Hmm I'm not sure I agree with this. IMO vegetarians have to work twice as hard to make sure they meet all their daily req. and I know that many look for higher quality products...many of my veg friends also supplement their diets with vits and various minerals. Also, if children are going without meats (I'm assuming we're not referring to true blue veganism but more lacto-ovo vegetarians) you really need to make sure that you cover all their nutritional requirements.

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Santa gets all the credit but I swipe the card...

Rosie
Single mom of 2 boys~ DS#1 (17) & DS#2 (6)
Burn the good candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion...Today IS special.

I don't think I could do it for $25 bucks these day unless there was an awesome sale. I could do it for $40 for sure.

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SILENCE IS GOLDEN BUT DUCK TAPE IS SILVER.

Wow! $25 goes fast - just doing some math on the stuff we buy!
I think just about anyone COULD do it if they had to. It wouldn't be the most healthy week, and would be dangerous if that was the diet over a long period of time. But we wouldn't go hungry.

The funny thing is the OP stated $25 until the next pay so for me (and many others) technically the question was "could you make $25 stretch over 14 days"!!!! Shoot I went over that just for one week!

__________________
Santa gets all the credit but I swipe the card...

Rosie
Single mom of 2 boys~ DS#1 (17) & DS#2 (6)
Burn the good candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion...Today IS special.

I could not do it. Neither of your ideas include snacks for kids..how would you handle that?

First I am going to say it would only be a week for me since we get paid weekly.

Since I love to cook and bake I have flour, sugar, soda, etc on hand so I will get the essentials to stretch the staples

2 doz eggs- 1.76
2 gal milk- 3.98
3 cans of tuna- 1.80
Peanut butter- 2.00
#10 can of whole tomatoes- 2.47
#10 can of pineapple- 3.49
4 heads of romaine lettuce-2.48
5 lbs of potatoes- 2.50
2lbs of dry beans-2.38 (already have cornmeal)
large bag of brocolli-2.00

total is 24.86 for a week

My prices are based on Sams for the #10 cans, lettuce and brocolli
The rest is Wal-Mart

I would make my own bread and could make pasta if nesessary.

I would serve: Egg and potaoes mixed with brocolli and covered in salsa (we always have salsa as my DH makes it from scratch) we can have these in lettuce cups instead of tortillias.

Tuna with pineapple and eggs on lettuce cups, and because we strech it with the pineapple we can have it for lunch the next day.

Pancakes and I have all of the stuff to make syrup since it is just sugar and some flavoring

Peanut butter on toast or pb sandwiches with milk

Beans and cornbread

Pasta with spagetti sauce, I like it with no meat anyway

Pizza with no meat I could omit something and purchase the cheese or we could try it with no cheese. Not sure if that would go over well but we like bufallo chicken and it has no cheese so maybe.

This would be healthy since we are eating eggs, peanut butter, lean tuna, and have a fruit and two veggies. My flour of choice is whole wheat, the kids could either have Kool-aide we have some of it or they could drink ice water which is very health. We also are getting two gallons of milk so they will be fine.

I also have coupons so it might change depending on the week for coupons but if I had to go with not coupons this would be it.

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A Family of 5's quest to forget the Joneses.

You have flour and other staples, so you could make muffins, or possibly a cookie of some kind.

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A Family of 5's quest to forget the Joneses.

Most of you have included PB and eggs (and we already assumed we'd have sugar) so with 1 cup PB, 1 egg, and 1 cup sugar - you can make awesome PB cookies - my kids love them. Throw in a few choc chips if you have them in the cabinet and you have PB/chocolate chip cookies - yum! I might have to make those tonight now!

I fall into the apparently more rare category of "the next pay day" could literally be 30 days away if it's a 31-day month...so obviously, we couldn't do that on $25! Again, we also have dietary considerations so that makes it more difficult (dd - no soy milk; ds - no milk/products!)
Items I'd buy:
gallon skim milk ($1.98 - was on sale at Kroger for 1.98 this week)
2 qts soy milk (5.00)
2 boxes pasta (1.66)
4 cans pasta sauce (3.52) (the cheapest in the cans is cheaper than buying the tomatoes to make it)
2 pks Italian sausage (3.99 BOGO this week))(or any other bratwurst, sausage, on sale) - cut up and put in with pasta/sauce....use pieces sparingly
2 doz eggs - (1.98)
ww bread (1.76)
PB (2.00)
jelly (2.00)
3 bags carrots (on sale at Kroger for .39/bag)

Total is $25.06
Also, I have peaches and strawberries in my freezer from our garden so those could supplement in the fruit/veggie category - on top of pancakes, french toast, with a batter for cobbler, or just thawed out in a bowl!
Obviously, I have eggs/toast, pancakes, or french toast, or biscuits/gravy for breakfasts (most of that comes from my staples)
Lunches: sandwiches, carrots
Dinners: we love breakfast for dinner, make french bread from staples - use these with some cut up sausages and cheese/peppers from freezer to make hot sandwiches, pasta with sausage, pasta w/o meat, leftovers from at least one meal...and if I didn't buy the PB/jelly (really, it's in my pantry all the time!), I'd add in a couple of those 8-pks of ramen noodles for filler on other meals.

Again, like everyone else has said...it wouldn't be fun, it wouldn't be super healthy but short term it could be done - wow! Now, I might want to try it next week!

I usually stay pretty low on groceries by shopping loss leaders at the various grocery stores in my area (I'm lucky that way). My list is based on prices from several stores using circulars this week that would be on my way to and from places (no special trips)

This week it would be:
1lb ground beef-$1.00
2# Spaghetti Noodles-$1.00
2 Jars Spaghetti Sauce-$2.00
1 Shredded Cheese-$1.00
2 Packs of brats-$5.00
Brat Buns-79cents
Whole Gold'n Plump Chicken $3.33
Blueberries-$1.00
1# Carrots- 79cents
Head of Lettuce-79cents
French Bread-$1.00
Target Brand Peanut Butter-$1.37
Gallon Skim Milk-$1.57
Trail Mix Crunch Cereal-50 cents after coupon
18 count eggs-$1.00
Pretzels-99cents
Vanilla Wafers-1.00
10# Bag Potatoes-$2.49
TOTAL=$25.05

We'd do cereal, toast or eggs for breakfast. Blueberries for side.

Lunch would be PB sandwiches or leftovers. Pretzels and carrots for sides.

Dinners would be:
*Spaghetti + Salad
*French Bread Pizza (using spaghetti sauce & cheese) + Salad
*Brats + Fried Potatoes
*Brats + Baked Potatoes
*Whole Chicken + Potatoes
*Leftover Chicken + Potatoes
*Baked Potato Bar with cheese

Extra that I always have on hand that would be available in a true cost-cutting grocery budget week.
25# Flour-$6.48
Oil-$1.79
Yeast-$3

I would make pizza crusts, homemade bread and buns. The flour, oil and yeast would last much longer than a week and I could do the same thing each week to save money. I actually always do that anyway and it lasts forever so I don't really even factor it into my actual costs. I really should figure out how much a loaf of bread or pizza crust would actually cost to make.

I always find these kinds of things interesting with the differences in diets.

I could do it no problem right now (we have a large garden that is giving us all kinds of yummy produce--squash, zucchini, tomatoes, cantaloupe, strawberries, herbs, peppers, cucumber, plus I can trade my produce for eggs with a coworker).

Middle of winter, not so sure.

But, this isn't really an issue for us. I make sure to stockpile so that I don't get into this situation because I sure like to eat and don't like to go hungry!

But, if my stockpile burned down or something, I would focus on dried beans and rice, as well as bruised/very ripe veggies, and marked down meat etc. I think that for the cost, dried beans are about the best nutrition out there. And my family loves them. Nothing like pinto beans and cornbread for a meal (we are southerners). You can also sprout them if you have the patience. With beans and rice, you can do mexican-style cooking (bean enchiladas with cornmeal or flour homemade tortillas), southern, indian, etc. I am assuming that you have a decent spice/herb rack, but even tabasco and some cumin can jazz up beans and rice.