Best way of coping with no food for a short period?

Factual Questions
61

This thread is so heartening. I once spent a summer homeless and with no income in New York City. I would pick up change until I had enough for a cup of coffee, use the fast food’s restroom to wash up, get my coffee, and take a paper plate of leftovers off a table as I was leaving. I somehow lived like that for three months.

One person noticed what I was doing and, as I sitting on a bench outside eating, placed a bag with a breakfast plate, two sandwiches, a big sode and a big cup of coffee next to me. I’ll remember that when I am 100 years old.

62

You guys rock, but I knew that already!

Costco is a lovely snack spot. Go in around lunchtime and eat “demos” to your heart’s content. My husband and a friend of his survived many a day on Costco demos while in law school! Our local Costco averages 10 demos per day!

A sneaky trick- call over your shoulder (to nobody, but they don’t know that) and say “honey, do you want to try this?” Then take two! :smiley:

63

I’ve been in a groucy mood all day but this just completely pulled me out of it. You people are freaking amazing.

64

Your location says “North of 7, Ontario”, assuming you mean Highway 7, then that’s where I am right now. Myself and a bunch of people from my company are working on a project in Toronto. We are living in Richmond Hill area and usually eat out at restaurants since we are all staying in hotels.

If you are close to Richmod Hill (and don’t think it’s too weird) you could meet us at a restaurant and have dinner on us. You can get a good meal, and also meet some people from the UK, Malaysia, and Seattle.

If you are interested, I’ve made my email address viewable in my profile.

You can even pick the restaraunt and make it as public a place as you’d like. Even bring a friend if that make you feel more confortable. It all goes on my expense report anyway ;).

Good luck.

65

I have spent the past two days dealing with surly, grouchy, and just plain rude people. Just when I reached the point of deciding that I too would pledge allegiance to the Eternal Flame of the Misanthrope, I read this thread and actually cry a little. I am humbled by the kindness of these messageboard strangers.

HHM, I wish you were nearby so I could cook you a huge dinner and send you home with large Tupperware containers.

66

HHM, sweetie, I can’t help you out unless you email me back!

67

So are you going to be all right? Having money in an account that you can’t access isn’t very helpful. Can someone here help you deal with Paypal? (I don’t know how, myself.) How long can you function on sugar water? Do you know anyone who would let you cash a small check with them, but not deposit it until your next pay day?

68

Monk I can sympathize with ya…I’ve been getting by like this since my wife passed. Best thing I can tell ya is to stock up on the generic Ramen noodles at about a dime apiece, get a big bag of rice, some salt, some margarine, some dried beans (I put a big pot of navy beans on and some grits last night) I like grits though so…if you like tea that’s usually pretty cheap and it’s something doifferent than water. Get some cans of juice. Apple juice is usually cheap and it’s good for you.
Get several cans of veggies. Try and catch what’s on sale. Maybe some 4/$1 mac and cheese. A box of powdered milk is good to use when preparing dishes that require a little milk. The frozen food section has some edible microwave dinners, pot pies, etc. Here they’ll run the TV dinners on sale sometimes for as little a 5/$1.
That’s cheap eatin. I’m a good cook and like to do it but when money is really tight you just have to do the best you can. $40 bucks will go a long way if you are picky…don’t put anything in the basket that’s not on sale. If you only have to make it a couple of weeks that should be easy. Many moons ago I would go to a restaurant I knew that would give you all the nacho chips and psalsa you could eat for free. I’d order a platter of refried beans and cheese it was $1 and have a glass of water. Of course I always made up for it on payday so they didn’t get pissed at me. Haven’t had to do that in a long time though.
Good luck to ya, I wish I could offer you more than advice. regards t/k

I’d just like to say you guys are the best. Keep up the good work. :slight_smile:

69

I sympathize with your plight, having been there myself a couple of times. Whatever you do, don’t skip food for more than a day then feast - I gave myself a gastric ulcer by doing that.

Just to second t-keela’s advice on the ramen noodles - the ones that are made in China or Japan and come in a square pack. You can get them in all Asian supermarkets. I got myself into a similar situation when I first arrived in Hong Kong. Managed to borrow US$50 off a friend and lived off that for two months until my first paycheck came in, by buying noodles in bulk (100 packs!) and eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They come in a variety of uninspiring flavors, but they provide lots of calories. Stock up on some generic multivitamins in bulk too.

70

I am sorry to bump again, I was off work yesterday, and don’t have any Internet access at home. I just wanted to come in and thank everyone. I think my paypal account is activated, it sent the confirmation deposit, I think it takes a few days to transfer from paypal to a bank account, but after that I will be good to go. I am looking foward to grocery shopping :slight_smile:

Improvisor that is very nice of you, and I would take you up on your offer, except I work nights (well afternoons/nights now that I am trying to put in more hours), and I don’t know if I could work out the timing, but thank-you again.

I haven’t had a chance to get into my email account, I can’t access it from this work computer, have to check email from the employee lounge, and I will in a couple of hours, so I can email everyone (is there a way to see the email address of a paypal member, I know you can see home address)

Thank-you all again, and if I can ever help anyone out, if you need a place to stay in the Peterborough area, or a ride around, or a tour guide, just let me know.

71

Hopefully this will be a learning experience for you. I trust you’ll keep a semi-secret emergency stash of food/cash on hand in the future in case anything like this happens again?

72

I just want to hear that you’ve had something to eat.

73

My PayPal account shows that her account is now verified so she should have some funds now. :slight_smile:

74

Check your mail again. :slight_smile:

I’d also suggest pasta (if someone hasn’t already suggested that above). A pound of pasta and a large jar of sauce will last you at least 3 days, you can cook it in bulk and it’s very cheap.

75

Balron oh gosh yes, I certainly have learned, this has not been a fun experience. The worst are food commercials, you don’t realize how many of them there are until you are hungry. But everytime they come on I start drooling (especially for Mac & Cheese, which is odd because I haven’t had it in a couple of years, but I could really go for a bowl now) .

If I understand what paypal is saying, it takes up to 5 days to transfer funds, but I am hoping the 5 days is just an outside estimate. Fingers are crossed.

Again, I cannot thank everyone enough, if there is ever anything I can do, name it.

76

HHM, email me your address and I will mail you a few bucks in cash, okay? At least enough for some Mac & Cheese. Don’t be embarassed or anything, I’ve been fricking starving before too. Just send your address in the body of an email and I’ll get something in the mail for you. My email is nichol_storm@yahoo.com

77

I don’t know how to say this without it being condescending or something, but seeing this almost makes me cry because I’m so thankful my family has the means so I know I won’t ever have to be in this sort of situation.

Fitting for Canadian thanksgiving coming up, anyway…

78

I don’t know how things are around where you live, but I know in my local area there’s a church run soup kitchen that will serve food to anyone who comes in and asks. You’ve probably done this already, but have you checked for anything like that in your town?

79

Oh HHM, I truly empathize with you. Two years ago I was out of work due to a disability. Before I was approved for social security benefits, things got so bad that a dear friend gave me three boxes of groceries for a Christmas present. Not great for the pride, but circumstances sometimes kick you in the ass and make pride a luxury one can’t afford. Actually, my friend’s generosity – knowing someone cared – gave me hope for the future and lifted my spirits. Much as the Dopers here have done for you. :slight_smile:

If I weren’t still struggling now, I’d happily chip in without a second’s thought. I know you’ve been the recipient of some wonderful generosity and I hope your PayPal account comes through for you in a hurry. But if it doesn’t, I wanted to second a recommendation offered earlier.

It’s a last resort, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measurers. I’m talking about applying for a payday advance / cash advance loan. There are several available in Canada. You can do a search on Yahoo.ca or Google and you’ll find skillions of 'em.

The positives: a) They pay you overnight, and b) they don’t do credit checks. (Trust me, I had utterly craptastic credit when I received a loan!) As long as you haven’t defaulted on another payday loan or have a kabillion overdrafts on your bank account, you’ll probably be accepted. Also, the income requirements I’ve seen were pretty low, usually anywhere from $900 to $1200 per month (U.S. dollars).

You usually need to have been employed (or receiving benefits) for at least three months, be over 19, have a driver’s license or some other form of ID, and a current bank statement. While most firms require that you have direct deposit for your paychecks, you can find some that don’t.

The (very significant) downsides: The interest is close to usury; a $100 loan here in the U.S. will usually cost $120 - $135. And woe be unto you if you don’t have the money in the bank when the loan is due, 'cause payday loan firms make it waaaaaaaay too easy to refinance. That’s where they get their profits: we’re talking 700% interest plus a refinancing fee.

I know people who got in even worse financial trouble than when they started by rolling over loans a couple of times, borrowing from one payday place to pay back another … ugh. The interest really snowballs if you refinance, and you can find yourself paying $250 interest on a $300 loan after only a few weeks.

So to sum up, if you are absolutely certain you’ll have the money in the bank when the loan comes due, and you are strict about not refinancing (i.e. postponing) the loan … it may be worth $135 later to have $100 you desperately need now.

Again, if you can get a loan from anyone you know or get by some other way, avoid this solution. But as a last resort, one-time fix to an emergency situation, it’s good to know there’s at least some option available.

(BTW as far as fault goes? It doesn’t matter. When someone is hungry it’s not for us to judge how s/he got into that position; the most important thing is to get the person fed.)

Best of luck to you, HHM, and bravo to all the Dopers who proved yet again that the interweb ain’t such a bad place.

80

I joined the SDMB after reading Scylla’s blimp thread and Kimstu’s helicopter thread. Since then, I’ve seen numerous side-splitting tales by Master Wang-Ka, hundreds of questions answered by the inimitable Q.E.D., morality and reasoning explored to great depths by Polycarp, and many, many other wonderful things.

This, I think, is the best thread ever.

Way to go, all of you. Never before – ever – has anything on the internet brought a tear to my eye. HHM, I wish you the best. Whatever you do, don’t feel like you’re in the wrong for trusting somebody. Without trust, you wouldn’t have received the help of the kind folks here. Good luck to you.