I found this article over at Old Fashioned Girl and read the original MSN article.
A family of four eating on $100 a week for a month I believe. I agree with a lot of what Amandasaid. The woman in the story is spoiled and it shows. She also knows this is an “experiment” not a way of life. I had to wonder what their normal diet is like when I read “By midweek, we were all a little sick of rice and potatoes. By the end of the week, I never wanted to see another raisin, carrot, pretzel or piece of puffed rice again. ” Seriously? What kind of snacks do they normally have? It seemed odd to me. The article is worth reading at least for the “welcome to the real world” factor. Nothing ground breaking or even inspiring to me, but it did make me giggle.
Simply Catholic 
No ethnic groceries? They have some of the best (and cheapest) produce around. I get most of mine either from there or a farmer’s market. (Added benefit that the stuff is certified organic at a farmer’s market.)
Another way to save money: bulk bins. Seriously you can pick up spices way cheaper (and fresher) than in pre-packaged containers.
If it weren’t for beans and rice, I think I’d starve. Legumes are wonderful because you can make a lot of them and freeze them for later. Plus if I’m making something more expensive (chili, since I like to use stew meat in it), I can bulk stuff out with beans, so it goes further. Preaching to the choir, I know.
That got me too. She really was hamstringed.
“All of the food had to come from a major national grocery chain. No low-priced ethnic markets or bag-your-own-groceries warehouse stores. I could have saved even more, but this had to be something everyone could do.
”
and
“No coupons.”
The first thing especially is just killer. No farmer’s market, no window box herbs, not bread outlet, or Costco/Sam’s/BJ’s. Maybe that is realistic if you live in a tiny town out in the middle of no where, but for most of us discount groceries are an option. Especially for the “stocking up” that she talks about later in the article. Even someone living in Elko, Nevada could drive to a city once every month or two and stock up on pantry goods.
True. I guess I don’t do much stocking up or bread outlets because I don’t have a car or a place to put everything.
Yes, small spaces make storing things a challenge at best, but to limit the shopping to “major national grocery chain”s was stacking the deck against them.
When I was shopping for just me I could pick up the 4 for a $1.00 bread and put those in my little freezer and it would last for about a month. Now I am in love with my deep freeze.