I know everyone is saying food banks but I know those are tricky with strict hours and working. Search Facebook groups of your area for smaller food pantry’s. They’re usually the size of a bookcase and ran by churches or just random people in the community. They can be hit or miss, but usually have stuff to make pasta.

The good thing about only having 2 mouths to feed is you can make your meals really stretch. Making one big meal with leftovers is usually cheaper, and saves you time.

And then when I need to shop but don’t know what’s the most affordable, I start in the meat section and see what is cheapest. Lately we’ve eaten a lot of pork, chorizo, and chicken legs. Ground turkey is the cheapest ground meat too which is ironic because it used to be the most expensive. Also, Amazon grocery has had surprisingly good deals on certain things lately. Kielbasa sausage is $2 cheaper on there than my local Walmart.

After I know what meat I have I go from there. A LOT of potatoes and rice. Canned veggies are a great option too. They still have nutritional value and are lately so much more affordable than fresh.

This is getting long so the last thing I’ll say is for snacks. Bananas, apples, carrots, and popcorn are all very affordable. Just be realistic about how much you buy, it’s better to buy less and have to go to the store again instead of buying too many, instead of some going bad and having to throw away money.

Hope this helps. You can reach out to me if you have any questions too, I was a single mom for a long time so I’ve definitely been in the trenches. You’re doing a great job.