How tough is it, really, to eat for $30.00 / week?

[aceplace57]

The lack of variety is the toughest thing I recall during my broke years. Food was available but its often not what you crave or want.

[grude]

@Wesley_Clark

Depends on what you buy. A pound of rice has about 1600 calories and costs about $0.35 if you buy it in bulk. A person can easily add butter or oil to the rice to increase calorie content on the cheap. So a person can easily not starve by eating rice, cheap bread, spaghetti, etc. If you are willing to live off rice mixed with oil or margarine you can feed yourself on less than $1/day.

There is a brand of canned herring I like, I bought a bunch when it was buy one get one when close to expiry(exp dates on cans are BS!).

That is 120 grams of protein for $2 USD, a can could easily be mixed with a starch and be a meal for a few people.

If you’re willing to let go of pride and all that social bullshit and embrace frugality and science, it gets easier to eat cheap.

[grude]

Actually each can has 6 servings at 13 grams of protein each, so 156 grams of protein for two bucks! You gotta watch for clearance stuff.

[CairoCarol]

@even_sven

There are things that make it easier, and things that make it harder.

Easier: Large freezer, storage space to stock up on bulk/coupon items, an able-bodied full time homemaker, a dishwasher, good storage containers, a sit-down climate-controlled job, a car, good knives, a spouse (less pressure to spend money dating), appropriate kitchen gadgets, existing stock of spices and condiments, and something to look forward to in the day besides dinner.

Harder: Bugs, a crappy and poorly stocked kitchen, limited storage, distant markets, working multiple jobs, no dishwasher, no tupperware, limited pantry supplies, house issues (garbage problems, bad plumbing, whatever), household members on off schedules, dinner as the highlight of the day, etc.

This is an excellent summary - the only points I’d add are that it’s also easier if you will eat almost anything (then you can take advantage of, say, bargain prices on fresh beetroot) and if you have good food knowledge and creative cooking skills (then you will know how to store the beetroot and how to turn it into a tasty dish.

[even_sven]

@aceplace57

Egg sandwich. A couple slices bread, mustard and perhaps some cheese. Cheese can get expensive but its is a good protein.

Ok. So my eggs are $2.50. Bread is $2.00. Mustard is $1.50. Cheese is $3.00. And I assume I have to fry the egg in something, so let’s throw in $2.00 to pick up some oil.

So now our “$2.50”'meals are actually $11.00. And we are still only getting 450 calories out of it. Might work as a light lunch for an office worker, but otherwise we’ll need some more calories if
We want to consider this a “meal”.

It’s awfully easy to say “oh, it’s easy as pie!” if you don’t think through the details.

[Simplicio]

@even_sven

Ok. So my eggs are $2.50. Bread is $2.00. Mustard is $1.50. Cheese is $3.00. And I assume I have to fry the egg in something, so let’s throw in $2.00 to pick up some oil.

So now our “$2.50”'meals are actually $11.00.

Err…only if you eat a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread a full thing of mustard and chug a thing of cooking oil in one sitting. Otherwise it probably works out to something like a dollar a sandwich.

[Broomstick]

Problem is, they don’t sell bread, cheese, mustard, and cooking oil in sandwich-size servings. You have to buy a whole bottle of mustard or oil or loaf of bread. You can purchase cheese by the slice in the deli but at more expense per pound.

[grude]

@even_sven

Ok. So my eggs are $2.50. Bread is $2.00. Mustard is $1.50. Cheese is $3.00. And I assume I have to fry the egg in something, so let’s throw in $2.00 to pick up some oil.

So now our “$2.50”'meals are actually $11.00. And we are still only getting 450 calories out of it. Might work as a light lunch for an office worker, but otherwise we’ll need some more calories if
We want to consider this a “meal”.

It’s awfully easy to say “oh, it’s easy as pie!” if you don’t think through the details.

I don’t know what kinda sandwiches you’re making, but if you’re using ALL those things in one it should be either amazing or horrible.

Yes obviously there is some up front cost involved, but once you have the carton of eggs and loaf of bread, bottle of mustard and oil they will last you many meals(last two especially!)

EDIT:Also 450 calories for a meal is about right, if a bit on the heavy side.

[grude]

@Broomstick

Problem is, they don’t sell bread, cheese, mustard, and cooking oil in sandwich-size servings. You have to buy a whole bottle of mustard or oil or loaf of bread. You can purchase cheese by the slice in the deli but at more expense per pound.

You could say this about toothpaste and shampoo too etc. There is a certain up front cost involved that pays off over time.

EDIT:You can usually buy round sandwich size bread loose.

[Broomstick]

@Thudlow_Boink

Reading that article, I strongly suspect that the biggest part of what “practically killed” that writer was the caffeine withdrawal. I’d like to see her try the experiment again, but caffeine not counted against her food budget.

Nope, that would be cheating. People on SNAP don’t get free caffeine, they have to buy it just like everyone else.

When I was younger and poorer, I ate a lot of ramen noodles and boxed macaroni and cheese, a lot of frozen and canned meals that cost under $1 each, a lot of PBJ and baloney sandwiches, a lot of whatever was on sale that week. I don’t know how much I spent, but I wouldn’t have trouble believing that it was well under $30 a week (though prices are higher now).

Well, a lot of these attempts illustrate that a lot of people just don’t know how to budget/cook on that low a budget. If someone never had to do it before why is it so surprising that so many don’t succeed the first time? It’s supposed to be a learning experience.

A couple of common mistakes:

• Forgetting to budget for caffeine if you’re addicted
• Forgetting a basic like cooking oil, especially if you’re not used to doing a lot of cooking
• Forgetting about condiments
• Overloading on cheap carbs. Sure, carbs are cheap but just carbs is not satisfying or particularly healthy, that’s one reason why people who live on such diets tend to overeat. PBJ and baloney/cheap cold cuts help get around that, as do eggs or a package of hot dogs on sale, but then you do have to control your portions of non-grain/non-carb very strictly.

[Broomstick]

@grude

EDIT:Also 450 calories for a meal is about right, if a bit on the heavy side.

I covered that in an other thread - it’s half what I need if you assume 3 meals a day. 450 a meal works for the sedentary but those of us engaged in poor people work like stocking grocery shelves or walking around serving customers all day or something similar need more. People engaged in even heavier labor need more than that.

@grude

You could say this about toothpaste and shampoo too etc. There is a certain up front cost involved that pays off over time.

True, but that’s why using the condiments already on your shelf at home is allowed on these food challenges, because that’s what happens in reality.

Also, folks passing up free food is not authentic to the true SNAP experience where free food isn’t turned down, it’s wolfed down.

EDIT:You can usually buy round sandwich size bread loose.

For a greater per-unit cost.

It’s disingenuous to look just at the per-unit costs because some items can’t be bought in single unit quantities, or if they can, the cost is prohibitive given the restraints. Likewise, saying “buy a 100 pound bag of flour/rice/whatever” isn’t realistic given the problems of transporting that 100 pound bag, storing the item, protecting it from vermin, how soon you’ll use it/will it go bad. Unless you have a very large family, of course, if you’re feeding 10 people a day then yes, you buy in bulk like that, but you also probably have help moving the sheer bulk of food around.

[grude]

@Broomstick

Nope, that would be cheating. People on SNAP don’t get free caffeine, they have to buy it just like everyone else.

Caffeine Powder Pure

Prices are absurdly reasonable for any budget.

[even_sven]

@Simplicio

Err…only if you eat a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread a full thing of mustard and chug a thing of cooking oil in one sitting. Otherwise it probably works out to something like a dollar a sandwich.

I’m assuming you are planning for the 6 meals that our friend claimed you can get from a dozen eggs.

[Broomstick]

@grude

Pure Caffeine Powder - Pure Bulk Supplements
Prices are absurdly reasonable for any budget.

Anyone who goes that route for their daily caffeine fix is an idiot. That pure, there’s a real risk of overdose or even fatality.

No, real world what you do is buy crappy cheap-ass coffee or tea, or the discount soda. You also limit how much you consume rather than sucking it down all day.

[kanicbird]

@Broomstick

Nope, that would be cheating. People on SNAP don’t get free caffeine, they have to buy it just like everyone else.

…

Snap benefits do include soda including caffeinated soda, also in NY the tax on such items does not apply to Snap. I think but do not know, it would include coffee and tea as well. Actually if you are paying with snap and you don’t have enough and have to cover the rest by another method the taxable items must come under Snap first up to the amount of the snap payment, so the person gets as much tax free as possible.

[kanicbird]

In my life I have done the under $30/week for long periods and it did work well for me, I was satisfied with what I ate, looked forward to meals, and I also feel it was healthy and did include lots of animal protein (almost exclusively chicken). My diet was very repetitive and simple, there was no different ‘breakfast/lunch/dinner’ type of variety - that works for me and saved me lots of $$$ - I can not see it working for many people. Eating out would have killed it, perhaps a $1 menu item every so often would work. But eating out is not covered by snap.

Looking at the OP’s link, just the picts alone I knew she would not be able to do it. That amount of variety will blow through the budget.

But snap benefits are at least here almost $200/month/person (including children), not $120, working out to just under $50/week which would certainly all the addition of much more variety. I believe that you can get partial benefits if you have other income and perhaps that’s where the $30/week came from.

[Broomstick]

@kanicbird

@Broomstick[/quote

Nope, that would be cheating. People on SNAP don’t get free caffeine, they have to buy it just like everyone else.

Snap benefits do include soda including caffeinated soda, also in NY the tax on such items does not apply to Snap. I think but do not know, it would include coffee and tea as well.

Yes, coffee, tea and soda are covered by SNAP but those caffeinated items are not free - they are included in the food budget. They’re part of the “X dollars per person per week” equation. If I spend $2 on coffee that’s $2 I can’t spend on something else.

[Shodan]

@even_sven

I’m assuming you are planning for the 6 meals that our friend claimed you can get from a dozen eggs.

I assume so too, in which case the only thing that will be used up after six meals is the eggs. So it is pretty silly to include the full cost of the oil and mustard (and bread) in only six meals.

Your cost breakdown was

Ok. So my eggs are $2.50. Bread is $2.00. Mustard is $1.50. Cheese is $3.00. And I assume I have to fry the egg in something, so let’s throw in $2.00 to pick up some oil.

So now our “$2.50”'meals are actually $11.00.

You aren’t going to use up the whole bottle of mustard unless you apply it with a trowel. Buy cooking oil in the large size, and per-meal cost will be, what, a penny or so. You will use maybe half a loaf for your six meals, so the cost is not going to be $11. More like $2.50 for the eggs, and $3.00 for the cheese + $1 for the bread + $0.06 for the oil and $0.03 for the mustard. Six meals for $6.70 or less. A buck eleven is pretty close to

[QUOTE=Simplicio]
…something like a dollar a sandwich.
[/QUOTE]
Regards,
Shodan

[kanicbird]

@Broomstick

Snap benefits do include soda including caffeinated soda, also in NY the tax on such items does not apply to Snap. I think but do not know, it would include coffee and tea as well.

Yes, coffee, tea and soda are covered by SNAP but those caffeinated items are not free - they are included in the food budget. They’re part of the “X dollars per person per week” equation. If I spend $2 on coffee that’s $2 I can’t spend on something else.
[/QUOTE]

OK got ya

[Cheesesteak]

@Shodan

I assume so too, in which case the only thing that will be used up after six meals is the eggs. So it is pretty silly to include the full cost of the oil and mustard (and bread) in only six meals.

I think one needs to balance out the differences between trying something for one week and having to change to a different lifestyle altogether. It’s somewhat easier to free up $2 a week for condiments that will last a couple of months than it is to free up $6 for 3 condiments that you’re only allowed to use for 1 week.

Same thing with caffeine, if you’re used to drinking a pot a day of coffee, and couldn’t afford that on a $29/wk budget, you’re going to wean yourself off of coffee when forced onto that budget. You’re not going to spend each and every week of your life with the misery of caffeine withdrawal. It’s not exactly the $29/wk budget making that person miserable, it’s the change in caffeine consumption.