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

[Langers]

They used to be 1/10th of that price until a cyclone a few months ago that wiped out the country's supplies!

[Grady Clay]

Mike,

After more than three pages, give $45 Emergency Menu for 4 to 6 a try. Add more fruit and vegis. Try $70 and see what happens for a week. Plan now and start Saturday morning. You will have some leftover staples.

In addition to your Farmer’s Market group, we have some friends that get together once a month and buy Sam’s Club quantity staples for very low cost.

I can see real value in getting together a group. Not only is there the economy of scale but the moral support and sharing of techniques. Isn’t that how the “Whole Earth” movement started in the late ‘60s?

Best,
Grady

[svandamme]

Cartman: Hippies.They're everywhere. They wanna save the earth, but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad.

[Grady Clay]

Stijn,

Do you prepare meals and freeze them? That is a way to buy bargains not 100 g at a time and have great meals over several weeks.

Do your stores have sales where some produce is sold at cost or less to get you in the store? Are there local “Farmer’s Markets” where you can buy in-season fresh produce directly from the farmer?

All those things let you improve your meal quality to gourmet status and lower your cost at the same time.

You and Mike can have an international $3/day, 3 euro/day quality diet.

Best,
Grady

BTW, Hippies are the newbies. I’m closer to the Beat Generation.

[svandamme]

that's exactly what i do

monday i made hutsepot , dunno what it's called in english
but basically taters, porq saucage, bacon, carrots, spinage , all in one pot
ate a third, 2 portions in the freezer, it's a bit of a traditional farmers meal around these parts... definately not bad , and works well for freezing..

made coq au vin on wednesday , 25 minutes to prepare, an hour to cook, ate 1 third,2 in the freezer again, should have gotten a bigger bird though , or two birds, this thing , the more you make in one go the better

spaghetti , make 5 kilo of sauce , a lot of it in the freerzer

and many meals , will actually taste better when you defrost em
definately the case for bolognaise sauce, and coq au vin....

[svandamme]

i don't look for farmers markets, don't think they have em here in R'dam
there is the market down town , but to far from my place, and if i'm goign to drive for groceries, i'm driving to Belgium... home country, and a lot better for delicacies... Holland is barbaric territory when it comes to cuisine

don't get me wrong, i don't give a rats ass about cooking cheap
i used to be work in fancy restaurants about 13 years ago , and just started cooking more for myself lately , because i quit smoking and regained my taste, and need to do something to fill my evenigns a bit more, and just be a bit more conscience of what i eat... and cooking for one , is just not practical , at least not if you don't want to become an overweight pig... freezing just makes it managable, and more effecient...
and you get TV dinners that are a lot better tasting ...

i can pick 4 meals out of my freezer right now , italian , chinese, flemish, french , and all are decent , all are self cooked

i just posted my results on this thread, because i'm hitting around 5 a day, with not to much effort, and i am single

sure it's Euro's , but again, i doubt that 1 euro buys a lot more then 1 dollar in the US, we saw the banana's higher up in the thread, they're more expensive here, same for meat...

[snowman]

I just finshed a one pound, dry aged, USDA prime fillet mignon. Cost $28 US per pound. Darn it was good. What was the subject of this thread anyway?

Oh yeh, I just blew a weeks budget on a single meal, and thats not counting the $50 bottle of wine.

And I saved a bundle by cooking it myself at home.

I also save a lot on hamburger. I buy USDA prime grade tri-tip on sale, about $8 per pound, grind it myself and save the leftover in vac packed bags for tacos.

How about a new thread. How to eat $200 per person 5 star resort quality meals at home for less than $50 per meal, per person. Sounds a lot tastier than a $2 meal.

[john70t]

Just made some barley soup that turned out prety tasty. Added a little ground beef, and frozen mixed veggies from a bag for flavoring. Spice to taste. One cup suprisingly made about 3-4 meals.

Anything cheap as the base can be made better: potatoes, mac 'n cheese with tuna, onions, and a splash of tai fish sauce, or ramen with a dash of soy sauce and some "dashi joyeux" flakes(seaweed sesame mix) or drop in an egg. Leave the starches/meats to a minimum, they don't have the fiber.

I just took the girl out for a $41 dinner that was good, but not that good. Could have eaten for a week on that.

[Bryan Beaumont]

Cool Thread. When in a pinch on the road here in CA, I try and find an "El Pollo Loco" BRC burrritos beans-rice-cheese for.99cents or taco's Al Carbon for the same. Really good and pretty healthy. They have pretty decent salsas,spicy guacomole, etc. inc. for free. Keep healthy and on budget.

[snowman]

Originally posted by john70t
....

I just took the girl out for a $41 dinner that was good, but not that good. Could have eaten for a week on that.

Damn, how to impress a girl.

[john70t]

In the bay area, try "El Farlitos" pollo super burrito and an horchata. Comes with bag of chip for under $5 and has a killer salsa verde.
Oops, well that'll be good for the whole day.

[svandamme]

Originally posted by snowman


How about a new thread. How to eat $200 per person 5 star resort quality meals at home for less than $50 per meal, per person.

that's pretty easy as well
used to do that regulary back when i was still cooking for real

the price of a 200$ meal , in 5 star restaurant is mostly man hours , markup and recouping investement of decoration and kitchen equipment...

ingredients are but a small fraction of the total sum

you can do it at home , but if you want to get a decent price , you will have to cook for more then 1 person, no freezing, fully equiped kitchen will be required as well

and be prepared to spend the better part of 2 days in the kitchen for all the prep work

[Grady Clay]

Looking over the $45/week for four menu:

SHOPPING LIST
10 lbs all purpose flour @ 96¢ for 5lbs
3 pack of yeast
Baking Powder
Oatmeal
3 lbs long grain white rice
2 lb bag of cornmeal
5 lbs sugar
Vegetable Oil
2 cans frozen orange juice concentrate @ 88¢ each
20 quart box of instant nonfat dry milk
2 pounds lentils @ 60¢ a lb
2 lbs pinto beans @ 65¢ a lb
1 lb black beans
1 lb lima beans
3 boxes Macaroni & Cheese
3 packs of Ramen Noodles
2 dozen eggs @ 69¢a dz
2 lbs margarine @ 48¢ ea
1 lb hot dogs
1 28-oz can tomatoes
1 15-oz can tomatoes
15-oz can green peas
15-oz can corn
15-oz can greens
15 oz cans spinach
5 lb bag carrots
3 lb bag onions
1 bunch celery
6-oz can tuna
18-oz jar peanut butter
Jelly
Pancake Syrup
Vinegar
Cinnamon
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder
Salt
Pepper
Bouillon Cubes
100 Count Box of Tea Bags

This wouldn’t take much to modify it for two for two weeks. This is $1.50/day/person. I was surprised that 27% of the calories are fat with no meat. I think that can be reduced. There is also probably too much salt.

Add in-season fresh produce, more spices (curry powder, lemon juice, oregano, basil) and some jalapenos and you have some lively meals. One thing I see missing are potatoes. A baked potato with some inexpensive toppings is great (and inexpensive.)

Last week the farmer’s market sweet corn was 20¢ an ear. I’ll post what I see in the morning after our 7 AM visit to the farmer’s market. In a month corn will be $1/dozen.

This past week I made a 6-liter batch of thick & chunky spaghetti sauce. I’ll figure what it cost. I froze 2/3 of it.

I need to learn how to bake bread.

Best,
Grady

[snowman]

Corn is very bad for you. 100 percent carbs. Same for a lot of other so called natural produce. Try to produce a diet that has only 25 percent carbs, the rest protein and fibre. Salt is insignificant in any diet, unless you get to little.

[M.D. Holloway]

Grady - great job! And the thing is, broken out and amortized it would come under that if you figuer that many of those items will last a few months (spices, herbs, sugar, etc...).

If I wanted to just go cheap - we always have a deep freeze full of grain fed angus form my Wifes parents farm. Never paid for any of it - everytime they come up it is like a housewarming gift - a cooler full of meat! The sweet corn crop is coming in so me have more sweet corn than we know what to do with. Jack is right, it has little value but it does taste good and will fill you up.

[Bryan Beaumont]

Salt? Insignificant??? Surely, you DO NOT mean from a health stand point, do you? And could you please clarify what is "so called natural produce"?
Bryan

[snowman]

There is no data to support a reduced salt diet, unless you have high blood pressure due to excess water retention. There were long arguments to even include salt in the latest food US food fandangle as there is no data to show reduced salt consumption is meaningful in any way. Salt was included as a result of political correctness. Salt, get to little and you die, get to much and you might retain a little extra water.

So called natural produce, like corn, is 100 percent carbs and is far more harmful than any salt may be. Carbs are a health threat and fruit is pure carbs. Metamucil and a vitamin pill is probably much more healthy than a several servings of fruit is. Fruit may be natures candy, but its still candy.

Everything in moderation.

[Bryan Beaumont]

Agreed, everything in moderation. And part of that moderation for me will
continue to be a wide variety of fruits and vegtables. I prefer to get my anti-oxidants, fiber, and vitamins from my food as opposed to from supplements. But hey, that's just me...

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally posted by snowman
...So called natural produce, like corn, is 100 percent carbs and is far more harmful than any salt may be. Carbs are a health threat and fruit is pure carbs. Metamucil and a vitamin pill is probably much more healthy than a several servings of fruit is. Fruit may be natures candy, but its still candy...

One of the concerns about feeding cattle too much grain - like you eating nothing but Snicker bars - you'd get pretty fat right quick but the health concerns. Of course, grain fed beef does have more flavor than the free range stuff. IMHO.

[snowman]

The cattle don't have long to live once they start their corn fed diet. So what does this have to do with humans? Sure you can't live a long productive life eating pure sugar, but their life is neither long nor productive.