I'm going to try and feed myself on $30/week which is about $4.28/day

Help me make a shopping list.

5/16/2011 6:48:12 PM

Ramen noodles.

The end.

5/16/2011 6:51:01 PM

I can be done, pretty easily.

For $30, you can buy a lot of meat and veggies at the grocery store.

5/16/2011 6:52:21 PM

I was always fascinated by this concept. We have all kinds of indices to track poverty and cost of living, but I have yet to see one broken down into what I would call the penny to calorie index. Granted, there are differing types of caloric energy and required amino acids and vitamins also necessary to sustain life, but I am actually quite curious about the true minimum limit of what it takes to meet FDA guidelines and minimum income guidelines to find the true penny to calorie index on a given area.


Assuming you're on a 2kcal/day diet, you would probably need something like 0.3 pennies per calorie because I've never gone an entire day on less than 6 bucks a day in food cost. Makes you think next time you pass a penny on the ground..... that's almost 3 calories.

5/16/2011 6:56:36 PM

You've gotta be an extreme couponer.

5/16/2011 6:57:12 PM

You'll probably be better off going to Costco or something for a lot of items - buy for a whole month. You could easily eat a somewhat healthy diet for under 30/month. Avoid starchy carbs; they lack nutrition, and they're just not all the filling. Any kind of cheap meat you can find is good, whole grains, beans/legumes. You're not going to be eating fancy, but you'll get by.

[Edited on May 16, 2011 at 6:59 PM. Reason : ^]

5/16/2011 6:59:50 PM

That's easy as hell. I can't remember the last time I spent more than $120/month on groceries.

usually it's 80-100

5/16/2011 7:06:35 PM

Ramen isn't worth it. This goes slightly over, but you hit every food group.

[X @ $Y] means using X fractional of the item with the total item cost of $Y

Breakfast [$0.87]
[Whole Grains] - Fiber One Cereal [0.13 @ $3.64]
[Dairy Alternative] - Great Value Soy Milk [0.17 @ $2.50]

Lunch [$2.99]
[Aquatic Animal] - Sam's Club Frozen Salmon [0.16 @ $9.91]
[Whole Grains] - Great Value Brown Rice [0.33 @ $0.72]
[Vegetable] - Great Value Frozen Vegetables [0.33 @ $1.68]
[Fruit] - Grapefruit [1 @ $0.54]

Dinner [$3.39]
[Terrestrial Animal] - Sam's Club Frozen Chicken Breast [0.13 @ $10.98]
[Whole Grains] - Great Value Whole Grain Rotini [0.33 @ $1.00]
[Vegetable] - Great Value Frozen Vegetables [0.33 @ $1.68]

Total per Day (w/ tax) = $7.25 * 1.05 = $7.61

For going out, you can substitute lunch or dinner with Subway's $2.99 6" deal. Alternatively, you can combine lunch and dinner into a big afternoon meal if it's under $6.00. Just watch the sodium.

I use a variation of this because while this hits every food group, you are still reliant on multi-vitamins to get the %DV's. I add in carrots/sweet potato fries (for Vit A), alternate Salmon with Tuna (for Vit B), and add shredded cheese to dinner (for Vit D/Calc). You can also alternate chicken with egg to reduce cost, but watch the cholesterol. In general though, you'll eventually cap out at about $10 because you hit the stomach limit, so it's not so bad.

Just some food for thought.

[Edited on May 16, 2011 at 7:10 PM. Reason : .]

5/16/2011 7:06:53 PM

i believe frozen chicken was buy one get one at lowes this week

i mean...like $9 for a shitload of chicken. that would easily get you started.

5/16/2011 7:09:21 PM

Quote :

"You'll probably be better off going to Costco or something for a lot of items - buy for a whole month. You could easily eat a somewhat healthy diet for under 30/month. "

How am I as an inner-city poor person without a car going to make it out to the 'burbs, and transport it back to my 4th floor apartment that has no elevator?

Where do I get cash to buy a Costco membership?

5/16/2011 7:13:36 PM

I didn't realize this was a joke thread then

5/16/2011 7:15:25 PM

Liquidate fat stores on your body if possible.

Get a container of Centrum vitamins (your most expensive purchase); And a multipack of either Yoplait or Off-brand Greek Yogurt (high in protein and vitamins).

Drink water, lots of it. Splurge on a Brita if necessary if your tap water is gross.

If you get hungry, eat penny packs of steamed rice.

Supplement the rest with vitamins and yogurt. All reqs met. Vary the flavors of your yogurt.
This is my 100% serious answer. It works, and take your daily vitamin.

5/16/2011 7:18:58 PM

Quote :

"That's easy as hell. I can't remember the last time I spent more than $120/month on groceries. usually it's 80-100 "

And how often do you go out to eat?

5/16/2011 7:20:52 PM

^^ Beta Carotene says hi

[Edited on May 16, 2011 at 7:21 PM. Reason : .]

5/16/2011 7:21:12 PM

http://playspent.org/

5/16/2011 7:22:06 PM

double post

[Edited on May 16, 2011 at 7:22 PM. Reason : eoulikhiohf]

5/16/2011 7:22:06 PM

Quote :

"And how often do you go out to eat?"

two or three times a month

restaurants are disgusting

5/16/2011 7:25:47 PM

I never said it was perfect, and there was a period of time when I hit the low sodium V8 pretty hard to get the veggie deficit taken care of, but I discovered just how small 2kcal/day really is and just how much shit we eat during the day anyway, so I found myself eating carrots on occasion. That's pretty much my personally developed barebones food plan that worked for me for a long time and was pocket-book friendly.

5/16/2011 7:28:48 PM

you know, food stamps could be considered supplemental, not supposed to cover all of your food costs...

5/16/2011 7:29:53 PM

Ok, first night's dinner, three rolls of sushi. Over budget. [FAIL]

Honestly, I don't cook so I would be terrible at this.

5/16/2011 8:02:10 PM

You know what poor people do with raw fish? The go fishing. No sense in wasting money on bait.

5/16/2011 8:34:08 PM

A few years ago I debated trying to eat for a month off $40. I didn't do it not because I thought I'd fail, but because I didn't feel like keeping track of it.

5/16/2011 8:37:23 PM

I tried to eat off of 20 Euros one week when I was over there. I lasted about 4 or 5 days.

5/16/2011 8:38:35 PM

i was severely disappointed at the lack of food stamps in this thread

5/16/2011 8:38:39 PM

I thought this was a game where you have to pick an aisle in the Food Lion on Western where there isn't a person redeeming food stamps and arguing with the cashier about how much the tax is by attempting to do it by hand on their phone (and likely, even if they're on food stamps, they'll have a nice phone).

Because if it's that game, it's one I always failed.

5/16/2011 10:36:13 PM

cell phones are cheap, b. even the fancy ones

5/16/2011 10:54:06 PM

5/16/2011 10:56:14 PM