Creative Cooking on a Budget

Stretching Your Grocery Dollars

April is our Gregory L. Manifold Food Pantry Campaign Month, and we know just how hard it can be to make food stretch, especially with rising grocery prices. This “resource roundup” was created by our own non-medical case manager, Lauren Walters, who regularly helps clients navigate these challenges. Whether you’re a pantry client or just looking for realistic, affordable ways to eat well, Lauren highlights a variety of creators who share smart, balanced meal ideas on a tight budget. Every donation to our pantry this month helps ensure our community continues to have access to nutritious groceries and resources like this. 💚

Online Creators Who Make It Work

Not sure how to make your food stretch? Not sure how to eat a balanced diet on a strict budget? Here are some creators on YouTube and TikTok who make meals on extreme budgets while still prioritizing balance and health: 

Dollar Tree Dinners
This creator regularly makes affordable meal plans based around Dollar Tree and Dollar General ingredients. Some budget challenges are at stores like Food Lion (Kroger), as well. Common food challenges she does: $20-$35 weekly grocery budget, $100 monthly grocery budget, $20 Thanksgiving dinner, etc. 

See Mindy Mom
Mindy will teach you how to make affordable, balanced meals at stores like Walmart and Aldi. Common challenges she does: $10-$30 weekly budget and $2-$5 meals. She also teaches about how to stock up on pantry items by using sales ads, shopping in-season, and how to clip digital coupons.  

Frugal Fit Mom
Christine will teach you how to shop sales, shop the ads, and look for sales in-store. Some of her challenges include: 120-130 meals for $30-$45, eating for $1 per day, $10 weekly budget, $100 monthly budget, etc.  

Julia Pacheco
Julia shows you how to make affordable casseroles, slow cooker meals, and meals that only take 3-5 ingredients. Her meal plans are generally at Walmart. She also has budget challenges like: 70 meals for $25, 25 meals for $5, $10 weekly budget, etc.  

She’s in Her Apron
A working mom with ADHD, Kimmy focuses on stocking up on a budget by shopping seasonal sales on food items. She also shows how to shop at Costco or Sam’s Club on a budget. 

Cheap Lazy Vegan
Whether you are a vegan, a vegan enthusiast, a vegetarian, a non-vegan interested in a more sustainable and ethical lifestyle, check out this page. Scroll back to her older videos about eating as healthy as possible on a low budget. 

Food Pantry Girl on TikTok
Accessing her own community’s food pantries, she creatively makes balanced meals from what she receives.  

Kristin Stepp
She focuses a lot on affordable slow cooker meals, dinners, and lunches.