Woman Feeds Six on $30 a Week!

The woman in front of me in the supermarket check-out line was reading one of those tabloid publications that usually feature sightings of Elvis and two-headed babies from outer space.

“Can you believe this?” she suddenly asked, turning toward me. I figured she was reading about baby aliens.

Instead, she was pointing to a story about Donna McKenna of Casco, Me., with the headline: “How to Feed a Family of Six on $30 a Week!”

“I always wondered if they made this stuff up,” the woman said. “Now I know they do.”

I nodded, writing out a check for $114.

Two days later, home with a sick child, I was watching Amy Decyczyn of Leeds, Me., on the Donahue show talking about how she feeds her family of four on $35 a week. She said she does this by buying in bulk, growing her own vegetables and not allowing a single shred of convenience food in her house.

Eating a frozen waffle, I was overcome with guilt.

Do these mavens from Maine know something the rest of us don’t? Is it possible, in these recessionary times, to cut back on food spending without sacrificing our families’ health?

Statistics show that most families are not quite as thrifty as these two New England women. According to the Food Marketing Institute, in January of 1991 the typical weekly grocery bill for a family of four was $92.

Food costs are also rising, which really pinches the penny-pinchers. According to the most recent figures provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, Americans spent 4% more on food for the home in 1990 than they did in 1989. (And that’s small compared to the nearly 12% jump in food costs from 1988 to 1989.)

For a household of four persons, the Labor Department says 1990’s costs amounted to nearly $70 a week for food only--no paper goods, personal-care or household-cleaning supplies included.

Even the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that $80 a week is the minimum a family of four needs to spend on food alone, based on the menu plan developed for the food-stamp program.

McKenna--who is not a figment of some supermarket tabloid’s imagination--laughs when she hears that. “Yeah, if I were to quit my jobs and go on food stamps, we would get $100 a week to spend on groceries alone, not counting paper goods,” says the mother of four.

Instead, she works at two jobs and really does spend only $30 a week on groceries for herself, her husband, and their children, ages 10, 8, 6 and 4. Her weekly menus include meat loaf, baked chicken, London broil and chili. “We could save more if we ate beans, but we don’t. Kids don’t like them,” she says.

Although she says she’s always been frugal--”It’s a family trait; my mother had to make things stretch for a family of eight”--things really got tight 1 1/2 years ago when her husband lost his job and decided to go to college full time and finish getting his degree.

McKenna says she decided “to do my best without going on welfare. I didn’t think $30 was so little until somebody told us it was.”

McKenna says the most common things people waste money on are convenience foods such as juice boxes for the kids, dry cereal, chips, packaged cookies, frozen pancakes and waffles, and instant oatmeal. All these items really jack up the weekly grocery tab, she says.

Her other tricks include having one meatless dinner a week, such as potato pancakes with homemade applesauce and salad, and buying day-old bread. She also stretches meat portions with potatoes and vegetables. Her beef stew, for instance, is made with only one pound of beef for six servings.

McKenna’s frugal ways have helped boost the family income in more ways than one: At a friend’s suggestion, she wrote a booklet called “The $30-a-Week Grocery Budget,” which she sells for $5.

Last year, thanks to a mention by Maine’s other frugal guru, Amy Decyczyn, who publishes “The Tightwad Gazette,” McKenna sold nearly 4,500 copies of her booklet.

To order “The $30-a-Week Grocery Budget,” send a $5 check or money order (money orders preferred) to Donna McKenna, RR1, Box 189, Casco, Me. 04015.