$10 Grocery List

With food and gas prices on the rise, we're all feeling a greater pinch in our pocketbooks. And as the economy gets deeper into the recession, the possibilities of layoffs and long-term unemployment are becoming more real. This is the perfect time for us to practice our survival skills.

Recently, I came across this thread on the MommySavers Forums which asked the question:

If you were down to your last $10 and had to buy groceries to get you through the week, what would you buy? Could you do it?

It was interesting to see how many responders stated simply "Nope. Couldn't do it." "We'd starve." "We couldn't even by milk with $10." while others rose to the challenge and thought about what they would buy. The key to survival is knowing that if you had to do it, giving up is not an option.

So what would you buy? While I was at the store for my regular shopping list, I decided to write down a few prices of the most likely candidates to see what sort of shopping list I could come up with for $10. It doesn't have very many items on it, and the menu it would create would be monotonous over the course of a week, but no one would starve.

• carrots
- 67 cents a pound - $1.00

• bouillon cubes
- 67 cents

• tomato sauce
- 25 cents per 8 oz can (2) - $.50

• rice
- 1 lb bag - 95 cents

• beans
- 20 oz bag - $1.00

• oatmeal
- 20 oz box - $1.20

• eggs
- 1 dozen - $1.69

• flour
- 5 lb. bag - $1.58

• margarine
- 60 cents

• baking powder
- 79 cents

• TOTAL - $9.98

The menu for the week would include oatmeal, rice & beans, soup, biscuits, tortillas, fried rice, eggs, rice with tomato sauce, and rice cereal. Not a lot of variety, but hopefully enough to keep the three of us from going hungry.

It gets easier when one considers stockpiling. Most of the things on the list are currently in my fridge and pantry, and a not unsubstantial cache of frozen meat and veggies as well. I chose to create the list as if I had nothing in the pantry but the basic seasonings, so if someone was in dire straights but didn't know what they could buy for such a small sum, they could use this list as a starting place.