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| Pwert United States. July 27 2012 17:40. Posts 59 | Profile Blog # |
Hi all,
As a poor unemployed undergraduate college student, I decided that it would be exciting for me to try to live off only $3 a day, a challenge that is otherwise known as the Food Stamp Challenge. While according to wikipedia it seems that people do this for religious/political reasons, I am doing this because
a) I'm poor, but more importantly
b) I want to do this for myself as a fun and enlightening experience
I have already lived off $7 a day and later $6 a day, so I have some experience, but slashing this price in half will be difficult. There is one personal problem, however, and this is the fact that I need to take in a high amount of calories to maintain my weight. I am a rugby player and a runner, and daily I need to be eating at least 4,000 calories a day to not lose weight. I usually eat at least 4,500 a day.
If anyone is interested in trying something new in life (along the lines of meticulous planning and cooking every day from scratch) I would encourage you to join me! I have to say, from my experiences of eating for $6 a day I truly enjoyed the challenge and saved a lot of money on food. Also, coming out I have become aware of what I can live off, and I have become more grateful that I can afford the food that I buy. While this challenge is grueling and tiring, I can say that it is well worth it. For you, by doing some simple math, it's easy to realize that luxuries that I will not be able to afford because of purchasing bulking food will be available to you.
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So, after stating my personal goals I wanted to create a general thread for people to save money on food. I know how hard it is to find variety when the constraints are tight, and I am searching for variety also.
This is a flexible thread and it doesn't have to be a thread for you to just to share your epic $3-a-day food. You can share about a delicious recipe that you love to make that makes the paycheck fit for the month. Maybe you have my old goal of eating for $6 a day. Maybe you have a goal to simply eat out less and cook more often. In any situation, you should have an intentional money-based goal.
By nature of the Health & Fitness forum, this thread is also not just for any foods, it is for nutritious and healthy foods. By nature, these foods may be recipes that require LOTS of cooking (I've made many loaves of homemade bread to make $6 a day fit!). These can be high-caloric foods for me and other athletes to help in bulking, or low-caloric foods for fitness - to lose weight.
So feel free to share your healthy minimalist recipes, food ideas, or experiences!
Some points to consider:
-- Is your food (relatively) inexpensive?
-- Is your food high-caloric? Low-caloric? What is the fitness goal for your food?
-- Does your food have protein?
-- What vitamins/minerals does your food contain?
-- Are the carbs in your food whole grain?
-- What kinds of fats (if any) are in your food? Polyunsaturated? Saturated?Last edit: 2012-07-27 17:40:41 |
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| AndyJay Australia. July 27 2012 18:01. Posts 481 | Profile # |
Maybe food prices are different in the states but I don't think that's even possible here. The cheapest high calorie food I can think of is peanut butter and I'm pretty sure you can't buy a $3 4K calorie jar. $3 milk is only 3L which is about 2100 cal from memory.
You're even looking at $5 for a kg of rice which would be around 4k cal. So yeah... maybe dog meat?
My cheap food staples are rice/pasta/chicken/tuna/veges/milk. |
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| red_ United States. July 27 2012 19:46. Posts 1903 | Profile # |
Not-lean ground beef chuck is probably the most 'economical' food choice I can think of. If you 'strain' the beef in scalding hot water before cooking you will reduce some of the saturated fat content, although that has the obvious side effect of reducing calories. I know saturated fat isn't the devil, but you definitely don't want it being your primary calorie source either, and this method essentially gives you 'lean ground beef' for a much reduced price.
Eggs are another quite cheap, calorie dense, protein+fat source.
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| eshlow United States. July 27 2012 20:32. Posts 5012 | Profile # |
On July 27 2012 19:46 red_ wrote:
Not-lean ground beef chuck is probably the most 'economical' food choice I can think of. If you 'strain' the beef in scalding hot water before cooking you will reduce some of the saturated fat content, although that has the obvious side effect of reducing calories. I know saturated fat isn't the devil, but you definitely don't want it being your primary calorie source either, and this method essentially gives you 'lean ground beef' for a much reduced price.
Eggs are another quite cheap, calorie dense, protein+fat source.
What's wrong with eating the fat off of beef?
Saturated fats aren't the only fats in beef, and saturated fat isn't going to give you heard disease et al either
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Also, this challenge isn't doable with healthy foods.
$3 a day might give you 30 of the on sale 10c pack Ramen noodles... which would be enough to live off of but not very nutritious or anything like thatLast edit: 2012-07-27 20:33:14 |
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| FFGenerations July 27 2012 21:21. Posts 2619 | Profile Blog # |
1kg frozen veg - £1
unknown amount of rice - (£0.50)
4 litres of milk - £2
T.T |
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| Garbels Austria. July 28 2012 00:35. Posts 89 | Profile # |
Potato pancakes !
Can be eaten as main dish, side dish, sweet, salty, cold or hot.
I make them without flour but more onions sometimes carrots and/or chickpeas.
I usually eat them with some kind of mushroom sauce or in the morning with fried eggs.
Also excellent with creamed spinach or simply with Siracha sauce (the flying goose knockoff brand is cheaper).
Prices for the ingredients are really low here:
prices in euro:
1kg Potatos - 50c (~2.5€ per 5 kg)
2 Onions - 20c (~4€ per 5 kg)
2 eggs - 20-40c
With a good pan you wont need so much oil, plus garlic and salt.
~10c
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1.20€
That is for 2 meals if you eat them alongside something else. |
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| Deadeight United Kingdom. July 28 2012 01:42. Posts 1566 | Profile Blog # |
| For certain I couldn't live on £3 a day, never mind $3 a day. £5 is realistic, if going cheap. Last edit: 2012-07-28 01:42:28 |
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| Bigtony United States. July 28 2012 02:28. Posts 892 | Profile Blog # | |
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| funkie Venezuela. July 28 2012 03:01. Posts 9049 | Profile Blog # |
On July 28 2012 00:35 Garbels wrote:Potato pancakes ! Can be eaten as main dish, side dish, sweet, salty, cold or hot. I make them without flour but more onions sometimes carrots and/or chickpeas. I usually eat them with some kind of mushroom sauce or in the morning with fried eggs. Also excellent with creamed spinach or simply with Siracha sauce (the flying goose knockoff brand is cheaper). Prices for the ingredients are really low here: prices in euro: 1kg Potatos - 50c (~2.5€ per 5 kg) 2 Onions - 20c (~4€ per 5 kg) 2 eggs - 20-40c With a good pan you wont need so much oil, plus garlic and salt. ~10c --------- 1.20€ That is for 2 meals if you eat them alongside something else.
Saving this, and I'll try to make this exact recepie on the weekend. Sounds so freaking tasty! |
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| rEiGN~ July 28 2012 03:33. Posts 360 | Profile # |
I buy chicken thighs, prepare them in the oven and remove excess skin and stuff to make them as lean as possible.
I believe it's the cheapest way around here to get tasty protein from the supermarket. It could be possible to get some bulk meat quite cheap from some local butcher, not sure.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Ew9Ons.jpg)
2 boxes of thighs for a few days.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/nEl8Ks.jpg)
What my food typically looks like.Last edit: 2012-07-28 03:37:03 |
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| Vitruvian United States. July 28 2012 04:19. Posts 108 | Profile # |
It'd probably be important to normalize this exercise to account for people living in places other than the US, i.e. live off US purchasing power equivalent of $3/day. While I'd agree with eshlow's assertion that $3 a day in the US is near impossible to eat healthy with, it could probably go a much longer way in some other country.
In any case, I think this is a great goal to strive for, even if the target is unreachable! |
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| eshlow United States. July 28 2012 08:08. Posts 5012 | Profile # |
On July 28 2012 04:19 Vitruvian wrote:
It'd probably be important to normalize this exercise to account for people living in places other than the US, i.e. live off US purchasing power equivalent of $3/day. While I'd agree with eshlow's assertion that $3 a day in the US is near impossible to eat healthy with, it could probably go a much longer way in some other country.
In any case, I think this is a great goal to strive for, even if the target is unreachable!
True... probably could buy a weeks worth of food in some of the poorer African or South east asian countries |
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| Pwert United States. July 28 2012 18:35. Posts 59 | Profile Blog # |
On July 28 2012 04:19 Vitruvian wrote:
It'd probably be important to normalize this exercise to account for people living in places other than the US, i.e. live off US purchasing power equivalent of $3/day. While I'd agree with eshlow's assertion that $3 a day in the US is near impossible to eat healthy with, it could probably go a much longer way in some other country.
In any case, I think this is a great goal to strive for, even if the target is unreachable!
True, I think I will have to sacrifice my running and much of my physical fitness in order to be able to live off $3 a day. It will be a real challenge. I plan on starting this on August 1st.
However unappetizing it is, I've found that olive oil can be found VERY cheaply - for 2k calories per dollar. I'll probably be going very olive-oil heavy. Also, I can find 1lb of peanut butter at a Trader Joe's for 1.69. Potatoes in bulk for $.33/lb, and sometimes sweet potatoes for the same deal. Raw brown rice for $.89/lb. Raw oats for $1.20/lb. Protein is much harder to get however, but calories are not too much of a problem.Last edit: 2012-07-28 18:37:16 |
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| SoleSteeler Korea (South). July 28 2012 20:25. Posts 4112 | Profile # |
| I can buy 20 kg of rice here for ~$24. All I need is some kind of cheap vegetables and a protein source... (bulk whey?) |
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| Dead9 United States. July 29 2012 00:56. Posts 2323 | Profile Blog # |
2 lb (5~6 lb cooked) rice ~1.5$
1 lb chicken drumsticks ~1$
.5 lb stir fry vegetables ~.5c
cook rice in rice cooker
drumsticks soak in soy sauce for an hour, then bake for 1 hour @ 350C (this is delicious seriously eat this all day)
brown some garlic in cooking oil then toss in vegetables and stir them around
i think this goes over the budget a bit due to tax and maybe a bit of underestimation
i don't think this is possible w/o eating a LOT of rice/noodles |
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| red_ United States. July 29 2012 02:12. Posts 1903 | Profile # |
On July 27 2012 20:32 eshlow wrote:
Show nested quote +On July 27 2012 19:46 red_ wrote:
Not-lean ground beef chuck is probably the most 'economical' food choice I can think of. If you 'strain' the beef in scalding hot water before cooking you will reduce some of the saturated fat content, although that has the obvious side effect of reducing calories. I know saturated fat isn't the devil, but you definitely don't want it being your primary calorie source either, and this method essentially gives you 'lean ground beef' for a much reduced price.
Eggs are another quite cheap, calorie dense, protein+fat source.
What's wrong with eating the fat off of beef? Saturated fats aren't the only fats in beef, and saturated fat isn't going to give you heard disease et al either ---------------------- Also, this challenge isn't doable with healthy foods. $3 a day might give you 30 of the on sale 10c pack Ramen noodles... which would be enough to live off of but not very nutritious or anything like that
On July 27 2012 20:32 eshlow wrote:
Show nested quote +On July 27 2012 19:46 red_ wrote:
Not-lean ground beef chuck is probably the most 'economical' food choice I can think of. If you 'strain' the beef in scalding hot water before cooking you will reduce some of the saturated fat content, although that has the obvious side effect of reducing calories. I know saturated fat isn't the devil, but you definitely don't want it being your primary calorie source either, and this method essentially gives you 'lean ground beef' for a much reduced price.
Eggs are another quite cheap, calorie dense, protein+fat source.
What's wrong with eating the fat off of beef? Saturated fats aren't the only fats in beef, and saturated fat isn't going to give you heard disease et al either ---------------------- Also, this challenge isn't doable with healthy foods. $3 a day might give you 30 of the on sale 10c pack Ramen noodles... which would be enough to live off of but not very nutritious or anything like that
I'm well aware that beef isn't all saturated fat. It's not even mostly saturated fat. To be honest I wasn't even making the post entirely in line with the $3/day limit in mind, more the 'share your healthy, minimalist recipes' part. Reinforcing what I stated, I know that saturated fat is not the devil, but 'not-lean ground beef chuck' has a pretty bad fat to protein ratio, so removing some of that fat and giving yourself a much leaner cut for the cost of some hot water is clearly a benefit. It's not like you will be left with 100% lean beef(obviously impossible), especially if you started with some dirt cheap 73/27 Wal-Mart meat; it's merely a means to make your meal more protein than fat, which it wouldn't be otherwise(something like 3:2 ratio, I don't know exactly what it becomes after the straining but it is obvious that there is far less grease). I do believe that is something we can agree on, that we want more protein calories than fat calories, or at least a better ratio than 3:2 in fat's favor.
This thread did make me think about how much money per day I spend on just basic whey protein though(or, would If I had to cut budget on 'real food' protein so much). I didn't calculate it out, but I think milk+whey bought in bulk can get you not starvation levels of calories while still getting decent protein intake; that whole lactose intolerance thing that is almost guaranteed to pop up would suck though.Last edit: 2012-07-29 02:12:31 |
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| rEiGN~ July 29 2012 17:24. Posts 360 | Profile # |
| Daily whey consumption for calories might get you the protein, but will it make you feel full? |
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| Nymphaceae United States. July 29 2012 20:52. Posts 343 | Profile Blog # |
The $3 includes electricity right? Not going to calculate that for my electric stove, but you can make a cane pole cheap, and fish for small freshwater fish. Not sure how much space you have, but you can look at your zones and grow fruit and veggies in your front lawn too. If you can, and you don't know how/when to grow things, then this site might help a little bit http://www.thevegetablegarden.info/planting-schedules.
If you're a girl, you can try to find dates with guys, in which they'll pay for everything. If you're a guy, you can get dates with girls, and say you forgot your wallet at home too. |
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| Icemind Germany. July 30 2012 01:48. Posts 500 | Profile # |
Potatoes are usually your best bet if you wanna live on a really tight budget. (At least in Europe potatoes are extremely cheap this can go to the point where you pay 1€ for 5kg of potatoes, which should last you for at least 2 days and probably a good deal longer)
Throw in some butter and onions. For variety you can fry the potatoes with the onions every once in a while.
Use the spare change to get some cheap vegetables to make the whole thing healthier.
You might not get too much variety but it wil get you well fed thorugh the day in a realatively healthy manner. |
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| ShaLLoW[baY] Canada. July 30 2012 07:53. Posts 10557 | Profile Blog # |
On July 29 2012 20:52 Nymphaceae wrote:
If you're a girl, you can try to find dates with guys, in which they'll pay for everything. If you're a guy, you can get dates with girls, and say you forgot your wallet at home too.
Changing the meta right here!
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