I would be careful about buying minutes. I used to have a phone where I had to do that, and I never used my phone, but every once in a while, I'd try to make a phone cal, and I could only talk for maybe 5 minutes before it said my minutes were done. Turns out they were double selling, so someone else was using mine.
Consumer cellular looks pretty good, and if you search their website, some of the phones are pretty cheap. Here's one- 27 dollars down 3 dollars per month, and you can add that to a basic plan
https://www.consumercellular.com/shopping/details/moto_g_play_2023/details They have a special offer for AARP too.