Let’s get a list going. Like with a Target debit card you can get $40 cash back and it takes 1 to 2 days to be withdraw from your checking.
Food banks. Look at your local church, synagogue, or mosque. A lot of them do community outreach and have some kind of food bank.
If you’re skipping meals or you have $5 'til next Friday, the food bank is for you. Don’t feel like you’re taking something away from someone “more needy.” It’s you. You’re needy. Take the help. That was a hard lesson to learn in my 20s.
If you have a gurdwara in your area, they often do free meals, almost like a restaurant. Baptist churches tend to have dinners on Wednesdays, and the Hare Krishnas are always good for some heavily dairy vegetarian foods. I wish more people knew this.
I save a ton with my garden and chickens. If you got just a little land. I live in a small town but in the middle of it, but I got my yard used to its maximum potential. You would be surprised what you can fit if you do it right. You can go vertical if you need too. Where you save a so much money isn’t that “oh well, now I don’t have to buy a squash! I saved 3 dollars “ but if you let it dictate your meals it’s what you eat and then you spend 0 dollars on supper. I ate a lot of squash and bok Choy and rice and home baked bread this late summer and it was great every meal. Probably saved nearly $20,000 on groceries those two months. Give or take. (Don’t try squash if you don’t have the room. They are delicious but will straight up take over a given area with huge beautiful leaves and huge wonderful yellow flowers all summer)
How much time do you spend looking after your garden? In my area, I would need to water the garden occasionally (if there is not much rain), figure out a pest mitigation solution (I don’t want to eat squashes half eaten by rodents, weed the plant bed, etc.
I know all this because my father took up gardening as a retirement hobby and quit after a few years because he did not want another full time job.
