Basic Menu Outline

By Jessie Paul

Here’s a simple breakdown of how to spend your $7 with some notes below:

$3 - Carbs

$1 - Dried Legumes

$1 - Protein

$1 - Fresh Produce

$1 - Everything Else

Carbs: This is the biggest part of your diet. Check out your local sales and choose what’s best for you: potatoes, flour, oats, rice (although rice is the most commonly eaten around the world it’s surprisingly the most expensive!).

Dried legumes: Find out how far you can stretch your dollar by buying the most affordable dried beans or lentils!

Protein: Eggs or even meat! What’s the most you can find on your dollar. Last year we bought peewee eggs and had one for breakfast each day (cost about fifty cents). I also found a bag of chicken bones at the Chinese market and made chicken broth for fifty cents. 

Fresh produce: What’s on sale? We bought bananas and kale last year. We had half a banana in the mornings and mixed kale into our lentil dhal each night for vitamins. 

Everything else: This is what makes your food palatable. Oil, salt, sugar - these would be our top recommendations. Other ideas are tea bags (we had one a day last year), spices for your beans or lentils and maybe chilli powder for those who like a kick in their food. This section requires the most calculations and weighing/measuring each item so every cent is accounted for. It’s definitely worth the effort because your food will be so much tastier!

Detailed Sample Grocery List & Menu

To inspire you, here is a sample grocery list and menu made by Nigel & Jessie Paul. They've already done the work of finding the cheapest groceries in their neighbourhood, planning out a daily menu, and making sure the budget for the week adds up to only $7.00 per person!

Example Menus from Previous Years

by Jessie - from Toronto, Canada

Breakfast: 1 Small Egg, Potatoes, Banana (Half)
Lunch: Potatoes, Chicken Broth
Dinner: Lentils, Rice or Flour (Homemade Chapatis)
Snacks: Oats

by Martha - from Guelph, Canada

Breakfast: Egg and Apple
Lunch: Broth, Lentils, Carrots
Supper: Chick peas, Curry powder, Spinach, Rice, Onions
Extras: Tea, Banana

By Jimmy - from Toronto, Canada

Breakfast: Oatmeal
Dinner: Hotdog Fried Rice with Frozen Veg

Fey, Sarah, Sharlene, and Tolani - from Toronto, Canada

Breakfast: Oatmeal, Apples, Bananas, Peanut Butter, Eggs
Lunch: Flour (Whole Wheat), Beans, Chick Peas, Tomatoes, Onions, Pumpkin
Dinner: Brown Rice, Potatoes, Carrots, Cabbage, Spices
Extras: Coffee, Ramen Noodles, Lemon

by Shane & Alana - from Surrey, Canada

Pumpkin, Turkey, Egg Whites

By Micha - from Berlin, Germany

Breakfast: Smoothie - Bananas, Magerquark (Yoghurt), Spinach, Kale
Dinner: Vegetable Soup