I tried this challenge, 1 Week worth of groceries for $29, I still have the receipt
I bought
Whole Milk - 1 Gallon - $4.09
Honey Cheerios - 21.6 oz - $3.99
Bananas - 7 large ones - $1.38
Sausage Links - 12 oz - $3.89
Honey Cheerios - 21.6 oz - $3.99
Rice - 5 pound bag - $3.99
Chicken thighs, 8 big pieces, - $7.79
Bread - one loaf - $1.99
Tuna - 3 cans - $2.79
Breakfast:
1 cup of milk
1 cup of Cheerios
morning snack
1 Banana + 1 Cup of milk shake
Lunch
1 Chicken Thigh
1 1/2 cups of rice
Afternoon snack
Sausage links + 1 cup of rice
Dinner
Tuna sandwich
I made it to the end of the week, surprisingly I wasn't hungry, I didn't eat up all the sausage links and I had a shit load of rice left, what surprised me the most is that I could eat meat (chicken, tuna and sausage) every day and get a moderate amount of protein (80-100g) at a budget
However, If it had to live like this, I would probably go big and buy in bulk a month's worth of stuff with $29x4 = $116
and I would buy my protein powder which is $40 for ~60 25g protein servings, and take 2 daily on snacks to reduce meat and buy other stuff
I'd have to say this was a great experience, before that I used to waste $400-500 a month of food, now I'm down to $200~ including my supplements