I'm sorry to hear of your tight financial situation.

As for food, there is probably an easy solution. You can stock on regular canned foods durable items like rice or pasta from the supermarket. That's what equipped.org recommends over MREs and freeze-dried food as a more economical choice. It probably tastes better (or at least no worse). The main drawback is inconvenience: it's bulky and heavy (compared to freeze-dried food), and it may require a bit of preparation (more hassle than MREs). However, if you're bugging in, that shouldn't be a big factor.

Are you preparing for an earthquake?