My Parents weren't exactly low income or poor but we weren't rolling in the dough either. They were incredibly crafty and managed to have an extremely low food budget for a family of 4:
-Would buy half a cow from the butcher once per year. This would last for most, if not, 1 entire year. This cost them, at the time, about 500 bucks for about 200 pounds of beef (depending). A lot of our meals consisted as beef as the protein. -In the summer Dad had a rather large veggy garden and grew his own tomatos, beans, potatos, cucumbers, swiss chard, beats, carrots and usually something different every year. He made enough tomoatoes to can about 100 mason jars of tomatoes and he would make his own pasta sauce with that, as well as use it for goulash. Also potatoes last forever and he would grow at least 50 pounds of them. Freeze the beans, carrots and cucumbers were just ate as they came. It was a shit load of work but he loved to garden. -Eat leftovers for dinner 2 to 3 times a week. Had a family of 4 so make enough for 5 or 6 people, then every second or third day have left overs. -Every meal had at least fresh or canned veggies, a Meat, potatoes or rice (almost always potatoes). When you grow a lot of your own shit and buy beef in huge bulk quantities your price per meal is incredibly low. -NEVER eat out at fancy restaurants except for birthdays or special occasions. Have Fast food maybe once a week as a treat. -They spend about 100 a week for our family of 4, with 2 teenage boys who ate like bottomless pits. IMO that is very reasonable and the bulk of that money was milk, other beverages and snacks/desserts.
Just to be clear:
-Your family had enough money to make a $500 purchase and still be above water for that month -Your family had access to a freezer big enough to store 200lbs of meat and the resources to consistently keep the power on so it didn't go bad. -Your father had access to enough land/had enough time and knowledge on how to garden to grow his own veggies.
Your parents undoubtedly worked very hard and sacrificed a lot to raise you. Please understand that many people do not even have access to what your family did.