Eating for under $6 a day
 

Give me your cheap food ideas.

I eat for under $6 a day right now. Here's how it breaks down:

Breakfast
~1/2 box of cereal = $1

Lunch/Dinner
1 pound meat (I can usually find chicken for 99 cents/lb. Right now ham is 79 cents/lb.) = $1
1/4 cup beans or lentils (1 bag = 99 cents) = $0.13
Peas or Carrots (1 can = 33 cents) = $0.11
Fruit (varies greatly- I'm most likely to "splurge" here) = ~$0.69

So Breakfast ($1) + Lunch ($1.93) + Dinner ($1.93) = $4.86.

Sometimes I buy bread, tortillas, spices, teryaki sauce, etc., so I just round it up to $6.

Can I make this cheaper? I was thinking about making my own cereal because I can buy a pound of oats for 44 cents. Rice is cheap, but I like beans better. Bananas are a great cheap food, but I get tired of them after a while.

Give me your cheap ideas.

you eat half a box of cereal every day?

Well, yeah, it takes 10 bowls of Cap'n Crunch to equal the nutritional value of one bran muffin, doncha know?

Don't forget the most famous cycling staple food: pasta! It's cheap.

Good riding,
desmobob

If sodium is of no concern, Ramen Noodles at 5 packs/$1. (Just don't go cycling afterwards since, if I remember from my college days, it just sits in your stomach)

oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, potatos, brown rice, beans, whole wheat bread, and whatever fruit and veggies are on sale.

Switch to Malt-o-Meal. Tootie Frooties keep me goin'.
You can get beans in massive quantity for cheap from Sam's Club. Same for fruit - Bananas are 33c/lb
Try looking at turkey, occasionally (especially after thanksgiving) it can be had for 20c/lb. Also, where do you get your chicken? I pay about .69/lb for chicken at Sam's.

Tuna can also be had in massive quantities for cheap if you have a way to store it. Just don't eat more than 16oz a week, due to mercury content...

I eat for about $20/week. It's not glamorous, but it's good enough for me!

The way I remember it, that stuff wont stay in my body, nevermind my stomach for 5 minutes :eek: :eek:

Eating half a box of cereal is easy. Breakfast is key for me. If I don't eat a big breakfast I'll spend the rest of the day hungry and can never seem to make up for it. If I eat a huge breakfast I feel good all day and can get by on less lunch and dinner. Half a box of cereal is only two bowls usually (and no, I don't get sugary cereal. I usually eat whatever shredded wheat or granola-type cereal is on sale).

Oatmeal is cheap, but I can never seem to get full on it. Same goes for raman noodles. I'd love to find some whole wheat pasta, but it's usually more expensive than regular pasta.

I wish I could find 20 cent/lb turkey around here! I love turkey. I usually go to Meijer because it's right off the bike trail. Sometimes I go to Kroger when they have deals on cereal. Oh yeah, and they always seem to be giving out free samples of something in there.

Eating for $6 a day?

Hitchhiker: You heard of this thing, the $6 dollar meal?
Ted Stroehmann: Yeah, sure, $6 dollar meal. Yeah, the economy diet.
Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: $5...dollar...meal.
Ted Stroehmann: Right. Yes. OK, alright. I see where you're going.
Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a grocery store, you see a $6 dollar meal sittin' there, there's $5 dollar meal right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?
Ted Stroehmann: I would go for the $5.
Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. $5 dollar meal. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the $6 dollar folk.
Ted Stroehmann: You guarantee it? That's -- how do you do that?
Hitchhiker: If you're not happy with the first 5 dollars, we're gonna send you the extra dollar free. You see? That's it. That's our motto. That's where we're comin' from. That's from "A" to "B".
Ted Stroehmann: That's right. That's -- that's good. That's good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with $4 dollar meal. Then you're in trouble, huh?
[Hitchhiker convulses]
Hitchhiker: No! No, no, not $4! I said $5. Nobody's comin' up with $4. Who eats on $4 a day? You won't even get your stomach goin, not even a Tse fly on a ham sandwich.
Ted Stroehmann: That -- good point.
Hitchhiker: 5's the key number here. Think about it. Jackson 5. five fingers. 5, man, that's the number. 5 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby. Step into my office.
Ted Stroehmann: Why?
Hitchhiker: 'Cause you're f'in fired!

ok I see I guess. But I'd be careful with the granola cereals. A lot of them have partially hydrogenated oils and sugar in them.

You might want to check out a couple of books called The Tightwad Gazette and Your Money or Your Life.
The author of Tightwad gazette has a lot of tips on eating cheaply and other ideas on saving money. I have found it at the library.

Hi,
chicken thighs and turkey thighs are pretty cheap.
Buy a couple pounds. Buy a pound or two of beans you like.
Lentils work well. Now get some veggies, a bag of carrots,
anything you like. Mix it up from week to week.
Now, make a stew with all the stuff you got.
That's your dinner for about a week.Keep it covered when in the fridge. Each night take out about a pound, then you can add different spices,
pour it over noodles, throw in some tomato paste .... or add a can of Campbell's cream soup.. all to add a little variety.

Here's the trick. Find a good bakery and get fresh bread every few days. Get real butter, preferably the real stuff you can't get in stores (my source dried up years ago, but maybe you are luckier)
What makes it work is good bread and real butter. I don't know why, but it does.

Have something different on the weekends.

I got through med school on a similar budget.

Breakfast:
Wholewheat toast with peanut butter. Orange juice (from frozen)

Lunch: sandwich

Dinner: Budget Gourmet (when they were 99 cents on sale), macaroni and cheese in those little 3 for $1 box, turkey hot dogs.

In retrospect....not a very nutritious approach...but it seemed like the thing to do at the time.

Really, though, peanut butter is a very affordable source of calories.

Where's the BEER? This is difficult on a budget. I can never decide whether to drink a few good beers a week, or to include several cheap beer in my daily diet!

Tyson

My main meal is the giant burrito... With rice (dressed up with cilantro and lime juice in the pot, plus a little Goya magic powder for color) and black beans and whatever sauteed veggies are cheap (I like mushrooms, yellow squash, eggplant, etc) plus lettuce and onions, you can do a very filling meal for around a buck a serving, if you're willing to make up several days' worth of fillings at a time and use dried beans. I generally have a giant burrito in the middle of the day; breakfast is a bagel (55 cents daily, plus about a buck and a half in cream cheese every week), and dinner is a frozen "health-food" meal, usually Healthy Choice ($1.64 on sale) plus an extra serving of veggies (usually spinach or broccoli, also bought in big frozen bags; the last ones I bought were 4 pounds for $3). Most days I have an ice cream sandwich before bed, at $2.50 per box of 12. Because I buy on sale almost exclusively, my weekly purchases vary pretty widely; I often buy for several weeks of any given product in one go. Averaged out, though, I'm usually at around the $5/day mark, and could go lower if I switched to oatmeal for breakfast and/or pasta or PBJ or similar at dinner time. At first, I had nutritional deficits, I'm sure, but as I've upped the ratios of veggies, I think I'm doing pretty well now...

1 can of Campbells Chunky Soups (whatever flavor): $2.50
1 can of Del Monte Stewed Tomatoes: $1.00

That's an entire nutritious meal full, low in fat, high in protein, vitamin A, C and Lycopene for $3.50

Can't beat that.

Oh, yes, and dont forget eggs! Great source of protein, quick to cook too.

Cannned vegetables...yech


Frozen taste great and are much more nutricious.

When I was in school I used to buy

Top Ramen buy the case (2 for 10$)
5 loaves of wheat bread for 6$
Water was free, either from the hose or sink
2 giant containers of peanut butter for 4$

All that would last me about 10days. That’s 2.00$/day.
Every few days the girls that lived in the same apartment complex I did would cook me steak, burgers or chicken with steamed veggies. It was a good set up for a student with little income ;)

:beer:

The Tightwad Gazette author fed her family of 8 for $180 a month. - $6 a day for 8 people.

Breakfest
Ceral Bar $.25
Mixed Fruit Bowl $.38
Coffee/tea Free @ work
= $.68

Daily Lunch Ride
PowerBar $.60
Gatoraid $.90
Cup o noodle $ .25 or leftovers (free)
= $1.75 w/ noodles

Dinner 1
1/lbs steak $1.99
3 cups rice $.15
Small brown onion $.10
Couple potatoes $ .20
= $2.49 Dinner feeds 2 people


Dinner 2
Pasta $1
Spagitti Sauce $2
Ground Beef $2
= $5 feed 3-5 people

Dinner 3
Pasta $1
2 Can of tuna $1
1 Can of cream of Mushroom $.50
1 Can of Cream of chicken $.50
2-3 slices od cheese $.20
1 cup of Milk $ .30
= $3.50 Tuna casarole Dinner feed 3-5 people

Dinner 4
1 Package Hilshire Farm Sausage $2
1 bag of house brand fozen veggies $1.50
3 cups of rice $.15
1 brown onion $.10
=$3.75 Dinner feed 3-4 people

Dinner 5
Small package of chicken, 4-5 pieces (whatevers on sale) $3
3-4 potatoes (chopped) $.30
1 Brown Onion $.10
1cup water Free
1/4 cup or so of Soy sauce $.20
2-3 tablespoon Apple Cinder Vineger $.10
2 hard boiled Eggs on the side $.20
= $3.90 Chicken Adobo Dinner (Filipino Dish) feeds 2-3 people pending on # of chicken pieces made.

As you can see, I eat pretty light in the early day and have a good size dinner. All those meals take 25-40 minutes to make pending on if the meat was defrosted before cooking started. All are very easy to make and cheap and feeds more then just me. I ride almost every day after work so I'm hungry after I ride and don't want to spend much time in the kitchen. I cook for my girlfirend and myself everynight, anything left from dinner is lunch the next day for the 2 of us.

Disgusting. Way too much processed food and red meat.

Steak is 2/pound? blech

Do you eat instant or old fashion? Old fashion Rolled oats taste much better and are more filling IMO