I constantly get told by people on other boards that they live off just $100-200 per month on their food allowance. I live along and I can easily spend $100 in just one grocery store trip, and that doesn't include lunches, which I typically eat out. So how the fuck do you do it?
Please don't reply to this thread with "just eat rice and beans," or "just get ramen in bulk." I'm talking about long term eating on a budget, not a diet that tastes like cardboard and makes me fart all day long.
Other urls found in this thread:
groceries.asda.com
walmart.com
youtube.com
samsclub.com
samsclub.com
heb.com
heb.com
twitter.com
bs that's not $29
Depends on where you're shopping. At Whole Foods, the food items pictured would run you into the hundreds of dollars.
First off, don't eat out. Eating out is expensive. you can have several meals for the cost of eating out. The more you cook from scratch rather than using box mixes or prepared products the cheaper things will get. Also learn to reduce waste.
Here's a great example how to feed yourself cheap. Go buy a whole chicken (about $5), a pound of pasta ($1), and some basic veggies (carrots, celery, onion). That's another $1 or $2 max. For that $8 you can make several meals:
-roast the chicken in the oven. You get four servings (2 legs, 2 breasts).
-pick the remaining meat off the carcass and use to make sandwiches
-toss the skeleton in a pot, add water, your pasta, and the veggies and now you have several servings of chicken soup.
As for beans and rice, that can be super tasty, you just have to learn how to cook it. Add some aromatic veggies and a ham bone when you cook your beans. Cook them with stock instead of water. That's fuckwin delicious and very cheap.
For a great example regarding beans, take a look at . That cost me less than $12 to make and it made well over 12 servings. And you can see that it clearly isn't going to taste like cardboard.
What country do you live in where you can get a whole chicken for $5 and a pound of pasta for $1? Where I live, $5 will get me a couple breasts, and that's it.
i like to live frugally
i buy produce in season and can it at home
buy grains, nuts, carrots, potatoes, onions etc. in bulk
as little processed/prepared food as possible
buy shit on sale
don't buy too much shit that can go bad before you eat it
invest in quality instruments and appliances that can help save money in the long run. having the right tools for the job can be the difference between enjoying preparing food and having it be a chore.
An increasing number of grocery stores are selling pre-roasted rotisserie chickens for less than what the raw chicken costs as a loss leader.
I could buy so many meals for 30 dollars, I have no idea what this cunt is talking about. Buy canned and frozen food if you're poor.
Also fucking get a job, if you can't get more than 30 dollars a week you're not working hard enough.
US. Texas specifically.
Breasts are the most expensive part of the chicken. If you're concerned about money then don't buy breasts. Legs are cheaper. Whole chickens are cheaper still. In my local supermarkets the breast meat costs anywhere from $2.50 to $3.50lb. Whole chickens vary between $0.79 and $1.00/lb. Remember: the more work the store does for you (cutting out bones, skin, etc.) the more you pay. If you're tight on cash then buying breasts is the last thing you want to do. Buy the cheap family packs of drumsticks instead.
I'll admit that the $1/lb pasta is the cheap store brand stuff, and I would much rather splurge for the $1.50 to $2/lb name brand stuff, but it's possible to get the cheap stuff for $1/lb.
Good advice here.
Buy the constituent components of food, arrange them in such a fashion that they are combined into food.
>7 limes
>S E V E N
I used to stretch money by making soup in large batches and freezing it. Large bags of flash-frozen vegetables are pretty cheap and if you're using them for soup it's not like their being previously frozen is an issue. You can make stock for cheap with some onion, carrots, celery, garlic, some herbs and the leftovers from a $5 rotisserie chicken. Once you make it you can ladel it into bags, freeze it, and ration out over a week or two. It's like a week's+ worth of lunches for about $15.
I'm in a higher cost of living state and can get a whole chicken for 5$. Chicken breasts are more expensive because there's more work involved in processing them and it's an easy money grab
Shit, I'd have cut back to eating 6 pounds of chicken leg quarters a day in order to only spend $200 a month on food.
How am I supposed to hit my macros when I can only afford 104.16 pounds of steel cut oats a month.
I can't even imagine trying to live on only 133 cartons of eggs, a paltry 1596 eggs a month.
Something something dead lift 200 fucking pounds of broccoli into your car.
I don't get it, is she blasting SNAP? Cause that looks like a solid amount of decent food for less than thirty bucks.
It must be hard for a celebrity/wealthy person to understand that you can actually eat fairly well on less than ten bucks a day (in many places)
> $29 a week
That's a single hobos food allowance.
I have 2 kids and get $1,000+ a month on SNAP, New York.
No, I'm not a nigger.
Yep. And she seems to be completely missing the point of "SNAP". The "S" in snap means "Supplemental". So no, that's not "all the food" one is supposed to eat in a week. It's what the gov't is giving as a SUPPLEMENT. It's not meant to cover 100% of a person's needs.
I have a food budget of 100-150 Euros and I make do just fine. I keep a spreadsheet to get a clear overview of what I'm spending my money on each month, picture related for the last few months.
It's really fucking easy. All those "just buy lots of rice and beans" memes are nonsense unless your budget is ridiculously low. The simplest rule is simply don't buy shit you know is expensive. For example, good meat can be pretty expensive, but you can get a bag of chicken legs or ground beef or whatever for next to nothing. So just don't eat prime steak every day. Fish and meat make up the biggest part of my monthly expenses (22% on average) because I like a good bit of fish or meat now and then, but I don't eat meat every day and often I eat cheap chicken or pork. I also have a good freezer so I can buy lots of cheap shit and freeze it for later. A standard meat/2veg/potatoes dinner doesn't really take more than a few euros a day. A halfway decent loaf of bread is like 1.50E and lasts for a week. A big pot of vegetable soup costs almost nothing either and can last for a long time as well, especially if you freeze part of it. The same goes for shit like chili. Like once every two months I just make a big fucking pot of chili, eat from it for two days and freeze the rest.
I really don't get how someone can spend hundreds of dollars a month and not see any room to cut costs. Even on my 150 Euro budget I see plenty of room to cut cost, I could live on half my budget easily if I had to.
well, today's the 15th of the month, so we're halfway through and i pay nearly everything on plastic, so i can give exact numbers of what i've purchased on food, both at home and eating out. keep in mind i have a fully stocked pantry and this included a nice splurge (dry aged steak last week):
$93
ate out three times, just bought some groceries. outside of perishables like milk, bread and such, i could not actually spend a cent on food again this month. shit, i've got boxes of pasta, lots of canned beans and vegetables (mostly peas and corn tho), and enough tuna, eggs and the like so that i could probably go the next 16 days without going to get groceries or eat out if i had to.
current purchase from the local supermarket:
2 lb bag brown rice
bunch leeks
two 1/2 gallons orange juice
12 eggs
loaf bread
1 red bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1/2 lb ham
3 slices swiss cheese
2 bottles lemonade
1.5 lb chicken thigh
turmeric
500ml bottle olive oil
$26
Apart from just buying cheap stuff and being clever about stretching your resources as much as possible (a good example already mentioned is buying a whole chicken and using every part, and people here can post plenty of good dishes that don't cost much to make), I've found that an important way to save money is to think about the way you approach your shopping.
For example, when I was younger I usually went shopping every day (partially because I lived very close to a good grocery store, partially because it was an excuse to get out of the house), and only bought what I would need until the end of the next day (when I would go shopping again). Needless to say, this is horribly inefficient, so I don't do that anymore. Another tip is to make a list of shit you need before you go shopping, and then buy only that. When you find you need something, just add it to the list and buy it the next time you go shopping. Whatever it is, it can usually wait. If you just go to the store and buy whatever you feel like buying at that moment, you'll not only end up buying shit you don't need, but the chance that you'll forget something and have to go back for it later increases as well.
Also, this might seem like a contradiction but it's really important: Don't buy shit just because it's cheap or on sale. Yes, it's good to spend less money. If it's something that's on your list and it's on sale, good for you. But cheap shit you don't need is still shit you don't need, and thus a waste of money. The only exception is stuff that keeps very well, like anything you can freeze (a large, decent quality freezer is a big investment when you're on a tight budget, but it's 100% worth it in the long run) or anything that's canned. But even then, spending extra money now for stuff you might want later is rarely the best decision.
bongistan, where just about everywhere in the country has prices like this.
i just googled supermarket circular for 5 random states and got the following:
>ohio - marsh supermarkets drumsticks/thighs $0.98/lb
>washington - safeway boneless breasts/thigh 1.68/lb
>alabama - publix bo/go barilla pasta at $2/box
>new jersey - shoprite thighs 0.99
>arizona - fry's leg quarters 0.99
>50lbs bag of rice
>32.99$ at local asian mart
>29550 calories
>1lbs minced garlic
>3.74$ at local grocery store
>648 calories
>25lbs pinto beans
>.91$ per lbs at local grocery store
>39700 calories
>10lbs rolled oats
>1.10$ per lbs at local grocery store
>17650 calories
>20lbs bone in chicken thighs
>1.37$ per lbsat local grocery store
>16120 calories
>20lbs onions
>.81$ per lbs at local grocery store
>3620 calories
>20lbs frozen vegetables
>1.22$ per lbs at local grocery store
>4440
>Price total:
138.48$
>Calorie Total:
111728
This will last you more than a month. A single adult only needs to eat 60k calories a month, this is already almost double that. Buy eggs, spices, dairy, and fresh fruit with the rest till you hit 200.
>on a budget
>buying lettuce, avocados, tortillas, cilantro, seven lime, fresh corn, tomatoes, and kale
Shit I live in california and I can get a chicken for that cheap.
$2.19 - 5lb russet potatoes
$2.29 - 5lb bag of long-grain enriched rice
$0.78 - 12 Large Eggs
$1.90 - 3lb of "chicken breast chunks" (just chicken breasts that were too small to sell whole, so they cut them up and sell them for super cheap)
$4.53 - Four bags of frozen mixed veggies
$1.89 - 2 cup bag of shredded tillamook sharp cheddar
$1.78 - Jar of spaghetti sauce
$1.19 - 1lb of angel hair pasta
$3.18 - 1/2lb 80/20 ground beef for MEATABALL
$0.00 - Breadcrumbs I already had at home
~$20
Plus spices and I'll probably get some sandwich stuff later in the week. Sunday I'll be picking up some discount beef and fresh carrots/etc and making a stew with any potatoes I have left over.
Buy shit that's on sale. You don't have to write-off steak, just wait until it's a good price. Most places here cut it by like 40% the day before it expires. Have a few cheap staples, like pasta, rice + any meat, whatever you like. Just avoid the $3/lbs apples in favor of the $.49/lbs ones.
100 pounds of seed oats will only cost you about ten dollars at a elevator. Barley will cost you a bit more. Potatoes (if a local elevator has a warehouse for them) can be bought very cheap as well. There are much better options than grocery rice for dollar per kcal.
if you shop at whole foods with stamps you deserve to starve
really good advice right here. and don't underestimate the importance of tools. A sharp knife will make food prep easier, quicker, and overall much more enjoyable. Onions are actually fun to chop I find and no tears.
>29 a week
$116 / month? Doubtful. I got 190 a month by myself when I ran into some tough times.
>$0.00
>something I already had at home
NIGGA YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT HOW THIS WORKS
Because breasts cost more than a frozen whole chick retard. Whole chicken sells for $1/lb.
>$1.90 for three pounds of chicken
/devilish/
Ask your butcher about it sometime. Or if you have a winco, they should stock them.
Seriously, they get breasts that can't be shelved because they're too small, and they have to recoup that loss somehow.
how dare they eat healthy!
$5 is fairly expensive here in Bong
groceries.asda.com
>shredded cheese covered in powdery preservative
>jar of spaghetti sauce
Paying extra for something inferior is the opposite of what this thread is about.
You think selling chicken at base price recoups those losses? You are fucking delusional. Send me a picture of chicken for
>converts to funny E symbol 1.13 per lb
About the same as US prices.
shredded cheese is way cheaper than real cheese wedges brospeh. the sauce doesn't get a pass though.
I pretty much just do 1:1 these days. Keeping track of the daily exchange rate is too much effort.
A better question is where the fuck do you live that a pound of pasta is more than $1?
He's probably thinking of namebrand like Barilla or something. Store brand shit is easily less than a dollar.
I spend about 50 a week on food, and could definitely cut back if I wanted to. If you're spending 100 a week I wonder what exactly you're buying. Don't buy premade foods. Those are obviously the most expensive. Other than that apply normal strategies: buy things that can be used for multiple meals throughout the week (bread, pb, oats, carrots, onions, etc), buy things that don't go bad quickly, don't buy things that are expensive (eg don't buy fruit that costs more than $1.50 a pound), and keep a running tally in your head of the total cost as you shop. Just always be thinking about and looking at prices.
Also, yes, eat more rice and beans. They're good for you.
if you only had $29 to live on, why the fuck would you buy that?
>2.29 - 5lb bag of long-grain enriched rice
where the fuck you shopping
is it just me, or does anyone else cringe when the word "veggies" is used. That said, good post provided OP is poor as suggested.
>which I typically eat out
are you fucking joking?
kill yourself you sjw commie scum
>I constantly get told by people on other boards that they live off just $100-200 per month on their food allowance.
Yes. I lived off 100/m before.
> I live along and I can easily spend $100 in just one grocery store trip, and that doesn't include lunches, which I typically eat out. So how the fuck do you do it?
You buy cheaper food. Eggs, potatoes, chicken, rice, beans. You don't eat like you're rich when you aren't. Steak is for tax payers.
I wish i could eat like you do. I need to make something different every day and I hate freezing meals. The way I see it, what's the point in living and earning money if you eat the same shit all the time?
>where the fuck you shopping
walmart.com
Walmart?
>seven limes
I bet she had fun arranging this though
calls unripe lemons "limes"
what a pill
>People erroneously think that limes are unripe lemons because when limes are picked they are fully grown and green in color, but limes left on a tree to the point of being fully ripened would be yellow.
Well congratulations. You're one of those people.
>-toss the skeleton in a pot
I don't believe that shredded cheese is cheaper pound for pound than regular cheese in the US, minus the weight of the preservatives, anti-caking agent etc. Got a screenshot for proof?
You're not allowed to be this stupid
Couldn't get an online price for blocks of cheddar on walmart, but Sam's club they're about the same, block being slightly more expensive.
samsclub.com
samsclub.com
That's absolutely true.
I can't be bothered to take screenshots, but I will post links so you can check yourself.
My local supermarket chain is HEB.
Shredded cheddar, Kraft brand. $2.50 for 8 oz, or $5/lb.
heb.com
A mid-grade block Cheddar. $13.00/lb
heb.com
Shredded cheese is nearly always the cheapest shit you can buy. It's barely worthy of the name "cheese". You'd be hard pressed to find a really good cheese for less than about $15/lb.
block slightly less expensive, sorry.
Exactly. I've worked with families in need and have had to explain what the "S" in SNAP stands for... it's like either they just don't get it, or they genuinely believe it's Uncle Sam's job to pick up the whole bill (instead of just helping out, "supplementally"). Ignorance of the system on the part of those in need and those advocating for the needy really doesn't help.
Yeah I used pretty much fake cheese in my example, but like I originally said:
Real cheese wedges are crazy expensive in comparison. This processed crap is super cheap and shredded vs. processed block is the same.
Its easy to eat cheap ur just a faggot
So by "shredded cheese" you mean a different kind of lower quality cheese as opposed to the more expensive brands, because I just looked on that same website and saw the same brand of cheese go cheaper by the block than shredded in several cases.
Not him but those cheap blocks aren't real cheese either. It's the same shit as shredded cheese, but not shredded.
The only people who complain about grocery store prices are people too fucking lazy to cook.
Every fucking day at work people snidely comment on my leftover portion of $6.00/lb steak as they drive to fucking Chik-fil-a and spend $9.95 getting a quarter pound chicken sandwich, a single potato's quantity of fries, and a nice tall paper cup of sugar water.
>So by "shredded cheese" you mean a different kind of lower quality cheese
Pretty much. "shredded cheese" is only found from low-teir brands. You will never find a quality brand of cheese that's pre-shredded. If it comes shredded you can be assured it's crap.
This.
not him but
>seven fucking limes but only a single avocado, corncob, yam, or tomato
>littleass pack of pre-made tortillas when you can make your own for cheap
depending on tastes the rest is fine but there's some choice money-saving decisions that were not made here
i spent $100 and that was for 1-2 weeks worth of 3 square meals
don't buy prepackaged anything. a bag of doritos or oreos or something to keep you sane, if you must, but a majority of your purchase must be something that you cook, with minimal or concerted effort, and turn into more than one meals worth of food
right now a meal consists of 1/4 protein 1/4 veggie 1/2 rice or potato
i am trying to shift the ratio to 1/2 veggie for health reasons, i don't get enough veggies i bet
things like jalapenos, soy sauce and bacon can help you vary your meals up. it really does help break up a large batch of food that can get monotonous if you ate it the same way night after night...
example: pasta with onions and peppers. easy as anything to cook, and a solid base.
first night, i put tomato sauce and sausage with it. italian! second night, citrus-y grilled chicken. fancy! third night, i cooked the noodles in some soy sauce and ate it with salmon. asian! i got 3 nights worth of meals from a little bit of effort each night, and it was never the same thing!
Well limes are pretty fucking cheap. Tomatoes and avocados aren't. Not sure about yams.
Yeah you could make your own tortillas, but that's a stretch. Her big flaw was cilantro. I don't think this woman is on a budget tho, just making some social media presence.
Fuckin roommate just came over to me, bitching about how he only has $60 for the next two weeks and how hard and awful it's gonna be.
My average food bill is $20/week.
He bought enough ramen to feed a fucking army, and seems to plan on storing it on our very limited counterspace.
The same roommate who 'does the dishes', that is, drips soap on them, rinses it off, and calls them clean even when visible food particles are still stuck to them, then stacks them like fucking jenga in the drying rack so they all accumulate nasty little pools of water.
He's 27, and going to grad school at an ivy league in two months. How the fuck does this happen?
Any advice for people that live in barracks with access to a fridge, freezer, and microwave only? Using a hotplate or anything other than the microwave will set off the fire alarm
1. Choose where you shop carefully
2. Go for store brand instead of expensive big-name brands - the difference in quality can be marginal at best, quite noticeable at worst but still perfectly bearable unless you're a faggot wuss.
3. Reduce the number of times you eat out for meals. Bring packed lunches.
4. Stop being such a little princess who must have X, Y, and Z in their life. Learn to live without or vastly reduce consumption of. Learn what the meaning of 'treat' is and use it sparingly.
5. Use cash instead of credit/debit card. Forces you to think more.
6. Buy foods in bulk where you get a better price/weight deal.
7. Make meals in bulk and freeze/fridge the rest as portions to consume over the week/month.
>I need to
No you don't.
Suck it up and learn deal with less variation. It's not going to kill you.
Limes are like 7 for $1.
Because intelligence doesn't equate to being able to take care of yourself. Also, being good at school doesn't equate intelligence.
>How the fuck does this happen?
Came from a home where mommy did everything and he never learned how to take care of himself. Not shocked he's in ivy school, that's probably thanks to daddy, too.
It's a matter of priorities. He doesn't have much interest in learning about these things or investing much effort towards it. Whereas he probably works hard at school and doing research because he's motivated to do that. So various important things take the backseat, like feeding oneself efficiently.
Different strokes for different folks.
What is that, envy? Why so much anger?
Someone might have already said this but go to a Costco and get frozen meats and frozen vegetables to suppliment fresh things bought at the supermarket. Someone you know must have a Costco membership.
because living with someone who wont do the chores he is supposed to sucks
The only people I know who can actually take care of themselves were raised by single parents.
Kill yourself you stupid cunt. This is a cooking board not /pol/
That pic.
Feminists probably question themselves when they see shit like this.
>facts are anger
Okay bud.
Pretty much.
What?
this is a very smart man
Sardines and saltines are great
>dozen eggs: $1.50
>pound of black beans: $2
>bag of frozen peas: $1
>bag of brown rice: $3
>pack of tortillas: $2
>spring onions: $1
>onion: $1
>cilantro: $.50
>garlic: $.50
>8 limes: $4
>both lettuce: $2
>avocado: $1
>sweet potato: $.50
>tomato and jalapeno negligible cost
I come up to about $20 and that's before tax, and at absolute minimum costs in small towns like where I live. Most people on food stamps live in the inner city where there isn't a Kroger or Walmart, and they have to shop at higher-priced stores.
Most supermarkets I know have sections where they have meat that's about too old to sell and thus gets marked down
Buying that way is great
Getting a roast for cheap can be cut down into smaller pieces, and probably cheaper than the equivalent weight of prepared stew meat chunks
Take about a pound of stew sized beef or whatever meat you have (chicken works fine too) and heat up a pot. Dump the meat in and let it brown, seasoned with whatever you got-I like paprika and chili powder best-, then pour in water just to cover and let simmer on relatively low heat for a couple of hours. During last hour or less of cooking, throw in rice, lentils, potato, or whatever fucking veggies you care for.
Potatoes, most veggies, and especially dry rice and lentils are cheap as hell. The meat should be reasonable if you look for deals, and spices are an investment but usually last a while.
Alternatively, buy tortillas and shredded cheese, fry small chunks of meat in a pan, then roll up the meat, cheese, and whatever else you care for and leave on the heat for a bit to crisp up the tortilla and melt the cheese
Hell, even for a good fucking dessert you just need a premade pie crust, a jar of molasses, cinnamon, sugar, and flour
3/4 a cup of molasses mixed with a cup of hot water and 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of flour and some lashes of cinnamon and a quarter cup of sugar
Pour that shit into the crust and sprinkle maybe another half cup of flour and cinnamon (maybe with some butter cut in) over the top. Only do this if you want something slightly more simple to cut the flavor of the molasses and bake at 350 F for 25+ minutes until the molasses mix has firmed up enough to stick in a utensil and have come out clean
Molasses pie is actually so goddamn easy I've almost become addicted to the shit
you are just a white one user
there is a variety of meals that could be made from those ingredients. get some peanut butter to make sweet oatmeal and spicy curry
yea, make your own food blablabla. nobody makes their own fucking tortillas, thats outside the realm of responsible sustenance. sure, have corn meal/flour on hand, you always should, but dont pretend like you expect even penny pinching individuals with culinary inclinations to give even part of enough Fuck to make their own tortillas
The $100-$200 per month doesn't include alcohol, dum dum.
I spend that in a work week.
Usually pay 39 cent per lime where I am, and I'm barely 90 miles from the mexico border. Where the fuck are you getting >15 cent limes, excluding keys?
Buy a lot of cheap unprocessed food.
Cook.
Learn to cook well.
Don't eat out more than once or twice a week.
Don't go ham when you eat out.
You're fucking welcome.
buy shit on sale at the poor person supermarket. I once got 10lbs of chicken legs at 39 per pound.
...
That food won't last. There are other more hearty healthy things to eat.
Cheese blocks are a little cheaper than shredded at walmart if you buy 32 oz. I'll have to go to the store to see if what I buy is cheaper than 5lbs of shredded. I suspect it isn't, but There is a poor persons market that sells a huge block of cheese for like $11. It's like 5bs I think. Walmart should have a similar block for that price, but the cheese is really only good for melting. It's shit for basically everything else. Actual cheese isn't cheap so if you buy it plan around it.