I’m a 92-Year-Old Retiree Living in New Mexico — Here’s What I Make with a $64 Weekly Grocery Haul

Name: Florence
Location: Alamogordo, New Mexico
Age: 92
Number of people in household: 1
Occupation: Retired/Writer
Salary: Social Security
Where you shopped: Walmart
Weekly food budget: $55.00
Amount spent: $64.06

This week, I shopped at Walmart. I ordered online with curbside pickup from Walmart, as I have for several years. For meat specials my go-to is Albertsons Market and occasionally Lowe’s Market, but I don’t shop at those stores every week and didn’t need to go this week. I also go to the Dollar Tree once a month for paper items and birthday cards.

Because I am eligible for food bank items each month, my refrigerator and freezers are always full, and I have a variety of canned foods at home. The first of each month I order milk, eggs, butter, and fresh vegetables online, along with laundry supplies, pharmacy items (other than prescriptions), paper goods, and dog food for my tiny Chihuahua companion. I sometimes buy a rotisserie chicken and freeze the meat I don’t use in the first day or two for future casseroles or soup. The carcass provides broth for cooking. 

Where I live, Albertsons Market has a section of the meat counter with discounted meat items that are approaching their “sell by” date. These are often in smaller portions that are just right for one person. When I find a package I can use, I repackage and freeze as soon as I get it home. It’s a surprising assortment and I have never had any problems with the quality of the meat I’ve bought.

Meal planning is easy because usually I have only myself to plan meals for. I subscribe to several cooking/recipe newsletters and often print out recipes for future use. When I cook there is often at least an additional serving for the next day, or possibly to freeze. 

I make a batch of breakfast burritos (hot sausage, refried beans, mild green chilis, and cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla) or posole (pork, onions, green chilis, hominy, chicken broth) to freeze. I recently made a spinach frittata to use up a quantity of spinach passed along by a friend. Cut into squares, flash frozen and then wrapped for storage, these servings are easily heated for breakfast or lunch.

I plan my meals to first use the fresh vegetables in my refrigerator. I always have pasta and vegetables to use as a base for a meal, again using fresh items first for stir-fry or angel hair with chicken, pork, or shrimp. I eat at restaurants a few times a month, always for lunch; the helpings are usually large, so my leftovers are enough for another meal at home.

• Sliced sourdough bread, $2.48
• Russet potatoes, $2.97
• Asparagus, $3.96
• Cauliflower, $2.68
• Broccoli crowns, $1.68
• Whole white mushrooms, $2.08
• Bananas, $0.54
• Apple fritters, $1.97
• Sweet brewed iced tea, $2.98
• Chicken leg quarters, $6.72
• Hot premium sausage roll, $2.32
• Classic roast medium ground coffee, $3.92
• Cheese crackers, $2.23
• Toasted rice crisps breakfast cereal, $1.84
• Saltine crackers, $1.32
• Shredded kraut, $2.97
• Heavy whipping cream, $4.98
• Whipped topping, $0.98
• Fat-free half-and-half, $5.20
• Lower sodium pork bacon, $4.98
• 2% Reduced Fat Milk, $5.24

Total: $64.06

I start the day with coffee and a bowl of cereal before heading to Walmart to pick up groceries I had ordered the day before. When I get home, I finish my mug of coffee and eat half a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese. At noon, I stop long enough for a chicken sandwich made with rotisserie chicken I had bought earlier in the week paired with sliced Swiss cheese on the sourdough bread from my grocery order and iced tea (also from this morning’s order). Supper is a homemade sausage/bean burrito with a sliced orange and asparagus.

Sunday is Easter! I am invited to my son’s for dinner. Before that, breakfast at church is an egg and sausage burrito with fresh fruit, a hash brown casserole, and coffee, of course. Our delicious Easter dinner features baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans (from last summer’s garden), fruit salad I brought to the feast, and a cherry-apple pie. 

I start the day with the usual coffee and a slice of zucchini-apple bread courtesy of my daughter-in-law! For lunch at home I make another grilled sandwich — this time with ham and Swiss with a dill pickle and chips on the side, and a glass of iced tea. I want to use some of the fresh vegetables in my fridge, so supper is half an avocado plus angel hair pasta mixed with chicken broth, asparagus, and Parmesan cheese, with a glass of milk.

Breakfast is coffee and the other half of that cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese. I have a ham and Swiss sandwich on sourdough for lunch again, with a small dill pickle and chips. For supper I slice and sauté a small, thin pork chop (from my freezer) in butter and add frozen stir-fry vegetables and asparagus. The stir-fry is served over brown rice with low-sodium soy sauce.

Coffee and four Alabama Fire Crackers start the day, followed mid-morning by a homemade sausage/bean burrito and a sliced orange. (The Alabama Fire Crackers are Saltines combined with canola oil, dressing mix, and spices left to marinate overnight in a plastic bag. Really yummy!) Lunch is a cheese crisp, a small slice of ham from Easter, and fruit salad, also left over from Sunday. For supper I make an omelet with ham, asparagus, and cheese. 

My usual mug of coffee, which lasts all morning and four of those fire crackers, followed mid-morning by one of my burritos and an orange — an early lunch. I make sautéed salmon with mashed potatoes, spinach, and have a glass of milk for dinner, followed by the last of a small carton of pecan ice cream.

The leftover omelet from Wednesday makes a delicious burrito tucked into a flour tortilla for breakfast with a tangerine and coffee. Lunch is a can of drained tuna with lemon and black pepper and plain Saltine crackers. For supper I make a large pan of green chili chicken enchiladas for a friend in the middle of moving, and a smaller casserole for myself. 

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