need help bad

[rick73]

rick

I am greatful to those who wish to help. I do get food stamps. I get the most that I'm allowed. 154.00 per month. It doesn't go far. I asked about meals on wheels and we don't have that program here. Look, I'm not out to scam anyone. Like I said I am happy to prove my story to anyone that needs me too. I also am not asking for people to send me money. I just need help learning to coupon or something. Our paper doesn't have coupons in it. The paducah sun just doesn't for some reason. I don't know where to get them or how to get stuff free with coupons. If someone can teach me. Please do. I'm willing to learn. If someone can help me get coupons I'd be greatful. Thanks to those who are here to help. To those who ju who pick apart my words, all I csn say I'd god bless u. I hope it makes u happy.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

At that level of food funds, coupons are rarely going to be of help, as they are usually for more expensive products. Forty five cents off of a $3.40 box of mushroom couscous is not going to help you much when you need to spend no more than $1.70 per entire meal.

Have you looked at whether the food pantries listed here will help you and if you can get to any of them? http://www.foodpantries.org/ci/ky-paducah Be sure to click on the city list on the right of the page if you are closer to any of the other towns than to Paducah.

I just read on the Salvation Army Paducah Facebook page that they offer food assistance.

I see two Aldi grocery stores in Paducah. Aldi has basic groceries at basic prices.
5156 Hinkleville Rd
and
3240 James Sanders Blvd,

[rob62521]

We shop Aldi and get most of our food there. Each week they have specials and you can see their ad online.

Kroger has 3 locations in Paducah and if you get one of their loyalty cards, you can load coupons directly to the card. Their weekly ad is also available online.

[rick73]

rick

Yeah I have applied for the only pantry I can get too. Also on the couponing, I watched a show and hsve heard of people doing it and getting stuff free or at hardly any cost because of the coupons. That's what I want to learn to do. Anyway, I don't guess anyone has info on that here, that's ok, I'll be ok. Thanks to those who have helped and I would ck out those stores but I'm 45 mins south of paducah. Thanks though.

[FrugalFish]

Hey Rick, not sure if you've given up on this forum, but on the chance you haven't, I can share my experience of living off very limited food funds.

About 15 years ago, DH and I were broke beyond broke. Our average spending was about $20 per week for food for two people. Food prices have gone up a bit since then, but in a pinch, I'd go back to the same strategy. Coupons are worthless, and you won't likely get for free or bargain the types of foods that we survived on...

Our basics were dried beans, rice, eggs, and potatoes (and a few other things like tortillas, onions, etc- all cheap). Doesn't sound very exciting, but prepared well, they can be very tasty, it's a matter of coming up with some recipes to make them more satisfying. (Many recipes, such as bean and rice burritos, or potatoes and eggs are meals we eat regularly to this day.) To that, we would add any "loss leader" vegetables--- those would be the items that are generally advertised on the front page of the grocery flier, things that are priced to get you in the store. Buy meat sparingly where you can find great prices (loss leaders here too), and portion it out--- freeze in small quantities as needed. You're probably not going to be able to live on a high-meat diet, so it's important to look for affordable protein elsewhere, hence things like beans and lentils.

I still swear by one-dish meals. Something like chili or soup, where you can make a large quantity and freeze portions for later. Lots of flavor, can load it up with beans and in-season vegetables, and still add a small portion of meat to make it satisfying.

Rather than focus on a need to get certain types of food free or cheap, you might be better served by looking into frugal cooking online. Recipes don't need to be time consuming or difficult to be frugal.

Another idea--- but it's been a long time since I've heard much about this--- there are some churches that offer food boxes for $25/week. They don't care who comes and gets them, though as I recall, you sometimes had to sign up in advance. I think they worked this out partly through charity, and partly through buying in bulk through a co-op. It allows them to offer a quite a bit of food for that low price. Search online for something like "$25 food box" and your city or zip code. You may not find anything, but if you find one who offers this, it could be a very good thing for you.

Best of luck.

[ua_guy]

Let's start with a breakdown of all your expenses and all your income for the month. That will help us determine where the money is going and can offer better advice on saving strategy.

I've seen a lot of words tossed around in this thread already. "Couponing" is only so helpful, and there should be a stack of the weekly deals at your local food store. Couponing itself can be dangerous because coupons often encourage you to buy more than you need, or buy things you don't need.

I've heard enough about God this week. God this, god that. God is good for a lot of things, but he doesn't do personal finance. That's a worldly chore. Faith doesn't pay the bills, and you can't eat hope. So let's start the discussion with money and move forward from there.