sorry to burst your bubble Lube
but Terry neglected to document , the fact that you'll have to quit drinking them 4 sixpacks a day...


true , it's not about eating, as the title of the thread suggests
but it's a sacrifice you'll have to make if you wanna bounce dimes :D:D

I'd go with almonds before the banana, only because of he insane carb/ sugar level in the nanner. But nuts are expensive on a $5 a day budget ( I go through a large bag a week).

True - Almonds are pretty pricey, even at Sam’s Club. Sunflower seeds are a little better but I would have to go with the unsalted version, Walnuts and Cashews and Pistachios are priced out of bounds. I guess if I went with bird seed…naa, that’s just stupid!

I should call this the Porsche Diet – cuz the only way to afford one is to eat like this!

well, actually .... i did have 6 months where i didn't eat in the evening, to cut costs and to finance that rebuild of mine...

past that now... just got home

cut up an onion , one tomato
fried the onions, added the tomato
lid on , had it simmer till the tomatoes were collored nicely
then scrambled 2 eggs

then served that with 4 slices of prosciutto di Parma

the whole thing melts in the mouth , pretty happy with it...

all things added up , no more then 3.5 euro's , the bulk beeing the Parma which cost me 2 ...

i'm sure it's not super healthy like "grains" or "greens" , but it sure as hell beats anything from any fast food franchise anywhere in the world...
and considering it only took me 7 minutes, i doubt i can drive to Micky D and get something ordered and delivered faster either...

Mike,

The advice about regular produce is right on. Using fresh vegetables, rice, pasta, etc, you can make great meals and freeze the rest.

Two key ingredients in this are; more than one person (you need an audience for your creativity) and a big, very cold freezer. Planning is very important. With the right stuff your menu can be much more exciting than Ramen and PB&J. Your $3/day/person can save up for some exciting meals. The most important thing is you want to eat healthy and not get board.

Go by a local Jr. college or culinary school and talk to the teachers. Perhaps you can be a class project. That might be an easy way to maintain documentation and even better nutrition.


I’m the shopper and chef in our family and generally cook real meals every time. We eat very properly with lots of vegis, salad and fruit. I don’t buy on a budget but I just looked in the big freezer and found:
Three boneless pork loin roasts, one is 5.2#, $0.99/#, $5.18, others similar.
Rib-eye roast bone-in 5.89#, $11.14 “manager’s special”
Boneless lamb sirloin steaks 0.9#, $5.99/#, 2-for-1 is about $1.75 each. One is a great serving and just as good as two $7 ea lamb chops.
There is a 20+# turkey that needs to be cooked. I’ll bet it was $5 last Thanksgiving.
There are a bunch of pot roast bargains that I use to make a great classic beef stew (potatoes, onions, carrots, celery).
I see two Stouffers 6# “party size” lasagna that I paid $3 ea last winter (bought six and at least three went to the teens over Christmas in one gulp).

There were also a bunch of freezer containers of my spaghetti sauce, stuffed bell peppers, turkey tetrazzini and more.

You can do this by watching for (and recognizing) the bargains.
With the current freezing and sealing stuff you can take advantage of what is in season – gee just like ancient times.


Sounds like a fun and healthy project. Go for it.
Post a daily report here and you will get moral support. Oops, this is OT, more than likely you will only be abused. HeHe

Best,
Grady

I lived pretty cheap in college. Rice and split pea soup is cheap! My dad had it pretty bad. There are pictures of him after he graduated from law school. He looked like a skeleton. He paid his way through school. Meals sometimes had to be sacificed.
Mike

Grady - interesting angle. I am an adjunct at UNT. I spend 2 days a week there. It would be very easy to hook up with a prof in the nutri dept and put something together. The concept is actually compelling and maybe it could turn itself into something.

the basic notion is "how little can somebody spend and still remain healthy?"

Mike,

It will be important to define the criteria. You want to include all food but not supplies and condiments. What else? Where is the dividing line?

For example is the butter/margarine/olive oil you cook with food, supply or condiment? Ask the same for the jar of salsa, the sprinkle of Parmesan or Romano, the daub of mustard, etc. Perhaps a way might be to start fully stocked, keep track of use and apportion cost and finally decide if replacement is warranted when used up.

How are you going to account for the exceptions? Surely you will go out to dinner with friends, have dinner parties, afternoon BBQ, etc. Devise a method to account for this “time out.”

No begging or mooching but free samples are just fine. The stores I use are willing to split produce and sell me ½ head of cabbage or lettuce for ½ price if sold by the unit. Lots of stores will give away slightly bruised or soon to wilt produce. How are you going to keep track of the cost of items?

You will probably find yourself shopping at many more stores than you do now in order to find the bargains. You aren’t considering time and fuel here.

How are going to calculate stuff you have in your pantry?

What do you consider booz? That has lots of carb-only calories.

Aside from needing Joy of Cooking and a few others, public libraries are full of good cookbooks. You will want a nutrition encyclopedia, a good cooking scale and measurers.

Spoilage and waste will kill your goal. Good planning will help there.

This isn’t to be a gruesome “starvation” exercise but fun and healthy. Your docs might be worth consulting. Have “before” and “one-year-later” physicals. A good bathroom scales and calendar log will help. I’ll bet you both are leaner, healthier, eaten better and enjoyed it more a year from now after spending less than $2190 for food (365 days X $3/day X 2 people).

Best,
Grady

Dang Grady all I ever wanted to do was save a little money and loose a little weight! Actually, what you are stating makes great sense. For purely empirical reasoning, all those parametrs should be considered.


You are correct, I should lay out what the overall objective is. On a pure ecomonic reason, a health reason or a blend of the two and to what depth to engage such a study. I suppose there is grant money available and if I really wanted to be savy I would pitch it to the AARP and the greek community at the universitys (as a way to hit 2 powerful demographics that are price and health conscience) look for sponsorship, write the findings in a book, publish, get on Opra and Phil, begin the branding of a whole line of food stuff, get the majors th carry them, branch to a clothing line, open some gyms on the side - let them go out of business to collect as a tax shelter on the lose, sponsor a NASCAR, buy ad sapce during the Super Bowl, start a website with a forum and begin my collection of Porches!

Hmmm...going cheap would never get me soo rich! Then I could afford to eat a fat Prime Rib with sour cream smathered taters...

i've been cutting back on my fat & sugar intake lately (to combat the quit smoking weight gain), and been upping on veggies and fruits considerably, and must say it's working out pretty good...

i used to make spaghetti , then eat 4 big plates over the course of the evening... now i eat one small one at 20h30, and another small one at 10h30... probably in total the same as one of the old style big plates
and freeze the rest...
same for other meals, now i even select smaller packs of meat in the supermarket, no more 600 gram roast beefs that vanish in one go,
instead i end up with 200 gram , that is eaten in 2 goes

at the same time, i've quit drinking soda's, just water and milk
no more fried food in the cantine @ work, but yogurt instead

when i do ravioli , i add cream spinage
adding onions and tomatoes to other quick meals
less liberal use of cooking fat or oils
less mayonaise , or other prefabricated sauces
small changes like that, low effort, not hard core diet at all
and i don't get the idea, that my food is less tasty
on the contrary... it's better
but i guess , for me , i wouldnt have noticed back when i smoked
so it's a complete "change" package for me

Mike,

Allright! Now you can sponsor my son’s desire for the
GT3 Porsche Cup. How about an advance? :D :D


Stijn, good for you! SmileWavy
Not only can you afford the next round with the “S”
but you will live long enough to enjoy it. :)

Best,
Grady :cool:

Oh yea, I just got home from the local Farmer’s Market. “Peaches & cream” sweet corn picked yesterday afternoon. Tomatoes right off the vine. The best green beans of the season, picked yesterday. Perfect peaches from western Colorado. And more and more. Fresh fruit & vegetable heaven.

Now I need to sort out what I give to an elderly neighbor who doesn’t get out much.

Not cheep but the best possible. We used to have a 1.2 acre garden on an empty neighborhood lot but they paved over paradise and there are now wall-to-wall townhouses.

Best,
Grady

Grady - we are in a Farmers Market collective with a few other families. Each week somebody would go to the Farmers Market in Dallas and buy an assortment and then divi it out. Great produce at great prices. You never know what you'll get with such a system.

You all cannot be Porsche owners. Everyone knows that you can go to Costco and live on samples, for free. Well almost, you do have to pay the annual fee of $50. That works out to less than $1 per week.

two words "PrimateChow" from Purina, last I heard, it was about 20 cents a day.

fully balanced meal, all you need in one bag.

Jim

Here's the final answer:

Malt-O-Meal cereal. It's a couple bucks for the big bag, which will last you at least 3-4 days, is fortified with vitamins and nutrients, and there are multiple "flavors" to choose from. Eat it with water, or get fancy and add fat-free milk on special occasions. Only 200-250 calories per serving, too. It's my professional opinion that you can effectively live on it.

sure there are boring ways to eat healthy at 5 a day or even less

but the point is , to do it in a non boring way
where you get variation in your meals, and the meals themself are tasty...

a bag of cereal, or monkey chow is not really all that imho
i would get very depressed on such a diet

Re: Is It Possible to Live (eat) on $5/Day?
 

You lucky 'mericans. We're up to US$6.90 per pound for regular bananas in Australia now!
They're the new gold standard
:p

1 euro 60 for 700 gram of banannas
that's in a supermarket , i'm sure i could get em at better prices in a fruit/vegies store...

6.9 USD ??? for a pound???
do they come with monkey to unpeel em when you need em??