I Only Have One Hundred Dollars A Month For Food

Back to the basics. That’s my theme for this year. So with that in mind…

I only have one hundred dollars a month for food this January.

What? 

This month I’m going to show you how to feed yourself for $100 dollars a month. Yes, you heard me right, I’m going back to the root of this blog and I’m going to show you how to feed yourself for one hundred dollars a month. 

No gimmicks, no bartering, no freebies, no apps, no walking into the store with a bunch of coupons. Just me, going into an ordinary grocery store, buying groceries and showing you how I’d spend $100 a month to eat basic, wholesome meals. 

I asked my husband if he wanted to join me in this challenge and he politely declined. 

Fine. No big deal, I told him. And I also told him he was on his own this month in the meals department. {He didn’t seem to mind}.

To make a long story short, my husband thinks that after the last few years of me and my globetrotting, living it up, pastry/cheese/salad eating ways that I’d have a tough time feeding myself for one hundred dollars a month.

I pointed out that HE was the one who didn’t want to try and feed himself for $100 a month. 

And then I reminded him how much I like a good challenge. 🙂

I’m not worried one bit. In fact, I bet I can feed myself for less than one hundred dollars a month.

 

While I know that the days of extreme couponing and being able to get hundreds of dollars worth of groceries for pennies on the dollar are over, I truly believe that filling your belly with basic food doesn’t have to cost a fortune. 

I also believe you don’t have to sell your soul to the marketing app God’s or run all over town to 5 different stores {or spending your valuable time and money on gas} to buy food.

Maybe this seems like a really easy challenge to you, or maybe it doesn’t. Maybe this is your reality {that your funds are limited and you only have $100 a month for groceries}. 

I want to show you that if I only had one hundred dollars to last me an entire month for food, and did my shopping at an ordinary grocery store, how I’d spend it and what those meals would look like.

I Only Have One Hundred Dollars A Month For Food

The Ground Rules:

• Start with absolutely nothing in the pantry. {Not even salt and pepper}.
• All my meals {and beverages too!} will be at the studio this month.
• No cheat days, free meals etc. If it’s going in my mouth, I’ll report it.

What’s In My Kitchen

• Hot plate, frying pan, saucepan & basic utensils
• Toaster
• Crockpot
• Rice cooker
• Microwave

The Plan Is Simple. 

• Start with $100
• Buy food
• Show you what meals I made/ate

Sounds easy enough, right? 

Because the start of 2026 fell towards the end of the month this year, I’ve decided that for the month of January, I’ll be sharing the groceries I purchased and what meals I’ve made on Fridays. 

I’ve already been to the grocery store. I spent $38.89. That means I’ve got $61.11 to last me for the rest of the month. 

To make things simple, I’ve decided to only shop at one store this month; Market Basket. They don’t offer a shopper card, but their prices are generally good and they put out a sales flyer each week. 

This week’s flyer however was no bueno. There wasn’t a single “sale” item I was interested in buying. And to be completely honest, I didn’t even really have a plan when I walked into the grocery store. 

Maybe that’s because I’m lazy. Or maybe it’s because I don’t think grocery shopping is rocket science. But what do I know? 

I don’t think most things in life are complicated.

I just think we, as a society, are so worried about what everybody else is doing {or too busy comparing ourselves to other people} that it clouds our judgement sometimes. 

*Stepping off my soap box now.

Market Basket $38.89

I think I have enough groceries to last a week. I even made sure to purchase some “investment food items”. 

What’s an investment food item you ask? 

An investment food item is something you will conceivably still have {a portion of} in the cupboard when it’s time to head to the grocery store again. My investment items this week are rice, beans, oats, yogurt, salt and pepper.

Chances are pretty high that I won’t eat all of those items in one week. 

Instead of buying 1 pound of rice {at a higher per ounce cost} I decided to buy a month’s supply {at a lower per ounce cost}. 

Instead of buying 1 can of black beans for $0.89, I bought a pound of dried black beans for $1.50. A pound of dried black beans equals roughly 6 cans of beans. All you have to do is cook the dried beans.

See what I mean? Investment items. 🙂

I’ll be sharing more of the ins and outs of why I purchased the items I did next Friday when I share all the meals I made with my first week’s purchase of groceries. 

Hello January! And hello to new challenges.

This year I’m getting back to the basics. And it starts now! 

~Mavis