Hi everyone! I created these meal cards for anyone who only has $5 in their pocket right now and need to eat! Prices are as of 11/06/2025 from a Walmart in Southern California. The card uses pre-sale pricing for the ingredients, but there are a lot of things on sale right now because of the upcoming holidays, so hopefully you can save a little extra money!
There are eight recipes of $5 each, however if you have more money upfront, I recommend looking at one of my $40 for 5 Family Dinner cards as it gives you more bang for your buck. Have a great week!
\*EDIT**:* If you're going to follow my recipe card for the Lentil Tomato Rice meal, the instructions should say to use half the bag of lentils, not the entire bag. Sorry about that!
by spring-rolls-please
14 Comments
The Pioneer gravy, biscuits and sausage is really good. If you can spare a few bucks, I like to upgrade the sausage to Jimmy Dean’s. It tastes a better imo, just takes longer.
The lentils combo has a lot of potential if you have the right spices.
I make a lentil curry that has similar ingredients.
Edit: just wanted to add, this combo will feed you for days.
The chili Mac and cheese honestly I’d use a can of chili.
THIS IS AWESOME~~!!! so simple and so cost effective! Thanks for sharing
These are great ideas.
Please share to r/povertyfinance
My ultimate cheap meal is my cheap spaghetti. I’m in Georgia so the prices might be different but it’s under $5 in my area, just wanted to add it on if you’re looking for submissions.
GV Spaghetti – 98c
Vienna Sausage – 98c
Tomato Paste – 86c
Bell Pepper – 78c
Yellow Onion – 75c
Roma Tomato x2 – 48c ea
(onion and tomatoes are by weight, it’s 94c and 97c per lb)
While the pasta boils, chop up the pepper and half an onion, add them to a hot pan to cook, once they’re softened add in cut up sausage and let it brown while cooking in those yummy onion and pepper bits, then add chopped tomato and can of tomato paste, let the tomato paste soften and mix in with the other veggies. Once integrated, mix in 1 1/2 cup of water.
Season additionally with whatever else you have.
The people making these menus on this sub are angels.
Just want to say I appreciate the work that goes into these.
First holy moly how cool! Second Thank you so much!
I love you
Best bang fot your buck at Walmart: 10 pound bag of frozen chicken leg quarters
Walmart should be paying you to make these
It’s hard for me to come up with cheap easy meals so this is a game changer I wish I could pin this or something so I can come across this post again in the future
Compiled in a pdf https://www.ilovepdf.com/download/v326pzw5kzxAdx1hrq89Askk4Amnq43c29mtyxs8n0kts32mzzl5q2vcckqxtyA1sbhdrcybj18ytzfbcbxhm7gj6yc54tvg3br1xr30ttt06411bp999Axrghngh2cb97j69jjvxkgv9xvm9k4k5zgkld5cb2msscp6dr28ndbdk44z8qj1/32