles. Breakfast would be oatmeal. I'd get the steel cut kind so it would stick to their ribs until lunchtime. You can get a couple of meals with a big casserole, add rice or pasta to stretch it. Lots of whole fryers or bulk frozen chicken quarters and hamburger meat. Cottage pie (like Shepherds but with hamburger), and baked spaghetti with penne pasta would go a long way and I make a chicken noodle casserole with baked chicken, frozen mixed veggies and noodles. You can make a gravy from the chicken drippings and the giblets and add some milk or half and half to make it creamy and thicken with some cornstarch or flour and mix that in the casserole. I usually use a rotisserie chicken and cream of chicken soup with some marjoram and a bit of garlic and onion thrown in for my sauce. There'd be a lot of leftovers.

[Gorilla_Mama]

Depends on your COL is like. I live in a low COL area and could pull it off but the meals certainly wouldn’t be anything fancy. Cereal for breakfast. Sandwiches for lunch. Soups, hot dogs, rice, lots of chicken for dinner.

[LiveWhatULove]

Could I use my current pantry & freezer? Yes, but even then, it would be a challenge, lol.

I am pretty spoiled when it comes to my grocery budget. My family would definitely not be thrilled and would probably moan & groan, if I was going that economical. We are also a family of 5, with two growing boys, one who starts some athletic camps next week!

[Frau Holle]

Easily, but a lot more food is available free to me that most people would refuse to eat.

If o had to go on a budget, we would eat much more foraged food.

[LiveWhatULove]

Easily, but a lot more food is available free to me that most people would refuse to eat.

If o had to go on a budget, we would eat much more foraged food.

Like mushrooms, crickets and edible clover? Or like dumpster diving?

[Linda_Runs]

It would depend where you live and how frugal you were, but to feed four people properly with good nutrition in the U.S. or Canada, I couldn't.