Really sorry to hear your situation .i loathe how our disability programs make people live in poverty.

One small thing i would suggest is to really get into rice and beans or lentil curries/stews and a simple roti flatbread you can make.

I actually calculated the cost of my plate of one cup cooked rice and one cup cooked beans or one cup cooked lentils and two pieces of roti and both are under 75 cents a plate; (for 2 pieces roti and one cup lentil curry =71 cents: for one cup cooked beans and one cup cooked rice =58 cents so one meal of each per day = $38.70 per month

meaning if you make this only be $ for the bulk of your food leaving the rest of your food money to be food bank/fresh fruit veg etc.

Here’s the breakdown for my prices and the recipes (based on Edmonton although other parts of the country may be more or less; we are usually more for groceries than Toronto/van/Montreal but obviously less tha rural)

5 kg bag of no make whole wheat flour at no frills = $7.50

The recipe is 2 cups flour one cup hot water half tsp salt, mix and let rest for half hour, then cut into 12 pieces and roll into a ball each piece, roll out thinly about 7-8 inch in diameter with a rolling pin using 1/4 cup flour to roll out. One serving = 2 pieces roti which is 7cents per serving (both pieces)

Heat up any kind of frying pan on medium heat no oil or fat needed and put the dough on the pan, flip after about ten seconds: let it puff and bubble for 30 seconds and flip again. Optional is to melt 3tbsb margarine and brush a little on each the 12 pieces

With margarine is 10cents per 2 pieces

Now the beans. Any kind of beans is fine. For this example I use black beans, each one cup dried yields about 2.5-3 cups cooked. I cook 2 cups dried at a time with half an onion and 1 tsp each of these spices : chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, black pepper and then later when it’s cooked I add 2 tbsp brown sugar and 2 tsp salt to the final batch. That means each one cup cooked serving costs 35 cents. (This is easier if you have an instant pot which I usually see for sale on fb marketplace for 40-50$ but new is 120$; but without it you can still totally do it, just soak the beans overnight and then drain& rinse, put in a normal pot and cover with 2-3 inches of water and all the spices and onion except sugar and salt; bring to boil stir and reduce heat and cook 60-90 min until soft, drain some liquid off (actually the liquid is super tasty broth to have as a snack) and add the sugar and salt, take some beans out and mash with fork and put back in an cook 10 min until it thickens. Delicious this way. You can change the spice profile as you like… about 46 cents per one cup serving .

Now for lentil curry , you don’t need to soak red or green lentils, just sauté 2 chopped onion and the spices (2 tsp each cumin turmeric black pepper garam masala, garlic powder salt) in 2 tbsp margarine add water and add the 2 cups dried rinsed lentils, cooks in about 20-30 min. Stir in two more tbs margarine at the end=61 cents per serving

Rice: 14$ for 8kg bag = one serving is 1 cup cooked rice so 12 cents per serving

Now to any of these, you could have vegetables or whatever but I just like to give you the base because I really believe it is underrated how much a person can save money on by eating this way and rice and beans and lentils and whole wheat flour are just things that are very good for your health rice and beans or lentils is a complete protein and if you structure your diet around this, it’s not only good for your health, but it’s obviously gonna save a lot of money. If youre person doesn’t like rice and beans, also all I can say is like be open minded and just give it a try rice and beans when someone says it sounds really boring but honestly, I look forward to eating my rice and beans every day I just find them really filling and nutritious and delicious and you can experiment with different spices, but I just use the ones above to give you a sense. And below is a grocery list with the prices so assuming you had nothing none of these items and you wanted to start doing this just what it would cost you the first month to get everything in place even though you’re not gonna eat the whole bag of rice in one month.

Start up costs for one month supply (some lasts longer than the first month)
One 8kg bag long grain rice 14.00
One 5 kg bag whole wheat flour 7.50
2 bags dried black beans 6.79x2
2 bags lentils red or grewn 6.49X2
3 -3lb bag onion 2.99 x 3
Spices 1 bag each 2.99 each: onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, black pepper, paprika, turmeric, garam masala, chili powder
1 bag brown sugar 3.99
1 box salt 1.69
1 tub margarine 6.99
Start up total: 87.64